Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - December 7th 2024

96 96 Today was definitely different - to any other day we have ever lived through - we completed our Transatlantic crossing and arrived in Grenada! It was a difficult last 30 miles or so, not the serene glide in front of a steady Trade Wind that we had ordered.  The day once again started with a squall (at the end of David’s 0300 to 0600 watch this time) of apocalyptic rain, wind in the upper twenties, and a ninety degree wind shift, followed by no wind for a while, and then back to a reasonable breeze and a nice sail under full headsails, in the right direction. Happily we were doing 6.5 knots through the water when I took over, and we also had two knots of current with us. We were going to take Grenada by storm as the saying. read more...

Frances Louise V - December 6th

96 We started the day with 170 miles to go. But, this was not the idyllic, easy going, fast, last full day at sea that we had hoped for. Quite the opposite.It started with a squall coinciding with our 0600 watch chain. Not extreme, not even that bad as squalls go, but truly annoying.  The wind still reached the upper twenties.  The rain was short lived but absolutely torrential. It was then followed by a massive wind shift, and the wind disappearing. The next phase is equally annoying as we wallow around in the waves, sails banging, seeking to follow the wind back round again and get back on course. Very difficult in virtually no wind. Then it fills in again and off we go. This time the wind only got back up to twelve knots, or. read more...

Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - December 5th

96 Another brilliant sailing day in moderate easterly trade winds. Another gloriously sunny, hot, day, in our sparkling blue world. Definitely our world as we have not even seen another boat on AIS since December 1st. Only looking at YB tracker can we “see”, on a phone screen anyway, other boats around us. We have had birds circling us though, so some signs of life, Been another day of watching for squalls, wind varying up and down, and reefs going in, and coming out of, the headsails. The sea has its moments, but it has moderated too. We put the ships clocks back another hour. Now running at GMT - 4 which is Grenada/Caribbean time. The day passes so easily and quickly, even with 25 hours in it. Frances Louise continues to cream along superbly, taking the waves in her. read more...

Frances Louise V - December 4th 2024

96 Over the course of today conditions have gradually calmed down. The waves and swell have become more aligned, and dropped to around 2m, with patches of less than that getting more and more extensive.  Most importantly, the seas have swung to be coming from more or less directly behind. This has greatly improved boat motion. Over the course of the day the, sometimes violent, lurches, this way or that, have ceased. We are back to the up and down motion, but we do still sometimes roll from side to side too as she snakes her way down the back of waves, enjoying herself surfing.  We have continued to be on the look out for squalls, with or without rain. But none came over us during the day.  The cloud formations are. read more...

Frances Louise V - December 1st

96 96 Well, December certainly started with a bang for me. I come back on watch at 0600 each day and, just as the skies begin to lighten, I settle in the corner of the cockpit where I can both see and reach the instruments, and clearly watch behind us. I snuggle in and watch the dawn break, and then the sun rise. The uninterrupted view is one of the joys of being at sea.  Today, as the skies began to get lighter, it became clearer that there was an enormous black squall cloud, with rain underneath it, coming towards us. It was very broad and we were right in the middle. I put some reefs in the sail and closed the hatches. Then I put the autopilot on wind steering. Then the rain began to start and the wind to increase. More reefs and I shut the companionway. read more...