Daily Logs

Marisja - Marisja dag 2

We hebben weer een hoop meegemaakt de laatste 24 uur! Gistermiddag zijn Flipper en 30 van zijn vriendjes weer langs geweest omlekker voor bij de punt van de boot te spelen. Gaaf om die dolfijnen zo dichtbijde boot te zien! Gelukkig stond ik niet achter het stuur en kon ik lekker gaankijken met Nikki op het voordek.   Na een heerlijke pasta bolognese van Nikki hebben we gisteravond beslotenom de A2 (onze grootste gennaker) te laten staan tijdens de nacht aangezien wemaar 12 tot 17 knts hadden en het zo makkelijk snel ging. Alleen de wind namtegen de verwachting in toe (20+ knts) dus toch besloten om geen risico tenemen. Dus iedereen uit zijn bed gehaald en de A2 rond 23:00 weg gehaald enverder gegaan met de genua uitgeboomd.De wind bleef lekker staan en dit ging ook goed. Alleen. read more...

Helen - Day 2 from Ed

A quieter day at sea with only one other boat in sight. Our captain said that we had sailed 132 miles in the day with no engine hours. A bit slow but I will get there.No fish were caught today, so it was baked potatoes for lunch and pork chops for dinner, yum.When we were in the Cape Verdes the crew of three of the ARC+ boats went to visit the SOS Children's Villages charity in Mindelo. The captain of yacht Helen and I were among them.The charity does fantastic work helping children off and on the streets and supporting challenged families.At the centre we met two boys who were orphaned and were living there. We asked why they had volunteered to stay:" Bad things happen on the street"" I get education, food and a bed"That says it all!The sailors in the ARC+ and the ARC are very lucky to. read more...

Abraxas 3 - High spirits

Position reports are looking great, both in class and overall so there is wide smiles all around!We are with a few exceptions running a dry ship but we celebrated a successful gybe with a small beer (0,25 litres are almost just a mouthful so one has too enjoy every sip). Weather is perfect with 12-17 knots of wind from ENE and a clear blue sky. The water is 26 C and the temperature down below is 34 C, so its only light clothes and even the life jackets are warm to wear.Have nice day, and thank you for following us!Team Abraxas. read more...

Blonde Moment - Friday the final 48 hrs before the off

Well it is now only 48 hrs befor the off and the tension on the dock can now be felt as crews are waiting for their victuals to arrive from the local stores wondering if they will be next or just been forgotten! Blonde Moment has had similar thoughts but we seem to have most food onboard now apart from those final items and to replace what we have eaten... yes we still have to eat in harbour ....think that may have been missed from our calculations! This afternoon has been hot and Ian was sent off by the girls to buy more stores -fruit ,biscuits,anti bac etc ;Paul was busy checking final items on deck and buying those extra bits from the chandlery; and the girls .... well they were busy on the foredeck!!And I thought they were hanging out the washing!  picture attachedm_IMG_5842. read more...

Santjana - Day 2 before ARC starts

Gran Canaria.After spending quite some intensive days here, filled with preparation tasks, interesting ARC seminars, lots of visits at the chandlers shop and not to forget all the ARC sundowners and ARC parties we joined, we are looking forward to Sunday.We still have some "last minutes jobs" to do, not to forget the shopping list and stowing the hole lot on board!We are both quite excited about the coming days and weeks.. read more...

Shimna - SHIMNA

Just had a super lunch at our club and only 12 euros, we will really miss this place . Wonderful swimming pool ,good WiFi great location, right in the marina, shame about the company ! Last cocktail party at the Royal Nautical club tonight, let’s hope the crew all behave themselves for once ( me included) . Watergate crisis has been resolved , we now have 80 litres and about 4,000 litres of alcohol. Plus the water in the tanks which at the moment tastes like bleach . Wish us all good luck . Julie Thorp. read more...

Shepherd Moon - Hallucinations

I was on watch this morning when a large splash on the horizon caught my eye. At first I assumed it was a breaking wave, although on a calm morning with just a gentle swell that would be surprising. I kept watching in the direction of the splash and then I saw it. A large whale leapt half way out of the water and then came crashing down, making an almighty splash. I had been down below five minutes before to wakeup Vanessa and Jacob with a rather tuneful rendition of "Morning has broken" and they were in the process of getting up, or at least opening an eye. I called down the companionway that there was a breaching whale on the horizon. Five times the whale entertained my with its leaps and splashes, but by the time the crew emerged on deck, bleary eyed, all that could be seen was a. read more...

Infinity of Yar - Infinity of Yar - Blog 3

Well readers, I think you are getting the gist of this by now, this is the third entry of our blog for Yacht Infinity of Yar and her crossing of the Atlantic. I promised on two occasions to introduce you to the crew and now, finally, I will do just that. With three days to go the intensity is ramping up - even the Italians look like they are starting to think about provisioning the boat - obviously that hasn't slowed down the parties! Our team, as I have said before, are all from Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight. As it turns out we are not alone! A few of the ARC team are from Cowes and one of our speakers today on the art of emergency navigation is from Ventnor. 'Stokey' is frankly bonkers, in a beautiful way. He taught us how to sail at night by the stars as well as many fiendishly clever. read more...

Infinity of Yar - Infinity of Yar Blog Post 2

Welcome back, dear reader, to this our second blog entry from the crewof Infinity of Yar. All our crew has arrived and preparations are going apace. All our crewthat is except for Oliver Davey the owner's younger son who arrivestomorrow; by which time all the hard work preparing the boat will havebeen done. Thus he will be known henceforth as 'Step Aboard' Davey. Within the chapters of this blog we will examine the make up of the crewand together we will unpick their characters as the adventure unfoldsbut more of that later. Let me describe the scene here on the pontoon at Meulle Deportivo in LasPalmas. Never have you seen such a hive of activity in a marina. Back inEngland we are used to marinas where 3/4 of the boats never move; herewe are surrounded by nearly 200 yachts and not a. read more...

Neverland - Neverland leg 2 - Mindelo & Days 1-2

Captain’s Log: We arrived at Mindelo in the misty early hours of the morning, still pitch black and trying cross the line with an awkward angle for our goosewinged sail setup and navigating via ipad. We just squeaked past without having to change the sails. 05:33 - Leg 1 complete and time for some well deserved rest… after we scrubbed the boat inside and out, took out the rubbish, incinerated the pants I’ve been wearing for the past week and showered. After all that I followed our neighbour’s lead and cracked open a beer then passed out for the next 5 hours – cheap date.Walking out of the gated marina, past the huge security guards and out into Mindelo we are flanked by two young boys who are desperate to get hold of our rubbish sacks, we politely decline as we think we can manage. read more...

Hummingbird - Late night conversations

Legend has it that several children alive in the world today have been conceived on board the Clipper 60s during the Clipper Round the World Race.Really! Well, probably not but this is exactly the kind of logistical challenge which occupies the mind during the early hours.With twelve people on board there are only two possible private locations: Narnia, and the Rope Locker. For the uninitiated amongst ye, Narnia is not the winter wonderland on the other side of the wardrobe. It is the home of Genny, the generator, rack upon rack of oil, and a pretty efficient watermaker, upon which our mid-Atlantic showers (and thus, sanity) are dependent. At this point, I shall take the liberty of christening it Watson. So, part of the watch system is to crawl in and check the generator and bilges in. read more...

Abraxas 3 - Dophins at night - a gift from nature

We have for a second night running had a visit from dolphins that flashes up in phosphorous (morild in Norwegian). They jump in front of the bow and in the nearby waves and sometimes comes in looking like torpedoes.Not much other wildlife to be seen except for a few birds and literally thousands of flying fish, of which four ended their life on our foredeck yesterday.Have good night. read more...

Charm - Day 2 - trampoline fun

Well, it was fun.Until it broke.When we decided to buy a catamaran, we told the kids that we would switch out the boat trampolines for real trampolines because we had one in our backyard in Colorado and we all loved it.Plus, I always felt like it was misleading to call them trampolines when they weren't.Of course, it's more complicated than just buying trampoline fabric.The catamaran trampolines are there to make the boats lighter so they go faster,not for recreation.Joe said he would work on a plan to replace the infrastructure when we take the boat to the US next year.In the meantime, only Tully was allowed to jump on them.Of course, other children may have occasionally broken this rule and the trampolines got lots of use because they are, essentially, the equivalent of a front and. read more...

Amanda - Log day minus 3 : hair cut in Las Palmas

96 Skipper (Erik) of AMANDA getting a €10 hair cut less than 1 meter aeay from his boat. GETTING READY./Lars (junior crew)IMG_5231. read more...

Abraxas 3 - Sailing into the second night

We have decided along time ago that the main target for this trip is to get to the other side with smiles on everyone's face, and therefore sail quite conservatively.Today we had such a long stretch of stable winds so we thought we should delay the spinnaker drop until the 21:00 watch change, but an hour early the wind suddenly strengthened to 16-17 knots. And in the pitch dark night steering was quite difficult, we decided to do a quick drop. The snuffer (a 22meter long sock that we pull down over the spinnaker) once again proved it's worth and made it an easy drop. We are now sailing with our jib and a heavy weather jib as a cutter sail, and still doing 7-8 knots towards the finish.Otherwise its warm and nice onboard, and everyone are in good spirits as our position in the fleet is. read more...

Helen - Day 1 from Ed

A busy start to my first day at sea. Our captain said that we had sailed 134 miles with only 1 hour of motoring.Three fish called Mahi Mahi were caught and they looked the same colour as my Iguana family. The fishermen said that they were too small and threw them back which seemed a shame. We had corned beef sandwiches and chicken and leak pie instead.The electricity stopped for a short while so the computer has gone on strike for the rest of the trip. Our captain said that the iPad can take over from the computer.The coloured sail came out for a short while but it took hours to set and looked very hard work. I couldn't understand all of the language being used to describe the work!Tomorrow I hope to tell you about the street kids of the Cape Verdes and how I plan to help them.Please. read more...

Windseeker - Windseeker

Dijous 16 de novembre de 2017Hi Windseekers! Avui ja hem tornat a la rutina dels navegants, llevar-se d’hora, fer guàrdies a les nits i pescar un bon peixot abans de l’esmorzar! A trenc d’alba amb poca velocitat hem decidit provar noves opcions i hem tret la “rapala” infalible per una en forma de calamar de purpurina. I és clar, qui ha picat? La llampuga, el Dorado! I s’ha de reconèixer que mentre està viva té un color daurat preciós!Més tard, després d’una visita d’una trentena de dofins pigallats hem perdut definitivament la visió i la localització de la resta de participants. És fa curiós pensar que hem sortit més de setanta velers i en menys de 24 hores ja no ens veiem, i això que anem allà mateix! Bé, esperem que no estiguem fent nosaltres la mala ruta perquè des d’aquí només podem. read more...

Golok - J-3. bis. Détente au Roque Nublo

Pendant que le rallye tout entier bruisse de rumeurs folles sur les incertitudes météo, une partie de l'équipage de Golok a eu quartier libre aujourd'hui et en a profité pour une petite marche au Roque Nublo (1800 m) 20171116222428. read more...

Shepherd Moon - Shepherding the fleet

Having left the Canaries on the 5th November, we arrived in Cape Verde on the 12th.Somehow, without trying, we managed to come second in our division. As with the Duckworth Lewis method in cricket, the handicapping system in sailing sometimes throws up strange results, and rain didn't even stop play.We have found the perfect spot to display our second prize plaque but there isn't really room to add a second one, which is why we have purposely positioned ourselves at the back of the fleet! Our start could not have been worse. Whilst all the other boats jostled for position on the line, we were still secure in our berth. In fact we were still tied up as the starting gun fired. We did eventually slip our lines and hoisted our newly repaired gennaker, giving it a little wash in the sea in. read more...

Odessa - Log day 1 start preparing

Waiting safety inspectionAnatoly. read more...

Golok - J-3. Lendemain de fête

Hier soir, grosse fête déguisée sous le thème "Sous la mer ". Apparemment il y a beaucoup d'alcool sous la mer. Une partie de l'équipage a pu le vérifier...IMG-20171116-WA0003. read more...

Lily - Day 1 - Leg 2

So we departed Mindelo among half, and fully, sunken ships in the harbour. Glorious start with all boats seeming keen to show their skills to eachother. And then, after a nice and even windy start - no wind. The flapping game has started where sails bang this way and that, not driven by wind but the swells of the ocean. I am not complaining (ok maybe a little bit), the ocean is a good place to be stuck with more book reading, fishing and cooking. Having run the engine for too long already I think we shall just do the doldrum wait for some wind. At least a 2 knot current is taking us the right way.. read more...

Marisja - Leg 2 Dag 1 Vliegende start

Rodie, Nikki en DJ maakte het nog even spannend. Geplande aankomst wasmaandagmiddag, maar door een zandstorm kom hun vliegtuig niet landen op SaoVicente en kwamen zij terecht op een ander eiland Sal, waar zij moesten wachtenop meer nieuws in een resort (kan erger). Het wachten werd beloond want na eenvertraging vlogen zij uiteindelijk op dinsdag om 16 uur naar Sao Vicente.Woensdagochtend nog even de watertank bijgevuld, laatste boodschappen gedaan entrossen los! Met de heren op het voordek en in de pit en Nikki als captainhebben wij een vliegende start gemaakt met als enige boot met de gennaker op..!We vlogen weer als vanouds, weg van het hele veld, en hadden ook al snel demeeste multihulls te pakken die 15 minuten eerder waren gestart dan wij.   Met de vislijnen uit en een mooi. read more...

Trifon - testing blog

This is Trifon just testing our blog on the 16th November. All wellonboard and waiting for the rest of the crewCarl. read more...

Abraxas 3 - Another day with downwind sailing

After a dark night with the moon coming up at 05:10 local time and only glowing with 4 % of its area, it was good to see the sun again and dressing down to t-shirts again.We took a cautious approach during the night, sailing with the jib and a small heavy weather jib on the inner forestay. According to the position report we didn't loose to much to the other boats around us. Now we have again put the big A2 spinnaker up and seems to be making good progress both on the map and relative to our competitors. The wind is shifting constantly by 20-40 degrees and varying from 8-13 knots. Have a good day!. read more...

Muttley - Under the sea pics

https://facebook.com/muttley342/. read more...

Charm - Day 1 to St. Lucia

We are on our way to the Caribbean!It's a relief to be back at sea, trapped on a boat, restricted to the same space and same company.It might sound odd, but it actually is.As a person who likes to do everything, it is exhausting to be in a new place like Mindelo with so many opportunities for activities.Far better to have boundaries, at least tonight.Joe had us leave the dock at 10 am so we could anchor and scrub the bottom to get rid of the vegetation and sea life that are constantly accumulating and making us slower.After everyone got out of the water and showered, we were preparing for the start by sailing around the area to check out wind angles, start line, etc.Tim and Marin were taking down the laundry.I heard Marin's distraught scream that meant something life-ending (in her. read more...

Hummingbird - Blog: On your marks, get set, go!

Our few days in the Cape Verde islands made for a stellar mid-passage stopover. Not least because we discovered that we’d placed an awesome fourth in our class on leg 1 – so so close to a podium finish! It’s been enough to leave us all with tantalising visions of spraying bottles of fizzy champagne around and holding a big shiny gold cup above our heads in a couple weeks’ time…From our base at the busy marina in Sao Vicente we each spread out to explore here and there. Shortly after the last blog’s culinary adventure through the back streets of Mindelo, our two resident Ozzies rose at the crack of dawn to jump on a ferry to neighbouring island Santo Antao and hike the archipelago’s lushest hills. Most of the crew sipped traditional lemon teas from atop a very harmattan-glazed mountain. read more...