Karma Daze - Day 21 Almost There.....

At last wehave some wind!  It arrived about02.00 this morning and we have been sailing on the genoa since then.  At our current speed we should reach StLucia in about 26 hours. By lastnight when we had been motoring for 3 days we felt that we would never reach ourdestination – a bit like trying find ones way out of Ikea (apologies to theSwedes).  But we were treated to afantastic sunset – the whole sky went pink and then a brilliant orange.  A little compensation. Tonight willbe our last night at sea so we will celebrate by eating the Fray BentosPies.  These seem to be a standby onany RYA sailing course we have done, so when we saw them for sale in Morrison’sin Gibraltar we couldn’t resist.  Sotonight’s menu will be Steak Pie/Chicken Pie, potatoes, peas and. read more...

Karma Daze - Day 19 Where Has All the Wind Gone?

11 pmSaturday night – we have now been motoring for 48 hours.  There is a large area with light/verylight winds in this part of the Atlantic. We ran into it when we were about 500 miles from St Lucia with theprospect that there would be no wind until Monday.  However, looking at weather forecast wehave and other boats have we are hoping that the wind will gradually startreturning late afternoon/early evening on Sunday.  We were quite concerned when we firststarted motoring that we may have to sit and wallow as we do not have enoughdiesel to take us all the way to St Lucia, but we are now more optimistic thatwe have sufficient to get us to the wind. Our firstmotoring day we had a conversation with a passing large motor yacht on its wayto Grenada.  They were taking. read more...

Karma Daze - Day 16 What a Night!

Coming to the end of day 16 at sea.  The last few nights have been squally with variable winds.  It is now 07.10 (10.10 in the UK), the sun is shining and we are sailing west towards St Lucia in winds of 22-28 knots (force 6) at a speed of 6 to 7 knots which makes for a comfortable sail.  Earlier the wind got up to 30-35 knots and the speed increased to 8 to 9 knots which is a bit too lively for us old people!The night before last several boats, including Karma Daze, got into quite a stormy area, with winds over 30 knots, and for one boat winds up to 49 knots.  It means that no-one can really sleep as there are frequent sail changes, or sleeping in your life jacket so you’re ready to help quickly.The SSB daily radio net is where to relate these experiences, and as. read more...

Karma Daze - Day 14 Rain, Rain, Go Away...

Today we will have been at sea for 2 weeks.  The scenery stays pretty much the same but on the other hand is always changing.  The wind usually continues from mainly east south east at anything between 15 and 25 knots (mainly force 5).  We did have much lighter winds a couple of days ago when we had to motor for a few hours otherwise we sail all the time.  Tonight we have a poled out genny and 2 reefs in the main and are bowling along at 6-7 knots in the pitch black – quite an experience!The weather the last couple of nights has been  very squally.  Big black clouds come up behind us and then deposit large amounts of rain then carry on.  We had another celebration today as we now have under 1000 miles to go to St Lucia.  We should be there in about. read more...

Karma Daze - Day 10/11 Half Way There

The weathercontinues to improve and the wind has eased significantly.  The waves are smaller and life on boardis easier.  We have gone quite along way south and have so far managed to escape the wind hole that many boatshave encountered plus thunderstorms. We are fairly near the back of the fleet but think we are on schedule forabout 20 days.  Today we passed thehalf way mark and opened the bubbly to celebrate, not forgetting to give alibation to Poiseidon/Neptune. We now havethe fishing line out but so far have failed to catch anything; we thought we hadsomething earlier on but by the time we had reeled it in it hadescaped. Yesterdaywas the second time we put the clocks back so we are now 2 hours behind UKtime.  By the time we reach St Luciawe will be 4 hours. read more...