Position: 12°05.974N/55°55.230W, Tuesday Dec. 6th, 15:15 UTC
The rain didn't last too long, the weird clouds were still there for some time but disappeared too eventually. With the rain also the wind left us... it went down to 4 kts, too little for sailing. Two days ago we started the engine to charge the batteries and put it in forward instead of neutral and it still is..
So we're motoring for two days now and that's boring.... We all read, sleep and read some more ….
We're okay on fuel but I don't think we can motor the remaining 300nm.
The grib file I downloaded looks promising for Wednesday though, so hopefully later today or tonight we can sail again. That would be good for our speed too. Right now we're doing no more then 5 kts while sailing our average was over 7 kts!
With no wind it's getting hotter too... a lot. It's now 37°C and since yesterday we have the bimini up.
Otherwise you couldn't be in the cockpit, in the sun it's way too hot!
When the sun sets though it's a spectacular sight. Normally the sky turns red in the West but last two nights, the sky turned red not only in the West but also in the South and even in the East! I've never seen that before. Later when the moon came up, there was this halo, not close around the moon but amazing far from the moon itself. A white circle like a huge wheel with the moon in the middle. Then when the moon set, the sky turned red like a sunset. I've never seen that before either :-)
Anyway, I reckon in two days or so we can drop the anchor.. However, I want to get in with daylight so it might be Friday when we get to Scarborough after all. Then it will be 19 days since we left La Palma, 19 great days :-)
woensdag 7 december 2011
zondag 4 december 2011
Rain …. ?!
Position: 12°41.525N/51°56.638W, Sunday Dec. 4th, 16:40 UTC
Last night the wind changed... it was due East the whole trip but now it backed to South East – East, all the way to West... So we had to get the pole away for the genoa end ended up on a close reach course by this morning. Also there were a lot of dark clouds, not only in the South but also in the West and East. If you like clouds, the view was spectacular... otherwise it felt weird. On the grib files I downloaded there wasn't anything unusual, except from a not that deep a low just South of us. I guess this is just local and later in the morning the sky did partly clear.
Still, this morning we had our first serious rain since we left Scheveningen. It was actually more than in the brochure … :-) For the boat it was okay though, rinsing the salt from the lines and the sails and everything... and since I was steering, I had my first fresh water shower since 2 weeks... the others stayed inside and under the spray-hood... They prefer the foredeck salt water shower.. I suppose..
The wind is still West now, but too little to bring us any significant speed, so when we started the motor this morning to charge the batteries, I put it in forward instead of neutral and it still is...
Last night I also discovered that I'm running very low on minutes for my sat phone. I had a 500 minute card which should have been more than enough for the whole trip and back, but the mailasail program I use is crap. It takes at least 2 to 3 tries to get through to check mail and again to send mail, and that takes a lot of minutes. The options were to buy more – 50 – minutes or get a new simcard ….. yeah right, mid Atlantic... So I got some more minutes but we'll have to cut down on checking and sending emails. We need to get the grib files too :-)
Sending text messages is okay, they cost me no minutes and are free for the sender as well, if you send them via the iridium website. Elisabeth knows ! :-) Calling us is okay too, it's free for me but not for the caller :-o. Keep in mind though that our clock is back another hour today...
So to keep you all up to date, you'll have to do with my weblog-postings for now. In a couple of days, we'll have some decent internet access again, hopefully... to send mails, photos and stuff.
Distance left to go is less the 500nm !
Last night the wind changed... it was due East the whole trip but now it backed to South East – East, all the way to West... So we had to get the pole away for the genoa end ended up on a close reach course by this morning. Also there were a lot of dark clouds, not only in the South but also in the West and East. If you like clouds, the view was spectacular... otherwise it felt weird. On the grib files I downloaded there wasn't anything unusual, except from a not that deep a low just South of us. I guess this is just local and later in the morning the sky did partly clear.
Still, this morning we had our first serious rain since we left Scheveningen. It was actually more than in the brochure … :-) For the boat it was okay though, rinsing the salt from the lines and the sails and everything... and since I was steering, I had my first fresh water shower since 2 weeks... the others stayed inside and under the spray-hood... They prefer the foredeck salt water shower.. I suppose..
The wind is still West now, but too little to bring us any significant speed, so when we started the motor this morning to charge the batteries, I put it in forward instead of neutral and it still is...
Last night I also discovered that I'm running very low on minutes for my sat phone. I had a 500 minute card which should have been more than enough for the whole trip and back, but the mailasail program I use is crap. It takes at least 2 to 3 tries to get through to check mail and again to send mail, and that takes a lot of minutes. The options were to buy more – 50 – minutes or get a new simcard ….. yeah right, mid Atlantic... So I got some more minutes but we'll have to cut down on checking and sending emails. We need to get the grib files too :-)
Sending text messages is okay, they cost me no minutes and are free for the sender as well, if you send them via the iridium website. Elisabeth knows ! :-) Calling us is okay too, it's free for me but not for the caller :-o. Keep in mind though that our clock is back another hour today...
So to keep you all up to date, you'll have to do with my weblog-postings for now. In a couple of days, we'll have some decent internet access again, hopefully... to send mails, photos and stuff.
Distance left to go is less the 500nm !
vrijdag 2 december 2011
Miles and waves ...
Position: 14°17.939N/46°25.904W, Friday Dec. 2nd , 11:40 UTC
Today we'll clock the 2000nm. and we're 13 days at sea now so we're doing just over 150nm a day.
That would leave us another 5 – 6 days to get to Tobago so next Wednesday or Tuesday we should be very close :-) Saturday Clare and Elisabeth will fly in. Monday Kitty will then come over from Curacao so our timing is very good :-)
Shooting sights every day helps us keeping track on time and dates, otherwise I wouldn't have known … At sea there are just three times... it's getting light so it must be around 6 am, it's getting dark, that means 6 pm and you're starting to get hungry,... lunch time...
Also distance is getting a new dimension.. A trip of over a 100nm used to be a real trip! Crossing the channel is about a 100nm. Now, this feels more like a day sail :-o
Another thing is the constant motion of the boat. 24 hrs a day, non stop, the waves are there. Everything you do has to be synchronized with the motion of the boat. If not, well.... you bump your head, knee or whatever else or you gonna spill whatever you have in your hands... I know that last time I was at sea for 5 or 6 days, I really had to get used to the steady ground again. I actually felt seasick the first few hours. I wonder what it will be like when we get to Tobago. Although.. we will be staying on the boat.... there`re no marinas in Tobago, only anchorages :-)
But, I guess we'll be spending some time ashore too. The Island is very much worthwhile exploring according to the cruising guide and, after 19 days at sea, it will be fun to get to shore again too :-)
Today we'll clock the 2000nm. and we're 13 days at sea now so we're doing just over 150nm a day.
That would leave us another 5 – 6 days to get to Tobago so next Wednesday or Tuesday we should be very close :-) Saturday Clare and Elisabeth will fly in. Monday Kitty will then come over from Curacao so our timing is very good :-)
Shooting sights every day helps us keeping track on time and dates, otherwise I wouldn't have known … At sea there are just three times... it's getting light so it must be around 6 am, it's getting dark, that means 6 pm and you're starting to get hungry,... lunch time...
Also distance is getting a new dimension.. A trip of over a 100nm used to be a real trip! Crossing the channel is about a 100nm. Now, this feels more like a day sail :-o
Another thing is the constant motion of the boat. 24 hrs a day, non stop, the waves are there. Everything you do has to be synchronized with the motion of the boat. If not, well.... you bump your head, knee or whatever else or you gonna spill whatever you have in your hands... I know that last time I was at sea for 5 or 6 days, I really had to get used to the steady ground again. I actually felt seasick the first few hours. I wonder what it will be like when we get to Tobago. Although.. we will be staying on the boat.... there`re no marinas in Tobago, only anchorages :-)
But, I guess we'll be spending some time ashore too. The Island is very much worthwhile exploring according to the cruising guide and, after 19 days at sea, it will be fun to get to shore again too :-)
woensdag 30 november 2011
Warmer and warmer ...
Position: 14°12.250N/39°53.924W, Wednesday Nov. 30th , 03:45 UTC
Today we crossed the 37½° longitude, meaning I had to set the shipsclock back an hour again :-)
We are not only getting further West everyday, we're getting further South too, and that we really notice. Just North of the 14th parallel, we're in tropical waters now. During the day the temperature gets around 31°C and at night it doesn't really cool off much. It stays about 25°C, which is very nice ;-). The water too is about 25°C so everyday we have a nice and warmish shower on the foredeck, still salt though :-o
When we left the Canaries, I had to put on a sweater and my shoes at night, now a T shirt is more than enough. This night, during my watch, some dark clouds came over and it started raining, not very hard, but enough to get wet... However as, soon as the rain stopped and even before the clouds were gone, the warm wind dried my shirt in no time.
The wind is very steady between 15 and 29 kts and coming just North of East. So, on our course over ground of 260°, it's a dead down wind sail. During the day we have the two genoas goose winged and the mainsail. The two genoas sail like a spinnaker but are more robust and more easy to trim. At night we drop one genoa and pole out the remaining one. That gives us a window of about 30°-35° to sail in. That's works really great. However sometimes the wind picks up a bit more and usually shifts then. Than the waves come from a different angle and that can give a very sportly course to steer. Like last night.... after a while I decided to trip the genoa from the pole and go to a more comfortable beam reach. By that time Marc and Jur also were awake, so we also gibed … it was a really rocky course... :-o. By now, these kind of manoeuvrings are a piece of cake, even at night. The beam reach wasn't that easy to steer too though, until we furled in the genoa a bit.
Today Rutger made an inventory of our remaining food and drink supplies. With about 8 or 9 more days to go we're fine on everything, on bread we're more the fine, with still 18 left :-o
We could have gotten some more bottled water though, with the water in the tanks we are fine. That is, as long as it stays there... I just went to take a nap before my evening watch when Marc was doing the dishes and then he called me.... there wasn't coming water out of the tap.. ? The water pump was on.... it could be that the starboard tank had gone empty, but all of a sudden no water at all is very weird.
When I checked, it turned out that the hose of the nanometer was loose.... We had turned on the pump for washing the vegetables for dinner. Normally the pump stops when the pressure is on again but when the hose with the nanometer is gone, the pressure never gets there and the pump doesn't stop.... pumping all that was left in the tank into the bilge …. :-(
So we lost about 60 liters... The good news though, is that I have two separate water tanks and that the remaining port tank of about 150 liters is still full. Also I had just cleaned all the filters today, including the one of the bilge pump so pumping the bilge was done in no time :-o
Anyway, we're still fine on everything and if it comes to it, we also have the watermaker :-)
Today we crossed the 37½° longitude, meaning I had to set the shipsclock back an hour again :-)
We are not only getting further West everyday, we're getting further South too, and that we really notice. Just North of the 14th parallel, we're in tropical waters now. During the day the temperature gets around 31°C and at night it doesn't really cool off much. It stays about 25°C, which is very nice ;-). The water too is about 25°C so everyday we have a nice and warmish shower on the foredeck, still salt though :-o
When we left the Canaries, I had to put on a sweater and my shoes at night, now a T shirt is more than enough. This night, during my watch, some dark clouds came over and it started raining, not very hard, but enough to get wet... However as, soon as the rain stopped and even before the clouds were gone, the warm wind dried my shirt in no time.
The wind is very steady between 15 and 29 kts and coming just North of East. So, on our course over ground of 260°, it's a dead down wind sail. During the day we have the two genoas goose winged and the mainsail. The two genoas sail like a spinnaker but are more robust and more easy to trim. At night we drop one genoa and pole out the remaining one. That gives us a window of about 30°-35° to sail in. That's works really great. However sometimes the wind picks up a bit more and usually shifts then. Than the waves come from a different angle and that can give a very sportly course to steer. Like last night.... after a while I decided to trip the genoa from the pole and go to a more comfortable beam reach. By that time Marc and Jur also were awake, so we also gibed … it was a really rocky course... :-o. By now, these kind of manoeuvrings are a piece of cake, even at night. The beam reach wasn't that easy to steer too though, until we furled in the genoa a bit.
Today Rutger made an inventory of our remaining food and drink supplies. With about 8 or 9 more days to go we're fine on everything, on bread we're more the fine, with still 18 left :-o
We could have gotten some more bottled water though, with the water in the tanks we are fine. That is, as long as it stays there... I just went to take a nap before my evening watch when Marc was doing the dishes and then he called me.... there wasn't coming water out of the tap.. ? The water pump was on.... it could be that the starboard tank had gone empty, but all of a sudden no water at all is very weird.
When I checked, it turned out that the hose of the nanometer was loose.... We had turned on the pump for washing the vegetables for dinner. Normally the pump stops when the pressure is on again but when the hose with the nanometer is gone, the pressure never gets there and the pump doesn't stop.... pumping all that was left in the tank into the bilge …. :-(
So we lost about 60 liters... The good news though, is that I have two separate water tanks and that the remaining port tank of about 150 liters is still full. Also I had just cleaned all the filters today, including the one of the bilge pump so pumping the bilge was done in no time :-o
Anyway, we're still fine on everything and if it comes to it, we also have the watermaker :-)
maandag 28 november 2011
Half way... :-)
Position: 14°27.664N/35°55.519W, Monday Nov. 28th , 16:15 UTC
If the wind stays like this we'll be half way by dinner tonight !!
By then we´ll be 8 full days at sea. That would be about as fast as when Marc did the crossing 5 years ago. Since last night we were following a yacht. That was really nice, we could steer at his stern light :-). Early this morning we overtook her. Mala came from the Cape Verdies and was heading for Barbados. We talked a while over the vhf. She wasn't going that fast, flying only her mainsail but they found it more comfortable that way..
Anyway, we set the other genoa to goose wing with the first genoa. With the mainsail too, she sails more steady and with good speed. We actually have more sail then with the spinnaker but this is more robust and easier to trim. I'm glad I have rigged all these lines and sheets so we can fly whatever sail combination we want :-)
Yesterday we finally caught two dolphin fish. After loosing the fish several times two stayed on the hook. Rutger professionally killed them and put them in the fridge. It was my turn to cook. Because we usually eat in the dark I thought it better to filet them.... otherwise it would have been a spitty meal loosing all the bones... Marc wasn't that excited at first about eating the fish but when it came to it he really liked it, as we all did by the way. I cooked it with onions, spring onions, garlic and mushrooms, served with rice and a fresh cucumber/tomato salad; it was a great meal :-)
Tonight Marc's gonna cook. To celebrate the half way milestone he'll make hutspot :-o Well, with the champagne, I got for the occasion, it'll be another great meal :-)
If the wind stays like this we'll be half way by dinner tonight !!
By then we´ll be 8 full days at sea. That would be about as fast as when Marc did the crossing 5 years ago. Since last night we were following a yacht. That was really nice, we could steer at his stern light :-). Early this morning we overtook her. Mala came from the Cape Verdies and was heading for Barbados. We talked a while over the vhf. She wasn't going that fast, flying only her mainsail but they found it more comfortable that way..
Anyway, we set the other genoa to goose wing with the first genoa. With the mainsail too, she sails more steady and with good speed. We actually have more sail then with the spinnaker but this is more robust and easier to trim. I'm glad I have rigged all these lines and sheets so we can fly whatever sail combination we want :-)
Yesterday we finally caught two dolphin fish. After loosing the fish several times two stayed on the hook. Rutger professionally killed them and put them in the fridge. It was my turn to cook. Because we usually eat in the dark I thought it better to filet them.... otherwise it would have been a spitty meal loosing all the bones... Marc wasn't that excited at first about eating the fish but when it came to it he really liked it, as we all did by the way. I cooked it with onions, spring onions, garlic and mushrooms, served with rice and a fresh cucumber/tomato salad; it was a great meal :-)
Tonight Marc's gonna cook. To celebrate the half way milestone he'll make hutspot :-o Well, with the champagne, I got for the occasion, it'll be another great meal :-)
zondag 27 november 2011
1000 Nm
Position: 16°27.418N/31°30.746W, Saturday Nov. 26th , 21:35 UTC
Today we hit the 1000 nm milestone :-) For Jur, Rutger and me the first time we sailed such a distance in one trip. To celebrate this I backed pancakes with bacon which we ate with honey :-)
Today we also had to start fishing, the last bugers had gone off and we let them go...
It didn't take too long before the rattle started going but unfortunately the fish let go... it must have seen the burgers … :-) That happened a few times today so we ended up eating a delicious carbonare cooked by Rutger.
Jur by the way had some more luck with the fish.. when he went to the foredeck for a shower he came back with a flying fish that had landed on deck.
Rutger and Marc played a game called: I see, I see what you don't see and the collar is …
After an hour or so they finally decided that this was not a very good game to play on a boat mid Atlantic...
Anyway, the weather is great and tonight the sky is crystal clear full of stars, the wind is okay and slowly backing to NE and we're on our way to the next milestone, the half way passage
Today we hit the 1000 nm milestone :-) For Jur, Rutger and me the first time we sailed such a distance in one trip. To celebrate this I backed pancakes with bacon which we ate with honey :-)
Today we also had to start fishing, the last bugers had gone off and we let them go...
It didn't take too long before the rattle started going but unfortunately the fish let go... it must have seen the burgers … :-) That happened a few times today so we ended up eating a delicious carbonare cooked by Rutger.
Jur by the way had some more luck with the fish.. when he went to the foredeck for a shower he came back with a flying fish that had landed on deck.
Rutger and Marc played a game called: I see, I see what you don't see and the collar is …
After an hour or so they finally decided that this was not a very good game to play on a boat mid Atlantic...
Anyway, the weather is great and tonight the sky is crystal clear full of stars, the wind is okay and slowly backing to NE and we're on our way to the next milestone, the half way passage
zaterdag 26 november 2011
One third ...
Position: 18°00.742N/29°06.394W, Friday 25 Nov., 20:50 UTC
We hit the 900 nm today, meaning we have covered about one third of the distance to Tobago. In 3 days or so, we'll have our midway party :-)
Jur has already definitely won the beard competition.... I had a shave this morning. Marc and Rutger are still in but Marc should better quit too … it's going nowhere and it's not a pretty show :-)
All the manoeuvrings with the gennaker and poling in and out the genoa are going very smooth by now. At sunset we dropped the gennaker, also getting ready to give way for the Elandsgracht, a Dutch coaster that crossed us. She was giving way but passed us close by to call us over the radio. I didn't get the message at first but when I asked to repeat it, they told us there were 6 (ARC) yachts ahead of us … and wished us a safe trip.
Just before dinner we could shoot Jupiter with the sextant and then Wega, Denheb, Polaris and Capella, .. our first planet and star sight :-) Good I have the book on how to do these calculations. We got the pro forma's, but the calculations are different and Marc nor I would know how to do them without the book.
Dinner was the last one with fresh lettuce and meat. The mince we got was frozen for us but only for half a day so that didn't last very long. The fridge started to smell a bit and we dumped 3 packs of mince and 1 pack of chicken. The burgers were still okay but won't last too long either.
So, as of tomorrow we'll be on tinned meat and fresh fish... hopefully.
We hit the 900 nm today, meaning we have covered about one third of the distance to Tobago. In 3 days or so, we'll have our midway party :-)
Jur has already definitely won the beard competition.... I had a shave this morning. Marc and Rutger are still in but Marc should better quit too … it's going nowhere and it's not a pretty show :-)
All the manoeuvrings with the gennaker and poling in and out the genoa are going very smooth by now. At sunset we dropped the gennaker, also getting ready to give way for the Elandsgracht, a Dutch coaster that crossed us. She was giving way but passed us close by to call us over the radio. I didn't get the message at first but when I asked to repeat it, they told us there were 6 (ARC) yachts ahead of us … and wished us a safe trip.
Just before dinner we could shoot Jupiter with the sextant and then Wega, Denheb, Polaris and Capella, .. our first planet and star sight :-) Good I have the book on how to do these calculations. We got the pro forma's, but the calculations are different and Marc nor I would know how to do them without the book.
Dinner was the last one with fresh lettuce and meat. The mince we got was frozen for us but only for half a day so that didn't last very long. The fridge started to smell a bit and we dumped 3 packs of mince and 1 pack of chicken. The burgers were still okay but won't last too long either.
So, as of tomorrow we'll be on tinned meat and fresh fish... hopefully.
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