Cookelu meu - last report before reaching St. Lucia

14degrees 38.155minutes North, 58 degrees 49.167minutes West, course 280 magnetic, on autohelm 3000 pilot, 6.5 knots boat speed, wind from East-Northeast at 28 knots, 127 0nautical miles away from destination, barometer 1013 (a drop of 3mbar over the last 3 hours), waves 3.0 meters high overcast and squally and 28 degrees C air temperature.This I wrote a couple  hours before in the log book ( yes we meticulously keep one since I left Turkey at the first days of July). As we approach St. Lucia it seems the waves are getting bigger. Right after the log book entry I started to make a bread which is now baking in the oven. I don’t consider myself a cook but I know to make bread. I made my first attempt two years ago in the boat and then perfected it at home. ½ Kg flour, teaspoon of. read more...

Cookelu meu - slowly progressing to Rodney Bay, just crossed the 300nm mark

As we are slowly (but steady ) making our way towards St Lucia we start to make plans for the coming month, Christmas and work to be done after  we arrive.Besides the obvious (thoroughly cleaning the interior and washing the deck with fresh water there are several other jobs to be done: Servicing or even replacing the alternator, cleaning the bilge pumps and tightening the shaft gland are of the outmost importance and priority but we still have to polish the stainless steel deck fixtures, washing all ropes and blocks, mending the bimini tent (is slightly ruptured and needs a  new batten) and repairing the genoa sun cover (some stitching is required). We also have to replace one main sail car that broke and replace the second batten that decided to fly away during a strong gust. read more...

Cookelu meu - reaching the 520nm mark, stable conditions

As we are approaching the ¾  point of our route to St. Lucia (520nautical miles to go) our condition without the 24V alternator have stabilized as we have developed a new everyday routine: we are constantly using our tow generator to produce some electric power – costing us some 10-15 nautical miles a day -, we switched of the fridge so no more cold water and beer but still running our deep freeze at full capacity, we are “fishing” sea water with an modified empty 2 liter water bottle to fill up water for spilling dishes, cooking and flushing the head (normally it uses fresh water ). Now that we are unable to run the water maker we have to conserve our fresh water supply. It seems that the above changes have not affected our morale – on the contrary we find them. read more...

Cookelu meu - approaching the Caribbean - sortage of power

We have now covered about 2/3 of the distance to St. Lucia. We are about 70nm to the north of the rumb line and waiting for the real easterly winds to jibe south. We most probably want be able to fix the 24V alternator until we reach st. Lucia so we are conserving on water use. Not such a big hassle but for sure an inconvenience.  The days now are shorter and about equally long as the nights and since we keep the GMT time on board the sun rises at about 0930 and sets 2100 (GMT time always) creating some chaos with our night shifts – which we already rescheduled 2 hours later. It is also getting considerably warmer and the occasional squalls a lot more powerful both in wind intensity and rainfall. We are all fine and in good mood. We can still keep up both fridge and deep. read more...

Cookelu meu - progress report, midpoint celebration and alternaor problems

Yesterday we celebrated crossing the midpoint with a big party. Peter prepared a perfectly roasted beef, Yorkshire pudding and gravy with potatoes and peas and scones  prepared by Lars after a traditional British recipe.  That’s the good news. The bad is that the 24V alternator stopped working and we definitely cannot fix it. In our boat most of the electronics, the freezer and the fridge, the autopilot, the head (toilet bowl) and the watermaker and big inverter run of the 24V system, so without the alternator we only have the solar panels and the tow generator to charge them. They are not enough to keep all systems running. For the moment we don’t use the water maker – but have enough water in our tank – and we use the backup 25 years old Autohelm 3000. read more...