Daily Logs

Raylah - Log Day 2: The 'Race' begins

Hi All,The first 24 hours at sea had us covering over 140 miles, with force 4-5 winds, and seeing a comfortable 7knots of speed. They reference that this is a rally, but when ever you set a start line and start time with 65 sailboats meeting, to me it’s more of a race.  The Catamarans were on one side of the start line with monohulls on the other.  We timed the start just right and  found ourselves being about the 5th boat across the line. It’s quite a sight to see the other 60 boats behind you.  A few hours after the start we had a few of the big Atlantic dolphins join us, providing us with a  scenic send off.  We seem to be in a good position on the course and are noticing other boats moving our way to take advantage of the heavier winds we get by being. read more...

Raylah - Log Day 1:Way to go

Sailing Yacht Raylah, ready to departAfter several long days of vessel preparation and crew social events (thus making for long days) crew of SV Raylah is ready for departure.  Next stop the Cape Verde islands.  Stay tuned for blog updates doing the passageThe Packet Boys onboard SV Raylah. read more...

Bamarandi - ARC+ Day 1 - 9th November

Position 25.52.506N 017.06.276WRecovered from our night being entertained by the Las Palmas Drag Queen and entourage and after several days at Las Palmas fettling the good ship Bamarandi - plus enjoying some shopping (the boys all have new matching sailing shorts bought (in a sale of course) over 2 days one after the other had seen the other) and relaxing in between - we headed out from Las Palmas marina squeezing past a Lagoon cat Laissez Faire moored astern of us at 12.00 to be ready for the 13:00 start.We headed out to sea to stretch the boats legs after a few days in port and then back in to be ready for 1pm to cross over the start line. It was great seeing all the 64 boats gathered with sails up ready to start. The ARC+ Committee Boat broadcast on Channel 72 a 5 minute countdown and. read more...

Magic - FIRST LOG ENTRY for MAGIC - Pontoon T

Well here we are on Pontoon T.   The anxiety surrounding our adventure seems to swell up every so often – collywobbles!  I am hoping that this is only natural.  We got one wave of nerves watching the rescue helicopter demo – and another when we watched the ARC+ Boats leave the harbor.  We are getting busy with all the preparations.  It is odd that we are surrounded by hundreds of people all doing the same thing – so of course the conversations are identical – where have you been, what Pontoon are you on, where are you going when you get to ‘the other side’ and endless conversations about fixing things and preparing the boat.  “Are you ready?” should be a banned question!!  We are enjoying Las Palmas and have been surprised at how good it is.  We. read more...

Misto - Misto in Portsmouth

With all our crew here we are ready to depart. We just wish the weather would cooperate!Due to the delay Howard and Ros, as well as about a dozen Carrib1500 participants and staff ran a coast guard 5k fun run. Howard came first in his age group and Ros 4th Andy and Mia, also in the photo, came 2nd and 3rd in their groups. What a wonderful way to support the coast guard!. read more...

Shelena - Finally Away for ARC+

26:28.64N 016:48.49WMonday 9th November 2015So, yesterday was the start of the ARC+ Rally, (not race) when about 70yachts departed Las Palmas, Gran Canaria for Mindelo, Sao Vicente in theCape Verde islands. The pace of preparation has been steady for the 3 weekswe have been at Las Palmas. Helen took charge of the provisioning becausereally our crew arrival was too late, but we exchanged emails and everybodyis easy on what they eat. There is a helpful service from a number of foodstores that will freeze and vacuum meet and similar items. It worked okapart from the meat that arrived, fresh, 10 hours late; but was replacednext day. Propane was a headache to obtain until a local Dutch lady steppedforward to visit the factory daily to obtain the essential gas. Of course,there is always an. read more...

Hejira - Up and away

26 08.315N 015 55.518WMonday 9th November 2015There were crowds lining the docks and breakwaters waving us off with a cacophony of hooters as the fleet left the marina for the start. We ‘played safe’ and crossed the start line a minute late, conscious that a false start would cost us 3 hours added to our time. The wind was a little light for Hejira but, we resisted the temptation of flying the Parasailor at this stage as we only have the one and the acceleration zones to the SE of the island are notorious for ‘blowing them out’ as the wind can increase to gale force in a matter of seconds. On the basis that we have 6 days or more to go to Mindelo, we thought it prudent to bide our time until we reach the more consistent winds clear of the islands.With the wind freshening, Hejira soon. read more...

PG Roshni - Morning sleigh ride

25:53.00N 16:37.7W Good morning all The start went off peacefully in the end and we put our kite up a little after the leading 4 boats and I think we have stayed in that position since. Massive broach by Nigel on the helm just off the Las Palmas airport in 30kn gust. The snuffer worked ok but took a bit of a beating so good job there is plenty of duct tape on board :).Breeze freshened and we have been sleigh riding down the waves which were pretty impressive last night. Welcome to ocean sailing Susan ! I had the new trip record at 15.4kn then of course Ali had to top that with a new Roshni record planing at 18.9kn down a wave! Steaming along now, 1 reef in the main and full headsail. All ok thus far... And even better Nigel gets to buy the beers in Mindelo :). read more...

Luna Quest - Monday, 9th November, 2015

Noon Position: 28.07S 34.27EDaily run: 150 logged milesThe breeze has gone down to 10 knots, but we are making an incredible 7 knots of speed aided by a 3-knot current from the Northeast, no doubt in readiness to join up with the dreaded Algulhas current that we have to cross tonight. The Algulhas current can be quite fast in places, but we are expecting around 2.5kn to 3kn over a 50 mile wide stretch. We are aiming our course to steer well north of Richards Bay to account for its southerly stream. The weather is absolutely fabulous with a cloudless sky and a gentle breeze. Unfortunately, there is hardly any discernible moon for tonight. Maybe the stars will help us find our way across to the African continent…Eric. read more...

Aretha - Max's Blog # 3 - 28 00 South 35 45 East

Sitting half way up a mast at sea you get time to pause and think... the first thing that pops into your head is... what am i doing up a mast 500 miles from any land, the second is "ooooohh mmyyyyy" it turnsout the boat rolls in the waves far more than it looks from the deck and it really feels like you are going to be dunked into the water head first as the boat lurches from side to side in the waves, and the third... I will come back to the third. Let’s rewind a few days to talk about the first, why am i up a mast 500 miles from anywhere… I'm sure by now if you have read the last few blogs sent out by Caspar you will realise that this leg has been sort of eventful on board Aretha, what started out asanother smooth sailing episode where there is not much to do other than put your feet. read more...

Barbara Jean - Delay to our start and more time in Portsmouth—11-8-15

We were scheduled to leave today for Nanny Cay in the BVI however, there are two tropical waves being monitored in the North Atlantic for development.   So for now, we will be patient and wait the weather out, fine tune the boat, get a couple of more projects done and enjoy the area.   Last update from the WCC suggests that we will depart on Tuesday or Wednesday.    So, an update on how we have been staying busy these last several days……Captain has been continually working on the boat changing the antifreeze and engine oil, making sure the SSB radio is operating, rigging a boom preventer, and working when he gets a chance to.I have done laundry, gone to the grocery store, taped all of the ring pins and cotter pins that could potentially snag something,. read more...

Widago - CV Leg (1): Dark Night Rises

The first day of our westward Atlantic crossing was filled with friendly dolphin, fresh winds, and just a dash a of fear.With the port of Las Palmas still in sight and the sound of the starting gun ringing on our ears, a giant pod of frisky dolphin joined us as we headed out to sea. The variable winds at the start had the WIDAGO crew running to swap sails last minute, since it was a touch to beamy for the parasailor. However, as we made our way out of the mayhem of the starting pack and into open water, we popped the chute of our big blue Whomper, and began flying downwind. Chris Tibbs wasn't joking about that acceleration zone south by the airport - although Ahab might say we read our wind speeds a bit high, we were seeing steady winds at 25-28 kts, and gusts to 31. Along with some. read more...

Exody - Days 301&302: Home straight to Africa.

Africa, our last 'new' continent is just 140 miles away, less than a day's sailing. With a favourable current of nearly a knot we have averaged nearly 7.5 knots all day today Sunday 8th and are on track to enter the major industrial port of Richard's Bay 80 miles north of Durban by nightfall tomorrow Monday 9th, just 24 hours behind the leaders.Starblazer's lights are in sight ahead of us, Ayama is 15 miles behind so the fleet is still fairly closely packed after well over 1000 miles.We have had very agreeable sailing the last two days, almost enough to obliterate the 'get me out of here' experiences of just a few nights ago!We have been lucky to carry the 15- 20 knot winds with us leaving behind us a broad patch of light airs meaning, unfortunately, much diesel fuel will be needed for. read more...

Bamarandi - Final preparations

We have spent the last few days here in Las Palmas in the sunshine with a mix of work on the boat and some intermittent spells of chilling out. We have had our Volvo engine niggle fixed - we hope - a very good Spanish engineer managed to explain the issues to us through a translation program and a lot gesticulation.It seems our new engine had new software and our existing engine “old” software so when working the 2 engines together the engine management communication system fell over and stopped our starboard engine. This was particularly unhelpful when coming in to berth alongside the pontoon here at Las Palmas as we need 2 engines to have control of the boat. It’s 67’ long, 32’ wide and weighs over 30 tons. As ever Donald managed the manoeuvres with usual calm despite having the engine. read more...

Timaios - Log day 1 - Good start!

Timaios started and it's been good sailing!  Thank you for following us dear family and friends!. read more...

Encore II - Log Day 1-at Portsmouth

We are glad to see blue skies today after a very rainy week. We are docked with the other ARC rally boats here at Portsmouth, near Norfolk. We were scheduled to depart today for the Bahamas, but due to a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic, we are delaying our start for a day or two. We are getting tasks done on Encore II and enjoying meeting the other boaters.IMG_20151108_091815990. read more...

Chimo - Thank you yellow team

Thank you marina Las Palmas for a wonderfull stay. Thank you Worldcruising for a perfect organisation. Specially thank you to the yellow team for your hospitality, helpfullness, kindness and your smiles. Chimo! Leo, Maaike and Mark. read more...

Raylah - Test

Way to go. read more...

Luna Quest - Sunday, 8th November, 2015

Noon Position: 27.34S 37.06EDaily run: 159 logged milesAll day yesterday we had our genoa furled to the extent that the tear in the sail would not be exacerbated. Unfortunately, it leaves the Hydrovane to steer an unbalanced boat, so before night time we put one reef in the mainsail to bring some balance back and allow the Hydrovane to steer a reliable course. During the night, however, the wind piped up to 27 knots sending Luna Quest careering across the waves at great speed despite having a countercurrent of 1 knot, but this morning the wind has calmed and we shook the reef out of the mainsail and deployed our staysail in addition to our half-furled genoa. The two foresails are pulling well and together with a full main we are making 7 knots of speed in a moderate breeze of 15 knots.. read more...

Hejira - Ready for the 'off'.

Sunday 8th November 2015It’s finally ‘start day’ and we are off at 1300 today!Bob and I attended the ‘skipper’s briefing’ yesterday for the final instructions and we spent the day in a fairly leisurely manner as we are pretty well ‘on top’ of things. This is more than can be said for some of our neighbours who have been rushing around in blind panic all week. What do they say about preparation……………….. now that’s tempting fate! Stephen writes:-After yet more victualing we are now fully laden with all we need (I hope) The skipper put back the tinned tuna and in voice carrying just a hint of menace said “we won`t need these as we will have fresh tuna Stephen!” The rod and reels are now loaded with 80 lb breaking strain line and some very expensive lures on the advice of the fishing. read more...

PG Roshni - Hoorah exit Las Palmas

28:07.51N 15:25.54WFinally ! I never imagined the amount of preparation and work involved to put this voyage together on a new boat. It has been fun and a valuable learning experience in getting to know the boat; the sometimes interesting and novel 'features' of Roshni. Of particular note: Don't trust a UK boat yard to tighten your keel bolts correctly Don't trust a UK boat yard to fit your bilge pump correctly Do everything you can yourself or watch people do the work so you can be confident its done wellWhatever your first year budget is for the boat double itLive the dream and strip down your electric toilet at least twice a week to ensure you can do it blindfold Better still don't specify an electric toilet at all and get a pump one Anyway enough of toilets :)We are all off on our. read more...

Chimo - Reisverslag 4 ARC+

Wat een spetterend feest hebben we gehad. Heerlijke sfeer, goede band, dansen, lekkere hapjes en drankjes, een Caribische dansgroep met een vrolijk optreden en veel nieuwe mensen leren kennen. De volgende ochtend eerst uitchecken en daarna het serieuze werk. De schippersbriefing. Alles werd kort en bondig doorgesproken. We kregen een laatste update van het weer (ziet er tot nu toe zeer goed uit!) en een leuk aandenken en toen was het, voor wat Las Palmas betreft, klaar. We tanken water en we spreken nog wat laatset zaken door en dan zijn we echt klaar. We krijgen gedurende de dag steeds berichtjes uit Nederland van mensen die ons veel plezier en succes wensen. Fijn dat er zo aan ons gedacht wordt. We gaan nog een hapje eten bij de sailorsbar, waar we geregeld hebben gezeten omdat daar. read more...

Annabella - Found at sea

Well we didn't make it very far but at least were happy. Actually this is the crew of Annabella showing where we don't want to be, in a four-person life raft. Could be worse.This was part of the safety equipment demonstration conducted by Peter Burch and the world cruising crew. Well worth attending. If we were really in a liferaft, I would probably be attached to the outside. Harpo suggests that the attachment is optional depending on how I behave.More later, safe sailingGilligan IMG_0246. read more...

Luna Quest - Saturday, 7th November, 2015

Noon Position: 27.48S 39.39EDaily run: 149 logged milesThe banging of the sails had become so intolerable by 2pm yesterday afternoon that we furled up the genoa and deeply reefed the mainsail to allow the engine to provide the power in stead, but late in the afternoon a moderate breeze sprang up so that the sails were soon out again. We discovered a tear in the top half of the genoa that seemed to be running in parallel with a seam. We attempted to get the sail down to effect a repair, but had to give up soon as the sail was very reluctant to oblige. We furled it so that the tear was hidden in the furling and not suffering any stress. The moderate breeze soon strengthened to a fresh one and Luna Quest was making over 7 knots of speed through the water, but barely 5 over the ground. All. read more...

Hejira - Extremes

Saturday 7th NovemberOur big shop required two large trolleys and we completely emptied the shelves of muesli. I was convinced we didn’t have sufficient stowage for it all but, bit by bit, it all disappeared into the lockers and with only a few fresh items to be bought today, we are pretty well victualed.We decided between us that we needed a Chinese meal, it being the biggest contrast to what we would be eating on passage so we took an early taxi with the instruction to ‘find us a Chinese’. After driving past several that were closed we were beginning to panic as the ‘Civic reception’ at the TAO Nightclub started at 8.30. We were away from the City centre by now and settled on the taxi driver’s recommendation of a good typically Canarian restaurant which turned out to be very good.. read more...

Exody - Days 296-300: Taking the rough with the smooth!

The passing of the front was a biblical affair- quite the most dramatic weather experience we have ever had!We could see the lightning up ahead in the dark but were still surprised by the combined impact of an onslaught of torrential rain, a rapid increase in wind speed with 180 degree windshift and the sheet lightning surrounding, illuminating the white frothy seascape all around us.For an hour we sailed on, emerging into an unfamiliar southwesterly environment:nearly close hauled into 25 knot plus winds to lay the Madagascar waypoint, crashing through waves, with white water regularly over the deck and the bow regularly buried! We all like a great tradewind breeze of 20+ knots - butfew of us would contemplate turning round and beating back into it. That of course is exactly what we did. read more...

Firefly - Arrival in Singapore

Today is Saturday 7th of November 2015 and Firefly has just arrived into Singapore. Its been a memorable 2 months in Indonesia but we were very happy to finally leave after problems with their authorities checking out. Over the last week we had attended the Sail 2 Indonesia rally stop at Penuba and then gone on north to an anchorage just off a lovely small beach, right on the equator. There, along with crews from about 20 of the rally yachts we had a 'pirate party' on the beach to celebrate. Some of the yachts had been buying Indonesian made fireworks along the way - as these would not be allowed into Malaysia it was time to set them off. Next we motored (no sailing, all motoring as very little wind here) north through Lingga to the penultimate rally stop at Benan. Benan was a pretty. read more...

Vitamina - ARC starts

Ready to go!!!  . read more...

Chimo - Reisverslag 3 ARC+

Het is hier een gezellige drukte. Inmiddels leren we wat medezeilers kennen waarmee we alle ervaringen kunnen delen en gezellig kletsen op de borrels die iedere avond hier georganiseerd worden. Het is niet allemaal pret. Er zijn ook serieuze zaken zoals leerzame seminars en demonstraties. We hebben een demonstratie van een reddingshelikopter gekregen en handige tips voor Kaapverden en St. Lucia. Natuurlijk hebben we hier weer een kademuurbeschildering gemaakt. We gaan het lot niet tarten en hopen dat deze tekening ons geluk en een veilige oversteek brengt. De inkopen zijn gedaan. Het schip is geinspecteerd. Ons bemanningslid is aan boord en heeft alles uitgelegd gekregen. Vanavond een farewell-party en morgen de schippersbriefing. Wij zijn er klaar voor! Chimo! Leo en MaaikeIMG_1831. read more...

Hejira - Quorate

Friday 6th NovemberWhile waiting for a delayed Stephen to arrive, we made a preliminary sortie to the Hippo Dino supermarket. Although initially only intending to ‘check it out’ and buy a small quantity to carry back to the yacht, it turned into something of a ‘major’. Thankfully, the supermarket offers a delivery service so, once we had exceeded the threshold to qualify, we ‘went to town’ and with a full inventory of all the stores we are carrying, we have now compiled a comprehensive list of what supplementary provisions are required and, looking at it, this will easily qualify for the free delivery service again! Stephen writes:-Greetings dear reader. Having experienced a delayed flight due to `technical problems` compounded by a return to the boarding bay for 2 `lost` passengers. read more...

Aretha - Eventful. Medical Situations, Lightening and Rig Failures. 26 37 South, 46 50 East

Eventful. That’s one word for it. Challenging, thats another. Plenty more spring to mind.   It’s been a busy 24 hours.   Yesterday we were making great speeds and heading on a great course towards South Africa. We knew a wind shift was coming with an approaching front and we were prepared for it - we’d reefed the sails early (reduced the amount of sail wehave up) and have 2 reefs in the main and genoa. We were in constant contact with the other boats and knew what was coming as the weather front went through.   I sent the kids to the forward bunk room to settle down there whilst we finished the boat preps.The calmness was broken by the kids screams. Any parent can tell you when a child is playing or is really hurt. This one was the latter. I raced forwards and found Willow. read more...

Luna Quest - Friday, 6th November, 2015

Noon Position: 28.00S 42.01EDaily run: 140 logged milesThe gale has moved on leaving us with a big swell and banging sails in a gentle breeze of 10 knots from the East increasing occasionally to 15 knots, when the sails will fill and stand. We pray for a sustained 15 knots or more as the banging is unbearable and causing no doubt untold latent damage, but we have had the banging before without evidence of any damage. The frequency of sighting ships has increased markedly and our AIS instruments (Automatic Identification System) are giving us timely warnings of their coming; having checked with several of them, we can be confident that our AIS is not only receiving, but also transponding our signal unto to their screen giving them all of Luna Quest’s details. The AIS system is global and. read more...

Starblazer - 06/11/2015 – It's not a problem, it’s a challenge!

This was an answer from one of my students many years ago when he needed help with a computer problem and it is a positive way to look at what the weather has confronted us with over the past three days.The challenges have been mitigated to a certain extent by the use of DSC calling on the SSB.DSC was introduced as a compulsory function on all new VHF marine radios in the UK fairly recently but is little understood or used by the majority of sailors.There is also a DSC capability on recent SSB radios, again seldom used.Peter, the skipper of Exody, has galvanised the fleet into action: to enter all the individual ship’s MMSI numbers, rather like a long telephone number; to enter a group number and to maintain a DSC watch.When we left La Reunion we knew we would face various weather. read more...

Luna Quest - Thursday, 5th November, 2015

Noon Position: 27.54S 44.37EDaily run: 174 logged milesAll day yesterday and all night we received the most fantastic buffeting. The wind had risen to 35 knots and sustained between 27 and 33 knots. The swell and waves had been whipped up to furious proportions by the centre of a fast moving low pressure gradient. The troughs were deep and the waves crowning the 3-metre high swell toppled with tremendous force leaving just trails of foam behind. The breaking waves would slew the boat round, cause the sails to shudder as they waited for the Hydrovane to put the boat back on its course. The reef in the genoa of approx. half its size proved too much for crew and ship and Julia urged me to get out into the wave-swept cockpit and in the driving rain to shorten sail more as the bashing we were. read more...

Sail away - Counting down

Well we are getting close now! Four days left, my sister the first of my crew shows up tonight.  Still waiting on the machine shop to put my gooseneck back together.  My iridium phone is working but not talking to the red box yet?  This morning Jay is coming over to see if there is an air leak in my fuel system which is probably the cause of my racors getting air in them. We will be ready! . read more...

Hejira - Barry lets his hair (and us) down

Thursday 5th November 2015Wednesday was the last day of formal seminars and they have all been well presented and useful. This final tranche covered weather and routing, first aid, Cape Verde and St. Lucia and the return options. They have mostly been well attended but interestingly, the seminar on the return options was the least supported confirming what we have discovered, many of the yachts will be spending some time in the Caribbean or continuing on around the World – hmmmmmmm………..>Having passed the safety inspection and with Stephen arriving today, we can turn our attention to victualing bearing in mind that the stocking options are limited in Mindelo, Cape Verde.Our efforts at the Fancy Dress party were well received and the formula was a great ice breaker.As a result we. read more...

Annabella - Dinghy Shrinkage

Somebody told me that they had never seen a hard bottomed dinghy on the fore deck / cabin of an Island Packet before, at least not one with a Hogt Boom on the staysail. Here it is, impinging nothing, allowing for complete control of the staysail.Thanks, Jeff, for the grunt work with me and the final solution to the secure lashing problem. For the land bound, this gets the dinghy off the davits and out of the way of any big following seas or breaking waves over the stern.John has arrived in time to miss the heavy labor. Something tells me we'll find some way to make that up to him.We leave Sunday and it is time. More tomorrow.H LIMG_0244 IMG_0243. read more...