North Atlantic 5

Thursday 21st May 2009 (Afternoon)

I managed two motoring sessions, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon, both of a few hours a piece. What can I say? I hate the noise and everything that motoring entails. OK yes, I'm going at almost twice the speed (~5kn) but it's such a chore and its so much more pleasant to ghost along under sail in the sunshine. I always said that my next boat probably would only have an outboard engine for getting into and out of marinas / anchorages.


I managed to find something to replace the broken sail slide, a piece of metal that I insulated with tape and attached to the luff with a piece of string, so I have full sail capability at least.


Culinary tale of the day - Sweet Popcorn. Nobody makes it, all preferring the salty stuff. Me having a sweet tooth, usually end up watching as it's consumed while I sit there starving - (Frey take note!)


Medium sized pan (mines none stick). Good dash of olive oil, a dash of Maple Syrup (Treacle or Honey might also work?) and some sugar. Heat over a slow heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Add popcorn seeds to barely cover the bottom of the pan and stir into the 'syrup' until all the seeds are well covered. Turn up the heat, put the pan lid on and start 'swirling' the pan by hand every few seconds. Soon the seeds should start popping , continue to heat and 'swirl' until the popping slows down (usually after a crescendo) and Voila! Sweet popcorn just like in the Cinema!


Not much to tell you about the day, it's been really relaxing with winds of about 7-9kn in which I sail at about 2-3kn. The evening was really eerie due to it almost being a new moon and the sea as flat as a lake. It's so dark that you can only barely make out a horizon, almost like you are surrounded by fog. We are just ghosting along under a full 360 degree star lit night sky, it's like being in an astrodome. The clouds have been but a few fluffy Cumulous all day, so there is very little risk of squalls tonight and it feels like I'm hanging out in my lounge reading on a summer eve. I slept like a baby throughout the night.


I couldn't quite understand why the cabin was so dark tonight, until I realised the VHF wasn't turned on. No correction, the VHF wont turn on! I checked that there is a voltage going in to the unit, and there is, so it looks like its actually fried. I'll take a closer look tomorrow in the daylight to make sure and use my handheld instead. My wind speed gauge has been acting a bit freaky as well, I thought it just needed recalibrating. It seems that there is a good possibility that I was either struck or affected by the previous night's electric storms. Argh! - Did I mention I hate lightning!



Friday 22nd May 2009

I woke up to find us still sailing slowly towards the Azores at a speed of around 3kn. At this rate I will be arriving at the same time as Flavio & Freya in Otahi who left a week behind me!


1200utc position is N29 54.22 W49 59.20 with 70nm covered.



I spent the day basically eating and resting. Lunch was onion, cheese and garlic omelette and I baked another loaf of bread in the afternoon, all very pleasant. Still not much in the way of winds and it looks like another depression is just forming to the east of my position. I really need to be going east to get on the right side of it, as it looks like it might turn quite nasty. Unfortunately, I can't make that point of sail without some south (~120 degrees, and hence kind of going backwards) and that's mentally killing me.


Once again I motored for a few hours when the wind went really light but generally sailed in the light airs at around 3kn all day.


In the afternoon I was amazed to see something 'waving' at me in the distance ahead. As I got closer, it turned into a 10ft pole connected to a float with a radar reflector on top that was 'anchored' to something underwater. I haven't checked the depth here but I am guessing its bloody deep! The position of this 'buoy' is N29 57.70 W49 51.87, its not lit so don't run into it if you are crossing at night!


Last night was absolutely pitch black, a new moon, very cloudy so no stars and no light to be seen anywhere. Except that is, the flashes of more electrical squalls that seem to be forming ahead of me in the distance as the depression starts to fragment and the whole area becomes unstable.



Saturday 23rd May 2009

I woke up to the sounds of flapping sails this morning around 0630utc with the wind almost none existent. There was no other option but get dressed and put the engine on. I motor sailed east until first light to be greeted by the biggest, meanest and scary looking electrical storm a few miles in front of me. I hate lightening so much that I considered 'hoving to' to let it pass as it seemed to be heading north and I had been motoring east (travelling right to left in front of me). However, this would have taken a good few hours judging by the size of it. I put on full oil skins including my trusty Dubarry boots as it was black cloud right down to sea level with torrential rain seen falling inside the system.


While turning on the motoring navigation lights etc I nearly 'shit myself' as the (previously dead) VHF radio suddenly burst into life at almost full blast (no squelch), the wind speed is accurate again as well and has been behaving itself all morning. Maybe I should rename Doris to Christine as she's obviously fixed herself!


I made a course slightly south of east (~100 degrees - motivated by fear) to find what looked to be the least threatening 'gap' through the wall of cloud in front of me. It took me two hours to clear it and make the other side into clear skies I don't mind admitting, I was 'crapping myself'! I could see forked lightning constantly touching down just a 'mile or so' to my left. It looks like my electronics are going to continue to live in the oven for the next few days and I think there will be worse squalls to come until I get a few hundred miles east of my current position, then it should be fair(er) winds and 'plain sailing' - I hope!


At 1000utc the wind had risen slightly and it was time for some breakfast and so off with the engine and back to sailing. Peanut Butter & Jam toast washed down with strong coffee to keep me awake. After removing the Sat phone from the oven, I received Otahi's second update. Position: N23.9792 W61.2126 - All fine and well!


My 1200utc position is N30 39.38 W48 43.73 with 80nm covered.


Since breakfast the winds have now got up to around 15kn and I am close hauled heading ~40-50T degrees. The wind should free later in the day and if so, I will be heading east as soon as possible. I also need to 'bank' some sleep due to getting up early this morning.




Sunday 24th May 2009

Well another Sunday at sea and its two weeks exactly since I left Antigua and that seems a long time ago. A pretty uneventful day yesterday except that I managed to sail all day without using the motor and even made some progress east as the wind freed up in the afternoon.


I managed to get loads of sleep all through the night and this morning I have finally been blessed with some tail winds. Although they are dying off (currently about 7kn) and I am making about 4kn of boat speed 'Wing N Wing' with the jib poled out on a heading of around 40T degrees.


1200utc position is N31 35.23 W47 32.03 with 96nm covered in the last 24 hours. Only 1009nm to go to reach landfall and I'll be glad when it only reads three figures instead of four!


This route is certainly more interesting than the east-west crossing with the unsettled weather and uncertainty of fair winds for much of the way across. There's no down wind sailing for weeks at a time! While the weather forecasts give a good impression of what's happening over a few hundred miles, it's difficult to predict what's 'around the corner' locally with it being so unsettled.


It also becomes very easy to get lazy and not change sail configurations etc to make the most of the conditions. To make as much progress as possible off the back of the squalls and micro systems means that this morning for example, I have had a poled out jib on both gybes and then a beam reach, all of which were in the space of two hours and going in a similar direction. You can bet I will be close hauled in the next few hours if the previous days are anything to go by.


Sure enough, the rest of the day was spent on a close reach through a rather lumpy sea, another day of 'crash bang wallop'!


It's been an exciting day as I have several little gems to report. Firstly, a 'fishermans' orange fender / buoy, which again, appeared to be anchored in position N29 57.70 W49 51.87. The pilot books don't recommend looking out for 'lobster pots' mid Atlantic do they?


I also saw another sailing boat in the later afternoon which vanished over the horizon heading north (compared to my north east) and if that wasn't exciting enough, as it got dark I was passed by a tanker about 2nm off my port side. It's been an eventful day I can tell you!


The night was rather uncomfortable, still close hauled and I had to put in the 3rd reef to make life bearable, only to then be almost becalmed about two hours later. I woke up in the early hours of the morning to the sound of 'voices', in a somewhat confused state. After frantically looking around the horizon with no sign of life, again the 'voice' came over the VHF radio. It
sounded Portuguese and I understood three of the words as 'small boat' and 'captain'. There was a position but I missed it or rather couldn't understand it. I waited for a repeat call but nothing came so I went back to bed.



Monday 25th May 2009

Another week at sea - Yay! Got up, shook out a reef which seemed to take all my strength, only to have to put it back in again an hour later! The grib files always dangle a carrot of fair winds just a hundred or so miles further and yet they always seem to fragment and vanish on me before I can reach them.


This morning is cold, overcast and everything is damp. I have to be honest, I am feeling quite tired now and the relentless slamming and banging of the boat beating to windward is 'doing my head in' The constant question 'am I pushing her to hard', it only takes one rigging component to break and its really 'Game Over' 100nm out in the Atlantic! I'd rather go slow and get there than lose the rig.


1200utc position N32 24.02 W45 54.35 with 97nm covered. To avoid another possible area of calms to the east that might form around Wednesday, I think I might head north for two days to give me a better chance of westerly winds later in the week.


I have just started reading 'Ice Bird' by David Lewis, a story of the first Single Handed voyage to Antarctica which Lindsay lent to me ages ago. I need all the inspiration and motivation possible to get through this next week for the 'downhill' stretch - it has to be 'downhill' at some point doesn't it?!?!