Daily Logs

Oceano - Log Day 11 - Oh captain, my captain

Oh captain, my captainWhen me and my husband, Mateusz Kubik ( Oceano’s skipper ) met he was going through a series of exams that would enable him to become an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean. I knew I was in for a sailing life - what I didn’t know at the time was how would it start. Before I met Matt my only sailing experience was a reluctant presence on the board of my dad’s old little boat which he would take on the weekends for nearby lakes. I was a bored teenager, who wanted to listen to Nirvana in the dark of my room. Dad wanted to show me joy that comes from being outside in nature, working, talking. I wanted to hide in the club lights with my eyes shut. When my fiancee invited me to cross the Atlantic with him and some friends I said „yes” very quickly, so I could not change my mind without. read more...

Lothlorien - Tag 11 auf See - Der elektrische Autopilot streikt

Jetzt ist passiert, was eigentlich nicht passieren sollte: der Autopilot ist ausgefallen. Es scheint, dass der elektrische Motor sich verabschiedet hat mit einem Getriebeschaden. Für diesen Fall haben wir zum Glück ein Backup auf dem Schiff - eine Windfahnensteuerung. Diese Windfahne überträgt mit Leinen die Ruderbewegung auf unser Steuerrad und das ganz ohne elektrische Energie.Um zu kontrollieren, ob wir keinen weiteren Schaden am Ruder haben, haben wir die Segel eingerollt und ich bin mit einer Tauchbrille in den Atlantik gesprungen. Wir hatten zwar etwas Seegras um das Ruder, aber sonst scheint alles in Ordnung zu sein. Das Boot kann einwandfrei steuern.Die Einstellung der Windfahne muss jedoch geübt werden. Einen großen Teil des heutigen Tages werden wir vermutlich damit verbringen,. read more...

Blue Moon - day 8 blog blue moon

Sleep illusive once more. Mr. Tetley revives, and so begins the vicious cycle. Morning unleashes the yellow caped sea monster, all snatching and hissing. A mysterious line draped across foredeck hints at trouble. A second look reveals the beast must come down and errant line reattached. All hands on deck to wrestle the creature from its tunneled lair and thread the line, an hour is lost. Finally the sock goes up and the creature is free to spread its tentacles. Blue Moon surges forward.Afternoon brings out the goody bag and this writer has first pick. Hand into bag and straight to the biscuits, what luck! Second pick goes to Mathias and out come the beauty products, facials for all!!!Clocks back an hour and now it‘s dark at 6. Some brave fool must have hacked off a tentacle, for now we. read more...

Blue Moon - day 9 blog blue moon

It‘s been 9 days since we set foot on the Blue Moon gliding through the deep blue Atlantic Ocean. It‘s been such an incredible experience so far, nothing like we could ever have imagined. So here are some impressions for the home front on how we‘ve been surviving this trip:Sailing on Blue Moon with a 7 headed crew across the Atlantic is:- waves waves waves, if we thought it‘ll be a flat boring sea, we were quite off ;)- constant moving of the body, finding balance in the core.- despite the wild ocean we manage to cook deliscious food and each single one of us chips in.- flying fish! Loads of flying fish, such fairytale like creatures.- believe it or not, but birds, in the middle of the ocean.- Dolphins swimming and playing around the boat. Pure happiness when following their moves.-. read more...

Katy - Days 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

For some reason my blogs did not go through so here they are. Also I think they didn't go through due to photos attached so I've sadly had to remove these. There were some great whale shots.Day 2 - More Steering ProblemsThe weather today was pretty rough for us still but is now calming. We had another steering issue in that the tiller pin that the auto pilot needs to steer came loose. When the auto pilot was lifted to make a repair the pin cam with it and promptly fell down the scupper and went off to sea. This makes the auto pilot inoperable. We managed to fashion a new pin from a 10mm bolt by bolting it in place, angle grinding off its head and thread then filing it smooth and its as good as new but probably better. We managed to do all this without stopping. I hand steered whilst. read more...

Amandla Kulu - SUBJECT: 10_ Boats and Draws

  Captain’s Log. Star Date 30 Nov. (Supplemental)Day 10. Eleventh day on the water.0812 GMT.0812 Local.16º 04 N038º 27 W///untouchable.cornfields.repasthttps://w3w.co/untouchable.cornfields.repast 0200 ducked beneath another boat  Decent sleep. Other than the occasional normal wake up. Close quarter call with Carioca 2 during the night.  Woke up to the loss of another draw. More cous cous just cleaned up. Water pump joy continues …  Sacrifed my fresh coffee for John, who had a greater operational need.  We are one. We are crew.  Jules scored my wake-up call better than the last one. Coffee percolating …  Well drop the clutch and shift up a gear in about 30 as the sun creeps above the horizon for another fast. read more...

Maroro - Maroro - Nov 30 am report

Good morning!It’s the early watch of 4-7am onboard Sailing Vessel Maroro. All is going well. Yesterday was full of excitement as day 5 of the Maroro Fishing Tournament saw the lovely catch of our first tuna. There was some confusion as to which team the fish should be accredited to as the *Tiburoncín Ooh Ahh Ahh* team had set the line while the *Atún Dorado Radioactivo* team reeled it in. It took awhile to filet the fish as BoatSchool begged for some biology curiosity and we explored the contents of this beautiful fish’s stomach - 5 little squid and 2 small flying fish! The rest of him will be a tasty lunch today and tomorrow!We have also been enjoying rousing games of Monopoly, Rummy and Continental. While yesterday the boys broke out the Legos and there was some serious building taking. read more...

Salamander - Fredrik - Why am I doing ARC 2022?

I was raised by the sea and have always loved boating, being in the sea and around the sea.The past few years I have moved from motor boating to sailing, but I don't yet have my own boat. Last May we geared up for sailing from Stavanger to Shetland. Unfortunately the trip was cancelled due to weather conditions. That ignited a spark for a longer sailing trip, preferably blue ocean without me fully understanding the implications of such a trip.I would like to sail around the world at some point in my own boat together with my own family. Doing the ARC is a first pass at understanding whether this is a realistic dream or not. It is also a test on how I handle being off the grid.I'm grateful that I am allowed to do this trip by my wife and children, as this is a long time away from home. I. read more...

Salamander - Mermaids, Dolphins & other Sea Creatures

This is the point where I share amazing stories of all the aquatic wildlife we have seen. All the dolphins, sharks, whales all the usual stuff.So far we have seen more mermaids however than any of the above! This trip has been totally devoid of any such creatures!I'm sure they are there in abundance, we just haven't seen anything. Not even a mermaid!The only thing we have seen is a few Skua's and some flying fish. Sometimes quite a lot of flying fish all skimming over the surface together. So the big question is: below the waterline presumably that form a shoal of flying fish. Above the waterline do they become a flock?Tim - Salamander Tour Manager and Guest Social Media Editorthesalamandersailingadventure.com. read more...

Salamander - Daily Fresh Fruit Salad

While I was in Las Palmas at the daily ARC Sundowner parties I was asked which boat I was on as part of the introductory conversations. On a number of occasions when sharing that I was on Salamander I was asked if it was true that we had fresh fruit salad every day.The answer, my friends, is oh yes indeed we do!They have reached legendary status. Sue who is now on her 7th ARC has got this down to a fine art.To provision for eight people for the whole crossing for fresh fruit salad is no mean feat. Just keeping the fruit fresh is a challenge, particularly as we head south and the temperatures rise.We aren't just talking of a couple of fruits either. Clive is our nominated "fruit counter" and we seem to be averaging somewhere between five and seven fruits a day! Wow!Fruits included are. read more...

Bluewater Mooney - BLUEWATER MOONEY 30.11.2022

Ein Schiff, und das gilt insbesondere für Segelschiffe, ist extrem Pflege- und Wartungsintensiv. Und extreme Dauerbelastungen, wir zum Beispiel diese Atlantiküberquerung führen zu zusätzlichen Belastungen.Gestern hatte ich bei einer Kontrolle gleich mehrere lose Schrauben am Kopfbeschlag des Großbaums entdeckt. Nicht gefährlich doch müssen solche Dinge so früh wie möglich erkannt werden.Im Handbuch von Hallberg Rassy steht dazu sinngemäß:Achten Sie auf kleine Besonderheiten und beseitigen Sie diese sofortKleine Ursachen sind der Auslöser für große. Schäden.Und daher, allerdings auch aus Kostengründen, führe ich den ganz überwiegenden Teil der Pflege und Wartungsarbeiten einschließlich des Austauschs von Komponenten vor deren Versagen selber durch. Damit bin ich bestmöglich über den. read more...

Bluewater Mooney - BLUEWATER MOONEY 29.11.2022

Im Westen viel Neues!Zur Zeit gibt die Wetterentwicklung allen Skippern, die den sportlichen Ehrgeizhaben, die Competitionzu Ende zu segeln#, einiges Kopfzerbrechen auf.Was los ist: Es prägt sich westlich des Felds ein Tiefdruckgebiet aus, welches die Passate neutralisiert und teilweise die Winde umdreht. Dabei wird unter anderem nördlich von 14° Nord 44° West ein Flautengebiet mit einer Ost / West Ausdehnung von über 400 sm entstehen, final erst am 06.12. aber vorher in der Entwicklung.Einige Skipper werden ihrem Zeitplan folgend - es warten Rückflüge; für die Weihnachtsferien warten nachgeflogene Familienmitglieder etc - einfach geradeaus und den Diesel leer fahren. Andere suchen Ihre Chance im Süden, so wie wir. Dort wird sich ein mehr oder weniger schmaler Streifen zwischen dem. read more...

Xenial - Day 23 - Vääänta

Vääänta! Vääänta! Waaaait! Waaaait! The familiar call, the most popular by far when we maneuver, could be heard again today onboard Xenial! Apparently it's not only popular onboard this boat, it is widely used in the Swedish Navy and Military. So all the veterans we have on board with all their various titles and ranks, love using it. It's the official motto of the sailing committee. Sailing committee that was back in action today, after days of cooking under the tropical sun.Väääänta - Captain Ulrik called from half way up the rolled foresail. He was being hoisted up the cover of the broken foresail. The cover had been hoisted with one of our halyards, and Ulrik was on a mission to get it back, so we could use it to hoist something far more interesting! Spinnaaakerfallet - CJ called. read more...

Sabine - blog update for Sabine (118) 29 Nov 2022

Hello interweb friends, Captain Stape on sail boat Sabine right here (///attraction.addition.reallocation)The answer to the question I’m sure is on all your beaks, sorry, lips: banana cake - that’s what Richard told me he’d decided on. And he’d have some for breakfast. And so would I. However, it seems that forces were working against as when he got up, he found the banana cake had leapt from the saloon table onto the floor! Ahh well, the best laid plans of parrots and men. Before I went to bed there was a boat near us: Ariel. John was the lucky person on watch when it came close enough for him to actually see the nav lights at about 2.6nm. This is the first vessel actually seen for about 5 days. That’s very exciting! We had sail boat Kikaro behind us during the morning, but heading in a. read more...

Mairmade - Day#10

Winds continued the pattern of the last few days today, although the lighter end increased to 13-15 knots, the upper end remained at 20-22 knots.This meant Chloe was called upon again to fly solo, allowing us to make a tighter course to St. Lucia. She had to take a break with winds gusting above 25 knots this afternoon, so again we're back with just the main for the overnight. The sea state increased considerably this afternoon with 15 foot swells combining with the waves from the ~20 knot winds making the task of grilling steaks a bit of a challenge, but with some galley gymnastics, we pulled it off. Suffice to say: no linen table clothes!We used the ARC recommended meat supplier in Las Palmas (JP), And so far everything has been really excellent. Including tonight's steaks 🥩 Delicious. read more...

Avventura - Log Day 10: Surfing

Today, we had nice conditions to sail with thegennaker and surf the waves.   In the afternoon, we experienced our first squall.It was a rather small one, as if made especially for our training.   Position at 21.45 UTC (17:12.97N36:09.11W). read more...

Jo - Tag 9 - die Atlantikdusche (Crew Special, Teil III)

Gestern haben wir bei der Vorstellung unserer Bordroutine die Atlantikdusche erwähnt, die gerne mal zur Mittagszeit genommen wird. Aber wie funktioniert so eineAtlantikdusche eigentlich, und warum machen wir das überhaupt? Das "Warum" ist einfach beantwortet - um Frischwasser zu sparen. Unsere Wassertanks waren bei Abfahrt in Las Palmas zwar bis Anschlag gefüllt, 1.000 Liter insgesamt, zusätzlich zu den 650 Litern Trinkwasser. Doch wir rechnen auch inkl. Puffer mit 25 Tagen Dauer für die Überquerung. Also 40 Liter möglicher Verbrauch pro Tag. Bei zehn Personen an Bord sind das vier Liter Frischwasser pro Person und Tag. Plötzlich klingeln die 1.000 Liter dann gar nicht mehr so viel, oder?Das Wasser zum Spülen haben wir dabei noch gar nicht berücksichtigt, was aber Dank unserer Salzwasser. read more...

Sunbeat VI - Day 10 - Wind and Big Seas

2am watch change over included dropping Big Red, gybing and hoisting Little Blue….. much more comfortable sailing!Question…. Has something happened in the big wide world to remove all signs of marine life from the Atlantic, Have all the fish gone to a conference elsewhere ?Our conscience is still clear regarding sustainable fishing!!Wind has increased this afternoon up to 23.7 kts when we took down Little Blue and replaced with poled out Genoa.While we write this, great smells of dinner waft out of the companionway.Keeping a close eye on our nearest rival, currently 78 miles behind. read more...

Navasana - Day 10 Squally times

We managed to avoid one squall but then an hour later another appeared on radar very quickly. We have radar guard zone setup if a squall gets within 10nm, somehow this one sneaked in and the alarm went went off when it was only 5 miles behind us and closing fast. We furled in the jib and donned our foulies but it was only packing 27 knots and rained for a few minutes. Later at dusk we had a couple more come close. Seems we are officially on squall watch now. On my pacific crossing we encountered many big squalls especially around the doldrums but none packing more than wind speed plus 10knots. Apparently in the Atlantic you can get squalls that pack 40 and even 50knots. So we have to be on squall alert especially when the CAPE readings are high. No rest for the wicked it seems :-)More on. read more...

Joanna - Joanna?s halfway day

Today Joanna reached a special waypoint. As Bon Jovi would say "we're halfway there!" What an achievement and well done to all the other boats as well. There's no turning back now - see you in the Caribbean! Onboard we've well and truly lost all sense of time and the days have merged into a new happy routine. We’ve had A LOT of time to contemplate, reflect and stare into the deep blue ocean (while keeping one eye out for rogue flying fish hurtling towards us).We thought we would share some of our thoughts, highlights, and general experiences from our time on Joanna from the perspective of each of the crew:Tamira (Denmark, 43)- With more time on our hands, meals and food become a more significant part of our daily life. Time and consideration is put into every meal which leads to eating. read more...

Lomvi - Day 12 - An ocean of consciousness

Dear fellow data points,Reporting from the same position as yesterday, only today on starboard side. Sun is shining, and we are sailing 270° straight into the sunset! How has today been you might wonder since you are reading this, unless your an algorithm collecting information about us all and your just here to harvest more. Anyway, this is how today went. Sunrise with coffee and the morning shift. Hjalmar arrived and his preference for Disney is considered and granted. Shifted between painting, reading and lego. Finished Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari, thus the partial fear partial excitement for algorithms. Lovely chilli for dinner. Back to reading and now soon another sunset. If the computers and algorithms sideline most of us humans, I hope we can all share the surplus of these. read more...

Fly the Coop - Home Delivery

Every morning on Fly the Coop we walk around the deck throwing flying fish back to Neptune.During the day we see them skimming over the water, presumably away from predators, but at night it seems they grow superpowers and can fly an extra 2m above the surface, coming to an unceremonious end on the deck of the boat.This morning though we spotted a new record! Overnight, one flew into the saloon through the open window and laid to rest on the shelf!. read more...

Bolero - Day 11

Day 11What a difference a night makes!The movement of the boat on starboard gybe with the boomed out Genoa is so much more comfortable both above and below decks.The boat is balanced and has trucked along at 7.5 knots.We had a couple of rain showers that qualified for oilskin jackets and slight increases in windspeed under the clouds associated with these showers.We all felt refreshed this morning…. It’s amazing how good you can feel after two two and a half hour sleeps!We spoke with Falcon on the VHF this morning, we have tried to call themon previous days but either we could not hear them, or they could not hear us.They warned us of a squall that had passed south of them, but which had passed over Carinya, another ARC+ boat, and had given them a hard time.We changed course by 10. read more...

Amandla Kulu - SUBJECT: 09_ Sleep, wake, rinse and repeat.

Captain’s Log. Star Date 29 Nov. Day 9. Tenth day on the water.1829 GMT.1829 Local.17º 24 N037º 20 W///kindnesses.rainstorms.impressionhttps://w3w.co/kindnesses.rainstorms.impression Currently a trucking under Code Zero.  Will & Terry on the dinner detail. Chick pea curry, fresh bread with a vegetable soup base. John on the stick, who has literally just handed over to Jules.  Peter on deck munching cheese board, Norwegian crackers and meat selection.  Tom, gearing up for being on watch. Jen & Louisa catching zzzz I woke just before 0300 and have been on the go since.  One of those days. Spent some time this morning getting the headsail furling gear sorted, there was a gremlin, which has now been eradicated. Crew hoisted. read more...

Endeavour III - Endeavour III - Day 10

Monday saw two milestones - our halfway point, and an on-board birthday! Tuesday is (so far) rather less eventful.Monday finished with an excellent dinner of slow-cooked lamb with couscous, followed by a fascinating on-board “Ted” talk from Tash about the work she recently presented at Cop27, concerning the effect of climate change on women’s health. Somehow being out here makes one more aware of the fragility of our planet. And more aware of the planet in general - the uninterrupted horizon let’s you better imagine the sphere we are on, and how the sun, moon, stars and other planets move across the sky.We have a little more moon each night, and for longer - great for lighting our way. And there has been a debate about whether and when to change our clocks. We will soon be 3 hours west. read more...

Skyelark 2 - Day 9

D9Crew spirits are high... and our boat is tip top!We have just passed the half way point and the morning data from race control indicates we are still leading our class (1b).The crew could not be more delighted – but our skippers saw a motivated crew with time on their hands... the skippers struck – they declared it a day for household chores – bedding and stuff now changed and provisions checked.So... with circa 7 days to go our competitive crew has turned to gambling – we have decided we will each calculate and forecast a finish time.After great analysis our forecast times are:Captain ChristianMon01.00Christian-LMon06.00StephenMon13.47Michael-RMon15.00Michael-WMon16.45PeterMon18.00GarethMon18.33Captain DanTue10.00Wish us Luck. read more...

Charisma - SY CHARISMA | Tag 9 - How is life on board?

Die stockfinsteren Neumondnächte sind vorbei - die ersten Nachthälften werden ab jetzt durch den zunehmenden Mond erhellt. Sobald es dämmert, beginnen die Frühstücksvorbereitungen - Obst nach Reifegrad sortieren und zu Obstsalat verarbeiten. Kaffee kochen, was bei den Schiffsbewegungen volle Konzentration und Körpereinsatz erfordert. FunkrundeHeute nehmen wir das erste mal an der ARC Funkrunde über Kurzwelle teil. Durch einen Funkkoordinator werden alle Yachten, die über ein Kurzwellen-Funkgerät verfügen, angerufen. Abgefragt werden Position, Windrichtung- und Stärke sowie die obligatorische Frage: How is life on board today?RelaxedWir machen uns einen relaxten Tag - wir entscheiden uns bei wieder auffrischendem Wind gegen das Setzen des Spis und segeln weiter unter ausgebaumter Genua. read more...

Charisma - SY CHARISMA | Tag 10 - Bergfest

Die Hälfte unserer auf 2.900 sm abgesteckten Route auf der SY Charisma ist geschafft - heute haben wir Bergfest.Bislang haben wir in 9 Seetagen 1.450 sm zurückgelegt bei einem kontinuierlichen Tagesschnitt, Etmalen von knapp über 160 sm. In der Gruppe E liefern wir uns mit 5 weiteren Yachten ein spannendes Rennen unter den Top-Six :) Der Passatwind ist derzeit noch stabil, gemäß der Mittelfrist-Prognose wird sich das aber mit bevorstehenden Schwachwindzonen noch ändern - für den Verlauf der ARC 2022 ist also noch alles drin.Priorität hat bei uns jedoch der sichere Verlauf der Reise gemäß dem Motto: ‚Nur wer ankommt kann auch gewinnen‘. Es sind bereits mehrere Yachten ausgeschieden, überwiegend durch Materialbruch und technisches Versagen. Das Ausmaß dieser auf das Rigg einwirkenden. read more...

eXite - Exite 29/11 - adopted a bird

When eating lunch yesterday Vincent yelled, what I thought was, “vågor vågor” (waves waves), but what he actually yelled was “fågel fågel”(bird, bird = the Swedish sounds for waves and birds sounds almost alike). My response was “yes we have been at sea for ten days, of course there are waves; nothing new”. Quickly got corrected by Elliot “there is a bird on the boat, its sitting here”.And they were right. A quite big white bird with really long legs and a long beak was sitting at the guard rail watching us. After a while he flew to the front of the spray hood, and he has been sitting there since then - around 24h - just watching us and the sea and swinging along with the rolling motions of the boat.He has slowly gotten accustomed to us and this morning he actually came up to me in the. read more...

Salamander - Happy Birthday Alan

Today we are helping Alan celebrate his 57th birthday aboard Salamander.Even Mermaid Mail has delivered a present for him in the form of a flying fish which inadvertently flew onto our foredeck! Sadly this was spotted too late to save the fish but served to delight Alan as we got a close look at this extraordinary creature.We sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY as Sue served up a cake with 5 and 7 numerals. Clearly at sea is not a suitable place to be lighting candles so we dispensed with that part of the ceremony!What a way to spend your birthday out in the mid Atlantic - enjoy your celebrations Alan!Tim - Salamander Tour Manager and Guest Social Media Editorthesalamandersailingadventure.com. read more...

Jadamama - Day 9 blog Jadamama

Classic shouting and roaring about the blog and taking responsibility only to realise that I am the one on Blog duty today, plus ca change…Tradewind sail repair stitching is in full flow with everyone taking a turn on the needles and riggers palms with Polly providing lots of observations and mostly unheeded advice. We expect to have the tear stitched crudely by this evening and will spend the next day or so reinforcing stress points. We are taking our time and getting the best advice we can as we don’t need to deploy it until later in the week when the wind is forecast to lighten considerably. The boat really wakes up in about 20 knots of breeze but struggles in the lower figures so we are doing our best to get the sail fixed in time to help.The sea has been building a bit today and. read more...

Amokura - Log Day 11 - Speeding along!

What a difference 24hrs makes! The wind has steadily increased since yesterday morning and Amokura is going like a train again.The light wind parasail happily pulled us along until the early hours of this morning, then, at midnight, Liz came on watch and things started to get rather lively! It was a beautiful night, with a crescent moon hanging low in the sky ahead us like a smile, but clouds were looming behind, silhouetted against the stars, and the ocean swell was increasing.The wind was rapidly building, and it soon became apparent we were fast becoming overpowered; the autopilot was fighting to keep us on course as we surged down the waves. So it was a case of everyone up, we need to get this sail down right now! Most of the crew were already awake and scrambled into lifejackets and. read more...

Lothlorien - Tag 10 auf See - Der Fluch ist gebrochen

Wir haben unseren ersten Fisch gefangen! Eine Goldmakrele (Mahi-Mahi) konnte unserem Köder nicht widerstehen und hat angebissen. Es war ein eher kleiner Fisch, aber er hat für unser Abendessen gereicht. Felix hat sich mit einer Orangensoße selbst übertroffen und wir haben es sehr genossen. Die Angelschnur ist wieder ausgerollt und wir hoffen auf unsere nächste Mahlzeit.Heute soll ein Dünungsband durchziehen, vor dem seit Tagen gewarnt wird. Wir sind schon relativ weit südlich und hoffen, dass es uns nicht sehr beeinflussen wird. Spannender wird es jedoch am nächsten Wochenende werden.Nach Freitag soll der Wind großflächig wegbrechen. Wir hoffen, bis dahin so weit südlich zu sein, dass wir zumindest noch segeln können - wenn auch langsam. Die letzten 1.000 Seemeilen könnten sich daher. read more...