Daily Logs

Skyelark of London - Day 15, 4th December 2011

Day 15, 4th December 2011First of all, a correction from yesterday - it is plain James Lind, without the Sir..As we now have less than 500 miles to our destination, our thoughts turn to arrival and how we may prepare ourselves for the culture shock of St Lucia, surely a far cry from the tapas bars of Gran Caneria. Our preparations to date have been to crank up the Bob Marley on the music system!Thoughts of arrival lead me to reflect upon the nature of the trip. Travel by air and you are dropped into your destination without any opportunity for adjustment to both the time zone and culture of the destination. Travel by land gives you ample opportunity to adjust and experience the changing cultures of the people you meet along the way - the writings of Wilfred Thesinger, Eric Newby, Dervla. read more...

Great Escape of Southampton - Day 15 (somewhere)

A D I P  On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me… Three sails are flying, Two reefs in the main And a suntan that will last until spring Back to sailing. Yesterday we had the benefit of a reasonable F 4 to 5 E wind which with all sails up and skilled crew we managed some decent miles on the tacho and some impressive bursts of speed. The boat seems well balanced in the gusts which means most of us can sleep as the night before there was a riot down below with a lot of crashing and banging and stuff flying about. This seems to be the case when the boat is dictated to by the following rollers rather than getting herself together with the wind.A very disappointing day on the fishing front with not a sniff from anything, I think they have us cornered. More fish are. read more...

Lancelot - Day 14 - 2 Weeks at Sea

Morning All   Well 2 weeks at sea so far, in some ways it seems to have gone very quickly and in others it has been a while coming.I would imagine by now that my bank are becoming worried for my safety as not a penny of my money has been spent in a single pub for over 14 days! They need not worry as some time mid week they will soon become aware of our presence in the bars of St Lucia!! We have had a stable breeze of around 20 knots for the past 24 hrs so our praying to the wind gods seems to be going well so far and we are close approaching the 450nm left to go mark, fingers crossed! Today we are going to get back on the fishing mission as we have been a bit beaten down by the fish of the Atlantic so far, but we can't let a whole crossing go by without even landing one,. read more...

Scarlet Oyster - The Winds of Change... 4/12/11

Morning all,As expected the wind has dropped a lot already, unfortunately our expected 30deg right shift has not shown up, so we are now straight upwind of the mark... To add insult to already serious injury, there is now a current against us to the tune of around half a knot!This is conspiring to make us feel a little anxious about our finishing time, especially as the wind is set to drop further!As I am typing the wind is moving slightly right, fingers crossed this is it, but 10knots of wind with a big swell is not really what we were looking for!Keep those wind dances going!CheersRoss. read more...

Jacana of Ardmay - 3/12/11

Hi Everyone,   We cannot rub it in about the weather today as it started off pretty poor..............rain, although by the afternoon it came good, however we have lost wind and our speed has reduced down to between 4.5 and 5.5 knots but we are under 900 miles now! Young Andrew did some more fishing, only managed to bring in some seaweed, but Chef Fred made us a lovely dinner of paella, although our store cupboard has less choice we are managing to still eat well. We did spot another yacht today, not for long before it disappeared over the horizon and a tanker, how longer before we sight land??   Team Jacana        . read more...

Elisa - daar istie weer

Twee gezichten.We zijn nu bijna twee weken onderweg en in deze fantastische weken zijn een paar belangrijke lessen geleerd. De eerste is dat van enige overschatting geen sprake mag zijn. Het is misschien een cliché maar op oceaan realiseer je je hoe nietig je bent en mag je niets voor vanzelfsprekend aannemen. Het tweede dat je leert is dat kwaliteit boven alle vormen van kwantiteit gaat. Dat laatste geldt voor het materiaal als ook voor het aantal af te leggen zeemijlen per etmaal. Onderstaande drie alinea’s schreef ik drie dagen geleden een de laatste twee alinea’s gaan over gisteren en vandaag. Hoewel er geenzins sprake is geweest van noodweer illustreert het wel wat ik met bovenstaande bedoel. Twee dagen geleden; De Elisa ligt nu al twee dagen op een rechte koers. read more...

Challenger 4 - Day 14 - 4 December 2011

CHALLENGER 4 BLOG: DAY 14:4TH DECEMBER 2011.It's been an all action day on board Challenger 4.In the middle of the night Skipper noticed a small tear in theYankee foresail near a hank,As quick as a flash the sail was down and wonder woman, watch leader, chef, sail maker Pam was on the job with a patch and before White Watch came on deck it was as if nothing had happened.Later in the day another small repair was required this time on the batten pocket of the second from top batten of the mainsail.This was due to a small metal bracket coming adrift near the mast.Replete with harness, bracket and screws as well as the ship's camera Skipper Steve was hoisted to the top of the mast by Luis and Di - a very hard task knowing the Skipper's colossal weight and the very hot weather.Happy snaps of. read more...

Porto Santo - 03/12

E lá se passou mais 1 dia,o tempo manteve-se encoberto,choveu um pouco,o vento não é muito,vai-nos levando a 5n....A ondulação mantem-se atravessada,o que é incómodo.Fizemos 140nm no 1º dia,o que é razoavel.Hoje devemos fazer menos.E a rotina vai-se instalando,ainda temos muito para andar.. read more...

Aztec Dream - Aztec Dream - 04/12/11 - The egg has been layed....

Apparently 'the egg has been layed' is the title of Bob & Lincy's blog piece below in Flemish.....not entirely sure what it all means!We had another good days sailing yesterday, covering 157.5 nautical miles and we now have just over 600 miles to completing the crossing in St. Lucia. Most of our fresh vegetables have now gone....using the last of the salad yesterday too....but amazingly nothing rotted, we just ran out. So we're down to the last of the potatoes, onions, apples, oranges and limes. Amanda is also taking the competition for the best basil plant seriously, nurturing the one onboard with water and a chat every day.....clearly she's running out of things to say to the human crew. Aztec's systems are all still running well, though we have found some. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 14 - still light winds #2

We passed the 1000 miles to go point yesterday afternoon and celebrated with a beer/cognac-tonic/water. Its quite nice to see the waypoint countdown work rather than being stuck on 999miles.The weather gods have clearly not been listening to the forecasters again - winds were as light as 8 kts over the last 24 hours and rarely over 15 kts. Still, we managed to make a 24 hour run of 132 miles in the right direction which was pretty good. Hopefully we'll get some more wind today. Looking ahead, there seems to be a big hole in the weather to the east of St Lucia through the middle of next week with little winds (or so the GRIB files tell us). If that happens we'll need to motor a long way - we've probably fuel for 550 miles left on board, but that blows the competition as motoring hours are. read more...

Ula - Day 14 Intimacy!

P { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.21cm }Day 14 Intimacy!There are many challenges and joys of passage sailing, and they can normally be allocated to one of two categories: Boat, or People.Look after the boat, and she'll look after you. Treat her gently, be firm but kind. Scrub her bottom when she needs it and hose her down every now and then. Simple.People. They're much more tricky. Let's be honest, lots of us took to the sea to get away from the great hoardes in the first place. And then you find yourself in the middle of the ocean, actually relying on a crew of motley individuals to get you and your precious vessel to wherever she's supposed to be. They leave their lifejackets around, they eat all the fig rolls, they don't wash up. If they do wash up, they make too much noise. Honestly. No wonder. read more...

Sookie - Day 14 (twelve)

Day 14 (Twelve)   A special day today... Derek's birthday!!!! No cake, no candles, no presents (well, I gave him a Pepperammi from my personal stash) just good company a curry this evening and a couple of beers. Hoisted cruising chute nice and early and so enjoyed a good day's passage. We are beginning to catch a few boats now and the tension on the boat mounts - the pressure is on. Not a lot to report on activity apart from my wife emailing to say the warranty on my car had run out and it's broken down... funny that, it's probably still my fault! Oh yeah, and that Annie is really missing Andy !!!!  (thought everyone should know that especially McKinnon). Time to sign off now, curry's ready and we're all starving...till the morrow. JG DCA5. read more...

Ula - Day 12/13 Race! (Written by Boris the Spinnaker)

P { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.21cm }Day 12/13 Race! (Written by Boris the Spinnaker) Before we left Gran Canaria, Skip told me that this ARC thing is a cruising rally. He reminded me that cruising is a passage from A to B in a safe and seamanlike manner. Ha ha ha, I laughed in his face. You may call it a cruise, but you're not fooling me, I said. You're all boy racers really, your boats are like souped-up Vauxhall Astras, and we spinnakers are the go-faster stripes. Whatever you say, I know you don't want to come last.Anyway, after days of not seeing any other vessels, at early o'clock, I, Boris the Spinnaker, and the human crew spied a yacht off the port bow. Who was it? Were they part of ARC? Skipper filled me in on the information received from the AIS (I struggle to operate the soft keys. read more...

Ula - Log Day 11 Misplaced Caution

P { MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.21cm }Day 11 Misplaced CautionYesterday we aired on the side of caution. With forecast gusts of over 25 kts, and a forecast sustained 20kts of breeze we decided to keep Boris flying during the day, and not change to Big Boy at dawn. The wind never appeared, and we had a lazy cruisie day. So this morning, with a similar forecast, I decided to ignore the predicted wind speed, and we hoisted Big Boy at dawn as usual. Moments after, we are flying along in 25 kts of breeze, surfing at 13 kts, a far cry from our lazy cruisie day yesterday. Typical. Now we are in the unenviable position of making a choice, either keep the sail flying and hope that it will hold itself together with some keen helming, or try to wrestle it down, with a much higher risk of breakage. On the plus. read more...

Kantara - All over tan: 16.18.99N 48.20.704W

Hi All,'On the good ship Venus (Kantara didn't rhyme) by god they should have seen us , when I got up , there was Ian at the helm, steering with his great big p*n*s' Yes, today 2 of the crew went mad and declared it an 'all over tan day' which is fine when you are hung like a donkey. But the funny thing is Andy and Ian were competing for the crinkly maggot trophy-the winner of which will be announced on 17th December in front of their families. We are waiting for the sea to calm before going up the mast to recover the  spinnaker halyard. We have had to sail all day goose winged with the white  sails which is a bit pedestrian when you are used to being riddled with  angst at the threat of the spinnaker wrapping around itself, the forestay or  any one of those useless. read more...

Sunrise - Log Day 14: Harte Nächte und man muss die feste feiern, wie sie fallen

Samstag, 3. Dezember 2011 - 14. Tag auf SeeNeptun und Petrus hatten sich ein Tag nach dem Bergfest gegen uns verschworen und einen wilden Kampf ausgefochten (oder haben sie sich einfach mal wieder gestritten?). Waren die beiden beleidigt, weil wir ihnen am nächsten Abend den "Sundowner" verweigert hatten? Wie auch immer, es war eine wilde Nacht. Es begann mit toller Geschwindigkeit und wir freuten uns auf den weiteren Vorsprung gegenüber unseren Konkurrenten. In der Dämmerung haben wir sogar die vor uns her fahrende Yacht (welche wir den ganzen Tag schon verfolgt hatten) quer ab. Ein kurzes Hallo per Funk heiterte die Stimmung noch auf, da wir erfuhren dass es sich bei unserem Tageskonkurrenten um eine besser eingestufte Yacht der ARC handelte.In der Nacht jedoch waren die. read more...

Nyda - Day 14: A very wet day

This morning dawned grey and overcast with several squalls threatening to hit. They duly did bringing more wind (good though not quite in the direction we wanted) and lots of rain (not so good). For several hours the waterproofs were on and it was more like sailing in the English Channel than en route to the Caribbean. It was a taste of home that quite frankly we could have done without! The afternoon brought clearer skies but also robbed us of wind. We are very aware that we don't carry enough fuel to get us the remaining 1000 miles or so to the finish so we didn't turn to the Volvo Sail. Luckily this evening the wind has decided to be kinder to us and we are back sailing at 5.5-6 knots, at this rate we will be down to triple figure milage by morning which will be a fantastic feeling.On. read more...

Cheeki Rafiki - Day 14

I have come on watch this morning at 0500. We are 390 miles from the finish, still holding 7 knots boat speed most of the time and surfing a few waves at 8 or 9 knots. The skies are particularly dark as the moon made its journey yesterday afternoon and early evening. As yet we have not seen an update on the fleet rankings.   Before leaving Las Palmas we heard a talk from Chris Tibbs. Following the talk the crew were very apprehensive about experiencing Atlantic squalls. Now that squalls seem to feature on most night watches and have become part of every day life they are considered a benefit. Not only do the squalls increase  boat speed but often provide a fresh water shower for those on deck! Last night we got hit rather suddenly by  a front coming through. read more...

Hanami II - Bit of a lull

Ran into a few squalls over the past day or two, nothing much, short increase in wind sppeed, and got a bit wet.  Well, actually, it was Marc who got wet as the squalls seemed to coincide with his watch.  In fact they coincide with my handover to him!   Now we have a lull.  Winds dropped to 7 or 8 knots and only making 4 to 5 knots of headway.  Dropped the main as it was making a racket, and sailing under twin headsails. Lowered the keel to counteract the wallow.   Had steak the  night before last,  with roasted   peppers and courgettes and chip-like potatoes. followed by baked apple stuffed with currents and honey. Caught a Mahi Mahi, so had half of that last night, cooked in white wine with ginger on a bed of leeke (the last of our. read more...

Meltemi - 04.12.2011

Meltemi 01.15 Uhr Bordzeit:Der Mond breitet seinen Schein gleich einem silbrigen Teppich über den dunklen Wellen aus. Die Cumulus-Wolken wirken wie große Watteberge, hinter denen sich die Sterne verstecken und nur gelegentlich hervorlugen. ...So sehr sich das schoen oder unschoen anhoert, drehen sich unsere Gespraeche seit gestern mehr und mehr um die Ankunft. Um das, was uns fehlt und das, was wir als erstes tun wollen, wenn die Reise beendet ist. Fester Boden unter den Fuessen, Duschen mit Suesswasser, kalte Getraenke, Speiseeis, frischer Fisch und wachfreie Naechte stehen da ganz oben auf der Prioritaetenliste.Der Plotter berechnet die Restfahrt je nach Kurs und Geschwindigkeit auf ca. 100 bis 120 Stunden. Verbindlich ist das leider nicht, denn trotz Vorfreunde haben wir. read more...

Lucky Lady - Our daily blog

Our blog can be found at yliatlantin@blogspot.com in finnish. Pictures and videos will be send later with better connections.Blogimme löytyy osoitteesta yliatlantin.blogspot.com suomeksi. Kuvia ja videota postitetaan myöhemmin parempien yhteyksien ääreltä.-Lucky Lady crew. read more...

Scarlet Oyster - It's 106 miles to St Lucia... 4/12/11

We've got a full tank of gas... (butane) Half a pack of cigarettes... (Jo's) Its dark... And we're wearing sunglasses... (well not really-it's really quite dark!) Hit It!Morning all!As Prue had never seen the Blues Brothers before, tonight was movie night,just went to the computer to download a grib and I just noticed the DTGclick down to 106, so could not resist the temptation for a quick cheesyblog!Wind has been a bit lighter but we are still making 7-8knots. Pluggingwestwards as we are expecting a shift to the ESE of the wind in a few hours,and we want to be able to sail an angle back down to the finish.We have still got Forest our running kite set, and may be able to fly himall the way to near the finish, but most likely we will need the lighter AP kite (no name yet, as we have not. read more...

Raparee - The weekend starts here - fun with blobby sails

Sat 3rd December Crossed the 1000mltg line at 0100. Quietish night with some squalls but steady progress. Sat morning perfect for a spot of proper downhill sailing. Time to divest ourselves of our awkward 3 sail set-up and stick up one of those big coloured lightweight jobby sails that one sees in jaunty seaside photos. Our feverish on-deck activity spurred on by the sight of an enemy vessel on the distant horizon. Got the thing up safely this time and away we went burbling along looking very professional apart from the mayhem on deck. David threw together an interesting spicy hot choritzo and tomato broth to celebrate and revive the crew.Afternoon in lightish airs with good progress. Nick practising on the expensive Frieberger sextant was able to confirm we were after all in the. read more...

Casamara - Day 14

Hi everyone,   We are now under 700nm to ST L.  Today has been quiet with just one gybe to check gear etc. We have watched films, drunk beer and sun bathed.  Had the company of some dolphins for circa 45 mins, which was nice.  Have seen one other yacht today.  Apparently we are 3rd in our class and hope to maintain or improve this! SP   My watch took me up until 9am this morning, so I went off to bed and slept until midday when my watch started again. I think it's the first time I have done that and felt fantastic as a result!  Lunch was potato salad with a selection of cold meats and warm baguettes. Skipper asked for the mayonnaise on the potato salad to have some grain mustard in it, so I duly obliged and I have to say it adds quite a bit to the. read more...

Mojomo - Late-night loutish behaviour

17:02N 49:59N at 0300 Sunday am.Nick called me out at about 0030 this morning - there’s a squall a-coming!Ooh. And do we want to snuff the spinnaker? Eh? Or perhaps roll away the extra genoa and the staysail? Wot? Nope, I don’t think so.I set up the deck speakers to play “Ride of the Valkyries” from the Ipod, and took the helm to steer the boat downwind in the 30-degree windshift to catch maximum value from the squall, wind lifting us to 10knots, then 11knots in fairly flat seas, about three miles before it came through.Here goes…We caught a good push of wind to 27knots and speed zipped up to solid 12knots for a while, but we got no proper “hit” of wind and rain together. Bah! What a blimmin’ washout.Olly came out for his watch shortly. read more...

Voahangy - Day 14 - Countdown to landfall and Christmas

Another 2 days to go, 369nm between us and St Lucia. From today's position report, Terry has worked out that we have about 20 boats within 50nnm of us, so in theory we should all arrive on the same day even though we haven't seen each other since the start of the race! For some reason we all feel tired and fed up with the crossing today. It's not that it has been a bad one, on the contrary: we've suffered only minor damage, had very nice weather, no storms (so far!), no one has been sick, the meals on board have been terrific, so has the fishing, and we didn't even have school to worry about! No, I put it down to accumulated fatigue due to odd sleeping hours, stress from the past few night watches dealing with squalls ( we were hit with 37kts winds last night!), and increased temperature. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 14 - Saturday 3/12/11 - Quick Change

DAY 14 – Saturday  3/12/11Having formally crossed the half way mark, we had hoped that we would be able to freewheel down to the finishing line, trade winds wafting us westwards nicely. No such luck…. There has been a bit of meteorological activity in the Atlantic that our weather man, Chris Tibbs, has been watching carefully. Without going through the complexities of what is happening, there are developments that are disrupting the normal trade wind pattern. Today has been a bit of a wash-out, with winds light and variable, and trying to make good headway has been a trial. We have worked through all our sail options and back again, as the winds oscillated from 15 knots to 8, and moved from East through East South East, to South East: twin foreails, parasailor, gennaker. read more...

Nix - Day 13 - December 3rd.

It was a good day for sailing and (at last) a bad day to be a fish!   Having kept the spinnaker up all night and thankfully no midnight sail changes, we crossed the 200 miles to go mark at 6am (UTC). From our inexperienced and nervous start 13 days ago, the crew are now, each and every one of us, comfortable with helming under spinnaker the night through, with or without our friends - the moon and stars - as guides.   Every yacht in front of us has finished (i.e., we should be next into St. Lucia), and we are still, despite Nico's warning of "no wind", ploughing along at 8 to 11 knots. Nix continues to knock off those miles, one after the other. It's inexorable. At the 100 mile mark, we needed to gybe to give a better angle for the final. read more...

Nix - Day 12 on board Nix Dec 2nd

Countdown continues at a pace as we close in on the 300 miles to go mark. We made good progress under the heavy duty spinnaker, kept up over night despite some trepidation from the watch without the moon as a directional guide. All went peacefully and thankfully there was no need for any midnight sail changes. Let's hope for the same tonight, now we have the bigger light-weight kite up.  Today was another day without seeing any other yachts and again no fish were caught!  All we could do off-watch was catch up on sleep, read and work on the tan. It's been getting noticeably hotter the further west we go.   The afternoon sail change and (maybe final) gybe to St Lucia were relatively uneventful but gave a good excuse for another beer. We have. read more...

Ensemble - Day 14: December 3 - Squalls, Rainbows and Roast Dinner

Two weeks at sea and we're into the groove. This is typical trade wind sailing - 15 to 20 knots of wind, following sea with 1 - 2m of swell and clear blue skies punctuated with the occasional squall. And with the squalls, if you're lucky, you sea a lovely rainbow!The sea was a lot less confused last night - with the Easterly swell taking over and smooth sailing and a good night's sleep for all. We are still averaging close to 8 knots - and obviously much too fast for trawling fish (not even a flying fish today!).So we broke into the freezer and decided that, being Saturday, it was time for a roast. Roast veal, smoothered with foi gras, wrapped in proscuito ham, with potatoes, onions, and pumpkin, all washed down with a bottle of St Emillion. Life at sea is tough!Tomorrow we discuss the. read more...

Northern Child - Daily Log #13 - 3rd December 2011

Daily Run towards St Lucia - 191nmDaily Logged Miles - 205nmDistance to Go - 478nmLunch -Selection of Freshly Baked Baguettes with a selection of fillingsHappy Hour - Freshly Caught Dolphin Fish (Mahi Mahi); 1/2 lightly pan fried in lime juice and olive oil, 1/2 Finely sliced served with soy sauce, Pickled Ginger & Wasabi. Dinner - Beef Bourguignon with Jacket Potatoes Yesterday our fishermen were finally rewarded for their persistence. Mid afternoon the fishing line whizzed away from the boat.There was a scramble of bodies to the back of the boat to retrieve the rod. The remainder of the crew furled away the genoa to try and slow the boat but even after this the boat was still flying along at 8 knots.Slowly but surely Rolf and David reeled in the catch. The aft cockpit was stripped of. read more...

Sookie - Day 13 (Eleven)

Another successful day - passed our ha lfway point today and celebrated with a cold beer and steak and sauté spuds. Jonny is working wonders in the galley but it's funny how everyone disappears topsides to get out the way of the bad language and pan throwing as another cordon blue special goes flying from galley to chart table. I think many a meal over the last week or so has originated from the floor, having said that all have been excellent. Any other boats reading this may want to hire Jonny if they intend continue cruising and need a good cook (he does have a few other strange habits but the food is well worth it). The fishing continues to be a disaster - I'm not sure these boys know what they're doing??? any tips will be gracefully received - that's if. read more...

EH01 - LOG DAY 14 - Kites up...

Kites up finally. and down again periodically as we sail though a swathe of squalls generated by the trough near 60W, south of 20N. Still in between squalls the wind is around 17 to 18kts so we can get away with the 0.6 fractional runner and dont have to break out the whomper which caused the drivers so many issues earlier in the week.A sustained squall saw the crew gathered on deck post kite drop for an impromptu group shower, however 'Wing Commander Bird' was caught a tad short when the tap turned off mid lather, much to the amusement of us all. Cries of "I'll swap you a bucket of water for your Rolex" and such like were heard. Needless to say that piece of footage (oh yeah, GOPRO action all the way) will be posted on YouTube ASAP.The Wing Commander seems to be the only one so far to. read more...

Annie - Log Day 14 by Graham

We reckon that we passed the half way point last night so it was time this morning to open my special card from Sheena and get moist eyed. This evening will be celebration time with Spanish Cava and other goodies. Let's hope we don't have a squall at supper time, like a couple of evenings ago, when Peter and I had to abandon our food to sort out the sails.The first half has been great with the vastness of the ocean, the skies and the stars and as an added bonus the three of us are still talking to each other. Let's hope that the second half goes as well. The winds are still light, in spite of a vivid pink mackerel sky at sunset yesterday and we have been pushed further north than we want so Peter and I need to spend a couple of hours on deck shifting our downwind rig from one side of the. read more...

Emilija - 3rd December

.hmmessage P { PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-TOP: 0px } BODY.hmmessage { FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma; FONT-SIZE: 10pt }Hello all. Today has been a quiet day not a lot to report, the boat not doing as much rocking and rolling the winds have dropped a little and speed has dropped slightly, hopefully we will see a few squalls tonight to push us along however the twin headsails are brill you hardly need to adjust them. Sleep patterns have improved in the last 24hrs the swell is not as big the only thing making sleeps a little difficult are the rising temps. We spotted two boats today these were the first we had seen in a day or two. The position report says we covered 188 miles in 24hrs not bad. We taught we had a tuna biting the fishing line as the. read more...

Diamonds Are Forever - Blog - Day 13 - 3/12 - Wet, wet, wet!

Diamonds Blog - Day 13 - 3/12/12 - Wet, wet, wet!Hi everyone!Harriet here! After a night of dodging squall clouds on board Diamonds  our daily run has come to 144.8nm which gives us an average of 6 knots an hour. We're all very pleased with this as for most of the night the wind wasn't playing in our favour, our course we wanted to steer was 275 and the wind kept pushing us round and at one point we were heading due north!! Not great when St. Lucia is west!The squall clouds started at 1700 yesterday, when a large dark cloud came overhead and went on to soak both Bea and Bev who were on watch at the time. Squall's are BIG black clouds that follow the wind so generally come from behind us, they usually lead to a lot of rain (perfect for washing- grab the Radox Girls!), slightly. read more...

Island Wanderer - Day 14 - 17:13.217N, 48:51.580W

Saturday 3rd December.   No squalls today, and the wind has eased, so we are currently flying the gennaker. Life continues much as usual. After 2 weeks at sea each crew member enjoys their day off-watch as it comes up. Crew are finding they need to wash clothes now, but daily showers seem to have been enjoyed by all. It is now very warm during the day.   All fresh food is now consumed, so we are onto the frozen meals from the freezer, and freshly baked bread. Derek is relieved that fresh fruit is no longer being forced on him.   The grib files that we download to show us the wind strength and direction show that there is very little wind next week on the approach to St Lucia, so all of the boats will find the going a little slow. We have been able to see 2 other bots. read more...

Kealoha 8 - Not a good day in the office

A second blog from Kealoha today – although for sad reasons I’m afraid. Again I’ll start by saying that all are fine on board. However, the small tear in the main (mentioned in the last blog) was something we were all concerned about, but something which a sail repair wouldn’t have resolved. At some point we needed to gybe (change direction) & so decided to do this during daylight, with everyone on deck. Unfortunately the wind went behind the sail as we gybed, the mainsail literally tore across the middle. We have safely rolled the mainsail away, but we are now two sails down for this trip. We are now sailing with just the genoa and staysail, and so our speed will be maximum of 7 knots (we had anticipated 9-10 knots). So we wanted to let everyone know, in case. read more...

Kealoha 8 - A lesson to us all: spinnakers and squalls - guest written by Mandy

 Firstly, all the crew are doing well. We had an excellent day yesterday, with a good sail & good winds.Those of you who have been following the blogs will know that most days we are flying a spinnaker 24 hours a day (we have 3 on board - each for different strengths of winds). Some of you may also know about squalls - these are clouds which build & become darker and have stronger winds underneath them. Those that have rain tend to have stronger winds still, but until you are in a squall, you never quite know how much wind it will have. Squalls have become a more regular feature of the day as we near St Lucia, with probably about half a dozen hitting us a day. During the day you can watch for dark clouds and at night we watch the radar (as rain shows up on this). We then. read more...

Grateful Red - day 13

as we sail east the sun sets later and later on zulu time so my shift starts earlier in the night time. the shift schedule is always zulu time. For the first days the new moon peaked from under the mainsail. the past four days have been a steady starboard broad reach - moon hidden behind the main. Each night the moon rises farther west. Finally last night the moon - on my shift - was aft of the main. Can only mean - moon tans! no need for that greasy sun block just priceless reflected sunlight providing superb visuals and great moon tanning weather ..... and moon tanning always goes better while sailing at seven plus knots. The sky was clear - terrific view of the stare. i wonder if Columbus used his i pod to read the constellations. Much easier driving with a bright moon and sky full of. read more...

Great Bear - 03/12/2011 Great Bear - Julestemning ombord

Dét sørme, dét sandt, December!   Efter at have fået en pakke med Airmail d. 1 december, fyldt med julepynt, pebernødder og grankogler kom skibet hurtigt til at se helt eventyrligt ud. Ligemeget hvor man kigger er der guilander og små nissemænd.  Vi har haft radiokontakt med den anden danske båd Tao, og kæmper nu om førsteretten til St. Lucia med kun  993 sømil igen.D. 2 december fik vi også øje på et kæmpe skib i horisonten med kurs mod solnedgangen. Vi blev aldrig enige om det var et krydstogtskib eller et fragtskib. Aftensmaden bestod af den berygtede Jakabov vi havde snakket om lige siden Marselisborg d. 8. juli 2011. Fiskeriet er ikke noget vi snakker højt om. read more...

Chilli Chilli - Saturday

So this Saturday, instead of watching rugby on cold terraces, shopping with the Mrs or skiving down at the pub, we are racing through paradise. Usual stuff that I’m sure you have read on other blogs. Blue waters, rolling waves, perfect winds, stunning fishing blah blah blah.   However, one of those things is not applicable to Chilli Chilli and that is fishing. It would appear that our only two ‘fisherman’ had been blagging each other with their abilities and neither of them know which end to reel in or which end the fish is supposed to bite! They currently have more fishing gear than the Deadliest Catch spread all over the cockpit and have no idea which bits go in the sea! Looks like chicken again tonight!   I will now pass you over to Gorgeous Gorge.  . read more...

Halcyon of Hebe - Blog day x+1

Time passed, slowly.Without water and having suffered damage to their rig, your intrepid sailors struggle on towards st. Lucia at 3 knots. The whole crew have blistered hands from two days incessant pumping of the water maker, and all wish things had turned out differently. How life can turn on a decision to fly a bigger sail or turn on the water pump without checking all taps are off. There is no need for sympathy, this is a self inflicted misery made only worse by the sufficiency of time available to self analyse, chastise and regret.Being on that boat would make Halcyon seem like the land of milk and honey.This morning we indulged in a wash, one each actually, with soap and everything. Steve's clean and untrimmed beard makes him look more like Santa with every passing day. Rob's clean. read more...

Matilda - A Mid-Atlantic Dip

It was bound to happen at some point on this journey, and today it did - I had to go over the side to retrieve a line which had managed to get itself caught between the skeg and the rudder. It was a wonderful excuse for a swim, and what a fantastic place for a dip. I was of course tied to the boat, and I had my fins on, so I could easily swim faster than matilda was drifting. The line was a spinnaker rope which had inadvertently been dropped overboard; at least we got the line back and the spinnaker is back in action. Certainly one of the longest, slowest jibes we've performed so far...The weather has become very tropical all of a sudden; very hot and humid. This, coupled with the dramatic drop in wind speed today has made us all feel a bit lethargic. With the slower winds forecast for. read more...

White Knight of NY - Log day 2/11/2011 - Fresh menu keeps coming aboard White Knight of NY

Not satisfied we had to nearly stop the boat to hoist up this 13kg Dorado!06. read more...

Butterfly - 510 miles to go... ;)

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Cochise - 03/12/11

Day 14 The funny thing about sailing... is that you never really know what to expect. Early yesterday evening we were bowling along in perfect conditions eating up the miles and the lad's conversations were turning to palm fringed islands, beer and beaches. By midnight, the squall clouds were rolling in and the air was full of rain. Throughout the night, the wind played cruel tricks with us, varying by up to 60deg, usually just as we had set the sails. Today has bought no respite from the changeable conditions. At luchtime, we saw a window of sunshine and went for the spinnaker, only for a mass of cloud to break away from the horizon, and we rushed to get it down again before more 30kt winds and rain hit. For the moment we have a good 20kt SE wind, but humidity is near 100% and just. read more...

Challenger 4 - Day 12 - 03 December

Day 12Once again I find myself sat at the skipper`s navigation table entrusted with the writing of the blog. Firstly, the fishingupdate, not a great deal to report, the rapid speed of Challenger 4, averaging nearly 10 knots, has been sufficient to deter the fish from having a bite at the lures over the last week. We have also been plagued with a large amount of surface seaweed which has destroyed some of our equipment, mainly breaking the hooks on the lures. However, Steve the Mate did catch a decent size Dorado on an identical lure to the one I had been using, not that I`m competitive, but it was a little smaller than my catch of the previous day. As it was caught in the late afternoon, it was quickly prepared and found itself in the oven ready for the starter of that evening's meal.The. read more...

Elisa - Dag 13: Squall Alley, keuzes en innerlijke vrede

De laatste 24 uur zijn sterk bepaald door het instabiele gedrag van de wind en de keuzes die daaruit kunnen/mogen/moeten/zullen volgen. Duidelijk is dat we inmiddels diep in Squall Alley zitten, met afgelopen nacht een stuk of 4 van deze storingen, die regenend en windrijk over ons heen trokken. Één van deze vrienden verraste Jeroen in zijn nachtrust met een zoute douche, waarop hij zich meermaals beklaagde over zijn natte broek. Na de plakhandjes van Oscar en de Happy Pants van Tom onstaan er zo aan boord dagelijks gevleugelde termen en uitspraken die alleen voor ons een betekenis hebben, en zo hoort het ook. Terug naar de squalls: een strakke blik op de radar en de hand aan de draaiknop van de Autopilot leveren een voor buitenstaanders onnavolgbare zig-zagkoers op,. read more...

Sapphire II - 2 December “Lazy Day”

This morning we could see another yacht. The first visual contact with the fleet for more than a week. Sydney Rock Oyster took a more northerly course than us and we lost sight of her before evening. Our skipper was telling us about sailing on the Trade Winds in the Pacific. Set the course and sails and leave them be for days on end. No such luck for us on the Atlantic, though today we came close. We had nothing to do with the rigging all day until we gybed at 18:00. We put our local time clocks back by 1 hour today – the third such adjustment. So today was a little longer and now the scribe is a little more tired and the Muse a little more reluctant to compose. Mind you, after 13 days at sea, although everyone looks fit and energetic, and morale is great, it’s inevitable. read more...

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