Windleblo - Day Twenty Two

They told us later that the wind was the most wicked Sunday night. Like a hurricane, they said. They worried about us all night long.Out on the Windleblo, we were oblivious. Yes, the seas were rough. Yes, the winds were strong. We surfed down big waves, the knot meter reading 25.7 at one point. (OK, this must have been an instrument glitch, but the 13.7 was certainly legit.) But this was the "new normal" and we thought nothing of it.I took the 8 to 10 a.m. watch, UTC. At just past 60 degrees west longitude, the sky was still very dark. They had told us in Las Palmas that the eastern shore of the Windward Islands can be difficult to see at night because the lights of all the towns are on the leeward western side of the islands.But then, out of the gloom, I thought I saw a light.At first,. read more...

Windleblo - Day Twenty One

Seventy-five miles to go.Tonight's dinner, a mélange of sweet potato, raw peanuts, and tofu in a thick garlic, ginger, curry sauce, was assembled by John Hoopes, now called Hans by his Austrian shipmate. Around the cockpit table, you could sense the anticipation of landfall. Someone posed a simple question, "What's the first thing you are going to do once we hit land?" The answers were equally simple."Give my wife a hug.""Go for a cold beer.""Take a long walk."And, jokingly, "Polish the boat."Not spoken, but hidden just beneath the answers were the emotions held by each crewman. Among them areGratitude to the Almighty for a safe deliverance;Pride at having completed such a significant accomplishment;Admiration for my fellow shipmates for their strength and endurance;Sadness at reaching. read more...

Windleblo - Day Twenty

First there was Pollux. The 8.5 meter Pogo had broken her mast more than 600 miles from St. Lucia and was requesting nearby yachts to deliver any available diesel so she could continue on her way.Then, there was Koa. The catamaran had a 20 in crack near her propeller shaft and was taking on water. A rope had caught in the shaft during the night, causing the leak. Bilge pumps were keeping up, barely, with 480 miles to go.And finally, Texel. The 35 meter Classic Schooner had a fire in her engine room and needed assistance just 100 miles from St. Lucia.We woke up today to find these ARC Fleet Advisories in our SSB email inbox. The news, plus a look out the porthole at the rough seas, did not augur well for the day. By day's end, our premonitions were borne out. We are now sailing along. read more...

Windleblo - Day Nineteen

Today's topic was intended to be about how we battled squalls during the wee hours the last couple of nights.But after I told the Coach about yesterday's topic and today's plan for the blog, he said, "Nobody wants to read about that stuff. Tell them about the mermaids we've seen, or the fact that you've taken to wearing women's underwear."It's not true that we've seen mermaids. I won't lie about that. I've written about the Coach's delusions in past blog posts, so I wouldn't doubt that he may indeed believe he's seen mermaids. But other than dolphins early on, we haven't seen much sea life, imaginary or real, on this voyage.It is true, though, that the other day the guys did see me in women's underwear.In my defense, the further south we've gone, the hotter it's gotten. The boxer shorts. read more...

Windleblo - Day Eighteen

Trade wind sailing is the perfect time to experiment with different downwind sail plans. On this voyage, we've tried three.The first is simply reaching as deep downwind as possible on a port tack, then jibing the boat and reaching deep downwind on a starboard tack. The end result is a zigzag downwind course.The second is a twin headsail arrangement. Many boats fly two headsails raised on a common forestay furler that has two headsail luff slots. Windleblo is equipped with such a furler, but we choose not to use it based on lessons learned at a pre-ARC downwind sailing seminar.There, the presenter compared twin headsails to a parachute. The earliest parachutes were solid cloth. As the parachute descended, it filled with air. But the air had nowhere to go once inside the canopy and piled. read more...