Albatross - YB Connect Message from Fernando Assens

Dec 11 - Last Day at SeaAll is well. We are 26 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 2,643 miles behind us. The night started quite peacefully as the waves subsided. At 4:00 am we were sailing on a 280° heading, twelve degrees off from St Lucia's course. We had a full moon and wind was 15-19 knots, coming from 85°-95°.As the wind shifted in our favor and started coming from 65°-75°, we were able to point directly to St Lucia, but the waves were no longer coming from aft, which made the ridding quite uncomfortable. Wind increased to 20-25 knots, and we put the third reef on the main. Billy came up, Chuck took the wheel from me, and I went up to the mast to hook the third reef shackle to the ring on the boom. This is the only reef that cannot be handled from the cockpit. Ten minutes later. read more...

Albatross - YB Connect Message from Fernando Assens

Dec 10 - 21th Day at SeaAll is well. We are 189 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 2534 miles behind us. St Lucia course is 272° but, with the wind coming from 90°-120° we were only able to keep a course of 285°-315°, it wastime for another "chicken jibe". And predictably, shortly after we jibbed, the wind veered to 70°-80°. Jibing again!We are two days away from full moon, and during my shift, at 4:00 am GMT, we were steering straight towards it, and then, at 5:00 am, after the moon disappeared on the horizon, we steered to Orion, until the clouds covered all the stars and it became pitch dark.With a double reefed main and half the jib, the waves coming from behind, and the wind around18-20 knots we surfed down some giant waves at 8-9 knots. Wave surfing in the dark felt. read more...

Albatross - YB Connect Message from Fernando Assens

Dec 9 - 20th Day at SeaAll is well. We are 346 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 2,402 miles behind us. We are moving along nicely at an average of 6.6 knots. Over the last 24 hours we completed 160 nautical miles. Since yesterday we have been sailing together with Serenity and Sundance, both now 9 miles away on our port side. As we get closer to St Lucia we expect to see more and more boats.The flying fish are getting bolder. This morning we found a death one inside the boat, by the mast! We have a well stocked fridge and so far have not been tempted to eat them, but if one of them jumps into a pan, we will have to fry it. They are reportedly full of bones and don't have a lot of flesh.At noon, we listened to the ARC daily broadcast over SSB radio. Various yachts report on their. read more...

Albatross - Dec 8 - 19th Day at Sea

Dec 8 - 19th Day at SeaAll is well. We are 506 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 2,187 miles behind us. We continue our course of 278° with winds coming from 80°-100° at 15-19 knots. We are flying the main with one reef and half the jib.The news of the day? We jibbed! Although technically it was not the "macho" 60° jibe we do when we race close to land, where the boom swings from port to starboard. What we did is called a "chicken jibe", a slow 300° tack, to avoid having the boom swing.The one difficulty today has been the waves. They are 10-15 feet and seem to come from everywhere. The boat has been rocking up and down for hours. At dinner time, while cooking and serving the food, two of the six portions of beef ribs with spinach flew up and ended up on the floor. Kevin, the chef,. read more...

Albatross - Dec 7 - 18th Day at Sea

Dec 7 - 18th Day at SeaAll is well. We are 655 miles from St Lucia, and Las Palmas is 2,344 miles behind us. We have been in the trade winds for a few days now, which this year are fairly mild. True wind ranges from 10-14 knots, from 90°-120°, and our heading is 277°. With the wind from the back, and one knot of favorable swell, we can sail 120-140 nautical miles a day, which is quite nice. From aft, a 10-14 knots true wind is equivalent to 5-10 knots apparent, which puts very little pressure on the rig and makes the boat very easy to handle.As we get closer to the Caribbean, the one downside is that is gets hot and humid and somewhat stuffy on the boat. It's not easy to sleep with the heat.Today we saw three boats around us, two were cargos and one, Sakari, was a sailboat.Sailing at. read more...