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Charm Offensive - Life aboard a Hanse 445, crossing the Atlantic with the ARC



Life aboard Charm Offensive a Hanse 445, crossing the Atlantic with the ARC:

Crew Onboard:
Nick Black - Skipper
John Black - First mate A.K.A Cabin Boy (Nick's father)
Peter Smith - Navigator
Javier Perez - Chef Extraordinaire, Helmsman

Sailing update:
The winds keep blowing, we have had an average of 20kts with a low of 11kts and highs of 37kts at about 160-180 true. This has been for the last 7 days. To begin with we had higher winds of around 28kts which allowed us to surf very well. Javier reached max speed of 20.3kts  surfing down a wave. Since then the waves have dissipated and so has the swell so the surfing is still fun but the speeds less. The main is setup with a preventer and the jib has been poled out most of the trip.

Gourmet cooking update:
Javier our Spanish chef is making the most amazing gourmet Spanish meals, we are going through a lot of olive oil, AussieMite and pizza is being made from scratch. We caught a nice sized Dorado (Mahi Mahi) and a beautiful garlic sauce was quickly whipped up.

Black eyes:
The Skipper currently has a black eye, navigator Peter Smith and the Skipper had a run in. What actually happened was the saloon table had given way so the Skipper was working on the cylinder that holds it up to see if it could be repaired when all of sudden a rogue wave hit us and Peter was airborne flying across the cabin towards the Skipper. Peter landed on the Skipper’s head which was stopped just below the eye socket on the stem of the saloon table.

Injuries:
Nicks black eye
Peter various abrasions
Javier’s extreme gourmet cooking caused a back injury. Luckily for the crew this hasn't slowed down his cooking.

Fish:
1 large Dorado (Mahi Mahi) has been caught
1 small Dorado was caught but released
Numerous fish have goten away

Funny Anecdotes:
While the Skipper was on watch a flying fish flew over the gunnel and into his stomach, this slightly winded him.
Javier thought he saw a person in the water but it turned out to be a big turtle

Broken parts:
The water makers high pressure motor has given up - The hot showers I promised the crew have been replaced with salt water bird baths
Chaffing is occurring on barber haul sheets
The saloon table came loose and had to be removed

Upgrades:
The rear water tank has been plumped into the mains system with its own water pump. Each tank can be isolated and we have redundancy in water tanks and pumps.
Due to the water maker giving up we are now using the low pressure water maker salt water pump as a water outlet over the sink and for showering.
Anti Chaff has been installed on the shrouds

TV shows watched:
The Skipper has watched the last 4 episodes of underbelly season 3
The Skipper is up to season 5 episode 8 of Breaking Bad and really wants to know what happens next!!!

TV shows to watch:
Underbelly season 4
Aircrash investigations season 11
Homeland season 1
Criminal Minds

Learning onboard:
Javier’s English is coming along very well - there are the occasional faulty towers moments when Javier AKA Manuel is talking about something completely different to us but we all nod agree and laugh together.
Dad and Pete have learnt about modern music but can't help to complain about it - so there is a bit more learning required here.
The Skipper has learnt a lot more about navigating, great circles and where trade winds should be. Plus how to set up wind routing which none of us are convinced in using. Also learning Spanish is coming along but somewhat slowly.

Provisioning:
Well what can we say, Javier is amazing, he cooks amazing meals every time and we are exactly on track for a week’s worth of supplies. We have enough Aussiemite and it is being used as a stock for Javier’s cooking.

Current position:
18 02N 36 19W
Miles completed: 1375NM
Miles to go: 1434nm
At the time of writing this we are almost half way to St Lucia.

Mood aboard
The mood is very upbeat with everyone getting well and in high spirits. There is a lot of happy sailing and jokes ongoing.


Cheers,

Nick Black
(Skipper)

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