Skipper Steve is not a happy skipper. The weather forecast promised north west winds of ten to fifteen knots. Instead we are slogging into headwinds spawned out of somewhere near Hades, which appears to be south east of us – the direction that we are trying to go. And to […]
Monthly Archives: September 2007
We have found the root cause of all our grief over the last 48 hours – a very clogged diesel intake pipe. Again most of the day was taken up with recovering from the sleepless two days of sailing from Emerald Bay Marina in The Exumas to Turks and Caicos, […]
Day 434 – THE CARIBBEAN (TURKS AND CAICOS): Fixed
The night of Day 432: Waves of nausea attack me as I struggle to keep grip on the handle of diesel-soaked screwdriver handle. I curse myself for absently wiping the back of my hand under my nose to wipe away the sweat that is flowing in droplets down my face. […]
Day 432 and 433 – THE CARIBBEAN (THE BAHAMAS and ...
Distance sailed today:297 NM Total distance sailed: 297 NM Midnight GPS position: N 23.20 W074.33 Wind: SE Wind Force 2-3 Sea state: Calm to slight …self assured and adventurous. Hmmmm. Yes. That’s what I’m looking for in a woman… …marine eingineer? Perhaps in that line of work I could go […]
Day 431 – THE CARIBBEAN (THE BAHAMAS): A bumpy ride
Some good news, and some bad news this morning. The good news is that it looks as thought the tropical storm that is forming in the Atlantic is heading directly north, so will probably miss us. The bad news is that despite a good solid day of fault finding, we […]
Day 430 – THE CARIBBEAN (THE BAHAMAS): Emerald Bay Marina
Contrast. Calm and shallow: Deep and rough: I was on full alert last night on my night watch. This boat has a draft of 2.1m. Most of my watch, we were sailing through 3m of water. That means that the very bottom of the boat was clearing the bottom by […]
Day 429 – THE CARIBBEAN (THE BAHAMAS): The Exumas
Distance sailed today:17 NM Total distance sailed: 17 NM Midnight GPS position: N 24.59 W077.10 Wind: E Wind Force 2 Sea state: Calm The marina at Marsh Harbour consists of lots of poles sticking up out of the water. If you want to moor up, you go along side the […]
Day 428 – THE CARIBBEAN (THE BAHAMAS): Sailing through the ...
When I awoke, the small prop plane was nose-diving at an angle so steep that the steward was half hauling himself up the aisle in a rush to get back to his seat. Before the flight on the tarmac at Miami International Airport he was jovial. “Welcome aboard,” he said […]
Day 426 – THE CARIBBEAN (BAHAMAS): Abacos Island
I find myself once again thrown into a mad rush of dizzying proportions. I am now in the USA. In Miami. But tomorrow I won’t be. I will be in the Bahamas on Abacos Island. Confused yet? So am I. Basically, Reliance Yacht Management (www.reliance-yachts.com) have been really great and […]
Day 425 – THE CARIBBEAN (kind of): Tortola to Miami
Well, we are all done. The boat has been inspected by the Catamaran Company (www.catamarans.com), the company to whom we were delivering, and we given a glowing report for the clean state of the boat. The rest of today was spent lounging on the beach. Just what I needed to […]
Day 424 – THE CARIBBEAN (BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS): Nanny Cay ...
Well we have finally made it. We are safely in Tortola, in a marina called Nanny Cay. We thought we would be handing the boat over today, but no such luck. It will be inspected tomorrow, and we will be handing it over then. (click on the image above for […]
Day 423 – THE ATLANTIC and THE CARIBBEAN: Day Twenty ...
We made a late afternoon departure out of St. Martin, and we are now heading towards Tortola, the biggest island in the British Virgin Islands. We hope to arrive tomorrow morning at around 9am. Today consisted only of cleaning and prepping the boat for handover in Tortola. Washing the decks, […]
Day 422 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty Seven
Total distance sailed: 2769 NM Midnight GPS position: N 18.03 W063.00 Wind: Variable Sea state: Calm Well, I didn’t think we’d make it on the diesel we had left, but due to some crafty diesel saving plans by Skipper Steve, we made it. We arrived at Captain Oliver’s Marina on […]
Day 421 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty Six
Distance sailed today:118 NM Total distance sailed: 2658 NM Midnight GPS position: N 18.16 W062.15 Wind: E Wind Force 1-3 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 17.1hr We are short on diesel. With only 40 miles to go to St. Martin Island, it is touch and go as to whether we […]
Day 420 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty Five
Distance sailed today:134 NM Total distance sailed: 2520 NM Midnight GPS position: N 18.54 W060.15 Wind: E Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 20.2hr The boat cleaning has begun in earnest today in anticipation for arrival in Tortola in a few days time. We are delivering a new […]
Day 419 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty Four
Distance sailed today:113 NM Total distance sailed: 2386 NM Midnight GPS position: N 19.40 W057.46 Wind: E Wind Force 2-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 7.3hr When I awoke at midnight to begin my four hour graveyard watch, it was smooth sailing. I was taking over from Steve. “Very nice […]
Day 418 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty Three
Distance sailed today:103 NM Total distance sailed: 2263 NM Midnight GPS position: N 20.11 W055.39 Wind: NE Wind Force 1-3 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 9.9hr Such was the laziness of the daylight hours today, that I didn’t take even one photograph today. It was another hot day, but we […]
Day 417 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty Two
Distance sailed today:148 NM Total distance sailed: 2140 NM Midnight GPS position: N 20.29 W053.47 Wind: NE Wind Force 1-3 Sea state: Calm Generator hours: 20.8hr I must admit I am feeling some apprehension about our arrival in the British Virgin Islands. Once there, I still have 1,000 miles to […]
Day 416 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Twenty One
Distance sailed today:148 NM Total distance sailed: 1992 NM Midnight GPS position: N 20.47 W051.09 Wind: Variable Wind Force 1-2 Sea state: Calm/Flat Generator hours: 22.40hr Positively Carribbean. That’s all I can say for the weather today. 29 degrees celcius in the shade. Not a day greatly condusive to cleaning […]
Day 415 – THE ATLANTIC: Day 20
Distance sailed today:148 NM Total distance sailed: 1844 NM Midnight GPS position: N 21.06 W048.33 Wind: Variable Wind Force 1-2 Sea state: Calm/Flat Generator hours: 24hr Smooth motoring on a smooth Sunday on the Atlantic Ocean today. We broke through the 1,000 miles remaining mark. Not far to go now […]
Day 414 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Nineteen
Distance sailed today:127 NM Total distance sailed: 1696 NM Midnight GPS position: N 21.27 W045.56 Wind: NE Wind Force 1-2 Sea state: Calm Generator hours: 16.4hr Silky smooth motoring today on the calmest sea we have experienced so far on this trip. The wind is still very light, with clear […]
Day 413 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Eighteen
Distance sailed today:101 NM Total distance sailed: 1579 NM Midnight GPS position: N 21.48 W043.39 Wind: NE Wind Force 1-2 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 1.9hr Walking casually around the deck this morning, I was met by some very friendly and inquisitive marine life. A pod of dolphins. It was […]
Day 412 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Seventeen
Distance sailed today: 95 NM Total distance sailed: 1478 NM Midnight GPS position: N 21.43 W041.49 Wind: NE Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 3.5hr A dope on a rope. That’s what I was today. I dangled in a climbing harness off the side of the boat washing […]
Day 411 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Sixteen
Distance sailed today: 126 NM Total distance sailed: 1383 NM Midnight GPS position: N 21.56 W040.10 Wind: ENE Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 2.9hr Ahhhhh, another day bobbing along in the ocean. First Mate Ellie checks our position on our highly sophisticated and detailed marine charts. Skipper […]
Day 410 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Fifteen
Distance sailed today: 126 NM Total distance sailed: 1257 NM Midnight GPS position: N 22.14 W038.19 Wind: NNE Wind Force 4-5 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 1.8hr I woke up today confronted with the happiest Skipper in the world. Steve was on cloud nine. I’m sure this had something to […]
Day 409 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Fourteen
Distance sailed today: 105 NM Total distance sailed: 1131 NM Midnight GPS position: N 21.59 W036.06 Wind: NNE Wind Force 4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 3.1hr So with such a limted amount of fresh water on the boat, how do you wash the dishes? Washing them in fresh water […]