The Atlantic Crossing

21^st November 2018

I arrived is Las Palmas at 9:30am. Luckily I had five euro on me. There was no WiFi, no ATM which put Taxi’s out of reach. No Uber here yet. A note at the Information desk said “Back in five” but it did not specify minutes, hours, days or weeks but it was certainly not minutes. Enquiries at any other booth were met with raised shoulders and pursed lips.

I dragged my bags to a bus stop on the main road as there didn’t seem even to be a city shuttle and jumped on a bus saying Las Palmas, 2 Euro 80. It stopped at a bus terminal in the city soon after we passed an ATM so I walked back, got some cash and hailed a cab. 

Five minutes later I was at the AirBnB Sal had booked for me.

My first, but certainly not my last. My own room and bathroom en-suite up a set of stairs completely separated from the family home. The place was run by 6 sisters, a couple of whom looked to me like identical twins just to add to my confusion. They seemed to be running shifts looking after Mum who seemed to be in the middle stages of dementia but that could just have been and age and language barrier.

22^nd to the 25^th November.

The boat was now midway between Tangier Morocco and the Canaries so I felt my task was to suss all the best places for yacht parts, provisioning, laundry, eating out and drinking. As always, I hired a scooter and went exploring. No better way to get to know a town and its rhythm.

The ARC rally was readying in the Las Palmas Marina. It is an amateur race for first time Atlantic crossers, very organised, very expensive and provides safety in numbers with synergies like weather and positional updates. The problem for us was that there were well over 250 boats which meant the marina was full so when the boys arrived on the 23^rd, they were made to anchor out. Not ideal after a Mediterranean experience that proved a real slamming. So bad in fact that they lost the dingy!

Scott Kepple, Alan Kepple andd Chip Grounds

So they anchored and coming ashore meant rowing a tiny replacement dingy hardly big enough for three. Bearded, salty sea dogs they were, with big smiles on their faces, happy to finally be here.

This is when I met the third member of the crew. Scott, Alan’s brother, an early retired, laid back dude adequately describes him and I knew we would get along right away.

25^th to 27^th November

Thankfully the entire ARC  fleet departed between 12:00pm and 2:00 on Sunday the 25^th.Not so thankfully, at 2:00 the marina simply and inexplicably closed for the day and so the boys were forced to endure yet another day at anchor, deprived of another day of effective preparation.

They came in, together with probably another 100 boats on the 26^th and it would have taken Chip at least four hours checking in whilst Alan refuelled and found a place to lay up whilst awaiting further orders from the marina authorities.

Once in, Alan and Chip busied themselves with getting the boat technically ready for the trip, Scott and I were IC provisioning. Las Palmas closes down between 1:00pm and 4:00. It seemed always to do so whilst we were midway into our chores and so, nothing for it but a long lunch. As I said, very laid back dude.

Las Palmas came as a surprise to me. Given its remote location a long way off the West African coast I’d expected an expensive backwater. It would be one of the most sophisticated cities of Spain. On the mainland the VAT/GST is 22%. In the Canaries it is 3%. The city is spotless, the infrastructure is well developed with tunnels under the city in all directions. The public transport system is efficient, easy and cheap and the food ain’t bad either. The old town is recommended, but by comparison to the old parts of most Mediterranean towns we visited, it really isn’t that old. 

A long paved piazza with all the brands present which for me was a little disappointing, but overall, I was very impressed with the whole package.

28^th November 2018

We were ready to go. I had extended my stay at the AirBnB until the 27^th which meant I could successfully attend a GetBusy Board meeting via conference call with reliable WiFi and moved onto the boat shortly thereafter. No longer the King cabin for me, I was allocated what was Will’s cabin which is just as comfortable and the way they have the boat set up meant we all have our own bathroom (head) en-suite.

By 10:00 we were ready to go. At around 9:00am Scott set off to top up on peanut butter but by 11:30 there was still no sign of him?? Had he got lost or mugged. Has he found a nice cool place for a last cold beer? Shall we send out a search party? We all called the ‘cold beer’ option but we were wrong. He had walked miles to find a store that had what he wanted. I knew it was miles when he told me where he ended up and the route it took to get there.

At 12:00pm on the 28^th we inelegantly cast off and left. The mooring lines were tied to the dock cleats rather than around them and back to the boat. This meant that Scott had to be on the wharf to untie us and as he did so, so we started to drift away and the gang plank started to slide. At the last second Scott leapt into the gang plank then onto the boat as the gang plank dropped off the wharf and into the water. Luckily it was attached to the boat!

No harm done, I really should have spotted it before we decided to go and avoided the spectacle.

We motored around the North of Gran Canaria which consumed 5 hours of precious fuel as we headed for a point between Gran Canaria and Tenerife where we hoped to pick up the prevailing north easterlies.

We'd seen a few green houses whilst in and around Las Palmas, but these blew us away. Those shiny bits in the photo are green houses on the northern end of the island. Still need to google what they grow in them?

Scott took up the roll of fisherman. He set up the rod and we all got on with stuff and forgot about it. Scott then noticed something dragging on the lure and thinking it was seaweed, reeled it in. To our surprise the seaweed turned out to be this Bonito. We had no idea how long it had been on the hook and whilst we didn't eat it, it did bode well for the trip.

Having left at Midday, each of the following days will be recorded from midday to midday.

So, by midday on the 29^th we found ourselves at Grid reference: 27.19.711N and 17.19.197W for a total distance travelled of 134.6 Nautical miles.

Fuel usage: 42 litres

29^th November 2018

During the daylight hours everybody and anybody is on watch. There is nobody out here and we have AIS which is an application that combines with the navigation system and shows any vessel on the screen that also has AIS. This is compulsory for all commercial (read big) vessels. It tells us what the vessel is, its heading and speed and by what distance we will pass each other should we both maintain our current course. So the only boats we need to worry about is those without AIS. The system we have is passive and not active, in other words, we can see them, but they can’t see us. Why? Pirates can’t see us either.

The night shifts are as follows: Alan from 8:00pm – 11:00pm. Chip from 11:00pm – 2:00am. Scott from 2:00am – 4:00 and I get my favourite 4:00am – 7:00am which includes the sunrise.

As I went out to relieve Scott, I noticed a line hanging down from the back of the boom to the port stern quarter and trailing off into the water behind the boat. On closer inspection is was clearly the topping lift. That’s the line that holds up the boom when the sails are down. Without it the boom would either crush the bimini or smash the solar panels… fine while we are sailing, not fine when we’re not.

When Chip and Alan got up, I gave them the bad news. We had three choices:

• ·       Go back to Tenerife which was still hazily in view. A pounding trip against wind and waves and an additional 3 days.
• ·      When not sailing, lower the bimini, then lower the boom very slowly and park it on the side of the solar panels and lash it down.
• ·       Find an appropriate line to replace the broken one, send someone up the mast in high seas and feed the new line in from the top of the mast.

Once we found the appropriate line, we chose option 3. Al Reid and I had had copious experience of mast climbing during our Med days so the technicalities were no problem. On Atlantic rollers however... well, not much experience with that! So being the lightest, Chip bravely volunteered to go up the mast.

Once we were all set with a ‘mouse line’ and weight to pull the new line through from the top of the mast, up he went and out he went and in he went as the 22 metre mast swayed a good 5 metres at the top where the is nothing but the fat mast to hang onto, all this while trying to feed the weight and the mouse line over the block and down the inside of the mast! 

He got hammered, each sway accompanied by a new expletive… It was hard not to laugh but it was heroic by any standard.

Within 2 hours, the problem was history and the best solution found. Chip was no worse for ware but felt it the next morning.

We also managed to get the boat speed indicator working for the first time since sailing this boat. It’s a little wheel on the port hull that spins as we move through the water and reports to the navigation system its speed of rotation. I had never bothered with it but I now get why it’s there.

By midday, we found ourselves at Grid Reference: 26.26.029N and 19.11.095W having done 118 Nautical Miles in the past 24 hours.

Cumulative fuel usage 48 litre.

30^th November 2018

A fairly serious technical issue begins to show itself. Electrical charging and storage… This is a whole new way of sailing for me in terms of resource management. In the Med, where we were frequently on the wall attached to shore power and water, we had two fridges and a freezer running full time.One fridge as your normal kitchen fridge, the outside fridge for booze and the freezer for storage. We hardly ever used the water maker or generator unless we anchored for a few days.

We started this journey with the freezer and fridge, but by today, both were tripping due to lack of power, despite the use of the engines to top up the batteries and so some decisions had to be made.

• ·         Move all perishables, ie; meat out of the freezer into the tiny freezer box in the fridge.
• ·         Switch off both the freezer and the outside fridge. But for a glass of wine with dinner, this is a dry boat.
• ·         Use only one navigation screen
• ·         Sail at night without power hungry navigation lights
• ·         Minimise water usage by rinsing all dishes thoroughly in a bucket of sea water before washing and rinsing in fresh.
• ·         Infrequent sponge baths

Other technical issue were the depth sounder stopped working. No big deal out here and the high speed option on the port headsail winch failed leaving only the slow or manual (god forbid) option but once again no biggie.

The depth sounder came back to life but after extensive analysis of the winch switch it was determined that we’d need to remove the switch itself to investigate and we have no sealant to replace it once we lift it, so we will live with that one.

One other event I should mention was Scott hooking a beautiful Mahi Mahi. It would have weighed around 6 kilo’s and he got it all the way to the boat but as he lifted it, the ratchet slipped, it hit the safety wires and got away. He was super bummed as we all were.

After 24 hours we found ourselves at grid reference:  24.06.268N and 20.36.168 W a total distance covered of 159.4 Nautical Miles

Cumulative fuel usage 61 Litres (This is purely to recharge the batteries. Disappointingly, the generator cannot be used while underway as it cannot suck up enough coolant to run)

1^st December 2018

No sign of land! For me an exhilarating feeling being genuinely out in mid ocean. We have been enjoying 15 – 25 Knots on either stern quarter, just the way a catamaran likes it. It feels with each day our distances will increase. (Famous last words)

The crew is falling into a nice rhythm. It became clear to me that these guys were used to eating in a monohull. A place where cooking at an angle is anything from very difficult to impossible and so meals are generally eaten from a can. So, I took up the role of ships cook and we ate pretty well, (if I say so myself) and the boys seemed to enjoy it. 

We’re getting through lots of books and I have taught them to play Rummycub and Kardeshler (a Turkish variation) to while away the hours.

Electricity remains an issue even with just one fridge and the auto pilot using what power we have? There is a problem, diagnosis has so far failed and both Chip and Alan are expert in all things electrical. In fact they are expert even in nuclear energy so hopefully we will find the solution or use more fuel than we’d like to.

The past 24 hours got us to grid reference 24.06.768N and 20.36.168W for a total distance of 159.9nm

Cumulative fuel usage 61 litres

2^nd December 2018

Consistent winds kept us averaging around 6 – 8.5 knots for nice smooth bright sunny sailing.

After my night shift and breakfast I took a nap till around 10:30 and was woken with the news that all the meat had defrosted! This meant that it either had to be cooked or thrown out…. Nice one!

We had four huge chicken breasts, seven half kilo trays of beef mince and 6 large Spanish snags.

We decided the chicken was the priority and so I got to it. We ended up with 8 chicken schnitzels, 4 roast Pirri pirri chicken steaks and 3 large chicken curries.

In the middle of this process Scott hooked yet another and this time even heavier Mahi Mahi. It took all the line but didn’t snap it and gave a good fight. Whenever it came into view it was being followed by another similar sized mate. Quite sad really, it made us feel like we were breaking up a mating pair. Due to all sorts of stuff happening in the kitchen I was unable to help but once again, we lost the fish when trying to lift it onto the boat. This one would have been a good 8 kilos. 

Poor Scott was devastated and plans are now in place to ensure success the next time although that won’t be for a while because we are running out of lures, we really don’t have room for fresh fish and we need to eat everything I’ve had to cook before even thinking about fresh fish.

We ate Chicken schnitzel for dinner with pesto pasta and the remaining fresh broccoli which was better than I thought it’d be given the bread crumbs were crushed croutons

At 12:00pm we arrived at grid reference 21.51.52N and22.21.48W for a distance of 167.5nm. We decided to make a book on how far we’d do each day.

Cumulative fuel usage 71 litres

3^rd December 2018

Finally we are heading west rather than south. We have come far enough south and now hope to pick up the trade winds. It hasn’t happened yet.

Today’s tasks were a) to discover the problem with the power and charging system and b) to cook the rest of the meat before it went off. Seven half kilo packs of it.

The house batteries and relevant technology is under the bed in the Port stern cabin…. Chips room, which meant stripping the bed and clearing the room so he and Alan could get to work. 

I got cooking.....

We had 8 hamburger rolls left so I made 8 hamburger patties and simply cooked up the rest of the meat in readiness for anything. It is all back in the little freezer and fridge now.

Chip and Alan discovered that the battery connections from the charger and the solar panels were corroded despite the fact that they had cleaned the only two months ago. We are all hoping that this was the problem now solved. The next engine charge will answer that question for us.

The wind remained consistent for the afternoon and night, today was a hot sunny day, the water temperature a balmy 27.2c but the wind eventually dropped from high teens to low teens and our speed gave us the less than expected distance.

At midday, our grid reference was 21.55.124N and 24.55.709W for 151.4 Nautical miles for the 24 hour period. Alan took the prize.

Cumulative Fuel usage 84 litres

4^th December 2018

Placid afternoon faffing about in the kitchen, doing an entire food inventory, playing UNO and learning how to play Bridge, Al being the teacher. Bangers and mash for dinner preceded by Vishisoux. Watched an episode of the Bodyguard on Netflix which I'd downloaded.

The night saw the wind drop right off. When I relieved Scott at 3:00am boat time, it was calm, warm serine but slow. When Alan arrived at 7:00am we put up the geniker. 

Well…. not without a fight. While Alan was furling the headsail, I connected each end of the geniker to the relevant points and at my command he hauled it up. For some unknown reason I hadn’t yet connected the sheet so as it rose the wind got hold of it and it was too late. I shouted for him to stop but not loud enough as it filled with air and completely unfurled into open sky. Alan then had to turn the boat so I could get hold of the clue to attach the sheet. It took several goes, almost lifting me right off the deck but once tied Chip brought it under control by winching into place.

The Geniker gave us a knot or two but more importantly it put us on the Rum line of 258 degrees, the direct line to Antigua, our new destination.

Bacon, eggs, left over sausage for breakfast by Alan as the wind slowly picked up. My routine sends me back to bed after breakfast for a very deep sleep, waking at around midday, the time at which Chip pinpoints our location and let us know how far we have travelled in the past 24 hours. 

The wind was now a perfect 12 – 15 knots and our speed was between 7 and 10 knots.

By midday we had reached grid reference 21.15.49N and 26.40.1W 125.6 by track.

By distance made good (DMG) 105 miles. Not enough but we cannot manufacture wind.

Cumulative fuel usage 96 litres

5^th December 2018

We set up my laptop so that we could all watch Netflix. The HDMI cable took over the audio system completely which meant we could only get sound from the TV itself. Hardly loud enough when the boat is hooting along at 8 knots under full sail it is surprisingly noisy. Alan solved the problem by connecting his BOSE speaker via the headphone jack and so we all settled down to olives, pistachios and chips… and episodes 2 and 3 of The Body Guard. 

With nothing but time on our hands and as tempting as it was to binge, we decided on one episode at a time in future to make this particular passtime last.

The boat is doing us proud. With wind speeds of 12 – 14 Knots we are achieving speeds of 6 – 8 knots. That means the boat, weighing 18 tonnes is moving at over half of the wind speed. That not just efficient, It’s amazing.

Chip broke out the guitar and just tinkered along making very appropriate background music for our very relaxed situation.

A check on the batteries revealed the ‘grimace face’. Very disappointing. Having used 96 litres of fuel already purely for power generation, this was not part of the plan but unavoidable if we need fresh food and auto pilot. The only two items remaining that are pulling any amps?? There is power leakage but we simply don’t know where.

Smiley Face

Grimace face

I was woken by Chip at 1:00am. The wind was now over 15 knots and climbing and it was time to furl the genaker. By the time I was dressed, the whole crew was up and ready. The genaker came in under full tension although it took two of us to manually furl it. We replaced it with the headsail and all headed off to bed. A final look at the instruments and our heading made me feel it would be prudent to reef so I hailed Chip before he got into bed and Scott, Chip and I reefed once again in darkness but this time with a little more experience. It all went smoothly and by 2:00am I was typing this.

I got up at 4:00am for my shift, the wind had dropped and it was time to put the geniker back up but it meant waking Chip or Alan and so I simply waited frustrated and probably lost 4 or 5 miles in doing so. As soon as Alan showed, up she went.

I hit the sack having not slept before my 4:00am shift and when I woke at 10:30am it had rained for the first time on this trip.

At midday we were at Grid Reference 20.47.5N and 29.28.4 distance made good was 162.5 which was pretty much the same as our track because we maintained a straight line the whole time

A point to note is the expert Jimmy Cornell states that the start of the Trade Winds is 20 degrees Longitude (North) and 30 degrees Latitude (West) if you compare that with the grid reference above, we are pretty much bang on!

Cumulative Fuel usage is now 106.5

6^th December 2018

Knocking up some ham, cheese and salad wraps when we noticed two things… it was looking a little stormy ahead and the wind speed started climbing past 15 Knots. We were enjoying the pace we were achieving and reluctant to bring down the Geniker. A wind shift took Alan onto the helm and in no time it was hitting 20 Knots.

Scott and Alan went to the bow and started hauling the geniker in, Chip on the winch. She furled… then the wind took control and she unfurled. Three times before Chip turned us more into the wind and they got her in. Super tight at the bottom and a little loose at the top, but it looked ok. Wraps were ready for the boys when it was done and we sat down to lunch.

Suddenly the geniker started flapping wildly. The wind had got to the loose top and was slowly pulling it out. Chip and I furled so the actual sheet was wrapped around multiple times, but still, she flapped. Nothing for it but to bring it down. 

It was like getting a very angry 60ft python into a small sack but finally we had it in the bag and lashed to the anchor chain channel with the bridle.

Up went the headsail, reefed on the first dot and a consistent 8 – 10 knots was achieved.

Afternoon movie time and chicken curry for dinner only we ran out of gas. The boat has two smallish bottles which means that after only 9 days at sea we are half way through the supply. Temper this with the fact that I spent two days at the stove pre-cooking all the perishable meats into pre-prepared meals so hopefully it will go the distance.

The evening routine kicked in, everybody scuttled off to their spaces and at 4:00am I relieved Scott who introduced me to a visitor. A flying fish had landed in the helm! That’s a good three metres above the waterline. About the size of an average whiting, only with blue wings, it was to be our bait for the days fishing.

Beautiful sunrise, we’d just missed a large rain shower that passed behind us but the sky was streaked with cloud streets, one of them to our south looking as if it had just lowered a lace curtain through which you could see the sky on the other side.

Eight days and I have yet to take a shower! One litre sponge bath is the go because it turns out we cannot make water on the move. If we needed more water we would have to stop, start the generator which cannot be run whilst underway and make water at a rate of 90 litres per hour, so basically a four and a half hour stop to fill the tanks…

Time for my mid-morning nap which ended prematurely thanks to that pesci Geniker! The wind had dropped to 8 – 10 knots and it was time to haul it up. However, the way it had furled previously meant the top half was very loosely furled compared to the bottom half and as it went up, that part was blown open before it was fully hauled. The bottom half then unfurled in the opposite direction to the top and the sail ended up as an hour glass. 

Almost impossible to correct while the sail is up and a very effective way of ripping the sail apart. By the time I got up on deck, the sail was lying, unfurled along the lee side of the boat. We connected each end to their respective points, made sure the sheet was ready to winch and hauled it up hoping it would open correctly. It did.

The wind then picked up to 20 knots which is a little high for that sail but the boat was hooting along smoothly and making 10 Knots. Not for long. The service job in Cos, Greece two seasons ago failed, the sail disconnected at the tack and the sail went skywards but still connected at the halyard and the winch.

Down she came again, lashed to the safety wires of the lee side with the broken bit down into the cockpit, we repaired it.

Lunch time. Chip warmed up some weaners from a jar and it was time to see how far we had travelled in the past 24 hours.

We were at grid reference 20.25.1N - 32.39.0W for a total of 181.1 miles! A new record.

Cumulative Fuel usage 115.5

7^th December 2018

The water was reaching critical levels. The notoriously inaccurate gauge showed one eighth full or roughly 70 to 100 litres. The old knock on the side of the tank method was inconclusive but not encouraging. To run the water maker we need the generator to be running and as previously stated, we could not get the generator going whilst underway. 

So, here we, are hacking along at a perfect 8 – 10 knots right on our planned bearing. On the AIS, we can see another yacht, a 50ft monohull 14 miles to our north and a little behind giving us an incentive to race and we had to make the decision to stop, hove to, start the generator and water maker and recharge the batteries….. damn!

We did. Generator on, water maker on, batteries charging and 50ft monohull getting away. Alan and Scott took the opportunity to take a dip/bath in the 27.6 degree sea so we tide a buoy to a long line and sent it out the back. Chip and I were a little weary of the conditions deciding to stick to a sponge bath instead..

What if we try and get underway with the generator and water maker already running? Is the generator designed to operate while being tossed about in these seas? Will the water intakes on that and the water maker efficiently deliver water for cooling and purification respectively? After an hour at hove to, we decided to give it a go. 

Slowly at first with only the reefed main and 5 – 6 knots. All good…. Out with the heady… 8 – 10 knots. All good! Generating power and making water on the move....

Our only remaining logistics issue is Gas. Will it last the distance. If not, well we always have the electric BBQ and the Microwave now that we know we can run the generator whilst underway.

Movie time, pirri pirri chicken and capers with white wine sauce for dinner. (I know, I was experimenting, it was way better than expected) and then kick back before bed.

At 4:00am, Scott’s smiling face and a story of the night. This time he had actually been hit by a flying fish while sitting up in the helm. We reckon he’d been attacked by the mates of the ones he had use for bait yesterday.

I haven’t mentioned the majesty of the hours between 4:00am and dawn. We have sailed through a waning moon such that there has been no light to weaken the view at all during my shift. Lying on my back on the helm seat, I have been treated to a crystal clear universe from horizon to uninterrupted horizon like I have never experienced before. Shooting stars.. so many and from the inside of what feels like an immense crystal ball I have the mast at full sail slicing through the middle of it all. Then to be greeted by the sunrise, different and beautiful every morning. The present is always the nicest place to be.

The clarity was short lived this day, marred by a sudden immense cloud build up to our north east. Luckily we were past the core of it but the wind rose to 25 knots or more and the rain came at us horizontally. We chalked that one up as our first squall with the expectation of many more to come.

As the dawn broke I saw a flying fish on the starboard deck. By the time I’d checked the entire boat I had 7 flying fish. Alan came up to relieve so I gutted, scaled and cleaned them. I felt they must be as clean and tasty a fish as you could eat given their lifestyle but the crew was not at first overly enthusiastic. I persevered. A thin coat of oil and a good shake of salt and into a hot pan. One minute on either side and Alan and Chip agreed to give them a try. The verdict? Absolutely delicious. Scott joined us looking highly sceptical, tried one, agreed they were tasty but didn’t quite get around the mental squeam.

Battery charging time for Mr Grimace face so we tried the generator on the move, but it is now clear that we do need to be stationary before it will start and so we reverted to an engine to charge up the batteries before the sun could take over.

By midday we had reached grid reference: 20.27.6N and 35.39.7W for a distance of 172 Nautical Miles for the 24 hour period. We figured if we hadn’t stopped for the generator we would have eclipsed yesterday 181 miles by at least a couple.

Cumulative fuel usage 125.5 litres. The sea water temp has already risen to 28.7 degrees.

8^th December 2018

Peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch. The last episode of ‘The Bodyguard’, if you haven’t seen it, we all thoroughly recommend it. It’s on Netflix. Otherwise an uneventful afternoon with consistent Trade winds of 18 -22 knots and boat speeds of 6 -10 knots…. but for one very important breakthrough. 

After Alan did some work sealing the inlet filter on the generator, he managed to get it started without the need for stopping the boat. This allowed a good charge of the batteries and full tanks of water which meant my first shower since we left Gran Canaria 10 days ago. Bloody luxury!

Spaghetti Bolognaise for dinner. I made a big enough batch of sauce to last two meals all in the name of saving gas. (work that out?)

Everybody off to their spaces doing their thing and an uneventful night but for one 35 knot squall at the end of Chip’s shift for which he reefed the heady to a handkerchief. The winds were back to trade wind consistency by 4:00am but by 7:00am at the end of my shift it was still pitch black dark showing just how far west we have come. We may need to create a new boat time, our own form of daylight saving so that the hours correspond with the actual daylight.

Only one flying fish on board this morning and by midday we found ourselves at grid reference 20.13.211N and 39.59.968W for the day’s distance travelled at 170.8 Miles

As the crow flies, we have travelled 1,356 Nautical Miles and we have 1,325 to go…

We have just crossed half way!

Cumulative fuel usage 133.5 Litres

Sea Temperature 28.7c and our course over ground is a perfect 270 degrees.

9^th December 2018

Tuna wraps for lunch and thanks to the topped up water tanks I decided to do some much needed washing.

With the Trades so consistent, there was talk of us having 6 or 7 days on Caribbean islands before my flight to Canada. Well that talk put the mocka on it as the wind slowly died right off from 20 -30 knots down to 12 – 16. It was not quite low enough to raise the newly repaired geniker as we were not sure how it would perform and instead, as the evening arrived the main was reefed in preparation for the nights sailing so as to avoid doing it in the dark should the need arise.

We cranked the boat time back another hour because yesterday the sun did not rise until after 8:00am

Bacon, egg and cheese hamburgers with fried potato slices for dinner. With the generator going we were able to use the electric BBQ to save on gas so this menu seemed more appropriate to cook than curry or pasta.

The wind dropped below 10 knots and stayed there for the entire night and we were forced to take a more north westerly course in order to catch that. At first light we raised the geniker as the wind continued to drop and eventually jibed heading SSW in search of more wind and in order to get back on track.

At midday we had reached grid reference: 20.14.58n AND 41.10.16 for a dismal 139 nautical miles. A record low when we had all bet on a record high.

Or COG was 195 – 210 degrees

Sea water temperature is 29.2 degrees and rising

Cumulative fuel usage 140 litres.

10^th December 2018

Eight knots of wind and still headed in the wrong direction. Chip was not well either. Tummy issues but ‘it happens’ he said. Too much of my cooking....

The 125ft State of Grace monohull appeared on our AIS screens some 7 miles to our south east. Once she got within visual range we could see she was motoring with no sails up.

The wind was just frustrating. At 3:15 we furled the geniker, started the port engine, turned onto the rum line (the exact trajectory we require to hit Antigua) of 260 degrees. To our surprise, the wind was where we wanted it so out went the geniker again and we were popping along at 7 knots!

We contacted State of Grace on the VHF for a chat and to get a weather update. They told us to expect the weather to remain as is for the next couple of days. We explained how we were configured with sail and motor and that it was working well. They said they’d do the same and perhaps we could have a little race…

With only their headsail up and under motor they were hitting 10 knots so they were probably going to take home the prize. By 5:30pm the wind had risen to 14 knots so we killed the engine and were making 6 – 9 knots… A pleasant surprise given the weather forecast.

We sailed the night under full sail. With each shift we’d needed to head further north to make the most of the 12 – 14 knots plus 2 hours under motor to revive the power supply.

I was half an hour into my shift, lying as I do on the helm seat gazing into the universe when I heard the sharp exhalation of a dolphin. I popped up and listened and watched, it was still pretty dark, but sure enough there they were. I went down to lean on the shrouds for a closer look and a large dolphin came right up alongside, broke the surface, took a breath and left a shower of phosphorescence in its wake. Now that was a moment!

As the morning passed, the wind picked up to a steady 14 – 16 knots but continued to push us further north than ideal. Eight miles to our north cruised the 892ft Costa Magica passenger liner doing twice our speed but taking hours to get by. It all happen rather slowly out here but always nice to have a little company.

Midday had us at grid reference: 19.57.65N and 43.47.83W for a distance in the last 24 hours of 162.2Nm total but distance made good of 149 Nm

Course over Ground 265 degrees

Sea water temperature 29.2 degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 147 litres

Distance to go 1038 Nautical Miles

11^th December 2018

When I got up for my shift I had a big glug of tank water. A short time thereafter I felt a little queasy. A short time after that I was sent rapido to the throne! Couldn’t work out if it was the unrefrigerated pre-cooked food, the water, or something Chip was suffering from but neither Scott nor Alan felt it so that negated the food. Fortunately it was gone as quick as it arrived but I cleared the fridge of anything suspicious and gave it a good clean just in case.

Ham and cheese wraps for lunch. Hotel Ruanda for movie time. When we opened the curtains as the credits rolled there was a big bank of clouds moving in from the north. Alan checked the Spot for messages from Allison and sure enough there was a weather update saying it was going to get stronger from the east.

Now, a point about the Spot device. None of our outgoing messages seem to be reaching their intended recipients and haven’t been for several days now. We do seem to be receiving messages from those who haven’t given up on us yet…. The only reason we can surmise is that Chip got mugged in Tangier and lost his wallet containing the credit card he used to pay for Spot. It costs $0.50 per sms and perhaps Spot, the organisation has stopped allowing outgoing messages until they have a method of charging for them. We reckon they have probably sent Chip an email about this not realising we are in the middle of the Atlantic with no WiFi!

Being north of track there was some decisions to be made. Do we jibe south to regain our track and perhaps stay dry, or do we make use of the rising wind speed and keep going west, all be it a little north? We jibed. Reefed for the night and failed to start the generator and so started one engine to replenish the batteries.

Mash potato, thick bolognaise sauce and peas for dinner. Chip sticking to the starch and not the sauce while his tummy recovers.  

Morning arrived and we had zig zagged across the Rum Line and back with the wind right up our clacker. It was frustrating because it meant we were basically doubling the mileage. Each time we tried to ride the Rum Line, it was too close to the wind and the headsail just flapped as expected and so, the solution was obvious. Furl the headsail, push the main out as far at the shrouds and bingo! 

With a 12 to 15 knots of wind we were popping along at 6 – 9 knots right on the line.

Then…. Just when I was trying to take my morning nap I hear Scott calling for Grappa?? All that meant was he had hooked a fish! I jumped up expecting to help with landing it, having lost two of them so far, but on reaching the cockpit, there it was, a 4 Kilo Mahi Mahi… Woooohooo!

The Grappa was located and as a new thing for me, Scott poured a little into the gills and within seconds, the fish stopped flapping. Who Knew?

Alan sharpened a knife and did a very professional job of filleting, boing and skinning. We bagged and refrigerated some for cooking then sliced some for sushi. Soy sauce and wasabi and that was lunch.

Midday and we were at grid reference: 19.47.46N and 46.28.91W for total distance travelled of 165.2 but  DMG of 151.8

Course over Ground 249 degrees

Sea water temperature 29.7 degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 151 litres

Distance to go 882 Nautical Miles

12^th December 2018

6 – 7 knots, 13 – 16 Knot wind. Only the main out to the shrouds.

Afternoon nap and the wind had slowed but with an oncoming front promising bigger winds. 3:00pm Rumicub and Kardeshler as the wind rose as threatened, Alan and Chip double reefed in a beautiful sunset then turned the boat to slow it down and successfully started the generator. Power and water cheaply replenished.

Crumbed Mahi Mahi on a bed of Quinoa with canned corn and a cucumber, red onion, olive and blue cheese salad (can you tell we our out of fresh produce!) The Mahi Mahi was sensational.

A routine evening with everybody’s nose in a book. The new day dawned perfectly clear and warm with a wind rising to 18 – 20 knots but directly behind causing a slow zig zag across the Rum Line.

Pancakes, egg and bacon, or something a little more sensible? Oats won the day all but Chip feeling that our planned weight loss has not eventuated!

A cruisy sunny day got us to 19.13.22N and 49.07.64W for 158.9 Nautical miles for the past 24 hours

Sea water temperature 30.2C degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 160 litres

Distance to go 733 Nautical Miles

13th Dedember 2018

Still pounding along with 20 knots of wind due easterly and still zig zagging. Lunch was Packet noodles, not my kinda goto food, but it filled the void. Rush, the afternoon movie, a true story about the formula one rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauder in the mid to late 70’s. Good movie but by the time it was done, the wind had dropped to 10 knots and our enthusiastic arrival estimates went back on hold.

The last of the curry with canned beans for dinner. Curry really does improve with age only I was a little concerned it may have too much age on it. No tummy problems resulted, so no problem.

At 4:00am, it was time to jibe. We had gone as far south as we’d like so Scott stayed up and helped me get it done. It did mean starting the engines which is not ideal for those still sleeping, but the power was low too, so two birds, one stone. We hadn’t even made 100 miles by then which meant it was going to be a dismal distance for the day.

When Alan arrived at 7:00, we jibed again and with a real struggle we put the Geniker up. The problem still being that when we furl it, it furls very tightly at the bottom and way too loosely at the top. When we raise it for the next use, the top part unfurls as soon as the wind gets to it but it unfurls in the wrong direction. 

We have yet to solve this one. We jibed again to stay on course and had to furl it in order to change the side it was going. Same problem which was solved by bringing it back down, unfurling it on the deck, raising the halyard and feeding the sail out bit by bit into the wind on a hope and a prayer. It worked, but not ideal as it could easily whip one of us right off the deck!

At midday we made: 18.41.050N and 51.70.83W for 129 Nautical miles for the past 24 hours

Sea water temperature 30.6C degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 162 litres

Distance to go 604 Nautical Miles

14^th December 2018

Woken from a pre-lunch nap at 1:00pm. The boat bouncing like she was headed into the wind. Scott had hooked yet another fish, but this time it ran out all the line and the jolt must have pulled the lure right out of its mouth.

A squall was heading our way from the south east and so Chip sensibly suggested we bring down the Geniker before it hit. This time we attempted to furl it with little pressure on it as possible by turning right into the wind. The result was the same… tight at the bottom, loose on top….

The squall pushed the winds up over 20 knots and gave the boat a good dousing but not enough for a quick shower as Alan had hoped.

Lentil soup for lunch and the one remaining hamburger bun for dipping. We were wondering what was in it to keep it so amazingly fresh?

Things all slowed to what felt like the doldrums. The clouds were as if a huge wet blanket had been tossed over us so we retired to the saloon to watch the Monument Men. No change after the movie. A few encouraging puffs of wind that threatened to give us the direction we wanted but it was all just a tease. 

Chip pulled out the guitar and provided the perfect background music while we all did what we do… reading mainly. And so it went into nightfall after a tasty mince beef stew on leftover quinoa and rice and canned beans dinner.

At my 4:00am shift, we had jibed in an effort to regain the Rum Line and the wind had risen to a respectable 14 – 17 Knots. The winds stayed exactly where they were and much the same speed till midday. We had jibed one more time headed south west but at a better angle to the Rum Line that on the opposing jibe.

We got to grid reference: 18.19.97N and 53.34.25W for a distance covered of a disappointing 128.2 Nautical Miles

Sea water temperature 30.6C degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 169 litres

Distance to go 475.8 Nautical Miles

15^th December 2018

It seemed we hooked another fish. Only discovered when Scott saw a tangle of line at the end of the rod. No leader, no lure and very little line left.

Wieners with chilli meat sauce on wraps for lunch and the wind was consistent.

At 2:30, that sound every fisherman loves… the ratchet on a reel announcing a good size catch. Scott gave me the reel man job while he stood by to net it if and when I brought it in. I let it tire so that there was no need for the net and I was able to drop in into the cockpit where we blood and gut them over the grate outside the saloon door. This was a 6 kilo Mahi Mahi very similar to our last and so, fresh fish on coconut rice preceded by sushi with soy and wasabi for dinner.

I had been warned that I should bulk up before this trip as we would all lose weight. Well, as you can see from the photo’s those that warned me have never travelled long distance on a catamaran where there is nothing much else to do but dream up what we’re having for our next meal.

Despite the fact that we have arbitrarily adjusted our watches twice and are already sailing on Barbados time, when my shift ended at 7:00am, it was still pitch black dark. 

The wind had kept a steady 15 – 20 knots all night so by the time midday came around, we got to grid reference: 18.19.97N and 53.34.18.20.312N and56.19.75W for a distance made good of 154 Nautical Miles

Sea water temperature 30.6C degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 174.5 litres

Distance to go 321.5 Nautical Miles

16^th December 2018

Egg, capers and prosciutto wraps for lunch. The food stores have lasted the distance without the need to eat Tuna from the can. A resource we still have bucket loads of….
Once again the wind teased. We needed a way of sailing with the wind almost directly behind us and Alan came up with a possible solution...

How about we connect the Gennaker furler to one of the bows, have the sheet come right around the headsail and right back to the same block as we use for the Gennaker. Now in effect we would have a Spinnaker. Scott and Chip were skepticle but in only 10 knots of wind it was worth a try.

We had the same issue with the loose top but we managed to sort it before it went the wrong way and Poof.... Spinnaker. We instantly gained a couple of knots of speed and we were sailing right down the Rum Line!


By midday we had reached 17.13.02N and 058.58.13W for a daily distance of 160.1 Nautical Miles... all thanks to that Spinnaker

Sea water temperature 31.6C degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 177.5 litres

Distance to go 161.4 Nautical Miles

17th December 2018

A tuna, mushroom pasta 'one pot' for lunch and The Devil Wares Prada the movie, this time with actual popcorn. Shame about the movie.... not exactly produced for four guys on a boat!

The afternoon saw the sky close in and the wind drop right off on into the evening.

My shift started at vertually nil wind, the main flopping about like a drunk. I turned the boat to make what use I could of it and when Al got up we unreefed the main and pushed it right out to the shrouds. the wind did pick up to much to set the Spinnaker but we were making good distance and it was becoming clear  that we would make Antigua the following day.

As soon as the wind dropped, although it was already late afternoon we raised the Spinnaker and enjoyed it for 45 minutes while copping derision from Scott and Chip for wasting time. They did have a point.

Getting excited now, our crossing was nearly done.

18th December 2018

It was a quiet evening with talk of arrival and what needed to be done on the boat and what leisure actvities we could enjoy... Somebody else to do the cooking and washing up, oh, and how much beer and wine we could drink because we would be safely tied on.

My shift started almost the same as the previous morning. Main flopping, wind dictating that we change direction by 20 degrees or so. Scott headed for bed and no sooner had he done so when I noticed large squalls to the north and south both over taking us and one really ominous build up directly behind us......It was hard to guage the force because it was still so dark.

The wind started to climb. I had the Mainsail all the way up and we really started to move. The more the wind climbed the more it changed direction and pretty soon we were headed almost due north. I jibed. A manouver that can be done short handed. The jibe put us right on the Rum Line and doing around 8 - 10 knots.

The squalls eithere side of us pushed ahead and the one behind caught up. It started to rain quite heavily and the wind climbed to 25 knots. At what speed do I wake someone to help me reef? I decided that 25 knots was the limit.... it briefly shot to 28 knots as the squall caught up but the boat was handling it marvelously and so I let them sleep.

By the time Alan releaved me it was all over. I was soaked but warm, the boat had had a wash and the wind dropped to almost zero. We had 50 miles to go and for the first time we started both motors, ran them at 1500 rpm all the way to Antigua. Luckily we had sufficient fuel...

At 10:00am it was Scott who got to say "Laaaand Ahoooy!"

At midday we were at 17.03.8N and 61.22.95W for a distance of 138.3 NM

Sea water temperature 32.1C degrees

Cumulative Fuel usage 184.5 litres

Distance to go 29.9 Nautical Miles







I looked up at the mast and noticed that the brand new Topping Lift line had stripped at the very top where it goes over a block and down the inside of the mast. Concerned it might break, we dropped and packed the main and lowered the boom so it wouldn't damage the bimini or solar panels and then went about repairing the line.

The coating had litterally stripped off what was supposed to be the strongest line money can buy... Come in Spinner! It was going to cost $1000 local to replace the line in Antigua so it is repaired and Chip will buy some more in the US when he heads home soon.

The customs people closed at 4:45pm and if we missed them we would not be permitted off our boat until the following day. We motored into English Bay on Antigua at 4:00pm, dropped the dingy and Scott rowed Alan in with all our passports and was the last to be checked in. Once done, we were alocated a tight spot on the wall and Chip asked if I'd like to do the honours. It was a 'Med Moore' special, there was a decent audiance and a Mr Wavey Hands bellowing instruction from the dock. It was good to be doing something I've done so many times before and with two engines, the catamaran always makes you look good.

Yachts either side were frantically manouvering fenders as Mr Wavey hands is telling me to go back, the wind is going to blow me off course etc, etc until I indicated with a finger over my lips that perhaps he should shut up. We went in without touching their fenders, tied on and tightened the anchor chain. As I said, this boat will always make you look good.

It was good to be on dry land but it took ages for the ground to stop moving. Getting across the gang plank is a real mission.

A nice bar restaurant right on the dock together with the most expensive array of Super Yachts I've seen. Needles to say, we ate too much and drank too much but it was partcularly gratifying to know that after 18 days at sea, we all got along so well. It all went without a hitch.

It has been another epic event for the memory bank. Bring on Canada, ice and snow!