THIRD LEG: The ARC - Las Palmas, Gran Canaria to Rodney Bay, St
Lucia |
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CREW:
Steve Moss - skipper - British
ARC
Leg1 241106 1200 Monday
27/11/2006 1200hrs - Day 1
Tuesday 28th November (Day 2)
"STOP ROCKING THE BOAT!" shouted V from
down below whilst trying to make dinner. Wednesday, 29th November 2006 (day 3)
Are we nearly there? Saw four sea birds today. Steve
started fishing (a new venture) but Ian caught an 18" tuna!
Saw something big leap out the water to get it before he did but
it missed. Soon after tuna was dead, sighted two squalls ahead.
Decided to reef the main before dark but there were problems which
ended in having to lash main up against the mast and cross trees.
Sailing on headsail alone. About midnight, the headsail dropped
and tangled round the furlex. Now in a squall with no sails! Pitch
black night and lumpy. Worked on deck till 03.00 hrs. with breaking
waves and spray. Fixed main but too tired to stay on foredeck. Will
fix in morning depending on wind. At least we can carry on. Steve
says, "the moral is - if anything can go wrong it will do and
if it does do, it will be at night" but I think it's more to
do with killing the tuna. Thursday 30th November 2006 (Day 4)
Hoorah! the genoa is now back up & we are at full
speed ahead, well at least 5-6 knots. For our tea we managed to rustle up a vegetable curry followed by apple crumble, very tasty. The crumble had been cooked the evening before and had been forgotten during the previous evenings drama, hence the apple had caramelised and was extra tasty. We sailed through the night with our main out to starboard & genoa poled out to port. At daybreak we flew the genniker as well which brought our speed up to 6 knots in 10-12 knots. We overtook 5 boats during the night and continue to make good progress making up for time lost yesterday. Ian has still not shaved and is catching up with Steve in the facial hair department. By the time we reach St Lucia we should have a couple of sea-dogs onboard. Steve tried the bananas this morning, on discovering that they were still not not ripe declared "ALL HANDS ON DECK" We are introducing a new daily feature on our Blob: Daveism of the Day Don't you feel sorry for us? We have 18 more days of this... Thursday 1st December (Day 5)
After lunch yesterday the wind dropped to almost nothing. Steve got very excited when we were invited, via VHF radio, to a party on an adjacent boat but hopes were dashed when we discovered that she was 12 miles away and with the wind at that time, we might just have made it for breakfast (Ian won't let us put the engine on as that involves heavy penalties on our final position). Last night we had the first round of The Yamma Pancake Making Competition, Steve was the first competitor and his pancakes received general approbation and were judged to be "Very Good". V is the next and only other contestant, the results will be posted in the next few days. During the night the sea was very calm with winds of 5-8 knots, we kept the cruising chute up overnight and headed South East at about 4 knots to pick up the trade winds. After sunset we had another visitation from the Dolphins. This morning the wind increased a little so we goose-winged the cruising chute & genoa. Just past 22ºN we found the trade winds and are now heading downwind directly for St Lucia. It's a beautiful day, blue cloudless sky and very hot. This morning Dave was looking for a pen he couldn't
find, he described it in great detail. Was it lost or was it stolen?
After a few hours Steve held up a pen from the chart table and asked
if this was it? Steve said it wasn't a very good pen anyway and
Dave muttered darkly about pen stealing skippers. Help! let me off this boat!!! Only 2200 nautical miles to go! Friday, 1st December (Day 6)
Day started hot, sunny and calm but by 13.00 hrs. light easterly winds started blowing. We continued the day and into the night running with the main up and the genoa and spinnaker goose winged. During the night the wind increased as forecast and the sea state made things very uncomfortable for all of us. Ian, our keen dinghy sailor, was gripping the helm looking like something from a Wagnerian opera, surrounded by spray and trying to get Yamma to plane! We were making 7 knots and by 12.00 hrs. and had sailed 150 miles in 24 hrs. By 03.00 hrs. the helm was becoming unmanageable and the boat's motion and noise unbearable. Nobody could sleep anyway so it was out to reef the sails. Steve went forward in rough seas and 25 knot winds to snuff the spinnaker. Once again the genoa played up, refusing to foil past half way! Too rough to do anything tonight. We set a shortened mail and continue, still in a very confused lumpy sea. We are now dining on deck, we see very few other ARC yachts and radio traffic has diminished too. Whilst the fun was happening topside, V was below cooking two different and delicious pizzas. However, the serving was somewhat delayed when she burnt herself on the cooker and Dave had to dress two fingers. The prognosis is pretty good though, at least for the pizzas! Next morning dawned with 25 knot easterly winds gusting to 30 and the sea still cork screwing us around. Three flying fish boarded us during the night and we found them in the scuppers. There are several sea birds around with long narrow tapered dark wings. What are they and why do they hunt so far from land? Answers on a post card please. Saturday, 2nd December 2006 (day 7)
At 12.20 hrs. picked up distress relay signal but set off in error! Easterly winds continue into the night at around force 5/6 gusting 7 with the seas very heavy and confused. We are running on heavily reefed genoa, trying to hold 275°m direct to St Lucia. Our speed varies around 5 to 6 knots. Everything aboard that can shift, does; including us! The noise, especially below decks is incredible but the sea too is noisy. Waves sound like cars passing on a main road. Steve turns in but can't sleep and for hours, stalks the cabins like a spectre, frantically individually wrapping everything that moves which is everything! As he finishes one locker, the contents of another bursts open onto the deck. He starts again! Alton towers was never like this! And there are no queues! At 00.50 hrs we hit the 2000 n.mls. to go goal. A cheer goes up! Dawn breaks with us having been up most of the night. The blustery conditions are the same but the sea moderates slightly. We are all exhausted. Nothing daunted, Ian hoists the main and off we shoot again! We've lost ground during a bad night. Lots of flying fish around. Do they come in shoals or flocks? We've lots of time to consider all sorts of highly intellectual problems. At least, when we're not playing 'I Spy'! At 11.55 hrs. we receive yet another distress call.
This time it's a Pan Pan relay and it's for real. Mustang, a yacht
not in the ARC has lost her mast. Tune in to tomorrow's blog for
the dramatic outcome! Monday 4th December 2006 (Day 8)
Good News: Mustang, the yacht that was dismasted, has several ships steaming to her assistance, one with an angle grinder and one with extra fuel. Not So Good News: We realised that our electricity
consumption had suddenly shot up. Checking the DuoGen generator
Ian discovered it trailing behind us held on only by a piece of
shock cord. The casting where the generator bulb attaches to the
gimbal had sheared and the housing is cracked. We've lashed it to
the poop deck and sent urgent emails to Eclectic Energy for advice.
Meanwhile we will have to use precious fuel to run the engines to
charge the batteries. Our days continue much the same. The Easterly wind remains at around 20-25 knots and the sea is still lumpy with large breakers coming from unexpected directions. Tired of living inside a giant washing machine, we have changed to a more comfortable starboard tack and stowed the spinnaker pole. We haven't lost any speed and it's much more stable. Still no sightings of any other yachts and no VHF radio traffic; our only communications is now via the SSB radio. We're very much on our own now with nearly 1,800 miles to go... Tuesday 5th December 2006 (Day 9)
Wind and sea conditions remain very much the same. We have set the boat to be as comfortable as possible yet we are still being badly buffeted. We are now getting bruises on our bruises. We have now returned to the Rhum line to St Lucia set 2 days ago and expect to continue down it gibing every couple of days. We've been making 150 nautical miles per day (VMG) for the last couple of days. It is encouraging that if we can maintain this rate we will arrive Saturday week in time for lunch (don't hold your breath). There's a smudged bit here that is difficult to read.
I should explain that we have set the blog to run from midday to
midday as that is when we report our positions to the ARC Net controller
via SSB radio. The blog tends to be written as a group, we all sit
together in the cockpit discussing the happenings of the previous
24 hours. The email is then composed and sent just after midnight
when transmission is fastest. Back to today (or yesterday). This morning I had a heart stopping few minutes when the heads blocked. I had visions of bucket & chuckit for the next 2 weeks. It was the same problem that we had had from Casablanca to Lanzarote, the outlet valve at the skin fitting wasn't opening or closing properly. Eventually, Dave cleared it after some resolute pumping. Daveism of the day: Wednesday6th December 2006 (Day 10)
The Trade Winds are now well established and are expected
to remain constant for at least the next 5 days. 1445hrs we were caught out by a sudden downpour in which Ian, still clad in oilies, shampooed & washed his hair. All through the night we endured squall upon squall with waves breaking over the cockpit from the starboard quarter, at least they're becoming more predictable. Our first water tank has just run dry a little ahead of schedule but no cause for concern. We have ample reserves especially as it looks like we may arrive earlier than expected. Fact is stranger than fiction: at 2015hrs whilst on the helm Dave was hit in the face by a flying fish! He plucked it up off the deck and threw it back into the sea. The same thing happened again at 0530hrs when Dave was on his second watch but this one missed him, he was later seen cowering with a haunted look in his eye under the canopy muttering about kamakazee fish. Thursday 7th December 2006 (Day 11)
The weather remains much the same. Easterly winds continue at 20-25 kts. and the sea is still throwing us around. 13.30 hrs. we hit the magic 1,500 nms. to go; a big morale booster! 13.40 hrs. sighted first vessel for days, a large sailing yacht which Ian suggested might be the Meribelle V. We established radio contact and the skipper confirmed it was the Meribelle V (one of the largest and most luxurious charter, sailing yachts in the world). The skipper was very pleasant and chatty and judging from his accent, was perhaps from New Zealand or South Africa. She was bound for Antigua and due there in six days so he was motoring with just a staysail up. He was interested in what we were sailing and jealous that we were able to do more sailing than him. Poor man, we really felt sorry for him; maybe we should have offered to swap! He said he couldn't think of a better boat to cross the Atlantic in than a Hallberg Rassy. WE COULD! At 22.56 hrs. we reached 1,444 nms. traveled and 1,444 nms. to go! Half way there. Yippee! All day, Steve has been walking around in his underpants. His excuse being that he didn't have any clean shorts. We did however, make him put a pair on as Meribelle V approached as we didn't want to scare them away! The next morning, we found two more flying fish on
deck. Ian didn't think they looked very appetising and threw them
back in. Friday, 8th December 2006 (Day 12)
The weather and sea state remain much the same. A series of uncomfortable squalls swept past us throughout the night forcing us to reef and depriving us of sleep again. In the morning, we rigged the storm jib, goose winged with the reefed genoa and maintained six knots running with our new diamond shaped sail configuration. Remember the night before last Dave was hit by a marauding flying fish, well it's happened again! Steve was at the helm this time when another fish landed on his feet. All very well, except that he wasn't wearing any shoes (Steve that is, fish don't wear shoes). The fish flapped and Steve jumped. We never knew before how well he could Morris dance (Steve that is, fish don't dance). We're entering him for the next Come Dancing. Anyway, at least his feet smell better now (Steve's that is, fish don't have feet which could well be why they don't dance or wear shoes). V and Ian, sleeping in the fore peek, got soaked again last night. Every wave that breaks over the bows, seeps through their ventilator and drips down on them. Still, we're getting there! Saturday, 9th December 2006 (Day 13)
A very uneventful day. Quite bad squalls overnight and another disturbed nights sleep. In the morning the wind dropped to a comfortable 15 knots and the sea state became the calmest for over a week. We have been flying the cruising chute like a kite, on a very long tack so that it behaves a bit like a spinnaker, not very elegant but it works dead downwind. We also had the storm jib on the opposite side poled out via the boom and with all the mainsail out managed to make a respectable 7-8 knots. We have a lot of work to do to make up time lost over the last few days. Ian is confidant that we will still arrive Saturday afternoon but I predict Sunday morning. (S) Sunday, 10th December 2006 (Day 14)
Started the afternoon running on our spinnaker but a big squall forces us to to take it down. In the rush to sort out the sails, no one notices that one of the few remaining pairs of Steve's shorts that he'd washed and pegged out, were carried off by the wind. Yes, you've guessed it, he continues to wear just his underpants and it's all done in the best possible taste! The good news is we managed to save one of the pegs. We now run goose winged on genoa, storm sail and main. The rest of the afternoon was fine and sunny with both the wind and sea subsiding but no sign of the shorts. We had started the morning with fresh ground coffee, for lunch V baked wonderful crusty bread that we devoured with jam and for dinner, she made a delicious vegetable curry which Dave had three helpings of. Well someone had to finish it up and after all, it was Saturday night! At 18.30 hrs. a whale surfaced some thirty feet off our port quarter. It was grey, had a dorsal fin and was some ten or twelve feet long. We glimpsed some indentations but it was too fast to see anything clearly. It disappeared, surfaced some fifty feet away then, whilst we were all reaching for our cameras, it disappeared completely. We have no idea what type it was but it was a whale, it blew as it first surfaced. Squalls hit us throughout the night again making for yet another uncomfortable night. At 07.30 hrs. we reached another significant point in our voyage, only 1,000 nautical miles to go. We are also now nearer to the South American coast than to Africa. At 09.30 hrs. we were shocked to see that the lower
forward starboard stay (shroud) had broken away in the night and
now lay snaked out across the deck. The stainless steel fitting,
at the mast below the cross-trees, had sheared. We had had a full
rigging inspection by a surveyor in Las Palmas! We found a spare
stay but it had the wrong fitting. After discussion, we decided
that the mishap was not too problematical because the stay supported
the mast from forward and that as we had been running since leaving
Las Palmas, all the stresses were in the opposite direction. Nevertheless,
at 12.00 hrs. we informed ARC control because if we were to lose
our mast, we also lose our aerial and all communications with the
outside world. We do have two hand held VHF radios on board but
their range is limited. We clear the debris from the deck and press
on. Monday, 11th December 2006 (Day 15)
It's now exactly 2 weeks since we crossed the start line. Is that all!!! 972 miles to go. The afternoon was very hot and sunny with a modest sea and lightish winds. During a sail change we had an "HOB" emergency, Dave lost his new "Hat Over Board". There followed a discussion as to where it might be washed ashore Brasil? Equador? Puerto Rica? No, Dave was adamant that it had to be Panama (boom boom!) 1930hrs Ian spotted that we were being followed by 2 very large whales. They were perhaps 30ft long and effortlessly kept pace with us for an hour or so. They seemed to cross our stern from side to side at a distance of 50 to 100 metres occasionally breaking out of a large roller, otherwise they could be seen just under the surface like a pair of submarines. On referring to the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society chart we decided that they were most likely Minke Whales. Dave had observed that we had also spotted whales yesterday when we had been charging our batteries using the engine, as was the case today. Steve retorted "Maybe the deep throb of the 57 Horse Power Volvo Penta MD24 Diesel engine is irresistible to female whales, maybe it's the Barry White of Cetaceans." Eventually the whales got tired of Barry White and went their own way. The night was much the same as previous ones with several squalls with their associated gusts and rain. More trouble with the heads overnight, water is syphoning back into the bowl despite both skin fittings being closed. I suspect that the outlet valve isn't closing properly. As Dave says "not dangerous but inconvenient" (groan). Our speed has dropped disappointingly over the last couple of days due to lighter winds but we are still hopeful to make landfall by Sunday. Tuesday, 12th December 2006 (Day 16)
Another hot and sunny afternoon with reasonable progress. Rain squalls overnight again but little problem with gusts. The morning dawned bright but calm with winds about 10 kts so we raised the genniker.. The sea is calm and it makes a change from being thrown around but it's not a good day in terms of speed and our eta ll be put back again. Our second water tank is now empty and we are on bottles, we need to be very careful now. Wedesday, 13th December 2006 (Day 17)
A very hot afternoon, sea calm and little wind. We tried to sail with geniker & main but it was rather painful. There is a ridge of high pressure between us and St Lucia which is forecast to remain for 2 days before the trade winds re-establish themselves. 1300hrs Steve decided to fish using the new gear bought
in Las Palmas, "if you don't catch fish with this bring it
back and I'll give you your money back" said the salesman...
Overnight with light winds we decided to keep the kite flying, a risky strategy if squalls were to hit, but the weather seemed fairly benign. We had to point further south than we would have liked but were able to make 5+ knots albeit in the wrong direction. 0300hrs we sighted our first boat in weeks, motoring on a converging course, we passed to her stern on a south westerly course while she was headed straight for St Lucia. 0900hrs Wednesday. There was a very heavy rain squall, during which Ian & V showered in the cockpit (pics to follow). The wind picked up giving us 8 knots vmg but then died. We are now falling seriously behind schedule so have engaged the Iron Sail for 1 hour prior to reporting time at 1200hrs. This is our first use of the engine to gain distance, our previous 2 hrs 36 minutes were head to wind (backwards) to resolve sail problems. It will be interesting to hear what engine hours the other boats in our class declare. Thursday, 14th December 2006 (Day 18)
Round 2 of the great YAMMA Pancake Competion, Wednesday
lunchtime. V wins hands down by introducing her secret weapon, tinned
cream. How could Steve's lemon & sugar compete against blueberry
conserve & cream? In the afternoon we confidently cast our new squid lure, made from an old rubber glove, into la mere, while V prepared a stew that only required a succulent Tuna to finish it off. That night we ate vegetable stew! We have been caught between 2 weather systems with
no wind, consequently we have had to motor overnight for 10 hours.
Although this was disappointing we have now picked up a steady 15
knot Easterly making 6.5 knots in the right direction. Lots of other
boats have been reporting similar or even more engine hours. A few other boats have also lost shrouds and there has been one dis-masting, so we are now proceeding conservatively. Friday, 15th December 2006 (Day 19)
Thursday night Ian made supper, a first! Pasta with chilli & tomato sauce, just the job. 0200 Friday I was woken by a crashing of sheets and howling wind, grabbing shorts & lifejacket only, I staggered into the cockpit yelling to Ian who was already behind me. Once in the cockpit we were beaten back by a deluge, visibility was down to about 3 feet with Dave dimly visible through the Maelstrom fighting a losing battle with a backed mainsail, the boat heeled at an alarming angle, try not to think about the shrouds. I turned on the engine and gave it full throttle, she eventually turned into the wind with sails flapping wildly. Ian took the helm and I went out on deck to furl the mainsail while Dave attended to the genoa. The squall lasted for a good 30 minutes before subsiding into tranquillity as if nothing had happened. Squalls continued through the night but none as ferocious. Dave then retired to his bunk and I stood watch. In the early hours I crept through the saloon, which was pitch black, to take a "comfort break". On leaving the heads I stretched out my hand to grasp the overhead handrail and encountering instead an apparently disembodied hairy arm! I nearly jumped out of my skin*!??*!! Dave apologised explaining that I must have woken him passing through the saloon but he hadn't realised that I was in the heads. In the morning I put out the fishing line as
usual, then went to bed when Ian came on watch. Saturday, 16th December 2006 (Day 20)
As we approach St Lucia the VHF traffic has started, intermittent and mostly distorted, we are still too far apart to get decent signals. Friday afternoon Ian caught a fish, blue back with yellow tail with a pointy nose, about 3 ft long, we think it may have been some sort of Marlin. Unfortunately it broke the line as we were landing it, we still haven't got the hang of using the gaff hook. Encouraged by this limited success we are going all out for the big one tomorrow. For supper, V made baked potato and tuna (tinned) mayonnaise, real comfort food. A lot of boats had a bad night with severe squalls, we however skirted to the south and managed to avoid them all, a clear night with good steady winds and a smoothish sea. We are now making good progress and landfall late Sunday looks likely. Sunday, 17th December 2006 (Day 21). LAST BLOG
BEFORE LANDFALL. As we are nearing the end of our voyage, this is the special, bumper edition of the blog and at no extra cost! The weather today has been quite varied with light winds, many rain squalls and very hot sunny periods. At 16.00 hrs. Steve actually caught a fish! It was about two feet long, had sharp teeth and a shark like tail. Steve immediately turned Yamma's stern deck into a photo studio and took shots of V gutting and cleaning the fish. V later cooked it and it was described as tasty, a bit meaty with the consistency of haddock. V served it with rice and, as she'd cooked too much, made rice pudding out of the surplus. Delicious! After dinner, V and Ian retired to bed soon to be heard shrieking. They'd left their hatch slightly open and a flying fish had flown in and landed between them! V chased it out, into the saloon, scooped it up in a dust pan and tossed it back into the sea never to be seen again. Ian's midnight watch spanned three uneventful hours. George (the auto helm) worked perfectly and there were no squalls. Dave came on watch at 03.00 hrs and within an hour a squall had caught us up. Fortunately, this time we were able to reef in time but the squall brought torrential rain with for well over half an hour during which time Dave sat at the helm wishing he'd packed a brolly! As the squalls descend on us mainly on Dave's watches, he's now the official 'squall master'. Early morning and still dark, the Simrad speaker broke away from the lower spreader and dangled precariously by just the lead. We eventually stopped the swinging by wedging it between two shrouds and a halyard. By dawn, just as we were reefing for another approaching squall, we noticed that the port genoa sheet's outer sleeve had parted from the central core and we had to reverse the sheet so that the good end held the sail. At midday, V took the positions of two yachts who were only able to use their VHF radios not long range. We relayed them via SSB to ARC net control. There was some confusion as a French skipper couldn't speak English so Dave confirmed in French that their position had been relayed. Bien! Later, the speaker broke free again and as V was by far the lightest, she was commandeered to be hauled up the mast to cut the speaker down. She reached new heights and stood head and shoulders above the rest of us. During the afternoon, we tried the spinnaker again but the wind dropped off and we gave up and were forced to use the iron sail for 2 1/2 hours. The wind then came up again and we sailed on into the evening first on a reach and then back to running goose winged. All the time, rain squalls were running past us. At the time of writing this, we have only 30 nms.
to go. We can see distant lights from land off the port bow. We
have doubled up on the watches and should be in 04.00 hrs.utc. We
should be in by the time you read this. At last! More tomorrow with pics etc after we have had a sleep. Captains Blog At 5.56 Monday morning 18th December (1.56 local time)
Yamma We were escorted to our berth by Chakka Zulu in the
Sparkle We hope to post up some pictures over the next few days.
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The Crew in Las Palmas
The Start Line with the Committee Boat behind
Boo Tiger at the start line The Seas started to build quite quickly |
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YAMMA
left the UK 20th May 2006 Bound for St Lucia |
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