Atlantic 4

Day 10 (eve) – 05.01.09 Monday. Log 109nm GPS 127nm. N16 33.09 W42 33.79

Around 2100 I am sailing under mainsail again and the wind pipes up as I’m hit by a small squall. In the dark I get into a right state reefing down and just as I am tightening the reefing lines I hear a horrible ripping noise. My first reaction is to peer over the boom into the lazy bag and somehow, the leech line has ripped its way about 4ft up the sail! I drop the sail immediately to prevent any further damage. Luckily, I’m clipped in (they came tight twice) as my feet are skating around all over the place as I try and wrestle the sail down in the 25kn winds and pitching sea. I’ll wait until light to ascertain the full extent of the damage. In the middle of the Atlantic with 1000nm to go, I go and screw my main sail, good work me!

Day 10 – The worst day of the trip!

Day 11 – 06.01.09 Tuesday. GPS 119nm. N16 28.83 W44 29.59

Basically I said ‘bollox’ to it and went to bed last night after the sail ripped. I did get up a few times, more out of habit but certainly never set a timer!

I really need to optimize mydirection of travel so each mile counts but for some weird reason that direction will not sail well. The Hydrovane refuses to hold the course and the boat just keeps rounding up and being thrown all over the place. The other tack (gybe) sails perfectly holding course without a fault, but in the wrong direction obviously. A current perhaps? – weird!

Looking at the mainsail in the light, the 1st reef clew eye has pulled out of the sail and the reefing line must have pulled the leech line causing it to rip up the sail. I hope its fixable and not too expensive!

I reckon I can use the mainsail with the 2nd reef in (and third obviously), so all is not lost but I will be slower (if that’s possible) if the winds die off.

No sooner said its now late afternoon and I’m struggling goosewinged in about 7kn of wind – typical!

Early eve, I am finally going in the right direction. Probably because the swell has dropped right off due to the lack of wind I guess and the hydrovane is coping lovely – deep joy at last!

The highlight of the afternoon, I finally had a shave and damn it feels good! Don’t worry I took some ‘before’ pics, scary!

Day 12 – 07.01.09 Wednesday. GPS 120nm. N16 10.10 W46 26.20

Slept well again due to the calm weather. The time zone change is starting to become more and more apparent the further west we go. Its now getting dark until after 2100 and also getting light around 0930. I have no clue what the ‘local’ time should be as I haven’t bothered working it out. I live in UTC (boat time) where I eat when hungry and sleep when I’m tired – well try to.

Today was shave the head day and ‘shower’ in the cockpit. The water is around 29C and I’d love to go for a swim. Maybe, if I’m completely becalmed I’ll tie myself to the boat and jump in.

Shaving my head was really difficult because I don’t have an extension lead and the shaver only just reaches the cockpit. Also, the boat (as always) was all over the place. Lastly, I only have one small mirror onboard and nobody to tell me that I’ve missed bits. I’m sure I’ll find out in St Lucia soon enough (if it hasn’t grown back by then!).

The time is now 2130 and its just got dark. This is the flattest I’ve seen the ocean since I started out and the boat is ghosting along lovely. I thought I saw my first plane (none so far) until the flash of light appeared again five minutes later in the same place. In the distance there is an electrical storm that seems to be running parallel to me and is slightly down wind so I should be ok.

I call my parents to let them know I’m still alive and by the time I come back on deck the storm seems a lot closer. Watching closely I can see it is veering towards me despite there being no obvious change in wind direction in the wind or upper layers. The thick cloud seems to reach sea level and inside is constantly flashing, it looks like a night club in there! Evasive action! The hand held GPS, VHF and Sat phone go straight into the oven. Its on with the waterproofs as I bring the boat about, get down the poled genoa (at least I don’t have to reef the mainsail) and ‘Hove To’, choosing a tack that looks the least threatening. I should avoid the worst of it. I haven’t heard any thunder and this makes me even more worried as they are supposed to be more dangerous I think. I hate electrical storms, especially after it was either Aliisa or Quartermoon that told me about stopcocks on ‘plastic’ boats exploding straight out of the hull if struck by lightening and sinking in seconds!

There I was telling my mum how nice and calm it is and the next thing I’m stuffing my last bar of chocolate into the grab bag! The winds picked up to the usual 25kn and the worst of it passed a few miles off – thank god! I think its gonna be squally all night so while I’m at it I drop the mainsail, as the genoa is easier to deal with especially when you have just woken up!

The rest of the night was a complete nightmare with squall after squall and the seas getting lumpy and Doris being thrown around all over the place again. I managed to steal a few hours sleep at most and feel terrible this morning. I have decided I want a big steel boat that doesn’t get battered by every wave, something around 50 tons!

Day 13 – 08.01.09 Thursday. GPS 102nm. N15 41.09 W48 17.04

For some reason I have been craving chips over the last few days and so I thought maybe use my pressure cooker as a deep fat fryer? Just throw stuff in there and no washing up for a while at least. I didn’t have enough vegetable or olive oil so I mixed what I had of each together to get the depth. Then it was up on deck scrubbing and peeling spuds. They have started to sprout but I assume they are fine to eat? Anyway, in they go. After a while its clear that these chips are not going to be crispy, they cooked but like the inside of a chip without the crispy good bit. Is this because they are the wrong type of spuds for chips or am I just rubbish? I still ate them, ‘waste not, want not’ as mum says. A few pieces of salami and some garlic mayo and you have the greasiest nasty mess I’ve eaten in a while! I had to have a hot drink straight after to wash the grease away from inside!

Not much to report throughout the day. I spent the time trying to sleep without success because its way to hot. I also downloaded some fresh gribs and it looks like I’m being treated to a lot of rain followed by some high winds. Lucky me! I could probably use the wind as long as the seas don’t get to big – I hate swell!

The winds died off to about 5-7kn in the late afternoon and the sails drove me insane with the flapping and shaking the mast making a racket. Its almost like the genoa is winding me up because it knows I’m dependant on it to stay moving. And why is it they stop flapping the instant you go up on deck and look all innocent? I need some sleep…

Just before evening I found myself surrounded by squalls, (big scary looking black ones) approaching from behind and the starboard side. I just had time for a coffee and to get the genoa and its pole down before the first one hit. I rode it for a while enjoying speeds in the right direction to 8kn before I was forced to put her nose up into wind and wait until it had passed over. The next one immediately afterwards was not very windy at all but had loads of rain. By this time it was dark, as the last of the squall passed I was left with almost complete calm. There was barely a breeze to give me some lift with the engine on and it also meant I could play some music for a few hours without worrying about the batteries. The solar panels are largely shaded throughout the day as I’m heading east –west, doh!

I was on squall patrol until about 0300 and luckily they had all passed us a few miles either side, the worst we got was some rain. There is a lot of lightening about as well, I guesss due to the heat and rainy squalls mixing.

Finally, just after 0300, the wind filled in at exactly the right angle to sail my direct destination, so off with the engine. However, there was also two swells running at exactly 45 degrees to that which I wanted to sail. My first choice 280 degrees and my second, the opposite tack southward. Every time, I sailed my intended course she would pick up a little speed and then get thrown off the swell onto her beam ends. I dipped the boom and this was enough to tell me when to quit trying. At this stage I was out of my mind with frustration. I could go either north or south and probably beat back east if I wanted. In fact anywhere but west!

All that talk about trade wind sailing and lovely soft swells you can barely feel, all crap – it’s no different to Brighton on a bad day! With no sleep for two days enough was enough, I set the best course I could put up with and went to sleep. After two hours sleep between being bounced all over the place I am now approx 16nm north off course.

Still another day…

Before I sign off and wish you all well for your weekends. A few ‘Big Shoutz’ to friends for sending me SMS messages every now and again. It’s always good to hear from you guys and know who’s ‘tuning in’.

The VBZ crew, Crutey (The Ground Crew) , Kat (Good luck with PADI).
Rod Sue & ‘The Girls’, Jerry from Brighton.
Tweetsister thanks for the hugz – have we met?
Aliisa – Good to hear you are both well and enjoying Antigua. Quartermoon should be with you soon. C all U Guys soon!

Also, I just heard that Mathius of Carma has arrived safely in St. Lucia – see you there in a few days for a beer!

Luna – Where are you these days?

Atlantic 3b

Just ripped Mainsail about 3ft up leech while reefing in squal. With 1000NM to go!

Additional from Crutey - I've contacted Boo about this, and it isn't as alarming as it sounds to us landlubbers. He is still perfectly safe but progress will be slower now. He isn't pleased to say the very least. You have the satphone number people, use it to cheer him up with a txt!

Atlantic 3

Day 7 – 02.01.09 Friday. Log 107nm GPS 123nm. N16 45.75 W36 09.98

So one week at sea, a little slow but getting there. Both fuel and water tanks are still reading full and that doesn’t include the spare cans of each I’m carrying. Food however is running low. Ok that’s a lie, all the nice snacky things are running out meaning I will have to start cooking real food and yes I even have 2 spare gaz bottles. My main concern is the tea bags, if they run out it may be the make or break of the passage!

Had a really lazy day mostly reading and playing the guitar. I sent ‘The Ground Crew’ (Crutey) my second blog update for you good people and called Quartermoon on the Sat phone. They are 70nm in front of me which isn’t as bad as I thought. They are fine and eating well.

I am still running under just the genoa, the seas are getting less lumpy so tomorrow its back out with the mainsail maybe goosewinged.

Around midday I saw a pretty white bird (a bit exotic looking - yellow bill and long ‘stringy’ tail) circling the boat. He kept flying off and returning for about 30 minutes and looked like he wanted to land and rest – he didn’t.

It’s now 2000 and starting to get dark. There is a sunset and some fluffy cumulus clouds about so it looks like it might be a nice night. If it weren’t for this damn lumpy swell!

Time, 0800 and it should be light in about 30 minutes. I have been up most of the night reducing sail as the winds rose to 25kn and the wave faces seemed to get bigger and steeper. Once again, the conundrum of reducing speed by reducing sail and have the mast wave around from side to side, or, keep the sail up to dampen the mast movement but risk broaching as we surf more down the waves. I could solve the problem by going in a different direction, but that would be the wrong direction! I almost gave the drogue a try but felt it may be a bit excessive just to get some sleep!

Either way, I’m awake and therefore decided to run the engine as I haven’t done it for 48 hours.

Day 8 – 03.01.09 Saturday. Log 109nm GPS 126nm. N16 40.49 W38 18.55

As the light comes up I can see that once again the sea is black and lumpy. Its still blowing to 25kn. Around 0900, after removing the dead fish from the cockpit I notice something on the horizon behind off of the rear port quarter. Its appearing briefly and then vanishing again in the swell. With the binoculars I can make it out as a mast and looks to be flying a mainsail and spinnaker! I try without success to raise them on the VHF. Cheeky bastards seem to be gaining pretty quickly, so I let out a little more sail. I’m doing around 7kn and surfing to 9kn on the waves and still they are visibly getting closer each second! Then ‘I notice the square cut mainsail and its full sponsor decals (Concise 42), it’s an open 60 or 40 going like stink! Probably 15 -20kn I’m guessing. Within the hour he has passed me and vanished from sight over the horizon and is probably sipping rum in the Caribbean as you read this! 1100, time for breakfast.

Today has been a bit stressful, with Doris all over the place almost out of control at speeds of 10kn before getting ‘Bitch Slapped’ (technical term) by the swell from the north. I have now finished ‘The Logical Route’, superb! Makes me want to go all native and live on an atoll in the Pacific. I will probably start the other one ‘The Long Way’ tonight.

Time is now 2030 and its just getting dark, so I’m preparing myself for the ‘monsters’. Doris has looked after herself for the last few hours and it looks like the northern swell has dropped off making for a smoother ride – slightly! Hopefully, it will be a nice night and also brighter as we are now at half moon with barely a few fluffy clouds about. Fingers crossed for no rain. Wind is around 20kn so progress is good if not smooth.

One of those nights where you don’t worry about the weather because you just ‘know’ its all settled. Made good progress and got loads of sleep. At 0600 I gybed to make good the 10nm off course and then back again at 0900 back on the rhumb line – perfect.

As the sea is lower I am flying the full genoa without her rounding up every few minutes in about 20kn of wind. I started reading ‘The Long Way’ last night and can’t put it down this morning.

Day 9 – 04.01.09 Sunday. Log 112nm GPS 132nm. N16 28.26 W40 26.95

What an amazing day, so relaxed. I think this is my first real day of the type of sailing I was expecting. The wind dropped to around 15kn and the swell lined up nicely astern. Around lunchtime I renewed my love / hate relationship with my mainsail. Determined to raise the mainsail without using the engine to ‘ruin the moment’ all went well until the battens got caught in the lazy jack lines.

After what seemed an eternity I admitted defeat (again) and had to use the engine to hold us exactly head to wind. I really need to get these damn lazy jacks lowered, is there a need to have them almost to the bloody top of the mast? Surely, its just to catch the sail at the bottom or am I missing something? Keeping the boat exactly head to wind on your own, while you hoist the sail over ¾ of the way is hard enough with the engine let alone using the only the head sail. Rant over.

The sailing from then on was a complete joy! She sails downwind as Dave would say ‘Sooo Smooooth!) with no heeling and just the soft gurgle of Heidi keeping us on course. I will admit we are slightly high, sailing around 290 degrees instead of 280 and going slightly north of our rhumb line, but who cares? I’ll gybe tomorrow.

Almost ½ way through ‘The Long Way’ now and I notice that Mr Moitessier and I have a few things in common. Aside from scruffy beards (still haven’t shaved!), he wasn’t exactly fond of cooking ‘real’ food either. Preferring snacky type food such as cans of soup, crackers and cheese and sweet stuff etc. Like him, I only eat well when there is a good women onboard … heh heh!!!

The time is now 2000 and the teak is getting darker indicating the arrival of the slightly damp evening. Barely a cloud in the sky and the sun setting almost directly ahead of us. Looks like its going to be another nice night. I am writing this sitting in the cockpit wearing shorts and a T shirt while pondering what to eat. It’s a hard life.

It’s now midnight, and the wind has got back up to 20kn (from 15kn) and I’m still sat here in shorts. It’s so hot during the day now that I can’t stand on the teak decking barefoot!
Anyway, time to throw in a few reefs and get some sleep.

I have slept very well these last few nights, frustratingly so actually! A night Single Handing is very much like making love to a…. No, it’s very much like watching back to back episodes of ‘LOST’. You know when each episode starts and you are trying to figure out if the scene is before or after the crash. Just as a climatic revelation is about to be revealed, Bang!, the character is back on the island!

My ‘bang’ is usually the egg timer ringing in my ear or in this case the sound of the bow slamming off the wave tops. It’s just gone 0600 and the wind has crept up to 25kn and rounded the boat up to wind (Beam Reach). It’s now quite normal to be snug and warm in bed dreaming away and then standing naked in the cockpit taming a runaway boat as it crashes its way across the waves. Hove To, noce to wind while I get some clothes on and my life jacket as I have to go on deck to attach the 3rd reef. 0615, reefed and back on course, back to bed. Another episode of ‘DORIS’ begins….

Day 10 – 05.01.09 Monday. Log 109nm GPS 127nm. N16 33.09 W42 33.79

It’s not light now until 0900. The waves have got bigger and steeper again over night.
I am also 15kn north of my course. I’ll have a coffee and then figure out a strategic action to maintain speed but more importantly keep a level of comfort in the lumpy swell or life becomes unbearable. Permanently swaying from side to side drives me insane!

Ok, 2 accidental gybes and a lot of screaming later and I am no better off. Firstly the f*cking battens get caught up in the lazy jack lines again while I shook out the 3rd reef and then the gybes. Thank God for preventers!!!!

I can make 270 degrees which would put us nicely back on course and still maintain westerly direction – well its west duh! But the swell makes us yaw so badly about 40 degrees either way, hence the gybes. I clawed back 5nm by hand steering, but that’s not a long term solution, especially as I haven’t had breakfast yet!

So, back to 310 degrees, at least on this gybe the boom stays the safe side of the wind when she rounds up on the waves. After yesterdays amazing sail, today just makes me so pissed off and its only 1130.

As from today I will stop quoting the ships log reading as it under reads by about 84-86% and will use the GPS distances covered as these are bang on the money as checked against the Long / Lats.

Time is now1300, its 1064nm to landfall so by tonight only 3 figures to go!!!