Graptolite - Day 5

Friday 24th November 2023, 21:08.710N 021:28.746WWe caught a reasonable sized mahi mahi today which was turned into sashshimi for dinner. The meat was firmer than I remember. Maybe the next mahi mahi will be cooked as kebabs and we will stick to yellow-fin for eating raw.An exciting late evening was spent untangling the improvised genoa furler with the line slipped off the improvised spool. We are not doing too well with our fleet position as we are nursing both damaged steering gear and the furler so we have decided to run into Mindelo to make repairs. Mindelo is a port we know well from our cruise ship travels and we were there most recently in March of this year so it holds no particular attraction for us but hopefully we can fix things so that every clanking noise from the wheel does. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite Day 4

Wednesday 22nd November 2023, 23:7.10N 19:3.45WThe day was spent almost entirely hanging over the bow trying to get the genoa to furl. Additional parts of the Furlex went to the bottom in the process as the attraction between seawater, tools and equipment bits is strong in these waters but the new furling drum we made from a plastic crate seems to be doing the trick.There was a good sing-along in the cockpit in the evening including recordings of well-known songs with lyrics butchered to include mention of "Graptolite" which we made on the 2007 crossing.. read more...

Graptolite - ARC2023 The First Few Days

Sunday 19th November 2023, 28:7.38N 15:25.39WWe have been in Las Palmas forever spending money on parts as fast as we can and loading up with huge amounts of food, but the big day has finally arrived and the ARC 2023 Las Palmas to St Lucia rally starts today. Graptolite's crew this year is myself, Martyn Pickup (UK) , Mrs P - Heike Richter (DE), old university and sailing friend Tim Relton (UK), Mrs R - Rosie Carnall (UK) and a recent find, John Eberhard (US/FR). Friends Mayk and Peter came to see us off and we had some celebratory fizzy before joining the queue to get out of the marina.Not for the first time, Graptolite crossed the race start line with a recently discovered major defect. In 2007 we started with a mainsail on deck and in-mast furling parts dropped inside the mast. A. read more...