Daily Logs

Pure Fun - Atlantik 1ter Advent oder Noch zirka 3Tage „ToGo“

Atlantik 1ter Advent Noch zirka 3Tage „ToGo“Was ich vermissen werdeDie Weite des AtlantiksDas Rauschen des Bootes durchs WasserDas Spiel mit den Wellen und dem WindDie Bewegungen des SchiffesDie angenehmen Temperaturen hier draußen (Nachts habe ich tatsächlich was Langärmeliges an)Der nächtliche Sternenhimmel mit dem uns begleitenden MondDen Salzgeschmackt auf der ZungeDer warme Wind der um meinen Körper herum streichtDie Zweisamkeit mit meinem Kabinenpartner Andreas auf unseren zirka 5 Quadratmetern (Danke es ist wirklich klasse mit Dir)Die ständigen Diskussionen über TWD-TWS-AWD-AWS und die Performance AnzeigeDiese ganzen leckeren kulinarische zubereiteten Mahlzeiten Kein Tag gleicht den anderenWas ich nicht vermissen werdeDer Autopilot und ich werde bis zum Ende nicht wirklich gute. read more...

Hot Stuff - skippers blog stardate christmas minus 21

Most  thnigs have been covered by other blogs, however just to add from me, we are now very tired but surviving. there is a lot of water out here, we have seen 1 boat for about 1 hour in 5 days. the fleet will presumably converge as we get near the finish but it would be nice to know there are other boats out here.  We feel we are now on the home stretch and counting down the miles. a shower a good taverner and some cold drinks are on the agenda. Thanks for all your support. steve. read more...

Wolkenschlößchen - Day 14 - Hello Squalls

In the early hours of Saturday, we reached our 1,000 miles to go milestone. It feels good to see that counter going down. Perfect reason to fry some meat balls (Frikadellen) with sweet potato!The closer we are getting to the Caribbean, the higher the chance for squalls (small rain cells that bring a lot of wind). Until this afternoon, we heard of them only as a rumor and then suddenly, plenty of them appeared south of us. Luckily, the ones we saw so far were in good distance. If one gets too close that means that we have to be quick in getting our oxley sail down. In strong winds, it could break or damage the boat. So we are extra alert this night and keep watching our radar that we installed primarily to spot these squalls at night. Fingers crossed that they stay away from. read more...

Freedom - Blog 15 Sunday 3rd December 2023

Editor: IRWWGreetings Freedom FollowersSaturday was a day for Big Red to stay in bed and rest after her extremely hard shift trying to edge Freedom to the land of Rum and Sun. She deserves a lie in and to be honest I think most of the crew are enjoying her rest as much as she is.Big Red is no fool and has called it correctly. The variable winds today range from 6 knots to 26 knots making sail choice and sail planning tricky.The day is spent in our established routine that you are now familiar with , only interrupted by our weather eye looking out for squalls that can creep up from behind.We have left our reasonably established weather pattern of clear skies, sun shine and fairly consistent winds for grey skies patched with blue that are frequently interrupted with menacing dark clouds. read more...

Tahira - ARC BLOG D-Day 14 [03-Dec-23]

TAHIRA ARC BLOGD-Day 14 [03-Dec-23]Location: Open Seas - AtlanticLat: 14.24N Long: 42.27WTHE SECOND THIRDHooray - as we rapidly approach the last third of our journey, we reflect back on what each of the three segments has or will hold in store.The first thirdGetting out of Gran Canaria was in itself a major milestone - simply getting the boat and crew ready to head out on the voyage of a lifetime for many. The following 7 days for us were all about building the team and getting into our routines. This was a time of turbulence and learning, and simply getting used to our new environment in the middle of the ocean.As well as the challenges faced - water, radio, watch system, navigation etc, we had some delightful moments - and none more so than visitations by local wildlife. Since. read more...

Pure Fun - ARC 2023 - 1. Advent auf der X 5.6 Pure Fun

ARC 2023 - 1. Advent, 12:30 UhrDer Wind hat aufgefrischt….endlich. 17-23 Kn seit letzter Nacht. Am frühen Morgen, jedoch im Dunkeln mussten wir den Code0 gegen die Genua tauschen. Wir wollten das Material nicht überstrapazieren und der Windeinfallwinkel war einfach zu tief für den Code0. Da vermissen wir den Gennaker, der in der Segelkammer auf ein neues Leben wartet. Sonnenaufgang war heute 9:30 Uhr UTC. Es verschiebt sich immer mehr. Um 10:30 Uhr waren alle an Deck. Bis zum Wechsel der Vorsegel hatte der Autopilot reichlich zu tun um mit dem hohen Ruderdruck umzugehen und die Batterien ziemlich entladen. Wir steuern nun abwechseln von Hand um den fleißigen Autopiloten zu entlasten, den Wind, die Wellen und das Boot zu genießen. Währenddessen lädt der Generator die Batterien wieder auf.. read more...

Hot Stuff - 14:05.91N 47:06.21W

We are progressing west as expected with good trade winds in general.Yesterday was generally uneventful flying the kite down wind atgood pace. The wind forecast looked favorable for overnight with winds picking up a couple of days later (only a couple of extra knots).However the rain came in the evening. Having watched is pass by to our port side for a while a cloud looked like it might get us. So the decision was made to take the kite down and continue under white sails.It was of course now dark and the crew were summoned from slumber to assist. With that the wind took a 90 degree shift and we were almost heading back to the canaries! Tiredness was showing a little and after a bit of work the kite was down stowed and packed again ready for the morning. It was a rather wet night with. read more...

JaZoFi - day 14

Two weeks at sea and we can almost smell the rum in St Lucia! Not much different in the last 24 hours, everything previously described is now on repeat. The big excitement was watching Glenn get the starboard sea water strainer cleared. After the inlet growing some substantial barnacles, all systems were running off the port strainer. Glenn set to work thinking through then building a new sea strainer lid that included a steel handle a bit like a stick shift on a manual car, allowing him to blindly clear out the barnacles …success, the starboard strainer is operational again and the cooling water is again evenly split between port and starboard. Scotty had a line in most of the day, but the fish in this part of the world are monsters and took 600m of line and a couple of good lures. read more...

Wild Goose - Unabridged musings. Cape Verde to Grenada

Sorry! Having spent you 14 emails this morning, I thought it might be easier to put them all together ….so here goes!The big one! Wild Goose musings…(We had no ability to send emails from the boat, so all these are coming to you now!)So finally the day dawned for the start!We were more or less ready and actually had quite a relaxed morning with phone calls to everyone at home and a last breakfast ashore in the cafe, but many others had engineers and riggers aboard till the very last moment, still more would have to wait for a day or so before all the repairs could be completed. The marina is rather complex not having any finger pontoons so we had to leave in turn with two of the marina staff in a rather decrepit dingy coming and untying our bow lines which had disappeared under water. read more...

Uno - Day 14: Ladder surfing & Christmas vibes!

Saturday 2nd DecemberNew crew member Kenny, a Heavy Machines Mechanic (for Whistler Blackcomb). It was he, who after hours of investigation with Rich, discovered a loose battery connection that was causing our troubles! Mid-way through the morning a cheer went up as the fix had worked, and Rich & Kenny were nicknamed the Dream Team.After that we moved onto fun things like thinking about Christmas. We brought out the little tree we bought in Las Palmas & decorated it, putting up candy cane fairy lights & flashing coloured bulbs in the windows. It’s beginning to feel festive! We made summer rice rolls with the last of our fresh, crunchy vegetables & then decided it was time to cool off. We’re calling it “Ladder Surfing”, and you have a safety rope around your back &. read more...

Uno - Day 13: We gotta birthday in da house!

Dec 1st 2023.Today is Gisèle’s birthday! She is now a teenager, a big 13 year old. Where did that time go?! G had a checklist of things to achieve today, the first being a few video calls from family & friends. Then it was on to present unwrapping & waffles for breakfast. Both kids got their weekly YouTube videos out (they each have a YT channel you can look up @GGBoatLife & @SailingwithJacques) and then there were a few rounds of the newly acquired game, Exploding Kittens (in Spanish). Next up was a movie afternoon with popcorn, followed up by a Quesadillas & Lemon Cake. Wrapped up with a dance party with Gs playlist & then at 830pm we hit the half way mark in our journey. All up a great day!The night was a whole different story when at 1am Rich turned on an engine,. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 11

I am writing this morning from the foredeck.  It is by far the ‘coolest’ place on the boat. First it is in the shade, the sails casting a shadow, secondly the wind can blow across your skin to keep you cool, thirdly because the gush and swish of the bowwave is just beneath you, and we are tramping it is just a really cool place to be! So yesterday we gybed twice after a great deal of very serious discussion about tactics.  The first time we decided that it was time to go South to make use of an Easterly wind which we knewwould today turn to the North East.  Faultless logic and for a while it seemed to work, but then just as it was getting dark the wind forced us to head ever more south to the extent that we were 45 degrees off the rumb line…so we gybed back.  Again. read more...

Uno - Day 12: Oh oh Gennaker in a twist!

November 30th.Today we tried our yellowfin tuna as sashimi, it was absolutely amazing. Hands down the best fish we’ve had! We also played checkers did some art work, puzzle books, reading, chatting and experimented with a different way to run our gennaker. We managed to find a new sweet spot and made good speed all day, until around dinner time when out gennaker was hit by a gust and got all twisted up, meaning all hands on deck to drop the sail &hold it from going overboard. We eventually got it mostly untwisted but had to stuff it away unfurled, a job for a day with no wind.Rich heated up a pre-cooked Thai green chicken curry for dinner as it was a bit rough for anything more adventurous.We have a big birthday on board tomorrow, so when our soon-to-be 13 year old crew member,. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 13.

This morning dawned with a brief tropical down pour, followed by a spectacular rainbow.   The night had seen us in close proximity to four other boats.  It seems our courses are now converging as we near Grenada.  Sadly the winds are mostly light so those who have not blown their spinnakers have a definite advantage and we could only fumeas they crept ahead of us and their light disappeared into the gloom.  The one boat that we have held onto, and finally this morning overhauled is our neighbour from the marina in Cape Verde, Blue Pearl.  Strange that after 2000 miles we will finish withina few minutes of each other as we did on the first leg from Las Palmas. None the less it was a lovely night of sailing.  The moon, still near full, did not rise until. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 12

We really feel we are getting close…can almost hear a steel band on the wind.  We had a splendid night of sailing with 15-20kts of wind blowing us almost directly towards the island.  Our rig of main to port, Genoa to starboard and staysail to port seems to work really well in this sort of wind speed and it is gratifyingto learn that the two boats to the immediate north of us were both flying spinnakers all night and failed to make any ground on us at all. Interestingly we believe two of them have now blown these sails in a 30kt gust that hit them directly in the early hoursand must have passed a few miles to the north of us.  We did however get a little rain which gave the decks a good wash and also resulted in James’s feet getting a wash before he was able to. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 10

Welcome to another day in paradise!  Another great sun rise after a night of full moon sailing.  The day started very well with Simon’s delicious scrambled eggs and the last of the bacon, all washed down with good strong fresh ground coffee. This I consider essential, although James thinks Simon and I are nuts and should be perfectly content with Gold Blend. I sometimes wonder what planet  he is from!We then all sat down with the latest weather forecasts and routing advice and had a lengthy debate about our course.  All through the last three days we have been convincing ourselves that we have been sailing close to the rhumb line of 272 degrees butwhen you look at the plot of our position on the paper chart it is clear that we have been  steadily drifting. read more...

Wild Goose - Sunday Day 9.

What a glorious night of sailing. The full moon illuminated us for the whole time from dusk till dawn.  It was almost light as day. Certainly light enough to see the sails and everything on deck.  The waves look different in the moonlight andyou cant really make out the form of them, but they sparkle in the path of the moon in a wonderful way.  For most of the night all we had to do was steer right down the path of the moon.   The sailing is fast and yet gentle, wind has now been a constant 15-18kts for two whole days and nights and over the last 24 hrs we have averaged 7.1kts so travelled about 170 miles directly towards our destination. Which is now ‘only’ some 900miles away now! We are on the downhill stretch.  I have thought of asking James  “ are. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 8.

It’s the weekend! You would never know it here as life goes on as usual.  Our shift pattern of two hours on and four off continues day and night except that we have a three hour “dog” watch at lunch time to move us all on an hour a day so we don't all get the same watchevery night. We now have a three sail rig, main on one side, Genoa boomed out on the other and the staysail on the inner forestay also set on they opposite side to the Genoa.  This surprisingly makes a huge difference to the motion of the boat, but we estimate addsabout half a knot to our speed. All night we have had 15-20kts of wind roughly from the east which is speeding us onwards towards Grenada at a steady 7.5kts, occasionally catching a wave and surfing up to 9kts. Lovely sailing, and so far we are. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 6

Well….Last night was one to forget! It was very hot and the wind dropped off for some of the night resulting in some heavy rolling and the sails slatting noisily.  The seas seemed very confused at times coming at the boat from all angles.  Thenet result was very little sleep for any of us which led to the night as a whole being long and frustrating. Having said that; we were treated to a dramatic light show from lighting strikes from cloud to cloud for much of the night, and particularly once themoon had set it really was quite a spectacle.   Morning broke a bit cloudy but the wind has filled in and the boat’s motion has returned to normal.  Breakfast today was a real spirit raiser as we had scrambled eggs on toast.  The key to this being the word toast.. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 5.

So it feels as if we have finally reached some wind.  We have been sailing South for a couple of days now and this morning finally decided the spinnaker had to come down as the wind was gusting about 17 kts. James and I both have experienceof blowing out our spinnakers so are sensitive to the issue.  We may regret it, but so far we are going nearly as fast with poled out jib and full main, although needless to say the wind seems to have calmed down a bit.  We still expect it to build a littleduring the day so hopefully we have made the right decision. As you know this is NOT a race, but we are doing our best to take the right decisions eagerly devouring each new weather forecast and discussing tactics, trying to out smart our rivals.  On current predictions we. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 4.

So it is the morning of another day on they good ship Wild Goose.  We still proceed in great comfort at a modest pace under spinnaker variously rigged as a cruising chute, or flown “a la Galatea”.  At first light we typed it for the first time,relatively smoothly, and are now heading south in search of a little more wind.On a domestic front James has now assumed the tittle of “Domestic Goddess” having made the first batch of home made yoghurt which we have all had for breakfast. Delicious! The other great excitement of the morning has been seeing the first dolphins of the trip.  There were only two of them and they did their usual trick of frolicking at the bows, but in a slightly hung over fashion, just not up to the standard of their coldwater cousins.  Perhaps. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 3

So the spinnaker is still up and we are again doing a steady 6-7kts in a slightly hazy morning sun.  Last night the wind dropped and we did spend a long time doing only about 5kts but still over the last 24hrs we have averaged about 6kts whichis really not bad.Breakfast this morning was a “Jane Eaton Hash” expertly constructed by James and eaten with fresh coffee, to the strains of Santana blasting out of the cockpit speaker.  I have discovered that the stainless instrument binnacle box makes and excellent steeldrum….much more engaging than air guitar. After breakfast we had a go at sorting out the problems of a) the housing market, and b) the NHS, so I think by the time two weeks are over we should have our manifesto ready for the next election.  Who would like to vote. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 2.

 So we have now been sailing under spinnaker for over 24 hrs, and overnight kept up an average of about 6kts.  What a special night! Smooth sea and steady wind in the 10-12kts range, clear sky, and wonderful stars.  Not many boats to dodge nowas the fleet has spread out over a wide area, all sorts of different tactics in play in the search for a bit more wind. As dawn broke the wind increased a little and we now have 15th and are cruising along at 7.5kts.  If it picks up much more we will have to take the chute down and save it for another light wind day, but hopefully this wind (and the sail itself!) will holdfor the rest of the day, and even into tomorrow.  Stronger winds not predicted till Tuesday, and even then should be no more than 15-20Kts. We have averaged. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 7

Well last night we had a somewhat eventful time!  After a relatively peaceful and steady 5-6kts afternoon we noticed that the only two boats we could see on the AIS were putting up their spinnakers and increasing speed dramatically.  We couldnot resist doing the same and so we un wound the big blue sail, and sure enough our speed rocketed up to 8-8.5kts in a flat sea with only about 12-14kts of wind. We had supper sitting in the cockpit in great comfort, hardly any rolling as the boat surged forward. Any any ideas that our neighbours had of overtaking us were frustrated.   There seemed no reason to suppose that the wind would increase.  Thus far it has tended to drop a little at night so it was decided to sail on into the night with the chute up.All was. read more...

Wild Goose - The big one! Wild Goose musings…

(We had no ability to send emails from the boat, so all these are coming to you now!)  So finally the day dawned for the start!  We were more or less ready and actually had quite a relaxed morning with phone calls to everyone at home and a last breakfast ashore in the cafe, but many others had engineers and riggers aboard tillthe very last moment, still more would have to wait for a day or so before all the repairs could be completed.  The marina is rather complex not having any finger pontoons so we had to leave in turn with two of the marina staff in a rather decrepit dingy coming and untying our bow lines which had disappeared under water once we tightened them up, once free we hadto motor smartly out missing the submerged lines of our erstwhile neighbours.  We were. read more...

Wild Goose - We did it! final blog….

OMG what a last day.  It had everything that a Caribbean adventure should have, sun, wind, rain, calm, excitement, frustration, elation!  Just no pirates. The day dawned beautiful and found us some 120 miles from the finish sailing fast on starboard tack straight down the rumb line…272 degrees.  Mental calculations had us arriving early in the night- we could almost taste the rum punch….but nature had afew surprises in store for us yet. First of all as we were clearing away our last breakfast omelet the wind began to drop, lighter…and lighter..and lighter.  The projected arrival time slipped.  Near but so far! All morning the sails slattered against the shrouds.  Oh how we wished we hadnot torn the cruising chute.  We had some boats in sight, our. read more...