Rafiki - Skippe'rs Notes

Some notes on Rafiki and our course to the Caribbean

Sailing-wise, since leaving Las Palmas, we have had a great time. Our
previous sailing so far has all involved a lot of motoring due to
light winds - probably close to half our mileage since leaving
Southsea in August. All has changed now and we have had nearly a week
of winds between 15 and 25 kts, so have been flying along. So far our
daily mileage by our log (which probably over reads true mileage by
about 10%) have been: 27/11: 192, 28/11: 152, 29/11: 183, 1/12: 175,
2/12: 191, 3/12 186. We've now sailed about 1200NM since las Palmas
at an average of around 7.5kts.

We've used a variety of sail plans. We started with just the main and
staysail which worked OK, but were not great when sailing more
downwind, so we often just used the main alone for the first 2-3 days
while we got ourselves all sorted out and the winds and weather were
reasonably heavy-going. After this, we used our whisker pole and main
boom to pole out both our foresails to head straight downwind with the
mainsail tucked away in its sail bag. This works really well and we
whizzed along at 8-9 knots. Only problem comes when the wind shifts
and we want to maintain our course as it takes quite a while to put up
and take down, so for one night we sailed with just the large genoa
poled out, which still pulled us along at up to 9 or 10 kts at times.

On Monday, the wind shifted to be more from the south or south east so
we have been tearing along on a broad reach with the second reef in
the main and most of the genoa. Sailing at 8-10 kts under a starlight
sky with the moon rising and the boat being controlled well by the
windvane steering has been a real joy and something we'll all
remember.

To sail from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean most people either
choose to sail the direct route of about 2700NM, which takes a more
northerly course or to head south towards the Cape Verde islands and
then turn onto the direct westerly course, in total about 3000NM. We
decided on the southerly route as it is only 10% longer and on average
has stronger, more reliable winds and calmer seas - we all agreed that
we would rather sail for an extra day or so and have enjoyed the whole
experience than been bashed about in the uncomfortable swell that can
affect the northerly route. We were also aware of a series of low
pressure systems developing in the mid-Atlantic that would move off to
the north and so not pose a danger, but leave low and variable winds
in their wake. The southerly route should help to avoid this. We set
off due south from the Canaries for the first 12 hours or so to avoid
the disruption to the wind that comes in particular from the 3700m
volcano in the middle of Tenerife. From here, we headed on 210deg to
keep going south towards the Cape Verde islands, while beginning to
head a little west. From about 23deg North onwards, we have been
sailing a course of about 245deg which we will follow until reaching
18deg North on Wednesday, when we will take the direct course to St
Lucia. This should mean we avoid the light and variable winds I
mentioned above, although the latest forecasts suggest that these will
not be as big a problem as first expected. We should have another day
or so of strong 20kt winds before the wind quietens down to 10-15 kts
on Wednesday or Thursday this week.

Rafiki has been performing very well. In particular we are delighted
with how well our windvane self steering is working. Tonight was
especially satisfying as we whizzed along averaging 9 knots under the
stars with all the steering taken care of by the wind itself! We have
also been fortunate that so far all the other things that keep life on
board pleasant are working just fine. Our freezer is still full of
lovely food for when our fresh supply runs out and has not been
consuming more power than we had expected. The water-maker is working
well and we have run it about 4 hours each day to produce around 60-90
litres of fresh water a day. We have had rather less sunshine than
expected, meaning our solar panels have not kept up with our power
needs, so we have had to run the engine every 2-3 days for about 4
hours to keep the batteries charged up. The bonus of doing this is
hot water for a shower and no problem to run the breadmaker as well.
Only problems we have had so far is a continuing leak in the forward
cabin, although now reduced to an annoying drip after work in Las
Palmas and a loose joint in the staysail furling foil. Fortunately it
is the bottom joint, we we should be able to reach it and tighten
things up in the morning. If not, then we will need to be careful
about using the staysail, as if the joint comes apart, it will be
tough to furl the sail when we need to.