2018 ARC+ St. Lucia, Part 2
S/Y Starship Friendship
Crewman Bill Peterson BLOG
=====
Wednesday, November 21st, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, ARC+ Part 2, Day 1
A busy morning. More troubleshooting our electrical issues, and more disappointment. By 10:00 AM, with a scheduled 12:45 PM start, we are starting to get worried. Fortunately Kellie was able to sweet talk the local engineering support in to giving us a priority, and a very competent tech was on the boat by 11:30. Between the tech and David, they traced the problem to some failing wire connectors, which were quickly replaced. By 12:35 we were underway under power from the dock, just to wait in line at the fuel dock to top off our tanks. With little or no wind predicted for the first day or two, we may need all the fuel we can get. By 13:20 (local) we were underway, and officially crossed the Start Line at 13:26:18, 41 minutes after the 12:45 start, under power. We are on our way — for a couple of minutes anyway. Our speed sensor was fouled with marine growth from sitting at dock in Mindelo. We came all stop and Scott went in the water with snorkel gear and cleaned the sensor. Five minutes later we were back underway under power for about 10 minutes when we got enough wind to put up the Main and the Code Zero. But by 15:24 the wind had died completely and rather than bang around making no headway, we rolled up the Code Zero and started up one engine again. We have been powering since — and as we passed through the tail end of the fleet, more boats joined us; dropping headsails and starting their engines. Now it is 17:30, we are clearing the west end of Ilha de Santo Antao, the western most island in the Cape Verdes. We still have no wind to speak of, but we have a setting sun and a horizon that extends about 2,100 miles ahead of us all the way to St. Lucia.
A little before sunset, a large pod of small dolphins, with babies, come and play in our bow wave. What a beautiful evening for our first day of crossing!
=====
Thursday, November 22st, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 2, Thanksgiving
We started under sail this at about 1:00 AM UT with the full main and the Code Zero, but by the early morning we were back on the engine when the wind again dropped to less than 5 knots. At around 8:30 AM, David, Scott, and Steven spotted more floating debris — this time a large black plastic piece maybe 6 or 7 feet across with an attached smaller piece that had the look of some sort of oceanographic instrument package. It was unmarked, so we could not verify — but it appeared to make an excellent hang-out for the local fish population. David and Scott were soon in the water with their spear guns. The result, two hours later, was two large Ono that will make our Thanksgiving Feast this evening.
Back underway under power at 10:30 AM, we were soon under sail again, under the full main and the Code Zero, making 5 knots in a freshening 6 knot breeze from the north. The Predict Wind reports have the winds increasing today, and they seem to be accurate.By 3:30 in the afternoon we were moving along at 7 to 8 knots in winds around 20 knots from the NE. By 5:30 PM we had put in our first reef in the main, but were still flying along under the Code Zero, passing through our surrounding neighbors and pulling ahead of our “pack” at 8 knots or better. It continued that way through the rest of the evening. Fortunately the mild swell made out Thanksgiving Feast of Ono Sashimi and Sushi Rolls, a comfortable gathering of the crew.
=====
Friday, November 23rd, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 3
A little after 1:20 AM (UT) this morning, we dropped the Code Zero in favor of the self-tending jib, due to the increasing winds. While we had the Code Zero up we were averaging above 7.7 knots — hitting 10 to 11 on occasion. Switching to the smaller sail didn’t cost us much speed, we are still hitting 8 to 9 knots regularly, but the smaller sail, with the addition of a “tweeker” to flatten the leech of the sail, is more comfortable under the rising wind conditions and growing seas. By daylight the seas have grown to a modest 6 feet or so, but are very mixed in direction, giving us a twisting roller coaster ride that is not uncomfortable or dangerous, but occasionally alarming. We are still rolling out the miles at about 7.8 knots, finishing our second day of sailing since the start 182,.1 nautical miles from Sao Vicente and only 1,821 miles from St. Lucia. But with these seas, there will be no spear fishing today!
Mid-afternoon and we are still charging along in a following sea at 8 to 9 knots in a somewhat depleted 19 knots of wind. Most of the crew is either sleeping, chatting, or working on editing videos (Kellie). I’m reading my 19th book of the trip since we left Gibraltar, and beginning to worry I will run out before St.Lucia. Sea just told us through the Iridium text messaging that we have moved up to 10th in Multihulls and 37th over all, and we are moving as fast as the lead boat - but it is a Rally, not a Race (right!).
The Iridium has been a blessing. When I sailed from St. Croix to Panama and on to Catalina Island in 1981, the only communications we had with home and family was the occasional pay phone ashore. They went for weeks without hearing anything from us or having a clue where we were. Now they can track our progress on line via the YB Tracker (a small yellow phone-like device attached to our port stern rail), and communicate with us (mostly) via the Iridium Satellite Phone. We reserve voice calls on the Iridium for emergencies, but we can text as often as we like. When I sailed with Eberhart from the Marquessas to Oahu just a few years ago, we had satellite communications, but they were reserved strictly for weather downloads and emergencies. I can’t wait until we have full communications and internet at sea — on second thought maybe I can. Not having the news or financial markets to stress about really is a pleasure.
=====
Saturday, November 24th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 4
This morning we woke to shifting winds; not a lot, just enough to force our course well above the rhumb line we are following to St. Lucia. To get back down near our course, we rigged a preventer on the Main, headed more downwind, and brought the jib over to the starboard side to sail wing on wing, then re-rigged the tweeker to act as a preventer on the jib as well. During the process, David discovered that the first reef line had chaffed where it passes from inside the boom near the gooseneck. From there it passes up through the reef point on the main, down to the deck, and through a block at the foot of the mast into the line brake on the bridge. The damage to the reef line is significant, wearing through the cover layer and into the core of the line. This is the same location where the first reef line had failed on their crossing of the Bay of Biscay, so there is an issue with the geometry of the reef point as currently rigged. To prevent further damage, we rolled up the jib, powered into the wind, and put a second reef in the main, taking all the strain off of the first reef. We then came back down on our course and redeployed the jib wing and wing with the reefed main and adjusted the preventers on both. Now we are heading back down wind at about 165 degrees off the wind, riding comfortably in the following seas, and still making 6 to 7+ knots in 11 knots of apparent wind. Now we are considering our options for either swapping out the reef line with a new line or swapping the existing line end for end, assuming the existing reef line is long enough to bring the damaged area away from any stress points. Boat! Always something to do or fix.
About noon, we can see Malisa, a 12 meter monohull, off our starboard beam at about 4 miles. We have seen them occasionally on the AIS, but this is the first time they have been close enough to lay real eyeballs on for a couple of days. They have a German couple aboard that we traded laundry with back in Mindelo. It’s nice to have neighbors.
This is also our third day underway since the start, having run 436 miles from Mindelo at an average of 145 miles per day or a little over 6 knots average. Considering the first day we motored mostly at 4.6 knots and took time off to fish, we aren’t doing too badly.
Like everyone else we know, we had Thanksgiving leftovers for our big mid-day meal of the day. In our case it was leftover Ono, on a bed of cabbage, with aioli sauce. I won’t say it was superior to turkey and dressing, but it sure was good! Sea just texted us a recipe and directions for banana bread, so I have a good idea what Kellie and I will be making tomorrow with our rapidly ripening bananas.
Early evening, and one of our sister ships in the ARC+, the “Sunra del Mare”, a Canadian crewed Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 50, has lost the ability to run either their engine or their generator, most probably indicating a fuel problem. Fuel most likely from their last stop in Cabo Verde, where we last fueled as well. Without an engine or generator, they cannot run their autopilot, refrigeration, or water maker. Already 500 miles down wind from Cabo Verde, their best decision may be to carry on without - but that is a terrible decision for any skipper and crew to have to make. The crisis on Sunra del Mare, which we are hearing 3rd hand as other vessels relay their messages, has given us serious issues to discuss aboard Starship. If tainted fuel did the same thing to us, as it may well do, we will be facing a similar crisis. Our earlier generator problems, solved literally at the last hour before starting the rally, hinted at what might take place under similar circumstances. Fortunately, we have two large solar panels, backup to both the generator and our two engines for charging the batteries, but loss of those diesel fed power producers would require some serious power management aboard. Our biggest power draws are the freezer and the autopilot. If we had to, we could cut off the freezer, eat what defrosted first and if necessary dump what spoiled. We have enough dry stores to see us through. Steering the boat by hand would be a hard task, requiring much shorter watches, and tiring the crew, but would be do-able. Our biggest problem would be water. Without power, the fresh water pumps and the water maker will not work. We only have an 80 gallon water tank plus a reserve of 20 gallons in plastic jugs and perhaps another 10 gallons in bottled water and drinks. By the time we got to St. Lucia, we would be a very dry boat indeed, Heavy thoughts when the closest land is either 500 miles upwind behind you or 1,600 downwind miles in front of you.
On the plus side, assuming there is a plus side, I have all the basic paper charts necessary to find our way to St. Lucia, and my Celestial Navigation sun sights have provided running fixes generally within 5 nm of our GPS positions; certainly good enough to find our way to safe harbor if all our electronics should go down. The good quality Astra IIIB sextant and old school navigation gear I bought for this trip may have been over-kill as a backup, but having it on board makes me feel a whole lot safer.
=====
Sunday, November 25th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 5
We woke up to rain squalls moving through our little circle of ocean this morning. We have the same NE by E 20+ knot winds we have had for the last two days and are still sailing wing and wing under the same double reefed main rigged out to port with a preventer and the small self-tending jib rigged out to starboard with either a “tweeker” or preventer, depending on your term of choice, making 7 to 8 knots downwind somewhat south of the rhumb line. We currently have four boats surrounding us on the AIS, although none are in view on the horizon. The rain from the squalls has helped clean the decks, removing the remains of numerous Kamakazi flying fish that attacked us over the last few days. The generator ran smoothly for several hours, so our worries about the fuel quality at Cabo Verde were probably unnecessary. The problems on “Sunra del Mare” may be the result of accumulated debris in their fuel tank stirred up by the rough seas of the crossing - and not the result of recent bad fuel. We have not yet heard anymore about their situation, but we are monitoring channel 16 VHF just in case there is any assistance we can render. Unfortunately we have no clue as to their current location, but I imagine they are doing their best to speed towards St. Lucia.
Unfortunately, David threw our over-ripe bananas overboard last night, so we will not be baking banana bread today as planned. I may have to get up early tomorrow and just make regular bread.
Late Afternoon and we are still cruising along wing and wing downwind running parallel to the rhumb line at about 6.9 knots. No muss, no fuss; the boat is basically sailing itself. I think if we all fell overboard, the boat would dock itself in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. I have been fixing our position using the sun most days as a backup to our electronic systems. Most of the running fixes have been within 5nm of the GPS fix. Today’s was within 1.48nm - so I am either getting better or more lucky with my sights. If it is a clear night tonight, I may try some star, planet, and lunar sights as well. Anything to keep the mind and hands busy during watch.
We just tried switching from the small jib to the Code Zero running down wind, but it was not a great combination for the current conditions. So now we are back wing and wing with the double reefed main and the self-tending jib, agonizing over whether we should shake out the reefs in the main. It would have to be both reefs. The first reef line has a very bad chaffing issue that has eaten through the outer cover and half the core of the reef line due to some poor geometry of the factory leads - an issue that will have to be dealt with at some point if possible. So we either have no reefs, two reefs, or three reefs in the main - no have one reef any more.
We have heard no further word about the situation aboard “Sunra del Mare”. We are hoping they are doing okay.
=====
Monday, November 26th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 6
We are six days out and 750 miles downwind from Sao Vicente, following the rhumb line to St. Lucia. This morning as the wind lightened to under 15 knots, we took down both the Main and the Self-Tending Jib and put up the Asymmetric Spinnaker in their place. Now we are heading downwind under a single headsail, still averaging over 6 knots in much less wind. Close behind, and falling further behind, is “Azurite” apparently another 13 meter by 8 meter multihull that is not part of the ARC+ as far as we can tell.
David and Scott put together a great lunch using what we hope is the last of the Ono. The fish is delicious, but we have a freezer full of chicken, pork, and beef that we have barely touched so far. Steve is up forward sleeping on the trapeze, someone should really roll him over and baste the other side.
We discovered something interesting this afternoon. After two days of largely motoring, and running the generator for several hours on the other days to provide power to the autopilot and the freezer, we have used less than 17 gallons of fuel - much less than we expected.
=====
Tuesday, November 26th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 6
Another day cruising downwind under the Asymmetric Spinnaker alone, making a bit better than half the wind speed. The excitement of the morning is a sail on the horizon abeam of us. SY Elvira, whom we have seen several times before, is matching us for speed and slowly closing as our courses intersect. A quarter after two (UT) she passes ahead of us, less than half a mile away. Then again at four, she passes just a hundred yards ahead of us on the opposite tack. We are both following the same base course, but while Elvira must tack downwind from broad reach to broad reach, our Asymmetric Spinnaker is allowing us to head almost directly downwind at a reasonable clip, quite comfortably. I really like catamarans.
According to the latest report from Sea ashore, we are currently in 8th place among multihulls and 37th overall, about 68 miles behind Mango, currently in first place among multihulls. We are also apparently catching up with Tri-II-Fly, in 7th place among multihulls, and moving up in the fleet. But it’s not a Race, it’s a Rally! Unless we win, then it is definitely a race. And considering our handicap rating, winning on corrected time is not out of the question.
Our afternoon was slow, sailing along at 6 to 7 knots under our single Asymmetric with most of the crew sleeping, reading, or listening to music on their iPhones. Comparing music lists between generations is interesting as Steven plays folk music from a recent movie about the past, a past I remember fairly clearly with much of the original music in my playlists. Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Argo Guthrie, Chad Mitchell Trio, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Leon Russel, and of course Leonard Cohen - all artists I remember hearing growing up. Not to mention The Beatles, Bob Marley and the Wailers, Cat Stevens, and the great Chuck Berry, the grandfather of Rock & Roll. It all seems so recent, yet so long ago.
But the big excitement of the day was getting my hair and beard cut while hanging on the stern step with a safety tether wrapped around me. Kellie did the honors, cleaning up after I had made several passes with the shipboard electric razor. I feel lighter, cooler, and certainly less likely to be mistaken for a Yeti.
Note: Tonight I have the 12:30 to 2:30 AM watch.
=====
Wednesday, November 27th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 7
We crossed the half-way point at about 10:45 AM (UT) this morning. Other than lifting a cup of coffee in acknowledgement we didn’t celebrate this significant milestone. Maybe because we are so intently watching our weather, particularly the True and Apparent Wind Speeds - currently hovering around 20 True and 13 apparent. We think the working range of our Asymmetric Spinnaker is up to a constant 20 knots True, but we would sure like to know for certain. We are making great speed, averaging 8 knots downwind, and hate to take down the Spinnaker, but we still have half the Atlantic to cross and don’t want to blow out the sail.
An interesting day, much of it spent troubleshooting our communications issues with the Iridium e-mail. We finally have working e-mail on both the Iridium and the YB Tracker, in addition to the Iridium Texting capability we have been using since Gibraltar and the less than stellar voice capability. Much better than seeking out pay phones ashore as back in the 1980s. We should also, now, start receiving the daily updates and weather reports from the ARC+ Rally Control.
I spoke too soon about our mid-point celebration. After resolving our communication issues, Kellie got us moving on the celebration issues. Out came the hidden bottle of Champagne. Out came the costumes and camera as we danced and drank (1 small glass each) in celebration of making it half-way across the Atlantic Ocean from Cabo Verde to St. Lucia!
And wonder of wonders, the sailmaker that created our Asymmetric Spinnaker which we all now love dearly responded right away to our inquiry vial our new e-mail as to the maximum wind conditions in which to fly it; 25 knots apparent wind is our maximum - which since we have been hovering around 20 knots true all day, makes us all feel a great deal better. We love this sail. It has allowed us to sail almost dead down wind with just the single sail set, flying in front of us for now days in a row with no issues. The only thing we have done is periodically changed the sheet, halyard, and tack line positions to avoid any prolonged chafing issues.
=====
Thursday, November 28th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 8
Early morning (3:30 AM to 5:30 AM) watch and our true wind speed is back hovering around 20 knots, pushing us forward towards St. Lucia at about 7 to 8 knots. There is only a single vessel visible on the AIS and it is a commercial ship, the “Asphalt Eagle” cruising at 12 knots with a closest approach of 2+ miles. That is the first ship we have seen since leaving the immediate vicinity of Cabo Verde. None of our fellow ARC+ cruising partners have been visible since late yesterday, which is our usual situation.