Arkyla - L2D13: weather!

And we were going so well!But, alas, the weather gods insist on toying with the good ship Arkyla a little longer.First they throw us a huge squall filled with equal dises of exhilaration and torrential rain; we are drenched in the scramble to furl the headsails, but what joy to then ride the surf in the 35 knot gusts!But what happens next sinks our hearts lower than the deepest depths of Danté’s Inferno… the wind veers. Not ten, not twenty, not even thirty, but 40 degrees… we are now heading for Miami! Not only are we making way for Florida, but we are making way very slowly to the old music hall favourite tune of slapping headsails! Grrrrrrrrr!Our charge through the pack is pulled to a sudden halt.We hold on drifting along under twin headsails willing the winds to change and, by early. read more...

Arkyla - L2D11: Sh*t happens at sea. Again.

Once more the sea gods fart in our general direction as they test our metal, this time in the form of a rudder emergency.Retiring to the aft master cabin at dark, I experienced every sailor’s worst nightmare… hearing a new, and decidedly nefarious , noise from the transom void.Closer inspection revealed a rudder post that had dropped 10mm and was making freestyle moves like an Australian Olympic breakdancer.A small, but concerning, trickle from the rudder gland adds further excitement to proceedings.If we had an ‘all stations’ klaxon, now would have been the time to employ it.Lifejackets were donned, emergency bilge pumps broken out, and grab bags pre-positioned.Time now to Magyver the sh*t out of the situation; dousing the end of the misplaced rudder post with WD40 surprisingly had no. read more...

Arkyla - L2D10: changes

1st December… underwear change day!!! Admittedly we are just rotating them between us, but after two rounds of ‘inside, outside, back, then front’ a change is as good as a rest so they say!There are other more important changes to note though… notably the significant step up in the weather; Arkyla needs wind to push her sturdy-girl frame and now she has plenty of it… she is properly flying and fittingly her RAF ensign is fully horizontal powered by the 28 knot gusts. It’s not a race, but we have a few more boats in our sights, not least Carol Wu’s Aria Legra… how does that little pocket rocket Rassy go so fast???Little else to report on today, but then the ‘day ain’t over yet’…. read more...

Arkyla - L2D9: Halfway

No going back now if we’ve forgotten something in Mindelo… at 1096 nm we have crashed through the halfway point!Despite their mutinous composure, the crew were rewarded with a tot of rum, and our teetotaller donated his to Neptune; however, maybe we should have dedicated my finest bottle of Dominica to Poseidon instead, as Neptune has so far only blessed us with a measly 12 knots of finicky easterly and slapping headsails! Our charge westward is temporarily on hold. All that aside, my scurrilous and scurvied shipmates have voiced great delight at my instigation of this old naval grog tradition and have demanded more of the same… keen to please, I have scheduled in keel-hauling and a cat o’ nine tails for tomorrow’s retro-themed entertainment!Arkyla has had a bit of a lonely time so far. read more...

Arkyla - L2D8: More broken things

A few more things to add to the snagging list… it’s going to be a busy old time when we get to Grenada!  Last night, for no apparent reason (other than to send me to yet another depth of insanity) the wind, speed and depth instruments decided to unintegrate themselves from the Axiom Multi Function Displays… the data is still there and displaying on the individual instruments, but they are taunting me by not showing centrally - clearly after 5 years of faultless working, holding on for another week was just too much of an ask!  Trying to deal with Raymarine customer support over Iridium bandwidth constraints adds a whole new level of fun to the exercise! Sargassum weed continues to be a persistent thorn in my side; no sooner do I spear it with Neptune’s sabre (boathook) to. read more...