Hummingbird - Blog Wednesday 11 December 2024

Hummingbird BlogWednesday 11 December 2024Well, as I writethis penultimate blog, 18 days on the Atlantic and our final destination withintangible reach, our thoughts and discussions are starting to be reflective.Less referencesto watch rotas, 'head up, bear away', 'wooling' the spinnaker, galley duties,heads, sweating & dehydration, 'clean is dirty' and the depleting stock ofcookies  we are finishing thisadventure on a high!  A welcome beamreach sails us within 125 NM of St Lucia and it feels like our beloved lady, TheHummingbird, senses our desire for a fresh wind in what has been a variable andsometimes frustrating period of down wind sailing in light airs. The finalcountdown.The mood in ourcamp is largely one of reflection. 10 crew members from different continents. read more...

Hummingbird - Hummingbird Blog Tuesday 10 December

Hummingbird BlogTuesday 10 DecemberSome like itHot!,Well folks,we're on the home straight.  Earlythis morning we gybed onto what we hope is our final course into St Lucia.  After day after day of heading WSW weare now heading WNW. Our residentBeat Poet Ken isn't quite sure what to do with himself after his epic poem 'Taleof the Westbound Hummingbird' in which the underlying chorus resonated in hisdeep American North Western brogue 270 270 270 270 270 ', it would appear ournew course of 310 degrees doesn't rhyme as well.  We will see what he comes upwith.As per my lastblog, the routines remain the same but the cement that hold the crew ofHummingbird together is hardening. Some crew without comms to loved ones have been lent access to such bythose that have and are. read more...

Hummingbird - Blog Monday 9 December 2024

Hummingbird BlogMonday 9 December 2024As I write thisblog from the navigation station, the plotter flickers our penultimate waypointwhere we will gybe north to Saint Lucia's final waypoint and the last fewnautical miles to the finish line.Weather issupported by both the ARC and Rubicon 3, helping determine our strategic CourseOver Ground (“COG”) optimization. The ARC weather zone map is a 23 square grid, with Saint Lucia residingin Romeo Romeo.  Hummingbirdcurrently abuts the easterly Quebec Quebec grid.  One of my self-appointed tasks is tomark our rough position every few watches on the grid sheet.  It is with great satisfaction that I cansee that I will soon put a small pencil dot in RR.I have donedeliveries before, but I never done what is considered a -true. read more...

Hummingbird - blog sunday 8 december

HUMMINGBIRD Blog - Sunday 12/6/2024Bowel Health andToilet Paper Consumption!Having hadsufficient time to contemplate our reasons to exist, we have turned ourattention to much more important matters; which toilet paper aboard is best, whyand correlation of usage rates to bowel health!We have fourstyles of TP  aboard: weak, nearlytransparent single ply such as the type supplied by government institutions,poor quality double ply, quilted double ply with dimples and a durable somewhatabrasive double ply with daisy patterns printed upon The governmentpaper is hard to tear cleanly off of the roll, hard to fold, when finally foldedhas more holes than our Yankees 1& 2 and is very easily penetrated by themiddle digit when used leading to increased water usage when washingup.While the. read more...

Hummingbird - blog 7 december

Hummingbird Blog  Saturday 7th December 2024Hello readers!It's the weekend so for us that means the same as any other day. We had a nicenight of sailing last night with a few manageable squalls that pushed us alongquite nicely. This was a welcome treat given the night before that saw 40ktgusts that caused us to broach and round up, and resulted in the need to repairtwo headsails, replace a headsail hank, and clean up all the vegetables thatwere launched as the excitement ensued.Talk of arrivalincreases as well as where our friends on BlueJay are in relation to us. Weheard that they gained time on us during our headsail adventures, and thiscannot be allowed to continue. We are of course cruising not racing, butstill.Get thee behind us Bluejay!With thirteendays on the ocean behind us,. read more...