Maalu IV - Day 19 The Last Few Hours at Sea

With less than 100 miles to sail, we are having abeautiful day. Unfortunately this appears to be lost on the crew because theyare all watching the chart plotter as it counts down the miles to go. Admittedlythe last few days have seen our average speed drop considerably as we avoiddamage in the squalls and therefore are sailing a trifle too reefed, 'bettersafe than sorry'. Also it means that we will arrive in Rodney Bay as thesun comes up. Everyone knows that 'a watched clock is a stoppedclock'. I made that one up but the sentiment is the same as 'a watched potnever boils'. So the challenge is how to entertain/distract the crewfor the rest of the voyage.   It took all of 5 minutes for the crew to determine whatthey wished they had brought on their first Atlantic crossing:. 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...

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...

Maalu IV - Day 15 Supernatural Saturday

First I need to set the scene for night sailing whichis, essentially, 12  out of every 24 hours. The moon was bright and hadonly just started waning two weeks ago. Now, it has not only fully waned with nosign of any waxing but has also stopped being nocturnal. We are thereforedependent on star light, which is amazingly bright but significantly compromisedby the cloud cover. So, the upshot of all this is that we are sailing in apretty dark environment, using our instruments and keeping a sharp lookout forsqualls and other vessels. Last night started off as usual with Nicholas on thefirst watch but I couldn't sleep as the autohelm had started to complain aboutthe workload. This manifested as strange grating noises so we furled ourstay sail and reefed the genoa which was much. read more...

Maalu IV - Day 14 Trade Wind Sailing as it should be!

What a difference! The wind has dropped to 15-20 knots,the sea is somewhat calmer and we have been able to relax into the sailing a bitmore. We have all developed rather an unusual posture formoving around Maalu IV; essentially a very wide base with bent knees to keep thecentre of gravity low and outstretched arm ready to latch onto the nearest grabrail or break a fall! It may not look pretty but it is reducing the acquisitionrate of new bruises. I am not sure which physique is best on a boat. I havea low centre of gravity but short arms whereas Jono at 6'1'' has a high centreof gravity but long arms. Judging from my bruises it is better to be tall andgangly however I am sure that a scientific study would answer this importantquestion. Moving around the galley is altogether. read more...