Logs

Risque Business - ARC+ 2023 Wrap Up.

Well we’ve been in Grenada for 4 days now and what a welcome all the yachts have had. The ARC Yellow Shirts have been great and so helpful along with the team from Port Louis Marina. As the RB WAGs have been here too, we’ve been lucky to have a lovely villa to stay in, however Mark and DB have stayed on board. The crew have spent several days getting RB cleaned up and returned to a cruising yacht after her months of being an ocean passage-maker. Of course copious Rum Punches and Carib beers have been consumed to keep the crew well oiled. I however, have taken my PADI Open Water practical exams with a fab dive school called ScubaTech and spent 3 of these last days underwater exploring a completely new and amazing world of reefs, corals and some incredible sea life. It included the largest. read more...

Distraction - Cruise or Race...?

The sharper ones amongst you will have spotted that we have once again turned our bows towards the West horizons. Yes, we are finally at sea after seemingly months of lazing around in Lanzarote and galavanting all over Gran Canaria. That last bit isn’t entirely true for although we saw some wonderful parts of GC (eg Agaete in the North) we have largely spent the last month preparing for the ARC rally across the Atlantic.I should have known better when I saw that the Organisers had used the word ‘rally’ in their PR material along side ‘for cruisers’….. You might be excused for thinking that any event designated suitable for cruisers might be a laid back affair where each of the boats meander casually out of the marina at their leisure and like a pretty row of ducks make their way quietly. read more...

Valent - In Grenada

Valent eventually finished their Atlantic crossing around day break on Monday. We took a couple of hours longer crossing the finish line than expected as the wind dropped to zero when we were 0.1nm from the line and due to a possibly misguided sense of pride we wished to sail the whole trip, i.e. not use the engine at all for propulsion. Having thought that we had crossed the imaginary line a few times, finally the tracker agreed with us and we motored in. A very excited welcome committee with banner we’re waiting to greet us. Most of the crew had been up since 01:30, so possibly we weren’t the best company. However a quick rum punch, few beers and a bacon&egg sarnie (using the last of the good bacon from the UK) revived spirits. The crossing itself was fairly uneventful. The. read more...

Risque Business - A Truly Grenadan Welcome

11:59.20N 61:45.39W1146 GMT Monday 4th December 2023WE CROSSED THE FINISH LINE!We’ve made it to Grenada 🇬🇩. Risque Business has sailed from Portsmouth, then to Spain and Portugal, out to Madeira and then to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. That’s where the ARC+ started, with Leg 1 down to Mindelo in Cape Verde and then Leg 2 the 2,200NM across the Atlantic Ocean to Port Louis in Grenada.We’ve had an amazing welcome from the WAGs and the ARC team when we arrived and many whoops and cheers as we manoeuvred Risque Business into her designated berth. Big hugs and kisses all round when they swarmed on board when we were secured. Such a lovely welcome and one I’m sure we’ll all remember for a very long time. The final night went well, although Mark did get a drenching from a passing squall. As we. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 6

Well….Last night was one to forget! It was very hot and the wind dropped off for some of the night resulting in some heavy rolling and the sails slatting noisily.  The seas seemed very confused at times coming at the boat from all angles.  Thenet result was very little sleep for any of us which led to the night as a whole being long and frustrating. Having said that; we were treated to a dramatic light show from lighting strikes from cloud to cloud for much of the night, and particularly once themoon had set it really was quite a spectacle.   Morning broke a bit cloudy but the wind has filled in and the boat’s motion has returned to normal.  Breakfast today was a real spirit raiser as we had scrambled eggs on toast.  The key to this being the word toast.. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 5.

So it feels as if we have finally reached some wind.  We have been sailing South for a couple of days now and this morning finally decided the spinnaker had to come down as the wind was gusting about 17 kts. James and I both have experienceof blowing out our spinnakers so are sensitive to the issue.  We may regret it, but so far we are going nearly as fast with poled out jib and full main, although needless to say the wind seems to have calmed down a bit.  We still expect it to build a littleduring the day so hopefully we have made the right decision. As you know this is NOT a race, but we are doing our best to take the right decisions eagerly devouring each new weather forecast and discussing tactics, trying to out smart our rivals.  On current predictions we. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 4.

So it is the morning of another day on they good ship Wild Goose.  We still proceed in great comfort at a modest pace under spinnaker variously rigged as a cruising chute, or flown “a la Galatea”.  At first light we typed it for the first time,relatively smoothly, and are now heading south in search of a little more wind.On a domestic front James has now assumed the tittle of “Domestic Goddess” having made the first batch of home made yoghurt which we have all had for breakfast. Delicious! The other great excitement of the morning has been seeing the first dolphins of the trip.  There were only two of them and they did their usual trick of frolicking at the bows, but in a slightly hung over fashion, just not up to the standard of their coldwater cousins.  Perhaps. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 3

So the spinnaker is still up and we are again doing a steady 6-7kts in a slightly hazy morning sun.  Last night the wind dropped and we did spend a long time doing only about 5kts but still over the last 24hrs we have averaged about 6kts whichis really not bad.Breakfast this morning was a “Jane Eaton Hash” expertly constructed by James and eaten with fresh coffee, to the strains of Santana blasting out of the cockpit speaker.  I have discovered that the stainless instrument binnacle box makes and excellent steeldrum….much more engaging than air guitar. After breakfast we had a go at sorting out the problems of a) the housing market, and b) the NHS, so I think by the time two weeks are over we should have our manifesto ready for the next election.  Who would like to vote. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 2.

 So we have now been sailing under spinnaker for over 24 hrs, and overnight kept up an average of about 6kts.  What a special night! Smooth sea and steady wind in the 10-12kts range, clear sky, and wonderful stars.  Not many boats to dodge nowas the fleet has spread out over a wide area, all sorts of different tactics in play in the search for a bit more wind. As dawn broke the wind increased a little and we now have 15th and are cruising along at 7.5kts.  If it picks up much more we will have to take the chute down and save it for another light wind day, but hopefully this wind (and the sail itself!) will holdfor the rest of the day, and even into tomorrow.  Stronger winds not predicted till Tuesday, and even then should be no more than 15-20Kts. We have averaged. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 7

Well last night we had a somewhat eventful time!  After a relatively peaceful and steady 5-6kts afternoon we noticed that the only two boats we could see on the AIS were putting up their spinnakers and increasing speed dramatically.  We couldnot resist doing the same and so we un wound the big blue sail, and sure enough our speed rocketed up to 8-8.5kts in a flat sea with only about 12-14kts of wind. We had supper sitting in the cockpit in great comfort, hardly any rolling as the boat surged forward. Any any ideas that our neighbours had of overtaking us were frustrated.   There seemed no reason to suppose that the wind would increase.  Thus far it has tended to drop a little at night so it was decided to sail on into the night with the chute up.All was. read more...

Wild Goose - The big one! Wild Goose musings…

(We had no ability to send emails from the boat, so all these are coming to you now!)  So finally the day dawned for the start!  We were more or less ready and actually had quite a relaxed morning with phone calls to everyone at home and a last breakfast ashore in the cafe, but many others had engineers and riggers aboard tillthe very last moment, still more would have to wait for a day or so before all the repairs could be completed.  The marina is rather complex not having any finger pontoons so we had to leave in turn with two of the marina staff in a rather decrepit dingy coming and untying our bow lines which had disappeared under water once we tightened them up, once free we hadto motor smartly out missing the submerged lines of our erstwhile neighbours.  We were. read more...

Wild Goose - We did it! final blog….

OMG what a last day.  It had everything that a Caribbean adventure should have, sun, wind, rain, calm, excitement, frustration, elation!  Just no pirates. The day dawned beautiful and found us some 120 miles from the finish sailing fast on starboard tack straight down the rumb line…272 degrees.  Mental calculations had us arriving early in the night- we could almost taste the rum punch….but nature had afew surprises in store for us yet. First of all as we were clearing away our last breakfast omelet the wind began to drop, lighter…and lighter..and lighter.  The projected arrival time slipped.  Near but so far! All morning the sails slattered against the shrouds.  Oh how we wished we hadnot torn the cruising chute.  We had some boats in sight, our. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 11

I am writing this morning from the foredeck.  It is by far the ‘coolest’ place on the boat. First it is in the shade, the sails casting a shadow, secondly the wind can blow across your skin to keep you cool, thirdly because the gush and swish of the bowwave is just beneath you, and we are tramping it is just a really cool place to be! So yesterday we gybed twice after a great deal of very serious discussion about tactics.  The first time we decided that it was time to go South to make use of an Easterly wind which we knewwould today turn to the North East.  Faultless logic and for a while it seemed to work, but then just as it was getting dark the wind forced us to head ever more south to the extent that we were 45 degrees off the rumb line…so we gybed back.  Again. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 13.

This morning dawned with a brief tropical down pour, followed by a spectacular rainbow.   The night had seen us in close proximity to four other boats.  It seems our courses are now converging as we near Grenada.  Sadly the winds are mostly light so those who have not blown their spinnakers have a definite advantage and we could only fumeas they crept ahead of us and their light disappeared into the gloom.  The one boat that we have held onto, and finally this morning overhauled is our neighbour from the marina in Cape Verde, Blue Pearl.  Strange that after 2000 miles we will finish withina few minutes of each other as we did on the first leg from Las Palmas. None the less it was a lovely night of sailing.  The moon, still near full, did not rise until. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 12

We really feel we are getting close…can almost hear a steel band on the wind.  We had a splendid night of sailing with 15-20kts of wind blowing us almost directly towards the island.  Our rig of main to port, Genoa to starboard and staysail to port seems to work really well in this sort of wind speed and it is gratifyingto learn that the two boats to the immediate north of us were both flying spinnakers all night and failed to make any ground on us at all. Interestingly we believe two of them have now blown these sails in a 30kt gust that hit them directly in the early hoursand must have passed a few miles to the north of us.  We did however get a little rain which gave the decks a good wash and also resulted in James’s feet getting a wash before he was able to. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 10

Welcome to another day in paradise!  Another great sun rise after a night of full moon sailing.  The day started very well with Simon’s delicious scrambled eggs and the last of the bacon, all washed down with good strong fresh ground coffee. This I consider essential, although James thinks Simon and I are nuts and should be perfectly content with Gold Blend. I sometimes wonder what planet  he is from!We then all sat down with the latest weather forecasts and routing advice and had a lengthy debate about our course.  All through the last three days we have been convincing ourselves that we have been sailing close to the rhumb line of 272 degrees butwhen you look at the plot of our position on the paper chart it is clear that we have been  steadily drifting. read more...

Wild Goose - Sunday Day 9.

What a glorious night of sailing. The full moon illuminated us for the whole time from dusk till dawn.  It was almost light as day. Certainly light enough to see the sails and everything on deck.  The waves look different in the moonlight andyou cant really make out the form of them, but they sparkle in the path of the moon in a wonderful way.  For most of the night all we had to do was steer right down the path of the moon.   The sailing is fast and yet gentle, wind has now been a constant 15-18kts for two whole days and nights and over the last 24 hrs we have averaged 7.1kts so travelled about 170 miles directly towards our destination. Which is now ‘only’ some 900miles away now! We are on the downhill stretch.  I have thought of asking James  “ are. read more...

Wild Goose - Day 8.

It’s the weekend! You would never know it here as life goes on as usual.  Our shift pattern of two hours on and four off continues day and night except that we have a three hour “dog” watch at lunch time to move us all on an hour a day so we don't all get the same watchevery night. We now have a three sail rig, main on one side, Genoa boomed out on the other and the staysail on the inner forestay also set on they opposite side to the Genoa.  This surprisingly makes a huge difference to the motion of the boat, but we estimate addsabout half a knot to our speed. All night we have had 15-20kts of wind roughly from the east which is speeding us onwards towards Grenada at a steady 7.5kts, occasionally catching a wave and surfing up to 9kts. Lovely sailing, and so far we are. read more...

Wild Goose - Unabridged musings. Cape Verde to Grenada

Sorry! Having spent you 14 emails this morning, I thought it might be easier to put them all together ….so here goes!The big one! Wild Goose musings…(We had no ability to send emails from the boat, so all these are coming to you now!)So finally the day dawned for the start!We were more or less ready and actually had quite a relaxed morning with phone calls to everyone at home and a last breakfast ashore in the cafe, but many others had engineers and riggers aboard till the very last moment, still more would have to wait for a day or so before all the repairs could be completed. The marina is rather complex not having any finger pontoons so we had to leave in turn with two of the marina staff in a rather decrepit dingy coming and untying our bow lines which had disappeared under water. read more...

Risque Business - The Final Night

12:1.36N 60:35.47W2230 GMT Sunday 3rd Dec 23Dusk has just fallen on out last night of the ARC+ Atlantic crossing. We’ve got 75NM to go to the finish line off St George’s, the capital of Grenada. We’ve just furled our large Gennaker, as there seems to be a fair amount of squall activity around us, so to prevent damage by sudden wind strength and direction changes, so we’re doing 6 to 7 kts SOG, so about 10 to 12 hours depending on the wind tonight.The WAGs and shore crew, patiently waiting for us on Grenada are getting excited now, as are the crew whose partners are there are. Poor DB and Mark’s wives had other commitments that prevented them from meeting them, so they are planning to check out the Grenada Yacht Club, then several rum shacks no doubt.The fishing department had a good 24. read more...