Atlantic Crossing
Crossing the starting line. A really good day at sea Well we found out today that we were in 51st position and we were thrilled but then I remembered that I had forgotten to submit our engine hours in the first position report -which were10!) so I will be heavily penalised I’m sure, I'll have to look up the weighting they give you! We had a bit of excitement last night - Dave W woke me about 4am as he was concerned about a battery light - and as he did Sam noticed a faint light on our bow - we struggled to make out what it was - so we put on the radar - sure enough we picked up a blob - but it appeared to be stationary, Sam flashed it 5x which is the signal for please state your intentions but this was ignored - three times- in the end we changed course and veered around them - but as we did they started coming towards us - of course by this time in the morning our sleep deprived minds and group hysteria - had us all convinced we were about to be boarded by a boat load of immigrants - in the end they turned and we saw a large sail - it was basically a yacht - who probably weren't keeping a very good watch! Fish caught - 1 - though ity took ther line and the lure and happened when the dolphins surrounded the boat - so we were all quite upset at the thought of a dolphin with Jordan's 50 euro lure stuck in it's mouth The Wind returns.... In terms of crew well being – we are all fine, Dave is still not great, he generally improves during the day but goes down hill again at night – he was in bed by 6 tonight so he can get up and do his watch at 11. Last night he felt fine so didn’t wake anyone else until 3. Our watch system is working fine – I almost got full nights sleep last night – and in my own bed. That was actually quite a milestone – as I usually just lie down in the cockpit or the salon, but I finished at 11 and went to bed, almost as normal! Dave did 11 – 3 then Dave & Sam did 3 – 8, it was great. Unfortunately Indy has decided to ‘join’ me on my watch (7-11) so it’s not as peaceful as you might imagine! The kids are all getting on remarkably well,
Position - 26:35.735N 16:13.933W
November 24th - Day 1
Well we're off - we set off at 1pm yesterday, Nov 23rd, there were brass bands playing and hundreds of people turned up to see us off, shouting and waving flags - so many of them had union jacks and shouted for us - I must admit despite my nerves and utter panic it was all very exciting and emotional. It is now the morning of day 2, the first night, which I always find the worst, wasn't too bad and I have just boosted crew morale by serving bacon butties. So far we have done 115 miles with an average speed of 6.2 knts. I have a feeling we are probably near the back of the fleet as we have seen many boats go past us and I haven't been able to raise any of our friends on the VHF. The wind is averaging around 9 knts and it is right behind us so we have at last managed a long relatively comfortable sail with no motoring...! The sea is fairly rolly but we've definitley had worse and my knuckles are nowhere near as white as they have been!
Poor Molly is bearing up - she has been a nervous wreck over the last few days - there have been a lots of fireworks, drums and horns blasting, as well as the natural instinct that dogs seems to have whereby they know when something different is going on, so we have our fingers crossed that she is going to be OK and will settle into the swing of things in the way that we all will have to. At this stage my mind can not fathom the fact that I will be at sea for the best part of 3 weeks, the only way I can deal with it is to take one day at a time. After being at sea for 5 hours we looked at the trip and we had done 27 miles, our current course will take us over 2700 miles - so Dave decided we should celebrate our first 1/100th!
The last 2 weeks have been manic - a real mix of emotions and something we will all never forget, over the next few weeks I will try and write up the events that took place - but I think for me the highlight was my 40th birthday - I had such a lovely day - a very long lunch with my Mum and Dad who had flown out to see us off and then in the evening it was the big caribbean theme party - it was an amazing evening, absolutley mad! We all got dressed up in fancy dress and the atmosphere was superb - lots of very anxious people letting off steam in the only way they know how, drinking far too much and letting their hair down, also india won the prize for best dressed girl so she was thrilled The lows have been the state of the boat - which has been turned upside down more times over the last few weeks than I had the energy to put back together and the constant stream of things that needed doing, but in the end and with no spare time at all - we ticked off the last box on the project plan and left the marina along with everyone else, headed for the caribbean.
ARC etiquette
Position 25:22.26N 17:14.601WDay 2
Well so far so good I guess would be the most appropriate statement 2 days into the trip. Until tonight we have had great winds and we covered 150 miles on day 1. We had the chute up all day and averaged 6/7 knts and the seas were much calmer than last night, we had a short period of no wind first thing and unfortunately the wind has now died down completely and we have once again resorted to the engine - but I am not sure if we can keep this up. All the weather forecasts at present are suggesting that we should expect 3/4 days of no wind at all mid atlantic - so we need to make sure we have enough fuel reserved for motoring through if necessary. The other factor is that this really is a race and so one is expected to sail wherever possible, this is fine & dandy for the serious sailors - a category I have no desire to belong to, but for people like me (and incidentally most other women on this voyage of discovery) I just want to get from A to B as quickly as possible and get my vodka out to celebrate our arrival. The problem is you have to report in everyday - stating your position (this is fine it reassures me that they would know where to find me if I got into trouble) at a certain time BUT you also have to report on how many engine hours you used - this information is then relayed over the ARC SSB (single side band - think CB radio) radio net - publicly!!! All boats are split into 3 categories - depending on how fast they think you are going to go - so they try to keep all boats doing roughly the same speed together - we are in band B. Then every day you either email in your positon between 12 and 2 OR there is a roll call at 1pm on the radio where they give you the weather forecast and then run through all boats asking if they want to report their positon via SSB, (useful for those who don't have email on board) so there I was radio mic in hand ready to announce what I felt was a reasonable position in the fleet ranking - but soon realised we were only one of about 3 yachts that had turned their engines on... needless to say I remained silent when my number was called lest my peers realise I am not a proper sailor! As if that wasn't bad enough, after the formal roll call was completed, boats are given an opportunity to bring issues - like my sail has fell off has anyone got a spare - to the group as the spirit of camarderie within the group is one of the reasons you do the ARC rather than cross alone. I decided to use this opportunity to get a radio check, as no-one had answered any of my calls the night before. This was successful and several other boats, including Sophistikate, joined in for a spot of sporting banter, - until we were told to calm down by the Net controller and get back to the matters in hand, I felt about 12! But we all did as we were told - and 60 seconds later he announced - now there is time for informal chat... The moment had however passed!
The crew are all coping well, no sea sickness (unfortunately - I was desperately hoping this was going to be the trip where I lost the stone!) no poos from Molly yet but I have enema poised and ready if nothing has materialised by day 4. Fab chicken curry for tea and Dave W & I enjoyed grilled prawns and wine at lunch time - my Dave is not well so stayed below on sofa with a lemsip!
Total fish caught = 0
Anyway - highs & lows of today - highs, a beautiful day with a nearly flat sea, having a pod of small white nosed dolphins swim alongside us and finally being able to make contact with the boats we had left 24hrs before. Lows - Running out of wind tonight and Dave having man flu - need I say more!
Position 24:07.002N 018:59.690W
Day 3
It’s been a really good day today - just like being on hols – we woke up this morning to an eerily flat sea - almost spooky, we could see no other boats and sky was thick and grey and completely calm - the clouds cleared when the sun came up but the wind didn't return, nevertheless - having motored all night - we decided we had to try and sail so we have moseyed along for most of the day at 4-5 knts, first with the cruising chute and then with spinnaker - something I only put up if really desperate for wind!
It was so calm I cut all the boys hair on the back, wore a bikini all day - we sat and had cheese, ham and prawns for lunch - I even treated myself to a vodka - then Molly surpassed herself and pooed and wee'd on the boat!!!! She is now officially a sea dog! Despite the fact that it was very calm, she was agitated all afternoon - she kept panting and was very restless - I guessed it was because she needed the loo and I put her on a lead and took her for a walk round the boat, shaking her poo bags as we do normally, but we were putting the spinnaker up at the time and I think she was distracted by all the flapping, so half an hour later Dave did the same - he put her on the lead and walked her to the front of the boat and said "Good girl" and she squatted and did a huge wee - we were all so excited - Dave W did an all ships alert on the SSB radio - announcing to all ARC boats that "The Dog has been - I repeat - the dog has been!" I went to the front to make a fuss of her and she must have thought in for a penny in for a pound (as it were!) because she squatted again and pooed - the boat was triumphant in it's celebration and the dog and all the crew celebrated with chocolate!! (Dave W was a little bit miffed because it covered his sun bathing area - but I’ve told him it will soon dry!)
The days have flown by so far I have not even opened my book yet, though the nights seem long, I did finally manage a couple of hours sleep last night so I’m sure that once we get into a rhythm it will get better. We also spend alot of time on the SSB radio, talking to the other ARC boats we know. We have also finally made contact with Newtsville & Nychea who left a few days before us so keep telling us what to expect ahead. In addition you tend to just have friendly chats with the boats around you -
most nights we have had at least 5 within sight - and as we fitted an AIS system, the boats name comes up on our radar screen so you can radio them by name which is a little more effective than just radioing and saying - big boat on my port bow do you hear me! - Though that works too - everyone is always keen for a chat to break the monotony.
Nevertheless an hour had passed in all the excitement and we were all wide awake!
Finally the highlight of today was a HUGE (200+) pod of dolphins that swam with us for over an hour and seemed to perform tricks - they were coming along the side of the boats and jumping out of the air - then moving along almost upright (seriously I took some photo's - have tried to attach one!") so we clapped and laughed and they seemed to respond and do it more, Molly got very excited - she could hear them clicking and was leaning over the rail to see them - we had to put her on a lead in case she jumped in! They also jumped and somersaulted in the air and belly flopped and slapped their tails - we were all entranced for a good 30 mins, plus several hours earlier we had several whales surface briefly by the side of the boat - we think they were pilot whales but didn't see them for long enough to be sure. The low was the lack of wind and only doing 137 miles against our hoped for 150!
Anyway just approaching night 3 - if life stays like this - it will be a very enjoyable crossing! Just pray God for a little more wind...
Position: 21:15.508N 20:41.487W
November 26th – Day 4
We are all suffering from Vit C overdoses as the excess fruit & veg I ordered which was supposed to last the course all seems to have ripened a little too quickly and I hate waste - so every hour I walk round with a plate of something insisting we all need more fruit, lunch was avocado & tomatoes! It's keeping the heads running freely at least! Molly also seems to have accepted that she can now go anywhere and squatted right next to the boys who were fishing, they only noticed when Sam accused Jordan of passing wind!
Highs - getting a full nights sleep and the return of wind. Lows - wondering how i'm going to cope for another 2 weeks!
Fish caught 0 - Though Dave got excited earlier as his line suddenly jumped but all he had caught was Jordan's lure!
Officially in the Tropics
Position: 20:20.205N 21:54.732W
November 27th
Well still going well, particularily Molly who is really in the swing of things now. We were all setting up our fishing tackle yesterday when she trotted into the middle of the throng and left four very well formed calling cards! As Sam was down wind he got the brunt of the smell. She then performed again in the midlle of the night on the rug outside india's cabin, unfortunatley Dave trod in it jusy before a big swell knocked the boat sideways and he fell into the loo - smearing it everywhere, quite a bit of clearing up was required and the rug was ceremoniously given a burial at sea mid morning! Now we 've finally got her to go -the next challenge is teaching her that she hasn't got carte blanche to do it anywhere! Ideas on a postcard...!
The highlight of the day today was catching our first first fish, a small but very adequate Dorado, these are very good eating and Becky cooked it for lunch with a marvelous potato salad (potatoes cooked in sea water!). Jordan was besides himself! No dolphins or whales today - but I don't think anything can compete with the show we had on day 2 - I hope you've managed to log onto the various websites to see the photos!
Good sailing day today. We have been trolling along at about 5.5 to 6.5knts, despite our bravado we had to bring the cruising chute down at 9pm last night (we had hoped to leave it up all night) - it was a great team effort and went very smoothly, we then spent the night sailing, a bit rolly polly but fairly comfortable. Becky & I struggled to sleep in our cabin because of the noise of the hydraulic autohelm - with out the engine to mask it was like sleeping atop a wailing banshee. Today we have made good progress by goosewinging - achieved by polling out our genoa and tying the main back with a preventer. We will hopefully hold this course and sail all night.
We have now down 606miles and if we stick to the course we have plotted we still have 2300 to go, the problem is you have to go south, almost to Cape Verdes before you will pick up the trade winds and turn west to make the crossing. We are averaing about 145 a day - but we have had several days with very little wind - so we are hoping to increase that average to around 160 once we pick up the trades.
I have had a bit of man flu the last couple of days, sneezing coughing the full works but I will survive, I remember at one of the briefings in Las Palmas a guy started talking to me about the crossing, he had a cold and as he spoke I could feel him breathing on me! I guess he gave me this bug. Haven't had a cold for so long! And now I seem to have given it to the rest of the crew!
I need sleep!
Position: 18 30 N 24 11WNovember 28th
Very short Blog today. Not a great night - very very rolly! I was lying in the cockpit trying to sleep when a huge wave came over the side and dumped on me, I was dripping, then a flying fish hit sam in the face! And Molly jumped out of the cockpit to go to the loo - in the pitch black when we were rocking around - so she
is now strapped in. She has become obsessed with dolphins - so she keeps trying to jump out and look over the edge for them. Sam & I have dave'scold! and indy was sick over the side so not the healthiest crew this morning! I,m sure it will all look much better when I've had som esleep, tried everybed last night - like goldilocks - ended up in Indy's bunk!
Then sun came up - and we caught 3 more fish including 10-12k dorado/mahi/mahi-( not sure), and wonderful blue fin tuna , the boys were absolutely besides themselves with excitment. After the third one - we took the lines in as we had more fish tha\n we could possibly eat. Dave W gutted them all and my Dave cooked on of the large fillets for us all for lunch - even Jordan thought it was "luvely!" The crew then gave me day off and I have done nothing all day - so am just about ready to face another night, just finding the whole thing alot more tiring than anticipated - but 1/4 of way there so will keep going! I now know what ARC meant when they said prepare for 30 deg heel - seas where we are, are more rolly than anything ever before, can not put anything down for one minute without antislip or wedgeing in! Dave's chilli went flying ALL OVER Cabin - that was after it had all flew out of microwave and we scraped it off floor! Am even wedged side ways in chair whilst typing.....
Big Dave W has been great - providing a much needed cheerful laugh - when everyone else is a little grumpy! Still it's shower day today so that should boost morale - we all stink!
Position 17:32.604N 27:24.439W
November 28th
Well we finally decided we had gone far enough south and so turned the boat and pointed her at St Lucia! I must admit it feels good to be heading west at last, but we may still have to head further south yet as there is a low in the middle developing and we may need to get beneath it. I was listening to 2 old timers chat on the SSB radio earlier - and they have obviously done quite a few ARC's/atlantic crossings - and they said it was unprecedented to have to go so far south to pick up the trade winds, it has definitley added at least 400 miles to our trip, maybe more before we are done.
Dave and I are currently on late watch till (2-8am). We had a lovely evening, we had ten minutes peace sitting at the bow with a glass of white wine watching the sun go down. Both sea and wind were very calm so we decided to leave the chute up - we went to bed around 7pm as but I could feel the wind picking up so I kept getting up to 'check'! By 1am we were doing a constant 9 knts with the chute so we decided it was time to get it down, this would be a problem if it were just Dave & I as it requires brute strength to snuff it - but with "WIlson the winch" on board we had it down relatively easily and now we are skimming along at 7.5 knts with just the Genoa out.
So all well and good on the good ship Chilli Oyster - tomorrow am we will celebrate our first 1000 miles and at 1pm we will celebrate our first 7 days at sea, I may even cook a roast dinner! No fish today but fridge still full from last 2 days, I cooked a lovely fish pie tonight with the remains of the monster mahi mahi. We may have the blue fin for breakfast! General health and well being are also better today - Dave still coughing and grolching like Compo, and I have been off colour all day but I fell better today than yesterday, Jordan gone downhill tonight with same thing but Sam & Indy better and Dave W showing no signs of fatigue or malaise. Molly shitting for england so all good really and feeling much better than yesterday. I also managed to get a few hours sleep last night so seem to have narrowly averted spiralling down into hysteria and mild panic about enormity of journey!
A further morale boost is the light I have just seen off our starboard stern - the first one in 2 days so that is always encouraging - I know from looking at the other boat postions that there must be quite a few within a 30 mile radius, but I do like to be able to see them! The seas have also settled a little, or maybe I have just got used to the motion, you still can't put anything down but you don't need to wedge yourself sideways in bed!
Had a bit of excitement earlier - the bow spit that we had welded on in lanzarote to help us fly the cruising chute sheared off in mid flight! Jordan noticed it straight away and the crew jumped into action and responded really quickly, it was a great team effort especailly as we now don't leave the cockpit without lifejacket and safety lines attached. We didn' t lose it but it is no longer usable so we will be flying chute with the pole for the rest of the trip.
A week at sea, a day in our life!
Position 16:50.194N 29:00.914W30TH NOVEMBER - Day 7
My how time flys when you're having fun! As we are now hardened sailors with a fairly fixed routine, I thought I'd tell you about our 'normal day'. In addition today was special because we celebrated:
It was a good day preceded by a very exciting night! The sun came up at 8ish and we still had plenty of wind so we made really good progress over the last 24hrs (measured by us from 1pm to 1pm), the seas were huge as a consequence - but I don't seem to notice anymore and they definitley don't worry me the way they did. We clear the cockpuit of the usual overnight debris: pillows, torch, ginger biscuit wrappers, empty cups of tea, sleeping bags, Molly etc. Dave W has a stroll around the estate and checks all is well, removing the flying fish that miraculously appear every morning, checking for chaffe on the ropes etc etc. Breakfast this morning is a casual affair, we are all pretty tired after last night and Dave & I come off watch at 8 and go back to bed until 1030. Up until today we have had 2 watch patterns - 8pm - 2am and 2am to 8am. Dave W washed his smalls in the sink and the usaul washing line appeared on the guard rails ( he thinks his ships knics add to our total sail area!) I log on and upload and interpret(!) the daily weather file, as well as checking what messages of cheer have arrived from the night before. Then it is time to adjust sails - this is no longer a simple proces: the full suite of sail options are reviewed (there are 4 sails that can be deployed - Main, Genoa, Cruising chute and Spinnaler) , along with current & anticipated wind conditions and what course needs to be set. If the wind is directly behind us as the trade winds usually are, the sails flap so methods such as poling out, goosewinging, and/or using a preventer to hold the boom out in a particular direction are discussed then employed. The two Daves are in their element and their only cold beer of the day is usually needed to aid thought processes and inspiration.
An hour later we have fiddled with lots of bits of string, adjusted pulleys and shackles and the boys seem proud of their efforts. Lunch is discussed and the promised roast dinner is unanimously turned down in favour of... curry! So for lunch I warm some part baked bread and pan fry the fresh blue fin tuna and smaller mahi mahi caught and filleted the day before, this is served with an overripe tomato salad and a bottle of cold white wine and a bottle of riocha - well we are celebrating! The boat is still sailing well - the kids are watching a movie down below - they think it is too hot on deck! We make the toast and allow ourselves to think about the week we have completed and the 2-3 ahead of us, we discuss highs & lows. My Dave's low was the moment I announced that we had to go into cape verdes as I was getting off.
At 1pm we tune into the ssb radio roll call, we report our position, listen to another weather forecast and then join in with the informal chat about tactics, weather, fishing and today - rugby, as Ian, our aussie friend from Mikado was involved. The recent score was repated at least 5 times as many boats claimed to have poor reception!
We run the generator to top up the batteries and run the fridge and freezer - I am worried that my provisions will start defrosting, especially as we are eating so much fish we are not getting through the mountain of food I bought in anticpation! The truth is because we have all had stinking colds combined with the weather now being so hot that appetites have also reduced considerably. We are all desperate for cold water and ice, the latter is not possible but I allow the kids to top up the freezer with water bottles. I run the water maker and top up the tanks, refill the water bottles, and kettles etc. The afternoon disappears with minor chores and as further naps are taken in prepartion for the night ahead ( and because we had all been up for most of the night before playing cruising chutes in 20 knt winds!) I remain awake whilst the boys snore in various parts of the boat, but I am starting to get concerned because the wind has died, after a little nagging (the fact I have to do this is very surprising and probably testament to how much they enjoyed their celebratory lunch!) but they are finally coaxed into another sail change. Much as I might appear to be enjoying myself I am not keen to be at sea a moment longer than is necessary! First the cruising chute is put up - then 15mins later this is taken down in favour of the spinnaker - we troll along at about 5knts for the next few hours, as the wind and sea get progressively calmer. Mid sail change, Sam catches a large Mahi Mahi,once finished trimming sails, Dave W does the business and even cuts me some thin slics for sushi. Shortly after, a second one is reeled in - but we have so much now we take a photo and toss it back out to sea! From now on - we will only keep yellow fin tuna - we can afford to be fussy!
Evening approaches and the sun starts to go down about 5.30. At 6 we tune in to an informal radio net we have set up with the boats we have met and become friends with. Positions are exchanged and progress discused, these chats - albeit often brief and frustrating due to poor radio reception , are essential for morale and got me through the earlier part of the week when I was really struggling to remain calm. Then the entire crew meet to discuss tactics for the night and watch patterns, a new watch system is proposed (4hrs on 4 hrs off rotating every 2 nights to cover the 12 night hours) and agreed. A final sundowner is prepared (no ice!) and I cook and serve the curry, we all eat together in the cockpit in what has turned out to be a beautiful evening at the end of a beautiful day. We wonder what friends & family are doing at home. The daily kid treat (mini mars etc ) is handed out. The sails are set, dishes cleared and then everyone goes to bed - leaving me to take the first watch and sit in peace to write to you all and reflect on the day.
