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Starship Friendship - ARC+ Gran Canaria to Cabo Verde to St.Lucia BLOG



Crew member Bill Peterson
SY Starship Friendship


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Sunday, November 11th, Las Palmas Marina, Gran Canaria to Cabo Verde

And We are Off! Well almost. It is Sunday morning. I have had my (cold) shower at the marina bathrooms. The boat is fueled and watered. All our supplies are aboard (our freezer is literally jammed full to the top) and our safety equipment installed and working. David & Scott are talking about mutual friends while Kellie gets dressed down below. I have my cup of coffee and internet. Things are good. There is currently just a hint of wind, but more should be coming before the start at 12:45 PM. Our weather reports look good for the start, but I will run another update in half an hour. Our courses are laid out — we just need to go. It is always the “hurry up and wait” in the last few hours that are seemingly the toughest.

By 10:30 AM we were underway under power from the dock. Good bye Las Palmas! The Start Line for the ARC+ St.Lucia is just a mile and a half south of the entrance to the Marina Las Palmas, so it doesn’t take us long to motor out to the area. We are there even before the Rally (not a RACE) Committee Boat, a large orange colored salvage tug named “Miguel de Cervantes” (ahoy Don Quixote) comes out and takes station. We mill about under power with the rest of Division IV (the Multihulls) scheduled to Start at 12:45 PM. The other divisions, the monohull, cruising class, and “other” are scheduled to start 15 minutes after us at 1:00 PM so as to lesson the congestion at the start line. They gave us a time tick at 12:00 - although my watch and iPhone showed it as 12:01:20 or so. At 12:15 we raised our full main and prepared to raise the Code Zero, and just a short time before the start, we paraded past the Committee Boat, while the ARC staff took pictures and made note of our Rally (not RACE) number 356 displayed on our port side. At 12:35 the first warning signal was sounded; five minutes later the preparatory signal sounded, and five minutes after that, the long horn blast and gun signaling the START. And after all the rush and preparation, there is very little wind as the fleet of multihulls slowly moves across the start line on their way to Cape Verde. We have our full main and the full Code Zero set, and are barely making 3 to 4 knots. Robert and Tri-II-Fly, with whom I was talking trash earlier in fun, is doing even worse. The other divisions start 15 minutes behind us, but many flying spinnakers catch up with us. And that is how it goes for much of the afternoon. Just before evening, we try deploying our new asymmetric cruising spinnaker in frustration, but it really does not work for us under the conditions of wind and swell we are dealing with, so back in the port forepeak it goes and is quickly replaced by our semi-old standard, the Code Zero. This is a new boat, only a couple of months old. A mere toddler by boat standards, so nothing aboard, aside from me, is actually old.

So the rest of our evening mostly consisted of a single broad reach on port tack towards Africa. As we approached the coast a bright orange-yellow glare reached up from the horizon. At first I thought it was the lights of some town on the coast, but as we drew nearer I realized it was a large ship, lit up like some alien space ship, either anchored or maintaining station. We could see other vessels from our ARC+ fleet sailing near it on the AIS. Our large fleet at the start has now spread out over a considerable area as vessel speed, navigators’ choices, and the vagaries of the wind took us in differing directions at varying speeds. We now cover a good hundred miles of course line from far west of the rhumb line to the very edge of the African coast.

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Monday, November 12th, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

In the middle of my watch around 3:30 AM, I made the decision to gybe over to the other tack, and move away from the coast rather than toward it. The vessels displayed coastward of us on the AIS seem to be slowing down, and the warnings we have heard about vessels being attacked by raiders from the shore stick in the back of my mind as well. Rather than wake the crew, I roll up the Code Zero myself (wearing my PDF harness and safety line), center the main sail, gybe the boat over to a starboard broad reach, and re-deploy the Code Zero. With the practice we have had since Gibraltar, it almost takes longer to describe than to do. The rest of the watch, and much of the day has continued, watch on watch, on that same long starboard broad reach. By 12:45 PM, 24 hours after the start, we have traveled more than 128 miles south of Las Palmas, covering at least 140 miles of ocean to do it, and are still 60 miles off the coast of Africa.

We get occasional views of the other boats sailing around us, but now only ten or twelve show on the AIS, the others presumably out of range. We think we are in the first half of the fleet, since we seem to be holding our own with the vessels around us, but we are really in our own small world at this point. By 6:00 PM only three sails and a tanker dot the horizon around us. The wind is shifting, but we are still making better than 8 knots, a nice change from the 4 to 5 knots of yesterday. The sun sets midst firer touched clouds to the southwest of us.

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Tuesday, November 13th, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

A gray dawn breaking - no “Red Sky at Morning, Sailor Take Warning” today. We gybed to a starboard broad reach just before 5:00 AM this morning, as Kellie was getting off watch and I was coming on. Then gybed back to a port broad reach just before 8:00 AM. The only boat visible is Emotion - and we keep crossing her stern as we broad reach down wind while she, a monohull sails directly down wind. There are only two other ARC boats visible on the AIS around us, and a freighter on a reciprocal course coming towards us (no worries, CPA - Closest Point of Approach is three and a half miles). Other than that, we have an empty horizon all around us with 628 miles to go.

Through the rest of the day we cruised on alternate tacks downwind at between 6.5 and 7 knots, hitting a high of 10.1 surfing down a swell. Over the two plus days since the start, we have averaged 6.9 knots over all from Las Palmas towards the Cape Verdes, not bad considering we have been tacking down wind on alternate broad reaches covering a lot more ocean than our straight line distance would imply. Now if we could just sail straight down wind...

We tried several different sail configurations during the day. When the winds were strong earlier this morning, we sailed under a single reefed main and the small self-tending jib, with a tweeker added to straighten the leech of the sail. As the wind lightened later in the day, we went to the reefed main with the Code Zero. Finally, towards the evening, we went to a fully reefed main with both the jib and the Code Zero flying “Goose Wing” - which allowed us to sail almost dead down wind (about 155 apparent wind angle). We passed and then were passed by our fellow ARC+ sailors several times during the evening.

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Wednesday, November 14th, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

We are still heading roughly down wind off the coast of Africa under the Code Zero and the full main flying wing and wing, with a preventer rigged on the end of the main boom. About 11:30 AM, with the winds lightening even more, we swapped to the Asymmetric Spinnaker with no main at all. None of our fellow ARC+ sailors are in sight on the horizon, although “Right Turn” is just 6 miles ahead of us on the AIS. It is a slow day under sail. Kellie is working on her videos, Scott is sleeping, David is fishing, and I was working on a hammock for the vegetables and fruit, with a break to take a noon sight with the sextant. So far, my sun sight fixes have been off from the GPS by about 5 to 6 miles, possibly because I am using a running fix - moving the earlier sight forward based on estimated boat speed and direction to cross the later sight. The individual sights seem to be within .5 miles of the actual GPS locations, so I need to improve my course and speed estimates. I need to try some star & planet sights where I can take a round of sights in a short period of time, eliminating the need to advance the earlier sights - or at least minimizing it.

The winds have been decreasing through the day, so we have tried one sail configuration after another to maintain our progress, with mixed results. We started in the morning with a full main and self-tending jib making 7 knots with good winds heading almost dead down wind. From that we went to the Code Zero and the full main, wing and wing, still making 6 to 7 knots, and as the wind dropped more moved to the asymmetric spinnaker with no main making 5 to 6 knots. Just before 19:00 (7:00 PM for you shore types), we passed the half-way point on this leg of the ARC+ from Las Palmas to Sao Vicente — about 433 nautical miles from both. The rest of the evening the wind slowly decreased until we were only making 3 to 4 knots. It makes for a long evening and morning watch.

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Thursday, November 15th, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

By my 11:00 PM to 2:00 AM watch, the winds have gotten very light. We are still under just the Asymmetric Spinnaker, barely making 3 knots. A little after dawn, we change over to the full main and the Code Zero and come off of dead down wind a bit, making about 5 knots. Only one other vessel, Realta Bheag, a Lagoon 450 from Ireland, is visible on the AIS about 10 miles away. We have been chasing one another through the evening and morning. We go back and forth between sail configurations searching for that “just right” combo that will allow us to sail straight to our destination. Every one works - for a while - but usually not for long. About 8:30 AM we finally settled on the Asymmetric flying alone. That seems to give us about 5 knots in the prevailing wind, and up to 8 knots, averaging 7, through a small squall that came though at about 11:00 AM. Now we have settled back down to a constant 5 to 6, still under the Asymmetric, moving easily through following seas, pointing just a bit to port of our objective.

In the meantime, David & Scott have a running conversation about fishing, friends, boats, and airplanes going, Kellie is editing her videos, and I am working on the blog and some navigation updates.

Just before 1:00 PM we start seeing trash in the water, most likely from a freighter. Being under sail it is difficult to alter course quickly enough to recover most, although we try. One piece immediately draws the attention of David and Scott - a large green cargo net is floating on the surface - far too large for us to recover, but a perfect habitat for fish. We immediately drop all sails and motor back up to the net and Scott and eventually David, both go into the water to see what they can find swimming under the net. They spot wahoo, mahi-mahi, and other fish in serious numbers, but have no luck catching or spearing any. Two hours later (its a Rally, not a Race) we are back under way under the Asymmetric and no main again, back on course for Sao Vicente. Through the evening we continue to cruise under the Asymmetric Spinnaker alone, the main sail safely tucked away in it’s on boom cover. If we had known how to fly this sail earlier, I’m certain we would be further forward in the pack - But it is a Rally, not a Race!

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Friday, November 16th, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

We continue downwind towards Sao Vicente, still under the Asymmetric Spinnaker, through the day and in to the early evening. We make an emergency stop, snuffing the sail with the sock, when all three fish lines we have out get hits. Something took at least one lure, but threw off the other two. Half an hour later we are back under way. By 8:00 PM we are only 182 miles from Mindelo. If we can maintain any decent speed in the current winds, we should be there by early mid-day on Sunday. We have barely made a dent in our provisions so far, having mostly eaten the chicken and a little of the sausage. Necessary re-provisioning in the Cape Verdes should be, we hope, minimal. It will be nice to do some laundry.

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Saturday, November 17th, Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Sao Vicente, Cape Verde

Another day of almost no winds. When the wind dropped below 5 knots about 3:30 AM this morning, we opted to drop all the sails and proceed under power on the port engine at 1800 rpm making about 5.5 knots. By 11:00 in the morning, the wind had come up a bit and we switched back to sailing under the Asymmetric, only to go back to cruising under power on the starboard engine at 13:45 PM. We are now less than 100 miles from Mindelo Marina on Sao Vicente, and with any luck should be in port by this time tomorrow.

David made fantastic fish tacos for lunch from the Mahi-mahi he caught the other day; add a little shredded cabbage, aioli sauce, and flour tortillas - fish taco heaven! All David can talk about, looking forward, is the floating bar. We had chicken tacos for dinner, while still motoring towards Mindelo, and still no wind. Fortunately it is a beautifully moonlit night with the moonlight sparkling on the nearly flat seas. The four boats we can see on the horizon and the AIS are all motoring as well.

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Sunday, November 18th, Arrival to Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands

With no noticeable wind, we powered across the finish line at 8:04:11 UT or 7:04:11 Cape Verde time, completing the first 868nm leg of the 2018 ARC+. Kellie, David, Scott, and I (for a short time) were dressed in our S/V Starship Friendship dress uniforms: A clingy outfit and scarf for Kellie, tight silver pants for David, 1960’s tight print pants for Scott, and a mystical robe and colorful turban for me. We must have been a sight!

Our first stop was the fuel dock to refill the tanks and our four 5-gal red plastic fuel jugs with diesel fuel. By 9: 45 UT (8:45 AM Local) we were tied stern to the dock at Mindelo Marina, with a short pause to unwrap a line around the starboard prop. Tying “stern to” with bow lines lead out from the dock to floats by the bow you must pick up has it’s own complications. So now we are secured. David and Scott are yoff searching for David’s “floating bar”, while Captain Kellie is off dealing with the paperwork, and I am tending ship. We are surrounded with catamarans - evidently we are in “Multihull Row”. Even Tri-II-Fly is just steps away. It is really nice to put vessels and crews to the names we have been seeing on the AIS for the past several days.

We have yet to find WiFi, but there appears to be cell service. I will wait though until it is a civilized hour to attach and call Sea. Good luck indeed. The phone worked, Sea answered, and we had a chance to reconnect. Unfortunately, although the phone worked for voice, it did not work for internet data, not even a byte or bit.

David and Scott went on an expedition to one of the local beaches to explore the surfing and spearfishing option. Kellie was off socializing, so I made my way to the “Bistro Flutuante an Bain do Mindelo” - the floating bar/cafe here in the marina. They have cold beer and hit or miss WiFi. I can recommend the beer; the WiFi and grilled octopus is more problematic. Later, back at the boat, we gathered up our laundry and carried it up to the base of the pier for pick-up by the overnight laundry service. We’ll see what comes back tomorrow.

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Monday, November 19th, Marina Mindelo, San Vicente, Cape Verde Islands

Today should be a day of rest and recovery. Tomorrow we take a pre-arranged tour of the island and Wednesday we depart for St. Lucia. We got our laundry back this morning, sort of. I was first up there and noticed that what was supposedly our bag had lots of towels and sheets I did not recognize, while the bag next to it clearly had my pair of Gill Sailing shorts on top. A little conversation and some careful trading with the German lady from the other boat seemed to straighten it mostly out. I’m missing a sock, which is about standard when I do the laundry, but all the rest seemed to be there. Kellie and David seemed to find everything they were expecting, so hopefully nothing critical went missing. I’m glad Sea had me label most of my cloths - as much as it made me feel like a kid going to summer camp, it came in useful finding and claiming my stuff.

The traditional looking monohull that pulled in next to us last night had quite a story. They have what looks like a steel hull with a prominent wooden bowsprit and wooden spars - and very traditional lines. According to their skipper, during the crossing they apparently hit a whale sleeping on the surface during the dead of night, broke the “dolphin striker” (the spreader that sticks downward towards the water, perpendicular to the bowsprit - which counters the upward force on the bowsprit by distributing it to a connection point low on the bow), leaving broken hardware and a strip of whale flesh on the wreckage. They have no idea of the condition of the whale, but hope that it survived the encounter.

After our mid-day explorations we got ready for the final Cape Verde ARC+ celebration. A party to tell us how we had done on the first Gran Canaria - Sao Vicente segment, celebrate the 860+ nautical miles sailed so far, and send us on our way for the next 2,100 to St. Lucia. On our way to the party, held in the old fish market, a substantial and impressive building on the waterfront, we stopped to listen to a local concert in one of the city squares. We then found Steve’s hotel, where we stopped for drinks, for Kellie to use the hotel WiFi to upload her latest episode, and to watch a local couple dance to another local musician. The music scene here seems very robust and alive. We heard at least two other live performers on the way to the ARC+ party. The food at the party was not the greatest, very bony fish with a bean stew, but the camaraderie of fellow sailors made up for it. Local performers, dancers, children, and a gentleman parading in a boat costume with whistle and drums for accompaniment were very lively.

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Tuesday, November 20th, Marina Mindelo, Sao Vicente, Cape Verde Islands

This morning we had a half-day tour of the island of Sao Vicente. Our guide, Carlos, is a well spoken handsome islander passionately proud of his island and his nation. Educated after high school in Rhode Island, his idiomatic American English is far better than mine. The tour took us to the highest point on the island, from which it is clear just how remote, dry and lacking in ground water this island is. If it were not for the several desalinization plants on the island, life would be quite difficult. As it is, life for the islanders is hard, but at least possible. Mindelo is the largest town on the island of Sao Vicente and the second largest in the Cabo Verdes. Not only is all the drinking water from the sea, but more than 98% of the food is imported from either the other islands or abroad. The beautiful white sand beaches, of which we saw just a few, are covered with sand that blew from the Sahara Desert, not that far away. Even much of the fish is imported, although fishing is one of the major industries of the island. Unfortunately, several years ago, the Cabo Verde government, in an attempt to bring more investment into the islands, sold the fishing rights for much of their national waters to the Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese. The Portuguese and Japanese managed their fishing takes to sustainable levels, but the Chinese did not. They seriously depleted the local fish populations and drove the price of fish to the locals to unsustainable highs. Popular protests and complaints have forced the local government to re-negotiate the fishing agreements with the Chinese government, but even with the new agreements, they have little or no way to enforce the amount of fish the Chinese take from the local stocks. Their entire Coast Guard fleet - which is also their Navy - consists of six vessels, of which only three are operational. Their situation is reminiscent of “The Mouse that Roared”. They need a “Dr. Koblintz” to give them an advantage over their larger, stronger neighbors. As it is, they seem to be doing fairly well. Carlos reports that government corruption is quite small compared to other African countries, and their split from Portugal in 1975, in comparison with other Portuguese colonies in Africa, was quite bloodless and congenial. The poverty is undeniable, but they appear to be making strides. I wish we could get the Kauai Island Utility Cooperative to partner with their local government run power and water company. I think investment in solar and wind power here in Cabo Verde could be life changing for this small and very isolated country. We have much to learn from one another.

Back in town, I searched for some water hose to use as chafe gear on the life lines while Kellie and David did more replenishing of supplies. Our winds for tomorrow are predicted to be quite light, but we have hope, due to the evening breeze blowing through the marina this evening, that we will have enough wind for a decent start and first day’s sail. Wish us luck!

Well we need the luck. In the evening I discovered that our Onan generator is not putting out charge to the batteries or AC to the outlets. I informed David and Kellie when they got back aboard, and we spent the rest of the evening, until midnight, trying to troubleshoot the problem with no luck. David contacted Lagoon support and worked through their suggestions, all to no avail. This could be a trip killer.

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Wednesday, November 21st, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, ARC+ Part 2, Day 1

A busy morning. More troubleshooting 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 the 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!

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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 _____ AM 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.


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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.

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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 Biscayne, 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 ioli 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.

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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 resent 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.

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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.


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Tuesday, November 27th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 7

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 our 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 teacher 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.

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Wednesday, November 28th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 8

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.

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Thursday, November 29th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 9

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.

I completed the daily rigging check before getting my cup of coffee this morning. The Emergency Management and Rigging Seminars among the ARC+ seminars in Las Palmas were both eye opening, terrifying, and very useful. Starship is a new boat, only a few months old, but the issues we have had have so far indicated that nothing vital, nothing, should be left to chance. We were very fortunate that our electrical issue was resolved - but that was on the very morning of the Mindelo to St. Lucia leg of the Rally (Not Race!). If we had not discovered it the night before, or if it hadn’t occurred until we were well at sea, we would be in a very different situation. Fortunately we have back-ups to back-ups, but the fact is things break, and you must always be on the look out for the unexpected, the unlikely, and the dammed near impossible. If you are not at least a 50% paranoid “McGyver”, you probably don’t belong offshore.

I know dragging my sextant, charts, and almanac along was “unnecessary”. I know taking daily sun sights and comparing the results to the GPS is more of a hobby than a necessity. But “old school” or not, being able to find our location at sea without an electrical/electronic device is a skill worth having. And fixing our position tonight using Jupiter, Formalhaut, and Mars was a treat.

By the way, here is a call out to my friends at the Nawiliwili Yacht Club on the beautiful island I call home, Kaua’i. You will be happy to know that just under the St. Lucia, Cabo Verde, and ARC+ flags, we are flying the NYC Pennant as our “Battle Ensign”.

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Friday, November 30th, Sao Vicente to St. Lucia, Day 10

This Morning’s Watch is 5:30 AM to 8:00 AM

If ever a day dragged by, this last day of November did, although it started promisingly enough. Toward the end of my morning watch, dogged by light winds and slow progress, we had a line of squalls move through, taking our winds from under 10 knots to 30 knots in just a few minutes. The initial concern for our Asymmetrical Spinnaker soon turned to admiration as it handled the wind increase easily, speeding the boat from 4 knots to 11, steadying down to a solid 8 to 9. But it didn’t last. By noon the winds had died back down to under 10 knots and our boat speed back to under 6 knots. I know I shouldn’t complain. The seas are nearly flat, we are moving steadily, if not rapidly, along the rhumb line to St. Lucia, which is now less than 700 miles away. I guess I’m just spoiled.

Tonight’s Watch is the 9:00 PM to 11:30 PM


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