Atlantic 1

Just a quick update - departed 11:00 27/12/08

Atlantic Thoughts

So how do I feel about Single Handing Doris 2000nm across the pond? Well, my biggest worry is being able to maintain a decent speed to complete the crossing before I die of old age. At 100nm per day (that’s what I usually work on for longer trips) this means 20 days, almost three weeks! Most people are talking about doing it in two weeks?!?! That’s an average speed of 6kn.

Also, it’s really hard to sleep well when the boat is going fast and if I don’t sleep there is a risk I will go all Crowhurst!

The ships log now reads 3560nm (although it does under read) since owning Doris from new, so the 2091nm to St. Lucia will be the same as almost 2/3 of the total sailing I have ever done in my life! However, in my favour, as long as I don’t get run down by shipping at least there is no land to hit! (Unless I’m really lost!).

Biggest worries:
Sail repair not holding and causing more damage to the sail.
Rig incorrectly tuned and the mast falling down.
Water pipe bursting (again) and losing most of my fresh water.
Storms (not squalls – I’m pretty used to them) and big seas.
Things generally breaking on the boat.

Lastly, there is the current weather situation. At the moment, the Atlantic pressure maps have gone mental with all kinds of weirdness. If we leave in the next few days we potentially face large (4-5m) southbound (on our beam) waves generated by a storm in the north, accompanied by light winds (5kn) and heavy rain.

Surely a combination guaranteed to have us spewing our guts up!
On the other hand, this northern system is so big (winds to 50kn+) that it could take ages to pass through and we don’t want to sit here at anchor using precious food and water.

I have downloaded a selection of guitar music and songs to learn along the way providing its not to swelly:
Mr Bojangles – Nitty Gritty Band
Sing – Travis
Under the Bridge & Californication – Chilli Peppers

I also have a few books to get through (thanks Crutey & Lindz):
Ice Bird – David Lewis, The Long Way & Cape Horn - The Logical Route both by my hero Bernard Moitessier

It’s now, 19:00pm and I have been looking at the weather sites and decided to leave tomorrow morning. The swell shouldn’t be too bad until about Tuesday

C ya on the other side…

Cape Verdes 6 - Christmas Day

I woke up to the sound of the Sat phone as someone was trying to call. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t connect and I have no idea of who this was?

Anyway, after a wash, cup of coffee and the obligatory dose of Internet it was up on deck to have a go at the rigging. I have done a little reading on this and I know that a fractional rig with multiple swept back spreaders are a pain in the ass to tune and get right. In the end I put two turns on the cap shrouds and one turn on the lowers, leaving the intermediates alone. Does this sound about right for a rig that’s never been tightened from new? It feels a lot better, but all I can do is hope that the mast continues to stay upright I guess.

If (when) I ever buy another boat it will be a cutter rig with (preferably) a single set of straight spreaders, my rig is probably the worst possible configuration for cruising, especially down wind sailing due to the swept back spreaders.

As I was tightening the rigging, I noticed the mainsail head repair done way back in Muros, Spain had worn through and was close to breaking. Time to get out the sail makers palm and thread and make a new repair that will hopefully hold until across the Atlantic. Lucky I noticed this or I would have been sitting on the boom out at sea trying to sow a repair!

While I was busy working Sym & Amy (anchored a few yards to my right) were enjoying a Champagne breakfast followed by a Christmas dip in the fine waters of Mindelo Port.

With jobs now complete, I went below decks to call my parents on the Sat phone for a quick Merry Xmas before plotting my route across the pond.

I have decided to make landfall in St. Lucia and go to Rodney Bay, the same place as the ARC finishes. This decision is due to both the fees and complications involved with checking into Barbados, not to mention the lack of anchorages.

Then it was over to Quartermoon for Christmas dinner.

What can I say, Amy & Sym live like royalty when it comes to cuisine! Stuffed roast chickens, with bacon, piggies in blankets, potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, with gravy washed down with wine and Champagne followed by home cooked lemon cheesecake.

Over dinner, we decided that it was not wise to leave on Boxing Day due to it being a Friday and therefore bad luck (Daniel of Luna, you are to blame for this maritime superstition!). So some time after Saturday it is…

After dinner, barely able to breath, I helped Amy with her blog and showed Sym some guitar stuff before we let off some celebratory ‘fireworks’ (ahem – nuff said!).

Thanks for the hospitality guys, and making the day Christmas - you two are the best!

My Xmas pressie from Quartermoon, they know me so well!

Cape Verdes 5 – Change of Plans

We (Quartermoon & I) have decided to wait a little longer before setting off across the pond. Mainly due to the fact we (I) have a lot of smaller jobs that need doing and Amy really wants to celebrate Christmas properly. In addition, the Atlantic pressure map looks a little freaky, with massive high pressure over the UK and N. Europe and no Azores high to speak of and the fact it’s constantly changing meaning we would be heading into potentially dodgy weather. Therefore, we will sit tight until Boxing Day at least, make sure we are properly ready and have a better idea of the weather. Also, I may decide to go to St. Lucia now due to the lack of anchorages in Barbados, I'll keep you posted.

My ‘ToDo’ list so far:
Clean & Pack away dinghy and stow below – Done.
Lift floor boards and sponge bilges dry – Done.
Last minute food shopping – Done (as best as I can).
Top up water – Done.
Remove Jib and bend on Genoa – Done.
Make the galley cupboards useable at sea – Done (Nice one Sym!)
‘Obtain’ Pilot guide to Caribbean – Done (the magic of photocopiers!)

Extra Gaz - Done (Gaz is really cheap here).
Tighten Rigging – Christmas morning (I ran out of daylight today).

Many thanks to Sym, who is a master with a set of hand tools, the galley now will not spill bowls, plates, cups and glasses all over the floor when the boat is at sea. This will make such a difference to my quality of living while sailing and something Hanse should have thought of in the first place.

If any other cruisers (reading this) need work done at sensible rates, do not hesitate to give Sym (Quartermoon) a call if you find yourself in the same area. Sym has practically rebuilt Quartermoon (an Oyster 41) so evidence of his expertise in boat building is easily available.

Quatermoon now has their very own blog site and their progress and adventures can be followed, URL’s in the list to the right.

So … The Cape Verdes?
Well, it’s an interesting place! It seems that the people are either very wealthy (expensive cars etc) or extremely poor (street beggars and sharks). Everything is really expensive, for example a tube of toothpaste cost me about 3 quid and chocolate (Mars, Twix, etc) are kept behind glass to prevent theft they are so expensive!



The beggars ask you to buy them milk powder for their babies (that you never see) for some reason. We think it’s either to cut coke (or something) or to resell it back to the supermarkets. Or, they really do use it? Either way, its weird! I'm sure there's a scam going on somewhere.

I have purchased some extras that will ‘keep me going’ but I don’t have as many goodies as I’d like for such a long trip, especially as my diet is based around chocolate!

Anyway, enough for now, its Christmas eve so Merry Christmas to everyone I know friends, family and cruisers alike. Think of me tomorrow morning when you are unwrapping your pressies, I'll be on deck tightening my rigging!

Have a good one!

Boo & Doris.

Cape Verdes 4 – Doris Bids Fond Farewells To Lindsey

We woke up quite early and went ashore with Sym & Amy to officially check into the Cape Verdes. First visit the police station to announce our arrival and surrender the ships papers (I hate doing this!).

Lindsey was hoping to be home for Christmas so the mission was to find some method of transport to the international airport on the island of Sal. After much asking around we finally found the TACV office that deals with inter island flights and successfully booked her flight for the following day (Tues 23rd).

Knowing that Lindsey was going home we (Amy, Sym and myself) decided we would celebrate Christmas on the Wed 24th and set sail for the Caribbean Christmas morning! This also meant that our next trip to immigration we could get our passports stamped for entry and exit of the Cape Verdes in one hit, perfect.

I know I should really spend some time exploring and sight seeing in the Cape Verdes, but to be honest, the weather here is currently howling winds and pouring rain, a miracle as someone said it normally rains about 9 days a year?!?!?! Being single handed again, I am keen to get back out to sea and achieve my main goal of crossing the Atlantic.

After the immigration office, we all went back to the police station, showed our exit stamps and managed to retrieve our ships papers meaning we can all leave at any time.

Already having a flight booked in the Canaries from Sal to Munich, the only remaining task was to book a flight from Munich to the UK in time for Christmas, which she managed later that evening, albeit with a 15 hour layover in Munich - ouch!. Lindsey spent the evening packing her stuff and booking her final flight before we risked life and limb in the dinghy ride to Quartermoon in about 30kn gusts, for a farewell meal cooked by Sym.

Its now just after 10am local time and Lindsey is on her way home. After waking up at 5am, I took her ashore to meet the taxi she had ordered at 6am in Quatermoon’s dinghy we borrowed due to the howling winds. Her itinery, Mindello -> Sal -> Munich -> UK for about 1am Christmas day.

I now have 2 days to get the boat ready for the ‘big one’…

Farewell Lindz...

Cape Verdes 3

Firstly, sorry for the slow update everyone, as you can see I am still alive and well in the Cape Verdes (at last). As Kat pointed out later, it was probably not the best idea to announce that I had ‘bad vibes’ about the trip from the beginning and then go silent a third of the way across, so appologies to all who were worried about us.

After the initial posting, progress was both slow and actually off course, towards the Carribean for 2-3 days due to a really uncomfortable swell running on our beam and the wind being directly behind us. Being the lazy cruiser I am, we simply flew minimal sail and run with the swell until it died down before getting back on course again.

The weather throughout the trip was generally a major let down considering how far south we are and just off the coast of Africa, patchy sun, windy and quite cold during the day and squally, rainy and damp each night. The last day or so, while we had lovely flat seas and hot sunshine, we had very little wind to actually sail. I imagined the trip would take around 7 days (100 nm per day), Lindsey was hoping for 6 days but we ended up taking 8 days.

We were greeted by Quartermoon, Sym & Amy who guided us into the anchorage as I only had a pilot book and no chart available. Sadly, Aliisa had left for the Carribean the day before we arrived. Good luck for the crossing guys! Stay in touch and let us know when you are safely across.

Sym & Amy told us they were close to contacting the UK Falmouth Coast Guard to see if we had let off our EPIRB or if they had heard any news about us, as they (along with others) were getting very worried about us. A new lesson I have learnt (read the manual) is that I can’t keep more than 30 SMS messages on the sat phone as it prevents new ones from being delivered. With lots of previous trip messages and a whole stream of jokes being received and kept while en-route, I didn’t receive the anxious ones – doh!

Note to self: Always read and delete SMS messages immediately and leave the Sat phone turned on all the time when crossing the Atlantic!

On the subject of SMS messages, many thanks to you guys who sent them, at one stage I had the only Sat phone joke line in the Atlantic ocean, it was great to hear from you all again, Dave, Nick, Francois, Crutey, Prav, Kat, etc

Anyway, enough for this post, I will post again soon with whats new and cool in the Cape Verdes.

Boo & Doris.

Cape Verdes 2

For those who were concerned, I have just heard from Boo who has arrived alive and well in Cape Verdes. His travel sim doesn't work there so I wouldn't try and phone him.

He is sure to post more when he gets an internet connection.

Phew!