Rodney Bay St Lucia

‘At last another post, what the hell have you been doing?’ Well, not a lot actually! Up to Friday 23rd I was still captive in Rodney Bay marina. I have been extremely busy socializing, sight seeing, drinking Piton beer, yacht racing and spending way too much money.

Highlights have been visiting hanging out with Matt, Pigeon island, the local ‘Jump Up’ (Street Party) and racing a J24 in the local weekend yacht race.

My debut in yacht racing wasn’t exactly successful in that out of the three races that day, we missed the first due to being hung over and late for the start. The second race we managed to make the start line on time but have the mainsail tear along the foot a few metres over the line that required some drastic make shift repairs, needless to say we came last. The third race saw us timing the start to perfection and leading the pack only to get completely lost and then not actually finish! Finally we ran the boat straight into the pontoon at about 4kn while mooring up!

Food is sooo expensive here, I guess because everything is imported. I wouldn’t like to have to victual a boat from here to head back across the pond or anywhere else further than a few days. Not having anything other than a photocopied pilot guide, I decided to invest in the Garmin G2 Vision Caribbean charts ($330US) for my plotter. While expensive, I am sure these will be a good investment especially when I get into shallow reefy areas like Tobago Cays etc. Also thanks to a new friend Christian, a St Lucian local, I managed to photocopy a full set of charts. He also got me discount on my next purchase…

Being in the Caribbean I though it was time to stop rowing and invest in an outboard. I am now the proud owner of a shiny new Mercury 5hp 2 stroke ($1100US). This meant that I have to find somewhere to store it onboard. Every store and chandlery had sold out of outboard rail brackets so it was a case of DIY. However, the parts to make such an item came to three times the cost of just buying one (~$80US). Just as we were about to fully commit and take saw to wood some total stranger (French) comes over and hands me an old wooden bracket for free! After some careful sanding I made it fit and got all the other parts refunded – once again the Gods are smiling on me!

Lastly I managed to get the mainsail all repaired and luckily the bill was only $150US.

Unfortunately, just as I refitted the mainsail and thought Doris was back in a ‘ship shape’ condition, Christian pointed out that the main large salon windows have decided to part company with the boat! I did notice some minor leaks on the Atlantic crossing after being clobbered by waves and closer inspection reveals that they have now completely delaminated from the hull. A phone call to Hanse later (as this is clearly a warranty job) and apparently this is a known problem with their boats in warmer climes due to the adhesives failing in the heat. Hanse are aware of it and are ‘working on it’ – Until a repair can be carried out it’s a job for good old duck tape, so watch this space!

Kat attacked the boat inside making it habitable again as it was a ‘little grubby’ after the crossing.

She also went over the hull with white vinegar to remove the three weeks (a.k.a months) of accumulated salt. Every service is available here if you have cash to spare. For a full boat valet (hull clean & polish, stainless and topsides) I was quoted $180US, a little too extravagant for me! I did however, splash out on the boat laundry service from ‘Mr Sparkles’. You call him on the VHF and he picks up and delivers direct to your boat whether in the marina or out in the bay at anchor!

With the boat at least clean inside and out above the waterline we managed to escape the marina on Friday afternoon (after 9 nights captivity) and it was a nice feeling spending my first night at anchor in over a month in Rodney Bay.

We slept well that night having both dived under to clean her bottom as best we could with snorkels, masks and scrubbing brushes.

ATLANTIC 6 - A Hero's Welcome!

Landfall Rodney Bay St. Lucia N14 04.43 W60 57.02
I won’t bore you with all the nitty gritty details of the final few days. Suffice it to say I was a complete basket case managing only about 4 hours sleep in total in that period. I think I actually got to the point where I was ‘trying too hard’ to sleep and simply couldn’t. Each night there were squalls to F7 and the seas were so steep and horrendous that I was ‘chained’ to the helm, in and out of consciousness.

I clipped into the cockpit to sleep on the floor close to the wheel and at one point after drifting off, woke suddenly to a crash of water as a huge wave broke right in the cockpit. One second all was quiet and the next, water shot straight up my waterproof trousers and I was sitting in about 10 inches of water!

It seemed that the closer to land I got, the worse the squalls were and the more frequent. The last actual day of sailing the squalls were pretty much back to back but by this time I was using them to travel as fast as I could by manually helming and going over 8 knots pretty consistently. They are so much less scary in daylight! I surfed waves all the final 5nm to round the island and enter the safety of the bay.

Kat had seen Doris come round the headland and called me to confirm it was in fact me, being about 4 hours ahead of schedule.

I dropped anchor in Rodneys Bay and for the first time in almost a month the boat wasn’t rocking from rail to rail!

Then I started to melt! – The heat was unbelievable! I had a wash and changed my clothes as I was in a pretty bad state! Kat’s friends bought her out to meet me in a RIB. It was so good to see her again and I gave her the biggest cuddle. She came bearing a ‘Goody Bag’ full of chilled chocolate, Champagne, Rum, fruit juice and all my favorite things.

She had arranged a marina berth for me in advance pointing out that it needed to be as easy and stress free as possible. I must have been pretty ‘out of it’ by this time because after getting the anchor up, I simply told her to take us in and let her berth Doris! All you guys in Brighton – I let Kat berth Doris! I didn’t even care that the depth read 0.0m about 50 yards from the berth… I was quite tired!

Matthias was also there to meet us and took our lines.

From that point on, I shook hands with person after person as the guy who just ‘solo’ed the Atlantic’. It seems Kat knows a lot of people here and had arranged a little ‘Welcome Party’ in the local bar for both Matti & myself. I satisfied my craving for Beef Burger & Chips and was then treated to a huge ‘slab’ of chocolate cake.

She is the best and it would have been all so different without having her there to meet me. I would have probably simply gone to bed in the anchorage. When I first set out, the whole goal was to simply sail across the Atlantic, but somewhere on the way across everything changed. I couldn’t care about the Atlantic and was simply looking forward to seeing her again – she really did make my arrival special. I know other ‘Single Handers’ (some of whom tune in here) who have made land fall and then felt so ‘alone’ on arrival because there is nobody to share the experience with. Not so in my case, I now have about 20 new friends!

I have a few jobs to get done now I am here including getting the mainsail repaired, her bottom cleaned (Doris not Kat) and anti fouled, and maybe some alterations to the cockpit design.

Kat has rejoined Doris, at least for a while and we intend to explore and dive the waters around various islands in the Caribbean. I’ll post more about the actual island etc very soon.

I would also like to say a huge ‘ThankYou’ to everyone who sent me SMS messages, jokes and words of encouragement which made the trip a lot less lonely and really did encourage me to keep pressing on as things got a little bleak toward the end of the journey. It’s really the best feeling in the world knowing that there’s friends ‘rooting’ for you and for that I am extremely grateful.

Atlantic 5

Day 14 – 09.01.09 Friday GPS ~95nm. N15 49.39 W50 13.74

As ‘TweetSister’ told me, the last miles are the longest and hardest. I have become obsessed with VMG or Velocity Made Good and can’t stand seeing all my speed being in the right direction. Whats the use of doing 10kn (as if) if they are in the wrong direction!
For example, I worked it out that if I am 30 degrees off of my rhumb line it will ‘cost’ me about 150nm. That’s another day! Therefore, I seem to spend a large portion of the day staring at the GPS and mumbling calculations to myself.

Being my own worst nightmare, it all had to come to a conclusion. I had been tweaking the sail trim and the Hydrovane to go lower and lower and we were almost dead down wind (gulp!). The VMG was well up there and we were romping home. I had been carefully watching it for over an hour before leaving the helm unattended (in Heidi we trust) and going below.

Laying there snoozing and BANG!, followed by a slow wallowing feeling as the boat comes to a standstill. Rushing on deck, I’m greeted with the mainsail backed hard against the creaking preventer line, we’ve gybed. It’s now blowing about 20kn (at least the mainsail is reefed!). A quick look at the cleat in the far corner of the cockpit before I commit and put myself in the firing line of the mainsheet traveler (cockpit mounted) and boom. The sail and traveler are both out to port.

Safely across and behind the helm, if anything gives now at least its only the mast or boom that’s coming down. It’s up to weather with the wheel to bring her nose right up to the wind while I slowly ease the preventer and everything (including me) creaks with relief as I haul in the 10nm of mainsheet (6 to 1) like a demented lunatic. Crises over! All very dramatic, but gybes scare the hell out of me…

Being head to wind and soon to be dark, I pop the 3rd reef in and carry on my merry way, about 30 degrees off the wind! The VMG was ‘winking’ at me all night!

Remember the ‘pretty white’ bird I saw circling the boat a few days ago? Well he’s been back, a few times actually. I have seen him most days since and I’m sure it’s the same bird. The last time was right in the middle of a squall and I could swear he comes by to check I’m ok. Maybe he’s stalking me? Anyway, where does he (and the other little brown birds – terns?) sleep?

Speaking of wildlife, I haven’t had any flying fish on deck for about 4 nights, maybe because the moon has been bright and they can see where they are flying? I hate going up to try and get them back in the water before they die (despite their brains being all over the cockpit – they fly quite fast), especially when it means getting out of bed!

I haven’t seen a single Dolphin, or any other fins for that matter. Even ships have vanished since the Open 60 on Day 8.


Day 15 – 10.01.09 Saturday GPS ~95nm. N15 57.36 W52 16.60

Today I am a new man, its amazing what a good nights sleep does for you. I awoke around 0700 (still dark) to the sound of ‘clicks’ over the VHF. I always leave it on channel 16 and turned up loud as I figure this will be called if I ‘meet’ another vessel while asleep. Anyway, sure enough from on deck I could see a ship (looked commercial) about 2-3nm away. More worrying was the fact that my VHF radio was constantly transmitting.

I am guessing the ship tried to call me but I am effectively ‘jamming’ the channel (Its supposed to stop automatically in the event of a stck PTT button). I turned off the ships radio and got out the handheld, all was quiet. Short story, it turned out to be the remote mic terminal I have in the cockpit has corroded causing a short circuit. I disconnected the remote terminal and no more problems. I had removed the actual mic some time ago as it was giving us problems. I wonder if it’s under warranty? In fact the main ships GPS plotter has also started playing up and ‘freezing’ the display. Typical, own things for a year and they start dying.

Another sleep then up again at 1000, the sun is just on the horizon. Special K for breakfast as all my cereal has now run out. I am raiding Lindsey’s old supplies. If that runs out I think Daz still has some old ‘squirrel food’ in the bottom of the cupboard.

Fancying something better for a second breakfast, I decide on a ‘cooked’. Unfortunately, all (15) my eggs have gone bad. I cracked a few but they were ‘watery’ and smelt a bit weird. Dates were for mid December so not surprising I guess. I finally settle on fried chorizo type sausages, boiled potatoes (no chips remember!) and beans. Three bloody pans! At least there is still some left for tonight as well.

The evening began (just after 2100) with me sitting in the cockpit listening to music, digesting my seconds of sausages etc and admiring the most amazing full moon I have ever seen. It was literally like an early morning sun it was so bright. The boats wake was lit up like some Godly path to the horizon.

Around 0100 the boat starts to round up and go off course wind with the increasing
wind which were forecast to reach ~25kn by 0600 in the morning. Genoa, pole all away and sailing quite deep on the 3rd reef we were back underway. In the moonlight you could see the clouds ‘scudding’ past as the weather started to deteriorate.

Just after 0300 the boat started to round up again and I took the helm . We were flying along at over 8kn as the squall started. It was actually quite fun having the appropriate amount of canvas up for a change. Then it kicked up a gear and things began to feel different. The noise through the rigging was horrific and the boat started to accelerate rapidly . Looking across, the sea had been blown completely flat as if it had been ‘ironed’ of all its creases. I am sure it was raining, but it may have been the top surface layer of water that was being ‘swept’ like dust from the sea through the air. I remember acknowledging 32kn on the gauge and telling myself aloud, ‘don’t worry about the direction, just don’t gybe us!’

The next thing we were hit with a gust that felt like a solid ‘wall of wind’. I saw the wind gauge spin a full 360 degrees, and with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach prepared for the gybe to end all gybes as I lost complete control of the boat. The needle settled with the wind on the beam.

I don’t think we gybed, mainly because I still had a mast! I think I threw the wheel to weather at the last moments mainly because I couldn’t think of anything else at that instant. There I was in that familiar scenario, boom straining against the preventer. Wheel over, preventer eased mainsheet in tight – just like we practiced!

A deep sigh of relief and then the adrenaline hit me like ‘a hit from the bong!’ and I couldn’t stop shaking. I now actually had some time to ‘admire’ the storm around me. I have been in a few F8s and one F9 (Day Skipper), but never seen such raw power as this. The whole top layer of water was flowing under the boat like a river in flood, if you went over, you would be gone in seconds I’m guessing. It’s only because I’m lucky to have a boat like Doris who will point around 30 degreees off the wind on just the mainsail or scrap of headsail with the wheel to weather that I could afford to take the scene in.

The wind had now eased to around 30kn and the waves passing under us were getting bigger by the minute. Plan ‘A’ of waiting it out were quickly turning to plan ‘B’, run with the wind due west! I tried to be cheeky and run with the mainsail still pinned in but I just got spun round to the opposite tack. I could have eased it out I guess but I didn’t want anything to do with a mainsail in those conditions that wasn’t in tight! I had to either stay put or get the mainsail down. On with the engine, unless I could get her luffing the mainsail would not be coming down without broken battens. Slowly increasing the throttle until her nose started to lift, I went forward and clipped into the 3rd reef, just as we went into ‘free fall’ off the top of the next wave – wow! That was scary! The (poor) mainsail looked like a dogs dinner by the time I had finished with it all tied up in bunches to the boom, at least it wasn’t going anywhere.

Hydrovane set for a few degrees off downwind, barely 1000revs on the engine and we’re making a smooth 5kn+. I had a short spell of euphoria as I sat back and we went in the right direction – west!,

In the meantime, the winds had dropped to around 25kn but the seas were still growing, very confused, steep and breaking. Not the biggest seas I’ve been out in but definitely the most dangerous.

I had a scrap of genoa up to dampen the boats movement and to give us some drive. Around 0500 I turned the engine off as the batteries were topped up and the genoa was providing motion. I set the Hydrovane to take the waves off the rear quarter and over sheeted the sail so that when a wave picked us up we rounded up over the crest instead of taking ‘the drop’ and surfing out of control. I was still standing at the wheel and I don’t mind admitting I was pretty scared as my shoulders were pumped solid from steering and I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I was completely shattered.

Not wanting to be far from the wheel incase we caught a wave I wasn’t willing to go below and I wanted to keep the washboard in place incase we got ‘pooped’. In the end I clipped in and fell asleep on the cockpit floor like a tramp outside an off license door waiting for opening time. I managed to steal an hour’s sleep before being woken up by torrential rain as we were hit by the last squall, luckily not much wind this time. I stayed curled up on the floor – I love my Musto & Dubarrys!

I couldn’t wait for sunrise (much like the tramp I guess). The classic, ‘If he makes it through the night, he’ll pull through!’. It was around this time that the whole Single Handing ‘thing’ really hit me. Mid Atlantic, its you and only you, that has to face what’s dealt. Nobody to assist or advise or ‘take the wheel for a second’, complete self reliance. I coped and dealt with it. You always wonder if you will cope when your test comes, I guess that’s part of why we’re out here in the first place and I’m sure there will be much worse weather to come, but this time I coped.

Sitting on that floor and looking across at the black seas in the moonlight, I thought of the horror of what it must be like to be so ‘beaten’ that you have to resort to pulling that pin on the EPIRB or even worse taking to a life raft. I hope I’m never ever in that situation.

Anyway, you’re reading this and all is fine. Don’t worry mum – I’m still alive.

Last night I think I earned my right to be called a ‘Single Hander’ and of that alone I’m proud. Not to mention getting me some ‘Red Trousers’ when (IF – superstition!) I make landfall in a few days time.

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!!!

Atlantic 2

Day 4 (PM) – 30.12.08 Tuesday. Log 76nm. N16 53.88 W30 01.05
With the winds dying off again in the afternoon, I could see a squall line ahead and heard from Quartermoon that they were experiencing 15kn winds and rain in which they were washing. Rather than falling behind I decided to use the motor to head straight for the weather system.

Within 30minutes the wind had increased to 10kn and changed direction by 90 degrees (the opposite tack). Then it started to rain and ‘Naked Sailor Man’ put in an appearance with a bottle of shower gel. Once everything was clean it was back into waterproofs (its cold being naked and wet in about 15kn of wind!).

Some real progress and wind at last. By 2000 I had 2 reefs in the mainsail and 1/3 of the genoa doing around 6-7kn. There is a horrible knocking sound coming from the rig, I thought it might be the intermediate shrouds (the ones I didn’t tighten) but it seems to be the vang knocking in its mast bracket. When you gaze up from the heads window the movement and stresses on the rig look frightening!

With a horrible swell building and constant rain by 2100 I was thinking that morning couldn’t come soon enough! Everything feels damp and the swell is keeping me from sleeping properly.

At 0300 there is a huge ship (cargo) about 2 miles off my starboard side, he overtook me and passed in front of my bows maintaining about 2nm distance by 0400. Another glow on the horizon is dead ahead, Quartermoon? No response.

After another hour the glow turns into what looks like a neon floating city! With this ‘thing’ coming straight towards me I raise them on the VHF. It’s a ‘long liner’ and Chinese guessing by the confused conversation we just had. Straight in front of me heading east (towards me) and could I ‘wait’ for them to look out of the window to see where I was! Hmn no radar then….

With the glow getting brighter I decide its time to charge those batteries and motor clear. I always said that the odds on getting hit by shipping in the Atlantic were minimal, but I feel that this would have been my end had I not been keeping watch.


Day 5 – 31.12.08 Wednesday. Log 106nm. N16 52.20 W32 01.37
After motoring clear of the long liner for about an hour it was time to sail and sleep until 0830 when it gets light. The swell had developed as forecast 3-4m (maybe 5m) from the north. They look scary until you realise they are so wide and you simply rise over the tops, it looks like you are sailing up hill.

After playing with sail configurations I stick with mainsail only as Goosewinged just makes the foresail flap in the swell which annoys the hell out of me.

I spent the afternoon installing navigation software Tsunamis99 (thanks Luna!) and getting it to talk to my handheld GPS. Hopefully I should have some useable ‘real time’ navigation software for the Caribbean now and not just a photocopied pilot book!

Through the afternoon I continued with full mainsail, until just before dark the winds grew and had me putting one reef after another until I spent most of the night using the 3rd reef to reduce speed and heading further south of the rhumb line with the swell to make the ride more comfortable.

I sent out a few New Years messages to friends and spoke to my mum for a short while on the Sat phone around 2000. Around the same time I briefly saw a light on the horizon. Quartermoon? Still no response on the radio and I am guessing they are long gone by now.

Time now 0700 and I am 8nm off course, its dark, raining and miserable – Happy Fvcking New Year!


Day 6 – 01.01.09 Thursday. Log 116nm. N16 40.48 W34 04.75
0830, a new day, a new year and a new ocean. This one’s no longer a deep blue but a cold black with a confused 2-3m swell running with 22kn of wind blowing to make that slight howling noise in the rigging. I have 3rd reef in the mainsail and 1/3 of the genoa for some drive through the ‘chop’. The art seems to be having the bare about of canvas to prevent the boat from rounding up and stalling in the steeper swell. We are making about 6kn of speed with minimal stress on either me or Doris, so I think I’ve got it right.

The boat is covered with fish scales this morning (more than usual), even Heidi is bearing the tell tale marks and last night as I was reefing the sails, a flying fish missed me by inches. As if things weren’t dangerous enough without being fired at! I wonder if they would hurt?

Noon log reads 116nm, the best yet but still poor. I am curious to how the ships log and the GPS distance over ground compares as I know the log under reads. I have decided to turn off the main ships GPS to save power and rely on my small handheld GPS instead.

1300 sees me screaming in a demented rage as I need to clean my contact lenses and all the solutions etc are in a cupboard on the windward side. It takes me over 30 minutes to get the stuff back inside the cupboard after picking it all up from the floor. No fiddles on cupboards, well Hanse – genius! Does anyone who designs boats actually sail? Doris is classified as a class A Ocean going vessel – oh but please do not try and use any of the cupboards while at sea. Rant over!

1400, the suns out, the seas are decreasing and a post chocolate bar sugar rush has me calm and collected and snoozing.

A few hours before dark I decide that due to increased winds forecast for tomorrow I will try using just the genoa for simplicity and reluctantly drop the mainsail, knowing it will be a bitch to get back up in the swell and dark. However, the genoa is easier to reef and adjust quickly in the dark. The gribs suggest 20kn for tomorrow and then dying off over the next 3 days with no other worries visible in the near future.

Almost dark and its corned beef Bolognaise, followed by a large cup of tea and then the washing up, ah the good life.

I still need to find time to shave, but I am intrigued as to what I look like with a beard. Not just a few days without shaving type beard, but a full bad boy Bellamy type beard! What Lindz calls a ‘Burley Beard’? I am actually starting to resemble Robin Knox Johnson, not when he was my age but his current age!

Darkness brings the winds again to 25kn. The ride is a nightmare, all day there has been a following swell that gets us surfing nicely. However, a second smaller but harsher swell remains from the north which gives Doris a loud ‘Bitch Slap’ straight on he beam every few minutes sending her careening off course with poor Heidi doing her best to try and correct things, but appearing pissed!

Several times throughout the night I was convinced the rig was coming down we were swaying around so much. I can’t make up my mind as to whether the genoa is better than the mainsail at night or if the uncomfortable ride would have been the same regardless of sail due to the sea conditions?

Anyway, its morning (1000), the sun is showing through and I’ve just had Tea, Biscuits and Cornflakes for breakfast, the mast is still standing and we are still afloat and heading in the general direction of the Caribbean. Another day…

Aliisa: I could really use that oil rig we discussed as an Atlantic ‘Half Way Hotel’ about now! Hope you guys are safe and well, drop me an SMS via the Sat phone.