Friday 19 December 2008

The Passage West. "The Middle Bit"

The Passage West. "The Middle Bit"

So this is what a trade wind passage is all about!

For the last 4 days we've had glorious weather.

Steady winds from the East at 20-25 Kts, double headsails no main. Really well balanced so that there is little pressure on the rig, auto helm and crew. Ok so there are always squall clouds at dusk, and the early evening is pretty dark, but after a few hours the moon is out and all seems well.

This is the sort of sailing you dream about. Enough wind to surf at 12-14kts on occasion 16 to keep the excitement, but plenty of hours of steady 8-10 kts in glorious sunshine and not too much swell banging the boat around.

When the swell breaks under her, Pegasus is really quite noisy and the whole boat shakes and moves as the power of the waves traverse through her. It always amazes me that big structures…..bridges , skyscrapers etc have so much movement when made from principally rigid materials. Pegasus is the same and she moves, shudders and creaks as she is pushed around by the breaking swell. This can be quite unnerving at times, but I think were now getting used to it, although it always makes me jump and think the worst for an instant. I think sometimes it scares poor Louis, although JJ seem not to notice

The steady sailing has allowed us more of a family time….the first we've had really since arriving in the UK back in July.

Amanda and the boys have been busy preparing Christmas. The play bunk looks like Santa's grotto, and we have fairy lights and a starry ceiling in the pilot house…now I understand what all those Ikea essentials were!

We have all been making decorations for the tree, and today we moved the tree from the dinghy and set it up in the port side saloon. We all had a fun afternoon decorating the tree, and the boys have started stripping the sweets and decorations from it already. I wonder how long it will last inside. The tree is the top of a small pine tree from the temperate zone in La Palma, so may not like the heat.

So we have the tree, the decorations are up the icing is on the cake and the "Santa Stop Here" sign is up in the window…were all set.

Bananas, yes we have Bananas. The huge stem we picked up in La Palma has, oh so suddenly, ripened off so we have quite a few that are ready to eat. Louis must have eaten a dozen today alone, and it hasn't dented the supply. I'm sure we will have some on our arrival…coals to Newcastle?….. definitely.

The fishing has also improved and we have now landed 2 Mahi Mahi, although I seem to be keeping up my form by loosing them. I must have lost 4 good fish since I last wrote. Oh well, I'm sure my fortune will change and look forward to a good size Tuna, although with the water temp now at 80 degrees it may well be too warm…not fussy, will accept a Wahoooooo!

Its great to be back in warm water. There's nothing more refreshing than a bucket of water over someone's head to raise the spirits. I joke with JJ and he and I throw water around in the afternoons, and Louis usually gets a side swipe which makes him squeal.

Standing on the nets in the sunshine pouring buckets of water over yourself is totally refreshing, and in a funny way there's something very liberating about it…I'm not sure what!.

The boys have settled down well. They play together, JJ winds Louis up, Louis winds JJ up and they both make a lot of noise and mess. Amanda, and to a lesser extent myself spend a lot of time cleaning up after them and servicing their needs…. juice, milk, food, nappies, DVD on, games, more clearing up…etc. Were lucky if in a day we have 10 minutes together away from the demands of the Boys.

In the evening its different, but the domestic machine can only operate if we both have enough sleep and time for reflection,. I have total peace, just Pegasus and myself, from 8pm through 1am, and Amanda has peace from 1am to 5am. Saying that, during the rough weather Louis has been sleeping anywhere Amanda is, so she hasn't been getting the solitude at night, which is an important part of being offshore.

As we head west we are loosing one hour every 15 degrees, so the boys are getting up earlier…but don't seem to be going to bed any earlier!!.

Louis usually appears at about 5am to do his night watch, followed by JJ half an hour later.

A night watch for the boys consists of getting under the blanket on the Banquette in the pilot house and kicking each other. After half an hour or so I can usually break this up with the offer of Breakfast …wheatabix or croissants.

It is now less that a thousand miles to Grenada, and I'm working out our approach.

It looks like the wind will go light and slightly north over the next two days then increase to 20+ kts for a day or two as we approach land. Yesterday I decided to head more south and reached SW at 10 + kts in 15Kts breeze. This means I can now reach north of west in the lighter airs maintaining a good speed, putting us upwind and wave for our approach to the southern end of Grenada.

I have a small concern that the wind and Waves from the NW will be opposed to the North flowing current which could increase the wave action as we approach land and the shelf where the Atlantic seabed rises to form the plate on which Grenada sits. This is potentially a bad sea situation but it shouldn't last more than a few miles and I'm sure if I pick the point where we transit the shelf it shouldn't be too bad…. ETA Prickly bay 24/12….I hope.


A few Stats for the interested.

Our daily mileage from day 7 to day 10.
178nm, 183nm, 177nm, 186nm.

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Sunday 14 December 2008

A Few stats for the boys

A Few stats for the boys

Our daily mileage taken from 0700UTC on the day we departed 8th Dec through to 0700 UTC Sunday 14th

151nm, 187nm,183nm,205nm,204nm,178nm…we are on our 7th day.

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THe Passage West

The Passage West.

La Palma to Grenada …or Barbados if we've had enough…Maybe Tobago… that's looking pretty good too!!

Week1
What a lovely first day. Sun shining, wind at 10-14Kts, good sailing. We even managed 5 hours with the spinnaker up. Pegasus is going well, although we seem to be using quite a bit of power. I will look at that.

Its great to be back on board and find the rhythm again. We allowed ourselves a cooked breakfast of sausages and eggs when Louis finally woke up and enjoyed a day pottering about getting sorted. Amanda made Spaghetti Bolognaise for supper, which we all ate together at sunset and the boys went to bed at 7.30. After the allowances of the on shore existence I'm sure both boys will settle and enjoy the routing of life on board again…up at sunrise, bed at sunset.

Today, our second is quite different. Overcast, a little rainy and its back to jumpers. We do have good wind though, with 15-20kts NE giving us a steady 7-9kts goose winged, so we should make better mileage and get further SW and hopefully into some warmer weather.

Well the honeymoon is definitely over. Its now day 7 and we are about half way across the Atlantic at 18N 33W.

We've had a bit of a going over.

The weather picked up and for the past 3 days we've had pretty strong winds in the 25-45 knot range with 18-20 ft following seas. The first night was the worst. The forecast was for 25kts and as the wind increased so did our speed. …the log extract says it all.…

".What a night. Wind increased to 30, 35, then started into the 40's! not really replicated by the grb files or other forecasts!
big waves, short frequency. Regularly surfing at 17-20kts...not the sort of sailing i want to be doing 1000 miles from land with the family!
when started to see 40 kts, dropped the main in a hurry (we had 3 reefs in and I just smoked the halyard on a big surf) and now going along with staysail only at average 7....although when we get picked up we have hit 17 again! but not with the same feeling of no control."

We are now much more comfortable with genoa and staysail up goosewinged headed down wind and wave…quite sustainable. I think we only have another 36 hours of this then we should be back into the 20-30 kt range.

This is the bit I really love. The big chess game. Looking at the data and working out where you want to be in 36, 48, 96 hours and trying to get there. Often the situation changes as you make progress sometimes the data is inaccurate.

You can sail for 96 hours to get into a weather pattern only for the whole story to change in the last 24 hours and you miss the gate. Its big picture stuff and I love it.

Either way, you are trying to keep the vessel and crew in a safe environment, making good speed and going in the right direction. If you can do all of these 3 your doing well.

Even though Pegasus is moving and banging around a bit life on board carries on. We broke out a couple of new DVD's for the boys. The Incredibles has been a big hit as has Aladdin…thanks Granny.

The food has been excellent, and yesterday Amanda noticed that the Freezer was defrosting on the bottom level so we have had to cook some of our supplies.

Yesterday we enjoyed steak sandwiches for lunch and roast lamb, corgettes and garlic potatoes for dinner…quite extravagant. Usually we have sandwiches or cold meats cheese etc for lunch and dinner early with the boys. In the last week the menu has included roast chicken, calves liver salad and fresh Mahi Mahi.

We've been fishing but its not going too well. We caught a Mahi when the water temperature got above 70 degrees and I managed to get it in as we were only doing 7 kts.

I had a disaster with the big rod and lost all the line and lure as we had a bigger fish on and we just couldn't slow the boat down, as at that point we still had the main up, and surfing at 10kts with a big fish on the line puts amazing strain on the equipment!.

I feel really quite upset as that fish will definitely die swimming around with 300m of 80lb line and a lure in its moth …not to mention the £70 of fishing gear in its gob!

Subsequently I have rigged a hand line with 100lb line on shot cord, leading to a main winch. We have had 2 good strikes but not landed one yet. Again the waves and Pegasus gliding down the face of them is making it really quite difficult. Hopefully we will have better luck when the sea quietens off a little.

Its Dawn on Sunday morning and we promised the boys a party when we started heading west in earnest, so today we will have a pirate party to celebrate.

We've made Pirate party hats and we will have party food and cakes play some music and probably a game or two.

In reality it's the expectation over a few days, making party hats and food etc that's really good for the boys. The party will only last an hour if that, but we've had at least 4 hours of entertainment in anticipation not to mention their excitement.

Lets hope for quieter seas, sunshine and more fish., all of which we should get next week as we get closed to our destination….. the Caribbean.

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Tuesday 9 December 2008

Leg 3 Still the Canaries!

Leg 3 Still the Canaries!

It took longer than expected to install the new alternator. Old Raul the electrician, a 30 something local with pigeon English just couldn't say no to anyone, so spent time with other boats as well as us. In the end we had the alternator and regulator fitted and installed a Diode bridges in each engine room so that all batteries could be charged simultaneously. We also sorted out the energy monitor so that it reads true. Im not sure if this is a good thing as I now know that our beloved fridge / freezer draws some 40 amps when charging! I've got to do something about that!

As Raul stepped off the boat with his pockets bulging with the last of my Euros, so we left Santa Cruz and sailed sedately down the East side of Tenerife, dropping our anchor in Bahia De Abona just after sunset. We spent quite a rolly night at the head of the bay with waves crashing against the rocks some 50 meters away. Not a relaxed nights sleep for me even though we laid a Danforth as well as a CQR. Its going to take some time to regain my confidence in our anchors.

Up early and away on a still morning. The swell was down and we motor sailed round the south of Tenerife as dawn was breaking. A school of Pilot Whales found us and joined us for a mile or two before leaving to carry on their journey. We had a pleasant crossing to La Gomera on a glassy sea and arrived after lunch…err…that is the English lunch. The Spanish lunch finished at 4pm when, after fuelling up, we went alongside in what was a crowded but pretty marina.

Tapas ashore, which we all enjoyed and the boys had a good run around the square while we were eating. San Sebastian is a quaint, local town without the hustle and bustle of the other cities we have been in. It reminded us of Machico in Madeira. Small and personable.

The Idea of going to San Sebastian was that the marina had wifi, there was a beach within half a mile and a small town. Amanda and the boys could go to the beach and be away from the boat while I compiled our tax returns and e-mailed them to the accountants in the UK along with some other paperwork I needed to do.

The Reality was that it was cold and overcast so, although the beach did not get as much action as was intended, the family saw the town and all the local play parks while I got on with the paperwork. Needless to say the wifi did not work, so it was not ideal.

After 3 nights and a pleasant stay we set off to La Palma some 60 miles north west of La Gomera. We had heard that the new Marina there had opened, the facilities were good and that it was quite empty. We had intended to leave a few days later but the wind was light and in a favourable direction so we headed off after a Spanish breakfast…about 10.30… and motor sailed up to Santa Cruz in La Palma.

Amanda's Parents are taking a holiday in La Palma so we shall see them in a few days. The Boys will love that before the transatlantic and its Amanda's Birthday on Wednesday so a jolly time should be in store for all. It should also give us the space we need to stock up and ready Pegasus for her second transatlantic this year.

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Leg 4 La Palma to Grenada (Or Barbados if it looks better=?ISO-8859-1?Q?=85?=)

Leg 4 La Palma to Grenada (Or Barbados if it looks better…)

WE had a great time in La Palma. The marina was quite bouncy with the swell ricocheting from one side to the other but after securing well it was quite tenable. Amanda's parents arrived and it was great to see them. The Boys had a high old time and stayed 3 night in their apartment. Amanda and I went out together which was fun and had many enjoyable meals with Granny and Grandpa. I settled down to do my paperwork, which had been haunting me, and finally got 90% away which is all that I could hope for.

Granny took an armful of papers back to the UK along with used charts and general filing….the paperwork just doesn't stop!

We spent a few early days readying the boat so as to have time to enjoy the family contact, and after a lovely swim and dinner in the Real Club Nautico La Palma, we said goodbye and we returned to Pegasus to leave the following morning, 8th December.

Whilst in la Palma we managed to acquire a whole stem of green Bananas so we hope they will ripen as we head south. They are living in the Dinghy astern along with our Christmas tree…ok, so it's the top of a pine tree..but it will look good with a few lights and baubles on it, even if it is just a twigged skeleton!!

What a lovely first day. Sun shining, wind at 10-14Kts, good sailing. We even managed 5 hours with the spinnaker up. Pegasus is going well, although we seem to be using quite a bit of power. I will look at that.

Its great to be back on board and find the rhythm again. We allowed ourselves a cooked breakfast of sausages and eggs when Louis finally woke up and enjoyed a day pottering about getting sorted. Amanda made Spaghetti Bolognaise for supper, which we all ate together at sunset and the boys went to bed at 7.30. After the allowances of the on shore existence I'm sure both boys will settle and enjoy the routing of life on board again…up at sunrise, bed at sunset.

Today, our second is quite different. Overcast, a little rainy and its back to jumpers. We do have good wind though, with 15-20kts NE giving us a steady 7-9kts goose winged, so we should make better mileage and get further SW and hopefully into some warmer weather.

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