Our ‘back-of the fag-packet’ menu calls for fish today but since our success with 3 Dorado ten days ago we have not managed to reel in any of the numerous strikes we have had.  We seem to have left a trail of fish requiring restorative jaw surgery across this part of theAtlantic.  So once the sun comes up the pressure is on.  I should have bought a book about fishing! 

We have celebrated each 500 miles with a bottle of cava and each 1000 miles with a meal cooked by David or Tom and our track shows how we have tried to chase the winds.  We alternately pole out and run, put ourselves on a broad reach, even set the spinnaker but nothing is going to stop Annabel from winning the sweepstake.  Just occasionally Moonbeam picks up her skirts and shows us how she likes to cruise at 8kts, but this is going to be a slow crossing.  Every cloud has a silver lining and of course, a slow crossing means slight seas.  Given that this is our first long passage, I am more than happy with the result. 

After spending a day repairing the ratchet on our reel, which had cost us a number of lures and many metres of line, we got a strike from a Dorado, which we fought close to the boat, only to lose it yet again.  However, a little later we heard the reel screaming and Tom took the rod and fought a seriously large fish.  When he got tired, I took over and fought it to the boat so that David could gaff it and bring it aboard.  He was a magnificent Dorado measuring 1.30m, which we killed by pouring the ship’s best vodka into his gills.  We cut him into steaks and some fillets and put the rest back into the sea to become ‘sea snow’ in due course.

We have seen shearwaters, frigate birds, tropicbirds countless flying fish, occasional visits by schools of dolphins and at last a yacht!  Steinlager 2 appeared from our port quarter under spinnakers and overtook us en-route to Antigua.  We took some great photos of her and perhaps we will meet up with them at some point - just 375nms to go.

Our last clock change took place on 31st January, having clocked up 3000 miles the night before.  At last land ahoy!

We anchored in English Harbour at 1830L on 31st January 2007 with 3184nms on the GPS clock.  The trip from Las Palmas has taken us 22 days 4hours and 30 minutes.  A well deserved bottle of champagne was gratefully shared between the four of us.  What a fantastic feeling – truly a dream come true.  I think a rest is in order!

Page 4

Home
Journal
Pictures
Links
Email
Journal
 

There is no time to get bored or even to read a book at the moment.  Yesterday started with the need to fix the vang, because the shackle had parted. This required heat and brute force to separate the sleeves.  Once this was done we flew the cruising chute whilst goose winged.  Unfortunately David accidentally let the sheet go and the consequent wrap around the forestay resulted in the sail being wrecked.  At least we were eventually able to recover the remains without resort to me ascending the mast. All-in-all, this was not a good day.

Our other challenge is that the water maker high pressure pump motor decided to stop working overnight.  It is heavy and awkward to get at (it is in a boat after all), and when tested it looks as though the start relay electronics have packed up.  Everyone is on short rations for washing until I can sort this out one way or another.  We have more than sufficient bottled water on board and 700/900 litres of potable water but it will be disappointing not to be able to take a shower whenever we feel like it.  The days seem to melt into one another in that we seem to have been at sea for ever and yet only just left – it is very strange.

Otherwise we have been lucky that dolphins have come to play on several occasions and the odd shearwater has passed by.  We saw a tanker pass a couple of miles away last evening but other than that we have been on our own.  We have decided to run a sweepstake on our arrival time at a waypoint 100nms out of Antigua.  It has got everybody concentrating on their navigation.  Meanwhile, I continue to practice my skills with the sextant.   The noon sight is relatively easy but the star shots are more challenging from a constantly moving platform – not least because you have to identify the stars before you shoot them!  Luckily we have Starry Night on the computer and apart from being a source of wonder for everyone on board, it has been a planetary education.  At night there needs to be some light to see the horizon – moonlight or twilight being the best source.  That said, as ever, the more I practice the luckier I get!  However, I wonder what we would do without GPS in this day and age.  I hope the Americans don’t decide to turn it off! 

Our first 1000 miles was achieved yesterday afternoon and we celebrated with some
bubbles in the evening whilst eating the fish that we caught the day before and that
David cooked.  This was his first culinary adventure since he has been living with us since October.  We decided to run an arrival sweepstake at a point 100 miles out from Antigua.  Tom and I think we will arrive on the 26th, Sarah and David on 27th, Gemma on the 28th and Annabel on the 30th.  The ship’s clock was formally retarded one hour to mark 30W at noon on 17th January.  Jet lag is not going to be a problem this trip!  I managed to jury rig the HP water maker pump so that I could start it by turning the shaft by wrapping a cord around it like an outboard motor.  It runs for about 30 minutes before getting too hot but that makes sufficient water (30ltrs x 3 x daily) to more or less keep up with our domestic usage.  Showers are once again approved!

We are going to use the laptop to update our position on Yotreps/Shiptrak from now on to see if it works properly.  We have been sending it regularly from the boat computer but it does not seem to have been updating our position.  However we heard from Gemma today that we have had our first success and our dot has moved from the Canaries!

We are currently 1250 miles down track at 1820N 3135W and have taken the decision to go further S as there is a low forecast in the next 48 hours to the N of us.  Tom advises that the hurricane season is over so there is nothing to worry about!

It seems that Murphy’s Law abounds in the high seas also.  This year we arrived (intentionally) in Las Palmas just after the ARC had left.  We then had planned to be in Lanzarote because all the children could be with us for Christmas and this would be the first time we would be all together for a number of years, albeit that they came and went when we were skiing in all of the previous years.

According to all the information we have on the Trade Winds, they should have settled in by December.  However, this year’s ARC had record crossing times and I am still searching for wind!  I do not want to go further south because, at least here we have the lift from the North Equatorial Current which is pushing us on at 1.5 kts.  It would make more sense to change our destination to Barbados - but I promised Sarah many years ago when I brought her here on a trip when I was flying B707s, that I would bring her in a big yacht to English Harbour, and there is no time like the present!  We are drifting along under main and poled out Yankee making just 6kts over the ground.  It is 0230L as I write this with nothing other than the stars and phosphorescence to light our way.  A wonderful lesson in patience! 


Back to Page 2