Logs

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...

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...

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...

Gertha 5 - Another one bites the dust

12.00n 60.00wThe evening entertainment, another lure donated to Neptune.I think I remain open minded about fishing on an ocean passage Gertha rolls along , should be into our last day.Not many birds, no weed, fish remain an unknown and no sight of land .Squalls in the early hours of the morning, missed one by luck so no real drama. Think tonight is humid so could be a long haul of sails in and out with big watch on radar.No idea how blogs will go for next few weeks, probably a bit hit and miss as move from sea life to land life.nanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...

Frances Louise V - December 2nd

96 Another rough day. Another day of drunken champagne sailing, wibblimg and wobbling, onwards and westwards. Another 154.7 nm covered. We have reached the eastern bulge of the top end of South America. No longer open ocean, but now Suriname due south of us.  Grenada, the southern most Caribbean Island, is due west. Both about 485 miles away. Venezuela south west of us, in between. After 1,700 ish miles we may have cracked it! The wind has been slightly less, at around 22 knots, but the sea has been more disturbed, with swell over 3m and waves from all over the place. Sometimes it gets calmer. Sometimes it gets rougher. Both wind and sea that is. Easterly wind, but shifting a bit around that axis.  We have been on constant look out for. read more...

Gertha 5 - Yes squall, no fish

12.30n 56.2wThe day started with random squalls, forgot the shampoo, just got soaked for no gain.Day was sailing with a wind dropping in speed and direction moving about, multiple sail changes, now bac to where we started.Fish remains a mystery, but maybe there is one arriving now, much talking on deck, it is dark so could be interesting.May be just weedGetting close to Grenada, mixed emotions.nanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...

Frances Louise V - December 2nd

96 This has been another rough day. The Trade Winds have blown consistently at 080 degrees, blowing around 25 knots, give or take the gusts and lulls. No squalls though. The seas have been big. Probably a 3m swell, and quite disturbed. They push the boat this way and that, in several dimensions, and, if combined with a gust, she can rather sheer off and surf in the wrong direction. But the auto pilot copes well and she comes back on course. (We have been running on the old auto pilot today to give the new one a rest).  It’s been a really really bright day. As they say at home, the sun easily knocks a force off the wind…….. the air is comfortingly warm, the sun full and bright, and the sea the most beautiful blue. It sparkles in the sunlight and the white caps glisten.. read more...

Gertha 5 - What time is it

12.44n 54.5wToday a day of more wind, Gertha was doing her best rock and roll dance for most of the morning, water through open windows , the full dads dancing.Now is more sedate Hoise music.Problems on board with time, no one knows what time it is and also we have all lost all concept of time.General agreement is get to Grenada, drink beer and unpass out to local time.Cleaned fridge, 5 liters of mucus in bottom. Why does the chest fridge on a Swan get mucas in its bottom?Also shower emptied, it has carlesssly lost both pumps and awaits Grenada for repair.nanos gigantum humeris insidentes. 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...

Gertha 5 - Man of war

12.48n 51.10wHi light of the day, a Portuguese Man of War, drifting towards somewhere, was it lost, who can tell.The Sargassum remains unseen, the bird life few and far between, an odd thing with a long dangling tail, odd Fulmar type things plus maybe a Booby.Winds a little stronger today.A squall in the early hours to make me wet.One sail boat drifting a bit north to south behind usnanos gigantum humeris insidentes. 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...

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...

Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - November 30th

96 96 November 30th was a great, proper, trade wind sailing day. Blue sky, bright sun, a few small fluffy white clouds, sparkling azure blue sea. The wind was consistently easterly and we held our direct course easily with a good wind, in the upper teens, up the chuff. It was up and down, but quite strong, and, whilst we increased and decreased furls throughout the day, we had some furls in all day. Sea state varied, and thus motion. Sometimes swell from directly behind, varying in size, but other times it was more on the quarter, sometimes a bit confused, tossing us around a bit. Never a drop of water on deck though - this is an Amel! Another good days run, of 156.3 nm, getting us 155nm closer to Grenada, at an average speed of 6.5 knots.  Early in the. read more...

Sea Rose - Day 10 - The Big Blue Orb

I keep grabbing my phone and opening email. Im not sure why as we don’t have wifi on the boat, just a slow proprietary email service from Iridium that works with our (very dated) Iridium Go. We are disconnected from the world, save for short text-based emails from rally control, the weather service and friends that we can trust to not send us attachments or include us in long email threads that would jam up our very slow bandwidth connection. We could have installed Starlink, and plenty of other boats did, but for many reasons we took a pass on this option. It’s not often you get to choose to be disconnected for several weeks. Some day in a future ocean crossing, broadband satellite service will be so ubiquitous that most everyone will have it, like the eventual offering of wifi on. read more...

Gertha 5 - No weed more fish

12.30n 48.10wAnother fish caught, this keeps the tins in stock.The Sargasso has done a runner after my rant a few days ago.We are promised a little more wind on Monday and Tuesday, currently we are heading a little north as the perceived wisdom is this is the way to go.Bird life has done a runnernanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...

Aria Legra - Half way!

Position: 13:15.2'N, 046:39.2'WHeading: 260TWind: ENE 4 to 5Sails: main 3 reef, tradewind sailWe celebrated reaching halfway with pasta in a sauce made onions, peas and smoked salmon. The salmon came in a fancy tin and was bought in Helsinki while cruising the Baltics in summer 2022. I thought back then that it would make a delicious meal mid Atlantic. That tells you how long ARC+ has been in the planning!Our stopover in Mindelo was so fun; we enjoyed meeting everyone in the fleet. We shall look forward to more stories swapping over rum punch in Grenada.Fair winds,Carol & Peter. 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...

Sea Rose - Day 9 - Spicy on the way to the Spice Islands

It’s getting a bit spicy. Last night the winds gusted high enough for us to do a cautionary douse of the asymmetrical. We poled out the genoa for a more stable wing and wing arrangement and it has served us well into this morning, Day 9. The surface of the water speaks ‘confused sea’ all over it, with residual northwest swell combined with new short period breaking waves from the east. In the midst are large round clumps of sargasso weed the size of a big car plus long drawn out lines of the weed like lane markers on an expressway. And express it is. We are doing all the speed we are comfortable showing without risking broken gear. Two boats crossed in front of us on a broad reach, presumably planning to gybe downwind but we are comfortable pointing right to Grenada. It’s not obvious if. read more...

Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - November 29th 2024

96 November 29th was the most wonderful sailing day. Early on the wind settled from a more easterly direction.  We were soon on course and able to change the auto pilot setting to course, not wind, and keep it that way. Our latitude stayed more or less consistent all day at 13 degrees 07 north. Point Saline on Grenada is 12.00N. The sky was blue, with fluffy white clouds. A few birds circled around us. The sea state became a noticeable rolling swell from behind. The wind averaged 17 knots all morning, a little less in the afternoon, and then 18 to 20, gusting at 24 knots, overnight. So we had at least one reef in for most of the day and more at night. Of course we are sailing in the apparent wind so the reality is a lot less than this.  Even. read more...

Gertha 5 - No weed

12.45n 45.10wSomeone has removed the sargasso stuff, yesterday it was everywhere today near none, theDuogen has pushed up the battery voltage, all is looking good in the electric department.FIsh, have had one come aboard, somebody callled MarherMarheeBig group of birds at sunset, over 100 of fulmar or something similar.One water tank down ,three to go , that without water makerKettle Mk111 handle is proving a hitnanos gigantum humeris insidentes. 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...

Sea Rose - Day 7 - Thoughts

We are very close to the halfway point to Grenada and all is well onboard Sea Rose. The winds have been remarkably consistent. Blowing somewhere between northeast and east and between 10-18 knots. Most times I look at the instruments it’s right around 14-15 knots. We have settled into a sail configuration that is working well - our asymmetrical spinnaker and a double reefed mainsail. On a few nights we have down shifted to wing and wing with the genoa on a whisker pole. One night we hastily dropped the spinnaker when rain suddenly appeared astern of us, only to see the wind speed drop a bit and an hour later return to normal. The forecast is calling for increased winds tomorrow and carrying through next week which we are excited about. My wife and I are not big fisherpeople but the crew. read more...

Gertha 5 - Weed

13.00n43.00wThe war of the worlds has nothing on the Sargasso, the stuff is taking over the Atlantic, give it another 20 years and you will be able to walk coast to coast.The Duogen, the trusty battery charger I have used for 20 years is close to unusable, the weed blocks the propeller, I lift it to clear and the sequence goes on nearly every minute.We will burning hydrocarbon to sustain the boat in electric, the Hydrovane and additional PV solar are our best investment, what will the pacific bring.No great highlight today, kettle has had a mk11 tweak, jib has had some protection from lifeline, doctor stroke nurse tried a little ear work on Ed.More fish needed, or it is tins tomorrow nanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...

Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - November 28th 2024

96 The weather changed on November 28th. There was a lot of cloud in the sky, sometimes quite grey. We could see rain and squalls and blacker clouds in the distance around us. Thankfully never over us. The wind got up into the higher teens, often gusting at 21/22 knots. The sea was quite disturbed. We are now getting swell from a gale off Madeira counteracting with our normal swell and current from Africa/The Trades. However, the swell was not as bad as had been forecast and boat motion, whilst more pronounced, was quite tolerable. Also, not as forecast by all Predict Wind models and the ARC Weather Router, the wind annoyingly swung back southwards and we were off course again. Throughout the day the wind swung from side to side and went up and down. We spent the. read more...

Arkyla - L2D6: Mojo

Arkyla has her mojo back!!Finally we are making some respectable speed again.And now we know the cause for her tardiness these past few days… it appears that we rediscovered one of the lost 7 wonders of the world - the hanging gardens of Babylon.Where did we find this ancient relic… clinging to the rudder in the form of sargassum weed!We had to stop the boat to clear the hydrogenerator of this prop-clogging menace and took the chance to briefly motor in reverse; behold… a forest of weed floats up from beneath Arkyla’s hull and liveliness to our girl is restored!It is now the very early hours of Thursday morning and we are charging along in the blackness of a moonless night… just a touch more wind now please!. read more...

Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - November 27th 2024

96 November 27th was a Big Day: We put our clocks back one hour. We have our saloon clock on GMT and all other clocks on Local Time, with a note on the nav station bulkhead as to time differences. Cape Verde was GMT -1. Grenada is GMT-4. We want to continue linking our watch pattern to “night time”, so, before we left Mindelo, we calculated three one hour clock changes for the trip. The first was at 35 degrees longitude and took place today. Gave us a 25 hour day. Causing a complication in calculating 24 hour stats but the extra hour was very welcome. It’s almost a full time job sailing double handed, what with running the boat, sleeping and being on watch, that we are getting very little time to do our own things.  Clock back longitude was also bilge. read more...

Gertha 5 - Kettle

13.30n 40.00wToday highlight is kettle handle falling off.A dynamicrepair with two holes and some cord.We keep chugging west with a bit more south than ideal, but that is the wind and sail we have.Another fish in today so postponing moving to tins and packets for another day.Someone has broken into boat and stolen all the flour , nothing else.Still either warm, and sunny or just warm, currently warm and dark.nanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...

Gertha 5 - Mousaka

14.04n 37.05wWe now have caught a fish, happy faces everywhere at dawn.The Mousaka that was prepared a few days ago and left around the boat was put in oven, then found to have a higher alcohol level than vodka, it was given a ceremonial burial at sea.Breakages remain silly, the 8 year old on the mast finally died, a pump in shower near 40 died.We head a little south of ideal, but downwind sail is always a juggle between sail st ups, at some point we will re-jig and go a little northnanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...

Frances Louise V - Frances Louise V - November 26th 2024

96 It has been a lively morning’s sailing with winds close to 20 knots and a lumpier sea. We have furled and unfurled the sails a few times, as we feel she begins to get a little bit out of control, or go too fast. There has also been, relatively, more cloud. But we have bounced along, more than merrily, at over six knots, whilst also filling our batteries. The boat motion is still easy to live with. However, the wind direction has still been stubbornly in the sixty degrees and we need at least seventy to lay anything near our course.  Over the middle of the day things were very positive, and continued to be so over the afternoon. We completed the first quarter of our passage. At 1435 we had covered 553.4 nm and had 1653 nm to go. We’ve been going. read more...

Gertha 5 - Who stole the fish

14.45n 36,00wAnother day with two little forlorn faces looking out of the back o the boat, lures come and lures go, the odd near miss or one that got away.Basicly thank god for John WestThe wind is steadyin the east, a little light this evening.The sun goes up , makes things a bit hotter, charges the batteries through the solar, then it goes down but everything stays hotAll is peacefully here apart from the odd bit of rigging going bang crash as we roll gently onwardnanos gigantum humeris insidentes. read more...