Watergaw - DAY UMPTEEN - Saturday 17/12/11 - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

A bitlater than planned, we come to write the conclusion to this part of the odyssey,before moving on to the next. The internet connection on the island is somewhatidiosyncratic, which has made email and web input difficult. It is easy toforget that the things we now take for granted in the western world ? likebroadband ? are only a dream for a large proportion of the planet as yet.Anyway, here we are?.   ASurprise  Againstmy better judgement (I wanted a quiet meal out before returning home tomorrow),the crew felt that we should go to the award ceremony this evening to supportthose who had done well. Thus we ended up in taxis (minibuses really, many ofwhich have seen better days) en route to a hotel a couple of miles away, wherethe finale of the ARC was to take place.. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 22-Sunday 11/12/12 - The End of the Beginning!

Apologies for not completing an entry on Sunday, which is unforgiveable. We have no excuse, except over-excitement or mind-numbness, perhaps. We had a mixed 36 hour's sailing, with Saturday night being light to the point that Bob (Alan) had no steerage way on his watch. It got better, but was still a painfully slow night and we made little headway. We were wary about using up the last of our diesel motoring, and thus had to live with it as the old seamen were forced to (but with the advantage of a fridge and freezer). When daylight broke, the wind picked up to about 8-12 knots, and we nursed the Parasailor to give us a bit of boat speed, which increased a bit as the day wore on. It ripened even more later, and we began to feel optimistic about bridging the last 100 miles. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 21 – Saturday 10/12/11 - So near yet so far....

  Chris Tibbs, our weather forecaster is a really impressive guy, who has written the RYA weather guides, has sailed the world’s oceans in racing yachts, and does the seminars for the ARC on weather. More than that, he is really good company, willing to share his experience with you and give you positive advice. We have greatly appreciated his input, and reckon that his routing was largely responsible for getting us back up with the fleet, despite leaving a day after everyone else. In short, we like him a lot….but not this morning! We pick up his forecast at about 0900 UTC, and we are always on tenterhooks for the latest words of wisdom. Today’s epistle, however, concluded with the following: “I have not seen the trades fail this badly (…) in the 8. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 20 – Friday 9/12/11 – Hello Sailor(s)

“Come here often?” were the first words exchanged with the crew of the 20 metre NZ yacht ‘Haereroa’ which drew alongside us during our evening pre-prandial tonight. We had seen them astern for a couple of hours, and they were doing a good knot and a half better than us (more of which later), so they closed the gap and hailed us as we sat snacking and imbibing.    They are also ARC participants, and we exchanged pleasantries (and promises of a beer in Rodney Bay), before they swept past us and disappeared into the distance. It left us contemplating the bizarre nature of the passage – hardly anyone within sight for 3 weeks, and then a boat onto which our pistachio shells landed! Night Watch Incidents We had a more complicated and absorbing night. read more...

Watergaw - DAY 19 – Thursday 8/12/11 – On a Roll....

It is a strange existence, sailing like this. We live in a sort of travel bubble, with a horizon of around 10 square miles, due to the swell and the surface haze. Visibility often appears good, with clear skies above, but when you can only see the ghostly superstructure of a 500 foot tanker 6 miles off, you realise that the clarity is an illusion. It is only occasionally that a yacht’s lights or a large ship intrude into the space that we inhabit. Our bubble, however, does have sea creatures: dolphins and whales, birds such as today’s swallow-like aviator  whose distance from land astonishes, fish of all sorts that plop, fly or hook themselves on Martin’s lure (alternatively they take it for a memento, so we might have none left when we dock – he did land a. read more...