Daily Logs

One Hull - Ned's Blog

04/12/11 Hi everybody,We made it (believe it or not) !!!!!! As we crossed the line, I took the time. We took a total time of 13 days, 22 hours, and 54 minutes. This was exactly one hour and 6 minutes inside a fortnight since we started in Las Palmas - seems like forever - "an ocean away". And when we docked, it was a "healthy" burger for me!! The final placing : We are 1st in our class, the 11th boat across the line, and  8th single-hulled boat! And the first children - "the fastest kids in the Atlantic"! So... "What was the best bit?" Surfing down waves with the spinnaker up at almost 15 knots in the middle of the night with millions of stars above our heads "What was the most exciting bit?" Sighting land for the first time in two weeks "What was the scariest bit?" Blowing out the. read more...

Meltemi - 6.12.

Was für ein super Segeltag! Die MELTEMI lief kurz nach Sonnenaufgang wieder, bei Winden um die 15-20Kn, unter Parasailor mit 7-8Kn. Eine absolute Wohltat statt sonst nur mit Groß zu fahren. Nach zwei Stunden bargen wir den Spi um unsere Reperatur am Beschlag zu begutachten. Fazit: Die Notreperatur haelt! Noch ein paar andere kleinere Reperaturen durchgeführt und schon stand der Spi nach 1,5 Std. wieder bis Sonnenuntergang. Bei solchen Bedingungen läuft die MELTEMI wie auf Schienen und macht wirklich Spaß! Tagsüber wird es jetzt immer heisser. Wir berichteten ja schon über die Sauna unter Deck. Zu dieser Zeit konnte man noch einigermassen in der Freiwache am Vormittag schlafen. Jetzt ist dies auch vergebens. Um 10 Uhr hatten wir schon 31 Grad unter. read more...

Angerona - Blogg day 16 by Gro

Today its monday, and Gro is writing.  The last days we have had just a light breeze and problems to catch the wind.It,s a little bit better today, but not much. Maybe it,s more realistic that we will arrive in Saint Lucia on Saturday or Sunday.The days are hot, and the nights too.  We are just wearing a shorts and a t-shirt during the nights.  It,s hard to go to sleep, and we are a little bit sleepy in the daytime. But, we are not complaining!  Suddenly the rain is pouring down.  The showers are coming quickly, sometimes in a few minutes. They are lasting for a few minutes, and then it,s sunny again.  To "read" these showers are not easy for beginners.  Sometimes they can bring strong winds, another time not. (But, I think we are learning) The. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 16 – Monday 5/12/11 - Ruminations

It all happened so gradually, nobody noticed. The galley gourmet had organised supplies to feed an army, the shore crew had participated in preparing sumptuous meals which filled the freezer and fridge as we left, the skipper had been sent to buy frozen magnums for the passage puddings, with strict instructions that they were to be the miniature ones, and no more than 3 packs of 10 for special occasions but through an odd “misunderstanding” had bought quite a lot more of the ones that are quite a lot bigger (and therefore became Martin’s hero for 5 minutes!). Everyone has been happy at the quality and the quantity of the food and drink. I will insert a small codicil here, because Martin has had to reduce his 3 breakfast cereal helpings a day to 1, since the bran flakes. read more...

Voahangy - Day 15 - Finally there!

It's been a frustrating last day: after 7 days of steady winds, our down hill run came to a halt when the breeze literally stopped. It actually started yesterday, and all the talk on the net revolved around who was going to be the first to turn the engine on approaching St Lucia. We finally admitted defeat today, when boat speed fell under 5 knots. It's not for lack of trying, we must have made 5 sail changes today, trying to catch whatever little breeze there was: gennaker up, main sail up, jibe this way, that way, we were heading towards Porto Rico at some point...then had enough, and decided to motor sail so we could at least get to St Lucia today. Under ARC rules, there is a penalty for motoring, though we won't know the extent of it. read more...

Ensemble - Day 16 - Monday 5th December: Manic Monday

Well the weather forecast isn't great - winds dropping to less than 10 knots and the direction changing every which way.The ARC forecast is more optimistic (15-29knts) - so we'll see who's right - hopefully the ARC! The winds have shifted from North Easterly to South Easterly and for the first time since leaving Las Palmas we have had to change sails from the Parasailor to the more traditional Jib and Main.Seas are flat and the breeze is between 12 and 18 knots - so good sailing. We have seen huge lines of intimidating squalls - both fore and aft - but so far have managed to thread the eye of the needle and got nothing more than a few drops. Fishing wise - things are getting better.We had a flying fish land on the deck today.Who knows - tomorrow we. read more...

Brizo - Crew blog - Day 16

This morning I woke up as usual to sounds of waves lapping two inches from my head in our forward berth as we power our way in to St Lucia. I then realise there is another hum reverberating through the hull as the engine is running so we are literally powering our way in. The wind has died as had been predicted and Stu cranked up the donkey in the middle of the night, so it looks like motoring all the way now.We’ve had a lovely day reading our books in the sun, a BBQ lunch with the obligatory beer in hand and a siesta after. As dusk approaches for our last night watch we find it hard to believe there is land out there fairly nearby after all this time at sea. We watched a large squall cloud form behind us this afternoon and monitored it on the radar to see if it would catch us. read more...

Brizo - WCC Log Day 16 – Monday 5th Dec: What a Difference a Day Makes (Stuart)

Frustrating night of heavy rain squalls, sudden high winds on the front that would veer around us from East to East South East to South sometimes so a full 90 degrees. For the night watches it means taking in sail and resetting sail plans, sometimes foredeck work. Pat and I do single watches at night and Pam and Craig together for a 1 hour longer watch – it’s odd but it works. Each of us knows our limitations so on occasions we may need additional assistance – if it can wait until the handover to do a more complex sail change then it waits so there are extra pairs of hands but in the case of squalls it has to be done immediately usually so it may mean ‘waking the off watch’.Working the foredeck alone at night can be a little unnerving if you stop and think. read more...

Island Wanderer - Day 15 16.35N 54.32W

Another night of squalls kept the crew occupied as squall after squall hit the boat from 9pm until midday today. As the crew came on watch they were greeted with black skies, variable winds and rain that could drench to the skin in seconds. Visibility was poor and the concentration required to keep going was considerable. On the up side, there was wind, which was expected to die by today, so although not the most pleasant of nights, progress was fairly swift. The female members of the crew finally managed to complete a night watch involving numerous reefs and other manoeuvres without a “helpful” male enquiring whether they “could manage on their own”! Would it be uncharitable to think the rain had something to do with this? The day continued overcast, hot, windy. read more...

BRIZO - Log day 16: Lew is into fishing

We had our best day yet fishing, landing 2 10-12 lb Mahi. All before lunch.As an additional treat, Lew filleted both. Hubs talked him through the first one, but he solo'd the second one.When I first suggested fishing, he was indifferent to the idea.I could bring the gear onboard, but he wasn't interested.After tasting fresh sashimi, filets and tacos, he has come around to the concept and I'm betting there will be lots of fish caught during the World ARC.He was so into it, he was asking for a beer after his solo filleting. So far this trip we've taken 4 Mahi, released 3 Mahi and 1 micro tuna.I'm hoping to take something other than Mahi this trip. CD. read more...

Kantara - 500 miles : 15.29.67N 54.24.83W

Hi All,   We cracked the 500 mile milestone at 5am this morning and celebrated by downing a bottle of champagne with our meal tonight.   The day started off well with an early Spinnaker hoist and had a great run until a squall spoiled the fun, but not before we managed to broach!   The squalls do not have have the intense winds we experienced a few days ago but certainly dump huge amounts of rain in a very short time. We now have just 387 miles left but the forecast wind for tomorrow and Weds is quite light so we are heading south to try to pick up better wind tomorrow.    If it can be described as routine we have definitely settled into one. The night watches are getting easier and we all grab sleep during the day whenever we can. The hardest. read more...

Skiathos - daily log

Liebe Leser,  Den zweiten Advent haben wir genauso verbracht, wie den ersten: wir waren segeln! Dabei wird es immer wärmer, selbst nachts ist kaum noch ein T-Shirt nötig. Dafür werden die Duschorgien häufiger und länger, unser fröhlicher Ingenieur aus dem Rheintal (der i.Ü. die publicity für einen Gruß an Annika und Annette nutzen möchte) hat inzwischen seinen "Duschomat" in der Version 2.0 fertig gestellt und arbeitet fieberhaft an dessen weiterer Verbesserung - zumindest bis zur nächsten Mahlzeit oder zum sundowner, also mindestens 15 Minuten am Stück! Erneut hat eine stattliche Dorade unsere Einladung zum Essen angenommen! Von ihrem letzten bis zu unserem ersten Biss dauerte es gerade mal eine Stunde -. read more...

Nyda - Day 16 - It's just too exciting!

Wow, from having a fairly non eventful few days we have had excitement overload today! It started off grey and overcast again after a miserable night with lots of rain but not a lot of wind. All the covers were up over the cockpit but even these weren't enough to keep whoever was on watch dry as the rain came in almost horizontal. I for one was wondering what on earth I was doing sitting in the dark, in the rain, at 4am in the middle of the Atlantic! As always things look much better in the daylight especially once the wind and our speed started to pick up again. Talking to the other yachts in our radio net group this morning it seems most of them experienced similar conditions so we aren't alone. The real excitement started after lunch, we had been fishing since mid morning but only. read more...

Flying Fish - "TCF" - Rückblicke - Ausblicke

"TCF": Neugierig und begeistert hören wir von unseren Reisebegleitern zuhause über das Fortkommen der ARC-Flotte und unsere Position bzw unser Ranking in der Flotte. Und da wird manchmal kopfschüttelnd (das glaube ich wahrzunehmen)  und manchmal ausdrücklich darauf verwiesen, dass Boote vor uns sind, im Ranking jedoch hinter uns und v.v. Das Geheimnis ist der "TCF" = time correction factor, eine geheimnisvolle Verhältniszahl, errechnet auf mir unbekannte und vielleicht nur deshalb mysteriöse Weise aus Schiffsdaten wie Gewicht, Länge üb alles, Segeltragezahl, Masthöhe, Lieklängen usw. Das soll die unterschiedlichen Boote und deren unterschiedlichen Segeleigenschaften vergleichbar machen bzw nivellieren.  So hat zB das Bootnr. 34,. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 16 - Swim Time

Current position "14:54.8N 53:54.2W”. No catches today – just a false alarm as weed got stuck around a lure. We’ve also had weed around the prop which was giving a vibration through the hull - we cleared by turning the engine on for about 60 seconds running forwards and in reverse. Otherwise we’re all getting tired of night watches – the wind is pretty benign at night so there’s little need to helm and still no boats in sight, so it’s an enormous struggle to keep one’s eyes open, seemingly for no reason. We sighted one other sail 30 mins ago – the first for two days, despite being only 420 nm away from St Lucia. We’re still heading slightly south of the direct course to St Lucia as the forecast is for a dead patch of wind. read more...

Twelve Moons - Report

Touch Down St.Lucia 15 Tage Prost 12Beers. read more...

Felicity J - Captain's Log Stardate 41153.7

Our destination is the island of Saint Lucia beyond which lies the great unexplored mass of the galaxy.  My orders are to examine 'Rodney Bay', a marina built there by the inhabitants of that island.  Meanwhile I am becoming better acquainted with my new command, this Dufour class 375 'Felicity J'.  I am still somewhat in awe of its size and complexity.  As for my crew we are short in several key positions most notably a first officer but I am informed that a highly experienced man, one Commander Alistair Mitchell will be waiting to join the ship at our Saint Lucia destination.. read more...

Engelen - Weblog Engelen no 15

We have set the clock: to be honest, our own clock. We are lost and "stuck into the middle" regarding our awareness of time between the GMT on Gran Canaria and the actual time on St Lucia. So, as being a small self support entity on this huge ocean with it's own rules, regulations, punishments, court, parliament etc we do need to have our own timetable as well. So we have set our time: it is Monday Dec 5th, 15:53. Back home my sons have received - I hope - some nice presents from Santa Klaus last night. But Thanksfully this old chap did not forget a tiny little boat on the Ocean. Don't ask me how but he have send us some chocolate and mices. Indeed, besides the cockroach we now have a whole bums of mice aboard. Mathew is not happy, but they tasted well. For this special day I have made a. read more...

Sapphire II - 5 November 2011, And, so it ends......

As we approach Saint Lucia, with 50 miles to run under Main and Genoa, on a beautiful sunny day, I have to admit to a vague sense of sadness. The adventure is nearly over. The passage has truly flown by and the 15 days we will have taken is a good deal less than we conservatively provisioned for. The freezer is still packed with pre-cooked meals which will keep for the Pacific voyage. Interestingly, we managed to keep fruits and veggies fresh until now, with the last of the iceberg lettuce part of today’s lunch. The crew are in a Caribbean state of mind. We move about the boat slowly and speak quietly. We have long since become a team, each person knowing what to do without prompting. This was ably demonstrated when we fished the second downwind sail out of the water within,. read more...

Mojomo - Mojomo and the Far Side of the Wet Blob

15:49N 55:18W at 19:15GMT BxWx forecast a Wet Blob several days ago, and this morning we set the ornery main and genoa ready for some soggy Weather ™.Nick and David loved it – proper UK-style sailing.Then we put up the gennaker as well and whizzed along at up to 10knots on a nice beam reach, and when the giant rainstorm turned up we put on Ride Of The Valkyries several times, loud. This time we got a proper hit, loads of rain and wind, solid speeds of 16 and 17knots for several minutes at a time, the whole thing lasting well over half an hour, 10nm nearer the waypoint in an hour. Now late in the afternoon we have main and genoa, about 7.5knot average, clearing sunnier skies and seas down exactly as Forecast ™. So, we’ll likely be in Rodney Bay when Sam tells us. read more...

Sapphire II - 4 December (amended) “No particular place to go”

Things would be fine if there was no particular place to go and no time constraints on when you would arrive there. Then you could do things very slowly and the temperature and humidity might register as pleasant. The rain clouds were to be seen on the radar all day but we only got a couple of downpours. The rest of the time we had slack winds. So, since we do have somewhere to go and we would like to get there sooner rather than later, we ran the engine for most of the day. So Sunday was a day of rest which we finished off in traditional fashion, around the table in the cockpit,  with roast beef and pumpkin and a glass of something special as our “treat”. From Annabelle to Nicole: “Tanti auguri mama cara, ci sentiamo domani al telefono! J’aimerai etre la. read more...

Zingara - 05/12/2011

Zingara auf reisen.Hallo ihr lieben daheim. Mein account vom sat phone ist aufgefuellt u so kan ich wieder berichten. Das ziel vor augen istnun bei allen gelassenheit eingekehrt. Wir treffen immer oefter auf squalls, aber die automatische bootswaesche ist gut! Es ist warm, 33grd auch nachts aber wir fuehlen uns wohl. Der wind laesst nach u so werden wir wohl am donnerstag morgen landfall haben. Euch geht s gut?. . Natuerlich und jenny unseren herzlichsten glueckwunsch zum geburtstag! Alles gute euch , die zingara crew.. read more...

Cochise - 5/12/2011

Day 16Becalmed We had another pleasant evening of sundowners and Glvgg with Isak and Sam playing Swedish carols. The evening also provided good fast sailing under grey clouds and the occassional deluge. At 5.00am this morning the wind completely switched off and we wallowed for 6 hours hardly moving an inch.By daylight the crew were on deck suffering from the heat and we eventually dropped sails and dived over the side into 4000m of water for a cooling swim around the boat. After a long debate, finally resolved by our frustration of staring at the same piece of seaweed for over an hour(!), we gave in and started the engine for a couple of hours. We now have just enough wind to fill the spinnaker and are close reaching at about 4kt, which is still not very exciting. We have also resolved. read more...

Annie - Log Day 15 by Pip

Graham is certainly keeping up standards on this little ship of his.  He actually changes his clothes before supper, which we have re-named "dinner" in his honour but maybe his Skipper's brain is begining to be addled by sun and piripiri sauce as he calculated that we had traveled 196 miles in the last 24 hours. If only! Even the flying fish seem to go faster than us. If Graham starts to behave as Alistair Buchan suggests in his tome "The Atlantic Sailor's Handbook" we will know that he has flipped. Buchan appears to suggest that the Skipper goes around the ship each day having a friendly word with the crew while checking up on them, if this happens it will be the dinghy for him and an even more bumpy rideSt Lucia. No, luckily Graham shows not. read more...

Babsea - Tag 16 - WAHOO

Gestern, am späten Nachmittag, haben wir bei ca. 6 Knoten Fahrt an der Schleppangel einen WAHOO (ca. 80 cm. lang) gefangen. Heute gab es daher "WAHOO am Zwiebelbett" und dazu eiskalten, spanischen Weisswein. Nach diesem kulinarischen Höhepunkt und einer kurzen Ruhepause gab es noch das tägliche "Adventgebäck", das uns Renate Panholzer selbst gebacken und nach Las Palmas mitgebracht hat. Schliesslich spielte die Bordkapelle (Babsi) noch Oldies auf der Gitarre. Unser Katamaran zieht wie auf Schienen seine Bahn mit 5-6 Knoten Speed bei leichtem (12 - 15 Knoten) Wind.  Wir haben nur noch ca. 650 SM bis zum Ziel in St. Lucia. Während andere Yachten auf Kurzwelle von der vergangenen Nacht viele Squalls bis hin zu "night wash" meldeten, hatten wir auf unserer. read more...

Spindrift of Jersey - Spindrift ARC Log - Day 15

Yesterday finished with very light winds and about 3 knots of boat speed. We were worried that the flogging spare genoa would suffer the same fate as the original and rip on the rigging so we took down all sail and motored until 0100 when the wind had been established for an hour and then hoisted all sail again. Of course, by 0230 the wind died but we hung on for an hour and it recovered. Since then we have been making steady progress and today have mostly been doing about 6 knots. The wind is so variable that sometimes it dies for 15 minutes then recovers to 20 knots for an hour then goes to 10 knots (just enough) for a while then....etc, etc. We also have had some showers with heavy rain and minor squalls which are usually accompanied by wind shifts and increasing/decreasing wind. But. read more...

Grateful Red - day 15

a sailors night - winds from drifter to 25 knots plus, we beat, reached and ran as the wind came from many directions.It drizzled, rained, poured and "we can't see because there is too much rain".Did a foul weather gear check and washed the boat at the same time still ...... averaged over six knots.After night of no stars nor moon but lots of rain sailing the off shift crew stepped to the plate - hot food!Noodles and burger never tasted so good. And today "here comes the sun"! ken ps packers 38 to 35.twelve and oh.. read more...

Foxy Lady - Log Day 15 - 5/12/11

Just when we were feeling assured of a trouble free voyage, disaster struck around 2.30am when Sam and Lucci were on watch and the Autopilot failed. We have all grown to rely on this device; you set your heading and the electro-hydraulics do the rest.Their watch diligence and awareness of a 'change in wind and conditions' saved the situation and avoided a  damaging gybe.They woke me immediately as the heading changed without proper control and my first instinct was to start engines and take the autopilot from 'wind vane mode' to 'auto'.Having regained the proper course I was alarmed that we continued to yaw and then realized that we had an autopilot issue. Go to 'Standby' ! The weather at the time was kind to us.It could have been a lot worse with a Force 7 running behind us and the. read more...

Chilli Chilli - Monday Blues? Nah

Hi all All going very well on Chilli, a few minor mishaps but nothing life threatening. Found that the freezer had been switched onto ‘fridge’ mode so all remaining meat had to be eaten asap. Not too much of a problem as we were getting to the bottom of the barrel anyway. Not surprisingly though, there is still just one more of Heston’s Lamb Tagine left. Strangely enough, the lads seemed quite delighted when it was put to them that we may have to resort to the Frey Bentos pies before we get to St Lucia.   We seem to have somehow used up all our tank water. Suspect Gorgeous George has been having secret midnight showers. No dramas, whilst counting up the amount of bottled water we have left we find another slab of beers so all's well that ends well.   A strange. read more...

Skyelark of London - Day 15, 5th December

At last another fish is caught, and landed, as I write. probably a Kingfish (type of mackerel) or a Wahoo, but whatever, it is LUNCH for the damp, hungry crew of Skyelark after a challenging sailing experience over the last day and night. We have had heavy rain and squalls in-between calms, so have been trying all tactics to keep wind in the sails to avoid resorting to the motor for as long as possible. A mast bracket for the vang was damaged by a crash gybeduring one squallmeaning a night-time sail change saw all hands on deck. Tom's experience of the apparent backward progress of the sea compared to the boat has abated (what's that all about?!) but we do seem to have very English grey skies around us now so who knows - maybe we are back in Blighty! Supper of cottage pie was therefore. read more...

Scarlet Oyster - We're here! 5/12/11

Morning all!!! Well, what can I say?! I have have had good and even great crossings before, but this one has just been in a league of its own!I am so proud of Jo, Prue, Darryl, Alex and Gillo, and of course the red bus herself! We have crossed the Atlantic with comfort, safety, at speed while having some of the best sailing that I can remember. Yesterday was one of the most stressful days sailing I can remember, with the wind threatening to switch off entirely while leaving us with the left over sea from a lot more wind before...But the final sail past the top of St Lucia into the finish was the icing on the cake as we averaged 9knots on a tight kite reach, the wind shut down for the finish did not matter, and having the shoot the line to clear the. read more...

Sapphire II - 4 December “No particular place to go”

Things would be fine if there was no particular place to go and no time constraints on when you would arrive there. Then you could do things very slowly and the temperature and humidity might register as pleasant. The rain clouds were to be seen on the radar all day but we only got a couple of downpours. The rest of the time we had slack winds. So, since we do have somewhere to go and we would like to get there sooner rather than later, we ran the engine for most of the day. So Sunday was a day of rest which we finished off in traditional fashion, around the table in the cockpit,  with roast beef and pumpkin and a glass of something special as our “treat”.. read more...

Foxy Lady - Day 14 - 4/12/11

Subject: Foxy Lady Day 14 - 4/12/112 weeks at sea; no big dramas. Only 2 days to go. What can go wrong in that time?I woke this morning to excited shouts on deck:  another yacht - Luna Bay  in sight!  David (Wildpig) was immediately on the VHF radio, anxious to break the radio silence experienced over the last week at sea.David:  "Luna Bay, Lunar Bay - this is Foxy Lady, Foxy Lady good morning!" No response. Foxy Lady Crew to David: 'Maybe they are German David - try speaking in German' David: "Luna Bay, Lunar Bay - achtung, Foxy Lady, Foxy Lady guten morgan!" No response. Crew: 'Try your French David' David: "Luna Bay, Luna Bay - zis iz Foxy Lady, Foxy Lady, Allo, Allo, Allo!" Response: "Good morning Foxy Lady, this is Luna Bay"so Wildpig's Rosetta Stone lessons have. read more...

Sibilation - Day 15

We’re now into day 16, with only a few more days to go.  Looking at the forecast, it’s going to be hard to get through these next few days without using the engine, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.   Nothing much else to report from ‘Sibilation’ today.  It’s very hot....  water temperature alone is 30° C.  Don’t know what the air temperature is but it’s seriously hot.  Good job I packed those 6 pairs of ski socks... thermals... boots......   Jeff   Current position at 1540 UT:  N 14°42.5  W 51°48.8      . read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 16 Continued

10 Reasons why we like Force 1 (1-3 knot) winds mid Atlantic (every cloud has a silver lining but do any have any wind)   1/. We finally get a chance to fish without trawling at 9 knots. 2/. Taking sextant sun sights is really easy as the boat and horizon are not jumping up an down in opposite directions 3/. Plotting sun sights does not involve the error of the run between sights as you have not gone anywhere! 4/. The crew can rest/catch up on sleep 5/. If you are in your bunk you don't get flung from one side to the other every 12 seconds 6/. Cooking no longer takes place at 45 degrees 7/. The kite trimmer does not require a grinder 8/. There is no weather helm 9/. The leg of ham hangs stationary in the middle of the saloon and instead of assaulting anyone who. read more...

Butterfly - Monday Day 15

Mark: Sunday was one of those days where the wind blew old boots, the rain was truly tropical and horizontal and any sunshine was missing from the sky, could have been in the Solent! Somehow Rob managed to cook roast lamb with Roast spuds, amazing!! but then it was Sunday. Crib with Mike was suspended due to the risk of getting the cards wet. Kenny, Simon and Lee have been taking lessons in how to start a Yanmar engine and all passed the test at last! Hope to be in St. Lucia soon. Love to all Mark   Mike: 200 miles to go, the wind has dropped and the sun is back out, this is more like what we expected from the Caribbean. The whole trip has been made with little assistance from the engine, now with hardly any wind we have been using the engine, only problem, that is was not working,. read more...

Bandido - Log day 16

Hi everyone, We reached the half-way point last night, all is well aboard Bandido, we have had some great sailing with the cruising chute over the last few days, yesterday we went through the tail end of a cold front so we dropped the cruising chute and used normal sails, it was very overcast and humid, the wind had picked up a little and the cross seas were a bit uncomfortable for a while, but the seas soon settled out so it was time for the cruising chute again, we are certainly getting well drilled in using the chute. We tried our hand at fishing again yesterday, we had two takes both mahi-mahi but only small and they both dropped back into the sea as they were about to be landed. We are getting a little low of fish in the freezer so need to stock up soon to keep Gus going on the BBQ. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 14

Well Phillip's Mahi Mahi BBQ last night tasted beautiful and we also enjoyed a beer to celebrate the 2000 NM mark :) We even had enough fish for lunch today as well. This morning was a beautiful clear sky and we were all starting to feeling good about being in Saint Lucia soon, the water is now 18.2 degrees and the air 30 degrees. Funnily we again spotted Fry Flyt as they passed within a mile of our stern. This afternoon though was very humid and sticky and the windy slowly dying… shame the forecast is now for light winds tomorrow, there goes our Wednesday arrival. We needed to average over 7kts and as I write this (it's 7am Monday - end of my watch) we're down to 5.5kts :( One of our lifetags has died (electronic bracelet we wear that alarms if we go over a certain distance from. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 15

The wind is back, almost… currently we're reaching (sailing across the wind) in 15kts and doing about 7.5kts which may just get us in on Wed 7th before sunset. We certainly lost time overnight with some averages around 5kts so we're all looking forward to downloading a new weather forecast today to see whether we'll make it or not. The idea of arriving in the dark doesn't impress us but there's not much we can do about that! Hopefully too as we approach Saint Lucia we'll start seeing more yachts we as all converge on one place again. We can see one yacht this morning but nothing else since Fry Flyt yesterday. Just as I type this the nearby yacht called us on the radio, it was La Chunga II. Nice how everyone calls to say hi :). read more...

Paraty - Tag 15 / noch 415 nm bis zur Suesswasserdusche...

Ein geradezu aktiver Tag liegt hinter uns. Unser Ehrgeiz ist erwacht am 7.12. anzukommen. Und so mussten wir auf nachlassende Winde reagieren, die Kaffeetasse aus der Hand stellen und den Spinnaker setzen. Eine sehr gute Entscheidung, denn mit durchschnittlich ca. 7 Knoten konnten wir in der Nacht einige Seemeilen gutmachen. Gegen Abend tauchten auf dem Radar wieder mehrere Squalls auf und fuer einige Zeit sah es so aus, als ob diese sich unmittelbar hinter unserem Schiff zu etwas groesserem vereinigen wuerden. Andre hat sich jedoch nicht aus der Ruhe bringen lassen, denn er war gerade damit beschaeftigt eine Playlist fuer den Abend zu erstellen. Den beiden Squalls backbord und steuerbord achteraus sind wir durch abfallen und anschliessendem anlufen ausgewichen und so streifen sie uns. read more...

Aniara II - Dec. 5

5 December 14.00 (local Aniara time) Another giant (15 kg) mackerel was caught yesterday. The fishing rod is now locked in and safely stored in our safe since we have almost a whole pig to eat. A few single oranges and apples left, from tomorrow we have to test our canned fruit. Last night spent in low speed since the wind disappeared but the gennaker is still proudly up due to strong Tesa-tape and smart foredeck-work. Fantastic weather today, sunny, more than 30 degrees in the sun and 28 degrees in the water. Lucky us!. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 16

Last night Ivan and I came on  watch at 0200 to experience the best rain shower yet, in seconds we were dripping in fresh water and the torrential downpour lasted for about 20 minutes, as always however we did not know how long it would last and dared not lather up with shower gel for fear that the rain might stop any second, leaving us covered in soap but with no way to rinse off. Winds throughout the night were shifty resulting in spinnaker up, spinnaker down, spinnaker up, gybe, gybe, gybe, spinnaker down, pole out headsail, gybe, and so on. On that point the blue ocean spinnaker that was resurrected by the sweat shop a few days ago came back out to play yesterday. We hoisted it carefully and all watched with bated breath as it first filled with wind. Everyone thought's were. read more...

EH01 - LOG DAY 15 - Happy Birthday Wing Commander

'.....There we were, sailing accross the Atlantic.....' Today is Wing Commander Birds 63rd birthday, so Happy Birthday Birdie! What a glorious day you have for it too; the skies have cleared up, sun's well and truly out, its stonkingly hot and we are sailing towards St Lucia.It has to be said quite slowly as the wind is very light so VMG is about 3.9kts but at least we are going in the right direction. (VMG is velocity made good and roughly translated indicates how fast you go in the right direction bearing in mind this aint always possible given the nature of wind direction, points of sail etc) Apart from that nothing to report as of yet today, it being only 0845 ships time, thats1245 GMT for you lot back in good old Blighty.GMT is of course Greanwich Mean Time and the home of world. read more...

Lancelot II - Day 15

Lancelot 2' at sea,14'15.0N 57'09.4W 5th December 2011 1300 UTC Speed ? 1-3 knotsWind ? Variable 2-5 knots A very frustrating 24 hours has past, we are sat 220 miles from St Lucia and those lovely cold Rum Punches and beers and we are sat in very little or no wind. We have managed to make around 30 miles in the last 12 hours and the current ETA is showing us arriving at some time around Christmas! This of course will change, (we hope!! :- )  A weather download will be done as this e-mail is sent out and hopefully some wind will be forecast.Because of no wind we have had a very relaxing time last night, there was no wind at all at times so the wheel was lashed of with Lancelot II pointing in the right direction, and a lot of sleep was had by all the crew. The. read more...

Endo 2 - 15. Seetag

In der Nacht hat es ordentlich geregnet und auch seit heute wissen wir, was tropischer Regen ist. Der grosse vorteil, das Schiff ist wieder sauber und die scheiben vom Salz befreit. Nun, die Sonne hat sich auch noch recht gnädig gezeigt und alles getrocknet.  Unsere tägliche deutschsprachige Funkrunde hat bei unserem Skipper den Ergeiz geweckt. In der Runde wurde nämlich über die Längen der gefangenen Fische debattiert. Nun wir habenbisher von den Einkäufen in Las Palmas gelebt und noch keine Angelversuche gestartet - so aber heute... und siehe da, eine 82 cm lange Goldmakrele konnte dem Köder nicht widerstehen und wandert nun in unseren Magen.  Leider haben wir auch einen Verlust zu melden; unsere Solardusche hat ohne ein Wort des Abschieds. read more...

Twelve Moons - Report

die stinkenden Geschöpfe rasieren und waschen sich. Land in Sicht, 36 sm zum Nordeck.. read more...

Lancelot - Day 15 - Sunshine and steady Breeze???????????

Morning AllThis morning finds us moving again after a very wet and changeable night.  During the course of the night we have had a number of squalls pass through delivering numerous unwelcome showers. We now have a new rule onboard that we don't mind the rain if it brings wind but rain without wind is just unsociable!! We also found ourselves sailing almost every point of the compass from due south to due north at times just to keep the boat moving in the squalls! The wind has swung round to the south and we are now reaching towards St Lucia, the boat is now heeled over at about 40 degrees but at least it is fairly stable after the rolly conditions of poled out downwind sailing. Our ETA is still undecided as we are expecting the wind to go light on. read more...

Glass Slipper - 5 Dec 2011

Monday, 5 December 2011 Yesterday we celebrated our midway point to St Lucia. Ben our first mate from Gibraltar took over the galley. It was wonderful – he’s a wonderful cook, but he far prefers being a sailor. At our noon meal we were treated to Cottage Pie – it reminded me of being back in a pub in England. Later in the afternoon – at tea time – we were treated to a special pudding made by Tarryn. The recipe is her mother’s and it was wonderful. It really hit the spot. Shortly afterward we had our evening snack. Ben made a delicious Spanish Omelet, along with Spanish ham, and various cheeses. We ate a lot more than normal yesterday – it was blended with good stories and lots of good laughter.   We think we are now about 10 to 11 days out. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 15 - better

In the words of the song "what a difference a day makes"... after yesterday's blog the wind piped up and came round to the south east which let us broad reach at 7 kts towards St Lucia. This is a much better course for us and lets Saltwhistle really romp along - another 150 miler done. Rach got the surfing record at 10 kts. We held the wind and direction overnight and made good progress - currently have 760 miles to go which means Saturday jazz in Rodney Bay becomes viable again. Alas for Matilda we seem to have retaken the lead by 7 miles despite them flying their parasailor all night yesterday. We had another close encounter with a whale yesterday; a 4-5m brown whale swam alongside the boat for a while just checking us out. Only 1 flying fish so far. Rach's turtle sighting was. read more...

Engelen - Day 14

We're getting closer.Each day we check how many miles are left and the number is dwindling quickly - 1000, 840, 720.We look at how many miles we think we can make each day, do a simple division, and, voila, imagine ourselves arriving in St. Lucia Friday at noon, maybe in the morning, maybe even early enough for a beer on Thursday before a long long sleep. We're excited.Excited about the cold rum punch that is supposed to be waiting for us on the docks when we tie off our lines; excited about a freshwater shower; excited about eating anything besides the cabbage, pasta and canned tuna that is left on the boat.Fantasies about what we'll eat and drink first occupy lots of our thoughts during the hours at the wheel.  But, we're a little trepidatious about our trip ending soon too.After. read more...

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