Daily Logs

Bluewater Mooney - 08.12.2022

Finish line 08:00 00:30Finish Line 00:30SaapunutMenimme maaliin divisioonamme ykkösenä.Aivan takanamme oli suomalainen Swan 65 Vahine.Haluaisin kuitenkin huomauttaa, että olemme ajaneet paljon moottorin alla viimeisten 3 päivän aikana. Purjehdusprosentti on alle 30 %.Vahine oli tehnyt kaiken kaikkiaan oikean valinnan pysytellessään pohjoisessa, ja sen strategia oli alussa huomattavasti löysempi. Siksi pidän täysin mahdollisena, että Vahine on divisioonamme ykkönen korjattuaan ajan.Ja kippari ja miehistö ansaitsisivat tämän ehdottomasti.Angekommen!Wir sind als Nummer 1 unserer Division durch die Finish Line gegangen.Direkt hinter uns die finnische Swan 65 Vahine.Ich möchte jedoch darauf hinweisen, dass wir in den letzten 3 Tagen sehr viel unter Motor gelaufen sind. Der Anteil Segeln liegt. read more...

Oceano - Log Day 17 - Casserole and carrousel

Casserole and carrousel Tomorrow, around noon s/v „Oceano” arrives to Saint Lucia after weeks of being out of time, out of place, in the blue beyond, letting ourselves go, getting hypnotized by rhythms of the sea, the pace of watches and meals, unhurried conversations and sail changes. We nourished ourselves with nature, we healed our eyes tired from staring at screens, we healed our bodies, usually caged in enclosed spaces, in clothes for appropriate occasions by siting outside, bathing in the sun, reading, staring at the water, being continuously immersed in the wind, under the ceiling of the day and night skies. How I will miss this - the never-ending abundance of the horizon, the clarity of landscape, the dance of light and water. We’re arriving using our diesel - it’s not how we. read more...

Amandla Kulu - SUBJECT: D17_ Water and Diesel Pong

  Captain’s Log. Star Date 07 Dec. Day 17. Eighteen day on the water.2323 GMT.2123 Local.14º 35 N053º 21 W///cufflink.ample.flutteredhttps://w3w.co/cufflink.ample.fluttered Long ole emotional day.  Started without a generator or the ability to make water without  a diesel smell … ended vice verse. Very light air night. Squalls rolling through with big wind and very heavy torrential rain. Much easier to relax and ‘sleep’ knowing the troops will wake you up.  Full moon and cloud cover made the whole night appear like a movie set. Just after dinner last night, we had the first squall that really had our name on it. My lightweight Tab ‘bogie’ top literally filled with water. First reef in anger. Those on deck performed excellently. John held his. read more...

Jo - Tag 17 - das Wetter und die Konsequenzen

Wenn Segler vom Wetter sprechen, dann geht es selten um Sonnenschein und Temperaturen, sondern meist um Wind und Welle. Denn beides hat extremen Einfluss darauf, wie schnell (oder auch langsam) wir uns fortbewegen. Die Wetterprognosen erhalten wir täglich über unser Satellitentelefon (das iridiumGo!, eine Art WiFi Router, über den man mehrere Geräte verknüpfen kann) aus zwei verschiedenen Quellen. Zum einen von der ARC und ihren Wetterexperten. Diese Infos kommen per Email, beschreiben zunächst die grobe und große Wetterlage im Atlantik, Tief- und Hochdruckgebiete, die Einfluss haben und eine Einschätzung mit allgemeinen Hinweisen und Empfehlungen für das Routing (also die noch zu fahrende Strecke abhängig vom Wetter). Dann folgt in der Nachricht noch eine detaillierte Wetterbeschreibung. read more...

Avventura - Log Day 18: Compagno di viaggio, parte seconda

Somewhere after the middle of the Atlantic, we havestarted seeing different birds. Normally, from afar. But today, one landed onAvvenrura's lifelines.   We assume that this one is from the Americas. Maybewelcoming us to his region, maybe taking a break from flying over the seeminglyendless ocean. We named it Fausto, l'uccellino esausto. And then, it took offagain.   Position at 23:00 UTC (14:15.87N52:08.09W). read more...

Sabine - (118) ARC blog update - 7 Dec 2022

Hello interweb friends, Captain Stape on sail boat Sabine right here (///shipshape.earliest.systemically)Absolutely nothing happened today.Only joking!! Read on ;-)After last night when Richard tried for 3 hours sailing Sabine into the wind and torrential rain with an average of 2.4knots, we came up with a new plan: we started Maria, started a motor, set the speed, and started the indoor Raymarine radar so that those on watch after Richard could do so in the relative dry (avoiding the drips) of the navigation table. Altering course if required by using the mirror autopilot console inside. I’m not sure what went on whilst I was sleeping, but Wednesday morning is sunny with a calmer sea and a slight wind. We’re only using the Genoa right now because of a problem with the main halyard: it. read more...

Navasana - Day 18 Motoring to dodge a warm front

Much as we love beating to windward on a catamaran, we decided to switch on the iron genny to get ahead of a warm front forming at 55W which we will hopefully cross tonight. Also hoping we can get a better angle to st Lucia as the wind veers around a tropical storm up north. Birdy is pooping all over boat but loves being stroked so she is keeping us busy. Her favourite spot seems to be the chart table checking if my navigation is correct. Birdy’s little sister also joined us, hope the rest of family doesn’t make their way here. Jessy made a lentil curry which was very yummy. Back to the bash!More on sailingnavasana.com. read more...

Bluewater Mooney - 07.08.2022

Land in Sicht!image1. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 17 Dec 6th, 2022

Day: 17Date: Dec 6th, 2022Position: 14'52,616N; 49'51,926WDistance to destination: 644nmWe all had some weird freaky dreams last night. Now I'm trying to sleep before my night watch at 4am, but somehow I can't. My mattress is divided into 2 parts and sometimes... I can feel some soft pressure on the second half like... some airy presence is gently laying next to me... It's weird spooky feeling probably due to boat moving and bending all the time but yeah, boat night life is full of eerie little sensations. There are some noises that sound like a whispers (e.g., synthetic safety belt swinging gently agains wooden decor cabin wall) or generally voices... some indistinguishable inaudible sounds that are produced by the great forces of tension, friction, aero and hydro dynamics. At times I'm. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 16 - Dec 5th, 2022

Day: 16Date: Dec 5th, 2022Position: 15'09,917N; 47'35,302WDistance to destination: 777nmWE ARE WIJCE YOUR RESISTANCE IS FUTILE SURRENDER TO OUR SUPERIOR SPECIES OR Aaaaa@@@@@011101010010101001001001010000. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 15 - Dec 4th, 2022

Day: 15Date: Dec 4th, 2022Position: 15'15,456N; 45'23,984WDistance to destination: 903nmAdventure time! Sitting on my watch around 8am UTC, which technically is 4am local time, so night watch really, dark as hell, and I start to smell something... it's like all scents of the ocean combined in a diabolical cocktail that true rum hardened sailors drink for a breakfast. I smoked less for last few days, so I'm like "I can finally smell the ocean, makes sense!". Pretty happy with my new discovery we sail for some time until sun goes up and reveals smooth almost mirror like surface of the water. Wind is almost completely down to 2kt, freckles are nearly gone, the surface is gigantic liquid foil that is waving gently as we cut it in the half. I go down to our stern to film sun reflections. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 13-14 - Dec 2nd-3rd, 2022

Day 13-14Date: Dec 2nd-3rd, 2022Position: 16'47,551N; 41'14,360WDistance to destination: 1149nmLast days are slow on board but also the wind has slowed down. Our strategy was to go as much S and then W to take as much advantage of current winds as we could. It was working pretty sweet until day 10/11, we had a perfect wind that was carrying us straight to Rodney Bay. That was until we've found that there'll be a huge strip of silence ahead and it will go all the way down to 14'N. We were somewhere around 17'N then so we decided to go S again. Unluckily we were (and still are!) out of any internet connection (damn you Iridium and your 30 minutes full of interruptions lame ass sessions to download 200Kb grib map!) and current forecasts, especially other boats daily position updates and. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 11 & 12 - Nov 30th-Dec 1st, 2022

Day 11 & 12Date: Nov 30th-Dec 1st, 2022Position: 19'03,904N; 36'13,440WDistance to destination: 1450nmMove along, nothing to see here! Nothing broke today (except for Code Zero pathetically unreliable lines that broke some many times that "broken" is its new "normal" state) so we can just chill and sail. For the first time since we left Las Palmas. Let it be our new "normal".Since day is slow and laid back it makes it a perfect spot to write a bit about the main star of this show, ocean water! I wrote some bits here and there, but let's wrap it up! First things first, boomer service: water temperature! It's warm, like really warm, during night watch you can feel how it radiates with a heat of the day. In place we are right now which is literally the middle of Atlantic it's something. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 10 - Nov 29th, 2022

Day 10Date: Nov 29th, 2022Position: 20'55,211N; 34'08,413WDistance to destination: 1584nmSwell. I didn't know this term neither the experience. Today, according to ARC official forecast, is when the swell should be climaxing through tomorrow 30th. So waves are, you know, just waves, but swell is like gargantuan wave cluster that holds all of smaller waves. In consequence everything you see changes dramatically as those gigantic blocks of water move your boat up and down. Normal Atlantic ocean has pretty straight horizon line where you can see up to 10-15 miles ahead. During big swell as we have today, each time you ascent or descent horizon changes. When you're down in between two giant wave clusters you feel like your passing a valley made of water and you see only this "close" or mid. read more...

Fryderyk - Day 9 - Nov 28th, 2022

Day 9Date: Nov 28th, 2022Position: 21'07,269N; 31'37,733WDistance to destination: 1724nmToday was pretty chilled day. It's a second day in a row when Panda power generator is nice to us and doesn't break, so it really looks like we've solved the issue. With great power comes great privilege of making a laundry! We were all looking forward to it so yeah, it feels awesome to wear fresh clothes, free from ocean salt that builds soft moist shell around everything here.The wind has weakened to 15kt, but at least we managed to get our Code Zero sail back online. Three times a charm. We like to believe that we've also found the reason why it broke twice earlier and hopefully the issue is eliminated. I really hope so as losing this sail during a night watch can be a bit scary if not. read more...

Endeavour III - Endeavour III - Day 18

We’re sailing along slowly but verypleasantly. The sea is calm and the sky blue. Birds flit by occasionally taking a look at us and a pod of dolphins came to play with the boat earlier. A short distance ahead lies the Caribbean. Peace. Tranquility. Life is good? Well, frankly, no. After bowling across the Atlantic very merrily for two weeks at an average speed ofeight knots, we hit a large area of blue on the weather map (blue is bad for sailing, it indicates an area of no wind). Our progress came to a juddering halt.All the more frustrating as after sailing over 2000nm, it seems that St Lucia is just over the horizon. We see other boats lose patience and put the motor on. We would do the same, but we don’t have enough fuel to get to Rodney Bay. So, we bob around waiting for the wind to. read more...

Skye Blue - It's a wonderful world...

We're still at sea and heading in the right directionwith hot sunshine days, cooler nights and without too many squalls.   So far we've seen and had a few visitors to Skye Blueincluding:   Dolphins, at least 3 different types, according to theSkipper (big, medium and small!!); Shoals/flights of flying fish - one landed onMalene's lap during a gybe in the middle of the night; a 3 foot turtle happilybobbing along; golden Dorado, two caught and eaten; and Saragossa (sea)weed inbeautiful big chains and islands which must have been released by the dorado indefence of us fishing and getting our still elusive, fish pie!   At 800 miles offshore a beautiful white Egrit circled usmany times but didn't land; a single Boobie successfully dived and caught fish;several Petrel swooped. read more...

Katy - Tuesday 6/12 Day 16 - Nearly Ready to Turn

Tomorrow will be big day for us in this journey as we will turn west and all of a sudden our VMG to St. Lucia will be a lot less depressing. For the last few days every slow mile south has meant only a third or half a mile towards St. Lucia which makes very depressing log keeping. We have a target to get in to St. Lucia on 19th December, a day before my family get there as I intend to get incredibly drunk immediately on arrival. I think Larry also agrees with this plan. We actually overtook another boat today, have no idea who they were as they were not on AIS but the feeling was pretty good. Fishing is not so productive with quite a lot of weed around collecting on the line. We've seen this weed almost all the time so fishing is. read more...

Escapado - Blog day 17 - We tried all kind of wind dances

Day 17 at Escapado. Last few days in Atlantic were very calm. The weather would have been perfect to be at the beach bar with the ice cold refreshments next to you. However when you are inovercrowded sauna boat without change to shower in the middle of the Atlantic, the experience it’s bit different :).For few days we tried all kind of wind dances and magic in order to get favorable trade wind behind us. Unfortunately, the ruler of the weather misunderstood our needs and yesterday instead of favorable wind we were in the middle of pouring rain. It’s really was raining cats and dogs and old grannies etc. or like we say in Finland, Esterin perseestä. Since every bullet comes with silver lining, we quickly realized that the rain could be the solution for the lack of water. So three water. read more...

Blue Moon - day 16 blog blue moon

Wet grey morning…after an rolling wobbly night,with dolphins gusts and flyingfish attacking sergio hihihi( our passionate fisherman ) what a start…Still wind from 14-24kn…waves from 2-4m coming from south-east…Im so motivated to fly the kite today after yesterday’s perfect sailing day( little waves, calm sea and 16kn wind,just indescribable)After my shift work with cleaning toilettes, checking biles for water, turning vegetables, bimini up and installing solar panels.Im cooking scrambled eggs for me and Thalita, jamiiii…So ready to hoist our kite again at 0730am, new record hihi… i wanna fly to saint lucia…We are even able to hoist it, only the two of us 😊 And there is a magic moment when you pull the kite up to the sky and wind gets into it …wow there is a push in it and the boat. read more...

Circe - The Consuming Vastness of the Sea

The Consuming Vastness of the SeaThy sea, O God, so great,My boat so small. So begins a poem by Winfred Ernest Garrison. I’d never heard of him. I’ve been sending my blogs to friends and family and two days ago I received a response from my sister-in-law, Maureen.Her email included this poem in its entirety. She said every time she reads my narratives, she is reminded of this poem and decided to share it with me. These opening lines struck me as a poetic description of how we feel on Garrison’s “consuming vastness of the sea”.Your sense of minuteness is difficult to describe, though many have tried, and even more difficult to comprehend in the absence of the experience.How inconsequential you feel upon an infinite carpet of blue and under the blanket of heaven, yet how indispensable you. read more...

BLUEWATER MOONEY 07.12.2022 - LETZTER TAG DER ARC 2022

GUTEN MORGENWir sind im Endspurt. Konstitutionell geht es uns besser als zwischendurch, auch wenn noch ein großes Schlafdefizit besteht.Heute konnten wir trotz, oder gerade wegen des sehr leichten Windes - ab und mal 7 kn den Code 0 Genua setzen.Ich bin von einem Freund gefragt worden, warum ich bei der ambitionierten Segelweise und der Segel Garderobe nicht eine X Yacht oder ein Schiff mit vergleichbarer Performance Gekauft habe.Die Frage ist berechtigt, und vermutlich würde der eine oder andere sich entsprechend entscheiden. Aber einiges unterscheidet mich von lupenreinen Regattaseglern:Mein Schiff muss nicht leicht sein.Ich brauche Sicherheit und Qualität nach meinen Vorstellungen. Damit möchte ich anderen Schiffen die Sicherheit nicht absprechen. Aber einige Beispiele: Steifigkeit. read more...

Salamander - And The Prize Goes To?

Here at the highly prestigious St. Lucia awards for frivolous behaviour we have a very worthy winner already in the category of the Most Significant Milestones Crossed whilst at the helm. The crew members nominated in this category are: Clive, Clive & Clive. There are no other nominations as no one else seems to have a look in!Whether it was the first 1,000 miles sailed or 1,000 miles to go we can be sure Clive was right there at the helm.His crowning moment came when he popped up for 10 minutes to take us through 1,500 miles to go. Took the helm then handed it back to Fredrik to complete the stint on watch.How his co watch buddy has been unable to wrestle even a single title is baffling all of us.When asked for comment, Clive responded 'Well he (Fredrik) hasn't really done. read more...

Salamander - Footwear Observations

Footwear choices are key on a boat, particularly a sailing boat. Obviously it needs to be non marking and comfortable but what other considerations have we found to be valuable on the Atlantic crossing?Safety is probably the overriding factor. You have to be sure that the footwear has good grip on the deck and companion way whilst under way. This frequently means you're also at an angle or rocking and rolling from side to side. Being sure of your footing is important as there's plenty else to be concerned about.Footwear might be in the form of boots or shoes too. In cooler weather these will help you keep warm and dry if the weather is wet too. Boots typically come in traditional welly plastic or the more upmarket leather effect Goretex fabric. The latter are breathable and tend to be. read more...

Salamander - Frederik's Reflections on ARC 2022

I was the last person to join the boat and really appreciate all the preparations performed prior to leaving Las Palmas. It was amazing to see all the fruit to be washed and the freezer full of homemade food prepared in the dock in preparation for the crossing! Likewise the careful packing of all the food in available spaces throughout the vessel. This was done by Sue alone to ensure no locations would be forgotten during the sailing.The careful preparations made cooking during the crossing easier, but still a significant job not to be taken lightly! Especially when serving fresh fruit salad every day! I'm really grateful for the excellent food prepared by Sue, and realize what an important part of the trip this constitutes. Meals become a highlight of the day, especially when there is. read more...

Amandla Kulu - 16_ Crack goes the halyard

Captain’s Log. Star Date 06 December 2022Day 16. Seventeen day on the water.2039 GMT.1839 Local.14º 04 N52º 09 W///manmade.hornless.timeframeshttps://w3w.co/manmade.hornless.timeframesNot quite sure when today started or yesterday ended. Other than loosing the generator (primary means of making electricity), loosing sat com data and snapping a halyard … oh yes and receiving a forecast of lots of wind for this evening, nothing much to report. Started with the wet clothes from yesterday’s dosing in squall. Dried fairly quickly after the sun broke through and the warm breeze picked up. We had a few hours of positively super power reaching. Charging down the Great Circle line at a great speed. Wind slowly backed which kept shifting us further and further off course. Ended up dropping the. read more...

Amandla Kulu - D15_ ALL HANDS ON DECK: Damp, wet and moist

Captain’s Log. Star Date 05 Dec. Day 15. Sixteenth day on the water.2336 GMT.2136 Local.13º 10 N050º 11 W///beholders.demoted.gadflyhttps://w3w.co/beholders.demoted.gadflyEveryday is a school day. Up and down restless night. Plenty of squalls and boats to miss. Always happier to be called to deck early, opposed to other alternatives. This morning, feels a million years ago. Sails were up and down, in and out. Dropped the Zero for inspection of the halyard — chafe is our enemy. Peter spotted a new hole in the leach, quick and focused stitching team went to work. Hoist resulted in a big wrap — it was easier to drop and sort on deck, once it had become clear of the forestay. We are still working really perfect our winch practice to high-end pro level. Zero on deck, we unwrapped and. read more...

Navasana - Day 17 Beating for 450miles

We have headwinds for the last 450 miles to St Lucia and beating close hauled on a catamaran is like Chinese water torture. Hopefully we won’t arrive insane. Right now we are sailing at 40AWA and keeping up with a 15m monohull next to us. On another note, another bird joined our crew but she moved right into the saloon and found a nice cozy spot under the settee. Looks like we are turning into an aviary! back to the bash!More on sailingnavasana.com. read more...

Bluewater Mooney - 06.12.2022

Flaute, unterbrochen mir Winden aus SSW.Es ist jetzt 01:55 UTC - minus 4 stunden Local Time Saint Lucis also 09:55 wenn ich mich m´nicht verrechnet habe.Wir leben ohnehin nach wie vor unter UTC, macht alles einfacher.Wir sind in der Flaute, unterbrochen von Winden von Vorne. Also Segelversuche mit Genua, damit alles sehr entspannend, und wir genießen die Möglichkeit, uns zu entspannen, und zu erholen.Da wir Saint Lucia bereits am 18.12. Richtung Deutschland verlassen müssen, freuen wir uns auf die Tage dort. Voraussichtliche Ankunftszeit 07.12. 24:00 pm, also jetzt in 22 Stunden. Damit ist der letzte Tag der Überfahrt angebrochen. DTF 151,3 nm.Wir sind mit der Überfahrt und unserer Leistung sehr zufrieden:Wir hatten die ersten acht Tage ohne Unterbrechung die Position 1 in unserer. read more...

Sunbeat VI - Day 17 - we are on our way - artlast!

.Dolphin Count zero.Fish count zero.Weed count- loads.Not quite going loco down in Acapulco, but as dusk fell Sunbeat finally tacked for St Lucia.Rum punches on horizon?Fingers crossed.Just a small 250 miles to go.Today started with little wind and Nige rudely awoken from his slumber in the bow as Sunbeat crashed down from a large wave.Steve, Angela and Ed (aka Dirty Watch) found this most amusing.Loads of weed today.Is this “a thing”?…. Apparently Steve has never seen so much weed and so few (no)) dolphins.Climate, sea temp or just a phase… who knows.Some maintenance work was undertaken following usual attraction due to long voyage.Main sail slider replaced, outboard on dinghy onto its push pit bracket, inner forestay parked, steering cables tightened.Looking forwards to coming few days. read more...

Mairmade - Day# 17 - Calm

After posting yesterday's report (as I went to sleep last night), we had another fun night of sailing.The wind remained on the beam and with a sustained 10~12 knots all night, we enjoyed 6.5~7 knots of boat speed (even without Chloe's help).Fr. Russ, Claudia, and I all got to play dodge-a-squall during our night watches which always makes things interesting.While we do single person watches (since there's only 4 crew), we do keep two people in the cockpit throughout the night, with the second person ready to go, although allowed to sleep.It always takes two of us to handle the squalls while on sail.The wind eventually gave up around 9am and the engine came back on, but the overnight wind drove us to a 24-hour distance covered of 152nm.We're now less than 300nm from St. Lucia.With the. read more...