Sea Child - Log Day 7: Half way to St. Lucia

The days are flying by on this big Atlantic Ocean, with each new day bringing a different set of waves and clocking winds.  SEA CHILD is now 1283 NM to St Lucia.  At our current average of +230NM per day, we expect to arrive by the end of the week.  Our watch system is awesome! We have broken up the 24 hours into 2 hours on 6 off at night and another unique timing of 3.5 hours on 10 hours off every 3rd day.  Today we turned the clock back one hour to have the sun rise around 7:30 am rather than 8:30.A highlight of our day is the daily email that comes in, especially those who are following the ARC from shore! We are sailing too fast to fish, but having a great time seeing other ARC boats around us on the AIS.  The crossing has been a wonderful experience so far. read more...

Sea Child - Log Day 5, on course to St Lucia

SEA CHILD and her awesome crew are making great time across the Atlantic to St. Lucia! In the past two days, we have jibed with CYGNUS and this morning while we were holding course of 285, ANNA sailed south just past our stern.  S'ARENELLA is to our port, with a heading very similar to SEA CHILD! Its crazy that we are sailing across such a huge ocean and right in our neighborhood are other ARC yachts as well.  We have been trying to participate in the net activities, but our distance from the main fleet makes it impossible.  SILHOUETTE has taken the place of SEA CHILD in the daily net.  Our fresh food are still holding up and we are eating incredibly well! The only bummer is that we are sailing too fast to put out fishing lines, though it is fun to hear about BIMBLE. read more...

Sea Child - LOG DAY TWO, 130NM from Western Sahara Desert

This mornings moon rose red in the early morning sky, while Sea Child sailed along at an average of 10.35 knots during our 2nd full day at sea.  We chose to sail the mid-south route, as suggested by Chris Tibbs at the final briefing in Las Palmas.  Its fun during our night watch to see other ARC yachts sailing either west or south as other passing ships keep us company as well.  We have since jibed to a course of 285 degrees now, after southing for the past two days.  Our weather is good, winds steady at 22 knots NE and Sea Child feels happy to surf along the Atlantic seas.  The nights exciting moment of hitting a speed of 15.4 knots surfing was overshadowed by the 0800 watch record of 19.9 knots! Now that we have turned west, we look forward to putting out some. read more...

Sea Child - Log Day 1: Spinnaker sailing with the multi-hulls

We started our ARC2018 with light winds, yet steady out the N. We hoisted our big red, white and blue spinnaker as we crossed the start line, just after the gun sounded off the big Spanish Navy ship that served as the center of the two start lanes.  We jibed toward shore, then back out to sea again, and continued along this pattern until well clear of Gran Canaria Island.  There was a strong current, favoring the south along the shore of Gran Canaria and we did our best to stay within this current line.  As night fell, we found ourselves sailing in tandem with CYGNUS CYGNUS.  We changed positions a few times during the night, and as today broke, we were literally side by side.  S'ARANELLA was just to our port stern at dawn, and by 0800 the three of us jibed onto. read more...

Sea Child - Log Day Pre-Start, Final Provisions

Last nights full moon lit up the sky as we joined our fellow ARC friends for dinner before the ARC Farewell Cocktail party! We spent the day sorting and storing the loads of provisions Sea Child will carry across the Atlantic on our final leg of our circumnavigation.Every bin and cabinet has been sorted and stocked with all contents noted in a handy notebook for other crew to help with the cooking duties on our expected 14 day crossing.Today is the skippers briefing where we will learn more details about starting our journey across the Atlantic tomorrow.We are getting very excited to untie the lines and set sail!. read more...