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13/12/2019

Sally - Last day at sea before landfall

This day started with a big squall with lot of wind and rain and good speed. We have good wind until lunch when it decreases to below 15 knots. Have tried to catch a fish with no success.Since we made so good progress the last 24 hours and the wind stayed close to 15 knots today, we will arrive to Saint Lucia this evening. Our last dinner on the Atlantic crossing was our favourite dish, meat balls with mashed potatoes and cream sauce with lingon berry jam. We have put the Atlantic crossing champagne in the fridge (a gift from Pia and Christer, our old neighbours in Västerås) and we look forward to taste it later this evening.Cheers. read more...


13/12/2019

Karhammel IV - NEWS from Karhammel IV, Friday December 2019 13th

Most important : happy birthday to Camille, 24 years today, :)A huge sudden squall rinced very well the solar panels on Wednesday afternoon, J. Unfortunately, we hadn’t time to grab soap and bath clothes.About the broken jib : After 12 painful hours sewing (132 holes in the straps + headsail –at the strongest place, 10 layers of Dacron -, 792 knots done), we hoisted the « repaired » jib yesterday before sundown. Hoping  its life will not be too short. With our Inmarsat communication’ installation, we faced 48 disturbed hours. The Americas Inmarsat satellite didn’t accept to grant the data service, well,well, America & European relations, even for satellites are complex. Hope it’ll be now OK. After SMSs, calls... stressful not to be sure to receive Chris. read more...


13/12/2019

Double Vision - Log day 19

A little rivalry has resulted in some superb home cooked meals, all from fresh food. The pictures do not convey the deliciousness of these meals enough.Top row: Roasted butternut squash salad with pine nuts, chickpeas and white cabbage. Beef goulash and mashed potato. Grilled chicken and salad of red and green cabbage, and red pepper.Middle row: Grilled fresh line caught (of course) Mahe mahe.Tuna, couscous and red pepper salad. Sweet and sour pork and red peppers and riceBottom row: Thai red curry chicken and rice.Nicks Home made pizza with goats cheese and onion marmalade. Bill’s Home made sourdough, chicken mayonnaise and cabbage salad.Our starting 48 onions are now down to 20, so maybe we (quartermaster) did over-cater a little. Our neighbours in Gran Canaria saw our onions,deduced. read more...


Double Vision - Log day 19
Double Vision - Log day 19
13/12/2019

Fish Pie - We can't believe it, nearly there

Not a bad run yesterday, managed 160 miles, which, considering at noontoday we had only 167 miles to go to the waypoint N of St Lucia, makes us nearlythere!  Woo Hoo!  Should get there early afternoon tomorrow, or latemorning local time, –4 hours. Today is a real scorcher, we had to rig up a tarp in the cockpit forshade.  Also decent winds, about 20 knots from directly behind.  Wehave had enough of all the rolling, so looking forward to an undisturbed nighttied up in the marina.  We are currently running with about 4 or 5 otherboats, they keep disappearing from the AIS, but we all sang happy birthday overthe VHF to Alan from Opus 1 who is 79 today.  So we’re not the oldest crewin the ARC. We’re nearly out of everything, so looking forward to all. read more...


13/12/2019

Hatha Maris - Hatha Maris day 18 16/12/2019

Hatha Maris day 18 16/12/2019Are we there yet?The crew are becoming more and more sleep deprived for every three hours night watch passing by. By now you have to shake the other watch in order to wake them up. It is difficult being 8 people on a relatively small boat. You can not go away to your own space and just be by yourself for an hour or so. There are constantly someone being around. Everyone wants to arrive in Saint Lucia, and yet we are not there for another couple of days. It starts to feel like we are running on a treadmill, we are sailing day and night but the surrounding stays the same. Are we even getting somewhere? However, it is also by now we know each other and are laughing through our watches. It is great amounts of fun, everyone doing their best sailing to arrive as. read more...


13/12/2019

Nizuc - Blog 26

BLOG 26 – ‘We Survived for Days on Nothing but Food and Water.’Some stores are running low, but as you might expect, Martin has planned the trip pretty well.We have run out of the following: porridge, fresh food, coffee, chocolate, biscuits, but still have alternatives. We still have lots of water, but the captain says we need a lot of it for his bread-fruit plants – I can’t see that being a problem.There has been more talk of putting the clocks back; the sun is rising at about 0800 hrs, but I doubt we’ll do anything, now.The last few nights have been mostly dry, which is a relief, but the danger is always present in the early hours. The moonlight is helping with the visibility, but heavy squalls can make it impossible to see anything other than the compass.A lot of people have asked. read more...


13/12/2019

Zaurak's Bimbling Blog

Zaurak's Bimbling BlogThursday 12th December 2019Nearing the finish lineAs we near the finish line, we are asking the crew their hopes and dreams for St Lucia, their potential nostalgia for the journey and any gripes that they will be pleased to leave behind. What are you most looking forward to in St Lucia? Claire: Most looking forward to seeing Momo, Nono and Mum. Pete: Seeing the baby. Getting away from Claire. Eating ice cream. Richard: Being able to relax. Alice: Stretching my legs, swimming and chatting to Tim. Caroline: seeing Charlotte, Mike and Toby.Adrian: being on a stable platform, a non-moving platform. What will you miss about being on the boat? Claire: The moon rises, I really like the moon rises. Pete: The ambience. Richard: The sea and the sky. Alice: Orion's belt and. read more...


13/12/2019

Zaurak's Bimbling Blog

Zaurak's Bimbling BlogFriday 13th December 2019The finishing line estimatesWe are expecting to arrive sometime tomorrow morning so we have put in our guesses for an arrival time. Bearing in mind that those on watch have control of speed and direction for three hours at a go, this is both competitive and contentious. This time refers to ropes tied up on the pontoon: Richard: 7.00amClaire: 8.30am Pete: 8.31amCaroline: 8.45amAlice: 9.23amAdrian: 11.00am. read more...


13/12/2019

Montana - LOG 7

Day 18, what a last day, what a last night at the ocean? The day began good, we recorded our best Etmal in the Regatta with 188NM, 185NM to destination. We closed the gap to Finoor S to 5 miles. But with the lighter winds in the morning they were doing better and put some miles on us. We had to do something and the spinnaker went out, giving us the advantage. After a while the pendulum swung back, we encountered a rip in the spinnaker and the sail went down again. And again the pendulum came back to us. We faced the biggest squall on the trip, up to 35Kn of wind, heavy rain and totally dark. Thanks god the kite was down and under trade wind set up we were flying over the rainy sea. In the night it was all on the helmsman steering the boat dead down wind in a light breeze. Unfortunately. read more...


13/12/2019

Hawkeye - ARC Blog 9 – Heading directly away from the rum punches

An unexpected incident saw us turn Hawkeye around in the middle of the night and head to help another ARC yacht which was in distress over 100 miles away, drifting out of control with a jammed rudder.This wasn't just a rude awakening for the crew – Richard was removing his latest fresh bread from the oven when the Iridium phone came to life with an urgent message - but the temporary loss of the entire ethos so far this voyage of uber-comfortable trade wind sailing, as, suddenly, Hawkeye had to head directly into the wind. Turning into three metre waves, a near gale force apparent wind and a contrary current of up to one knot was extremely unpleasant – but entirely necessary.Gone were warm sunny days with a gentle breeze over the decks – replaced with all sails furled and motoring with. read more...


12/12/2019

Sally - 180 nm to sail before landfall in Rodney Bay

The last 180 nm, before we make landfall in Rodney Bay on Saint Lucia, seems to be challenging. The weather forecast promise light wind tomorrow and still some swell. Will cause a lot of flapping sails and motoring.The last night was a squally night and so was this evening. During my watch we got the longest squall so far, one hour of rain and 25 knots of wind.It’s an intense experience sailing a rushing sailboat in total darkness and all I hear is the rain and the breaking waves around the boat. Each time I watched the radar, the squall was centered above us and it felt as it has catched Sally and will never let us go. But after one hour of madness it suddenly stopped raining and I could see the difference between sea and air. What a relief.We are sailing wing on wing again, its faster. read more...


12/12/2019

Agua Dulce - Log Day 19 - Last Full Day at Sea

All of us are extremely excited to get to the marina in St. Lucia. We’ve been talking about what will be the first thing we are going to do after we arrive and get the boat tied up. It’s hard to say right now. Agua Dulce has been our cocoon for the last three weeks, and she has seen us safely 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. It will actually be a little strange to leave her.Of course, we’ll head for a bar for the obligatory rum punch to herald our arrival to the Caribbean. Then, we’ll probably all take naps and try to get our body clocks adjusted from UTC to AST time (4 hours earlier) and see if we can sleep through the night without waking up for watches. We all need to be sure to cancel the alarms on our phones waking us up for our night watches or the rest of the crew might. read more...


12/12/2019

Meltemi - Tag 19: Bordbuch der Meltemi, Restanten einer Reise

Man merkt, mir fällt nix mehr ein. Was für eine bescheuerte Überschrift!Ich kann mich auch nicht entscheiden, wie ich anfangen soll. Also versuchen wir es mal:- Anfang 1: zur Minute(Donnerstag den 12.12.2019, 13.49 h Bordzeit, also UTC -4) noch 170 sm bis zum Ziel. Der Nordspitze von Saint Lucia, um präziser zu sein. Da liegt unser letzter Wegpunkt. 14°08,1' N, 060°55,7' W. An Bord werden schon Wetten abgeschlossen: Landfall vor oder nach 15 Uhr? Wichtige Vorarbeiten sind erledigt: Aus den tiefsten Tiefen der Achterpik (Selbstschutz) haben wir das Ankommerbier befreit und in unseren Kühlschrank verholt. Nicht mehr lange, und der Spibaum kommt wieder an seinen angestammten Platz am Mast - ca 2.000 sm Schmetterling-segeln finden ihren Abschluß. - Anfang 2: Ha! Da kann man sich wirklich. read more...


12/12/2019

Summerwinds of Cuan - Problem & Solution

So here we are eating breakfast in the cockpit, calculator to hand. We had just had two of our best daily milage totals for this trip. Now calculating when we would get to St Lucia. We were seeing the total 'miles to go' peel off in recent days, so a few days left to go.  Did we want a night arrival, or perhaps slow down and get a nice daytime sail past the finish line.The wind then turned itself off. Well not off completely, not so that there was a flat calm requiring the use of the engine to get us back to a healthy six knots. But down to like one notch on the car's heater fan. Enough to keep moving , but doing nothing for our milage or our morale.Solution.Fishing hasn't been great on this trip. We are down to our last lure with up to now nothing to show for our efforts. "Well, we. read more...


12/12/2019

Nizuc - Blog 25 – Six Quid

BLOG 25 – Six QuidSundayTwo giant squid on board, today, and we had squid-ink pasta for dinner (from a packet). We threw the giant squid back; they weren’t looking too well. The motion was better, with the pole on the other side, so perhaps proofreading this may be possible.MondayWe spotted a water-spout ahead (like a whirlwind), but it was well ahead of us, and not a threat.We had a talk about changing the clocks, today, but decided it was too late, and the last time caused a lot of confusion around the shifts.Twelve dolphins surfing off the bows is always a happy sight.We have been running the engine to charge the batteries, and with the combination of that, the heat, and the sneerking of the furler, people are not sleeping well.The moon is close to full, and the nights have been. read more...


Meltemi - Seit Tagen gewohnter Ausblick 1
Meltemi - Seit Tagen gewohnter Ausblick 1
Meltemi - Ein seit Tagen gewohnter Ausblick 2 (aber die Sehnsucht nach fernen Landen treibt uns weiter)
Meltemi - Ein seit Tagen gewohnter Ausblick 2 (aber die Sehnsucht nach fernen Landen treibt uns weiter)
Meltemi - Medizin an Bord: Versorgung eines Fingernagels
Meltemi - Medizin an Bord: Versorgung eines Fingernagels
12/12/2019

Greatcircle - First ARC episode Cat Greatcircle

Start of ARC 2019 - Sailing Greatcircle (ep.148)https://youtu.be/z0nwaHWGsk4GroetjesMark. read more...


12/12/2019

Idefix - update day 18

Tough day for the skipper today. First, just barely awake for the watch, wanted to help the crew who was reducing the Genoa, I switch off the navigation electronic instead of switching on the bridge light... Autopilot was off, and boat started to turn around, no electronic references, sails flapping. Quite fun! Lesson learn, no action before completely awake, and don't try to help the crew doing things right!Then, by end of the day, bad infection as sore throat. WTH. A parts from that, the day was average, good speed but swell still a bit difficult. We managed to keep the code0 for most of the day and only got the first bad squall (>30kts) after we furled, so it was all good.With water temp at 29C, we all feel it is time to arrive and get a good swim as we didn't have one in. read more...


12/12/2019

Next Step - Wednesday 11th December 2019

The night was the usual rolly polly session with the wind and seas all over the place making it a bit bumpy down below. To add to the excitement in the early hours we had a tug go behind us doing 2.8knots on its way to Manila towing something, but the tow was so low in the water I could not distinguish what it was. For most of the morning we have been doing an acceptable 7 to 8 knots with fairly large following seas. For lunch we made our own wraps and/or cheese and biscuits. The wind was gradually taking us further North so it was necessary to gybe to get back on track. Whilst undertaking the gybe just before a squall came through Nicole sustained rope burns to her hands whilst letting out the boom preventer - not good! In the evening I made a pasta, pancetta, onion and white sauce meal. read more...


12/12/2019

Hatha Maris - Hatha Maris day 17 15/12/2019

Hatha Maris day 17 15/12/2019Every day is Sunday! And on Sunday we like to have croissants. Therefore our delicious first meal of the day ( night snacking excluded) was oven fresh baked french croissants. Not joking.Wouldn t go back to that bakery back home but out here it was a great treat.Food is a big deal. Lots of us like to eat well and love to cook. Everyday we enjoy great food, new dish creations or traditional meals from our home countries. Only a few days left and we still have fresh fruits and veggies. Remember we are a small boat of 12m with 8 woman and only a little fridge wich we have to turn off at night. So we are very happy. Our provisioning team did a great job back in Las Palmas. We still have lots of food and could easily keep going on, but everybody is ready for the. read more...


11/12/2019

Sally - In Saint Lucia time zone

The last night we sailed into a new time zone, GMT-4, the same time zone that is used in Saint Lucia and the rest of the Caribean, at least the islands we plan to visit. We also crossed track with another ARC boat and according to the AIS, it could be a close passage of a couple of hundred meters only. To make sure they saw us and to clarify how we shall pass each other, we make several VHF calls but without any response. It was not until we used a search light on our sails that they reacted and changed course and passed behind us. After the passage, we make another VHF call, but no response this time either. Maybe their VHF was malfunctioning or so.We also got a couple of squalls with a lot of rain and wind (35 knots) and since we can furl our sails from cockpit and are reaching, its. read more...


11/12/2019

Charm - Cape Town passage

We’re on day 3 of our passage to Cape Town from Durban. My mom and Kay left on Saturday, December 7, after three weeks of touring South Africa, with a side jaunt to Zimbabwe to see Victoria Falls.We had lots of great adventures, met many interesting people, and learned more about the world, ourselves, and each other. My mother learned that, while she was born of Irish/Iowan parents and raised in Cuba, she is actually part African.This was no surprise to anyone that knows her.Given any opportunity, she will start dancing and singing.In any part of Africa we visited, we witnessed the same behavior. In a beach parking lot on a weekend afternoon, standing by your car?Dance party.Taking a jaunt on a boat around the harbor?You and fifty of your friends, on your feet, dancing.Walking down the. read more...


Charm - Cape Town passage
Charm - Cape Town passage
Charm - Cape Town passage
Charm - Cape Town passage
11/12/2019

Skyelark of London

As previously reported, Gremlins have beset Skyelark inthe form of a non functioning Autopilot, however from the crews perspectiveworse was to come when, we were faced with telling the skipper, that yet again,the the heads had become blocked [that is the toilet for the non seafaring typesamongst you].This was a thorny subject as he was already beset withseveral other maintenance issues, on top of his normal work load of running theship, however he said he would look into it, so to speak. Several hours later the crew felt it was about timepolitely check on progress. When asked how he was getting on, the skipperreplied, that despite hours of investigative work into the problems, he stilldidn’t really have anything to go on......! Oh dear I think we’ve all been at sea toolong! Eta Early. read more...


11/12/2019

Agua Dulce - Log Day 19 - Two more night watches to go...

12pmThe Sargasso weed is increasing greatly. (Who knew that there would be more weed in the middle of the Atlantic than in all of Jamaica?)Instead of all small pieces less than 12 inches in diameter, we are seeing long stringers that are up to 20 feet in length and a few feet wide. We are concerned that it might be getting wrapped around the hydrogenerator propeller. The hydrogenerator is a fin with a propeller blade on it that we lower into the water and attach to the stern of the boat. As we move through the water, the blade turns and powers the battery bank, so it is another means of charging even during the night when the solar panels aren’t receiving any power from the sun. If, however, the propeller is tangled with seaweed, it won’t turn and provide any power. It will cause drag on. read more...


11/12/2019

Salamander - YB Connect Message from Timothy Richards

Day 18Best Sailing Moments Dear Salamander Nation, As we head into the final few days of this crossing, the skipper and crew of Salamander shared their favorite memories from the passage. Ethan - Sailing toward Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the new moon in a neat little package on the western horizon. Tim - two thirds of the way across the Atlantic surfing down blue waves and through white foam along the path of the setting sun. Kevin - sitting on the transom in the moonlight, watching the foaming wake, which creates a much greater sensation of speed and miles past than one would expect.. read more...


11/12/2019

Zaurak - Zaurak's Bimbling Blog

Zaurak's Bimbling BlogWednesday 11th December 2019 Looking forward to St LuciaWe are now able to estimate our arrival to within a twelve hour period, which puts us arriving sometime on Saturday morning if conditions continue as they are. That said, we just gybed, including an elegant 360 degree turn, carefully wrapping our fishing line around the generator blades and potentially the rudder. This kind of excitement may slow us down and certainly precludes a fresh tuna dinner. We are starting to think about winding down the resources on the boat. This includes gradually using up the port water tank, the emergency backup, so that it is empty when sitting on the docks in St Lucia for a few months. That task was easier said than done. After three years of two working water tanks, the port. read more...


11/12/2019

Little Island - 384 hours

Beans mean Heinz. It’s strange how very small things take hold of your days in a big way on the boat. Now that our fresh food has practically all run out, I thought I would treat myself to a tin of baked beans, accompanied by a tortilla wrap to be rolled and dunked directly into the tin like a giant cartoon cigar. Deconstructed beans on toast is the dish, Mexican style. I’ve always loved baked beans. My mum loves to tell people how I fell asleep in them as a young child because I was so tired but determined to eat them. That love has stretched to adulthood. When I was working at OC Sport I’d have a tin of beans and four slices of toast for lunch every day, not only because it was delicious and nutritious but because it was tremendous value with very little admin on my part. After 18. read more...


11/12/2019

Cross Ocean - CROSS OCEAN, 11/12 - squalls is a part of our days now!

Log 7 - Here comes another squall. Getting ready for the squalls has become a daily routine for us now. The last four nights we have had several squalls passing by. The worst night we had seven of them with winds varying between 30-40 knots! As long as you are ready they can be quite exiting.Best regards Malin and Kaj, Boat Cross Ocean, nr 207. read more...


Cross Ocean - CROSS OCEAN, 11/12 - squalls is a part of our days now!
Cross Ocean - CROSS OCEAN, 11/12 - squalls is a part of our days now!
11/12/2019

Next Step - Tuesday 10th December 2019

Overnight we have made very good progress but the sea state has been horrible. Dobby has struggled with the sea so it has been necessary for each of us to hand steer during our watch. Thankfully, we did not have the squalls showers that have affected many boats. This morning the wind has continued to be in the 20's and the sea as confused as ever. Hopefully, for lunch we will be having bacon rolls... yum. In the afternoon the wind got up a bit so we started to think about our sail plan for the night watch. For supper David made a very nice pasta dish with chorizo, onion, mushrooms etc. With the wind conditions unchanged from last night we decided that it was best to hand steer again during our night watches.. read more...


11/12/2019

Layla - We made it - final blog entry

It has taken a few days for me to get around to writing the final blog entry for our amazing trip. I guess partly because it seals the lid on a great experience and that feels somewhat final. On the other hand it is partly because we have all been busy since arriving with a mixture of cleaning, partying, hiking, laying on the beach and putting Layla back to her normal pristine self. (Amongst many things swapping all the kitchenware from plastic back to china and emptying out any of the excess provisions).The last couple of sailing days were accomplished with mixed emotions - by then we had been at sea for about 16 days with our short turnaround in Mindelo and whilst we were still enjoying it most of us were ready to reach land. So it was heads down with our best sail plan trying to reach. read more...


11/12/2019

Hatha Maris - Hatha Maris day 16 14/12/2019

Hatha Maris day 16 14/12/2019Galley (kitchen onboard) casino’s24 eggs in the sink - OK I guess we’re having scrambled eggs instead of a sunny side up breakfast eggPasta salad garnish all over the floor and the walls. Well the boat needed to be cleaned anyways. First coffee pot on the floor and in the bilges, second pot in my cup. Breakfast just prepared, a wave and my hand, the galley, the cupboards, the floor from the galley to the toilet and in the starboard cabin everything was full of yogurt and cereals.How to start the dayScrambled eggs everybody? Yes please. Frying pan on the stove, butter in, eggs in a bowl and wiping, eggs into frying pan... big wave... eggs on the stove, frying pan behind the stove, chef on the roof... good morning sailing style.Woke up feeling something wet on. read more...


Meltemi - Crewbesprechung
Meltemi - Crewbesprechung
10/12/2019

Moana - Poem

Moana 10.dec.2019We are sailing ....with "Moana" 46 Cat,a beautiful feeling,Atlantic waves fat.The days are runningwith sun, moon and stars.Our soul is understandingEarth is much better than Mars.What a wonderful worldour planet still is.ARC shows curledits time to save this.Wolfgang. read more...


11/12/2019

Montana - LOG 6

Day 16, last night everybody on the helm was surfing Montana. With fairly strong winds we realized a good speed over ground. What a fun surfing down a wave with S+S designed boat in a nearly full moon night.In the morning we had to change the gas bottle before we could prepare the first coffee for the day.Day 17, Last day was a little bit more calm. Steady winds not too strong gives easy living on the helm. With the chilly day there was time to have a chat. We talked a lot about what will be the first things in St. Lucia. Good shower, cold beer and a hang out at Marie’s Bar on Reduit Beach. Looks like tomorrow is the day. We will arrive in Rodney Bay. The wind picked up again giving us a fast speed. Looks like we will arrive in the dark, before daylight. The best, we still able to catch. read more...


11/12/2019

Karhammel IV - News from Karhammel IV

Saturday 7th December, we began to get strong gusts, particularly at night. Every cloud brought its contribution. The larger clouds were pushing wind and water before them.We were already closing the fleet at that time, but remarked one boat was not so far away, and decided to chase her, Lubilu III. We know the crew, ate with 2 of them during the skipper-crew supper, J.As we were making some progress, and were goose-winged with 2 reefs in the main and the jib fully unrolled on the pole, Bruno at helm heared a big bang , and could see the jib flying free at the bow, and the clew point hanging desperately on the sheet at the pole!Very bad new indeed, 1,5 knot less at least, and difficulties if we would have to tack (not really a point in the circumstance). We set our small storm jib, which. read more...


11/12/2019

Idefix - update day 17

Probably less than 3 days to go. Planning for arrival early Friday morning.The wind has been a bit on the strong side today, but especially the ocean was rough. The swell was very uncomfortable, and pretty much for the first time we had to watch for objects not to fall!Early this morning, à flying fish found its way into Vincent and Veronique's cabin. Vincent was asleep and got an interesting alarm call!We couldn't fish as we saw a lot of small Sargasso weed. Hope the beaches aren't too bad. Water temp hit 28C for the first time, we all look forward our first swim. But won't be in the middle of the oceanWhile there are about 150 ARC vessels around us, we still met 3 other sailing boats crossing the Atlantic but not part of the ARC. The ovni Moria and yesterday Fox and Mille Visages. Fun. read more...


11/12/2019

Meltemi - Tag 17: Bordbuch der Meltemi, Tea party

Noch 461 sm bis zum Ziel. Wenn es so weiterläuft, erreichen wir am Freitag Saint Lucia. Und was bewegt die harten Seekerle: nein, keine Trauer, kein wehmütiges Gefühl. Das Sieger-Gen ist längst von uns gegangen: wir denken an Warmduschen, schöne karibische... Cafés, geile Drinks. Ein fröhliches Wiedersehen mit den anderen Crews. Und fragen uns: könnte ein Hubschrauber der US Air Force uns jetzt schon wieder erreichen? Man weiß ja nie...Und - man glaubt es kaum - schon gehen die ersten Gedanken an die Tage nach dem Törn. Wer hat noch mal welchen Flug? Bleibt Zeit für einen Café in Paris? Wie wechsel ich am besten den Flughafen dort? Schon gehört, in Deutschland haben sie Minustemperaturen...? Mann, mann, mann!Als wolle der Himmel uns strafen, öffnet er soeben nach einem wunderschönen. read more...


10/12/2019

Escapado - Escapado- Day 16

As we are writing this we are sailing into our last sunset listening to blues in the cockpit. The people off watch in the cabins are sleeping. There is a familiar and peaceful atmosphere about it. The sound of the boat making her way through the waveshas become our constant companion. We are super happy to have good wind for our last hours and everyone is hoping and working towards a good result. And all of us are excited to meet land tomorrow. Since we had loads of water left everyone had a shower today. So our priorities of things to do on land have slightly changed and cold beer and piña colada is now on the top. We still can't quite imagine what it will be like and today there even was talking about theories such as being in groundhog day. What if we wake up tomorrow and every. read more...


10/12/2019

Agua Dulce - Log Day 17 – Are we there yet?

10amNo, but we are now past the 500NM to go mark – 83% of the way to St. Lucia! (Thanks to Captain Charles for the constant statistics)We are starting to see boats appear on AIS again as we all converge on St. Lucia from the various courses we have chosen. We are headed straight for the island at a course over ground heading of 282ºM (M stands for magnetic versus T for true. Google magnetic deviation if you don’t understand what that means. I understand it, but would have a hard time explaining it succinctly.)We passed the point where the Mini-Transat abandoned boat was adrift. It is right in the path of many of the boats in the rally, so I hope everyone is keeping a very sharp lookout. We never saw an AIS signal from it even though we passed maybe 16 miles away from it. I hope it is. read more...


10/12/2019

Salamander - Day 17 Fruit Salad

Day 17 Fruit SaladDear Salamander Nation,On a long passage like this one, meals are a highlight of every day. Mealtimes are a social time.Meals give the crew the fuel they need to stand watches and make sail adjustments.On Salamander, the lunches and dinners served by Hilary and Greg are creative, delicious and varied. More than two weeks into this passage, we are still enjoying an array of vegetables and salads, fresh fruit (a highlight of every lunch!!!) and warm dinners such as pork and chorizo stew, lamb tangine, mushroom risotto and beef Bourgogne. Hilary and Greg have done a fanta--Transmitted by Timothy Richards using YB Connect (www.ybtracking.com). read more...


10/12/2019

Sally - Tired of rolly wing on wing sailing

Today we had enough of rolly sailing wing on wing with sails flapping hard now and then. We are now reaching and zick zacking along the route. Much more stable boat and easier to be onboard now and we can also get more sleep. For the moment we prioritize comfort over shorter time at sea. Think there are less strain on the boat as well since reaching create a more constant pressure on the sails and rigging gear. Today we had nice and sunny weather and more wind than yesterday. Think we will arrive to Saint Lucia on Saturday.. read more...


10/12/2019

Skyelark of London - The Atlantic Still Has a Few Lessons

 After a brochure perfect day, with clear skies andbluest white tipped water, the crew entered the evening, beginning to make plansfor our steps onshore in a few days. We were first chastened by the failure of the autopilot in the evening,leading to focused conversation free half hour shifts of hand steering downwindwith moderate winds of around 20 knots, but large swells coming from severaldirections.  Our skippers eased ouranxieties with a change in sail plan, dropping the main and sailing effectivelyunder only the headsail, decreasing our risk of gybing.  Crew on watch regrouped until they weremet with the next challenge, facing our strongest squall so far (and hopefullyat all).  Milder squalls continuedfor several hours, with crew managing with gradually. read more...


10/12/2019

Oarsome Dream - Log 10th Dec - Waves, Wuthering Heights

Hello Blog readers!We’ve now got about 365 miles to go, each watches mileage targets are being smashed and we are busy running a sweepstake on our finishing time already.We are bowling along in decent sized swell making good pace. When we pick up on a surf, it sounds like we are flying from down below! We’ve got two ARC yachts on our horizon today - Black Cat and Isteria. Isteria have been on and off our horizon for a few days now - they are a Beneteau 57 so I think they are faster than us in the day so they catch up but they reduce sail at night so we pull away again. Nice to know that there are boats around us!In other news, Richard has just a chapter or two left of Wuthering Heights to read. The significance of this is that it’s his wife’s favourite book so he wanted to read it.. read more...


Meltemi - Nachwachsende Resourcen an Bord (heute leider dem Smut in die Hände gefallen)
Meltemi - Nachwachsende Resourcen an Bord (heute leider dem Smut in die Hände gefallen)