Daily Logs

Aquavita - Day 11 fishing triumph

I was woken up at 7.30am to the sound of "MAHI MAHI!". Daddy was reeling in one of our fishing lines and Severin was taking in the other. They both had a mahi mahi. Severin got his in first and Daddy went to help him get it on the boat while I was left with his rod and the fish was maybe half of the way in so I pulled it in. It didn't try to fight against me and it was surprisingly easy to reel it in. When we got it in Daddy tried to put his foot on the fish flopping on the deck. Eventually he had to lift it up by the line and put it inside the safety line and try to get it into a corner with his foot. He did it and it looked very funny. Now I understand why the bucket was handy. The mahi mahi was around 1 meter long and the second one was 80 centimeters. It was great to finally have a. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Completing our visit to San Blas …

This is why we are sailing around the world! The islands are really beautiful - picture postcard perfect. After 2 nights, we decided to explore more and sailed down to Gunboat - an atoll surrounded by reef and one tiny island. The entrance into the atoll was on the southern side - a narrow but deep and safe channel provided we could see it. The trick is to enter the atoll with the sun behind us, me stretched over the front of the boat (think titanic pose!) with polarised glasses, holding a walkie talkie so I can tell Chris to go right or left to avoid coral and shallow waters - the sea bed goes from 20 meters to 2 instantaneously so running aground is a very real possibility without a huge amount of caution. Not withstanding this, we anchored within swimming distance of the reef which. read more...

Serendipity IV - 13. Tag

Nun haben wir den 13 Tag und sind immer noch im Einflussbereich eines Tiefs nördlich von uns, das wir auf gute Distanz gehalten haben. Da es den Einfluss des Azorenhochs, das uns frischen Wind aus der richtigen Richtung (Osten/Tradewinds), unterbrochen hatte, blieben wir drei Tage in der Flaute stecken. Mit etwas Motorunterstützung sind wir dann langsam dahin gekrochen. Betrifft wohl alle Boote unserer Klasse (Crusing 1B) mehr oder weniger. Nur die Finnen sind schlimmer und schneller, haben aber etwa sieben Mann an Bord. Nun, wir wurden bereits als das LoveBoat bezeichnet, da wir als Ehepaar zu zweit segeln. Also kein Wettrennen unsererseits. Heute ist der Himmel bedeckt und ziehen Regenwolken vorbei, die Wind bringen (nicht immer aus der richtigen Richtung) die volle Konzentration. read more...

Cohiba - Day 12

Hello peeps Strange as we sail along none of us really know what day it is , which is a fantastic feeling.Beating to windward mid Atlantic is strange.Flying fish or swimming birds this is the question ?We have impact sites all over the boat some two meters above sea level. The unfortunate part is they arrive on deck at night and quietly suffocate becoming stiff and smelly.Another Dorado yesterday but full of white lice so back it went .Chicken curry instead.Water making this morning a fascinating process of converting ocean into the most fantastic tasting of nothing fresh water no minerals and only 78 parts per millionof particulates. We wonder what they are.That’s all for now folks Love and kisses COHIBA. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day Ten: What time is it anyway?

We time travelled this morning. 10am became 9am again, for the second time on our passage so far.Some of the crew have problems with time travel. There’s always confusion as to whether the clock should be going forwards an hour, or backwards. And what does this mean for the time at home? If we had the luxury of mobile phone signal, would it be too early to call our loved ones or too late?For me, this particular time shift has caused a peculiar problem: I’m unable to set my watch to our new local time. It’s a cheap Casio digital and will apparently only allow itself to be set to certain cities around the world and none of those happen to be located in UTC+2. I should probably have downloaded the manual before we left, but I didn’t, so for the next few days I’m going to have to mentally. read more...

Ca Canny - Days 10 & 11 - Not much to report!

Day 10 was very calm which obviously isn't great in terms of catching our flights, but it was a lovely day and it was amazing to see the ocean so still. Today we have had a bit more wind but not necessarily in an ideal direction, so we have had to alter our course a little more than we would like to account for the wind. We are also trying to figure out how to avoid the calm spot that we can see approaching in the forecast, but this is difficult given the wind direction we are currently facing. However, its Burn's night and Maureen (Charlie's wife) kindly sent us a Scotland-themed quiz for us to do. The teams were Smithie and David vs. Alan and Izzy with Charlie playing the role of quizmaster, it got rather competitive, especially at the end when it appeared that there was a tie, and so. read more...

Aquavita - Day 10 bucket challenge

Once upon a time, there was a war between Modena and Bologna because of a bucket. The bucket sits proudly in the city hall of Modena today.It shows how the simple bucket is worshipped. It's the same on our boat.Today there was a mahi mahi on our lure. Daddy pulled the fish in and it was inside our bucket, but the bucket was outside the safety railing on the transom and the fish flopped into the water, taking the bucket with it. Sincebuckets are greatly worshipped (I mean, have you ever heard of the bucket war?), we had to take the asymmetrical spinnaker down and turn around to get the bucket. It was a shallow bucket but it was made of aluminium so if water got in it, it would sink. Luckily for us the sea was very flat so there were hardly any waves. First we turned around and saw the. read more...

Cohiba - Day 11 update from the good ship Cohiba

Who would believe it beefing to windward mid Atlantic seriously !!On the plus side we get to see squalls early and practice dark cloud avoidance tactics.The crew are learning how to do 360 degree turns without even trying. The perfect wind shift was tacked on by John last evening an absolute text book manouvre that anyone would be proud of, bring on a few more of those pleeeeeeze. Planned a steak and trimmings dinner with gravy last night Squall 10 put pay to that but Chris still produced an amazing bowl dinner. Left overs eaten for breakfast by Sander this morning.The Obligitory Atlantic swim took place yesterday to include clearing barnacle growth from the prop which will now feather so no longer slowing us down or annoying us with its constant whine.Fortunately Cohiba was built with a. read more...

Aquavita - Day 9 rowing across the Atlantic

We were alerted to the fact that the area the ARC fleet is traveling through is also where the transatlantic rowing race fleet is at. Today we spotted a very slow vessel in front of us on the AIS called Jonah. We suspected it might be one of those row boats. Within a few hours we caught up and could see the outline of a small, low vessel without sail bobbing in the waves about 2nm away. We tried to make contact on the VHS radio, but they didn't respond. Maybe they are too busy rowing.Many people think we are crazy for sailing a yacht across the Atlantic. Compared to these rowers, what we are doing is a walk in the park. We saw two rowing kayaks getting ready for a transatlantic trip in Lanzarote. Each kayak is manned by two rowers who row day and night for the epic journey. Other than. read more...

Aquavita - Day 8 lunar new year at sea

We saw another ARC boat on the AIS in the morning, Serendipity IV. That means they were within 5-10nm of us. We had a nice chat on the VHS radio. It's always good to "bump" into another boat in the fleet.Today is Chinese New Year. Via satellite phone I could call home and wish my parents a happy CNY. Though it's old technology, I'm still amazed that even in the middle of the big ocean we can still keep in touch like (almost) normal. It's traditional to make dumplings with the whole family for CNY, and I do in fact have all the ingredients to make dumplings. On one of those calm days with a flat sea, we'll take the time to make dumplings during the passage. This was also our last mother and son watch as the watch shifts would rotate again tomorrow, making my shift in the middle of the. read more...

Serendipity IV - Beginning of our second week

Tuesday, 24th January 2023.We started into our second week on sea with a squall which brought a lot of rain and drenched us through. Just before this wet encounter we tried to fix our Watt’n’Sea Hydrogenerator. During the first days the pin we used to fix it down into the water broke so we used the other fixing method with a line in stead. But also this line broke yesterday, as a result it couldn’t generate energy anymore. Unfortunately, our attempts to use another pin to hold the Hydrogenerator in place failed as it was too thick for the hole. But after lunch Michael had another go as the wind and waves quieten down. Now a screwdriver acts as a fixing pin fixed with string and duck tape. It works! We hope it will hold fast for at least the next two weeks as it generates vital energy. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day Nine: What kind of an ARC is this?

Seriously? Upwind? On port tack? What kind of ARC is this?The lovely low-pressure system that has driven most of the fleet below 20°N brought us a nice lull in the wind this morning, giving us all a chance to jump in, wash up and chill out. Not a fish to be seen, let alone a shark. Just six Rhapsody crew members, smelling slightly better and wondering where they’d left the conditioner.When we’d dried off, we packed the spinnaker into its bag, put the pole back on the mast and got ready for a couple of days of beating. In fairness, the ex-Clipper members of the crew all looked much happier when the boat started leaning over. For days, I’ve been having to throw buckets of water on them and shake them from side to side just so they’d remember they’re on a sailboat. At least I can have a. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Exploring the San Blas Islands

The islands are stunning - small, deserted, lush, fringed with palm trees and surrounded by shallow aquamarine waters. Kuna Indians live on the bigger islands - very gentle and charming people. They live from the land and the sea and create ‘mola’ - hand sewn pictures of local life that are sold to anyone who will buy. I have 5 so far!After a night on our first anchorage, we decided to motor to a different location … the waters are so shallow and with reefs all around the islands we have to travel in daylight with the sun behind us so we can see the shallows and reefs. We approached a lagoon called the hot tub … a narrow channel takes you in … it was beautiful but we lost our nerve when it came to anchoring as there was just too much reef and shallow water. Moving on, we found another. read more...

Ca Canny - Day 9- Nice and Calm

Today it has been much calmer, if not a little slow for sailing. Whilst we have not made huge progress distance-wise today, it has been a pleasant day of sailing, which we have all enjoyed! After dinner we were sitting around the table outside having a drink and a chat when suddenly out of nowhere something sprang at Smithie, bouncing off him and flailing around at our feet- a flying fish! once they all were finished panicking they were able to throw our unwelcome guest back into the sea, but that was certainly a highlight of the day, if not for Smithie then definitely for the rest of us! -Izzy. read more...

Ca Canny - Day 8- We're off again!

We left Cape Verde early this morning, having to make way for some Volvo racing boats. As the day went on the wind picked up significantly and we became increasingly uncomfortable, I (Izzy) even felt a bit seasick which is unheard of. We made good pace but it was so rocky we had to do frozen pizzas for dinner to avoid any cooking disasters. I can't imagine we will sleep very well tonight! -Izzy. read more...

Ca Canny - Day 7- Land Ho!

*First i have to clarify that the last post was for day 6 not day 5, as you can guess the days are blending together already* Today we woke up and could see the Cape Verde Islands. The islands we saw were dramatic and mountainous, an amazing sight in contrast to the constant sea we have been surrounded by for the past 6 days. Just as we were all admiring this view Charlie noticed something, the spinnaker had begun to unwrap. What we had been wishing for for days was finally happening, just as we were arriving at the place we had gone to fix it. We started to think that we would just turn around, but once we finally got it down we realized that we had further problems to fix, so we continued on to the marina at Cape Verde. Once we were safely in the marina Alan was able to go up the mast. read more...

Serendipity IV - Montag

Ihr Lieben zu HauseWir hatten heute einen guten Tag, auch hier können Stimmungen wechseln, viel ist abhängig vom Essen, Trinken und vor allem Schlaf, der halt auf dem Boot etwas zu kurz kommt. Der Tag begann mit einer anziehenden Front von hinten, mit viel Regen und endet jetzt gerade mit einer schönen Abendstimmung. Dazwischen den Tiefkühler geleert und auf Kühlschrank umgestellt, da wir in den letzten drei Tagen einen Ausfall des Strömungsgenerators, der uns Strom in der Nacht liefert. Die natürliche Folge davon ist, dass wir den Fridge oder Freezer abstellen und dann vergessen, ihn wieder einzustellen. Die Folge kannst du Dir vorstellen. Viel ins Meer, aber es soll ja auch Platz für Frische Fische geben :-)Den Wassergenerator (Propeller am Heck) haben wir übrigen heute Nachmittag nach. read more...

Serendipity IV - First week on our Atlantic passage

Sunday, 22nd January 2023.It’s now a week ago when we waved goodbye to family and friends as well as our fellow ralliers and the nice and helpful ARC-Team in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. They were emotional moments and a tear or two were hidden behind our sunglasses. The first three days were, as everybody keeps telling, a getting used to to the movement, to the up and down, the swaying in all directions. Everything takes longer than just a few hours ago in the marina. Everything needs to be done with one hand. There is the saying ‘one hand for the boat, one hand for the sailor’. It is true. You have to hold on all the time and think about normal, everyday’s action how to do them with just one hand and an unstable stand. Okay, we know all this from our past time sailing but it is. read more...

Chica.3 - taylor at work

day 6th the only spi we have is broken so  is going to be repairedtaylor at work. read more...

Ta'i Miti - Tai miti having fun

P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;} On board crew ishaving fun, having all meals together.Everyone is doingOK very good mood, excellent cooperation for everything, navigation and watches (2 of us, changing every/3h, mixing members), preparing meals and enjoying other activities.. read more...

Ta'i Miti - Taimiti and Flying Fishes

P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;}No need for using a fishing rod ;-)) It’s been 3 days now that we get plenty on board, flying fishes scratching everywhere on the boat, especially at dinner time 😉 May be they like French food ??? This morning one of them was stuck into the starboard dagger board It was quite tricky to have him out. Have a nice day and thank you for everything. read more...

Aquavita - Day 7 gourmet boat

In the ARC fleet, there's the self proclaimed "party boat" (think Pickle 2), and "love boat" with just a couple sailing their yacht across the ocean. Our boat can probably be labeled "gourmet boat". Apart from a watch roster, we also have a well organised cooking roster. With European and Chinese heritages amongst captain and crew, each of the four adults takes turns to showcase the best their culinary skills allow, and we all get to taste something different and delicious each day. In the first week we've had Chinese braised pork in five spices, German sausages with sauerkraut, coke chicken, seared salmon with fresh fruit, pan fried battered cauliflower, pork fillet in banana (sans cognac) sauce, and the obligatory spaghetti bolognese. For the grand finale to a smooth first week, the. read more...

Chica.3 - the catch of the day

the catch of the day 5th by Luciano catch of the day. read more...

Aquavita - Day 6 fine dining on the sea

At 08.00 we changed the Code 0 to asymmetrical spinnaker. Our speed went up again. At one stage we were going 7.5kt in 7.5kt apparent wind. Incredible!It's my turn to cook today. For lunch I made seared salmon fillets with mango, avocado, carrot and cucumber. Apparently it was a hit with everyone. To empty some freezer space we devoured cones of ice cream for dessert. It's such a luxury to have fresh fruit and frozen dessert in the middle of the ocean. The bananas look over ripe now. A banana cake for afternoon tea is on the cards then.Author: Yvette. read more...

Aquavita - Day 5 mother and son watch

I had my last 04.00-07.00 shift today before we start the shift rotation. The wind is consistent between 15 and 20 knots over night. The boat is doing 6-7knts, occasionally jumping to 9-10kts with wind gusts. I hardly had to touch the instruments. There's no other boat around. The sky is full of stars, an even thinner crescent moon appeared during my shift, lighting a shimmering champagne coloured path towards our boat. This is champagne sailing at its best!At 08.30 we gybed towards the west, finally! We also changed our clocks to UTC-1 today, having gone past 22°W. Unfortunately our position in the ARC fleet remained second last. We might hoist the asymmetrical spinnaker tomorrow to go faster in the slowing wind.Our watch shifts were rotated so my shift is now 19.00-22.00 for the next. read more...

Aquavita - Day 4 south before west

With a northeasterly wind we couldn't go southwest in a 180° line exactly. Our courses of sailing was either southwest 200° or northwest 280°. Since our destination St Lucia is quite far south at 14°N, we decided to continue our course more towards the south.The midday position list of the ARC fleet was downloaded. To our horror, we slipped again to the second last on the list! Although it may be due to our decision to go further south before turning west, we still must do something about it! At 17.00 we hoisted the Code 0 sail. Our speed immediately went up 2 knots. We would keep the current course until the morning, before turning west. Author: Yvette Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.. read more...

Aquavita - Day 3 going south with the wind

I came on my shift at 04.00. There's a crescent moon on the east, and a clear sky full of stars. Wind is around 20 kts. We had the main with 2 reefs and a full jib. Boat speed is between 6 and 8 kts. With an easterly wind on the stern, we decided to go south west rather than north west.Jason was feeling better today, he asked for noodle soup for breakfast and kept it all in. He came up to the flybridge in the afternoon. We spotted an ARC boat - Infinity 10 - on the AIS and he had a little chat with them on the radio.The fleet position list sent by ARC today showed we slipped 10 places from 14 to 24 out of a fleet of 32. Alarm! We didn't want to be too far behind, so we hoisted the main sail up fully in 15-20kt wind. Hope we can make up some ground.Author: Yvette. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day Seven: Why do we put ourselves through this?

Ok, I’m gonna be honest here. On more than one occasion over the last few years, mainly during a cold, stormy 4am night watch, I ask myself: “What in the name of God am I doing here? I could be at home, on my comfy sofa in front of the fire, watching reruns of Poirot!” It’s at this point I remember I no longer have asofa, a TV or a land home, for that matter. We sold our lovely home to buy a boat so we could stand in the freezing rain in the middle of the night.I mentioned this thought to my fellow crew the other evening and what followed was a conversation about what an odd sport/hobby/lifestyle sailing is. And what is it about sailing that makes us want to give up the comforts of land life for the open oceans? Yes, there’s the cliched obvious: the raw beauty of the crashing waves, the. read more...

Falcon Spirit - Falcon Spirit Day 7 update

today we did our one week rig check. Bart went up the rig to inspect lines and sails. no chafe on the important stuff except a plastic cover on our port running back stay.  I did an extensive steering gear check, autopilot check and the crew has gotten the boat ship shape for some extra wind.  The euro model has us heading straight for the gale still but GFS and PW models are more conservative keeping us at or below the rhumb line. conditions are more favorable for our preferred reaching sail plan so we can earn back some miles. our 3rd reef is rigged so we can run jib staysail and 3rd reef and will furl the jib if conditions get beyond 35 knots. staysail alone is good to 60 but if those conditions materialize we should be well south of them. . read more...

Cohiba - Day 8 - where do you meet new people

All is well onboard Cohiba, we are keeping busy sailing, eating, drinking tea, fishing and night watches seems to contain the activity of eating snacks from the snack cupboard without leaving any evidence when the daylight arrives. Wrapping or crumbs have been found on the cockpit floor, so apparently we have a snack monsters no one have yet seen...hmmmm :-) We have been out here for a week now, and we are already worried the days will go too fast and before we know it we will be in St. Lucia. Not that we don’t want to arrive, we love Caribbean but time at sea is so special and we are enjoying it to the most. Fishing is going better and we had Mahi Mahi sashimi for lunch yesterday followed by home made meat balls for dinner.The Atlantic is big, and although there is more than just us out. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Getting to the San Blas Archipelago

As planned, we crossed the finishing line at very close to 7am, our estimated ETA … Chris and Tim very happy.  I can’t help feeling that we are not acting totally in the spirit of the competition! We slowed down through the night to make sure we got to the islands after sunrise and by some miracle, the line appeared when we hoped it might!   Another hour or so later we approached East Hollandaise Cays - the most eastward of the islands (there are 378). We anchored in an open lagoon area surrounded by idyllic paradise islands - each one with reefs and the most beautiful blue/aquamarine/turquoise seas. We are in paradise.    After sleeping and recovering from our passage, we spent the afternoon exploring the island in the tender. We found a shack selling beer for $2 a. read more...

Aquavita - Day 1 leaving Las Palmas

We left the marina at 11.00 to head out and mark the reefing positions on the main halyard. At 12.45 multihulls started the rally, followed by monohulls crossing the starting line at 13.00. We had two reefs in but were over taken by boat after boat. After observing the wind being steady around 15 knots, we raised the main sail fully to catch up with the others.Two little incidents happened within two hours of start. First Jason my 10yo threw up unexpectedly on the flybridge, even though he took a seasickness tablet before starting. Then while carrying lunch upstairs to the captain, a plate of food slid off the table as my stretched out arm was 10cm too short to catch it. While cleaning the mess on the floor I got nauseous too. So two seasickness casualties on the first day.We overcame. read more...

Aquavita - Day 2 alone in the big ocean

We could see most of the ARC fleet on AIS yesterday. This morning they have all disappeared off the AIS. At 13.00 we checked the mileage, we've done 156nm in the first 24 hours. That makes our average speed in 15-25 knot wind at 6.5kt. The main had 2 reefs in before sunset yesterday, at about 04.00 this morning the jib was pulled in as wind was increasing and gusting to 30kt.Jason was still seasick, he was lying down on the sofa except when he had to sit up to eat. But whatever he ate either came out straight away or not long after. Poor boy! Hope after the first few days his body will adjust to the rhythm of the ocean.Foodstuff moved around in the fridge. When I opened the fridge in the morning tubs of yogurt fell out and cracked. So I had those for breakfast. Very healthy yogurt. read more...

Cohiba - Day 7 - another glorious day in paradise

Sailing stuff : Sail plan change ,that’s another story for later.With apologies to “four in a bed” (UK TV)How was your reception on “Cohiba” ?Great the week of partying in Las Palmas was much needed.How are you hosts on “Cohiba”?Lovely Cecilie and Mark are great hosts.How are the facilities at “Cohiba”?Very nice having the gents heads en-suite is a bonus (most of the time).How is the entertainment at “Cohiba”?Great , fish for dinner, Mahi-Mahi, and some bloody phone game with numbers?!How did you sleep at “Cohiba”?Between watches(I think)Would you come to “Cohiba” again?YES YES YES YES Will you be paying in full?YES YES YES YES John. read more...

Ca Canny - Day 5 - flying fish

Position 18:35/59"N 24:9/19"W   Continue our sail to Cape Verde to carry out sailrepair, seems to be taking forever as we are all keen to get back on trackand head for St Lucia. Our day was made a little brighter when we spottedflying fish several times skimming the water and flying what seemed like 30-40 meters. We had 2 land on the deck which we found amusingas Alan has been fishing with no success and now they are jumping ontothe boat. Alan is currently more likely to catch a cold than afish. Approx 100 miles until Cape Verde which should mean wearrive early afternoon tomorrow. We are hoping for quick turnaround and get onour way. Self praise is not praise but I was proud ofmy home made cottage pie this evening which went down well with everyoneand the. read more...