Daily Logs

Blake - Full Circle

The beauty of a nightwatch is you get a lot of time to think about stuff, where you are, where you’ve been and maybe scheme what’s next. We’ve probably done a few full circles out here as we turn into the wind to either put in, or shake out, a reef on the mainsail but I was thinking more of how this ARC feels like a full circle is about to be completed.So I had sailed across in ARC 2011 aboard ‘Felicity J’ a Dufour 385 owned by a cool Aussie family and at the final ARC prizegiving in Saint Lucia I first met Katie.Katie had flown down to visit her friends who had also sailed across on their own boat and well the rest they say is history!10 years on and it feels pretty special to be sailing together aboard ‘Blake’ with our two daughters Iwalani & Anela and headed back to Saint Lucia.A lot. read more...

Tamanaco - great days

Today was another very nice day aboard Tamanaco!Wind was lighter than before, but still 12-15 knots, so enough to get moving.Everyone caught up on sleep, tidying up, and made progress with their books.We spotted some marine life.In the afternoon I helmed for a couple of hours.I loved steeeri g my boat, anticipating wave motion, playing with angles and trying to not upset the rudder too much. All this comes together with the sound of the water flowing along the hull, and the wind blowing in my back.We had a great meal prepared by Rodrigue: pork chops with veggies and sweet patates, along with a mustard and cream sauce., we always have supper together and drink a beer while listening to music and watching our sun set.Earlier we crossed path with a large tug, which was only a few hundred. read more...

Emily Morgan - Day 18 - Last Day at Sea!

December 8th Wednesday Noon Position (Ship's Clock): 14 degrees 36 minutes North; 059 degrees 29 minutes West. Day's run: 175.5 nautical milesLast night was our final overnight (we hope) at sea. It was a beautiful starry night with the crescent moon, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter all lined up on along the mainsail on the port side. We discovered an alternative to the noon-sight method of determining our latitude. This involved measuring the angle between your horizon and Polaris, the North Star. The simplest way of doing this is to use your hand stretched out in front of you and lined up with the horizon. When your thumb is behind your four fingers and they are parallel to the horizon, your hand measures 8 degrees. With your hand fully spread out the distance from your thumb on the horizon. read more...

Time Out - Day 18 - Le Désert des Tartares

Euh, alors là, le problème c’est que l’on n’a pas grand chose à raconter. Nuit sans problème, à peine une petite pluie. Journée pareil, pas même une baleine à se mettre sous les yeux, pas de grain, 15 noeuds de vent, mais comme on a les réservoirs de gasoil pleins et que tout le monde fait pareil, on fait du motorsailing, càd que les moteurs tournent, en plus du vent.Du coup, on cuisine : focaccia ce midi, cookies, pain et préparation du chili de demain cet après midi, et pizza ce soir en apéro, avant le risotto aux cèpes. On se laisse vivre. On se met en maillot de bain.Si : on a eu des nouvelles du monde. L’Arc a envoyé un message pour dire que 26 bateaux étaient déjà arrivés, et surtout qu’il y avait un nouveau variant appelé Omicron venant d‘Afrique du Sud, et que nous devrions. read more...

Mary Doll - Day 14 - Bread of Heaven

One of my current favourite songs is written by an artist named Sam Fender - the title of the song is ‘Saturday’ and the lyrics as follows: ‘If Saturday don’t come soon, I’m going to lose my mind’. It is now Saturday, but unfortunately for the crew of Mary Doll, I have already lost my mind.I find I’m spending an inordinate amount of time fantasising about things I previously thought totally mundane - sleeping in a bed that isn’t intent on throwing you out (luxury!), cleaning myself with something other than a baby wipe (what an indulgence!), having a stand up wee (sacre blué….!). These things, or the lack of them, have become our daily norm, the novelty hasn’t quite worn off and you’ll be glad to hear I haven’t actually lost my mind (yet) but suffice to say I doubt you’ll see me making. read more...

Calash - Day 17 – Tuesday 7 December 2021

 Callum stayed up with Alan for his watch and progress was steady in lumpy seas.  Jamie and my watch was entertained by a sleeping Norris, with head tucked under wing and swaying in motion with the boat – some pretty fancy gyros and accelerometers in this birdie (watch out for the Youtube video and follow up TicTocs).  Anyway, Norris remains a non-paying guest for the time being; hopefully we’re not taking him too far off course?!?A quick inspection of kit in the morning showed some scars, but nothing insurmountable.  The major discovery was two of Jamie’s underpants lodged behind the life raft – result!  Jamie and Colin managed to fix the spinnaker pole and we reset the jib a-la-goosewing.  We were back sailing west at around 8 knots.  Oh, for a boring day!  Despite our shenanigans. read more...

Misty Mhor - Misty’s Minimalist Materials Wednesday 8th Dec

Nobody wants to sail through slicks, row through rubbish or paddle through poop so we are all aboard The Pristine Planet Project here.The ARC regulations strictly forbid the dumping of rubbish at sea so Misty has become a mobile manager of muck. We are forever sorting out, re using or recycling our rubbish. As storage space is at a premium on board we are finding ways to reduce our tips of trash. Nutrient based organic material is allowed to go back to the sea but cans are crushed, plastic is prodded into containers, glass is sorted and it’s all stored in the anchor locker.All the recycling means that the cupboards are getting bare. Lunch today was fusion food. A cleverly balanced meal drawn from three previous offering based on the voluminous rice dish. The afternoon was spent checking. read more...

Minga - Día 17, avanzando

Avanzan los días y Santa Lucía se siente más cerca: la carta náutica indica que justo al sur, estamos a la altura de la frontera de Brasil con Guyana Francesa. Aunque estemos rodeados de miles de kilómetros de agua en todas las direcciones, ya nos sentimos en América.A tan solo 650 millas, ya dimensionamos mejor las distancias (nuestro track anterior más largo había sido Gibraltar-Canarias, una agradable travesía de más de 700 millas). En 5 días deberíamos estar en Rodney Bay, Santa Lucía.La Minga y su tripulación sin novedad, disfrutando cada noticia que llega desde tierra a través del teléfono satelital.Abrazos,El CapitánSent from Iridium Mail & Web.. read more...

Tilda - Take it easy, bro!

Ooooh yesss, today it has been a really relaxing day. Good wind and calm swell, we had time to recover the last two nights passed in the “washing machine” of squalls.Used to have busy shifts and little rest, los Tildamigos spent the day dedicated on new activities. First of all came personal care: men shaved one each other in the aft corner and women…. it’s a secret (and we’re always perfect in every situation).Then came the time for washing and drying clothes. Then for preparing several tapas served during the whole day. Reading. Cross words. Fishing. Jokes. And the barbecue is already set up for another excellent dinner on this bluewater sailing restaurant.Los relaxados Tildamigos. read more...

Kithara - Logbuch Tag 1 bis 9

Die Atlantik-Überquerung - Logbuch 1. Tag: Sonntag, 21.11.2021Nach dem Start hatten wir 7-10 Knoten Wind aus Südost. Da wir nach Süden um Gran Canaria herum fahren mussten, blieb uns nichts anderes übrig als zu kreuzen. Hier musste man etwas aufpassen, da von den 154 Booten, trotz unseres späten Starts noch einige in der Nähe waren und ebenfalls kreuzen mussten. Ab und zu kreuzten wir auch unsere Freunde aus England auf der "Cloud Jumper" und winken uns zu. Um 18 Uhr wurde der Wind dann etwas weniger, so dass wir zusätzlich den Motor anschmissen um zumindest ein bisschen in die richtige Richtung fahren zu können. Bevor wir aus dem WLAN-Netz von Gran Canaria rausgefahren waren, verabschiedeten wir uns noch kurz per Handy, für mind. 3 Wochen, von unseren Familien. Da der Wind später noch. read more...

Into The Mystic - I think we can make this

0416 hours8th December 2021223 miles from St LuciaThis is the worst of all the 4-hour watches. When we started this trip the bonus of this watch wasthat you would experience the glories of watching the sunrise over the ocean at about 0730 hours, there is no chance of that now as the sun won’t rise until 1004 hours today as we travel in our GMT time capsule (St Lucia’s time zone is 4 hours behind GMT).We are slowly counting down the miles. The wind and the swell are pushing us inexorably towards our destination; we just crossed the 5000 metres depth contour so even the ocean is becoming shallower. Its all relative.The vast expanses of the Atlantic have suddenly morphed into the equivalent of the M25 (for our UK readers) or the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hour (for our American cousins).. read more...

Time Out - Day 17 - Boot camp : un peu d’exercice

L’accumulation de nuits exceptionnelles ne les rend plus exceptionnelles du tout : avec la quantité d’eau qui tombe, on comprend pour quoi il y a des marées en Atlantique! Et nous avions mis en place hier une nouvelle bâche pour étanchéifier le cockpit, qui s’est révélée être une véritable catastrophe : tout le cockpit mouillé, chaque équipe de quart rajoute une couche de matelas pour commencer au sec…Heureusement, comme la veille, le soleil est au rendez vous le matin. On ouvre le cockpit, on sèche, on bronze. On ferme, on étanchéïfie (finalement, la méthode canettes de bière pour faire une pente se révèle être la plus efficace), on réouvre.Aujourd’hui, pendant une accalmie en milieu d’après-midi, on se remet au bricolage. On reprend le dossier lazy bag à 0 : remontée de la grand voile. read more...

Tamanaco - More Code Zero stories

Today we set out to hoist our Code Zero again.First attempt was unsuccessful as we couldn’t get the sail to unfold.Worse, still, the halyard (rope that holds the sail from top of the mast) seemed stuck.It took Valery’s 115 kilos, plus Vincent and Rodrigue strength to pull it down.Thinking things over, we determined the anti-torsion cable needed straightening, and we needed to fold the sail properly ahead of trying to hoist it the conventional way (vs. unrolling). We all went down inside the cabin with the sail extended from the end of the bed in the front cabin, until the bed in the aft cabin.Lots of sail and unfurling- remolding.Everything came back inside the bag, which we brought above deck, to the front.We connected the halyard and attached the sail at the foot to the bowsprit. read more...

Emily Morgan - Day 17 - Fishy Tales

Tuesday 7th December Noon Position: 15 degrees 10 minutes; North 56 degrees 32 minutes. Day's run: 183 nautical miles Helming on Emily Morgan has now become a much more intense task. Our course for St Lucia is 277 degrees and at this relatively near distance a few degrees either way will have a major impact. If we steer too far above or below this course, we will miss the island! When you're helming you have to pay attention to the steering compass, the wind direction and the sail setting, the wind speed and the rudder position. Fine tuning these during the day for a three-hour watch requires attention but at night you can get cross-eyed trying to steer an accurate course and it can be quite tiring if the wind is strong. With only three sailing days to go we are beginning a count down.. read more...

Maalu IV - Day 17 Weather Musings

I am not about to complain about the weatherbut...... I do feel that the Atlantic weather has not read therelevant manual and if it has then it is being willfully noncompliant. We started this voyage with very little wind and a lotof motoring. This was because the high pressure system which should have beencentred over the Azores had taken a leave of absence and gone to the UK. (Notsure why anyone would go to the UK in December.) No problem because once thehigh was back over The Azores (it is called the Azores high for a reason) thensurely we would be back to business as usual with 11-16 knot winds blowingthe entire ARC fleet to St Lucia. Clearly the weather was embarrassed by theinitial lack of wind so has now made up for it with consistently strong tradewinds. Land lubbers can be. read more...

Rubin - 24. u 25.11.21 - Tag 3 + 4 auf See

24.11., 10 Uhr: Diesmal werde ich wach durch den Ruf: FISCH! Die Männer haben etwas an der Angel und beim Einholen glitzert es gold-grün: ein Mahi-Mahi von ca. 2kg. Erfahrene Hände zerlegen ihn fachgerecht und die Filets für das Abendendessen sind bereit.Nacht vom 24./25.11Die Wache von 22:00-02:00 Uhr erlebt den ersten Squall: Nachts aus dem Nichts kommen Böen um die 25kn Wind. Da wir für den Wassermacher ohnehin unter Motor fuhren, wurde nur die Großschot gefiert un der Kurs beibehalten. Später können wir endlich segeln, allerdings Kurs 300°, weshalb morgens eine Q-Wende anstand. Im Verlauf der Nacht kreuzen ein Frachter und die SY Division unseren Weg. Tagsüber spielt sich eine Routine ein mit Eimerdusche, Abwaschen, allgemeinem Saubermachen und Wache. Mittags stehen allerdings dunkle. read more...

Rubin - 26.11.21 - Tag 5 auf See

Meine Wache beginnt um 08:00 mit einem tollen Sonnenaufgang. Den ganzen Tag herrscht gutes Segelwetter mit mäßigem Wind, aber wir können den richtigen Kurs am Wind fahren. Nachdem wir gestern, Donnerstag den Seemannssonntag mit einem Vanillepudding zum Dessert mehr oder weniger feierlich begangen haben, ist heute, Freitag, der Waschtag: die MuFuPü (übersetzt: Multifunktionspütz) ist nach dem Fischfang und den Morgenduschen wieder sauber einsatzbereit und wird nun als Waschzuber benutzt, um die erste Runde Küchenhandtücher wieder irgendwie anfassbar zu machen.....hat grob funktioniert.Der Tag vergeht beschäftigt und kurz vor dem Sundownder beißt der nächste Mahi-Mahi, als die Hähnchen aber schon im Ofen sind. Der Fisch kommt in die Tupperdose und ich mache den ersten Brotbackversuch -. read more...

Rubin - 27.11. / 28.11.21 - Tag 6 und 7 auf See

Samstag, 26.11.21:Der Tag startet mit Rührei, Speck und dem ersten selbstgebackenen Brot, welches leicht mit einem Bricket verwechselt werden kann.....aber essbar und bleibt drin, das sind schonmal wichtige Kriterien hier.Die Crew ist heute morgen still, Eckhardt will wieder an seinen "Strand" (alias Vordeck), hat aber diesmal vergessen, mit Handtuch zu reservieren, so dass Julian schon den besten Platz am Mast ergattert hat...- so ist das am Strand!;-)Wind kommt immernoch aus ESE Kurs 262°W. Als die Crew gerade den "11-Uhr-Tee" aus der Kühltruhe nimmt, zuckt es schon wieder an der Angel und diesmal ist ein 5kg-Brocken Mahi-Mahi am Haken, der von einem blau-schillernden Kumpel begleitet wird. Mindestens 3 Tage können wir weiter Fischfilets genießen.Zunächst wagen aber Julian und Martin. read more...

Rubin - 05.12.21 - 14. Tag auf See

Heute sind wir schon 14 Tage auf See - nachdem zu Beginn der Woche noch der O-Ton "Bei der nächsten Bushaltestelle steige ich aus" zitiert werden konnte, sind inzwischen das Schaukeln und Festhalten, die Bewegungen an Bord und auch die ein oder anderen blau-grünen Flecken Routine. Den Küchenhandtüchern sieht man die 2 Wochen sehr deutlich an - Salz ist einfach überall: an Klamotten, Wänden, Geschirr und in jeder Hautspalte. Das Öffnen der täglichen "Eimer-Badeanstalt" wird sehnlichst erwartet!:-) Die Luft wird immer "karibischer" - Nachts briest es auf, bleibt jedoch immer ein warmes Lüftchen und seit ein paar Tagen ist der Passat (bei uns aus ESE) sehr moderat nur zwischen 15 und nachts mal 30 Knoten Wind.Am Montag, 29.11. hatten wir ca. 3 Wale neben uns, die man mit ihrem weißen Bauch. read more...

Mary Doll - Day 13 - The Night Watch

Conditions continue to be bumpy and it’s sometimes difficult to sleep.It wouldn’t be true to say that we have settled into our watch pattern but no one is complaining which is always a bonus. I thought I’d share some insight into the wonderful world of watches.We have two watch teams based on experience of crew and current conditions. Originally we went for the gender split Caroline and Letitia and then Derek, Lewis and Bobby.We take 3 hour watches the most important of which are in the hours of darkness but vigilance is required throughout the day.After a week or so and with competent status fast approaching our skipper agreed that Caroline and Bobby take one watch and the Smiths the other.This helps with the sleeping arrangements and it also allows some flex to provide the skipper with. read more...

Mary Doll - Day 12 - Sobering Thoughts

The weather continues to be quite breezy but we are making good progress. No matter the speed we do, we are always very risk aware. Indeed, the reconnection of sat comms brought several sobering messages. We heard that one of our fellow competitors had to abandon ship due to steering failure. One of the great advantages of sailing on ‘The Arc’ is that we have the support of so many others around. The ocean is vast, but the good ships JK Sail and ‘Magic Dragon’ were on hand to offer support and indeed Magic Dragon took the five crew members onboard their boat. By an amazing coincidence, ‘Polygala’ with a Belgian film crew onboard was also close by and offered their support too. Who knows, perhaps we all may yet get to see this amazing act of good Samaritans and seamanship. This incident. read more...

Sunrise - ARC2021 - Day #17 on the SUNRISE

A classic definition of logistics? Well, providing the right thing in the right quality and the right amount in time at the right place and as well in the right packaging. Now - what's the connection to the 2021 ARC here and especially to our journey across the Atlantic on our sailing vessel SUNRISE? Let's start right at the beginning: Our first online-meeting in preparation for this event. Already there it was clear to all of us that we need to align in terms of breakfast, lunch and dinner habits, personal preferences, physical intolerances, etc.Arriving on Gran Canaria, we quickly sat together in order to start our calculations:How much water do we need per day per person? How much other beverages like juice, milk, beer, wine, CocaCola, etc.? What amounts of food do we need in total?. read more...

Tilda - A night of meteorites and a night of squalls

The last 2 nights had been characterized by very adrenalinic watches. Yesterday the first ones to be shocked were Iva and Teo, when staring at the sky full of stars they saw a big flash followed by a fireball that soon divided in 3 smaller parts that slowly collapsed. Iva called Yacht Blumoona, not far from us, to check if they saw something and the guy added that they also heard a bang. Wow! The shift after, in the cockpit there were Ale, Rui and Francy. The white flash they saw was very similar to a flare, that possibly could have been sent by a boat following our Tilda, visible on the AIS (but no named). Francy called the vessel in that position but no answer. Before getting anxious, again the Blumoona guy replied saying that that was not a flare, not a firework, but “a comet”.. read more...

Misty Mhor - Misty’s Major Malfunction Tuesday 7th Dec

The 40 knot gust did Mhor damage than we thought. Other members of the fleet also report damage to spars and sails. Massive problem, our spinnaker pole was no longer attached to the mast. The slider and it’s track had been bent by the strong gust and had twisted off the mast. The boys running repair was to cut the bent track off and re-feed the slider and fix it higher up the track. Securing the bottom of the track to the mast needed more of a Heath Robinson approach but armed with an angle grinder and a hammer it was soon banged to right. Gingerly we let out the sail again, heavily reefed at first while we observed the fix. Soon Capt Master Mender Jon gave it the all clear and we were off again, surfing at 8 knots in a 20 knot breeze. Ships orders were changed though, jib reefing to. read more...

Calash - Day 16 – Monday 6 December 2021

A bit of sail rejigging as an early morning call to compensate for the wind dropping off; all with the atmospheric, rather than spectacular, sunrise as a back drop.  This meant we were in for slow rolling as opposed to full on rocking.  Duties were calm and we even had time for a leisurely lunch together on deck.  Surely this is what sailing the Trade Winds is supposed to be like.  It’s bound to be plain sailing from here on in.  We’ve got 600 miles to go; full wind in our sails; half a ton of risotto rice; it’s sunny and we’re wearing sunglasses – hit it!! [cue Blues Brother’s music]24 hour progress – 183 nm – cumulative 2396 nm Now, the more cynical amongst you may believe that the next blog items have been staged for affect to alleviate the tedium of recent. read more...

Minga - Día 16, Conexión a tierra

Gracias a nuestro teléfono satelital, hemos podido enviar y recibir correos de nuestras familias, amigos de la vida y de los nuevos que hicimos antes de partir. El "ha llegado carta" es un gran momento del día que siempre nos deja felices y con energía para seguir esta aventura.También, hemos podido recibir noticias tristes y alegres de la regata y de los otros veleros que van cruzando con nosotros. Algunos que han sufrido accidentes e imprevistos, y otros, que ya llegaron con éxito a Santa Lucía. A nosotros aún nos queda y en lo que vamos de esta singladura, hemos sido muy afortunados.Está travesía confirma dos máximas: que aprendes a valorar algo cuando te hace falta y que no hay que dejar para mañana lo que puedes hacer hoy. Cosas tan cotidianas y simples como el descanso, la buena. read more...

Into The Mystic - What goes up must come down

What goes up must come down6th December 1818 hoursWe can’t seem to catch ourselves the right wind, ever. It’s a different kettle of fish (pun intended) with you-know-what though - another biggie landed today. What the flippin’ heck are wedging to do with it all ?This boat comes with a full suite of sails - several of which are designed specifically for this type of sailing ie downwind long-distance sailing. They are those ginormous sails that you may have seen flying in front of boats - spinnakers are one example. It’s quite and effort too put them up and get them down though especially in the kind of swells we are still experiencing. Hence the reason why Brad and Henry must be beginning to hate me. When we decided too take the crossing I was guided by two major principles (neither of. read more...

Minga - Día 15, pintura de estrellas

Cada vez vemos más cerca la llegada al nuevo continente, pero aún así queda un montón... Hay que mantener las ansias a raya y para eso en la noche una buena dosis para pensar en lo inmenso de este universo tenemos una pintura de estrellas que no deja de asombrar, formas de constelaciones que a uno lo hace pensar,que habrá más allá? Siendo que uno se siente tan chico en este inmenso océano y no se da cuenta de la grandeza del universo.Actualizaciones sobre la pesca: Tenemos la caña guardada hasta que se acaben las provisiones de mahi mahi del refrigeradorUn abrazo grande para todosJuanpi Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.. read more...

Blake - total gridlock

I think in the past 24hrs we have only seen 2 other sailboats on the horizon and they were both also on the AIS, headed the same general direction but looked to be non rally boats.I think this year will be a busy one for boats crossing as it sounds like a lot had delayed their trips from last year.We also had a non-rally boat the other day give us a DSC call, which was a first for us, nice to chat with them, a Lagoon 77 - we asked if they could drop off some ice cubes as they overtook us!With a DSC call your VHF starts ringing like an incoming phone call until you hit ok, then the boat calling you is already on channel 72, no need to call on vhf 16 and change channels.When you hear other boats on channel 16 call up someone else and then switch channels, I always think it’s funny as I can. read more...

Time Out - Day 16 - Singing in the rain

Bon, alors là, nuit exceptionnelle : des grains comme on n’en a jamais vu, du genre Octobre 95 à Biot. On ferme en catastrophe le cockpit. On cherche un endroit sec pour s’assoir. On descend dans le carré pour se rendre compte que les 2 fenêtres de devant sont restées ouvertes. Preuve que l’équipage se relâche : notre journée de farniente (voir épisode précédent) se paye… Inondation du carré, on éponge. Le radar est tout rouge… Heureusement pas trop de dégâts : des affaires à sécher, le cahier de notes de Jean, noyé sous l’eau, sèche sur un cintre, le cadre de la photo des copains est HS (mais la photo n’a pas été noyée). Cela aurait pu être pire :l’électronique a été épargnée!La journée commence grise et morose… Mais nous avons la chance de profiter d’un rayon de soleil en fin de. read more...

Walkabout - Walkabout - We've Only Just Gone and Done it!! - We are in Grenada

N12:02.7 W61:45.0We are here!!We crossed the finish line at 1630 (Walkabout/Grenada Time, UST-4) on Saturday 4 December 2021.Apologies for the lack of update since then - we have been too busy celebrating, meeting up with friends from the ARC community and enjoying the Caribbean sun and vibe.I find it hard to put into words how we feel…. We are overjoyed at what we have achieved.  5 years in the planning, and Traci and I have pulled this off - by ourselves.  15 days at sea, through all sorts of weather, we have done each other proud, and Walkabout has done us proud.We arrived too late to get through Health and Customs control on Saturday, so we were resigned to having to stay quarantined on the boat overnight - a slightly disappointing way to celebrate the moment.  But we. read more...

Emily Morgan - Day 16 - Ships' Clocks

Monday 6th December. Noon (Ship's Clock) position: 15 degrees 34 minutes North; 053 degrees 25 minutes West. Day's run: 180.8 nautical miles On board a boat in the mid-Atlantic, the simple question 'What time is it?' is unanswered until you are more specific. Do mean the Ship's Clock which regulates when you are on or off watch? Do you mean time at your home port? Or do you mean time at your destination port? Today we had to work out 'local noon' which bore no relation to any of the above three times but is based on UTC time (Universal Time Co-ordinated). For this we consult the Ship's Chronometer, a small, cheap, digital watch Velcro-ed above the chart table. In the past this could have been the most expensive item on board a ship and John Harrison, the maker of the first clock to keep. read more...

Maalu IV - Day 16 Manic Monday

Yesterday was another red letter day with 184 milessailed. Even better, Jono cooked his signature supper dish of'Tuna, Pasta, Pesto' which gave the chef her first night off. Fresh produce has now dwindled to one cauliflower, onecourgette, five onions, lots of garlic, half a cucumber, eight greenapples and and one each of a lemon and lime. The latter are being closelyguarded by Jono as he is very concerned about his risk of getting scurvy! He hasbeen monitoring his risk using the SCurvy Early Warning Score or SCEWS.Unfortunately no one can remember the early signs and symptoms of scurvy so thescore is heavily weighted towards established disease of rash, bleeding gums andteeth falling out. Therefore it is not entirely reassuring that he is scoringzero, i.e. low risk. His second. read more...

Just4Fun - Just4Fun blog # 7

Just4Fun ARC Blog Nummer 7Kap Verden - Grenada Tag12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17Boah, sind wir im Rückstand! (mit dem Blog, beim Rennen sowieso 😅). Das ist der Beweis, dass Nachtfahrt nicht gleich Nachtfahrt ist und die letzten Tage eher sportlich waren. Mit Squalls kennen wir uns jetzt wirklich gut aus und Thomas musste einige Nächte während meiner Wache im Cockpit schlafen. Da war nix mit gemütlich einkuscheln und Sterne oder Netflix schauen. Die Windsteueranlage war zwar fast immer im Einsatz, je nach Bedingungen musste aber oft aktiv mitgesteuert werden und non-stop Windwinkel und Kurs kontrolliert werden (auch mit Patenthalsen haben wir so unsere Erfahrungen gemacht…dazu mehr bei der Statistik 📈 unten). Jetzt haben wir in unserer wahrscheinlich letzten Nacht (ole, ole🍾🍾🍾), nochmal ein. read more...

Sunrise - ARC2021 - Day #16 on the SUNRISE

Fishing while ARCingInspired by the many fotos of former ARC participants showing off with the big fish they caught, the Sunrise crew decided during the preparatory online sessions to give it a try as well.Once we were at the boat and inspected the equipment that was there one thing became obvious: an investment in a new reel, line, and bait was asked for!So we went to our trusted fishing supply dealer (the nearest one) to do some shopping. After intense consulting by the shop's owner we left the shop with a brand new reel - already with 500 m .87 gauge line on it-, 500 more meters of line as a reserve, and several plastic squids and wobblers as bait.Two days after the start of the rally, we gave it a first try. To be honest, several trials, as we had not a single bite in the first three. read more...

Sunrise - ARC2021 - Day #15 on the SUNRISE

Father and SonFather: I remember the time when Alain was still a baby, not even two months old, and was already sailing with us on our 32 feet yacht on Lake Constance. It happens sometimes that the interest for a hobby vanishes when it is present from the very early age. But not with Alain and his sister Tatiana! As adults they are now sailing on the very same ship on their own and perform as part of our family-crew in several regattas around the year. For Alain and me the Atlantic crossing with the ARC is the longest and most intense sailing experience so far. In contrary to my slowly decreasing physical abilities like night vision, Alains performance, however, is still on the rise and even slowly outperforming me. For me as a father this is the best outcome that i could have wished. read more...

Khamsin - Khamsin Day 18

Land Ahoy!! Blew our last bit of gas on bacon and egg butties to celebrate! What a fantastic morning. Beautiful sunrise. As Khamsin ploughs through the waves we disturb the flying fish and as they glide across the waves sparkling in the morning sunshine they’re being stalked by white beaked gulls swooping and diving. Gonna really miss all this… Well… takeaways from this trip. Worked well: water maker - many thanks David for pushing us to get one you were right we really appreciated the showers; pre-cooking and freezing the meals - a nuisance rotating the food to keep it frozen but we’ll worth the effort; autopilot on wind heading - tho used a lot of power and I would prefer a wind vane; Parasailor tho our relationship was brief it’s a fabulous sail. Lessons learned: practice going up the. read more...

Misty Mhor - Misty’s Medical Men & Women. Monday 6th December

The differential diagnosis of the cause of the increase gas usage was not conclusive so surveillance was sent for. No self-respecting Interventional Radiologist would travel without a portable endoscope and fortunately Depstech have produced an inspection camera that links to an iPhone app. See picture of the team all gowned up and ready for the Lazerette laparoscopy. Dr Dugald is also sat here waiting, ready for a resection. While Fiona, using her years of radiography experience, has already decided that the kettle, being on all day making tea, is a more likely cause of the problem. That’s milk with no sugar for me please Fiona. While on call, Duguld managed to reconstruct the remains of the deconstructed main meals from the last two days. He produced a very tasty lunch. Rissoles all. read more...