Daily Logs

Cochise

Day 7 Whale!Actually two whales - we had a pair of 3m pilot whales swimming alongside the cockpit for a few minutes this morning - fantastic! Our first flying fish came aboard and hit Sam on the left hand whilst he was steering -although he claims to have seen it coming and hit it with a left hook. Either way it ended up a scaley mess in the steering wheel trough, and was difficult to get out!Fishing has not gone well - several have got away, and one of a pair of birds that were eyeing up our lure snagged itself on the line and was dragged behind for a few miles until we eventally freed it. They both flew off - hopefully happily ever after!Sailing has been mixed. Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon have seen some lighter winds, but in the night and this morning we have had 14-18kts. read more...

Halcyon of Hebe - Day 6 blog

Pos 19:54N 27:52W Day 6, not quite a week under way Bit of a wild life tour today with bigger dolphins, darker and less twitchy than the previous lot, and a whale. The whale was bigger than the several dolphins and flying fish we've seen combined. It was even bigger than Rob.Flying fish aren't as big as you might have thought, if you thought flying fish we the size of a large battered plaice. They flap their fins(?) fast, which, if you expected them to rely on gliding after gaining speed in the water prior to launch, is quite surprising. It is like watching a rather desperate young bird try to slow its plummet to the sea. A little more evolution and you might get the reverse of a dolphin, that is, an animal that lives in the air but dips its head in water to breath. If they got really. read more...

Island Wander - Saturday Day 7 - 19:52N, 29:35W - Friday night was movie night!

Most of the time one day is like another on board Island Wanderer; there is no distinction between weekdays and weekends since the same tasks have to be completed every day. However Friday night was celebrated in style: After narrowly missing out on victory in the first round of the Friday night pub quiz (hosted by one boat over the SSB radio), through lack of knowledge of the actors in the film ‘Jaws’, we cheered ourselves up by hosting a late night sail-in movie; We sat under the stars making reasonable headway watching Die Hard projected onto the mainsail!   Other than that the past 24 hours has been a little slow and mundane due to a lack of wind. The washing has been done – the boat is currently dressed overall with completely unrecognisable flags, a sight not. read more...

Kantara - Ian and the flying fish

Ian was beginning to think that we were all making up our sightings of flocks/shoals of flying fish but he has finally seen some for himself. They are amazing creatures and can skim for several hundred meters just above the surface. Next challenge are jumping crabs and leaping lobsters which Ian has still not been able to spot!   Fairly uneventful day on the high seas with fairly moderate winds but very clear skies. We did take three attempts to get the spinnaker up this morning which was not a great start but quickly sorted everything out and sat down to a good cup of tea and scrambled egg with smoked salmon to recover. Drug the night Joe, Mike and Jason all saw a pod of dolphins which were lit up by the phosphorescence and looked like tracer missiles darting round the. read more...

Grateful Red - day four - thanksgiving

Always like the last night shift, see the milky way and the sun rise. sailors have been doing the same for millenniums. never changes. today was beautiful but soon after sunrise the crew felt that five knots was too slow and the big dog spinnaker was needed. up to the foredeck not to bed - lines, poles and sails. Wasn't the classic toss but the spinnaker was up and so was my blood pressure. after a few icy cold beers the pressure was down, eggs were served and we were sailing seven plus. gliding across the water with a full chute and time to relax. day of spinnaker sailing soon to be followed by wine and thanksgiving dinner.A five star sailing day.Go pack go!Ken. read more...

Elisa - Dag 5: Minder wind en meer mail

Vandaag kenmerkte zich door een zeer rustige vaart, grote ontspanning en uitgelaten vrolijkheid. Het eerste werd veroorzaakt door een terugval in windsterkte, zodat we prettig voort gingen glijden in plaats van snel maar wat onrustig te stuiven. Nadat de ruimende wind ons motiveerde om te gijpen, nam de wind af tot een knoopje of 10 en gingen we van downwind meer reachend varen om meer schijnbare wind te pakken. Het grootzeil werd daarom uitgedraaid en de Parasailor meer dwars gezet. Hierdoor lag de boot heel rustig en konden we bij een snelheid tussen de 6 en 7 knopen heerlijk op het dek vertoeven met boekjes, praatjes, drankjes en soms zelf met de oogjes toe. Er werd door Oscar en Jeroen uitgebreid gepoedeld op het achterdek, waarvan de oudere garde per sé bewijs op foto en film. read more...

Grateful Red - day six

Beautiful day for spinnaker sailing. Just marking off the miles looking for the mythical way point of where to turn west. A 1500's crossing from london to New york - before the winning of the queen of england clock challenge of - Sail from london to Jamaica and back and have the time within a minute of Big Ben. hard to know where you are if you can't tell the time. without time the old sailors blew by the canaries - turn too soon doldrums, turn too late might not have enough food and water. So much easier with my GPS. Always amazed that the boats from 1500 and 1600 made the crossing.Our mythical way point was 25 north and 27.5 west and we are past. starting to look west - next point is 17.5 north and 30 degrees west on the GPS Should be at at least a couple of days but we have the. read more...

Ninfea - Six Days at Sea

.hmmessage P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt } Ninfea daily log – November 26 Six days at seaTime flies. We have already six days at sea and are slowly turning into a seasoned crew. We certainly had many opportunities to test our endurance, with daily changing of sails, with the dreaded gennakers taking their toll on the crew. Down this, up that, back to standard sails and here we are again with a gennaker. This was due to a low pressure that crossed our path and made for a couple of difficult days and  nights, with winds going up and down (more down than up!) like a yo yo. Now the low seems to be leaving on a slow path to NW, the skies have cleared and the wind. read more...

Challenger 4 - Blog 30th November 2011

Challenger 4 Blog 30th November 2011"We now have less than 1000 nautical miles to go" was the primary message at the Skipper's lunchtime briefing earlier today. With each passing day, another milestone closer to the finish line and whilst some amongst our crew will doubtless be pleased to be rid of the difficult conditions aboard this sturdy vessel, I am of the majority who is facing the impending end of this amazing journey with some dread. The constant buffeting, the ever increasing temperatures below decks that is making sleeping extremely difficult, the 3 on, 6 off watch system, the toileting procedure which resembles (but is more vivid than) that of some Greek island holiday apartment, every 5th day that each of us spend on Mother watch - none of these things can detract from the. read more...

Emilija - Emilija DAY 5

.hmmessage P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt }All very well here can not still believe we are really doing this. Everyone in good form and getting use to the 3 hour on 6 hours off watch. By the time this is over we will all be expert at sleeping at the drop of a hat. Got bodies and clothes washed... never thought we would be so excitited by a shower. Lots of water and large waves so it is great when we see another boat. This morning we saw a large Catamaran at off the stern they passed us on our port side and they were out of sight in about 3 hours. The wind suited them better than us. At 12noon we put up the twin head sails this helped us a lot and we increased our speed. read more...

Annie - Log Day 7 by Graham

The Skipper has been under some pressure to write today's log /blog having been sunning himself on the foredeck yesterday afternoon and contemplating the bow wave instead of contributing to the message that was sent.As things turned out relaxing was a good move yesterday afternoon as we had a busy night! First with half a dozen mini squalls alternating with lulls in the wind, with which the Hydrovane was unable to cope, followed by a rising wind to F7+, requiring 3 reefs in the mainsail. Fortunately, the wind is pushing us more or less in the right direction.At least we had time earlier in the evening to celebrate our crossing of the Tropic of Cancer with gin and tonics plus one of Peter's special Spanish omelettes!. read more...

Aniara II - Nov. 26

26  November (15.00 local time) At last, we are sailing with our genacker! We all pray that the new block will resist the forces developed by this sail. The weather is great, sunny and moderate winds (5-7 m/s) and we log around 7 knots. We got 15-20 new playmates today when a gang of dolphins raced with us. The dolphins won! We are approaching Lat. 20N and the water temperature is continuously going up (is now 24,5 degrees). We are still good friends onboard, especially after that one of us washed his feet, and some strange smells disappeared. We have now less than 2000 NM to St. Lucia, so it´s soon time to watch out for our finish.. read more...

Paraty - TAG 6 - 879 Seemeilen....Pech....Gennaker aufgeblasen.....

Fast eine Woche unterwegs, noch 1-2 Tage bis zum Tradewinds. Gestern haben wir typisches Gennakerwetter gehabt. 10-12 Knoten wind, dann auf einmal unerwartet 16-20 Knoten Windböe, .....Gennaker komplett gerissen. Wir haben zum Glueck noch reichlich Ersatzsegel an Bord, so dass es uns nicht umbringen wird.  Gestern sind wir leider auf Platz 99 zurueckgefallen....   Heute ist das Wetter perfekt, warm viel Sonne aber leider nur 10-15 kn Wind. Wir haben das Schiff gereinigt und legen jetzt einen Waeschegang ein fuer Kleider und Bemannung....   Heute den ersten fliegenden Fisch an Bord...zu klein um zu essen...   Jetzt gegen 13:30h laesst der Wind nach auf 8-10KN, wir sehen ueber das AIS, dass ein Nachbarboot von 46ft schneller segelt...vielleicht mit Gennaker..... read more...

Foxy Lady - Log Day 6

We have lost our decent wind so have been using the engine to keep a 7 knot pace whilst it also charges our batteries. We are near a latitude of 20 degrees north now so it is starting to get hot. We spent some time lazing on the deck and trampoline area yesterday where it is quiet apart from the bow wave cutting through the waves. Sea temperature is 27C. In these light winds we may stop the engine and park up for a while having a warm swim with the knowledge that there are 4 miles of ocean beneath us.Brendan had a flying fish fly through his hatch window early this morning and land on his feet. He woke with a start and fought it gallantly as it took off flying round his cabin! Eventually it was released back to the ocean.Sam and Lucci are "Mother" again today and have just served up. read more...

Jacana of Ardmay - 25/11/11

Hi Everyone,   Weather more cloudy today and no sightings of sea life. We put the clocks back 2 hours today to keep us on track, so it has been a long day. Cruising shoot had a little exposure today, however to keep the wind in the sail sent us off in the wrong direction so it had to come down, maybe tomorrow! Wonderful sunset tonight and scrummy dinner of chicken wrapped in Parma ham with leeks, prepared by Margaret, so go is the food the skipper reckons it feels like we are on cruise ship!!! We are hoping to be at our first waypoint on Sunday.   Hope all is well back home!   Team Jacana        . read more...

Glass Slipper - Glass Slipper Blog

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Glass Slipper - Saturday, November 26, 2011

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Northern Child - Daily log #6 - 26th Nov

Daily Run towards St Lucia - 157nmDaily Logged Miles - 165nmDistance to Go - 1757nmLunch - Spicy Rice Salad with Crab and Salmon prepared by NeilHappy Hour - Beer with Palma Ham and Manchego CheeseWind - 8 - 15 knots from the E to ENELast night we took part in the ARC pub quiz organised via the ARC net. Northern Child with its collection of highly intelligent and cerebral crew won the quiz by 4 points. We were the only yacht to answer correctly that a day signal for a vessel constrained by its draft is a cylinder. The other yachts participating were Time Bandit who hosted the quiz, Skylark and Island Wanderer. Another crew change at 2200. It was a beautiful star filled night with a 14knot breeze. Chris's father is on Lancelot II, so with Chris on the helm we were in hot pursuit for most. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 7

Its 1300 and the heroes are on watch. We have been heading SW all day and all night, slowly getting closer to the magic point where we turn right and head for the Caribbean. It is now 2 weeks since we left home in the UK, and 6 days since we crossed the ARC start line, we have sailed over one thousand miles and seen only one other boat in the last two days. The yacht we were chasing 2 nights ago turned out to be a Dutch yacht, Elisa, we exchanged a few words with them on the VHF before diverging further South than them.   The plan had been to head down to Latitude 20N. Now that we are there I am concerned about a light patch of wind further West on this latitude and we will continue further South West towards 19N. Coupled with this forecast, the wind direction. read more...

Great Escape of Southampton - Day 7, Probably.

Another day in paradise. Today is hot and the forecast is scorchio as it was yesterday and will be tomorrow and so on. More importantly the wind is generally light and a constant change of direction gets the crew on this mighty efficient ship up and down the foredeck looking after our speed. I understand that our overall performance within the fleet is quite good and better still within our class, or say we’re told. Obviously our collective former dinghy sailing skills are coming into play as we trim the kite, check for wind shifts and generally do what we’re told by Boss.There was a suggestion that we have a competition with those yachts willing to participate for the best joke which is able to be broadcast on the airwaves. The problem that G E has is that after a week on. read more...

Capraia III - Fishing Triumph!

We have had several close contacts / fishing attacks. We have lost a few, but we have been able to get three Dorado's on board. A small one, 5 kg, a medium size 9kg and the really big brother, 23 kg (se picture).There will be more fishing reports from Capraia in a while as the crew has given the captain (me) order to stop fishing, it slows down the boat to fight a 23 kg for a short hour and the freezer is full (-:Surprise, surprise, it will be fishing stue (Asian style) for dinner today (-:m_IMG_4328. read more...

Sapphire II - 25 November Wind! What wind?

Our position, overall, seems to be improving. Boats further South report better wind so we will endeavour to increase the Southerly component in our vector to see if we can pick up some of the action.We ate the turkey leftovers at lunchtime. Sometimes the second day is even better because you have less anxiety and there's more informality.We put out the fishing line again but, once again, the sea refused to add to our bounty.We packed the Parasailor into its sailbag and stowed it away in the sail locker and flew the MPS. What a beautiful sight. I never realised red sails in the sunset were to be enjoyed from on board. Right up until sunset it was a pleasant day for sunbathing.A relatively uneventful day that came in like a lamb, left like a lion. The combination of main and MPS was. read more...

Lancelot II - Blog day 6

Lancelot II blog Saturday, Nov 26th, 2011 'Lancelot II' @ sea 18.52 N ; 31.11 W Heading 230 ; Wind 12-15 knots   Hakkame lahenema passaat tuulte voondilie, mis algab umbes 18 kraadi pohjapikkuse juurest. Valjas on juba margata esimesi vaikeseid puhvis pilvekesi, mis peaksid selle voondi tunnuseks olema. Ohk on selgelt soemaks lainud, ning peaval on juba liiga palju paikest, et kogu aeg tekil jaksaks olla. Tundub, et sooja voib olla oma 30 kraadi, kuigi tuul leevendab seda natuke. Suhteliselt korge temperatuur aurustab aga piisavalt palju vett, mille tulemusel on ood olnud paris pilvised ning seetottu paris pimedad, mis teevad oised vahetused paris ebameelidivaks, samas kui paeva jooksul optimism jallegi taastub.   Reis on paris pikk ja teatud sarnasuses meenuvad trans-siberi. read more...

Porto Santo - Porto Santo 26/11

E continuamos rumo ao Mindelo, vento moderado na alheta de estibordo, mar calmo, como nas descidas para o Algarve com o mesmo vento. Ontem esteve um dia estranho,fomos apanhados por uma espécie de frente fria que nos acompanhou até á madrugada de hoje, com vento forte, frio(para esta latitude), céu encoberto, nem abrimos a capota. Hoje temos nuvens dispersas que encobrem o sol com frequencia,mas a temperatura subiu.Já vimos peixes voadores e golfinhos. Amanhã as noticias já serão do Mindelo. read more...

Clearlake II - Day 7 - First Squall

Current position "19:49.4N 29:15.3W”. Too much to talk about yesterday. The day started with various spinnaker challenges – resulting in it needing to be repacked down below deck. The wind and weather steadily improved, as did Graham’s sextant work, with a fix only 1.8 nm from where our friends the satellites position us. Then the daily shower routine – starts with sea water, buckets thereof, and then a sparing amount of fresh water, just enough to make the soap work and be able to rinse off – but otherwise all must be preserved! We’ve been doing well with water consumption with good conservation (we use sea water for everything we can, including cooking), resulting in the water-maker keeping us filled all the time. Electricity is another matter, and. read more...

Adelante - Ein Tag im Passat

Liebe FreundeErst einmal vielen Dank für die vielen Rückmeldungen und die Ratschläge für den Einsatz des Spibaumbeschlagsriert. Die Foto zeigt die "Reparatur", die jetzt seit 3 Tagen hält.Unsere Tage sind fest strukturiert. Wir haben zwei feste Wachen à 3, Beat, Peter und ich bilden die eine, Georg, Laszlo und Giovanni die andere Gruppe. In der Nacht schieben wir 4 Wachen à 3 Stunden von 2100 bis 0900 Uhr. Die zweite Wache, die um Mitternacht aus dem Tiefschlaf gerissen wird finde ich die härtere, obwohl sie dann am Morgen um 8 Uhr in den Genuss des Sonnenaufgangs kommt. Am Tag ergibt sich immer eine freie Ordnung.Von allen Crewmitgliedern will ich niemand ausser Giovanni hervorheben.Er stammt aus Trapani und wird von Beat schon seit. read more...

Elphin II - Day Six

Hi Everybody Well we have survived the first six days and are settling down into some form of routine of little sleep, eating and maintenance work which appears never ending, with chaffe to ropes and sheets been the biggest issues. All previous injuries are on the mend so all crew are fit and healthy helped of course by superb cuisine served up every day. Last nights dinner was enhanced with a starter of Dorado the first fish caught on the trip by Tim, have had a couple of other bites but they got away. For those of you following us on the tracker will notice our position improving day by day, this is a result of us following the wind and not a set course. A lot of boats that headed west early are now in an area of no wind so hopefully are position should improve further. Most of the. read more...

Ula - Log Day 6 Using the Engine ;-(

P { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.21cm }Day 6 Using the Engine :-(Much to the disappointment of the many crew without a return flight booked, we had to use the motor to maintain a respectable boat speed last night. Judging by the other yachts that contribute to the SSB net, I guess this was a common complaint amongst the other yachts. I am excited to say (excitement has a new meaning when the next major sail change will involve a gybe in 3 to 4 days) that we have just emptied the bin for the first time; in 6 days! A strict regime from the galley has seen that anything that can be made smaller will be made smaller. Please note, that despite an assumption from a certain reporter prior to departure, we are not throwing plastic bottles over the side. Shame on those that do. In fact the callouses on all. read more...

Engelen - Day 6 - no fish but spinnaker flying!

Well, after Andy caught probably the smallest Mahi Mahi in the entire Atlantic Ocean, our fishing performance declined even farther. We couldn't even keep a 20cm minnow on the hook. We did dine on fish last night - frozen fillets from El Corte Ingles in Las Palmas. Today has started nicely for sailing, though. Frustrated with low winds, we dug an ancient spinnaker that has lived in the bowels of Engelen for probably decades. It clearly hasn't seen the light of day for many years and its 1980s color scheme of orange, purple, red and five other colors led Roel to break out in a nostalgic chorus of Abba songs as he relived his youth. (Of course, we had to explain to the youngsters on board who Abba was. What has happened to cultural eduction?)Flying at seven knots with the chute flying in. read more...

Ula - Log Day 5 Fish - for real!

P { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.21cm }Day 5 Fish – for real! Finally, our monster lure landed us a beaut. Well, I have to say that the fish we caught must have been really hungry, or just a bit greedy. It only just outweighted the lure. Still, fresh panfried dorado as a snack before lunch is a real treat.Its slowly getting warmer, with many of the crew resolutely wearing shorts at night, albeit with a jacket. With the wind down today, we were able to tackle that long list of defects that normally attribute themselves to yachts. Much head scratching, and a new wire means we now know how much water is in our stbd tank. However thanks to the frugality of the crew, we have not needed to touch this tank, using and refilling the port one every two days has proven to be more than ample.Paul McMorris. read more...

Sibilation - Day 6

It is hot, hot, hot today!   We ended yesterday with the best evening so far. Spinnaker flying well, Rodney taking the helm, some background tunes coming from the cockpit speaker, meatballs for dinner, a glorious sunset and surrounded by dolphins....It doesn’t get much better! We also then had a fairly relaxing night. The wind dropped off but the sky was quite menacing with some potential squalls around.  Nick was on first light watch this morning (6-9am) and Jeff and I were warned that the first to stir would be on deck getting the kite back up. I made the mistake of shifting slightly in my sleeping bag just before sunrise and was immediately called up (in pyjamas) to assist with the hoist! Jeff appeared a while later just as we’d got it sorted! Since then. read more...

Skyelark of London - Day 7, 26th November 2011

Day 7, 26th November 2011 It's been suggested that our blog hasn't been talking enough about the sailing, so I'm here to try and correct that.Yesterday saw great variation in the conditions, from as little as 5 or 10 knots of wind (giving us very little in terms of speed) up to almost 30 when a squall hit shortly after dinner. We managed a full 11 knots of forward speed during the squall, but due to the wind shift at times had a negative Velocity Made Good, meaning we were actually getting further away from St. Lucia, but it was good fun!!While James was at the helm in the small hours of the morning, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder - he turned around to see a flying fish wriggling around on deck. Liz and Will managed to wrestle it back in to the water.This morning has seen some. read more...

Lancelot - Day 6 - Time to Re-build

Morning AllThe trip is starting to take its toll on the crew and yesterday we had to rebuild allot of confidence in our actually very competent crew. With the loss of the kite the night before and a few big kite wraps and accidental gybes along the way we were faced with a crew who didn't think they could sail with spinnakers anymore, this however was not the case and after some back seat driving by Sam and Pockets and a good crew chat translated by Alexey the guys pulled it back together, regained their confidence and we are now back in the hunt. This crossing is a very interesting challenge for the two skippers who are trying to train a crew with out the luxury of instant communication, which when things go wrong can be quite eventful! However challenges such as crossing the Atlantic. read more...

Emilija - 3rd & 4th Day

.hmmessage P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt }.hmmessage P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt }Hi All, Well Emilija is still at sea, and has covered apx 486 miles. We have the jib poled out again and moving along apx 7knots a big rolling sea, but travelling well. Martin caught two fish, decided they were to small and chucked them back,(hmmm easily known he doesn't like fish). We have been eating very well, lovely pork steak stuffed and baked, tomatoes and vegetables great salads for lunch, so nobody starving yet. However Jimmy was dehydrated on wednesday, and. read more...

Challenger 4 - Day 6 - 26th November

Day 6 26th NovemberAn eventful day on Challenger 4.As the wind was steady, the spinnaker was left up overnight.At about 4am the spinnaker sheet parted, with no apparent cause.Christine was sent below to wake the skipper and there was a call for more crew on deck.A few minutes later, most of us had donned our life jackets and were clipped onto the safety lines, ready to deal with the rogue spinnaker.The steaming light on the mast had been turned on and we could see that the spinny was only attached at the head of the sail and on one side.The other corner was flailing violently, causing a loud whipping sound, with the remains of the snapped rope flying around the bow of the boat. Skipper Steve instructed some of the crew to move forward and position themselves on the foredeck, below the. read more...

Cosmic Dancer V - Day 6 - The butter has melted!

There is an old nautical saying which says if you want to get to the Americas you should "head south until the butter melts and then turn west". Like so many of these old sayings, there is a sound factual basis to this advice. By sailing south until you reach the tropics you get into the North Easterly trade winds and from there a course of west will generally keep you in these favourable trade winds until you reach the West Indies.We are not carrying any butter on Cosmic Dancer. but the margarine was looking distinctly "sticky" yesterday so we made the decision to alter course to 270 and head direct for St Lucia on a great circle route!!Of Course the modern mariner does not have to rely solely on such sayings any more. Even on the smallest of yachts, affordable satellite communications. read more...

Lancelot - Day - The one after last (5?) - Kite Night 2

Morning Sports FansSo yesterday was a fairly tame afternoon with moderate winds. We had a very good pork dinner made by Serge and Sergey in honour of the founding scientist of their university, the Monticristo No5's were even broken out afterwards. Then in true Lancelot style just as people were thinking about getting some sleep, she came alive and started taking us all for a ride again. Unfortunately however, due to a slight steering miscalculation it was too much for our kite and it was swiftly beheaded leaving us with headsail only for the rest of the night.This morning, fresh after some beauty sleep Sam was up the rig to retrieve the head and the Trucks sail loft is now open for business and we are hoping to have it repaired today and keep on trucking!Hope everyone back home is well. read more...

Felicity J - T.G.I.F.

Thank God It's Friday.  Or well at least we think it's Friday, in a crew discussion this morning it took some debate as to whether it is now day 6, or it's the start of day 5 or end of day 4.  In reality it doesn't make all that much difference it is either daylight or nightime and we are progressing towards the west (ish).   Although saying that, out here it is quite hard to determine that you are making any progress at all.  The view outside, although slightly different each day, is pretty much the same with big skies and a 360' view of water on the horizon.  With nothing passing you by it really does start to feel like you are in the same spot.  Thankfully the chartplotter keeps us content that we are heading. read more...

Lone Star - 26 Nov - Day 7 - Sail Repairs and Sail Changes

After spending the day after Thanksgiving lamenting the Aggies last second loss to Texas in what may be the last game in a 100 plus year American football rivalry we gorged ourselves on left over turkey sandwiches. After a short break to consider why we ate so much food Ron and Drew started the task of repairing the Ballooner sail we use with our double pole downwind system. We managed to tear an eight meter strip on the luff of the sail when we were raising the device used to unhook the sail from the jib furler (the pooch) when we lower the sail. Now I know what NOT to do the next time we drop the sail.The good news with this story is the wind direction change that occurred. The wind direction changed from the East to the ESE and that required a different sail combination. As a result. read more...

Sunrise - Log Day 5: Vom flauen Gefühl bis zum Fisch im Magen

Freitag, 25. November 2011 - 5. Tag auf SeeAm 16.11. traf sich die Crew der Sunrise erstmals in Las Palmas: Skipper Olaf und Verena waren schon seit Donnerstag an Bord. Corinne und Edith trafen kurz vor dem Mittag aus Zürich ein, Olaf und Rainer von Hamburg her, Matthias auch aus Zürich und Connor aus den USA trafen im Laufe des Nachmittag ein. Die verbleibenden drei Tage bis zum Start waren ausgefüllt mit Reparaturen, Einkäufen, sich schon mal kennen lernen und bereits auch schon viele Wartezeiten: warten auf Ersatzmaterial, warten auf Lebensmittellieferungen, warten im Waschsalon und wieder warten auf die Gemüselieferung usw.Am Sonntag, 20. ging´s dann endlich los. 11.45h UTC legten wir ab vom Steg R 16 und um 13.05 passieren wir unter Genua die. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 6

We've broken into the 2,000 miles to go and are now talking in percentages of how far we have come/to go. It all helps to keep us focused, trimming the sails and maintaining speed. We have now turned right and are aiming for St Lucia (classic head south until the butter melts and then head to the Caribbean). We were going great guns yesterday until we were becalmed by squalls. We didn't get clobbered by wind but it was irritating going from 7 knots in the right direction to faffing about in wet light airs searching for the wind again. Overnight we had cross-quartering seas which made for uncomfortable sleeping. This morning we are right back on track and chasing down some sails ahead.The daily SSB net calls have been quite entertaining. Essentially we are in a group of boats of similar. read more...

Chilli Chilli - A day in the life of a Chilli Chilli cabin boy

Poor Chazzer, he has not had a good 24 hours   His new found enthusiasm in the galley took a severe dint yesterday. He offered to make Spanish omelette for lunch which sounded good to us. He prepared all the onions, cheese and peppers carefully. He mixed them into the egg/milk mixture in a large bowl, enough to make omelettes for 6 hungry blokes.    Put the bowl on the side, bend down to light the gas ring, boat surfs down a wave and the omelette mixture takes flight across the saloon. Not only does it need cleaning from all surfaces it has gone into the bilges which also need cleaning as well as all the stores inside the bilges which need removing, cleaning and replacing.   We later had stale cheese sandwiches for lunch around 4pm!   But fate was yet to. read more...

Twelve Moons - Leben an Bord Twelve Moons

Mainz gegen Bayern, das zentrale Thema des Tages. Stefan hat seine Mainz devotionalien Fahne gezückt, ich werde lässig mit einem Bayernshirt antworten können !Der Süden, wer hätte das gedacht. Direkt nach dem Start waren wir auf direktem Kurs in Richtung Karibik. Obwohl das Routing unserer NaviSoftware uns notorisch in Richtung Norden schickt, verbleiben wir seither auf unserer Route Süd. Es galt ein grosses Gebiet in der Mitte des Kurses zu umfahren. Nicht die Gribdaten, sondern die durchschnittlichen Winde in den Sektoren der Atlantikquerung beinflussen unsere Kurswahl. Auf der Grosskreiskarte ist unser Weg als 'Route 2 in die Karibik' bezeichnet. Die Gribs, die wir zweimal pro Tag per Mail erhalten und in unser Routen Programm laden, sind seiit zwei Tagen. read more...

Mojomo - Also Available In White

22N:56.6N 23:37.39W at 0940 GMT SOG =VMG 9-10knots, COG 262 to St Lucia.Andrew Bishop from that ARC fingy boat club found us hanging about on the boat last Monday in LP and asked if we could take a printer to St Lucia for Paul. No problem! He clearly knows Mojomo: The White Van Boat. That printer will be in St Lucia ASAP! In fact there’s a party there a week Wednesday, eh? Can we come too? You won’t make that, sez Andrew. Oh won’t we now? We'll see about that...We mucked about for another two days, sitting in the pub for ages, mainly waiting for someone else to fix things that we’d broken, and sometimes discussing if it’s faster to stay on the M25 and then turn west along the M25, or take the M3 and use the short cut through Bracknell.Eventually we carefully. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 6

Mike spent some time going through our fresh fruit and veg today, he washed all the grubs from the lettuce and removed the spoiled leaves which has left us with only about 1 full head. Shame, we'll be on cabbage much sooner than anticipated. One lesson we've certainly learned is that we'll take a more proactive approach to our provisioning next time. ARC organised a few businesses to deliver to the boats and we just filled in order forms but I'm sure we'd be better off if we had sighted and chosen the fresh produce ourselves. We should have, for example, purchased bananas in a few stages of ripening, we have 100 green bananas on board and despite storing the hands separately throughout the boat I think we'll have 100 bananas to eat within a few days next week!Our meat delivery has been. read more...

Whippersnapper - Day 5

Success on two fronts!1. The seas calmed down enough so that I could climb the mast to and install a roller on the fairlead for our gennaker halyard. Finally we can fly the genakker again which I'm sure has boosted moral onboard. We've checked it a few times for further chafe but it's looking good so far.2. We caught a young Dorado (Dolphin fish) last night, only just big enough to eat but we managed an entree out of him. Despite his size he put up quite a fight and it was fun reeling him in. We've noticed the waters are getting warmer (25 degrees now) so hopefully more fish to come.Conditions wise this crossing is not at all what I expected, I had in my head constant winds with a large rolling swell. We've experienced variable wind in a very confused and choppy sea. When the wind is up. read more...

Hanami II - Please do welcome BARRY on board.

Saturday 26 11 2011, 05;00 UTC 20 18 18 N 25 25 02 WEt voila que nous entamons notre 7 eme jour de mer, si tout va bien, demain, nous devrions avoir fait 1/3 du parcours si celui ci doit durer 3 semaine comme le veut la 'tradition'.Donc, depuis hier nous avons a bord un nouvel equipier: BARRY. Nous ne l'avons pas trouve en mer, non, il ne flottait pas perdu au milieu de l'ocean tombe d'un des avions qui utilisent le couloir aerien que nous venons de franchir et qui semble etre Nord-Sud.Barry etait attendu, tout etait prepare pour sa venue.Une plateforme a l'arriere avait ete soudee lors de la construction du bateau et tout le monde se demandait si c'etait pour y fixer un moteur hors-bord de secours. Barry s'y crampone de ses 4 petites pattes (bien vissees) au dessus des quelles il a un. read more...

Nix - Day 6 (25th) - Working on the Tan

Some more reliable wind came up during the night, enough to keep Nix moving forward at 7-8 knots on a reach, albeit not in the ideal direction! But with the sea calm, we all benefited from a good night's sleep with very little rolling, heeling or the usual noise associated with a yacht under sail.   We woke to the news that we'd slipped position down the field as a result of our poor winds yesterday. We also woke to glorious sun and winds that brought a smile to Nico's face. Spinnaker day! So after the usual satisfying breakfast, up went the spinnaker and that was the last sail change of the day, and we plan to sail on with this set up overnight.   The day was one of constant south-easterly winds of 10-18 knots, and we probably averaged 7.5 knots boat speed. With. read more...

Meltemi - 6. Tag

Daily Log Tag 6Was für ein super Tag für MELTEMI und ihre Crew! Wir haben heute gegen 18.00 Uhr Bordzeit die 2.000sm to-go Marke geknackt. Das wurde mit einem warmen Bier gefeiert. Warm war das Bier, weil unser Kuehlschränke immer noch voll mit Lebensmitteln gepackt sind. Bei sonnigen 25° Lufttemperatur und 22° Wassertemperatur hat auch das Bier Gluehweintemperatur.Tagsueber konnten wir das Kutterstagsegel setzen (2. Vorsegel) und unter halbem Wind segeln. Wir erreichten eine hoehere Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit um einen Knoten. Unser neuer Geschwindigkeitsrekord liegt jetzt bei 10,4 Kn (die Welle runter).Heute gab es keine Delphine, dafür aber eine Menge fliegender Fische am Bug. Wirklich beeindruckend wie weit sie fliegen. Aber auch die wollten nicht beissen. read more...

Raparee - 25 November - A busy day, but well-fed

25 November - A busy day, but well-fedDay starts at 0700. A dawn struggle on the foredeck , but after an hour all hands have fixed and untangled the wrapped cruising chute and genoa. David discovered stbd upper spreader steadily making its way through the Mainsail. 3 foot long seam split. We heave-to to reef the mainsail to bring the damage below the upper spreader and to flatten the sail to keep it off spreaders. Deployed furler genoa to stbd with boomed out no.1 staysail to port.Aftwer David's amazing grilled cured Spanish bacon on brown bread breakfast our working day continued with reassembling the cruising chute and its bits and lowering and repairing the mainsail. Not brave enough for stitching yet so big patches were cut from a bolt of sticky-back dacron, and stuck on either side. read more...

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