Saltwhistle III - Day 20 - We've arrived!

Greetings from sunny St Lucia! We arrived in Saturday morning at 8am and were greeted with a fruit basket and ice cold rum punch, very nice.We had a really easy crossing and got some good sailing in for the first two weeks before the wind left us and we motored the final three days.Highlights included catching a giant Mahi Mahi (about 5.5 foot long!)It was great to be welcomed into the marina by friends from the UK and Las Palmas.We were the 143'rd boat in over all classes and should get our final placement on Tuesday once the other boats have arrived. It's hot here so we have put the sun awnings up, mosquito nets over the hatches and wind scoops to guide the wind into the boat.This evening there is a jazz event and we will go along and enjoy. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 19 - more motoring

Flat calm, no wind - engine has been on all day. Whilst not perhaps the  ideal finish to the ARC, at least it means we will be in for Saturday jazz  and should be nicely rested and showered as we have plenty of hot water now.  We currently have 140 miles to go (as at 14:15 UTC / 10:15 Local Time) and  are doing 7 kts so tomorrow morning looks likely. It looks like being a busy  finish as a number of boats in our division should be arriving within a few  hours of each other. You can tell we are getting close as the crew are starting to look at the  Carribean guides and talking about staying in a hotel.....maybe they are  subtely trying to tell us something! I must admit that some of the  restaurants are looking very good. Boat-wise things are. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 18 - motoring

Yesterday went well - we flew the chute for most of the day until the wind came south and we switched to genoa. By around 1600 though the wind was falling away to nothing and we've motored overnight in glassy calm seas.  We've enough fuel to motor to St Lucia (315 miles to go!) but that would be a bit tedious so hopefully we'll get some more wind at some stage. We've got 0.6 kts of favourable current so have throttled right back to make sure we have the range; even so our speed over the ground is 6.4 kts which means we get to arrive in St Lucia on Saturday afternoon in time for the jazz night. Overnight was very pleasant - nearly a full moon and dolphins playing under the bow (well they did on my watch). Dawn was the most spectacular sunrise so far although I'm sure our camera did. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 17 - some interesting contrasts

Started off the day with fast broad reaching in overcast skies; then by mid afternoon we sailed under the tail edge of a newly developing low which gave lots of rain and no wind (had to motor for a couple of hours whilst the boat got a wash). Then the sea state calmed down and we had a beautiful easy reach overnight with no clouds and an almost full moon. This morning we managed to get the cruising chute out of its bag for the first time on this trip and are heading to St Lucia in bright sunshine at 6+ kts. Interesting observations :- during Rach's watch a bunch of small fish got washed onto the deck that had to be returned. Also we saw a lobster pot which we assumed must be adrift as its 4 miles deep here. On the domestic front its an ideal day for some clothes washing and sun bathing.. read more...

Saltwhistle III - Day 16 - too much?

We've been broad reaching overnight in strong conditions - winds have been south easterly 20-25 kts with gusts to 30 kts. We've got the working jib and 75% of the mainsail up and are doing 7.5-8.0 kts over the ground. Mike has the new surfing record at 10.4 kts. Unfortunately the sea is producing waves which attack us on the port quarter which induces a corkscrewing motion; this needs to be corrected by the helm very quickly or the boat will spin up to windward and we'll be heading to South America at high speed. Too much the other way and the sails flog whilst heading to the USA. Its a bit like living in a washing machine; and overnight its a bit like living in a washing machine in the dark! We'll need to download the weather forecast to see how much longer this wind will hold and then. read more...