Daily Logs

Lothlorien - Tag 9 auf See - Was bringen die nächsten Tage?

Wir haben unsere Routine gefunden. Kerstin und ich übernehmen die erste Nachtwache von 20:00 Uhr UTC (Ortszeit London) bis 2:00 Uhr morgens. Gerrit und Felix dann die Hundewache von 2:00 Uhr bis 8:00 Uhr. So bin ich morgens auch wieder aus dem Bett, um mich um Emails zu kümmern, die Funkrunde auf Kurzwelle vorzubereiten, Trinkwasser aufzufüllen und vieles andere mehr. Man glaubt, dass in den ca. 20 Tagen auf See Langeweile aufkommt, aber weit gefehlt.Mit den Emails habe ich auch neueste Wetterinformationen bekommen und wir können die Segelführung für den Tag besprechen. Heute lassen wir wieder den Parasailor fliegen. D.h. Großsegel einrollen, Fock einrollen, Fockbaum verstauen und das andere Segel anschlagen und hochziehen. Wir hatten gerade alles stehen, als Kerstin im Parasailor einen. read more...

Lothlorien - Tag 8 auf See - wir kommen gut voran

Die Meilen purzeln geradezu in Richtung St. Lucia. Wir haben einen guten Passatwind, der uns mit mindestens 5 Bft in die richtige Richtung schiebt. In der Nacht hatten wir wieder 6 Bft mit Böen von 7. Dann müssen wir schon die Segelfläche deutlich reduzieren und schwanken sehr vor dem Wind.Dieses Schwanken (Rollen) ist für die Crew auch anstrengend und heute morgen fühlen wir uns alle 'groggy'.Ja, was machen unsere Angelerfolge? Ich möchte unbedingt frischen Fisch auf den Tisch haben und hänge daher ständig eine Leine aus. Die Crew ist nicht so richtig begeistert von meinem Enthusiasmus, da das Einholen der Leine samt Töten und Ausnehmen des Fisches anstrengend werden können. Wir haben in Las Palmas zwei neue Köder gekauft, die für hohe Geschwindigkeiten optimiert sind und gut für. read more...

Circe - Welcome Back, Cotter

Nothing strikes fear - okay, maybe just extreme concern - into the heart of a sailor more than the discovery of a lone pin from an unknown shackle on the deck during a walkabout inspection of your boat.Yesterday morning we had such an event.Steve was doing the morning walkabout after a rather rough and rolling night when he found a clevis pin lying on the foredeck with no companion cotter pin in sight.Because cotter pins secure clevis pins and can be jostled out of any number of places, high and low - lifelines, stays, block and tackle,anywhere you have a shackle - it was an imperative to find where this little fellow had won its liberation from and get it back in place with a replacement cotter pin. Luckily, Captain Bernie was able to locate where the shackle missing the pins was. read more...

Betelgeuse - BETELGEUSE Saturday 26/11/22 DAY 7

I think we have upset the sea life – no dolphins all day, only the occasional lost bird keeping a wary eye on us from afar. Happily, our friendly flying fish have not deserted us. Charlotte saw far off a whale blowing and taking a quick breath before disappearing into the depths. Head fisherman Will after considerable effort rigged the new deep sea fishing rod complete with shiny rod holder off the stern. Surely every passing Mahi Mahi would show some respect. 30 minutes in the line was being stripped from the reel with an high pitch whine and shouts of ‘fish on’, seconds later all went quiet from reel and crew. It must have been SO big it snapped the line – spinner, trace, lure and all gone (we have spare).With 14-17 knot winds the spinnaker was raised and soon Betelgeuse was flying,. read more...

Summer Star - Happy birthday Andy

Andrew celebrates his birthday today.Particularly pleased to receive a present of his favourite Marmite snack!NeilSummer Star--. read more...

Falcon - Crossing Day 10

Distance run last 24 hours 148 nautical miles.Miles left to Grenada 549.Sunday brought us light winds, calm seas and a welcome opportunity to settle back and relax without need to tend boat or sails.As any sailor knows however, whilst each yacht has a soul, character and mind of its own, every floaty boaty has a common demand for attention greater than any fairytale princess.Our prince Falcon is no different, and chose the hour of dusk to make his demands from the crew.First, the boys had to grapple at the mast to fix a broken mainsail batten slider; this operation was annotated throughout with Ade’s colourful language directed at the the riggers who, in Las Palmas, had ‘mended’ his sturdy emergency repair of the same bit of kit, with a ‘professional permanent fix’ lasting less than 2. read more...

Peristera - Christmas is coming

As far as I know, we are the only boat in ARC22 with an all-female crew. I joined the ARC in 2016 too, that year I think we were three.Since then, I have sailed around the world with different crew of women. We are still very few female skippers! I do not think there are physical or mental differences between men and women that could explain why the vast majority of boats have male skippers. One explanation is the long history of male seafarers. When we think of a captain, we think of a man. But if the next generation of girls grow up, seeing both female and male skippers, this will change.We are seven women onboard, six crew and me. All Swedish except for one, from Norway. We have, most likely, bought too much food. Even if I know that this was the case every crossing, the panic sets in. read more...

Betelgeuse - BETELGEUSE DIARY Sunday 27th

Aforesaid scantily clad, black gloved figure (RICHARD OF COURSE) emerged from the heads with the shower water pump magically slurping water again, the man is a wizard! We awoke washed and clean to the smell of baking rolls and sizzling bacon and eggs! Our first hot breakfast and my what a delight it was. Fresh coffee flowed and spirits were high!Storm system spotted moving a little further south than usual for the time of year 6-8days out so a re-think of the plan ensued and the de-rigging, gybing and re-setting of the plethora of canvas began. We’ll er on the side of caution and take a more southerly track to avoid the lull south of the low. Should see some more significant swell from the NW in the next few days to spice things up a little/further disrupt occasional deep, occasional no. read more...

Escapado - Escapado Blog - Day 8.5 - Helming . . . (Otherwise known as WMO, Wave Management Operative)

Helming . . . (Otherwise known as WMO, Wave Management Operative) - If only I could do it to the same standard as my 3 watch mates, Morten, Dave & Greg !! Can I give my thanks, and pay tribute here and now for their skill and consistency in this activity, and for doing more than their fair share on our watches. Awesome is a much overused word, but in this case, not. Many thanks fellas, HARRY. The mood amongst the crew has been consistently high for the past few days, and incidents of fractiousness amongst them have been NIL !! How do we explain this? I would put this down to a high level of maturity (of crew), a common goal and good leadership.The crew members doing galley duties also try to not only maintain food standards of the previous day, but exceed it, thus exhibiting two. read more...

Escapado - RE: Day 9 - Directly heading for the Rum-punch

In the last 24 hours the crew of Escapado started following the Rhum(p) line from the Canaries to St. Lucia. This means we’re now directly heading for the Rum-punch in the finish line. We’ve been able to avoid no winds areas and are still flying along with good speeds.To add to this mood of excitement the crew has been treated really well by the last two cooks, even desert has come freshly out of the oven. The fantastic menus have been served in fantastic weather, we’ve experienced further beautiful sunsets.Davidimage1. read more...

Lissy III - 27.11./28.11.22 - almost a collision at sea

Gestern Abend haben wir eine beinahe Kollision mit einem Frachter gehabt. Barbara am Steuer hat den Frachter bereits gesichtet und via eine Relingsstuetze ins Visier genommen. Die Peilung driftete weder nach Steuerbord noch nach Backbord, sie war stehend. Der AIS gab dann alle Infos bekannt auch jene des closed Approach, welcher bei der Geschwindigkeit von 20 Knoten in 11 Minuten und mit Abstand von nur 117 ftzu uns stand.Oh oh. Der Frachter war nur mit einer MMSI Nummer versehen, kein Name. Wir haben dann diesen angefunkt und ihm gesagt, dass er zu nahe an uns kommt. Der hat dann den Kurs geändert. Im Abstand von 05 NM ist er dann an unserer Backbordseite von dannen Gegangen. Es zeigt sich, wie wichtig es ist, ständig Ausguck zu halten. Marina. read more...

Blue Moon - day 7 blog blue moon

It all happend in one second…flying the kite -gennaker with backwind smoothly downwind 170degrees, then a burst “baamm”…the whole kite falls down in slowmotion on our portside… i feel it happening while im steering the helm…Thalita bring us back to reality in no time…all hands on deck she says a bit louder and faster then her usual calm way to talk with us normally.So we move very quickly to our port-side to get in the kite before it gets tangled under the boat.We managed to get it safely back on deck even so in a bit twisted way…What happened and why could he let go on top of our mast head?There was a very strong dyneema soft buckle attached with a steel shackle and a block.So this dyneema buckle let go …due to a strong continuous force with banging and a big huge kite pulling on it. read more...

Blue Moon - day 6 blue moon

The day started early at 6am with a mesmerizing soulrise . My sister cooked up eggs with bacon while i was helming the boat in 20 knots of gusty wind.  As soon as the next watch woke up, we prepared for the gybe. With Wayne and Katleen on the bow the gybe went smoothly because we didn’t even wake up our skipper . At the moment we wanted to take a long waited nap, the skipper called all hands on deck for Mathias to climb into the mast.Suddenly Sergio yelled out ‘we caught a fish!’. It was a beautiful Mahi Mahi with green yellow blue color. Sergio had a big smile on his face because the fine tuning of the fishing line and long waiting, finally paid off. When Mathias killed it, it turned blue.Meanwhile Wayne went for a quick shower on deck.After cleaning and storing the fish on deck on a. read more...

Blue Moon - day 5 blue moon

It’s already day 5 people! We’re very slowly getting in our watch system groove. Though the night shifts are still not a given. The rockman sisters love their sleep ;) But we always make it on time. I must say the falling stars, soft warm sea breeze and the moderate sea state were a gift to wake up to last night. When it was the sisters’ turn again this morning at 9, our skipper Thalita and Mathias had enjoyed their 6 o clock morning watch in all peace. Made themselves eggs and bacon, turned the fruit, cleaned the heads and were waiting for us to get up to finally hoist the kite! Though before we did, we had to perform a planned gybe. And that is where the first deck excitement started for today.The crew forgot to open the clutch of the jammer and the main preventer snapped. Luckily the. read more...

Blue Moon - blog day 4 blue moon

With lighter winds predicted for the day, we adjusted the sails early in the morning: full mainsail up and the jib pole out for smooth sailing. Then, we let the fishing line out in the hopes of catching a tuna (no luck, but hopefully one of these days), recharged the batteries, and ran the water maker, to name a few daily activities. Margo prepared us a big breakfast and special guacamole lunch snack and Sergio cooked mushroom and sausage risotto. A well fed and happy crew for the day!. read more...

Blue Moon - day 3 Blue Moon 22/11/22

Confused seas last night made helming downwind a challenge, with a flapping jib irritating the skipper. We did our best to keep Blue Moon on course and in still in contention. Had company for a time with two vessels playing chicken behind us. Some radio chatter as they figured out how not to collide in the open Atlantic.Seas calmed a little in the morning and the decision was made to pole out the jib, but first we had to clear a jammed furling line. Mathias’ cap went for a swim while wrestling at the bow, but no “man overboard” call this time. Eventually the line was free and the pole was up, only to come straight back down again so we could untangle the spaghetti of lines. Finally the lines were sorted, the pole was up, the jib unfurled and un-flapping, and we could sail our desired. read more...

Blue Moon - bm day 2

Early prep for the upcoming racing start. Boat is well stuffed with fresh food, loads of salads, sweet candies, chocolates, pasta, pasta, pasta, cheeses, and fresh meat for the first days. Tanks are filled up with prescious water. Gas bottles changed, fuel tank refilled. Sails repaired, new toilet pumps (thank you Ettore!) and we got a second life raft on the Blue moon, which is getting a hitchhike to Antigua.During team briefing our captain kept us up to date with the current weather conditions: Wind 20-25 knots, swell is 11 seconds and 2 to 3 meter waves. We expect similar conditions for the next days! Everyone was quite excited. We made the last phonecalls to the homefront, and happy to leave the port and start this beautiful adventure!Sailing out of the port was an emotional moment,. read more...

Salamander - A Momentous Moment

At 2110 UTC on Friday 25th November we reached a milestone on our Atlantic crossing for ARC 2022.We reached a point that meant we were now only 2,000 nm from our destination in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.Whilst the total trip is billed as being slightly less than 3,000 nm I'm sure that we will have already traveled nearly 1,000 nm to get to this point.Mentally it marks the transition to the second third of this trip. Those of us on deck, myself, Clive and Fredrik celebrated with a small Mars bar. Yes I know, we sure know how to celebrate!!!Seeing a number 1 now in front of distance to waypoint has momentarily lifted our spirits and encouraged us to really focus on the next stage.At the moment we are on the rhumb line and doing quite nicely although we are always looking for more wind!We're on. read more...

Salamander - The Crew

Salamander is a charter boat that is making its 12th Atlantic crossing East to West this year. On board are Chris, the skipper and his wife Sue, who has the task of looking after us all.The six crew are here on an adventure of a lifetime and are all male on this trip. In alphabetical order we have Alan, Andrew, Clive, Fredrik, Ralph and Tim (me).We are split into three watches and share a cabin with our watch buddy. Tim & Andrew, Ralph & Alan, Clive & Fredrik.None of us knew each other before joining Salamander in Las Palmas. I had sailed the boat from Lymington to Las Palmas with Chris and Sue but with a different crew.We seem to be getting on really well so far which is fantastic. I guess we are all bound by a similar desire to cross the Atlantic Ocean.I've asked each crew. read more...

Salamander - Blogging

Each of the crews has been invited to submit a blog of their trip. I must have said yes inadvertently while in conversation with Chris, the skipper. I seem to have volunteered or been volunteered for several things on this trip, all of which have embraced the experience of the voyage.The first thing was as Tour Manager, this involved finding suitable restaurants for the crew meals on the delivery trip from Lymington to Las Palmas. We stopped in Camaret & Cascais. I managed to hit the jackpot in both locations and again in Las Palmas. Much to my surprise and the crew's delight.Now we are under way from Las Palmas I've been tasked with writing the blog. Ok I volunteered!!With our tech challenges on board however getting them back has been quite interesting. I've been  writing. read more...

Amandla Kulu - D8_ Stay low. Move fast

 Captain’s Log. Star Date 28 Nov. SupplementaryDay 8. Ninth day on the water.0909 GMT.0909 Local.18º 04 N033º 29 W TWS 14 knts (True Wind Speed)AWS 10 knts (Apparent Wind Speed)///chafe.hearth.mathshttps://w3w.co/chafe.hearth.maths ///bloomed.approach.stethoscopehttps://w3w.co/bloomed.approach.stethoscope  Sleep. As humans, our recycle rate is 16 hours. This matters not whether one is working an office, on holiday or indeed sailing and ocean. After 16 hours of wake time, there’s a build up of the toxic protein Beta Amaloide in our brains.  From memory have a look at the following URL: efq.wiki/sleep4min The last few days have been tough mentally, physically and emotionally. Without doubt the crew, as a team have come together as a. read more...

eXite - Exite 27/11 - becalmed

An almost uneventful day going towards the end. Out here uneventful days are good days cause it means shit hasn’t been breaking. We have been lucky so far with barely any breakages and hope it will keep this way to the finish, though we will have some maintenance to look forward to as the salt, sun and 3000 miles of sailing since leaving Las Palmas do put some strain on the gear.For the first time since leaving Mindelo we saw other animals than fly fish and the seagull-like-birds. We saw tuna jumping and trying to catch the fly fish. Lots and lots of tuna jumping around the boat the whole day. And did we catch anything? No. We only caught sea weed. Lots of sea weed…We also managed to find the only calm spot on the ocean (it felt like it at least) and for a few hours we were bouncing. read more...

Bluewater Mooney - BLUEWATER MOONEY 27.11.2022

Wir haben es wieder erholt, und nachgerüstet, es uns aber etwas leichter gemacht, und den Genacker gesetzt. Der kann ohne Baum gefahren werden, erlaubt aber keinen Wind von direkt achtern. Und sollte eigentlich bis max 20 kn stehen bleiben, verträgt aber vermutlich mehr - mal sehen. Dafür läßt er sich einfacher bergen. Also geht es weiter - ob auch nachts werden wir noch entscheiden.image1. read more...

Maroro - 27Nov

Today we celebrated a birthday aboard Maroro! Simón Zuccatti turned 21 today and we celebrated with a early morning serenade, followed by a treasure hunt withclues throughout the boat to find his presents. His family had sent messages from family’s CN friends ahead of the cross and he got to listen to many well wishes from across the globe.Then, we prepared a proper Argentine lunch of steak, chorizo, stuffed red peppers and freshly baked homemade rolls. Dessert was chocolate cake (though some of our younger crew and taken quite a few nibbles out of the cake by thetime it got to the table!).We are finishing the afternoon with a Super Mario Cart championship… May the best Maroro win!(Also a win… a few days ago we almost lost the code zero when rolling it up as a gust just then blew it into. read more...

SIMA - News from Sailor Ted

Ahoi from Sima, After 7 days at sea we have found our rhythm and are not as sleep deprived as in the first few days. So it’s time to finally give an update on what is happening on board sima. First let me introduce you to sima and her crew. Sima is a Bavaria 42 built in 1999, her name comes from the pigmy Pottwale cogis sima, she is as sturdy as this little whale but hopefully laks its ability to dive. Navigating sima are Flori, Tim and myself, Isa. This whole adventure was Floris idea, a great one by the way. Flori and myself are on parental leave for two years to travel and discover the European coast, the Caribbean and the middle American coast for two years. So this summer we have left our homeport Kiel to return only in 2024. Accompanying us on this crossing is Tim. Tim and Flori. read more...

Sabine - sabine (118) ARC blog update 27 Nov 2022

Hello interweb friends, Captain Stape on sail boat Sabine right here (///undesired.disability.hastens)A sunny start to the day reveals another boat AIS on the nav computer, which is exciting as it’s the first boat seen in 3 days. (By coincidence, 3 is also the number of ex-flying fish found in the front of the boat this morning! (Or is that ex-flying ex-fish?)) Then as promptly as it appeared, it vanished! Then re-appeared, then vanished again. This went on for several minutes and just as the crew were wondering if it’s the Flying Dutchman, they call up this mysterious vessel on the radio. We find out the boat is called Pen Kalet, and set sail 3 weeks ago from Brest heading to Martinique.Different wind, different sails. The main is raised to 3rd reef and we set downwind ‘wing-on-wing’. read more...

Xenial - Day 21 - In rhyme

Not much to sayEnjoy our word playAdvent is hereThe Swedes all cheerJanne made bunsThey look like suns Saffron is the spiceIt's the captain's viceNo foresail to flyWhat keeps our spirits high?No boats in sightNot even in the nightLots of fish in the seaBut they let our bait beThe mate Carl-JohanGot all the laundry donePizza for dinnerAlcohol free beer for the sinnerGrenada we are on our wayPlease don't move awayOver and out,The crew on XenialNotes for interpretation1. Carl-Johan should be pronounced like the main street in Oslo (from previous logs you know this is how Mavi pronounces it)2. According to the Major, it's a sin to drink alcohol free beerSent from Iridium Mail & Web.. read more...

Jo - Tag 7 - Liebesbrief an dich

Meine Geliebte! Ich schreibe dir aus gegebenem Anlass, denn heute ist unser dreijähriger Jahrestag. Vor etwas über drei Jahren haben wir uns kennengelernt. Ich erinnere mich, als wäre es gestern gewesen. Peter kannte dich schon ein paar Tage länger, hat mir viel erzählt von dir und vorgeschwärmt von dieser neuen Frau, der er nach langer Suche begegnet war. Er wollte, dass auch ich dich persönlich treffe. Ich war gespannt, konnte ich mir doch nicht nicht so recht vorstellen, dass ich eine andere Frau neben mir dulden würde. Aber dann war der Moment gekommen. Der Moment, an dem ich dich das erste Mal erblickt habe. Wie du da lagst, fast nackig vor mir ausgestreckt, im strahlenden Sonnenschein, sexy, mit deiner dir eigenen Lebendigkeit und Dynamik, und gleich doch ruhig und gelassen, als. read more...

Avventura - Log Day 08: Prima settimana

Today at 13h UTC exactly one week ago, we startedin Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Now, we are a happy crew somewhere in theUTC-minus-2-time-zone of the Atlantic Ocean.   Mille grazie, cari amici!   Position at 21:40 UTC, November 27 2022 (19:09.62N31:13.3W).. read more...

Fryderyk - Atlantic Log Fryderyk

Atlantic LogLog IntroThis log is to share a story of our crew that Left Las Palmas on November 20th 22 and is crossing Atlantic to St. Lucia. It'll be a bit subjective, as every blog is, but I'll try to capture the spirit of this adventure so everyone can identify at least a bit :) Our crew:Szymon Kuczynski - sailor and adventurer. This guy sailed around the globe without any stop in a tiny boat. Real badass and our Skipper. Ania Jastrzebska - adventurer, sailor and Szymon's partner in crime, wonderful cook, she makes it harder for me to impress others with my cooking skills :PDanuta Kuczynska - Szymon's mom, claims she was downhilling 70km/h on a bike, looks like we have a source of the badass gene.Marek Hojsan - USCG Master Captain with great experience, photographer, IT guy, jack of. read more...