Umiko - UMIKO Richard Blog

Sunday 2nd Dec: Umiko

It’s fair to say that the crew on Umiko are well settled into the daily routine. We have 10 people on board, 3 watches of 3 plus our very valuable Karina (who feeds us well, and keeps a tidy ship), our watch system runs as follows:

Watch Hrs A B C
8am -12 noon 4 On Standby Off
12noon – 4pm 4 Standby Off On
4pm – 8pm 4 Off On Standby
8pm -11pm 3 On Standby Off
11pm – 2am 3 Standby Off On
2am-5am 3 (feels like 5!) Off On Standby
5am – 8am 3 On Standby Off

Over the last 7 days we have also named our watches. Watch C named themselves after a quite spectacular broach (at night) where we managed to gain a riding turn in the sheet and couldn’t release the Kite for a long time. Needless to say, Watch C is called “The Broaching Team”. B Watch have also broached once and wish to forget this little oversight. They are now called the “Baywatch team” as they tend to bask in the Sun and play cheesy 80’s music. Lastly, we have the perfect A Watch, who are yet to broach as they are perfect –called the “A Team” (very original -not!).

As mentioned on a previous blog, we are a mixture of professionals and amateurs and have all gelled well as a team. From my point of view, we have many characters on board (all from differing backgrounds and Nationalities) which is making the whole adventure very interesting indeed.

Our tactics so far, As we departed Gran Canaria (with the most wonderful send off from locals and other boaters), we hugged the coastline – staying more North than others, which worked well as the wind moved with us, helping us to secure a good position. Then looking at the forecast we decided to head South in search for Stronger Trade winds (15- 20 Knots), this tactic appears to have work for us. As soon as we found stronger winds, we gybed West making a heading of around 300 degrees, and we have continued to gybe back and across this line making best speed towards St Lucia.

For the entire journey we have been flying a full main and our very forgiving “Big Red A4”. This has proved itself to be a fantastic setup and we have achieved a top speed of 19.2 Knots as we surfed down a rather large wave (we general average around 10 – 12 knots most of the time). Our current heading is 290 degrees and we have 1,130 NM until we reach the cold beer, rum & coke and no doubt several other beverages and hopefully a warm welcome at St Lucia.
We gain a daily update on positions, and we seem to be doing well: 1st in Class and 2nd in all boats (as from yesterday – I believe). Which is really good news for us, especially considering that the professionals are putting up with us and allowing us to helm and generally get involved with everything onboard.

The Sea life

We’ve seen many dolphins on our crossing, and it’s always a great pleasure to ‘whistle’ them across to you and watch them play with the boat – taking pics is pretty much impossible, although we have caught some great footage by video. We have also spotted a whale on two occasions now, and we are all looking forward to seeing some more of these amazing creatures. Flying fish are all around us and often land on the boat, we try and save as many as possible but have found ones that have made it below decks (somehow) and they are very smelly indeed! Lastly, we have seen two types of birds, one small and black that seems to skim across the ocean waves, and a larger white bird with a long tail that circled around us several times prior to moving on.

Mid Atlantic at Night

The stars are amazing, I’ve forgotten just how many you can see a night, there are millions of them and a depth that just goes on an on. Last night I managed to borrow a pair of binoculars and point them at the ‘milky way’ – only to see thousands more. The moon has been rising later and later at night, meaning that it can be very dark indeed after Sun set. It’s also been very tricky on the helm at this time as there is no horizon and very few stars low in the Western Skies, also a large wave or the swell will often knock you off course and it can take some time before you can stabilise the boat in the light winds.

The temperature does drop at night, but not by much, I’m only wearing shorts and a wind proof top now – which is more than enough to keep you warm.
Thanks for reading

It’s now mid-day on Sunday, the Sun is high in the sky and it’s very hot outside, ‘The broaching team’ are on duty right now – let’s see if they can get to St.Lucia with no more scary moments !

Best wishes to all & safe passage,

Richard