Atlantic 1b

Day 1 – 27.12.08 Saturday. (Mindelo Harbour)
All positions are recorded at noon boat time 1200utc & all log distances are water under the keel as recorded by the boat not necessarily distance covered in a straight line towards the destination during a 24hr period (1200 to 1200).

Left the anchorage at 1100utc and motored for 1 hour to put some charge in the batteries. Made the first two waypoints at 1130 and 1200 to reach the start of the open water crossing conveniently at noon.

The channel between the islands was very windy with sustained gusts to 25kn and a following swell. I sailed through the channel using only the genoa with minimal manual steering. Outside the channel into open waters there was some crazy wind shifts followed by almost complete calm. I could see Quatermoon approaching from behind as they had left a few hours after me. I ran the engine for another hour to clear the effects of land and hopefully find some wind. By this time I had the mainsail up, but Quatermoon was still gaining on me fast and using a poled out genoa and goosewinged. I thought about using the same sail configuration but decided against it due to the swell and rolling foredeck.

Saw large pale Whales or Porpoises following me for about half an hour I am sure they were much bigger than Dolphins.

Quartermoon overtook me just before dark and by this time the wind had shifted from dead astern to a beam reach. I sailed all night with 2 reefs in and ¾ genoa sleeping half hourly and hourly between 2300 and 0800.

Interestingly, the course I planned was 270 degrees due west, however, my ships GPS has plotted a ‘great circle’ route with a bearing to waypoint of 282 degrees in an effort to save me a few hundred miles. No doubt I’ll ruin its plans as I go off course wandering around the Atlantic ocean.

Day 2 – 28.12.08 Sunday. Log 113nm. N16 54.39 W27 06.07
I woke at 0800 and to my surprise saw that Quatermoon was still in sight all albeit a fleck of white on the distant horizon. Following a hot drink I set my sails Goosewinged as the swell had dropped down considerably. Spent the day chatting and playing catch up with Quatermoon which was good motivation to keep sailing well despite the poor winds of around 10kn dead astern. Through the afternoon I played some guitar and slowely closed the gap on Quatermoon with Doris being much lighter in the weak winds.

I made the mistake of being greedy and left full sail up into the darkness when the wind increased and I had to tame a runaway Doris. With appropriate sail now set it took hours to finally get the boat sailing steadily again with the wind shifting and dropping making the hydrovane self steering useless. To make matters worse it rained throughout the night making everything feel damp. I ran the engine and played music loudly while helming in the rain to charge the batteries and get back on the rhumb line after my runaway had taken me ~3nm off course.

By 0400 I still had not slept and was basically heading more North than West, completely pissed off and after trying every sail configuration I could dream up, I dropped all sail and climbed into bed to try and get some sleep until first light (0800). I managed about an hour’s sleep at most due to the swell and the fact that I can’t sleep when just bobbing about in the middle of the Ocean!

Day 3 – 29.12.08 Monday. Log 85nm. N16 57.86 W28 38.83
I awoke to find the barest hint of breeze (~4kn) and making about 1-2.5kn of boat speed most of which was current. With Quatermoon still in VHF radio range we shared our depression. Every now and again there would be a few minutes of sustained 10-15kn of wind followed by nothing.

We searched for the wind all day until 10kn appeared 30 minutes into me running the engine for an hour to charge the batteries. There is a distinct lack of sunshine for the solar panels with today being a depressing monochrome grey. I milked the wind for every second trying to make some ground and held on to full sail into darkness again ( I never learn). Quatermoon was 10nm in front of me and just audible over the radio. Slowly the wind changed direction and died. I managed to keep the boat sailing at 3-4kn close hauled which took me slowly North of my desired route. At least with the boat sailing herself steadily I managed to get a few hours of much needed sleep. I had one moment of horror midway through the night when I pulled the dial off my kitchen timer, all fixed – no harm done, phew!

Day 4 – 30.12.08 Tuesday. Log 76nm. N16 53.88 W30 01.05
Another black, cold and damp night. The morning bought much of the same conditions of around 6kn of wind but it changed in direction to bring me back to the rhumb line (10nm off course) without changing tack. I am still pinched up tight to the wind to create some false wind from my ‘speed’ to keep her moving in generally the right direction. This is supposed to be trade wind sailing 15-20kn of wind from the NE, not 5kn of breeze from the SW – am I in the right Ocean? I have tried to raise Quatermoon several times on the radio this morning without any luck so it looks like they are well ahead by now.

Update, after a few hours (1000), I finally got through and Quatermoon is about 8nm ahead of me, also struggling for wind.

So … how am I doing? Generlly good, not eating much as it takes a few days to build a hunger and settle into a routine, besides I think I might need to save the food!. At this speed it will be time to leave before I get there and I will have to fish for food and catch rain water! I also have a beard I need to lose and I probably smell weird! Still it’s only 1791nm to landfall.

C ya in a few days…