Daily Logs

Avalon - The Final Arrival

Well we have all arrived safely in LagosWe have had a wonderful time. Great sailing and occasionally some slow sailingWe have all met lots of different crews who share sailing as a passion and over the weeks we have all got to know and have lots of fun together. Drinks on board, dinners out, water fights !Helping others when things have not always worked.We all however have some sadness as out little band of explorers have now reached the end of our journey together and sadly over the next few days we will all be departing to different partsJackie and I and different crew members of Avalon over the last 3 weeks have really enjoyed meeting you all and we wish you Godspeed and fair winds on all next passagesFinally Andrew and Nick. The rally has more than met our expectations you have both. read more...

Jacana of Ardmay - 8/12/11

Hi Everyone, Someone had fed back that there had not been any blogs from us for the last couple of days, we have written them so I hope they have now been posted! Well, we have had such an eventful day today! Again the weather is very hot and the Atlantic very calm, unbelievably so, however it did mean that the fishing rod saw some action, Andrew and Andrew (both very pleased with themselves) managed to reel in a Bluefin tuna fish, about 10 lbs in weight, some protein for dinner tonight! Margaret said it was going to be the most expensive tuna steak that we have ever eaten................I think she was referring to the cost of the fishing gear!!! At the stern of the boat we gutted and cut the tuna into 9 steaks, refrigerated ( working again, clever Andrew ) ready for serving later. As. read more...

Psyche - The last entry in the current chapter......

  So, the Psyche Go Win signal flags have come down, the Rally Portugal banner has been furled, and Alan and Jo helped us move from our Rally Portugal berth to our more mainstream summer berth here in Lagos marina....some boats remain, others leaving this pm to head on into the Med. I was surprised how sad I felt to see them go - we came a long way together, and shared a great experience.....I hope some day to see some familiar sails looming over the horizon, who knows where..... We left Sines early 05:55 and most motored 6 hours or so through calm seas with very little wind, to get some miles under our belts....then the spinakers, genakers and cruising chutes started breaking out and Cape St Vincent loomed ahead. We passed at about 14:45 and I dipped the ensign....the wind. read more...

Hanami II - Show must go on ....

extrait du 'Position Report' journalier. ============================================ Report 19   date  09/12//2011 - thursday time 04:00 GMT Lat  14 12 35 NLong  55 28 04 W   course 280 average speed on last 2 hours: 6 knots on a beam reachwind 10 to 13+ Knots, from ENE, steady, just as you want it. clair sky sea calm swell 1m visibility OK,pressure 1009, steady   we have done 13 hours motoring in 2 parts and hope the wind will not disapear. gribs are rather supporting this. keep fingers crossed.   ======================================   Et bien le vent est revenu en 2 fois. une fois entre midi et 3 pour faire un peu de spi, puis vers 19h, avant le diner, juste a temps pour avoir un repas sans le bruit du moteur.. read more...

Island Wanderer - Arrival 14.04N 60.57W

At 0341 local time, 0741 uk time, we crossed the finish line in St Lucia after travelling for just under 18 days. We covered nearly 3,000 nautical miles and arrived to a warm Caribbean welcome!   IMGP1176[1]. read more...

Grateful Red - day 18

another day of sailing, drifting and popcorn with beer chasers.slowly moving toward st. lucia. In the old days when the wind went light to drifters the crew selected the crew member bringing the bad luck with the wind, put a cannonball in the bad luck crew member's drawers and dumped him overboard.Not so sure how effective this technique was in obtaining wind but probably highly effective at keeping crew whining in drifter days to a minimum.so far I have been using the lot of cold beer technique - easier to enforce.Ken. read more...

Nyda - Day 19: Trade winds? What are they then?

Today has been lots of fun though not due to the great sailing we've been doing. All started well as we were making 5 knots under sail but that dropped off late morning plus what did remain veered round until it was on the nose. Cue engine, but before that: SWIMMING!! I'd been keen to swim mid Atlantic from the start but it isn't really an option when the boat is trundling along at speeds I certainly can't keep up with so I was secretly quite pleased to have the chance today. The water was so warm and so blue, it was excellent! I did keep an eye out for wildlife as I was hoping the barracuda we caught the other day( of which we still have an impressive amount left) didn't have a big brother out for revenge, luckily nothing more exciting than some seaweed was seen. After swimming we got. read more...

Raparee - the dog days drone on

Raparee's exciting-ish Days 18 & 19 at sea Onnyway (as they say in Nornairlond) we carried on ghosting until the dogwatches when suddenly our trailing line thingy sort of went alltwangy, like big time. Nick goes to Don Gloves (one of our stowaways)to help with line hauling while Mike gets out the gaff from the loo. After a bit of hauling, in comes a meaty blue tuna neatly landed in the deck bucket.Some smart-ass suggested an alcoholic aerosol would send the fish to sleep (and I've known a few alcoholic aerosols in my life, so I can vouch for that). Anyway we tried gin in a killa-spray bottle but it no workee and made the poor crathur dance around like Michael Flatley on speed. Skipper resorts to the old mackerel method of breaking the neck and this works a treat, although it does. read more...

Felicity J - the carrots are in the sink

I say again, 'the carrots are in the sink'.   I know it sounds more like some sort of underhand code being passed between spies behind enemy lines, kinda like 'the bat has left the cave', but no its just another comedy moment onboard whilst dinner is being served in the galley.   It's the little things like this that help keep us entertained, like Merry falling over and spilling something on herself each time she puts on a clean top, or noticing that even the dinner table looks tired as the salt and pepper, juice, vase of flowers etc all lays down on its side so as not to roll off or that the poor basil plant that is now nicknamed 'stumps' - I'm not sure he is going to make it to Saint Lucia.. read more...

Halcyon of Hebe - Nearly There

Pos: 14:17N 59:48W Light winds prevail.  Everywhere is virtually still and the water has a glassy sheen. We are currently in the "Engine Running " period between attempt numbers 173 and 174 to see if we have enough wind to make reasonable progress. The routine is quite straightforward. The wind creeps above 5 knots Rob Ums and Ahs for a bit and then says we had better "give it a go" The large jib is raised and the main set to a suitably optimistic setting. The wind drops to about 4 knots, the boat speed perhaps having got to 4.5 knots before falling back to 2.5. We wait for a while in eager anticipation of a slight gust: and enjoying the quiet of a very slow moving boat with no engine running. The wind finally gives up and we restart the engine, lower the. read more...

BRIZO - Log day 18: Land Ho

We are still motoring with absolutely no wind to help us.We sighted land approximately 50 miles out and then watched it ever so slowly get bigger over the longest 8 hours of the trip. We are still 30 miles out and it looks like we will finish about 9 pm local time.Today's pre-finish excitement was provided by Iod'l, another ARC participant. They were a bit low on fuel and not sure they were going to make in motoring.We met up with them and passed over our 5 gal jerry can of diesel which we won't need. CD. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 18 - Replenishing Kotari

Current position "14:11.4N 58:56.5W”. Well we finally cracked – after looking at the latest forecast we realised we could be doing nothing for several more days and concluded there were better things to be enjoyed in St Lucia than sitting stationary in the Atlantic! So the engine went on last night – it was a good feeling to be moving again. We thought we’d have enough fuel to get us about 2/3 the way there and we’d hope to catch some more wind closer in. But by using low revs on the engine it looked like we’d be able to make it all the way.  That was plan A. Plan B unfolded about an hour ago when we heard another boat calling on the radio; they were calling someone who they could see ahead, but that boat wasn’t listening, so we let them. read more...

Diamonds Are Forever - Blog - Day 18 - 8/12/12 - Dragons and Dolphins!

Diamonds Blog - Day 18 - 8/12/12- Dragons and Dolphins!Hi all, As I sit at the chartable this morning, to my great delight I can hear the ripple of water rushing down the sides of the hull once more - Diamonds is on the go again!After a great day in good breeze yesterday the forecast was true to it's word and the winds dropped overnight.The winds have also changed direction and moved around to the south.With all her available sail power up, Diamonds kept her crew on their toes overnight, with Beatrix and Marie changing the sails around from a goosewinged deep run (with one sail out each side of the boat) to the close reach we are on now. The good news about this change in wind direction and new point of sail is that despite only having a few knots of breeze, we can make some of our own. read more...

Diamonds Are Forever - Blog - Day 17 - 7/12/12 - Diamonds goes Green!

Hi all!Last night we passed the 50 degrees west longitude milestone and we are now down to 550 miles to go to St Lucia!However don't go counting your flying fish yet.Last night we took at look at the weather files we can download from emails via the satellite phone.They come as "grib" files which display over the section of ocean we are in, a series of arrows showing the local wind direction.The size or shape of the arrow denotes the wind strength.We took the decision to dive south towards the latitude of St Lucia (approx. 14 degrees north) as a large area of very light airs was ahead.We are hoping this change of route, despite adding on some distance, will give us more wind that those boats still to the north but we are not expecting much breeze over the next few days!When the winds go. read more...

Cruinneag III - Feeling Hot Hot Hot

Thursday 8th December 2011 13:33:41N 56:30:35W TOAST TO THE LASSIES - Trevor Watson, 6th december 2011I only realised when the Gardner first grumbles Into life in Las Palmas that - Guys! We're Outnumbered! Four solid fellows with stout hearts of oak Who inject, drink, ingest and pretend not to smoke About to set sail across the rolling Atlantic All eager and willing and a tiny bit frantic.Our skipper is Nick, full of resource and cheer Then there's Trevor who likes motorboats and drinks lots of beer Steve's got his own yacht so is a useful Jack Tor And Raman who's talent's wasted when not running a bar A sound group of lads although it would seem They wouldn't get started without the ladies in the team.Mother Nature herself provides both wind and ocean And Susan the pharmacist mixes. read more...

Hunny Pot - Thank You Summer Star

Day…..   Lost track.. we spotted land early this morning and have been making steady progress. We should be in Rodney bay in the next couple of hours.   We would like to say big thank the crew of Summer Star for generously giving us 40 litres of fuel to help us on the last stretch following a Bill F-B pitch on the VHF following the sighting of Summer Star who we were able to identify on the AIS system.  Summer Star crewed by a delightful group of Norwegians graciously parted with two jerry cans of fuel which were transferred boat to boat by some nifty rope work which included sending across a bottle of Cava attached to a rope by way of thanks.   Without them we would be in sight of Saint Lucia but waiting for the wind to fill in!!  Thank you Norway!. read more...

Great Bear - 08-12-2011 - Stille som en ninja

Det blev stille.. helt stille... mørket sænkede sig over atlanterhavet. Mit derude under stjernerne lå Great Bear... helt alene...   Ja, stille blev det.. Det er nu vindstille på 26 time.. Før dette vejr kom, tilbagelagde vi mellem 145 og 160 sømil i døgnet. Nu er vi glade hvis vi når de 50.  Vi har i dag været ude og bade på 4500 meters dybde og har konstateret at der ikke er så stor forskel som at bade på 3 meters dybde..   Julemusikken kører stadig på radioen og humøret er dog alligevel højt i forhold til omstændighederne(GPS'en siger 22 dage til ankomst..)   Hvis i ville være venlige kunne det være dejligt hvis i kunne sende noget storm med. read more...

Annie - Blog 19

We are now just about 3/4 of the way to St Lucia - hooray - and now our goal  is in sight Graham has decided that there is enough fresh water to do some  washing. Which is very good for you Sheena, as he was contemplating wearing  some items of yours! I'm looking forward to a large rum and coke as my 3/4  celebratory drink. We are going to celebrate once we cross 50 degees west,  soon! Excitement last night when at 2100 Peter spotted a boat. This is the first  we've seen for about 2 weeks. He got on the radio and tried to call them up  but got no response. They were gone in about 45 minutes and we were left  again to the flying fish and the occasional bird. Graham has become quite protective about his/our bit of empty ocean and  wasn't excited. read more...

Porto Santo - 08/12

Estamos com muito pouco vento,mudei o rumo mais para S porque na meteo diz que nos 15ºN há um pouco mais,vou com a vela grande e assimetrico,a +-4n...Ontem o dia não teve história,tambem pouco vento,mas dava para manter  o rumo de Sta Lucia a 5,5n.O vento caiu mais a partir das 03h00 de hoje(h local,-2 que aí).E ainda com a resto da vaga de vento alguns balanços mais fortes obrigaram a vela grande a bater,e a ferragem do punho de escota foi arrancada.arriei o pano e segumos a motor.De manhã verifiquei a causa da avaria,que não tinha tido razão para acontecer,afinal tinha mandado reforçar essa peça no estaleiro da Amora.o Tagus Yacht Center.A peça é fixada no topo da retraca com 4 rebites,e como. read more...

Ensemble - Day 19: 8 December 2011 - "Land ho"

Greetings from yacht Ensemble. We are now less than 20nm from St Lucia and expect to make landfall this evening. The winds have deserted us - so we have had to motor for the last day, but the the seas are flat, we have dodged most of the rain and squalls, and the ride has been easy. Today was eventful.We picked up a hitch-hiker last night - a small swallow was exhausted and took refuge on one of our winches.There was a spectacular sunrise.Then morning we also landed a fish (a small trevally). Magali cooked a couple of chiabatis for lunch and we finished off some of our ham and cheeses. (The 'Jamon' is still going strong). It has been a wonderful experience - and largely hastle free - but I think we are all really looking forward to being on dry. read more...

Sunrise - Log Day 18: Flauten und Meerestiere

Donnerstag, 8. Dezember 2011 - 18. Tag auf SeeFLAUTE - heute ist schon der dritte tag mit zu wenig wind um unsere sunrise mit segel fortbewegen zu können... da heim- und weiterreisen geplant sind bleibt uns nicht viel anderes übrig als zu motoren. das liegt uns allen nicht so richtig und ständig wird auf die windanzeige geschaut, ob es sich nicht doch endlich wieder lohnen würde die segel zu setzen. nicht nur weil uns der motor unsere betten noch zusätzlich aufheizt (was jedenfalls für die kabine achtern gilt) und die stille auf dem atlantik stört, sondern insbesondere da wir mit nicht sehr viel wind schon schneller unterwegs sein könnten als mit motor. und das ist für die einen wichtiger als für die anderen, denn es wird sich nun. read more...

Engelen - Weblog Day 18

Thursday Dec 8th, 5am: my final early morning shift starts. It's is a bit weird and an "anticlimax" after sailing up tempo and in a competitive mood to St Lucia for over 15 days. Now the motor of Engelen is running for over 36 hours already. Most of the competitors are facing the same: no winds what so ever and IF there is something one calls wind it comes from the West (270W). Exactly where we are heading to: St Lucia. The Ocean is flat as a pancake. Motoring on Engelen means that we can use the autopilot, so I do as well. Quite nice since some rain is falling and I can shelter under the Doghouse. Ipod in my ears, listening to Bruchs Violon #1 in G-minor. One of my favorites when sailing. Sunrise from the East, where this journey started almost three weeks ago. Spectacular clouds. read more...

Eleanda - Day 17

Tuesday 6th December 2011   The Skipper – At last, arrival and this is the final diary   Eleanda is under engine, no sails out, wind speed less than 5 knots SE.   232h40 Monday      ARC Finish Line, this is Eleanda, Over                                  Eleanda, ARC Finish Line, Go ahead, Over                                  ARC Finish Line, Eleanda, 5 miles from Pigeon Island, ETA 00h30 Eleanda, ARC Finish Line, Thank you,. read more...

Endo 2 - 19. seetag

die endo 2 ist immer noch unterwegs Richtung Ziel. Die Crew ist wohlauf und wir geniessen das Wetter bei 30 Grad und Sonne. Leider fehlt der Wind und die Maschine wärmt zusätzlich noch in "bisschen". Nach gewaltigen Regengüssen vorletzte Nacht ist unser Wasserspeicher wieder gut gefüllt. Wir haben also in der Hinsicht keine Probleme. Die Angel ist wieder im Einsatz;nachdem gestern 2 Köder verlustig gegangen sind - einer wurde einfach abgebissen (wem schmeckt so ein Plastikteil?)und beim 2. hat der Fisch -eine leckere Goldmakrele- kurz vor der Bordwand gewonnen und ist samt Köder entfleucht. Nun - man kann nicht immer Sieger sein.Doch heute haben wir wieder Fisch - ein Merlin hat angebissen. Es ist wie ein Festessen, im Restaurant kaum bezahlbar. Also keine. read more...

Sibilation - Day 18

I could cut and paste the opening paragraph from yesterday’s blog but as we’re running short of minutes on the sat phone I won’t bother, and just let you re read it to sum up our lack of wind situation!   On the plus side with the engine running and the batteries charging (the boat’s and ours) we’ve started to work our way through our DVD collection, given the boat a bit of a clean up and plugged in the mobile phones ready for calls home. Where the wind has decreased, the amount of sleeping has increased and any watch which involves any period of darkness (currently this is up until lunchtime as we’ve kept the clocks at UTC) is immediately followed by several hours of snoozing. We’re just making sure we’re on top form to be welcomed in. read more...

Aztec Dream - ARC - A Rhythmical Chronicle

ARC - A Rhythmical (??!!) Chronicle   In Las Palmas we be, To start our journey, Across the Atlantic Sea.   We planted a tree, After paying our carbon offset fee. Whoopee!   Provisioning has begun, The shopping weighs a TONNE, The drinks delivery was brought, Though stashing was rather fraught, Perhaps we bought more than we ought?   To wash fruit or not........ We took advice, opted for not, Hoping the lot would not rot.   A few seminars we have attended, To keep "Aztec" safe and our brains extended. Following a Welcome Parade, Safety Demo And the Skippers' Briefing we are ready to go, Fingers crossed the Atlantic becomes our friend, not our foe.   There has been a gap of a few days, I really should mend my ways, But time seems to go by in a haze.. read more...

Spindrift of Jersey - ARC Log - Day 19

15:12.20N 54:26.94W. Less than 400 Miles to go. As expected the wind died by 2100 yesterday evening and we motored until 0200 when it picked up until 0700 and died again. So we have been motoring ever since in very calm seas which are now mirror like. Reports from the ARC  organisers say that boats finishing now have been motoring the last 100 miles. So we expect that the current weather will continue possibly until we arrive. I have calculated that we have enough fuel for about 10 miles less than the distance we need to go, plus or minus a few miles, so let's hope it is enough, or that we get a some wind at some time in the next 3 days. We now expect to arrive on Sunday morning, local time, if we continue motoring at current slow speed to. read more...

Nix - Day 13 & 14 - The Finish

The excitement of multiple fishing successes turns to excited anticipation for the finish line.   As night fell, we were disappointed to see Alcool Toorabi rapidly catch up and pass us, as they took a higher, more northerly routing under Gennaker. We kept Nix under spinnaker on a more downwind course but the wind fell to a miserly 10 knots and suddenly the last 40 miles looked like being tortuously slow. As ever, Captain Nico decided that a night sail change was needed to combat this, and we put out a second boom on the spinnaker to improve speed and stability.   The island lights crept closer and closer, and eventually, with everyone on deck, and Chris and James on watch, Nico made the "five miles to go"call to the ARC finish officials at about 2.30am. As we. read more...

Meltemi - 08.12.2011

Meltemi 08.12.2011, 00.30 UhrWir haben noch rund 57 nm vor uns. Der Kurs ist 252 COG und der SOG 7.5 kn. Wir laufen unter Maschine. Das Grossegel ist zur Stabilisierung im zweiten Reff. Der wahre Wind ist 2.3 kn schwach und drehend. Die Sicht betrgt keine 4 nm. Das sind nuechterne Daten. Auerhalb des Logbuches glaube ich feststellen zu duerfen, dass wir stolz sind, eine Leistung so abschliessen zu koennen. Es war fuer uns alle ein Abenteuer. Nicht nur die seglerische Herausforderung der Strecke ueber den Atlantik, sondern auch und besonders das Zusammenleben auf engstem Raum. Beides ist uns gelungen - nuechtern betrachtet. Weniger sachlich ausgedrueckt ist es ein wahres Wunder, dass wir uns nicht kaputt gelacht haben. Die Freude ueber unsere Ankunft ist deswegen auch von der Frage. read more...

Aniara II - Dec. 8

8 December 15.00 (local Aniara time) The majority onboard made the choice to turn on the Penta at 21.45 yesterday evening, after spending hours without any winds at all. We have now approx. 200 NM to the finishing line and diesel for about half that distance, so now we will have to use our cleverness on something else than just sailing. But we are still good friends onboard and enjoy better and better new baked bread and tasteful and innovative dinners.. read more...

Glass Slipper - 8 Dec 2011

Thursday, 8 Dec 2011Well last night was a bit difficult on board – the night before Bruce ran into a bit of trouble – we think it might have been brief high winds from perhaps a squall – well all of a sudden the wind jumps from about 12 knots to 45. Bruce briefly loses control and does two 360 degree turns. In a flash Tom, Ben and Guy are on deck to help. We quickly regain control, but this also allows for an opportunity to talk about emergency procedures. It’s pitch black – what if one of us had gone over the side – we all came up with our life vests and safety harnesses on – first and most important – “STOP the BOAT” – 2) push the man overboard alarm (this marks our exact  location with the GPS), 3)throw the safety. read more...

Great Escape of Southampton - Thursday, 8 December. The End

On the seven  day of Christmas my true love gave to me…Seven hangovers Six videos watched Five hundred miles (Proclaimers for Scottish Steve’s bnefit) Four bolts on the Generator, Three sails are flying, Two reefs in the main, And a suntan that will last until spring.   We crossed the finish line at 10:43 local. We entered the marina to great applause, like the departure, because Great Escape had 8 convicts in prison uniform.  A lovely high quality nylon that was not comfortable at all in this humid heat, but the reaction from the faster boats already here and the locals was great. A nice welcoming committee on the pontoon gave us cold beers and rum punch which lasted not very long at all.  A quick march into the nearest bar for refreshment, another. read more...

Zingara - 8/12/2011

Zingara auf Reisen.Guten morgen Deutschland!Querab barbados sind es nur noch 55nm bis zum ziel, 15 tage schoenstes segeln, die letzten 3 eine mischung aus motoren u segeln. Eine niederlage muessen wir eingestehen: wir haben keinen fisch an bord bringen koennen. Es ist 30 grd warm u bedeckt, sehr angenehm an bord. Um 16.30 ortszeit wollen wir die ziellinie ueberqueren u dann den empfang geniessen. Soviel fuer den moment, seid alle herzlich gegruesst, ernst, ruediger u felix. read more...

Lancelot - Day 18 - Character Building

Morning All So we are still floating around the Atlantic although we now have the pain of actually being able to see St Lucia but it would appear that someone somewhere doesn't want us to actually step foot on it, maybe they have heard about our drinking habits! It has been slow going again over the last 24 hours and we now find ourselves a mere 22 miles from St Lucia. To put that in perspective when we usually go out for a days racing in Cowes Week our course is usually in the vicinity of 25 miles and it is covered in around 4 hours and you can expect to be in the beer tent by late afternoon.  At our current speed and going on our latest weather forecast we can expect to be floating around looking at St Lucia for at least another 12 hours, which brings us to the title of today's. read more...

Felicity J - no bombing...

...no splashing, no running, no shouting and certainly no heavy petting.   Those are the rules at the swim club today!  As the day starts to heat up and we motor in a flat calm Atlantic Ocean the crew are getting twitchy for their second swim of the trip so far.  It seems a bit daunting to jump in when the deep end of the 'pool' drops off to around 5,285 metres and you can't help but somewhere at the back of your mind start to hum the jaws music - da de, da de, da de.... but it is well worth it to cool off.   . read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 18 - motoring

Yesterday went well - we flew the chute for most of the day until the wind came south and we switched to genoa. By around 1600 though the wind was falling away to nothing and we've motored overnight in glassy calm seas.  We've enough fuel to motor to St Lucia (315 miles to go!) but that would be a bit tedious so hopefully we'll get some more wind at some stage. We've got 0.6 kts of favourable current so have throttled right back to make sure we have the range; even so our speed over the ground is 6.4 kts which means we get to arrive in St Lucia on Saturday afternoon in time for the jazz night. Overnight was very pleasant - nearly a full moon and dolphins playing under the bow (well they did on my watch). Dawn was the most spectacular sunrise so far although I'm sure our camera did. read more...

Engelen - Dry Boat?

Are you on a dry boat? Well, in a sense, yes. Otherthan the occasional ritual or 'team-bonding' beer to go with a passage milestone, the consumption of alcoholic beverages, while not being ruled out completely, is regulated through subtle social pressures.Rumor has it that some boats of our competition saw themselves forced to decide between beer and whine when thinking about how the added weight would reflect on their race performance, but Engelen is different. Reminiscent ofthe House of a Thousand Beers in Berlin, golden delicatessen from all over the Mediterranean are hidden under most pillows, floorboards, inside cupboards and the fridge. Now, I don't know whether it is the eighteen days spent at sea, the running out of cold soft drinks about four days ago or my Bavarian roots,but a. read more...

Skyelark of London - Reply from Managaing Director World Cruising Club

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }Dear Dan, and crew of Skylelark of London,   Thank you for the series of letters to me during your crossing of the North Atlantic from Gran Canaria to St Lucia, and your appreciation of the complexities involved in running the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. For World Cruising Club the organisation of the event is continual, with the entry list already well subscribed for 2012, before the current event is even over. Your understanding of what’s involved in organising the ARC is much appreciated.   It sounds as though you and your crew have had a good crossing this year, even if you did have to resort to motoring towards the end, which thankfully you declared. And it meant you arrived for the Welcome Party hosted by the St Lucia Tourist. read more...

Felicity J - a cement truck?

We are trying to work out how a cement truck can be in today's picture in the advent calender, I'm not sure it brings out any festive cheer or spirit.  We are quite pleased with the likes of a rocking horse, snowman and shooting star so far but a cement truck.  Actually, maybe in fact it is a grit lorry but even so.   After an evening of getting rained on (and grabbing the shampoo to have a squally shower) it is now super hot but we are sailing along nicely and the numbers on the clock are 465 miles to go.  The question is will we make it in time for the friday night 'jump up'.... read more...

Jacana of Ardmay - 7/12/11

Dear family and friends,   After all that rain we had the total contrast today in that it was so sunny and hot, hot, hot. we started the day off well with the foresail poled out and getting a steady 6 knots, by 10 o’clock the wind speed was dropping so the skipper decided to put up the cruising chute. With wind speeds of only 8 to 10 knots the chute was giving us a steady 6 to 7 knots. But alas by 4 o’clock the Atlantic became so very calm and such a contrast to what we have been experiencing with 4 meter swells. We spotted 4 whales today, not sure what type, but that has been our first sighting for a couple of weeks now since the dolphins. Fantastic dinner tonight prepared by chef Margaret and her son of smoke salmon fishcakes on a bed of thai spiced. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 18 - Wednesday 7/12/11 - Miscellany

Today was a bit of a curate’s egg, with some good bits and some less good. It is getting very hot, despite there being a fair bit of cloud around. The bimini is excellent, keeping most of the direct sunlight off the crew, and minimising the risk of scorching.  As the wind eased over the last 24 hours, its cooling effects also dissipated, and humidity has increased. It is quite uncomfortable. When we do sail changes on deck, we are more exposed to its impact and, everyone comes back dripping with sweat and has to down a litre of fluid on returning to the cockpit. The laundry bag is full again! On the other hand, the lighter airs mean that the seas have diminished and the boat’s motion improved. Better sleep is very welcome indeed, as we have a lot of catching up to. read more...

Emilija - 7th Dec

Would you believe it only 50 miles to go where we expect to arrive at about 1.00 am thurs morn By which time we will have gone from not a notion sailors to being ocean sailors. (Take note Aidan). When Brenda called her father (92) he asked would we be stopping off anywhere, another when told we were 2000 miles from Las Palmas and 1000 miles from St Lucia replied " a so you are out in the boat then". We decided to keep using the Swedish spinnaker(volvo) as the winds are too light although as we arrive in St Lucia they will pick up but it will only clear the bit of rain away. Mind you rain at 26 degrees is not bad.  The washing machine hasnt stopped all day in preperation for landing. The Emilija Tshirts ready to put on a good show even in the dark.  We will keep the log going. read more...

Ensemble - Day 18: 7 December 2011- Home stretch

Greetings from yacht Enesmble. It has been an interesting day - with a little something for everyone. The day started off with us being becalmed.The promised winds were supposed to start after midnight but didn't materialise.So at 10am we after 12 hours of no progress we decided to start the engines and motor a bit. Not before we all went for our Atlantic dip.The conversation started off with 'No way - it's too deep', and included a crew rendition of the Jaws music - but at the end of the day we thought that given we hadn't seen a decent size fish in days we were reasonably safe.The hot weather and warm water (29C and 21.2C respectively), mill pond surface of the ocean, all helped with the decision making process. Feeling refreshed we started the. read more...

Island Wanderer - Last night at sea. Day 17

Our last dawn at sea was spectacular, the best so far.    In the movies, we would then sail briskly towards our destination in thesteady trade winds, bathed in Caribbean sunlight, watching as the palm fringedbeaches beckoned and the sound of steel drums permeated the air.In reality we spent the entire day motoring through damp humid air, withthe sun  never managing to break through the dense cloud cover. Our arrivalwill be in the middle of the night, about 9 hours from now. We travel in companywith a small group of other boats that are all converging on Rodney Baytogether. Despite the weather, spirits are high as we eagerly anticipate our arrivaland we have spent the day readying the boat to spend at least part of a night ina marina. The highlight of the day was when Doug. read more...

Skiathos - daily log

Treue Leserschaft,   unser Transatlantikblog nähert sich dem Ende: wir sind gerade noch 195sm von Saint Lucia entfernt, landfall ist wohl Freitag früh - wir freuen uns schon auf den angekündigten Obstkorb und den Rumpunsch ;-) Es ist verteufelt und ich bin machtlos: irgendwie landen wir immer wieder bei kulinarischen Erlebnissen. Einfach unerklärlich...   Gestern haben wir das erste Mal das Schiff verlassen, heute früh gleich wieder. Der "große Weisse" und seine Kollegen haben nichts bemerkt, besser für uns. Dafür haben ein kingfish und ein uns unbekannter, karpfenähnlicher Kollege zumindest den mitgeschleppten Köder bemerkt und sind damit den üblichen Weg über das Filettierbrett in den Kühlschrank gewandert. Wir. read more...

Sookie - Day18 (Sixteen)

We have ducked down south today in an attempt to catch some homeward winds.  The boats we made ground on yesterday might det us back today as we are running into light winds.    We caught a Wahoo today (fish number three) on a homemade lure of old red spinney halyard and a piece of duck tape.  From Ocean to pan and table took about twenty minutes. Very tasty and meaty almost like chicken. We have not seen any boats today but as the winds were light we stopped off for an Atlantic swim.  We Have a few underwater pics.    The water was very warm and the most beautiful clear deep blue you could imagine.   At one time it looked like we might have made Friday night to St Lucia until the winds dropped so we are now hoping for Sat afternoon.. read more...

Raparee - days 17 & 18

Well folks, yesterday, Tuesday 17th, was a bit pooey to say the least. It rained, it poured, it blew, it stopped, we went backwards and sideways, but not forwards. Sails up and down again and clothes from foulies to shorts on and off again. Finally becalmed all evening, so after a few hours of angst (and we know what this skipper is like about angst)we sadly decided to bend on the iron topsail for a bit of chug-chugging. Megga penalty points at the end of course, but probably better than going backwards and meeting the back end of the fleet.  Anyways folks we put-putted for a few hours and stopped at ohcracksparrowfart this morning so we could drift a bit and ponder fings under Orions belt. Nothing in sight. No whales. No wind. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Other yachts have seen pirate. read more...

Adelante - Re: 2.Dezember 2011

Von Peter U. WyssAm 02.12.2011 um 18:08 schrieb Wyss Peter :> Liebe Freunde > ich melde mich wieder einmal von Bord der Adelante. In den letzten Tagen war das "Rocking and Rolling " einerseits zu heftig, um über längere Zeit eine Satellitenverbindung aufrecht zu erhalten, andererseits um auf dem i-Pad die richtigen Tasten zu treffen ! Auch diese Zeilen entstehen unter very challenging conditions, to say the least ! > Manche, die unser Fortkommen beobachten hatten festgestellt, dass wir im Feld nach hinten durchgereicht wurden. Die einfache Arntwort ist wie im Segeln üblich : Wir waren am falschen Ort und sind zu langsam gesegelt. Uns wurde von extern geraten eine nördliche Route zu wählen, um einem kräftigen Tief auszuweichen, das sich dann nie. read more...

Lone Star - 7 Dec - Final Log Enry

Sorry about the delay in providing a final log update on our Atlantic passage.Our passage time was 15 days, 18 hours, 42 minutes and 30 seconds.We had excellent weather for the crossing with most of the wind being of the traditional trade winds blowing from the east at speeds from 15 to 25 knots.When we encountered a squall the winds increased some, but the highest wind we encountered was only 35 knots.The double head sail system did an excellent job of spilling wind off the top during the gusts and all the crew except for one enjoyed the thrill of the higher winds and Lone Star surfing down the waves at speeds as high as 11.5 knots. The passage was not without incident.We encountered a number of issues with the boat, but were able to overcome each one.From what I have been able to pick. read more...

Cosmic Dancer V - Days 13-17 - Life without Harry

"Harry" has been missed more than we could ever have imagined - as the old saying goes - you don't realise how much you rely on something until you don't have it any more. It wasn't that we had used the autopilot that much in the first 1,000 miles of the trip - we had probably hand steered 950 of those miles anyway - but what we perhaps didn't fully appreciate at the time, was just how invaluable those short "autopilot assisted" breaks are when sailing 2 handed - the chance to pop below to make an occasionalcup of coffee, someone to steer whilst reefing or hoisting and lowering sails, or simply just a short 5 minute break from the relentless concentration needed when steering dead down wind in fresh winds and big seas for days on end. It would. read more...

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