Moonshadow - ARC Rally Day 0

After years of dreaming, almost a year in planning, months of organization and weeks of final preparations, Moonshadow and crew are ready for the 25th annual running of the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers). The course will take us approximately 2700 nautical miles from Las Palmas in the Canary Islands of Spain across the North Atlantic Ocean to St. Lucia in the West Indies.This rally is significant for Moonshadow as it is where she began her westabout circumnavigation with first owner Mike Gluck after she was launched in Finland in 1986.It is significant for us as it is the last long ocean leg of our circumnavigation that started in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in November of 1994. Moonshadow has attracted a lot of attention since she arrived in Las Palmas two weeks ago as she is the only. read more...

Moonshadow - ARC Rally-Day 2

ARC Rally-Day 2Monday afternoon kept the crew busy trying to keep the boat moving. As the breeze went down into single digits, our first move was to change up to our #1 spinnaker, a huge 1.5 oz. MPS (multi-purpose spinnaker). The wind became very shifty and then went well forward from northeast to southeast. We were hoping to stay in a nice patch of forecast breeze running about 100 miles off the coast of Africa so didn't want to get too far west just yet. The crew was trying all sorts of tricks to keep the speed up; adjusting spinnaker pole height and angle, trying the addition of the staysail, playing with sheeting angles, hand steering up and down, etc. in attempt to wring every tenth of a knot of boat speed out of what breeze we had. When we had it as good as it would get, we took a. read more...

Moonshadow - ARC Rally-Day 1

The farewell from Las Palmas yesterday morning was overwhelming and like nothing we'd ever experienced.Hundreds of well wishers lined the docks, quays and breakwaters of the marina and waved goodbye to the ARC fleet while a marching band circled the marina and women danced to music blaring from the fuel dock.With 240 yachts trying to get out to the start line on time, and local spectator boats heading out to watch the spectacle of the rally start, the congestion in the marina was like morning rush hour in Los Angeles.As each entrant slowly departed the marina, the yacht name and country was announced over a p.a. system and was met with cheers and waving flags from the enthusiastic spectators.Each yacht was photographed as it departed the marina. We all felt like rock stars! Or were they. read more...

Moonshadow - ARC Rally-Day 3

On our third day at sea we broke one curse and acquired another.Tuesday afternoon saw beautiful and relaxed spinnaker sailing with winds in the mid teens gradually easing into the evening.We made some good progress towards our waypoint near the Cape Verde Islands while gathering weather information about a rather nasty trough making its way across the Atlantic Ocean and offering up adverse winds as far as 15 degrees north latitude.The sky was cloudless and the horizon clear-ideal conditions for the elusive green flash.As the sun dropped toward the horizon we played some Café del Mar music, opened a bottle of Spanish rose and the crew lined up on the starboard rail, cameras poised, waiting for an encore of last evening's performance.Conditions couldn't have been better, or could they.The. read more...

Moonshadow - ARC Rally-Day 4

ARC Rally-Day 4After more than 16 hours of motor sailing in ghosterlies from .5 to 3 knots, the breeze finally filled in from the west just before sunset last evening. We unfurled the jib and were sailing at about 80% of wind speed in breezes from 4 to 8 knots. Happy hour was all the more happy with the engine silent and Moonshadow sailing on her course to the waypoint in calm seas. A bottle of bubbles was popped to celebrate the breeze and George's birthday.Sailing throughout the evening was extraordinarily comfortable. The only indications that we were not swinging on the hook in a dead calm anchorage was that there was a 5 degree heel angle and the slight sound of water passing along the hull.For dinner Charles barbecued fillets from the mahi-mahi we had caught that morning. Merima. read more...