Daily Logs

Albatross - YB Connect Message from Fernando Assens

Nov 23 - Fourth Day at SeaAll is well. We continue our bumpy ride west. Much more different than the relaxed trade winds sailing we were expecting!We get weather reports from three sources: ARC, Commander Weather, and wind grids downloaded into iNavX. All three sources are pretty consistent. This year the trade winds have developed much further south than usual, with very light winds. To get trade winds of at least 10 knots we would have had to go to 10°-12°Nwhich is further south than St Lucia. The best route this year will then be to head straight west until Sunday, on a narrow wind band between the high pressure west of the Azores and the low pressure south of us. Sailing this course, on a beam, with waves coming to us on starboard makes for a continuously rocking boat. Cooking is not. read more...

Faraway - Faraway log 7, N 26.11.23 W 23.09.09, 23 November 2016

We continue to make great process. We sailed almost 340 NM during the past 48 hours. Much faster than we expected. Since we are not racing and have no intentions to be fast, it was a surprise to see that we are 5th in our division and 48th overall. This could well change as we have gybed 3 hours ago. We are now heading south (COG 205) and hope to be NW of Cape Verde on Saturday. After that we hope to pick up the trade winds which are forecasted to develop over the weekend. The track south is tricky and we hope to avoid areas without wind. Last night was very tough. Wind in squalls reached 25 knots, waves were 3-4 meters high and it was pitch dark. This made steering straight very difficult and it was tyring. We have just received a message from the rally office that 2 Jules Vernes Trophy. read more...

White Satin - Unexpected events

Wednesday 23rd November444 miles sailed2350 miles to goWhat we had planned to say originally in today's log is now somewhat trivial as at 14:20 we intercepted a Mayday call from a neighbouring boat. We have been sailing close to Noah for the last 36 hours and have been following them on our screen.They sent out a Mayday call stating that they were sinking and there were 3 adults and 2 children on board (Vicki is fairly certain it is the 'adorable' German family mentioned in the log last week - we had lunch with them on the day of the seminars).We were only 5 miles north of their position so we pulled down the sails and immediately motored over to them - it took us about an hour to reach them. Step by Step, a catamaran, also arrived shortly after us.However, in the meantime, a British. read more...

Sunrise - Report day 3 und 4

Nach einem guten Regatta - Start Richtung Süden später auf Westen um einen für uns günstigen Windkorridor zu erreichen - in dem wir uns mit 8 Knoten Segelgeschwindigkeit einen Tag und eine Nacht bei ca. 5 Windstärken aus Nordwest am Wind Richtung flott Richtung Westen bewegten - wurden wir vom Vercharterer Skipper-Team aufgrund der Windprognosen angewiesen, die Cape Verden anzulaufen. Ggf. werden wir die Insel zum Tanken und Wasseraufnehmen anlaufen. Wahrscheinlich werden wir bei gutem Wind dort am Sonntag ankommen. Wir waren alle etwas entäuscht über diese Anweisung, bleiben aber trotzdem optimistisch zeitgerecht in St. Lucia anzukommen. Wir kommen gut miteinander zurecht. Heute haben wir die ersten Delphine gesichtet. In den Nachtwachen ist der Himmel grenzenlos.Liebe Grüße von der. read more...

Woifal - Tag 4, Nacht 3

Hallo an alle da Draußen, letzte Nacht war gut, wir hatte keine Probleme und sind auch heute gut voran gekommen. Somit haben wir in 24 Std. 186 sm über Grund zurück gelegt, so dürfte es nach uns weiter gehen. Das Meer ist immer noch sehr unruhig, aber wir gewöhnen uns daran, das erleichtert das Bordleben. Wir haben für die Nacht auf einen Intervall von 2 Std. umgestellt, da das Steuern bei dieser Welle und absoluter Dunkelheit für uns sehr anstrengend ist. Wir fahren jetzt Down Wind Richtung Breitengrad 27 und dann bis 26 Nord 30 Minuten, dann drehen wir wieder komplett auf West. Allen geht es gut, keine Probleme an Bord. Ich muss jetzt ans Steuer, Reine wartet schon auf die Ablöse.Liebe GrüßeWolfgang. read more...

Pauline af Skanör - Log day 2 - Pauline time

Rapport 3 från havet den 23 november kl 13.30 Pauline tidHej igenVi mår fortfarande bra, det blir Aubergin gratäng till middag idag. Det rullar lite mer nu men fortfarande relativt små vågor. Pauline tid är nu inte längre samma som klockorna på Kanarieöarna. Vi har valt att ta tidsomställningen med 1 timme var tredje dag kl 12.00 för att få soluppgångar och nergångar vid naturliga tider.  Trippmätaren står på 565 nm av 2800, vi känner att vi ligger bra till och befinner oss på rätt ställe. Vi får se om vi tänkt rätt om ett par veckor.Vågorna och vinden är fortsatt behagliga. Fick gärna blåsa lite mer för att vi ska få ut maximalt ur Pauline. Hon behöver lite mer vind än de förhållandevis lätta katamaranerna och lättvindsbåtarna kring oss (More fun , Ludanka och Agalina).Vi har haft. read more...

Bluewaft - Bluewaft Log Day 4

Bluewaft Log Day 4Wednesday 23 November 201623°18’.413N 020°51’573WWe had a bumpy sail, with winds from the NE and a growing swell and wave action.The wind continued to clock so this morning at 9am we changed course to the SSE towards Cape Verde.This made for a much smoother ride. When the wind direction settles we’ll consider using the parasailor – but for now with the changeable wind direction and surrounding squalls we think it best to sail conservatively (main with one reef and jib only).The Atlantic swell is starting to settle, with 2 – 3 m rollers to our stern, so a smooth ride. The night watch was quiet, still quite cold with a little rain.We saw the last of the other sail boats heading further south of us under a red cruising chute. Marcus managed to catch one baby dorado.We lost. read more...

Endeavour of Cork - Day 7 - Wed 23rd November (again)

Well, the culinary delights just keep coming!!We've just lunched on soup and fresh brown bread hot out of the oven, baked by Conor - YUMMMMM!!! He's busy threatening banana bread for afternoon tea, as our moderate stock of bananas is ripening at an alarming rate and will need to be used up soon.Anais is mad to make crepes, but they're a bit on the egg-heavy side, and we don't have loads of eggs left so the feeling is that bread (requiring 1 egg per loaf) is a better value use of them.We'll also have to start rationing the butter if the hot brown bread keeps appearing - we milled through nearly half a tub of it at lunch alone!I'm on dinner duty tonight, and would normally revert to my usual Spag Bog (which is about the extent of my boat-cooking repertoire), but Denise reckons there's pork. read more...

Boni Venti - LOG DAY 3 - TO GYBE OR NOT TO GYBE...

A windy night up to 15 gusting 32kts with a big swell from the starboard side. Reefed main and genoa. Had supper outside in long trousers and fleeces – bowl food, with a lovely chili and rice. Night watches uneventful. Sleeping uncomfortable at best given the rolling sea state of the starboard quarter, so a slow start this morning.  Out with the fishing rod first thing but no luck yet despite the colourful lures sold to us by the fishing guru in the marina at Las Palmas. Fish on the menu this evening so Karen dipping into the freezer rather than us eating fresh from the ocean – maybe tomorrow.... Studied weather charts and forecast from ARC Control. Winds to die down in coming days if we continue on easterly tack, so after much debate, decision made to gybe and head south in. read more...

Boni Venti - LOG DAY 2 - THE WIND IS WITH US

Very calm yesterday afternoon, slowest boat speed down to 1.5kts with true wind at 4kts. Worked on the email system which is working fine, and Robert repaired a damaged spinnaker jammer on the mast. Highlight of the day was Karen’s fantastic supper – roasted chicken pieces, roast potatoes, veg & gravy and another quality Rioja – we are in the best restaurant in the Atlantic and the bad news for everyone else is that they can’t get a reservation...Wind picked up this morning at 0600, constant 14kts true and boat speed between 8 and 10kts. Scott at the helm ripping through the miles, genoa telltales straight and true. Great news to be making steady progress down towards Cape Verde Islands on heading 240 degs. One passing cargo ship overnight and a superyacht passed astern during lunch. read more...

Fleet II - Log 23rd November: Engine on...

We’ve given in to the weather – there was no magical appearance of any windso we’ve set off in search of some.  Our daily comms with others on thejourney indicates they’ve all reached much the same conclusion.  We’reheading south under power, where the forecasts indicate there might be a little,but there’s not a lot of certainty around.  This could be a longtrip!  I’m now feeling a little smug about all the amusement I created inmy ‘over-provisioning’! And if you have to be stuck somewhere, then its not bad to have clear blueskies, endless calm azure seas, and temperatures of 34 degrees.  What’s notto like? Till tomorrow ColinCBO. read more...

Cherish - Day 8: communication!

During the night watch we spotted another yacht motor sailing. She was 50m which makes her a superyacht. Skipper spoke to her crew on VHF to check her intentions and confirm our position and heading as we were sailing a tight course to make the most of the wind. She was called Baysian and was heading for St Lucia. Her British skipper was interested in the ARC and wished us well. Baysian means to do with probability the First Mate (Anthony) informed us. We looked her up later and she seems to be owned by a Hedge Fund owner…aptly named!WJGOPR1371.. read more...

Delfini - day 3 - Tuesday 23

Don't quite know where the F6/7 winds came from but it blew for most of the late afternoon and evening yesterday and we were forced to drop the main and carry on with a small bit of genoa for most of the night so slow progress and very unpleasant motion - this morning the wind has moderated so we have put up the main and poled out genoa heading 260 with 15 knots of wind from NEEating bananas like crazy before they turn to pap and last night's 1 pot chicken casserole was well received - had the small flying squid landed onboard a bit earlier it could have added something to the experience but it was too late so we returned it to the sea We are still doing 2 hour single watches giving us 6 potential hours sleep and according to the plotter we have put massive 350 miles under the keel since. read more...

Beltana II - Day Four and trundleing along well

There was a young lad from Liverpool Who thought crossing the Atlantic real cool He booked all his leave And with tricks up his sleeve He joined Beltana’s old fool.   Now history these lads they did have Never a wine did they drink that was bad But for culinary skills Certainly not dills And good times were mostly all had.   Paul and Jono go back to the mid 1990s when Paul joined the EasternAustralian coal mining fraternity and continues today. Paul’s great addition to the team is his early skills development in theIrish Sea where he weathered many a gale. Apart from that he is proving his skills in the galley, championed a greatwince selection for the tour, has great foredeck skills and is not too bad onthe helm either! Weather is good, North East now at 16-18 knots,. read more...

Beltana II - Day 3 events

The wind continues to blow 12-15 knots and we are barreling along at 8-8.5knots ourselves with the wind 100 degrees on our beam. Very nice sailingconditions indeed. We still have all three sails up trimmed to perfection and wehave passed two other yachts this morning! The oven is now operating very well, and the pizza is about to goin.....Let me introduce Johnny Martin. Johnny was the last crew member to committo this journey, but really we was waiting ages for me to say yes I would likeyou to come along for the ride. Thanks Johnny.  Johnny has been appointedas the ships medic for the voyage as he has skills in stitching people up andknows lots about drugs (he can also cure a tooth ache or two).  This rolehe takes very seriously, and has checked out all the drugs I shipped on. read more...

Mustique - Day 4 - Third Blog a swell time was had by all

The wind and swell continued with everyone a little subdued as we found our sea-legs, but we were soon back on form as it also allowed us to make excellent progress (perhaps 200 miles plus). So all the talk of wishing we’d packed our Christmas presents and a tree were banished today and we once again started moving our thoughts back to the arrival date sweepstakes.In spite of these conditions Finn continues to amaze in the kitchen (tuna sandwiches and pasta yesterday and looking forward to cheese and ham toasties today).Dave has finally got his fishing rod out today and almost caught a fish with his first cast of the day but was unable to cling onto it as I am told the swell meant the line tension got too slack - a likely excuse!).Stef continues to react swiftly to make any unhappy. read more...

Freedom - Tag 3 - frische Briese

Den Vormittag über fahren wir mit Genua und Großsegel bei konstanten 5 Beaufort. Der Seegang wird stärker. Am Nachmittag machen wir erst 1 Reff später 2 und auch die Genua wird gerefft, da der Wind zunimmt und boeiger wird. Den Tag über beschrenken wir uns auf das Wesentliche, die Welle macht das Leben an Bord unkomfortabel. Abends gibt es nochmal aufgewärmte Linsensuppe, wir haben beide aber keinen Appetit. Bevor die Nacht kommt, nehmen wir das Großsegel weg und fahren mit der gerefften Genua weiter. Die Nacht verläuft ruhig. Wir sehen keinen Segler, müssen aber einem Fischer ausweichen.Lg Sabrina+Hermann. read more...

EH01 - Day 3 - 22 November

Since our last blog yesterday evening we’ve been trucking along in goodpressure. Helming at night was difficult for everyone in full darkness but thecrew held their nerve and were surfing the waves all night. Awesome job.! Wegybed earlier this morning and now heading South-South West towards the latitudeof the Cape Verdes. The weather forecast is promising for the next 24 hours butthen we will find ourselves in lighter winds again. Hopefully still enough tokeep us moving. Based on our weather routing we will keep going on this SW’lycourse until Sunday/Monday when we can turn right and head directly for StLucia.   Comments from the EH01 Marketing Director   Sailor of the day- Pricey`s pirates Ionut Lupu aka “Helming Harry” definitely wins sailor of the day for ourwatch as it was. read more...

Nisida - Day 3

Lumpy conditions and a few of us feeling a little queasy during the last 24hrs.That said we have managed a 24hr run of over 200nm.Just under 2300 nm to go as of midday today.. read more...

Challenge 93 (Fisher&Paykel NZ) - Day 1-4:

Blog of Fisher& Paykel Challenge 93: Day 1-4:After an exciting start we enjoyed great sailing within the impressing fleet of boats. Since day 3 we have moderate wind and have not been overtaken by any turtles anymore. Crew in very good mood and everyone is getting settled to the shifts. Looking forward to challenging days of hopefully fast sailing and much more dolphins for company. :-) Cheers, Crew of Challenge 93. read more...

Koco - 3.Tag auf See

Aufkommender Wind am späten Abend erlaubt es uns den Code Zero zu fahren. Fahrt: 8-10 Knoten. Wind nimmt weiter zu. Gegen 1:30 Uhr Nachts holen wir den Code Zero wegen zu viel Wind ein und fahren mit der Standard-Betuchung weiter. Wind nimmt weiter zu ca. 15-19 Knoten. Ziemlich starker Wellengang erschwert den geruhsamen Schlaf. Die Wellen schlagen an den Kat, als würde jemand mit dem Vorschlaghammer gegen die Bordwand dreschen. Gegen 9:00 Uhr Frühstück. Weiterhin Fahrt mit der Standard-Betuchung bei 7-9 Knoten fahrt. Sonne scheint. Vereinzelt Wolken. Angel ist ausgeworfen. Am Nachmittag gesellen sich eine Gruppe von 8 Delfinen zu uns und begleiten die Koco. So fahren wir in den Abend. hinein, ohne weitere Vorkommnisse.. read more...

Endeavour of Cork - safety stuff and a tale of survival of the Robertsons from 1972

For a trip like this safety is terribly important. We are now 800 miles from the nearest land (5-6 days)and in case of an emergency must rely on ourselves and the boats around us if we can contact them, Helicopters dont have the range to come out this far.I know we have a number of younger followers who are very interested in the adventure so i thought i would let ye know about some of the things that can go wrong, the safety equipment-some very high-tech and some very basic and why we bring it. I think you might be surprised at the amount of preparation needed.As we all know, even the unsinkable "Titanic" went down so our first concern is to prevent sea water from flooding the boat. There are a few ways this could happen. A collision with another ship/boat, a collision with an. read more...

Gwendoline - 3. day at sea

S/Y Gwendoline M - Atlanterhavskryds23. november. 10.45 UTC.On bord Lene, Bente, Annette, Maiken, Oliver, Orla og KimPos: 24.50N 17.40WIt is now 10.45 UTC, and the wind has been with us since it came last night at 02.45. This also means bigger swell, and therefore also a more rolling kind of sailing.This has affected the crew, and seasickness has been our steady companion for the last 24 hours. Especially Maiken has been hit hard, but we hope that it will pass within the next 48 hours. The wind has been steady at 20 knots, and we are sailing a pleasent beam reach, right now on course 260, in order to minimize the rolling.Yesterday we had sandwich with ham and red pepper for lunch. For dinner we had planned to make a nice big Chinese inspired portion of fried nudles, but the sea was to. read more...

Numa - Overstyrmann Roberts dag 2

Roberts reiselogg dag 3:Forrige logg var som den våkne leser oppfattet både for dag 1 og dag 2 :-).I og med at "Pær" er svensk, og Mona "halvt svensk" har det offisielle arbeidsspråket blitt satt til svorsk under overfarten, så det blir vi "jædrans goda på" ;-)Heldigvis er styrbord og babord, ag mange andre av de maritime ord og uttrykk det samme både på norsk, svensk og svorsk :-)Våknet i dag klokken 4:30 av en trommesolo trommeslager ville missunt.Sikkerhetslinen som går fra akter til forut på hver baug lå og slo i dekket i vinden.Motoren var stoppet og båten gjorde god fart i vannet.En deilig måte å våkne opp på :-)Det så ut til å bli en strålende dag, seilmessig, noe det også ble.Uten å ha sjekket vil jeg anta at vi har hatt en gjennomsnittsfart på godt over 7 knop :-)Også i dag ble. read more...

La Contenta - Day 3 Shake Rattle and Roll

A truly memorable 2 days: becalmed one day and F7 the next with very littlewarning. We were shaken our of our comfort zone as the boat began to rattle andthe sea to roll.  But it did feel good to be on the move again.   We are beginning to settle into a daily routine.  We are stillconcerned with the daily fruit discharge and are becoming creative with thefruit and veg that isn’t surviving well. Quartermaster Cal and Ewen have amorning inspection of the bilges, boxes and nets and remove any that is lookingdodgy.  Yesterday the peppers were cooked in olive oil and balsamic andwill form bruschetta toppings at our sun-downers. Today the persimmons are beinglightly cooked and frozen for a crumble.  The avocados are beingtransformed into guacamole, and fajitas will be. read more...

M one - Mittwoch 23.11.16

Mittwoch 23.11.16 Bordzeit 4.30 Uhr Der siebte TagAction purWer meint mitten auf dem Atlantik aber wirklich mitten drauf bei 0 Wind und 0 Welle nichts erleben zu können, irrt gewaltig.Nachdem der Crew klar war das über Tage Flaute herrschen würde, und der Diesel nicht ausreicht um diese unter Motor zu umfahren, musste eine andere Lösung her.Es begann eine intensive Kommunikation mit diversen Ansprechpartnern auf der ganzen Welt.Eine Lösung wurde gefunden.Frank sollte aufgrund seiner angeblichen Zahnschmerzen zusammen mit seinem Fisch und seiner Angel gegen Diesel eingetauschtund mit einem Schnellboot zu einer Zahnklinik nach Dakar verbracht werden.Der Mannschaftsrat stimmte jedoch gegen diese Lösung da nicht sichergestellt werden konnte die Verpflegung mit Fisch durch Alternativen. read more...

Shalan - Day 3

24:01N 21:11WGood Evening all!It's 4:30am here at time of writing on Wednesday morning.Last night (Monday night) we had a lovely peaceful nights sleep. 5 knots of wind and we carried on through the night managing a speed of about 3 to 4 knots. It was flat calm and we had a very civilised dinner up top with a cold beer. Since leaving we have only used the engine for 30 minutes so thats really good. Our hairbrain idea of buying a projector to watch a film on the main sail could have been done last night, but sadly I ruled that expediture out in Las Palmas along with the harpoon. Due to my regret in ruling it out I now have a new nickname....Captain Hindsight!The wind picked up this morning and we were stonking along with a dolphin escort for around 20 mins at 09:30.The main and code 0. read more...

Enigma - Day 8 - still not at halfway house

We've been at sea a week now. No weavels, scurvy or mutiny to report. We are having to cope with light to none existent winds and have resorted to using the engine more than we'd like. We all want to get to St Lucia before Christmas. 2016.The moonrise this morning was spectacular. A large orange smiley rose at the back of Enigma casting an ethereal moonlight across the water. Either we're being laughed at or things will be happy. Or, its just another moonrise.I won't name names, but again i saw a yacht quite close to us, with tricolour, steaming lights and navigation lights all burning ! What happened to the International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea ? Is it faulty electronics or ignorance ? Sorry but as a RYA Cruising Instructor this kind of thing does grate a little.. read more...

Endeavour of Cork - Day 7 Wed 23rd Nov

Wednesday 23/112am (UTC-2, we changed our watches.Not sure if a good idea or not....)Just in off a midnight - 2am watch, and I have to say it was no hardship at all, apart from the dragging myself out of the bunk for it bit.It's the most beautiful, clear, calm starry night out there - sky littered with stars, Milky Way overhead, Orion's Belt to port (or at least I thought it was Orion's Belt, now Anais informs me that I've got that wrong - goodness knows what it's called then, but it's one of only two constellations I can recognise.Can't find The Plough, I assume it's hidden by the bimini).A plane went over in the stratosphere by the looks of it, I could just about see the blinking of the lights among the stars.A couple of shooting stars.And then, just at the end of my watch, I turned. read more...

Wethomi - //WL2K 23. November 2016

Oh wind, my old friendWhy away from here so far?Come back to the placewhere the ARC-people are.(Famous midatlantic poem)What else happened?Impressing rainbows, crew trying to catch even the slightest bit of wind, caught no fish.1400 NM to St. Lucia - place of good winds. read more...

Hot Stuff - blog start day

We all tried to start the day with a good breakfast. Skipper Sophie and First mate Thalita had worked through the night to fix our last minute equipment issues so they especially needed to start the day with some nice food!We filled up the water tanks for the last time and had a little safety quiz from Sophie which we passed with flying colours. Our shore party of friends and family took some team photos then waved us off! We were one of the first boats out of the marina and were serendaded out by a marching band. It was so special to see so many people on the breakwater waving us off (and a few dogs!) The water was pretty calm but most of us had to change into warmer kit as we prepared to race. Turns out we were a little too eager as we were too early for the start gate where the ARC. read more...

Jasmine - DAY 3. Sailing at last.

The wind filled in from the north west last night shortly after my watch began at 0400 and has continued since,the forecast is for it to last 48 hours. We are heading southwest with the wind on the beam and Jasmine is romping along at 8 knots and behaving as if she is enjoying it aa much a we are.The sea is sparkling in the sun with bright white wavecaps .At last real progress and great sailing.Last night shortly after watch began,with help of a sky guide we identified Mars low on the eastern horizon. Very bright,large and easy to pick out from the nearby stars. Later Mike heard dolphins blowing in the darkness which prompted us to shield the stern light and look out over the stern.To our delight the phosphorescence in the sea allowed us to see dolphins playing behind the boat,the. read more...

Challenger 4 - Challenger 4 Day Two

We flapped around somewhere off Africa and didn’t catch a fish….This is mothers watch reporting in for today Challenger 4 blog.A very light day of wind but this gave everyone a chance to settle in and get on with the tasks in hand. It was also the crew’s first night sail which was enjoyed by all. Everyone was impressed by the phosphorescent and some of the crew managed to see some shooting stars.We tried fishing but we think the fish were going too fast for us to keep up with them. Hopefully we will get a chance to catch some on our crossing.This was our first day of not seeing land and we won’t see any land until we reach St Lucia.Hot day for the mother watch working down below with our cleaning duties – our first baking attempt proved a success with the crew even though we almost set. read more...

Albatross - YB Connect Message from Fernando Assens

Nov 22 - Third Day at SeaAll is well. Today we had a visitor. A small black sea bird found its way onto our head (toilet). We believe we are at least 200 miles from Africa, the closest land, so either the bird is completely lost or we are! We also experienced the first equipment failure, at 3:30 am, the spinnaker got wrapped around the rigging and ripped, Lolo and James, on duty, could not bring it down. All hands on deck! We hoisted Chuck up the mast and 30 minutes later we had the spinnaker down. We are now on a beam reach with Jib and Main. We have two other spinnakers and if need be we can always fix this one. The advantages of having Billy, a former sailmaker, on board.Winds have been steady, from 10-15 knots, on a beam or close reach. We are heading straight west on the advice of. read more...

Challenger 2 - Challenger 2 Day Two

So, day two….Entry one: More eventful for what was happening on the boat than around it or to it.We didn’t move very far, and the water was very calm and still.But, despite the lack of wind, we had plenty going on board, settling into the rhythm of our watches and snoozes.Today was also the first Mother watch, with Heather, James and Tom stepping up to show us how it’s all done.They certainly set the bar high, starting with hot drinks early morning, and there was particular appreciation for lunchtime veggies and dinnertime pork chops.So, fair to say a degree of apprehension for the rest of us mothers, about following such an impressive act.After a 6am sail change in the dark, the lack of wind meant there was not much in the way of action.But the weather was lovely and our crew whiled. read more...

Skyelark of London - Day 2

So the second full day into the ARC 2016 and we are settling into our routines here on Skyelark. Up to now the winds have been very kind to us with a nice gentle introduction to Ocean sailing.The past 24 hours have been reasonably eventful. Yesterday a pod of Pilot Whales past very close to the stern and today we had 2 pods of dolphin playing around in the bow wave. As someone whose cruising ground is the North Sea this is a great novelty. In fact just the temperature is a great novelty!We managed to pick up a discarded fishing net today. A good job we were under sail rather than engine. Earlier we had managed to break the fishing rod trying to land a big one. No, honestly! The recovered fishing net would have been a poor substitute.Winds are set to increase so progress should improve.Rik. read more...

Ximera - Day 3 -

26∞51.57 N - 016∞ 37.19 W to Dolphins and a small boat are our companion for the night. The wind has changed to NNW and now we can head again 220∞, we want the butter to melt! Keeping Orion to our starboard above the mast help us to keep our pulpit addressing WSW.And now as we settle into our night watch pattern, the wind is gusting upto 22 knots so we quickly put in two reefs so it's more manageable for the night. Despite the reefs we are still pulling over 9 knots and making great time down to Cape Verde.Then the fishing rod bent and a meter of line escaped ... a big fish having a little nibble.Giacomo and Mike have teased out taste buds with culinary delights including Mike's now famous risotto.Tomorrow it's the girl's turn to cook ... I wonder what's i store?3 Lunch. read more...

Exhale - Too little or too much

Having spent yesterday looking for wind with very little success and a lot of sail trimming for most of the day, wind arrived about 5am this morning and just like home it was on the nose. So expected downwind sailing is on hold for the moment. Settling in to a building sea and squalls but now cracked off doing 9 Kts through the water with two reefs in the main. Who said we don't know how to cruise! Everyone settled in well with a good start to the cooking.. read more...

EH01 - Day 2 - Tuesday, 22/11

We had a very slow and slightly frustrating second day yesterday. After wemanaged to make some progress in fairly light but steady conditions during thefirst 24 hours, yesterday afternoon we found ourselves pretty much in a windhole averaging about 2 knots for over a 12 hours – while most of our fleetmanaged to stay in some breeze and pulled away from us. However, massive creditto the crew for staying focused all that time and doing all they could to keepthe boat moving. Wind finally filled in at around 3am this morning and we’vebeen trucking along averaging nearly 9 knots since, which means we’ve coveredover 100 miles over the past 12 hours. Crew is very happy.   We’ve made the decision to choose the southerly route and pass the CapeVerde islands to port (left) before we can turn. read more...

Pauline af Skanör - Log dag 2 - Going strong

Rapport 2 från havetHej igenVi alla mår bra och jobbar nu i skift för att hålla fart i båten, att se till att maximal säkerhet uppnås bland annat genom bra sömn och att vi inte får några skador på båt och manskap.Skiftgången har nu börjat sätta sig och alla vänjer sig med att inte veta vad det är för dag längre. Tur att mobilklockorna fungerar fortfarande. Pauline tid är samma som klockorna på Kanarieöarna. Vi har nu gjort 13% av överfarten till St Lucia och trippmätaren står på 383 nm.Vågorna är ca 3 meter från topp till dal, vilket får betraktas mer som östersjövågor. Vinden har legat mellan 7-15 knots vilket får anses som behagligt.I natt hade vi en lite incident när vi träffade en regnby (squalls) med 20 knots vind i. Genakern, som låg inpackad i sin säck på fördäck, fick tag i en. read more...

Enigma - Day 6 - hot

Subject: Day 6 - hotWe had a lovely sail during the night in a steady 12-17kts SE  and made good progress. This continued up to about 10:40 am this morning when suddenly the wind just vanished. Its last dying breaths were forward of the beam - something i never thought I'd experience on crossing this far south. The good news is we seemed to avoid the squalls on the horizon which darkened the morning skies.It has given us an opportunity to dry off the last of our damp clothing and do some washing. Not much else to report. We're all well and have most of the creature comforts one can live with. This includes ice cream and cake.Paul, Allan, Diane and Viv. read more...

Enigma - Day 5 - like Wales...but warmer

Subject: Day 5 - like Wales...but warmerNow for those of us who are mathematically numerate, you will notice there has been no Day 4 blog. There's a very good reason for this. A squall the size of Wales came and sat on us yesterday for about 6 hours. Everything on the boat, including us, was and still is soaked. So it was a bit risky trying to write anything without an iPad or PC that wasn't in a waterproof housing...which of course we don't have. How we laughed at the 35 kt gusts that hit us yesterday when compared to the "gentle" winds that were forecast. How I laughed when my old waterproof Musto light trousers acted as a wick soaking up any moisture in the atmosphere and depositing it on my legs and undies. How we laughed when the Bimini deposited 30 gallons of fresh water down my. read more...

Enigma - Day 3 - that was an interesting watch !

Subject: Day 3 - that was an interesting watch !During the night the roller on the furling mechanism to the Simbo sail parted company from the bowsprit. The offending snap shackle had lost its bar and hence became a useless piece of junk in an instant. Why is it in sailing that these things happen only after we had thought, "we must check the rigging on that bowsprit" but decided to leave it till the morning. However Allan made good with various pieces of rope tying the roller to the bowsprit and decided to wait for light before attempting a proper repair.Morning arrived and we replaced the rope with two large shackles, moused on for security. Of course it wasn't as straight forward as that sentence may imply. The sail was under load and what we thought would be an easy job somehow. read more...