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13/11/2024
Piropo Primero - Preparing for the Atlanting Cruise - Spiriit of Pula
In October, our international crew met for the first time and had an incredible introductory experience sailing a catamaran through the beautiful waters of the Mediterranean in Croatia. Our team is:Gabriel (RO)Grzegorz (PL)Piotr (PL)Richard (GB)Stan (USA/PL)Tomasz (PL)We sailed continuously for several days and nights, getting to know one another and fine-tuning our teamwork. During this time, we established all the essential details for the upcoming ARC regatta.Also we created a name for our crew - SPIRIT OF PULAWhy? because our destination point on this trip was PULA city! :-)Stay tuned for more updates soon!Tomasz.
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Piropo Primero - Preparing for the Atlanting Cruise - Spiriit of Pula
Piropo Primero - Preparing for the Atlanting Cruise - Spiriit of Pula
Piropo Primero - Preparing for the Atlanting Cruise - Spiriit of Pula
12/11/2024
Sea Rose - Day 3 - Sea Rose
We are settling into a rhythm now onboard Sea Rose. Learning to get rest during your off watch has been key, as is having a predictable time when you are on watch to help our bodies adjust. We have been in an informal three boat dance with Odysseia and At C, both of which are barely visible on the horizon. It appeared that At C raised a spinnaker as we could faintly see a big pink sail. Otherwise, we are all alone. We have a poled out Code 0, giving us all the speed downwind that we can handle. The autopilot has seen steady duty when the helmsperson gets tired of the challenge of keeping a straight course with sizable swells rolling underneath at regular intervals. Despite the lack of fresh caught fish (two lures have been lost so far…maybe to the ‘big’ one!) we have dined exquisitely..
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Arkyla - D3: Riding the rollers at sunset under twin headsails
12/11/2024
Gertha 5 - Some sun
23.51 N 18.57 WToday a day of sun, light wind and a sensible sea.It’s day 2 or 3 all is well.We have 2 boats still in view , all be it , a long way away, tomorrow my guess is we will be on our own.Life is slowly morfing into sea mode where time has little meaning, it just controls the rolling shifts..
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12/11/2024
Revelation of London - SV Revelation Day 3
Today we had REALLY rough seas and I vomited because I felt so seasick. I did my first ever night watch last night and I enjoyed it, I got some Oreo’s and they were delicious. We did this thing called Sealabs which is a citizen science project.We put out a fishing line and we are hoping we catch some fish otherwise dinner is sweet potato stew..
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12/11/2024
Revelation of London - SV Revelation Day 2
We set off to sea yesterday, and now we can’t see any boats. We have a whole bunch of crafts to do and it’s super cool. We have a calendar for the days we are at sea. First we are heading to Mindelo, then we are heading to Grenada, we startedoff in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Todd, Mary, my Dad, my Mom, my sister and Dog are all with me on the way to Mindelo and Grenada. Once we get to Mindelo we will have about a week there. We are doing sealabs, which is a citizen science project, and it’s fun.Today it is super rocky. We all have to hold on and be clipped in to the boat so we don’t fall overboard..
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Arkyla - D3: Dolphin tow to offset loss of Parasailor
Arkyla - D3: Dolphin escort
Arkyla - D3: How the dolphins view Arkyla
Arkyla - D1: powering into darkness
Arkyla - D1: Parasailoring into the sunset
12/11/2024
Arkyla - D3: some good news
After the calamitous end to yesterday, and the crew relegated to sleeping in the bilge so a soggy ripped Parasailor can rest up in the forecabin, we have had some geed news.The kind folks at Remoran have moved mountains to send us a replacement Wave 3 hydrogenerator to replace Arkyla’s broken unit.A suspected internal corrosion issue has left us without our main source of renewable power since midway through Day 1 creating havoc to my energy equation; it’s been freezer management and mostly hand helming for this leg.Fairwinds to late ARC+ starter ‘La Defiance’ who will be bringing our special cargo to Mindelo.Finally, a visit by an enthusiastic pod of dolphins to lift the spirits after our recent woes!.
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Arkyla - D0: Leaving Las Palmas!
Arkyla - D-1: Arkyla crew become marine environmentalists with Sealabs
12/11/2024
Frances Louise V - November 11th Day Two
96 The day dawned well with a nice sunrise, and I always enjoy dawn at sea - the muted colours make it quite special. With only carrying a genoa overnight we had slipped more or less to the back of the fleet as others had gone by with their coloured sails, or two white sails, up. I was keen for first watch change at 0900 when, together, we could hoist our big ballooner. However, over the next couple of hours the wind increased to 20 knots, and I was a little concerned about doing a hoist in such wind. That would be a first. David did not wake until 0945 but was feeling much better. He thought we would manage the ballooner hoist in the prevailing conditions. So out we ventured onto the rolling deck clipping on as we went. We had.
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12/11/2024
Arkyla - D+2: Parasailor misery
They say fortune favours the brave; well it also s***s on the stupid!What a great ride we had been having…3rd in class, 26 in monos, and 33 overall - not bad for a ‘sturdy’ girl like Arkyla, and all mostly with thanks to the Parasailor.Before sundown on night 2 we deliberated if we should pull it down, but decided that we knew we could handle the forecast gusts.By 2100 it was clear we were wrong and, fearing for the rig, reluctantly decided to make a night drop.One small error led to one large disaster… the spinnaker halyard was accidentally let loose from the mast winch and down came the sail alongside the boat in the Atlantic.I’ll cut a long story short here, but over an hour was spent recovering our nemesis on deck before being unceremoniously stuffed down the forward hatch into the.
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11/11/2024
Frances Louise V - November 10th - Start Day
96 November 10th….The Start Date of ARC+2024……..I think that date is tattooed on our foreheads as the deadline for the intensive, extensive, expensive, and seemingly never ending, preparations to get Frances Louise and ourselves ready to sail getting on for 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, and to then cruise in tropical climes. It did not start well. David, being 50% of the crew, woke at 0200 with sickness and diarrhoea. Then, whilst taking medical advice from his retired GP Father in Law, he inadvertently filled the bilges whilst topping up the water tanks. However, at 1230, we were the last ARC+ boat to cast off from K pontoon. Handy all had gone as we are double handed. David had not been sick for three hours and the bilges had.
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11/11/2024
Gertha 5 - Day 1 Las Palmas to Mindelo or is it day 2
26.12N 16.42WIt may be day 2, but we have not completed 24 hours of sailing, so maybe day 1.Start line been and done, motor away from island done, sailing in good breeze and flat sea done, now we are in the real world. The sea is lumpy and coming from three directions, the wind is about 20 knots, we are sailing on just Genoa.Think this is what we have for next 5 or 6 days give or take a little bit of wind and a little bit of swell.Gertie is behaving well, just her usual party tricks.Charlie is offering fishing lures to Neptune, all a cunning plan to catch the ultimate tuna..
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11/11/2024
Aria Legra - Aria Legra -Day 1 leaving Gran Canaria
Position: 26:32.33N, 016:25.83’WHeading: 225TWind: ENE 4 to 5Sails: main 1 reef, poled out jibAfter a great start, we sailed for as long as we could, while being passed by many others motoring. Reluctantly we turned engine on when down to 1.5 knots boat speed. Used the opportunity to start up the watermaker, and thankfully no issues there. Not so lucky with our main sail. One of the luff cars broke and no spares onboard (classic). Peter managed to swap them around so we could re-hoist the sail with 1 reef.Wind eventually picked up and last night was one of the best night sails ever. Steady breeze, bright moon and lots of stars. Dinner was a very tasty paella from the Central Market.Thank you to WRC Yellow Shirts for the fantastic support in Las Palmas. Great fun meeting.
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Aria Legra - Aria Legra -Day 1 leaving Gran Canaria
Aria Legra - Aria Legra -Day 1 leaving Gran Canaria
11/11/2024
Tuvalu - SAILING FROM CÁDIZ LAS PALMAS
Hello to all, We have already brought our beloved Tuvalu to Las Palmas de Gran Canarias. A trip always complicated by the conditions of the Alisios Winds in summer. At the moment we are repairing some halyards and a failure in our second autopilot. Soon we will be in Las PalmasGreetings and see you soon.
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Tuvalu - SAILING FROM CÁDIZ LAS PALMAS
10/11/2024
Sea Rose - Day 1 - Take 2 - Sea Rose
The day finally arrived for our departure after much work and provisioning. It was great fun to round the marina breakwater with the gathered crowd waving and a brass band playing. We even had a great starting position crossing the line soon after the gun for this non-racing crew. Unfortunately we had to turn back to the marina after an hour of upwind sailing as one of our crew had a medical emergency. He is getting good care at a local Las Palmas hospital thanks to the great service of the ARC+ staff who were waiting for us at the dock. We headed back out, recrossing the start line 2 hours after the official start, with wide open seas - no threat of bumper boats! We are settling into our watch schedule as the NE trades kick in after dusk. We hit 9.1 knots of speed at one point! We are.
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10/11/2024
Duet - Our Adventure begins
Today we finally set off from Las Palmas. Despite careful preparations our start wasn’t the greatest but still fabulous to be out on the water as part of such an impressive ARC+ fleet. Light winds to begin now 20:00 strengthening giving us wonderful goose wing sailing conditions (with moonlight). Wonderful to be at peace after all the work of pre departure preparations. Great for Sally and I to have our friends Tony B and Steve M on board with us, they bring a lot of experience and we are lucky to have them. Steve M delighted to land his first fish on day one, a small Mahi Mahi we have been told. Not a lot of eating but we’ll tell you how it tasted tomorrow. John H of Duet, out..
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Ahìnamà - Test ARC Ahinama's blog
Mulan - arrived in Las Palmas!
08/11/2024
Gertha 5 - Back to school
28.75N 15.25WHere we are back at the School of World Cruising, this is my tenth term and forth in the ARC class.I have great memories ofthe old head master Mr. Bishop, he was put out to grass a couple of years ago . Now we have Mr Tetlow , his main advantage over the old main man is his gorgeous wife who also doubles as deputy head.Mr Fergus is head of ARC department , he comes across as a pleasant fellow, my guess is he not a man to be messed with.Head prefect Paul was tasked with checking the contents of my trunk and tuck box, I failed to have some of the requirements of the school ,avoided detention but had do redo some homework.Several old faces in the staff, plus some new ones.First day of school was last Sunday, we then have a week of preparing our selves, this Sunday is the big.
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Arkyla - Arkyla has left her mark
04/11/2024
Arkyla - D-7: loneliest man in the fleet!
Still I rattle around alone onboard Arkyla at night… I haven’t quite plunged to the depths of Tom Hanks in ‘Castaway’ yet by painting a face on a ball fender and naming her Poly, but it’s probably good that the first of my crew arrives jet-lagged from Australia tomorrow morning!A solitary life so far has at least allowed me to get on with jobs unhindered; the boat is ready, the harbour wall has been painted, and provisions ordered… playing Tetris with the dry goods and the lockers will be a nice job for Michael tomorrow to remind him there is no such thing as a free holiday!Yesterday was the flag parade and opening ceremony… I consider myself fully opened and the week countdown to slipping lines has well and truly begun….
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Elixer - ARC 2024 is started with the opening ceremony
Elixer - ARC 2024 is started with the opening ceremony
02/11/2024
Scotch Mist - They say never meet your heros but does that also mean not realising a dream?
Last summer Jane & I decided that we’d try and fulfil a dream and sail Scotch Mist (SM) to the Caribbean. Jane & I had bought SM in Turkey during May 2021 during Covid with all its attendant issues & dealing with the untimely deaths of our lovely parents. Unfortunately we are now well versed in making things happen during the most challenging of times. We subsequently sailed SM to the Ionian in 2022 and spent time summer around Corfu. During the winter/spring of 2023/2024 we undertook a whole boat maintenance programme to ensure SM was match fit to cross an ocean. SM is now fabulous condition, and obviously the crew is too ;-) .. I hope we wont regret that last statement! SM is now in Gran Canaria having covered 2,500 miles from Corfu to get to the start line of.
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18/06/2024
Epiphany - Day 5
Weather is as forecast. 20-25kts steady from the W. 3m swell. So we are rocking and rolling but making excellent speed towards Portugal. The only challenge is to keep an eye out for squalls. We missed one today and got soaked while we quickly reefed the Genoa. No damages though except wet clothes. I was very glad I had kept 2 reefs in all day as a precaution. We are looking good to arrive tomorrow evening. Hopefully sight land in the afternoon and then we have to cross orca alley. We are getting all the advice from a guy called Rui who runs an information sharing group on telegram. There was an attack yesterday right where we plan to go but they think the orcas are moving N. Anyway not much we can do except get to 20m depth as quickly as possible (Orcas don’t seem to attack in.
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17/06/2024
Epiphany - Day 4
Conditions couldn’t be much better, a nice wind, ok swell, suns out and it’s not too hot. While I am not taking anything for granted I am very relaxed considering we are still hundreds of miles from land. It’s really a result of little by little. Yes when I was 20 I was an excellent sailor having spent summer after summer in the Solent learning from some of the best British skippers there are. But then I have it up for work and didn’t return to the water till 5 or so years ago. By that point I had to build up again, we started with the easiest flotilla Sunsail have in Croatia. I still remember the feeling at the end of each day when the boat was safely moored - relief. We then gradually progressed to a bareboat charter, trying out a Sunsail catamaran, buying our own little HR26 to use in.
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16/06/2024
Epiphany - Day 3
Lovely conditions today, finally some downwind sailing on our return to Europe. 15-20kts from the West, we are set up wing on wing and moving along nicely at 6-7knots. This wind is due to remain for a few days which will take us almost to Lagos. We just have a little front scheduled tonight as part of the low pressure over biscay. So will rain and gust a bit but then settle for a few days. No routing issues either. We got a nice bit of North in day 1 so now headed straight for the cape. Everyone on board is well. Enjoying a reasonably flat boat to rest and relax. .
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14/06/2024
Epiphany - Day 1
Coming to the end of day 1. The weather so far is much simpler than the previous passage. There is a high pressure centred roughly over the Azores. Yes finally the Azores high is in place! This means we have nice winds to take us over to Portugal. On top of this finally all the forecasts align in terms of both wind strength and direction so the advised routes are also similar. Not much for the skipper to do! Do we headed around the island and now a little NE. The reason for this is tonight/tomorrow there is some light winds E of Azores and it should be better further N. The other reason is that as you near Portugal the typical wind will be a strong N down the coast and it will be a lot easier on boat and crew if we approach that from the N and not the S. On the boat we.
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14/06/2024
Epiphany - Departure day
It was a wonderful start. 10-15kts with and occasional gust to 20. Lovely sunny day and all away safely on our way to Lagos.image0image1image2image3.
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