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Verbena - Day 8 - Day 8 twilight at sea
Verbena - Day 8 - Day 8 twilight at sea
Verbena - Day 8 - Auto troubleshooting
Verbena - Day 8 - Auto troubleshooting
Verbena - Day 8 - Good morning dorado
Verbena - Day 8 - Good morning dorado
Verbena - Day 8 - Atlantic Thanksgiving
Verbena - Day 8 - Atlantic Thanksgiving
01/12/2019

Sally - First week at sea have passed

This was the first week of the Atlantic crossing. If our plotter calculate the ETA correctly we will arriveto Saint Lucia on december 15 if we can average 6 knots. That will make this a relative slow crossing and the main reason is the light wind this first week and our initial strategy to sail SW until the butter melts. It would have been better to follow the routing suggested by PredictWind. However, this calm first week have given us a chance to really adopt to 24x7 sailing with only 3 persons on board, beautifull days and nights, good food and a pleasant life. The wind will pick up tomorrow and I think we will get up to 20 knots from NE a couple of days and maybe longer since we will be down in the trade winds by then. Today we celebrated 1st advent traditionally with hot mulled wine. read more...


01/12/2019

Summerwinds of Cuan - One week out

Normal 0 false false falseEN-GB X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}Emily Here,Yesterday I was net controller for the ARC SSB radio net.  Everyday at 1200hrs all the boats with an SSB radio (long. read more...


Meltemi - Der Prop-Taucher ist zurück
Meltemi - Der Prop-Taucher ist zurück
01/12/2019

Salamander - YB Connect Message from Kevin Malone

Day 7.WatchesMuch of life aboard Salamander revolves around watches.We stand watches. We watch for other boats and weather. We record the time from our watches as we carry out amateur celestial navigation.Skipper Chris has organized the crew into three watches - Kay and Kevin; David and Jimmy; and Ethan and Tim. Chris, Hilary and Greg are available to step in at any time that greater expertise may be required.We are on watch for two hours and then off for four.A healthy competition has developed for distance covered on each watch. During the hours of darkness, most of us sleep when --Transmitted by Kevin Malone using YB Connect (www.ybtracking.com). read more...


01/12/2019

Cuvee - Day 8-9 Halyard retrieval

Thus 28 Nov - Thank you to our real “sailor” ascending the mast and retrieving the headsail halyard. No such luck on the spinnaker halyard, it has chafed through and cut so the rest of the journey will be without our weapon, the asymmetric so boat speed will drop form the rest of the trip. That has given us some more boat speed even though the wind has dropped out.Next was to get something out of the freezer for dinner and pong, the front of the freezer has thawed out! 2 crew members took to the task of pulling the meat out and sorting it. Think we got someone else’s meat order as we found turkey that was discolored and causing the smell. Pulled out another couple of suspect packs and started cutting the packets and throwing out the burley. Didn’t attract any fish, not surprised if they. read more...


Cuvee - Day 8-9 Halyard retrieval
Cuvee - Day 8-9 Halyard retrieval
01/12/2019

Cuvee - Ted’s Atlantic Adventure - Part 4

20:00 18Nov 2019 - MindeloTed’s been kidnapped! We came back on board to find Ted missing and a ransom note for ten billion or so tacotos. None of us know the exchange rate for tacotos but it sounds like a lot of money. Maybe it’s just me but I’m wondering whether Louise is mixed up somehow in this like some sort of honeypot for an unsuspecting Ted.08:00 19Nov 2019 - MindeloThe police have just been around. They dropped off a “person of interest” photo and poster of a usual suspect that they want to question.. read more...


Cuvee - Ted’s Atlantic Adventure - Part 4
Cuvee - Ted’s Atlantic Adventure - Part 4
Cuvee - Ted’s Atlantic Adventure - Part 4
Cuvee - Ted’s Atlantic Adventure - Part 4
01/12/2019

Escapado - Day 7

From Crew member Sandra It has been a week since we started and we are slowly falling into a routine. Watches, cooking, sleep and repeat. Loads of laughter, jokes and nonsense talk in between. Our skipper keeps us entertained with a repertoire of bad jokes and riddles.They can be really head wrecking. Especially when our Swiss crew member forgets Liechtenstein exists.Other than that we are trimming and changing sails and trying to get the most out of the wind which unfortunately has slowed down a bit. We all got a bit competitive and would like to achieve a good result. Also caught our first fish and the Ceviche tasted super yummee. Other highlights are t-shirt changing days, two days to go until the next clean ones come out of the bags. So we. read more...


Meltemi - Badetag
Meltemi - Badetag
01/12/2019

Karhammel IV - news from Karhammel IV

Now a week at sea ! Life on board got organised.Short watches of 2 hours, that give us 2 sleeping periods at nigth. Fresh food at noon and dehydrated bags for the dinner.Dishes washed with seawater and rinced with fresh water from the watermaker using a garden spray.  Same strategy for the crew, in the cockpit used as a bathroom.Jean-Louis the Hydrovane being at helm, time is used  for reading books, DIY activities (manufacturing dynema schackles), routine checks and maintenance, fixing issues (the worst having been the black waters going into the bilge instead of out of the boat, bilge rinced with several buckets of seawater, and a good venting to get rid of the smell), and searching a strategy to store the rubbish.Unfortunately the winds remain weak (8-10 kt) for our 8. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 01/12 Update Day 7

Last day of November, and a week at sea. While an important milestone, today was relatively quiet.No fish, no sail change, and especially no other boat. We are really alone in the middle of a 200 other sailing boats!the spinnaker has been up for 36h and will be kept for another night. Conditions are great at ~12kts. While our speed isn't going to get us in saint Lucy in a record timing, we are ok and comfortable. 5.5 its average and even a small surf at 8,6!while we have been eating super well, it is quite good to see the waste has been minimum. All plastic is placed into a 5L water bottle and so far not full.sea water temp now getting above 24C, tropics are close!last day event was sky-watch. Amazing view with Moon, Saturn, Venus and Jupiter aligned and clear just in front of us.. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 29/11 Update Day 6

while the weather forecasts are still relatively off, at least we had decent wind today!first code0 but when Alisara came close about to overtake us with their spinnaker, we launched ours and have kept it the rest of the day.we are doing 5 to 7 knots in 10 to 13 knots of wind, which is nice and easy.good lunch and dinner (mahi mahi) while a bit lighter than thanksgivings yesterday!and finally when it was time to bring back the fishing line, another mahi to maintain the stock! Time for the crew (Vincent) to get to make the filets. Not a pleasant exercise at all.another relatively quiet day at sea, now getting farer away from land (~300, 400 miles from Africa coast and cap verde). Tomorrow we should cross the 2000 miles from saint Lucy!good night, good watch!c-reel (pleasure to meet you...). read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 28/11 Update Day 5

HAPPY THANKSGIVING !no turkey but mahi-mahi.No wind, so more time to choose the wine.We caught another mahi in the middle of thanksgiving lunch... saved its life!Very quiet day. Frustrating to be mostly motoring. Conditions for next 48h aren't great. We'll see.At least we can read now...see-real.. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 27/11 Update Day 4

Last night was interesting: the wind was really low, below 7, but sometimes peaking up to 11 knots. Debate with the crew about motoring or keeping sails. Pressure, questions. Decision was to keep the sails and hope the wind will stay above 10. And that was the right decision, great night about 5kts as wind even went up to 13kts...Wednesday morning wake up: lots and lots of dolphins. They stayed with us for 20 minutes. Great way to start the day.then decision to hoist the asymmetric spinnaker to test the patch. Went well and we kept it almost the entire day. Unfortunately, late afternoon, wind problem issue again - seems the motto of this Arc start. So decision to motor for a couple of hours until dark. Good choice, higher speed meant fishing, and we caught the first Mahi-mahi. 6-people. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 26/11 Update Day 3

good and relatively uneventful night, but unfortunately in the morning the wind dropped entirely. 2-5 knots isn't going to have IDEFIX moving much, especially without the asymmetrical spinnaker. So we started motoring. Feels super bad after barely 48 hours. Only positive was the weather, warmer and with clear water. Late morning we started to see other ARC friends... shoot, all under sails. Going 3 knots but under sails. Shame on us, we need to correct this. Crew action: fix the spinnaker and get something which would at least maintain us in the group. We used the code0 and Genoa wing on wing. Barely acceptable, going 2kts first but then wind picked up a bit and we moved around 3.5 to 4. Not really what we envisioned for the third day of the crossing.Few updates from friends and the. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 26/11 Update Day 2

Good we did put the spinnaker on. The first night was windy. We took a very southerly route.good lunch for everyone, and as the wind ease a bit, we can get the asymmetric out... it works and we gain 2 knots but the main is still full and creates some perturbation. Let's try to reef. Unfortunately, it didn't help and when hoisting the sail again, it hits the spreader and there is a small rip. Need to take it down for repair. Bad for the first day...but we still have the code 0, so another sail manoeuver... but some issues with the furler and we had to delay to fix. And of course when we were ready the wind picked up and had to give up code 0 as well.who said life at sea is boring... and crew is now hungry and ready for the poulet basquaise dinner. Fresh bread just read. Yummy.all good for. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 24/11 Update Day 1

Here we go, departure day.we are ready and craving the ocean.Of course, minor details to do, like... changing a halyard at the last minute (thank you rolnautic for being opened important Sundays)!Seeing all boats leaving the marina in order (kind of) is quite impressive, but nothing compared to the real departure signal and a fleet of so many boats leaving to the other side almost at the same time.we cross the line a bit late, probably too absorbed by watching the racing division flying around us.also conservative, and no spinnaker on. Very tempting, but let's pass the island first. All the catamarans with spinnaker are now ahead, well try to catch up.getting prepared for the first night, everyone is ok on board and getting used to the life at sea.let's see what tomorrow will. read more...


01/12/2019

Idefix - 23/11 day 0: Resting before departure

Saturday 23th, Day minus 1. Everything is supposed to be ready and today was supposed to be a resting day to hang out with friends...In real world: final cleaning, police and Arc clearance, get code0 back from shop, waiting for Sylvie suitcase (lost during flight), adjust code0... doesn't work, will need to go up the mast tomorrow.Get the dingy back in, set up and verify email, talk to family, check out children situation, final food check and pack, etc.Probably the most exhausting day of the last two weeks.It is really time to go!. read more...


01/12/2019

Agua Dulce - Log Day 7 – Fish on! Dolphins! Spinnaker!

What a start to a day! I decided we needed to try a new lure this morning, so at 7:30am, I put my favorite lure on and dropped it in the water and crossed my fingers. Just as I was coming off watch, I heard the “zinggggggggg” of the line running out – FISH ON! Since we were actually sailing at about 4 knots, we didn’t stop the boat. I brought in another mahi – not huge but big enough for a meal for 4 people – and cleaned and fileted it with some help from Tracy who is master of fileting fish. Charles and Keith were kind enough to clean up the mess on the deck. And now, we’ll be having Mahi Meunière for dinner!As if that weren’t enough, we were joined by a pod of hundreds of dolphins who raced across the bow of the boat, jumped through the air, and put on a synchronized swimming show for. read more...


01/12/2019

Celtic Star - Blog 7, Day 7 Sunday 1 Dec

  Thanks go to Ian for the last 6 days of blogs.sailing A really good days sailing over the last 24 hours, 151miles of sailing with fairly calm seas and mostly in the right direction!And we are now 1 third of the way to St Lucia!!Yesterday we hadvisitors, large a pod of dolphins with young who played around the boat for overhalf an hour, a sight that I can never get bored with.It was a fantasticnight! Almost cloudless so without the normal light pollution we have wonderfulviews of the constellations and the milky way which looks amazing throughbinoculars.  The moon is new so looks just like my childhood memories of ahammock with the man in the moon fishing. It was so clear that we could seethe unlit portion in faint relief.We also have the tail end of an asteriodshower so the. read more...


01/12/2019

Nizuc - Blog 17 Nizuk

BLOG 17 – The Answer, My Friend ...I’ve been foreshadowing the melting butter for a while, now, so here’s the explanation:‘Head south, until the butter melts, then turn left, sorry, right. If you see South America, you’ve gone too far.’This is what most people in Gran Canaria were saying to us. The idea is to go south to the latitude of 20 degrees, where the trade winds start. We went to a lecture about this. Here is a summary of the concept: it’s a world of two halves; blah, blah, blah; Atlantic highs and lows; blah, blah, blah; hits Europe (including Britain, although that might change), blah, blah blah; coast of Africa; blah, blah, blah; inter-tropical convergence zone; blah, blah, blah; equator. I hope that’s clear.My notes are scant from this lecture, but I managed to get a hot-tip. read more...


01/12/2019

Hello World - Never grow up!

Today is 1.des - meaning christmas music is on the stereo in the cockpit and advents calendars are now our new morning routine. We are three old kids on board and we proudly love our advent calendars! It is gonna be wired not being home for christmas - I think it is the first time for all of us not being home for christmas. And I know for sure we all gonna miss our parents and family We have a lottery calendar for all of us and Eskils mother had made us an advent calendar with small presents. Today we opened a game that we will play later tonight :) The sun is shining, the sea is calm and the solar panels actually looks like it now accepts the sun a bit more (....finally!). It makes our batteries charge a bit and makes the cockpit a possible plays to live without the generator running.. read more...


01/12/2019

Hello World - Never grow up!

Photosimage2 image1. read more...


Hello World - Never grow up!
Hello World - Never grow up!
Hello World - Never grow up!
Hello World - Never grow up!
01/12/2019

Distraction - 30th November

Hi All, apologies for the lack of communication from Distraction we have been settling into our watch pattern and working at trying to find more wind. And all of our excitement has been good.After a great start and good wind we have spent nearly a week travelling south to maximise the wind. We have now turned the corner and are heading west!We have had many visitations from dolphins, shortly before supper yesterday we had an acrobatic display by around 20, and we have been lucky enough to see the magic of dolphins speeding through the phosphorescence at night on more than one occasion. A sight I could never ever tire of. Yesterday saw us pass by a pod of small whales and our first flying fish sighting. Squid have made it onto the deck at night, why do they do that? And, the boots are off. read more...


Distraction - 30th November
Distraction - 30th November
01/12/2019

Fish Pie - best run so far

Managed 14 miles yesterday, so despite the light winds to start, things arelooking better.  Nice weather for sailing, we are using our full sailwardrobe, the symmetrical  spinnaker and the asymmetric, but revert to thewhite sails overnight, with one reef last night, just for ease of sailing in thedark.  I hope we have now reached the trade winds, and can expect a goodtailwind from now on, but we all know sailing’s not like that. the crew are gelling nicely so far, but there’s never enough time and westill haven’t caught a fish. . read more...


01/12/2019

Hello World - Hacks at sea!

Photosimage2 image3 image1 image4. read more...


Hello World - Hacks at sea!
Hello World - Hacks at sea!
Hello World - Hacks at sea!
Hello World - Hacks at sea!
Hello World - Hacks at sea!
Hello World - Hacks at sea!
01/12/2019

Sweet Dream - Sunday December 1, 2019.

Reorganising interior to be ready for rough off-shore sailing. Captain finished scraping the waterline without incident and cleaned out the anchor locker in preparation for installing new chain this coming week. image1.. read more...


Sweet Dream - Sunday December 1, 2019.
Sweet Dream - Sunday December 1, 2019.
01/12/2019

Little Island - 168 hours

Mini double decker and mini crunchie. Not a bad way to start the festive season as we identified number one on the advent calendar mum made us for the boat. I have to say, we don’t feel very christmassy but I suppose that is what you get when you are totally disconnected from the world. No carols on the radio, no decorations in windows, no lights on the street and no ‘buy-one-get-one’ offers enticing you to buy things you really don’t need; that nobody needs. It’s quite lovely. What isn’t lovely, is blocked pipes. Before departing, a good friend told us a story about her sail from the UK to Australia. She explained that something about boat life and being constantly heeled to one side meant that her regular lavatory requirements became somewhat irregular.In fact, at one stage she went. read more...


01/12/2019

Sweet Dream - Saturday November 30, 2019

Nancy and Meghan left on an early flight. Lars and I ran around in the car doing errands and getting last minute provisioning done. Then I put everything away and Captain started scraping the waterline clean on the hull. A crazy proposition in these crocodile and shark infested waters. He managed to get 3/4 of the waterline cleaned and finally came out of the filthy water. image1.. read more...


Sweet Dream - Saturday November 30, 2019
Sweet Dream - Saturday November 30, 2019
01/12/2019

Sweet Dream - Friday November 29, 2019

Lars and family encountered lions at Hilltop game refuge. I finished cleaning and organising interior of boat. image1.. read more...


Sweet Dream - Friday November 29, 2019
Sweet Dream - Friday November 29, 2019
01/12/2019

Sweet Dream - Thursday November 28, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving. Lars and family doing more safari stuff at Tembe elephant park. Me cleaning and organising boat.. read more...


Sweet Dream - Thursday November 28, 2019
Sweet Dream - Thursday November 28, 2019
01/12/2019

Sweet Dream - Wednesday November 27, 2019

Lars and Nancy and Meghan went on game drives at Tembe elephant park. I started tidying up the nooks and cranny spaces of the boat. A few of the fleet took off south. image1.. read more...


Sweet Dream - Wednesday November 27, 2019
Sweet Dream - Wednesday November 27, 2019
Another Brick -
Another Brick -