Daily Logs

Adina - Day 15 Harold on the Blog

It's Harold the much loved mallard duck here doing a guest blog for Adina! I featured in a blog just the other day - for those of you who've forgotten, I belong to Neil's wife Hallie. I'm crossing the Atlantic with Neil while Hallie looks after baby Amelie who will be meeting us in St.Lucia.I thought I'd give you a walk through of crew onboard Adina. Skippy Tom is like the Daddy. He's always reminding people of the proper order to do things in so as not to risk the crew blowing the boat up! He's often sat studying the weather and working out the best way for us to go, reminding all to trim and steer. He loves to helm, especially when his baby, the parasailor, is up. Dab hand on the SSB radio talking to other boats and getting our emails in and out for us. Then there's Susie - by gum she. read more...

Skook - Arrived

Hallo Die Skook hat es geschafft. Nach 2226 gesegelten Meilen ist sie sicher in Rodney Bay auf St. Lucia eingelaufen. Die letzten 2 Tage konnte nochmal richtig mit staendig ueber 20 Kn. Wind gesegelt werden und der Atlantik zeigt sich nochmal von seiner normalen Seite. Richtig grosse Wellen trieben die Skook an. Markus Ralf Thomas Volker und Werner freuen sich schon auf die Karibik Parties.. read more...

Hebe - Day 16 9.12.13

15:03:21N054:00:93WWater water everywhere and not a drop to drink.Well the first part is true - most of it should stay in the ocean but at 5am this morning quite a lot of it seemed to be in our cabin.My darling husband had left the hatch 'only a tiny bit open'.Anyway, resulting in all our bedding, towels, clothes and me being absolutely soaked.And I am NOT exaggerating.Apart from that the day has not been without other challenges - the boys fancied (after a particularly gruelling swell of a watch) bacon sandwiches.Unfortunately not to be since the regulator on the gas cylinder (or whatever those things are called) had furred up with salt and this and that and despite poor Harry lying prone for 3 hours with his head in the gas chamber, the thing simply could not be fixed.Peter and Andrew. read more...

Athena of Southampton - Athena log 8

Athena log 8 – Sunday December 9th 2013 – 1450’ N / 44 20’ W Quigley’sPoint Regular readers will recall that wehad nominated a waypoint midway between the Cape Verdes and St Lucia as“Quigley’s Waypoint” (16.40N 44.00W). However not even I had anticipated howthis would unfold.It was my watch as we approachedthis waypoint and to my amazement there appeared to be lights visible at thisapproximate location. As I did not want to disturb anyone I waited until we werea little closer when it was now clear that there was a large platform heresupporting what seemed like a number of small buildings. I edged Athena onto thepontoon and a very helpful man assisted in taking our lines. “What on earth isthis place? “ I enquired immediately.“Ah sir you are very welcome toMADS” he replied. I said I had. read more...

Moondancer - Monday 9th December 17.30 (GMT+1)

Fishing appendix 2 - Tales from the deepA couple of things I forgot to mention Fish based.Firstly when Maintenance catches a Dorada he has a rather clever way of preparing them. They have to be skinned rather than descaled so Maintenance holds down the slippery fella and first cuts behind the skin by the head.He then needs both hands to hold him so he peels the skin back with his teeth removing one whole side at a time. It's like watching Gollum eat his dinner.He's using quite a lot of dental floss.Flying fish! What's that all about? I mean what are they? a fish , a bird ? They should make up their mind. One of them flew on deck during my night watch and nearly caught me square on the jaw, I ducked and showed him the back door. I will make an official complaint later. And Dolphins, what. read more...

Jambo - have you seen becalmed?

great film with Billy Zane and a very young Nicole Kidman but conditions here are just like the film !anyway caught our first fish - not sure what it is - maybe a baby Mahi mahui- decided we will have it for breakfast as Tommie has been working his magic in the galley.A bit more motoring tonight then we will have to sit out and await the NE trades - expected sometime soon. read more...

True Colours - The wind returns

Position 14:38.44N 039:19.80W   Log entry 21.00 08/12/2013 – “Boring”   We motored from midday yesterday until 10.00 today, with wind varying from0 knots to 7  knots, with direction varying but generally behind.  Infairness this was in line with predictions, and we expected to keep motoringuntil possibly early evening, but  the wind filled in from the beam andwithin an hour we were reaching at 7 knots;  the wind strength anddirection have continued through the day, being consistently higher than theforecasts.  An approaching squall with winds increasing caused us to puttwo reefs in the main, but nothing stronger than 20 knots materialised, andafter it passed we shook out one and then both reefs.   During the day we were gradually overtaken by a. read more...

Incisor - Incisor daily blog 9-12-2013

Bonjour!It’s certainly a party on board as we are only 592 miles away! We really are trucking along eating up these miles. To treat ourselves for doing so well we have had a bottle of sprite which was very welcome. We are averaging a 9.5 VMG which is all very exciting. It has been a day of treats as we have also had a Christmas mix of dried fruit and delicious sugar coated peanuts. For breakfast we had a mid Atlantic delicacy of giant cola bottles, dried apricots and chorizo pieces. I can’t say any of us will be having that again. Only at sea.It was a fast and furious ready money night surfing through the waves in a pitch black night topping out at 15knts of boat speed. At night it all seems a lot faster especially when you can’t actually see anything. The night did. read more...

Silver Slipper - Wind, Wind, Wind

Can’t believe it. After 24 hours of bobbing around, swimming off the boatand sunbathing we have wind. Now doing 8.5 knots in the right direction. Ohhappy days.. read more...

Idea of London - VQ race team update 4 Sun Dec 1 17.30 UST

Thump.. thump.... thump.... thump.... from down below the impact of IDEAsmashing into waves at 15 knots shuddered through the boat. Sleeping trickyonce again - either thrust up against a wall on the low side orclinging onfor dear life to prevent falling out of bunk on the high side.Up top, nicesteady breeze, great driving and a few shooting stars to keep usentertained. Having had a few hours to sort out the boat yesterday, we weresomewhat out of the shift routine but over today we're back on track.Todays highlights probably culminate in me (Ben) preparing what can only bedescribed as the best tomato salad for an 800 mile radius, almostundoubtedly the most delicious meal we've had since we left.In fact i'dhave written more tonight but have been so busy preparing this veritablefeast of. read more...

Koala - Dec 9th: In the hole

Our efforts to avoid the big hole in the wind seemed to have dropped us right in it last night. As the sun went down, so did the breeze, to absolutely nothing. We agreed to motor for 12 hours to get everything charged up and water made etc so that we would be ready to wait it out. So after 12 hours, the engine went off and we sat there. Then a breeze of a few knots came up from the north and enabled us to get moving again, albeit at about half a knot. We thought we were in for a long frustrating day, but eventually, about 15:00, the breeze kicked in from the North at about 12 knots, so we are currently reaching along nicely at about 6.5-7 knots. A welcome relief to be moving again and in the right direction too! Forecasts look to be improving for the next few days, so hopefully we will. read more...

Amokura - Amokura Day 15

Rockin’ and a rollin” Rockin’ and a reelin’ Yes I am (apologies to the Beach Boys)   Confused seas. Shifting winds. Almost downwind course. Overcast and blustery. A little unsettled weather which also brought a double rainbow (I think St.Lucia was at the southern tip).   All and all, a very good set of circumstances for shaking the boat. And for us to keep the boat “ship shape.”   This kind of motion tends to keep people up in the cockpit where we swapstories and wish lists (end of night watches, more fresh fruit, welcoming drink, fixing the“little” things that inevitably occur, phone calls and emails (with pictures)from home.   Dinner is in staggered courses as befits removing oneself from a galleyheated by the cooker. Pasta with a mixture of leftovers. We ate it. read more...

Miciadue - Der Tag fäng gut an und geht gut weiter...

Heute 6.15 Uhr ein riesiger Fang. Wir haben einen Thunfisch mit etwa 15 kg (!!!) an der Angel gehabt. Das Ergebis: 16 pfannengroße Thunfischsteaks. Mehr als genug für zwei Tage für die ganze Crew. Eine kleinen Teil gabs gleich als Sushi zum Frühstück. Wir waren über drei Stunden damit behäftigt, den Fisch auszunehmen, die Steaks zu braten zwischendurch zu frühstücken und das Cockpit und die Pantry wieder zu reinigen. Die nächste gute Nachrcht von unserem Wettercoach Joachim: Die Langfristprognose sagt: Wir haben es geschafft. Bis zum Ziel erwarten wir stetige Winde östlich drehend und zunehmend. Der Motor kann sich von nun an ausruhen. Die Sonne scheint vom wolkenlose Himmel, das Wasser leuchtet in einem kräftigen dunkelblau, und wir haben eine schöne lange 2-3 m hohe Atlantikdünung, die. read more...

Second Wind - Message from Chris Diggins

I wake from the nightmare. The baleful looks, the accusing eyes. 21 perfect onions look out from the storage nets. "So", they say, "you had the good times with all that fancy fruit and veg but where are they now? Gone, gone into cakes and crumbles. And now you must confront us. We are still hard enough but are you? Last night you baked a creamy pasta with ham and pea with a breadcrumb and blue cheese crust and a garlic bruschetta. You've been to the River Cafe too often Jamie. And did you think to use an onion? No, not good enough for your fancy food. Well, not too many veg options left now, eh matey? How are you going to make tinned mince interesting? Might need an onion or two? Well maybe we'll be out that night".The nightmare fades but the onions remain. Don't cry for me...Glyn.--This. read more...

Hada - HADA Day 14 - Up The Mast....

Greetings to all.Ed here, sitting’ in as guest editor of the Hada TransAtlantic Blog. Thanks Andre for the invitation to scribble some notes.Not a lot to report:Day is beautiful, but very hot and made more so by light winds.Expecting some NE breezes to fill in soon, which we count on to be the traditional strong E-NE trades needed to bring us home to St Lucia.Had a couple of nibbles on the fishing lines yesterday, but nothing to bring onboard for dinner.So for lunch had a salad with canned tuna.Big excitement yesterday was a broken turning block at the top of the mast, which held the spinnaker halyard.Needed to be replaced, so sticking with tradition we loaded the lightest guy onboard, who in this case was Anton, into the bosun’s chair and hoisted him up some 74 feet to the top of the. read more...

Dragonfly - hohe Wellen

In der Nacht habe ich kaum geschlafen. Die hohen Wellen aus Norden machen mir Sorgen und kosten Geschwindigkeit. Hoffentlich hören die bald auf! Ich stehe um 1 Uhr auf und korrigiere den Kurs etwas, damit uns die Wellen nicht so herumwerfen. Aber wieder einschlafen kann ich nicht.Gestern haben wir Wale gesehen. Eine große Herde, die wir entweder mitten durch oder knapp vorbei passiert haben. Wir haben sie erst gesehen, als sie in unserem Kielwasser auftauchen. Heute hat sich eine Schule mit ca. 30 Delphinen zu uns gesellt und begleitet uns eine Weile. In der Funkrunde haben fast alle guten Wind und sind jetzt mit Parasailor und Genaker alle scheller als wir. Nur weit im Norden herrscht jetzt Flaute. Am Horizont zieht im Laufe des Nachmittages eine Segelyacht vorbei. Wir können nicht. read more...

Duplicat - Monday 9 Dec afternoon

The diesel refuelling went well, nothing spilt in the cockpit and 80 plus litres now in our main tank.Still motoring through the hole but can see wind starting up from the north and big winds forecast!!! Skipper went for a swim after all his jobs with his go pro in the very calm conditions.. read more...

Avel Biz - Avel Biz J+15 Barre, barrer, barrons

Bonjour9 Décembre 2013Position 12h00 UTC19°01 N49°58 W166 milles en 24hBarre, barrer, barronsBarrer, barrer, barrer c'est prenant.Avel Biz est facile à barrer mais 23h sur 24h, c'est beaucoup surtout quesur ces 24h il y en a 12 de nuit.Chaque fois que nous démarrons le moteur, c'est un soulagement général.Le vent a commencé à fraichir, ça accélère sous un grand soleil. Par contreil adonne et nous ne pouvons plus faire route directe. Nous allons êtreobligés de tirer deux grands bord. Ce qui va rallonger notre route d'unecinquantaine de milles.Nous commençons à calculer des heures d'arrivée mais chut pour l'instant.cette nuit un poisson volant est venu s'assommer sur un winch. nous l'avonsremis à l'eau en piteux état. de toutes façons, les poissons volants çasent fort et c'est plein. read more...

Mustique - St. Awesome's Day 2013

Foreword By Becki 8 days ago, as we sailed out through the Cape Verde islands into a week of no wind, the skipper decreed that the following Sunday would be a day of great pleasure and awesomeness, centered around a huge Sunday roast and a secret bottle of Cava that he had stashed away in the bilges.The reason for this bold prediction was that we hoped to be hitting 44 degrees West on that particular day - the '1000 miles left' mark, and plus, we could also feel in our sailor's bones that the wind would finally kick in around then too. UGrib, our weather model also predicted the same thing, which was useful as sailor's bones alone cannot be trusted for weather routing.Predicting a day of awesomeness can be a risky business and often leads to disappointment and anti-climax. Our skipper,. read more...

Starla - Log Day 16 - Frying Tonight

Hello Everyone,Distance logged today - 142 nautical miles. Distance to date this trip - 1864 nautical miles. Remaining miles to St Lucia 1223.Yesterday after running north west, we tacked on a wind shift at 1500 hours, to head south west. We were in a good 15 knots of breeze and have been like that since. The wind has lightened to 10-12 kn, however we are making good progress.The sea state was very lumpy and uncomfortable, with a swell from the north west. It was very difficult to cook. If it wasn't for the fact that Colin had prepared some onions and I had prepared some potatoes, in the cockpit in the afternoon, their was no way we would have had a cooked meal. It took all of your effort just to stay on your feet.Colin caught a Dorado just in time to go in to the pot with the. read more...

Firefly - Irish Sea

The wind has increased overnight, we now have about 25 knots of wind and as it frequently has on this trip, it looks like the Irish Sea! (But is much warmer and blue!) We reached the milestone of 500 Miles to go on Murray's watch last night. Our forecast is for the wind to increase so we are anticipating maintaining our good progress and making landfall sometime later on Wednesday, early on Thursday. We are heading for English Harbour and will drop the hook in Freeman's Bay for a kip before going stern to on Nelson's Dockyard in order to complete our arrival procedures and then find that first rum punch.It has to be said that while the crew are all happy, after 17 days at sea we are looking forward to getting to Antigua. The Leeward Islands pilot books were out yesterday and being. read more...

Manihi - La chevauchée fantastique

14:39.74N 45:39.98W   9:00 heure locale - Profondeur 3300 m   Ca y est nous en avons terminé (croisons les doigts !) avec le faux-platd'hier. Le vent attendu s'est levé en fin d'après-midi et nous voilà depuis dansce grand flux de vent de NE (nord-est, pour ceux qui en aurait encore besoin).10 à 15 nds en début de soirée, 17 à 24 nds pendant la nuit. Nous avons prisdeux ris dans la nuit et réduit le génois d'un tiers. Ce qui nous a permis depasser la nuit avec Raymond (le pilote !) aux commandes.   En début de nuit c'était un champ de bosses, et ce matin au réveil nousavons retrouvé un terrain de cross ! Des vagues d'environ 4 mètres et lorsque detemps en temps les vagues se montent dessus (et oui, ça leur arrive aussi !),des différence d'altitude de 8 mètres. Ca c'est de. read more...

Ula - Day 11

No sail boats seen for 3 days now. Sighted a cargo vessel early hours of this morning heading for New Jersey. Yesterday turned out to be our best day yet, very nearly 200 miles. ( In 2011 we had several 200+ mile days ). Its been a day for practicing Turks Heads, Monkey's Fists and Bowlins (the "not upside down" version!).Looks like another week to run at current speed. Boris is working hard as our replacement asymetric spinnaker but with winds of less than 18 knots we are struggling to make more than 8 knts across the ground.Given its vast expanse its easy to overlook the beauty of the water which surrounds us. A few minutes watching Ula's wake reveals; pearl-like beads of spray, ever changing shapes and colour, ranging from the black of the deep, to the sparkling white of the crests,. read more...

Diva - Auf dicke Welle machen

Er hat uns im Griff der Nordostwind. Seit Tagen bläst dieser Anschieber von schräg achtern und treibt die Diva schäumenden Bugs mit 15 Knoten an die Grenze der machbaren Geschwindigkeit. Es knarzt und gurgelt im Bauch des Schiffes. In der Koje liegend schießt das Wasser wenige Zentimeter an einem vorbei. Ein Glück das dazwischen die Bordwand ist.Es sind weniger als 600 Semmeilen to go. Heute Morgen hatten wir wieder einmal den Besuch einer Delfinschule. Später warf Gero aus Neugier und als bekennender Nichtangler die Route mit einem blau-silbernen 14cm Rappala Wobbler bei über 9 Knoten Fahrt aus und es dauerte Sekunden bis eine Atlantikdorade ihm fast die Arme ausgerissen hat. Genauso muss es in dem Buch „Der Mann und das Meer“ gewesen sein. Boot schrubben, Bolognese, Musik und ein. read more...

Surya - Surya dag 16

Normal 0 21 false false falseNL JA X-NONE/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Standaardtabel; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-ansi-language:NL;}Goed nieuws! We zeilen weer en dit keer full speed 270° naar St. Lucia!De teller staat regelmatig op 9+ kn. Sinds gisteren op het einde van de namiddag is er een mooie wind gekomen uit NE. Het grote gebied met weinig wind hebben we. read more...

Queen Frederica - Bericht Tag 16 - Endlich Wind

09.12.13Sonntag Nachmittag. Flaute. Der Ozean ist ruhig. Die Dünung ist noch da,nicht so lang wie vorgestern, dennoch erhaben. Auf dem Vorschiff fühlt essich ein wenig an wie ein Ritt auf einem sanften Kamel. Nur nicht sogleichmäßig. Es schaukelt und wippt mal nach rechts, dann nochmal nachrechts und dann nach links. Dann vor und zurück und anschließend kommt einneues Muster. Stundenlang kann man hier sitzen, spüren und schauen. Wardie Oberfläche des Wassers bisher immer kräuselig, ist sie heute nahezuglatt. 0-1 auf der Petersen-Skala: a calm sea. Das muss es sein, wennLeute von einem stillen Ozean sprechen. Der Horizont sieht heute aus wieeine Kante. Dahinter fällt das Wasser hinunter und die Erde ist zu Ende.Ganz sicher. Um uns herum unendlich viele Grau- und blasse Blautöne.Wolken in. read more...

Meltemi - 14.Tag Tunnelblick

Das Jagdfieber hat uns erfasst. Das Fischen wurde eingestellt, weil wir eh zu schnell für die Fische sind und der Köder auch zu stark bremst. Dafür jagen wir jetzt Wettbewerber!Ein stetiger NE- Passat mit Stärke um 5 hat uns endlich erreicht. Wir sind in den letzten 24 Stunden mehr als 180sm gesegelt.Bitten die Damen drücken, damit das so bleibt! Ab heute zählen wir nur noch rückwärts. Es sind keine 600sm mehr bis zum Ziel in St. Lucia.Sonnige Grüße Die Crew der Meltemi. read more...

Hera - Kletterparty

Endlich haben wir tollen Wind. Dazu beschert uns Rasmus auch strahlendenSonnenschein. Leider ist alles Gute selten beisammen. Ein Blick ins Rigg zeigte heute ein gebrochenes Zwischenwant von derunteren Steuerbordsaling hoch zum Mast. Ein erster Ausflug mit demBootsmannsstuhl war bei 3m Welle mehr als abenteuerlich. Wir haben zwar einetechnische Lösung gefunden, die aber wegen des Seegangs zur Zeit nichtausführbar ist. Zu allem Unglück müssen wir auf Backbordbug segeln. Also habenwir das Groß erstmal gerefft, um Druck vom stehenden Rigg zu nehmen. Die nächsten Tage verspricht der Wetterbericht viel Wind zunehmend aus Ost,so dass wir gut vorankommen könnten. Die letzte Nacht brachte uns jede Menge Squalls, die sich auf dem Radar gutbeobachten ließen. Wir nutzten die Gunst der Stunde, um. read more...

Moondancer - Monday 9th December 12.30pm (GMT+1)

The one that got away 2Just had the biggest bite of my life.It was either a Marlin or a large Wahoo.It took 300 metres of line and jumped clean out of the water 4 or 5 times until it broke our 80lb breaking strain line. It was about 6 foot long. What a rush!We've had a few like that all be it a bit smaller.When we do manage to land a fish it usually turns into the Billy Batts murder scene from "Goodfellas" on the boat and the place ends up looking like an abbattoir, but you've got to eat.Anyway we've lost most of our line now and can only go for small fry.Talking of Fish we had a very strange experience yesterday before dusk. A huge Blue Marlin followed our boat for half an hour , mesmerised by the Hydro generator which it actually attacked with its beak.It was about 6 foot long with. read more...

Magic - Tag 15: Bergfest, 2. Advent

08.12.2013Pos: 19° 23,3' N, 039° 12,7' WKurs: 240°Gestern Nacht war Bergfest. Wir haben das natürlich gebührend gefeiert. Albrecht trägt sogar ein Gedicht vor – sehr lustig. Zeit zum Dichten war offenbar genug. Jetzt sind wir also dichter an St. Lucia als an Las Palmas. Eigentlich sollte das in 9 Tagen zu schaffen sein. Die Wetterprognose nach vorne ist deutlich stabiler, als das, womit wir es bisher zu tun hatten. Wir lassen eine Windwüste hinter uns zurück.Und dann ist auch noch 2. Advent. Jedes Teil hier an Bord, das mit Feuer zu tun hat, braucht mindestens einen Stempel und eine Zulassung von irgendeiner Behörde. Letzte Woche war ich noch davon ausgegangen, das Adventskränze für den Bordgebrauch nie so eine Zulassung bekommen würden. Weit gefehlt. Wir haben uns inzwischen einen. read more...

Magic - Tag 14: Immer noch Schwachwind

07.12.2013Pos: 19° 50,2' N, 037° 01,6' WKurs: 277°Der Atlantik ist so groß, warum ist immer da, wo wir sind, kein Wind? Der Flautengürtel um das erste Tief, das unseren Kurs beeinflusst hat, liegt noch immer fast über dem gesamten östlichen Atlantik. Wir hoffen, dass unsere etwas nach Norden laufende Strategie nun endlich fruchtet. Dafür müssen wir noch einmal einen kleinen Haken schlagen. Das wird vermutlich die längste ARC aller Zeiten...Die Tage sind ansonsten angenehm warm (weil ja auch kein Wind an Bord ist), die Nächte sternenklar. Ohne den ganzen Lichtsmok der Großstädte ist das sich uns bietende Bild jedes Mal wieder faszinierend. Glücklicherweise sind die Tablets an Bord mit Stellarium, Google Sky Map usw. gut ausgerüstet. Der Nordstern ist schon ziemlich knapp über dem Horizont. read more...

Lancelot II - Day 15 - Team sports

The wind has picked up and we are now pushing much faster towards St Lucia.Yesterday afternoon we sailed on a fast reach with Frankenstein flying in asteady 18 knots of wind. During the afternoon the wind shifted slightly whichdid not allow us to head straight on course to finish, we made the call to dropthe spinnaker down and run on a direct course rather than flying the spinnakerthrough the night and risking damage to it. That proved to be a good call for usas the breeze continued to shift which made for a quick reaching sail with theJib up. It was a great sail for our first watch as the moon was out and straightin front of us, it made the perfect runway to point the boat down and abeautiful sight as well as it set into the sea.   Dinner last night was another great meal, tuna. read more...

Shine - Day 14 : Is there anybody out there ?

Wind still holding at about 25 knots so racing St Lucia bound pitching and heaving in a magnificent, if sometimes unpredictable, following sea.We are so used to clinging on now that to move across a room without holding on to something solid will be a pleasant diversion.Making a cup of tea is a case of boil water, place cups strategically around the saloon,pour from kettle and hope some finds a home in at least one cup.This is a slight exaggeration, but you get the drift.Having conserved water, we now have plenty to see us home.We are now, therefore, officially the cleanest crew at sea, and with the liberal application of Tim's extra strength deodorant( which one assumes he has on prescription) the boat now smells like a pox doctor's waiting room.We've been at sea now for 14 days, and. read more...

Annabella - Log 14 - Monday 9th January

Position @ 1000GMT 13 06.16N 42 43.22WDistance to St Lucia: 1064NMDistance made good last 24 hrs: 132NMAt last we are heading almost directly for St Lucia and we will break the 1000 nm this evening. The wind during yesterday was light where we were making between 4 and 5 knots. At 6 local time yesterday (GMT - 2) we gybed the spinnaker and the wind picked uo allowing us to sail in a westerly direction at around 7 knots which was in line with expectation.It started to rain at about 2300 LT. At 0130 this morning the wind died and was variable for a while swinging 90 to 120 degrees on the other side. It suddenly went forward of the beam so all hands were called to drop the spinny ( after 5 great days). Simultaneously, a monsoon appeared and Otto (autohelm) decided to switch. read more...

Arkouda - Sea Day 13 (15 from start of Rally)

Arkouda13 31.7 N, 36 12.5 W Dec 9, 2013, 02:25 ZWe had another fantastic day, although it was a little slow.Our days of sailing with 12 kts of wind dropped to 7 and 8 kts.We must be learning how to trim the sails--we able to ghost along at 4-5 kts, the Parasailor steady ahead.As the wind dropped to 4 knots even "Big Red" gave up and wadded itself into a pathetic little heap.We had not realized how hot is was until we went forward to bring it in and put it in its bag.We started the port motor at about 4:00 o'clock, had a fantastic chicken lentil curry, and watched the sun set.We are still chugging along at about 5 kts, have plenty of fuel thanks to the stop in the Verdes, and plenty of food thanks to Paalo in Sicily who repaired our Fridge and Freezer.Sean has been reading all the manuals. read more...

Duplicat - Monday 9 December 14.47N 35.53W

We had a day as calm as this on the first week en route to Mindelo - so calm you can see the Shearwaters skimming the surface for fish and making a splash.That day we saw humpback whales but nothing so dramatic so far today.Years go we met a guy who had been round the world on his yacht and he said in his experience there is never any wind in the middle of the oceans - he is right today!Where are these promised trade winds?Skipper has been up the mast to redo spi halyard which had chafed through the outer core and next job is to pour the diesel from our cans into the main tank - all looking forward to that one because the filler is under the helm seat in the cockpit! No-one has showered yet today so we can have a good scrub to get out the smell of diesel.Anyway hazelnut and honey cake. read more...

Hot Stuff - Fairies of the Lost Arc - Chapter 9

Day 14. Our Christmas wishes came true and we have been blessed with wind. However,we are still awaiting the ever elusive trade winds to give us some horizontalrelief - for now life on a slant continues - we are sure this wasn't in thebrochure!  We are currently on night watch and sailing under the most stunning halfmoon with a sky full of glittering stars. The sea is glistening and we are allgrinning contentedly as head ever closer to the Pina Coladas awaiting us. Asenjoyable as our luxury pond spa beauty experience was this is  much betterthan moving at 0.01 knots on a glassy sea. Here is an idea of how watches havegone over the last few days and what we are definitely not missing now:- The sound of the main flogging every five seconds is followed by a loudunidentified creak.. read more...

Edelweiss - Day #16: Under 1000 miles to go!

Yes, we have a big milestone as of early this morning - only 966 nautical miles to go to St Lucia!While this is still plenty of ground to cover, it feels like we are really making progress.We've had good winds over the last 24 hours so we are picking up speed again.Even this morning's rainstorm could not dampen the excitement!On the other hand, enough with the flying fish already!Last night, just as we were cruising along in the dark with the moon lighting our way and I was thinking how lovely it was, a terrible ruckus started up in the otherwise quiet salon of the boat.Yes, the salon: as in "living quarters."Somehow (it's still unclear) a flying fish got in through a hatch or the main doorway and lodged itself under the table!It was only 10:30pm (not the fabled 3am), Lyell and I were on. read more...

Challenger 3 - sailing and madness

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) } DAY 14 After a few days of motoring (and hitting the 2000 mile mark at midnight) Challenger 3 is back on proper sailing. Close to midday the wind started blowing again, we are now doing 8 knots with full main, yankee and staysail, heading towards our final destination. Today the crew tasted the excellent French crèpes done by Mark and sous chef Henry. Unfortunately the first batch didn’t come out quite right due to a convex bulge in the pan, which Mark then repaired with the nearest utensil to hand and some “gentle persuasion”. The crew are looking forward to making a consistent nine knots all the way to Saint Lucia. Meanwhile Challenger’s victual is nearly finished… the crew cant wait for eating out of superb tins.   Further on, a. read more...

Blue Dolphin - Day 15 - Bread making

Sally gave Kathy and Carol a master class in bread making.  (insert photo).  The photo was going to be of the finished article but it disappeared almost as soon as it came out of the oven – delicious. The wind has died again!!!  The sea was eerily  smooth and oily looking.  So, it is back to the engine tonight.  Fuel is a real issue now and there are not many more engine hours left for motoring.  The winds should return on Tuesday – fingers x’d. The crew are wishing that a whale might appear to lift their spirits.  St Lucia still seems a long way off (1250 miles to go!)  BS.IMG_2414. read more...