Unconditional - ARC+ Leg2, Day 14: 2-days to go!

  Slipping another Distance to Destination(DTD) position in lightwinds overnight, we now have moderate winds (an improvement), and we should beable to hold or gain on the nearest boats.     Today was the original day that we thought that we’d arrive, and afew boats did make that date; however all is good aboard and we have 1/3 of ourfuel left, and plenty of water.   Tom Hughes. read more...

Unconditional - Re: ARC+ Leg2, Day 13: 80% to St Lucia + a TWING

This afternoon, we crossed the 400nm mark from St Lucia, and the longest continuous that we have ever been at sea. Yesterday afternoon with only 500nm to reach St. Lucia, we inserted Peter, Paul & Mary (folk singers from antiquity {the ‘60’s}) Greatest Hits into the boat’s AV system. Turning up the volume, we sang along to"500-Miles"... "Lord, I’m ONE; Lord, I’m TWO; Lord I’m THREE; Lord I’m FOUR;Lord, I am FIVE hundred miles from my home. Five hundred miles, five hundred miles...” It seemed appropriate. Unfortunately, the weather has not filled in as I had hoped for, and in falling one position the other top 35-boats appear to be travelling equal or faster than we are with with our dual headsail configuration, WHY IS THAT!?Sea Mist2 is probably flying that same configuration. Well. read more...

Unconditional - ARC+ Leg2, Day 12: 75% to St Lucia + Trade winds

Like childbirth, the start of 10+ knot Trade winds, gradually building over the next few days will bring a joy to the ARC+ arriving boats that will hopefully erase the fear of low fuel, snapping sails, and complaining blocks. The forecasted increase in wind should also significantly assist the velocities of the second 1/2 of the ARC+ fleet, and bring us into St Lucia closer together. Unconditional new malfunctions/issues: NONE!After thinking about the sails while on watch last night, and wondering why some boats were doing better than I expected, I effected a change to our sail configuration to let us sail dead downwind easier, and hopefully faster. Interestingly, this sail configuration brings us to the length-wise limit of the mainsheet and lazy sheets. I bought another sheet in. read more...

Unconditional - ARC+ Leg2, Days 6-11: 70% to St Lucia + fuel & H2O mgmt

  This WCC ARC+ blog covers the five at-seadays of Nov 22 – 27. Light Easterly winds continue, and in earlier 6-knot windswe lusted for those isolated squall cells to provide ‘reasonable’ wind. Everyboat that I am aware of is on its own fuel management program, as we all departwith insufficient diesel to motor to our 2,100nm destination. Most of usskippers are faced with the adult equivalent of a child’s “Are we there yet,Daddy?” Well son, we are >70% there with a mere 600nm to go! “Will we bethere tomorrow?” Not exactly; more like Friday, Dec 2nd, assuming continuesmoderate wind.     Fleet-wise,we’ve seen e-mails,only partially tongue-in-cheek, offering to barter fresh water and fresh Tunafilets for diesel fuel.   You may have heard that in the225-boat main ARC, a. read more...

Unconditional - ARC+ Leg2, Day 6: Motoring + "Read the Manual"!

  In spite of light winds, and toconserve fuel, we sailed overnight at 2.2-3.4 knots. This dropped us back in thenoon Distance to Destination report to #27, as in sailing SE to pick uphopefully better wind tomorrow/day-after we were not even sailing directly to StLucia – oh well. We started the engine mid-morning and haven’t seen 8-knots truewind today. That weather trough continues to follow the fleet – I wish that wehad left a day earlier or later!     On the malfunction side, we solved acouple of issues. After I crawled thru the aft lazarette to check SSB Tunerconnections, & cables, almost the very minute that Peter of S/V Fleet IIcompleted assuming my SSB Net Controller weekly 1-hr timeslot for me, Idiscovered how to properly TUNE the SSB. I am now received clearly. read more...