Daily Logs

Charm - Irish Sea or Pacific?

Some photos from our time in the North Atlantic.Ok, it was a bit warmer but otherwise, John said it was the same.image1 image3 image2 image4. read more...

Charm - Photos

Cobin and Marin after seeing the “green flash” after the sunset tonight.Lunch today - living on a boat has improved my cooking skills!Tully modeling the preferred rain outfit on Charmimage3 image1 image2. read more...

Danica I - Log - Day 8- Midnight Sailing under the Bright Stars

Log Day 8 - Thursday, March 14, 2019 - Midnight Sailing under the canopy of starsAfternoon Report - Wednesday- 12:00- 18:00o Wind: 13- 16 knots -SE - sailing 6-7 knotso Sails: Main-1R/Genoa-fullo Overcast and drizzleNight Watch - 18:00 - 06:00o Sails: Main-1R/Genoa- 1R at 21:00 - squalls on the radaro The clouds disappeared after midnight and we sailed under bright stars and growing moono Flying fish and squid on the trampoline-daily morning clean upMorning report- Thursday - 06:00-12:00o Winds: 16-18 knots - sailing 7-8 knotso Sun is shining upon Danica and drying the dampnesso Sails: Main R1/ Genoa - fullo 12:00 - Distance measured by SOW - 1371NM (175 NM - day 8). read more...

Cassiopée W - Log for March 13th 2019 - Pets on Board

Log pour ce 13 Mars 2019 - Les animaux domestiquesÉtant si loin de la terre ferme, il est toujours intéressant de constater l’arrivée d’un oiseau sur le bateau. Nous sommes maintenant à six jours des Galapagos et cet après-midi un booby a décidé de se joindre à nous pour se reposer, nettoyer ses plumes, pêcher, nettoyer ses plumes, dormir, nettoyer ses plumes et à oui j’avais oublié, nettoyer ses plumes. Notre nouvel « animal domestique » est arrivé seul contrairement aux autres qui voyagent généralement en couple. Nous pensions qu’il allait passer la nuit sur le pulpit et reprendre son envol aux petites heures du matin comme l’oblige la norme. Et bien non, ce nouveau locataire surnommé Rocky semble bien aimé son nouveau logis, Cassiopée. Mon capitaine a toujours eu un intérêt. read more...

Timshel - Brazil to Grenada Day 7

A bit dryer in the afternoon, but then more squalls, including one of biblical proportions soon after midnight - wind howling, rain hissing down,boat charging along.The wind (which luckily freed us rather than heading us) dies away of course as you soon as you get reefed down.Everything is wet, hopefully we will be able to dry off a bit at the Isles Salut.Just grey today, but still sailing well.. read more...

Charm - Marquesas - Day 8

So the squall wasn’t a squall - it was a weather system of some sort that brought over 12 hours of rain.After I went to bed, it continued raining on everyone.At least it was fair - all watches got equally wet.The excitement today, apart from the end of the rain, was the autopilot.Ever since Joe installed a new one (ironically because he was worried the old one would go out at some inopportune time), we have had trouble with it.Either it just didn’t work (for the unfortunate delivery crew with a painful trip upwind to Colombia) or it intermittently goes off, to the dismay of the person on watch.Today it was particularly bad so Joe decided to replace the motor with a new one he bought.How has spares for almost everything, except himself.So Sunil got to hand steer for a couple of hours. read more...

Danica I - Log Day 7- Still in the middle of Pacific at midnight

Log Day 7 - Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - Stillness in the Middle of the Night- Winds with an attitudeAfternoon Report - Tuesday- 12:00- 18:00o Wind: 15- 17 knots -SE - sailing 8 knotso Sails: Main-1R/Genoa-1Ro 1.5-2 m waves from the SE rocking Danicao Overcast and drizzleNight Watch - 18:00 - 06:00o Winds went from 16 knots at 18:00 to 5 knots at 00:00 and then picked up again in the morning. Motored for 3.5 hrs south to move away from ITCZ - band of low pressure near Equatoro Sails: Main-1R/Genoa- full o Rain and more rain washed away bird poopMorning report- Wednesday - 06:00-12:00o Winds: 14 knots - sailing 6-7 knotso Informative Radio net - sharing frustrations over the lack of the wind in certain areaso Overcast but the sea is calmer - opportunity to prepare some mealso Sails: Main. read more...

Timshel - Brazil to Grenada day 6

Reef sails in reef sails out (in the process) shake it all about, luckily didn't have to turn around as the ship heading for us altered course when called on VHF.Lots of rain, wind, squalls today as soon as you get sails comfortably set it all changes again.Same for everyone though, and we are still heading in the right direction, and it is supposed to get better tomorrow - just dryer would be good!. read more...

Cassiopée W - Log for 12 March 2019 - The Tradewinds

Jours numéro 6 - Les Alizés Notre arrivée dans les Alysés, il y a quelques jours maintenant, a été un point important de notre navigation dans le Pacifique. Ici les vents soufflent de façon régulière, c’est-à-dire entre 15 et 20 kts, nous permettant donc de couvrir beaucoup de terrain ou devrais-je dire d’océan. Dans un tel contexte, les voiles sont ajustées seulement deux fois par jour: après le petit-déjeuner afin de maximiser notre vitesse et avant la nuit pour le confort de chacun. La plupart du temps le bateau est sur l’auto-pilote ce qui nous permet d’entrer en contact, également deux fois par jour, avec la flottille par radio, planifier la navigation, étudier la météo, lire, cuisiner, pêcher et se reposer. Les siestes sont nécessaires car il y a toujours quelqu’un de garde pendant. read more...

Charm - Marquesas - Day 7

The banana bread is gone.The bread, the moment, all of it.The adventure is back in the form of a squall that won’t leave.The day was great.The waves finally calmed enough that we could go on the foredeck and do our PE activities.Cobin and I resumed our boat volleyball.He complained about the unstable footing and risk of falling through the trampoline.I tried to convince him that playing on a trampoline with rolling waves was good for his balance and would make him a better player.But it turns out that kids don’t care that much about their future selves.We had a medium amount of fun anyway.Sunil and John are good sports and are cooperating with my “experiment” to prove to the kids that if they do something for 5-10 minutes a day, they will improve.So we are all learning to floss (the. read more...

Tintin - A third of the way across

We have just celebrated reaching 1000 miles out, and 2000 to go! Tintinis crossing just north of the Bauer Basin of the central easternPacific ocean, where the water is around 3800 metres deep.At times it can feel a bit remote here, especially in the dark. Butother boats are not far away. On the daily radio net we share ourlatitude and longitude so we can soon see who is close. Today we havechatted to the crews of Cabana and Casiopee who are both within VHFrange. It is so reassuring to hear them. The fleet has spread out asusual but there is quite a group within a 100m mile range of us. Thatdoesn't seem very far out here!The "miles to go screen" on our GPS, attached by the wheel, isprompting us to reminisce as we go...Rob "Jo, we have just sailed through our married life!" (We are at. read more...

Misto - March 10-12 2019: Misto crosses the equator - again!

On March 12 2019 at 00h23 Misto crossed the equator from South to North. It brought back happy memories of our first equator transit in the Pacific with Chuck and Sharon on board in early 2016 - it seems like a long time ago! We celebrated with a small glass of Amarula, as conditions really did not allow for much more.Talking of conditions, they have been pretty abysmal for the last couple of days.With the wind at around 60 degrees apparent, blowing 17-20 knots most of the time and really lumpy and confused seas, it has made the motion in a catamaran reminiscent of being shaken (and not stirred) like a martini.The current has been really favorable and, even with 2 reefs in the main, we are sailing at 8-10 knots much of the time.In fact we just had a 212 nm 24 hour day.Squalls have been. read more...

Danica I - Log Day 6 - We crossed 1000 NM mark today

Log Day 6 - Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - Zooming through the High Seas - made our first 1000 NMAfternoon Report - Monday- 12:00- 18:00o Wind: 17-19 knots -SE - sailing 8-9 knotso Sails: Main-1R/Genoa-1Ro 2-3 m waves from the East making the voyage very bumpy and uncomfortableo OvercastNight Watch - 18:00 - 06:00o Trade Wind: 19-22 knotso Sails: Main-1R/Genoa-1Ro One lonely Red Footed Boobie hitched a midnight ride on Danica - Captain approvedMorning report- Tuesday - 06:00-12:00o Winds:20 knots - sailing 9 knotso Very bumpy sailing- 2 m+ choppy seas with an occasional mega waveo Overcast/ few fish on the trampoline o 12:00 winds dropping to 13-15 knotso Sails: Main R1/ Genoa - fullo 12:00 - Distance measured by SOW - 1046 NM (205 NM - day 6) Danica's Best Time. read more...

Timshel - Brazil to Grenada Day 5

Good winds, current and progress.Reefed in a bit more main before dark, later reefed yankee when wind got up with rain.Timshel crossed the equator again at 0315, going from South Atlantic to North Atlantic. Celebrated with with hot chocolate (the Brazilian blend just opened is quite good) and chocolate - tossed some over for Neptune too.However black dark in the middle of the night so no dressing up this time.Some squalls, wind still coming and going, stopped to deploy shark (towed charger) and to renew anchor lashings.. read more...

Charm - Marquesas - Day 6

Another night, another blog entry!Tonight was poetry night on Charm and I was inspired by one of my favorite poets, Billy Collins, to think about the juxtaposition of me, the writer, and you, my Reader.We are probably both fixated on bright little screens at the moment.For your sake, I hope yours is far larger than mine.And that yours isn’t so bright that it is killing your night vision so you can’t see anything beyond the instrument panel in front of you.Conveniently, we probably both have the same lack of concern about ships on the horizon since I’m going to make a reasonable assumption that you, like me, are not in a shipping lane nor are you particularly worried about other boats of any kind appearing in the middle of the Pacific.Neither of us is greatly preoccupied by fishermen or. read more...

Tintin - Steady progress

Tintin is making great progress at the moment. The winds have stayedwith us, 18-22 knots on the beam. We have the mainsail and the genoa upand the boat is moving along with a great sense of purpose.With slightly lighter winds yesterday we hoisted the cruising chute,our large blue foresail, and went flying along. It was a bit too muchfor Wendy to cope with so we hand steered - which was fun but prettytiring. With the moderate sea state waves of 2-3 metres height arearriving at our port quarter and nudging the bow up into the wind. Itall gets more exciting then as the apparent wind increases and the boatheels more. For a more relaxed night we switched to the electrically drivenautohelm, which steers according to a compass bearing rather thanrelative to the wind direction (which is what. read more...

Danica I - Log day 5- More Sporty sailing reached Danica's Best Time of 204 NM

Log Day 5 - Monday, March 11, 2019 - Sporty Sailing in high seasAfternoon Report - Sunday- 12:00- 18:00o Wind: 15-19 knots -SE - sailing 8-9 knotso Sails: Main one reef and Genoa - Fullo 2-3 m waves from the East making the voyage very bumpy and uncomfortableo Overcast, occasional drizzle - gray dayNight Watch - 18:00 - 06:00o Trade Wind: 19-23 knotso Sails: Main-1R/Genoa-1RMorning report- Monday - 06:00-12:00o Winds:20 knots - sailing 9 knotso Very bumpy sailing- 2 m+ choppy seas with an occasional mega waveo Sunny morning/ few fish on the trampoline /making watero 12:00 - Distance measured by SOW - 841 NM (204 NM - day 5) Danica's Best Time. read more...

Timshel - Brazil to Grenada day 4

No wind so we continued motoring, a couple of times we saw cloud and rain approaching and got sails ready, but there was no wind with it.Motorsailed when we could and wondered if we should chase after squalls?Fortunately we have the favourable current, it must be very difficult to do this trip in the opposite direction.Towards midnight we got a heavy rain shower of biblical proportions, tried to set headsails but wind was so inconsistent in strength and direction, no visibility either.It stopped in time for Steve's watch and we then got reasonable wind from the NE and we have been sailing well on a close reach ever since.Must work out when we are due to cross the equator?There has been some shipping and a few brightly lit fishing boats but nothing close.. read more...

Charm - Marquesas Day 5

Today started with an absence of water and ended with sugar.We've had good wind for several days but that has also brought larger seas.Joe was having trouble with the water maker pressure, possibly because of the constant up and down movement of the boat which wasn't allowing the water maker to have a steady intake from the sea.Whatever the cause, we were unable to make water for more than about 5 minutes at a time.Before we left, Joe suggested that we should try to only use one tank at a time and then refill the other.That way, we would always have enough water on board to get us to the Marquesas if the water maker failed.This was a great plan except somewhere along the way, it got abandoned.Last night, Joe suggested we watch our water usage and this morning, I used the dregs to clean. read more...

Charm - Marquesas Day 4

Photo is fish from yesterday - forgot to send.We are starting to enter that blurry phase when the days blend and it seems like we have always been and will always be, on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. I'm getting a full night's sleep and I'm still tired most of the time.We have had "confused seas" for the past however many days.I don't exactly know what the seas are confused about but it makes me tired.We didn't catch any fish today or find any sea life in our beds (at least not any that anyone is willing to talk about) and boat life is pretty good.I made zucchini bread and cracked open a watermelon- it sounded just like the spinnaker shredding so now I have another analogy ready to go.Our produce is holding up well and the meal plan is going according to schedule.The only snafu is the. read more...

Charm - Marquesas Day 3 - Death and Destruction

It was an interesting day!If you look at our track, you can probably see some nice, straight lines and crisp turns when we had wind and then, around 4 to 10 pm, more meandering s-curves with a defined c where our spinnaker lost a battle with a small but fierce squall.We were in the middle of a calm patch of wind but confused seas and the spinnaker was difficult to manage.I heard John tell Sunil, "Well, now you have plenty of wind" and then I heard flapping and the winch spinning and saw John on the trampoline, gathering in piles of yellow sail that was trailing in the water.I ran to wake up Joe and, well, we picked up the pieces and pulled out the gennaker.Conveniently, after that point, the wind shifted forward so we wouldn't have been able to use our spinnaker anyway.But we will miss. read more...

Charm - Marquesas crossing - Day 2

My watch just ended with a sail change so just a quick note and then off to bed.Another nice day with decent winds and reasonable seas.Tonight has been a bit bouncier with variable winds so we dropped the spin Amy and put up the gen baker.Still doing about 8.5 knots with 13-18 knots of wind.Waves are picking up but it's still in the mostly comfortable range.Cobin made yogurt from a store-bought yogurt with live culture and was very pleased with the results.He doesn't like yogurt but tried it and decided he would eat it again, especially with sugar and vanilla.The girls were resistant to the restart of Charm School but eventually did the bare minimum so they could immerse themselves in their pretend play that involves mothers, babies and royalty with skirts, scarves and wigs thrown in for. read more...

Charm - Marquesas crossing - Day 1

Greetings Charm fans (both electric and conventional).We have begun what will be our longest sea passage on our circumnavigation with the World ARC.It is just under 3,000 miles to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas island chain and we have 2,872 left to go.Oops - the wind shifted a bit and I let a curl in the spinnaker become a fold which made the sheet-line go slack which made an awful flappy noise which woke Joe and gave him valid cause for concern.I guess writing while driving a boat is also a bad idea.For those of us that actually enjoy sailing in ideal conditions rather than conditions that make us stronger, today was, and continues to be, very pleasant.We had a great start - first across the line again due to Joe's great guidance and the rest of the team's (me, Sunil and John) ability to. read more...

Charm - Marquesas Day 4

Photo is fish from yesterday - forgot to send.We are starting to enter that blurry phase when the days blend and it seems like we have always been and will always be, on a boat in the Pacific Ocean. I’m getting a full night’s sleep and I’m still tired most of the time.  We have had “confused seas” for the past however many days.  I don’t exactly know what the seas are confused about but it makes me tired.We didn’t catch any fish today or find any sea life in our beds (at least not any that anyone is willing to talk about) and boat life is pretty good.I made zucchini bread and cracked open a watermelon- it sounded just like the spinnaker shredding so now I have another analogy ready to go.Our produce is holding up well and the meal plan is going according to schedule.  The. read more...

Endo 2 - 11. März 2019

Nachdem die letzten 2 Nächte sehr dunkel waren, ich hatte das Gefühl ins Nichts zu segeln, war es letzte Nacht richtig gut. Ich konnte sogar für eine kurze Zeit den Mond sehen und die ganze Nacht den Horizont. Gleich fühlte ich mich nicht so angespannt.In der Nacht leuchtete der Ozean geheimnisvoll - als wenn ab und zu unter Wasser Taschenlampen angeschaltet werden. Dieses Leuchten ist nur ganz kurz und bis zu 30 m vom Boot entfernt - Meeresleuchten -ein Phänomen.Ansonsten geht es uns gut und wir hoffen endlich den Wind nach Polynesien gefunden zu haben. Allerdings ist es längst nicht so sonnig wie erwartet? oder erhofft?, denn gestern war es den ganzen Tag über grau und regnerisch. Nun, bei 28 Grad ist auszuhalten, doch nicht besonders angenehm. Außerdem herrscht eine hohe. read more...

Danica I - Day 4- Sportsy Sailing in Trade winds

Log Day 4 - Sunday, March 10, 2019 - Sporty Sailing in Trade Winds and High wavesAfternoon Report - Saturday- 12:00- 18:00o Wind: 15-19 knots -SE - sailing 8-9 knotso Sails: Main one reef and Genoao 2-3 m waves from the East making the voyage very bumpy and uncomfortableo Overcast, occasional drizzle - gray dayNight Watch - 18:00 - 06:00o Trade Wind: 17- 19 knotso No sail changesMorning report- Sunday - 06:00-12:00o Winds:13-16 knots - sailing 8 knotso Partially cloudy skies o 12:00 - Distance measured by SOW -637 NM (195NM - day 4). read more...

Endo 2 - Auf dem Weg nach French Polynesien

Galapagos liegt nun bereits hinter uns. Da wir nur die Erlaubnis für 3 Inseln hatten, haben wir natürlich eine Vielzahl gar nicht gesehen. Dorthin gelangt man nur mit organisierten Touren und diese sind nicht gerade günstig zu nennen. Die Inseln sind natürlich das reinste Taucherparadies, für alle anderen bleiben nur die Schnorchelerlebnisse und das Wandern.Nun sind wir also auf dem Weg nach Hiva Oa - French Polynesien. Der Weg ist mit fast 3000 Meilen eine lange Strecke. Heute haben wir die 4. Nacht zu fassen --- es werden noch viele folgen, ganz sicher! Wir hoffen Ende März auf Hiva Oa einzutreffen, kurz vor Deadline. Noch sind wir auf der Suche nach dem richtigen Wind. Dieser ist leider noch nicht stetig und auch die Wellen hatte ich mir nicht so kappelig vorgestellt. Doch nun gibt es. read more...

Timshel - Brazil to Grenada day 3

Good sailing overnight, we gybed then got a wind shift to NE then E so found ourselves fast reaching with 15-20 kts of wind and maybe 2 knots favourable current so 7-8 knots or more over the ground, but by morning back to SE so going wing and wing then unfortunately it died away completely.So we are motoring just now but still have at least 2 knots current to help us along.Apparently (as discussed over SSB) the YB tracking system has gone wrong so the position reports are not accurate just now.Hopefully they will fix it soon.. read more...

Misto - March 8-9 2019 On the way to Grenada

We departed Cabadelo at 17h00 on March 7 after receiving our clearances and waiting for slack water at high tide. This meant that by the time we exited the river that it was dark and the wind picked up far beyond its forecast level to over 20 knots. That has been the trend for the last two days - the wind has been much higher than forecast and the direction more southerly.We expected some squalls but last night we ended up in a really vicious one packing a punch of 42 knots.Luckily we had brought the gennaker down for an earlier squall, but were lulled into thinking that the wind would not be too strong and so left all our main sail up.So when the big one hit we ran off for a while, but with increasing wind decided to put in two reefs - just before the really high wind came through.Not. read more...