Champagne - ARRIVED

POSITION : 14°32'•7 N AND 60°12'•4 WDATE /TIME : 13.12.2012 , 20;45UTCMOOD : RELIEVEDDEAR READER, I KNOW, SOMETHING YOU HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. WE HAVE ARRIVED ON THE 12.12.2012 AT 23:XX LOCAL TIME IN SAINT LUCIA. IT WAS A FAST PASSAGE AND TOOK US 14 DAYS AND 23 HOURS AND XXX SECONDS.But let's leave it like that. All you need to know is that all and everybody is up and well - besides the few repairs that are forthcoming.What is more important however is that I will start the story again from the beginning, ie from the start at Gran Canaria. SO watch the page " Atlantic Adventures " in my web page www.themunchreport.com ,there will be some blogs coming up shortly.LET ME SLEEP FIRST.Master Mike. read more...

Champagne - Final Approach of Champagne

We can see the end of the tunnel, but is it the light that might be hitting you because it is the train coming towards you ? Well, probably not. We had it all, but mostly wind of the strength BF 7, 8 and 9. We could have been faster, but with the cut in the Genoa that was difficult. And we were not lucky with the wind direction. Can't stand anymore the banging of the sails and the shuddering of the rig. Happy to still have a rig, and a rudder !But since yesterday all is really going our way. Finally the NE wind, finally with the right strength BF 7-8, and the boat towards the right direction ( S Lucia ), with a speed of 9-10 kts. Wonderful. During the night we had some scary moments, particularly with one squall that hit us, but we were prepared and had reefed early. Anyway, even that. read more...

Champagne - Broken Hearts

Yesterday it finally happened. At exactly 19:00 h UTC. The empire has struck back. Poseidon goes for a brake, the dark forces are having dinner, I don't know what, but after a very strong rain shower it really happened what we did not have since we departed on the 27th of November. For the first time we experienced significantly less than F 7 wind, in fact , and this is the funny bit, we experienced no wind at all . Niente, basta, fini, aus, nothing goes any more. We waited for an hour , tried to hoist the Parasailor to take advantage of that whisper of a wind that wasn't really there, but gave up quickly. Who wants to hang around Mid-Atlantic ? No Cafe Sport ( Azores) here, no Sailor's Bar ( Gran Canaria ), or any other friendly 'etablissement' available, no Disco like in Benidorm, no. read more...

Champagne - what a "bloodbath"

We had a bloodbath today on our boat. It all started well though. We decided to do some fishing, Pieter and Ian that was, and after 2 hours of untangling the fishing line, we finally got it into the water. First with a bait that had landed on the boat during the night: quite a large species of a Flying Fish. What a mess. All skin particles flying around, and bleeding through " the nose " this poor devil of a creature. Anyway, dead is dead, so we had left it lying there in the cockpit until somebody had the good idea to put it into a bucket filled with seawater. To keep it fresh, so to speak. Not for us though, but as a bait for more things to come.Now at this stage I have to explain that none of us is a great "Fisherman" or Fisherwoman" to that extent. The closest I personally get to. read more...

Champagne - ALL IS WELL

Dear Friends.First of all, we are all well, which of course is important. Mainly for us, may be also for you. Secondly, we had our ups and downs, and of that plenty.We actually had a good start. Tactics worked, and we were with roughly 30 others in the front having passed the starting line. The weather was lousy, a lot of wind, but that suits Champagne. Having passed Gran Canaria we turned after a while West. It must have happened after midnight , and we don't know why, but our Genoa developed a cut in the top third , so we have been running with a reef in our best sail, meaning we have the full main out and a hugely reefed Genoa. That makes the boat totally unstable on the run, meaning we take the wind now on the quarter, but for speed and direction it is not optimal. The only luck we. read more...