Cochise - 7/12/2011

Arrival At 22.13 this evening Cochise crossed the ARC finish line, the 59th boat of 250 to do so. We are now moored in Rodney Bay marina having covered approx 2700 miles in 17 days. It has been a fantastic trip, and the crew are all well and elated at their achievement. Now.......off for a few well earned beers and a shower!23.00 6 Dec. read more...

Cochise - 6/12/2011

Day 17Almost there - and a fish! Just 50 miles left so we expect to be moored by midnight local time. The past 24 hours have been disappointing from a sailing perspective.Instead of the usual trade wind romp to the finish we have had another day of little, or no, wind and have motored most of the time.This is a real shame as it has spoilt what was a fascinating competition. At the time the wind died, the Swan 46 in the racing division was 15 miles ahead of us and 2nd in its division. We were second in our 'cruising' division, just 10 miles ahead of another Swan 46, and a day ahead of the 4th boat so we feel we have sailed well, and it has certainly felt pretty 'full on'. The motoring rules may make a lottery of the final results, but we feel for the guys in the racing division who are. read more...

Cochise - 5/12/2011

Day 16Becalmed We had another pleasant evening of sundowners and Glvgg with Isak and Sam playing Swedish carols. The evening also provided good fast sailing under grey clouds and the occassional deluge. At 5.00am this morning the wind completely switched off and we wallowed for 6 hours hardly moving an inch.By daylight the crew were on deck suffering from the heat and we eventually dropped sails and dived over the side into 4000m of water for a cooling swim around the boat. After a long debate, finally resolved by our frustration of staring at the same piece of seaweed for over an hour(!), we gave in and started the engine for a couple of hours. We now have just enough wind to fill the spinnaker and are close reaching at about 4kt, which is still not very exciting. We have also resolved. read more...

Cochise - more of the same

day 15. More of the same! Yesterday evening sundown was celebrated with the ususal beverages and to the tunes of Bob Dylan courtesy of Sam as ever. There was a nice sunset, and after a good curry we all felt settled for a steady moon and star lit night of sailing.By 11.00pm ominous clouds were coming over the horizon, and 10 minutes later the deluge began....and finally abated at midday today. Yuk!Under the clouds the wind was incredibly variable and over the past 12 hours we have gybed and reset the sails as though we are doing a sunday afternon dinghy race.The frustrating thing has been that as soon as we have the sails set on one side, the wind shifts back to where it was ( once via a 360deg loop!). Since lunchtime we have had better winds and set the spin for a couple of hours and. read more...

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...