Newport Uskmouth Sailing Club
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Newport Uskmouth Sailing Club |
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Boot's Emails (Unexpurgated) | Latest click here | Photos
(Adrian Booth (Boot) and Graham Cox (Coxy) have sailed across the Atlantic. Boot has now returned to the Caribean to sail back!!)
Email number 1 "Trip Across the pond" 20 February 2006 21:59
Ahoy there me hearties
We left Puerto Colon Tenerife on Jan 28th 0845 hrs after being delayed 10 days waiting for favourable winds from the North.The rig we will be using is called a Twistle rig especially designed for down wind sailing, for the last 10 days its been blowing from the bloody south!!, we could have motored into it but the total distance is about 2700nm and we only have enough fuel for a max of 2000nm, that includes 20 galls strapped to the pushpit.After ten 10 the wind still from the S, we decided to put up the original rig and set sail.3 hours after setting off the wind blew up form the NW reaching speeds of 42 kts, we were experiencing the wind acceleration zones found between the Islands. We had a well reefed Genoa and full mizzen and we were averaging 7.5 - 8 kts, peaking at 12kts on a beam reach the seas were also picking up at this time! I didn't relish the thought of 3 weeks of this! We passed Gomera and Hierro and about midnight the wind abated. for the next 3 days there was very little wind and it had gone back to the S so we had to motor SW of the W coast of Africa searching for the Trade winds burning up precious fuel. On day 3 we hoisted the Twistle rig it took 2 of us almost 2 hours! Once it was up it was going to stay up,we I read that the Trade winds normally started at about 25N 25W, during the last couple of days we were frequently visited by dolphins, bird life had become scarce.
Day 5 we saw a tanker about 5 miles astern,life at sea was becoming very boring, seeing another ship was very exciting. Day 6 and we were starting to expience the infamous trade winds, the start to blow from the NE with a following sea, we were also in the Canary stream pushing us towards our destination, the sky became dotted with cotton wool like clouds and the sea temp had started rise from 19c to 23c, these are all indications of the Trades. About mid day we were approx 750nm out and a bulk carrier was on a collision course with us and called us up on tthe radio, who would have believed it, the ship was called Ionian Spirit and was route from Portlan Oregan to Nigera, the must have bored also, we had quite a long conversation with them,they aked if all was OK and asked if we required any provisions,very encouraging. This was the last we saw anthing for the next 2000nms except Kamikazee fling fish, most mornings I would check the deck for them , there were always a few but not enough to cook.
Day 8 arrived and the highlight of thr day was that we had reached a longtitude of 30 degrees and we had to put the clock back an hour. (every 15 degrees W went travelled the clocks had to go back 1 hour).
Day 12 we saw a BIRD bird spotting became big events, it was identified as a Red billed tropic bird, we saw it again on day 14.
End of part 1.
Adrian Booth ( AKA Boot)
St Lucia
Caribbean
Email number 2 "Part 2" 21 February 2006 21:08
Apologies for all those who didn't understand certain terms, it must be about day 10 and so we,ve averaging 140 nm per day ( Ellen McArthur frequently achieves 450nm, what a Dame). The boat is rolling 24 hours a day no letting up, without the Twistle rig it would be unbearable,all the books I've read have mentioned and complained about this inceassant rolling.
Day 11 and at 1715 we have reached half way! 1305 miles covered and 1305 to go,still no life about except the 3 of us and the fling fish, ther is real sense of isolation 1305 from land.Every day we are having to motor for 3-4 hours to charge the batteries up, the autohelm and fridge take afair bit of current, and as stated the bloody wind generator doesn't work down wind( a major design fault in the installation).On day 12 we ran out of our supplies of fresh grapefruit, our only breakfast provisions, we are now down to a shrivelled up orange the size of a small tangerine and a cup of tea without milk.Anyone trying to lose weight should consider one of Rowlands trips, last year I lost over two and a half stone on a 10 week trip, Rowland doesn't seem to lose any, could it be that most of our food supplies are stored in his berth? We are having to resort to Howard's recipe of ships biscuits, so far i've made attempt of making these and they were devoured before I could remove them from the baking tray, I think I'll spice them up with some of the Caribbean's local produce, could be interesting. My one watch is 0200 - 0500 the dog watch,its fantastic, at the moment there is a full moon and so many stars I'm seeing at least half a dozen shooting stars every night,and the sea is lit up with phospheresence, its brighter than a normal summer's day in the Bristol Channel.
Have to go now off to Martrinique early tomorrow.
Regards
Adrian.
Email number 3 "Part 3 and final" 27 February 2006 21:52
Day 15 (its actually 27/02/06 in Guadeloupe),1861 nm logged and 760 to go,we've just passed 40 degrees west,clocks back another hour,for the last week we,ve been able to steer 275 deg (apologies to Dixie & jones and any other non sailors) but we are still in a SW stream also the NW Trade winds 5-6 are still taking us down to Barbados. For the last 2 weeks its been like riding on a bucking broncho on a very large carousel, ther,s no stopping or getting of ,or even turning against it!
Day 16 same old scenery and we've just run out of "fresh" meat.
Day 17 we've survived lst nights meal, Coxy would make some body a lovely wife, he's performing miracles down in the galley,it's a shame about his lack of social graces! His superb culinary skills are only surpassed by his acrobatic agility. The other day whilst counter balancing the rolling motion of the boat he held a plate of osata bake in each hand whilst sweeping up Rowlands portion off the galley floor with his right foot into a plate held between the toes of his left foot, bearing in mind he hasn't washed for almost 3 weeks, it certainlt adds spice to to meals, he also hasn't shaved and is starting to look nlike an ageing chimp, I dare not tell because he thinks it looks cute. I'm only writing this drivel because there's not much to report on the sailing side.We are now less thqn 500 nm off Barbados our ETA is Thursday 20/02/06 we are now logging 166nm plus each daybut the cloud cover has increased bringing squally showers and increased wind strengths of up to 40 kts, but the boat is handling it well, good old Canzone and the Twistle rig.
Day 18 350 to go and yesterday we logged 168 nm ou best ever,it has been increasing every day so has the wind and so has the following seas! The sea temp is now 25.7 C. Rowland excelled himself yesterday ?we had 2 boiled eggs with a stale crust of Bimbo bread, Bimbo bread lasts for weeks so it must have been from last years trip! This evening Coxy conjoured up a Thai type curry made from the last 2 days left overs after the eggs it was fantastic. Coxy if the No 1 cook, Rowlands standby and I'm the onion peeler , washer up and tea boy ( nothings changed from my early working days in the labs).
For the last 2200nm Canzone has steered herself, we set the autohelm to 270 and that was it, the Canary stream has taken us SW the Trade winds has taken us West and now we've picked the Northen Equatoral stream taking us West also. The trade winds have been blowing us relentlessly, we've had to put a feww turns into the twistle rig to prevent the forestay from being ripped out of the mast head, ( it has done on both previous crossing I was told this AFTER we had laft Tenerife!) we've also put preventers on both poles to stop them from smashing into the mast shrouds both these measures have proved to be successful.
Day 19 and only 155 to go!
I'm having to finish now , I'm not using a querty board and i'm knackerd! it's also sunny and 30 degrees outside, bye.
Regards
Adrian
Email number 4 "Landfall" 03 March 2006 14:18
Hi there shipmates & Dixie
Day 19 155nm to go, recorded 163 nm, averageing 5.78 kts, yesterday another good day,we,e altered course to 280 as we are approaching land. Chico the cook has had a sneaky look at my log and is threatening to shave his fuzz off. There's not very much room on the aft deck right now, as well as the 10 25 litre fuel cans we have accumalated 10 bin sacks full of empth cans, plastic bottles and rotting garbage, and its starting to smell, and as we are sailing downwind the aroma is wafting straight into the cockpit and saloon, thankfully wev'e only one more day. I managed to pick up a local Barbados radio station today and a couple of dolphins have come out to meet us, so we must be approaching land but we are still 145 nm away.We have just recorde our fast speed of 16.3 kts whilst surfing down a big roller!
Day 20 my watch finished at 0500 and at 0600 we sighted the light of Barbados! We entered Bridgetown Harbour at 0730 a fantastic turquoise coloured sea in the harbour and we were flanked by two massive cruise liners. We cleared customs and immigration and its official, Coxy was registerd as the COOK. There are no marinas for visitors in Barbados normally yachts anchor off in Carlisle bay, we managed to tie alongside a pontoon in Willies Yard under the pretence of having some maintenance work to be carried out.
To finalise the crossing
Starting distance 2566nm Rhum line
Total distance sailed 2653.5 Great circle ? (ask Howard)
Max wind speed encountered 45.6 kts
Max Speed 16.3 kts Day 19
Average speed 5.8kts
total time 461.56 hours (20 days)
fastest 24hrs 168nm
slowest 75nm.
The yacht is a 41 ft Salar ketch with a 75hp Perkins engine, it was built 1n 1974 and used a charter boat for about 20 years in the Med.
Rowland bought her in 1997 and sailed her to Tenerife. It has crossed the Atlantic 5 times.
We had 2 GPS on board, EPIRB, life raft,SSB radio but no one knew how to use it properly,( Howard we did try to contact you at the agreed time for 4 days to no avail but we were able to contact a pal in Tenerife, but after 4 days / 650 miles out we lost contact.)
We also carried an Iridium phone but didn't use it.
chris I will try and send photos but don't hold your breath.
Currently in Antigua, what a place!
Regards Adrian
PS Happy Birthday Mother.3/3/06
Email number 4 "More boring material" 08 March 2006 20:11
St Maarten
08/03/06
After making landfall in Barbados on 15/02/06, we stayed for 3 days the sailed on to St Lucia (103nm) and managed to secure a berth in Rodney Bay marina, we stayed here also for 3 days and left on 22/02/06 (Independance Day) Both had been British Island until given independence. We then saile on to Martinique (29nm French) here the marina was full so we anchored off for 2 days, Roland hired a car and we toured the Island calling at Fort De France the capital, this Island was far more prosperous than the ex Brit islands with a well maintained infra structure apparently courteousy of EEC grants. Next stop on our journey north was an anchorage off Dominica(67nm), this is still a British dependency and very poor, we didn't bother going ashore but had a swim off the boat in very a clear sea. On to Guadeloupe (60nm) another extremely affluent French dependency, unfortunately it was here that Chico Cox jumped ship, he had an erection problem and needed to be at the sailing club to hoist his mast up on Genevive (his boat!) Peace and tranquilty at last! no more flatulence and snoring! It must have been all that red wine still fermenting in his bowells,
From Guaeloupe we sailed up the west side to an anchorage at the Northen tip of the Island called Deshaise (46nm), up at first light 0600 in a thick mist and rain for the stretch across to Antigua (43nm). This was a British dependency and ther are still strong ties with us, we anchore in Freemans Bay in English Harbour, a fantastic place the best I"ve visited, there's an area called Nelson's Dockyard which houses a museum names after the great man and full of artifacts relating to the time he spent time here. A five minute walk away and we were in Falmouth Harbour, this is where all the beautiful people and yachts migrate to in the winter! Ther must have been billiions of pounds worth of yachts on one pontoon including Endeavour the famous J class and Miirabella V, the largest sailing yacht in the world( Built at Vosper Thornecrofts Gosport). These lovlies congregate here for the "season" ( Dec- May) "doing" the regattas before sailing back NE to the Med before the Hurricane Season (May-Nov), What a life! After 5 days we reluctantly left at 16 30 for a over night sail ( 104nm ) for St Maarten/St Martin( Dutch/ French) and we are still here, stuck in a Marina full of bloody Yanks until next Monday when we sail further north for the British and American Virgins ( Islands to the non sailors and Dixon). The intention then is to sail south for Trinidad to arrive at the end of April where Canzone will be hauled out in May for the Hurricane season. Grahame, sailing across to St Maarten we lost our nav lights due to broken pullpit chaffing through the cables, so I had to tell him about it needing welding, I've managed to carry out a temp repair and persuaded him to leave it until Trinidad, Oh and sorry about the curry stains on your blue shirt, I'm sure Helen will get them out.
Hope its not too cold at home, its only 32 degrees C here.
Regards
Adrian | return to top
Email number 5 "re NUSC Website" 08 March 2006 20:11
Currently in Coral Cove St Johns, I was refused entry at first because I didn't have a visa (bloody Yanks), eventually I was given a temp visa after re entering on a ferry which took 5 hours of travelling time. We have sailed as far North as intended and tomorrow going back South to Anguilla the heading down to Trinidad to arrive there by the end on April. The best place so far is Jos Van Dyke, there was a bar there called Foxy's, I thought I was in Paradise, fantastic un uncrowded beach, good live music warm seas and beer.
Boot | return to top
Update Jan 2007
Boot, (Adrian Booth) has returned to the Caribean .... so
"A Trip Across The Pond II "
email 18th Jauary 2007
I'm flying back out to Trinidad on the 25th Jan to continue our cruise along the coast of Venezuella, then back up to Puerto Rica the back down to the Islands with the intention of saiing her back to Barry, do you want me to copy you in on any correspondance? (Yes please)
Regards
Adrian (click here to read my previous adventures)
1st Feb Chagaramus Trinidad
Dear All
At last we’ve launched, after spending 1 week on the hard in Peakes boatyard Trinidad, (not the safest of places, there is still at least 1 murder EVERY day and the police seem to be doing their fair share!) At times during the day temperatures have soared off the scale of the thermometer, reaching 55 degrees. During the hot nights we are continually being eaten by mossies, and are woken up every morning at 5am by noisy kisskadees(birds), and now we’ve sighted cockroaches in the galley and aft cabin, at least they’ll clean up the crumbs! Rowland, decided to arrive in Tobago with a full passport and was almost refused entry, so we are have to wait, perhaps two weeks until a new one arrives, but it’s a little cooler on the water, now we’ve launched and there’s a small swimming pool in the marina where we are able to cool off. The exchange rate is pretty good, we are getting over $2 to the £,and petrol is less than£1 per gal, we are driving around in a hire car and exploring the island, it’s safer locked in a car as there are plenty of interesting places to visit whilst waiting for the passport. There was a cartoon in today’s newspaper which showed a government minister asking the Commissioner of police what he was doing to protect the tourist from the violence, he replied “oh it’s simple we just lock the tourists up!” it’s true after 6pm no one goes out of their complexes, it’s as if we are all under a curfew. As soon as the passport arrives we are off to Testigos, an island 90nm west off the N coast of Venezuela, We’ve been told that diesel is only a few pence a litre, cheaper than buying water, and that we will be able to fill the tanks up(150 galls) for less than a tenner! Nothing more to report, it’s pretty boring just lounging around and carrying out the odd minor boat maintenance, hope its not too cold and miserable back in old Blighty.PS Rowland’s passport has arrived to-day (Friday) it’s only taken 1 week, so we are preparing to set sail next Tuesday.
5th February
Dear All,
Been having a few problems with the net so I've sent my message (above) as an attachment.
We are sailing off tomorrow.
Love to some and regards to others
Adrian
Venezuela
Testigos-Margarita-Puerto La Cruz.
Feb 6th
Sailed out of Trinidad in torrential rain at 15-00 for an overnighter to the Islands of Testigos, about 120miles NW, had a reasonable good beam reach most of the way and with a NW current adding 2 kts to our speed, unfortunately, we were making too good progress so we had to sail about 10 miles further N and then double back to ensure we made land fall in daylight. We arrived at 07-00 and cleared with the local coastguard, we then motored to an anchorage 100yds off a fantastic Island with only 28 inhabitants, no shops or bars just a few palm thatched dwellings. The locals rely on fishing and breeding a few chickens, goats and turkeys, they seemed quite friendly. Spanish is their language, so we were able to have some conversation. Had my first swim in the Caribbean the water temp was 25 degrees. Up at 06-00, the next day, weighed anchor and set off SW for Isla de Margarita which was 50 miles away, an uneventful sail which took 10 hours.Before leaving Trinidad we had been strongly advised to give the Venezuelan coast a wide berth of at least 50 miles, there had been many reports of locals travelling out long distances in their pirogues (small open fishing boats with large fast outboards) and robbing, injuring and even killing yachties. There is a daily broadcast on the SSB radio warning of all activities and advising evasive actions. Fortunately we didn’t experience any such activity, and have found all the locals very helpful and obliging, not at all like Trinidad, but we are very wary of any boats that approach us.
Arrived at a marina in Margarita at 15-00, the marina is only half completed, no water or power but they still charge the full price, we intend to stay here a week, to clear immigration and customs is very complicated and time consuming, and virtually impossible to carry out ourselves, so we used an agent, who charged £100, some would call this a bribe, but all the tasks were completed and we had our passports back (thankfully) within 3 hours. (It’s an offence to be out and about without any ID, and if caught it’s a lockable offence, we were told this a few days after our arrival!!)
Margarita is very South American, very vibrant and very cheap, a good 2-3 course meal costs less than £6, a T bone steak £5, lunch time meal, 2 course plus a drink £1, a bottle/can of beer 10p (slightly cheaper than the TA Mr Sergeant! but the barmaids are not as pretty), car hire £15 per day and you can fill the tank up for a £1! This is not a myth, today we filled our tank up and for £1 you can buy 17 GALLONS of premium petrol! This is not a typing error, 17 GALLONS for £1!!! (That will give Croady something to moan about for the next couple of weeks at Parkers) I’ve been told that there are no drink drive laws; in fact it helps if you are half cut because everyone else is, hardly anyone takes any notice of the traffic lights and the driving is very aggressive. Most of the cars on the road are big ancient petrol guzzling Yankees from the 50/60s, very few roadworthy, and full of rust, bouncing all over the place.
Most of the cruising people here a different breed, totally different to ones you find in the Med or Eastern Caribbean a mixture of Europeans, Aussies, Kiwis, S Africans and Yanks, most have been down this part for years, and don’t move about a lot, like ageing Hippies, or drop outs in old scruffy yachts, throw backs from the 60s and 70s, lounging around drinking very cheap beer, and doing very little else, but they all seem very happy and content and very laid back. One German was in a 120 foot ex spy ship, made to look like a fishing trawler, it wouldn’t have surprised me if he was actually on her during the war, he was very proud of the fact that she had a successful war career. There were some real unusual craft there; I managed to convert a few of them to music of Seasick Steve! He would have fitted in really well there.
Last night (12th) there was a local youth Samba band practising on some waste ground opposite the marina, there were about 12 of them with a load of followers playing amongst about a dozen cars which were parked in a circle all with their hazard lights flashing, I sneaked across hoping not to be noticed to listen, as soon as I approached I was spotted and a few shouted Amigo! Amigo! They immediately surrounded me in a tight circle, hip gyrating Shakiras , trying to entice me to dance (an impossible task, unless I’ve had 10 pints of beer!),and embarrass me, they succeeded in the later, but worth every minute, the sound, rhythm and atmosphere was fantastic, an unforgettable experience. After about 30 mins they left in a beat up old bus, apparently they were practicing for the carnival starting next Friday, we are leaving on for the mainland on Thursday!!
Thursday we moved from the marina to Captain Juan’s anchorage, ready for the night sail to the Puerto La Cruz on the mainland, the distance is 86 miles and not wanting to arrive at a strange port in darkness we decided to leave at 1900. This passage consisted of a dog leg dodging a couple of Islands, and sand banks, the navigational lights/aids on the charts didn’t physically exist, no surprises here, also our nav lights packed in, and for the next 4-5 hours we were continually being flashed by small fishing boats with high powered beams to let us know of their position, they were also not displaying their nav lights, we were so close to some that we could hear their curses.
At 03 00 am we had cleared the hazards and headed due S to the mainland, the ENE trade winds were still blowing a consistent 25-30 kts so we hoisted some of the Genoa and had a fantastic sail, arriving at the port at 07-00. Another uneventful sail, no bandits or pirates, some say the Caribbean’s spread these malicious rumours regarding boardings to keep the cruisers in their Islands but when we arrived, the armed guards and watch towers with searchlights sited around the marina perimeter told a different story.
Hugo Chavez, the Bush hating Communist President of Venezuela, has just been voted back in to power for another 6 years and yesterday he reduced a kind of purchase tax from 14% to 9%, this makes Marina berths and food even cheaper. Everyone who dared to speak to us about him said he was a madman, it is also very clear that he is trying to promote a Dictatorship, Fidel Castro is a hero of his and he gives a vast amount of oil to Cuba every month. The marina we are staying at (Bahia Redonda) is less than £4 a night and that includes power and water, there is also a large pool, restaurant and a small shop, we’ve been given passes to escape but after 5 days still haven’t ventured outside the complex.Day 6 and we ventured outside in a taxi to the local Mall to reprovision. The mall was very modern and full of classy shops, surrounding the Mall was a series of canals with very expensive motor cruiser moored outside their homes / mansions, but between our marina and the Mall stretching for about 3 miles was one big shanty town, there is a massive division between the rich and poor, I can understand the resentment it causes, it’s really flaunted in their faces. The Marina we are at is full of Venezuelan power boats and the rest are retired cruising Yanks, there are very few Europeans and only one other Brit. The Yanks are all very clicky and organise events such as Bridge and Domino mornings, right up my street! Can’t wait to leave only another 12 housr, then we’re off to Tortuga and the Islands further west as far as Aruba before heading for a long leg north which should take about 6-7 days.
That’s all for now I’ll send another one in a couple weeks. I hope all is well with all of you.
Love and Regards
Adrian
Puerto La Cruz
Venezuela. | return to top
Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2007 1:15 PM
Subject: Photos
ChrisCurrentlly in Curacao,thought I'd send a couple of new photos, the ones on the web site are last years, had an email off Mel the other day, one of his pals had been shot in Trinidad, what a place, Venezuela is even worse, we were really glad to get out!
Adrian
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 10:43 PM
Subject: Tortuga- Aruba
Dear AllCurrently in Aruba, about to leave for the American Virgins, the attachment is about the last month, hope it's not too boring.
Adrian
Attachment:
Tortuga -Los Roques-Los Aves-Bonaire-Curacao - Aruba
Thursday 21st, we were up at first light to cast off for Tortuga, an armed Marina guard appeared, one hand on his gun in its holster to help us, it was only then that I noticed that they were positioned on every pontoon, and finished their shift at 7am, this was as well as the guards in the perimeter watch towers! Free at last, what a delightful place, we were pleased to be off after being “imprisoned” for 1 week.
Tortuga is a small low lying Island 60 miles NW from the mainland, the NE trade winds gradually picked up throughout the day and we flew across there, arriving at 17-00, just in time for a quick swim before the sun went down, the sea temp was 25 degrees. This island is totally safe, only a handful of people live here and the ones we met were very friendly. This is the best beach I’ve seen so far, totally isolated and in the shape of a horse shoe reaching for about 2-3 miles, there was only one other boat anchored and he arrived at the same time, throughout the night numerous fishing boats arrived to anchor for the night but they had disappeared by 6am the next day. We went ashore the next day to explore and notice there was a very small landing strip for light aircraft, three planes landed whilst we were there, there was also a small shack serving meals as long as you order fish, next to it was another slightly larger shack divided into four stable like rooms, this was the hotel. It’s used by very wealthy Venezuelans who fly in for the day or a night in their private planes with their lady friends, supposedly away on a business trip I guess. Whilst walking the beach a small fishing boat came in to land its catch, amongst it was a bloody big shark! It was well over 7ft long, and he proceeded to cut it up there and then, no more snorkelling here!
At 3pm we went back to the boat and set sail for Los Roques another group of Islands 115 miles NW, again another overnighter, the wind blew a constant 25 kts the whole way and we were in danger of arriving too early whilst it was still dark, so we reduced sail and arrived at 09-30. This group of islands is supposed to some of the best snorkelling waters in the world, most of it is still uncharted and what is, is still recorded in fathoms, it’s much worse than the Scillies, and we were advise to navigate with someone up the mast we declined, and just anchored in a spot with 2-3 meters of water, it is a designated National Park and attracts many yachts, it was beautiful but with the wind still blowing we didn’t venture very far, there is also a small airstrip that services this group of Islands, and there were some very quaint beach hut type accommodation, two weeks spent here would be idyllic, you wouldn’t need a boat, it was quite hilly in places, ideal for walking with fantastic beaches and clear warm seas, a place you could really chill out at and totally safe, I believe the light aircraft were flying in from Caracas.
Another day another Island, we can’t let the sea grass grow under our hull!
Next stop was about 50 miles further west, an uninhabited group of Islands called Los Aves, we anchored here overnight, again white sands and a clear warm sea the mangroves were full of nesting Frigate birds, I had a quick snorkel and retired to my bunk. This was the last of Venezuelan Islands, we left at 06-45 the next for another 60 mile sail further west, for the first of the Dutch Antilles, Bonaire, arriving after a 9 hour sail, running down the Trades which were gusting up to 30 kts.
Bonaire
We arrived on Monday afternoon at about 4pm and booked into Harbour Village marina, about half way up the island on the eastern side, the island is very low lying offering very little protection from the trades that were blowing and they blew for the week that we spent here.
Unfortunately on Tuesday, Soren the Dane decided to leave us, so we hurriedly packed his bags and drove him to the airport, I’ll say no more, but the boat is a much happier place without him, even though it will be just the two of us sailing the 600-700 mile trek up North.
Bonaire is much more civilised, well run and safe (I didn’t see a policeman all the time we were here) it is described as the Divers Paradise; it is perfect for snorkelling, diving, windsurfing, and for all types of water activities. There is a coral / sand shoreline extending for about 200 ft then the sea bed shelves off very steeply, the shallow shore line is full of coral and teeming with many types of tropical fish, it’s like swimming in a tropical aquarium, and the sea is clearest I’ve seen, on a par with the islands off Croatia, they say you can always tell how clean the sea is by the number of sea urchins that are present, Bonaire’s sea bed is carpeted with them, one has to be very careful not to step on them, their spikes snap off very easily and become embedded in the flesh causing a fair bit of pain. Apart from the fantastic underwater life Bonaire hosts Pink Flamingos, wild Donkeys and large Iguanas which I’m told the locals consider them to be a delicacy, tasting much like chicken. In Trinidad they are protected as endangered species! Not much bird life, apart from a few small gull like birds, but we did see a few green and yellow Parrots, all the other islands were teeming with Pelicans and Frigate birds.
We were having lunch the other day, and sat on the same table was a family from Ebbw Vale, there is also a fairly large yacht called Welsh Rover in the marina, which hoisted the Red Dragon on St David’s Day, he left the Rhondda for Pennsylvania in 1964, small world! The vehicle we hired was a Chevy pick truck, most of the hire vehicles are trucks, to allow the carrying of air tanks for diving, it really is a diver’s paradise, and their every need is catered for. The cost of living is similar to that in the UK, meals £10- £15, petrol is £2 a gallon which is very expensive compared to Venezuela,(17 gals for £1) I think we’ve been spoilt for the last month with the cost of living, and now we are coming back to reality. Apparently the ABC Islands refine all of Venezuela’s oil, they also produce salt, I’ll probably attach a photo of the salt plains the colours are unbelievable, pink and white against a clear blue sky.
The language spoken in the ABC Islands is Dutch, Spanish, English and Papiamentu, the local language, made up by the slaves and used to communicate with each other to ensure the slave masters didn’t understand them. Slavery in the Dutch Antilles wasn’t abolished until 1863.
The inhabitants are a mixture of Dutch, Venezuelan and Africans from the slave era; we didn’t see any signs of poverty, unlike the rest of the Caribbean.
Curacao
We arrived at 14-00hrs on Monday 5th March after a 6 hour uneventful sail, as we approached the Island we were met by about a dozen playful Dolphins which is always a good omen. Curacao has two quite large lagoons, we entered through a narrow shallow passage into Spaanse Water, and tied up at Curacao YC (£20 per night) the most expensive yet, but it does have free Wi-Fi, we’ve hired a car and toured the Island, so far I haven’t been impressed, it’s a commercial industrialised island with lots of cars and traffic jams around the major town, but the people are really friendly, and most speak English. There is a large oil refinery which refines Venezuela’s oil and there seems to be a lot of Stone Quarrying, it used to be for phosphates, but now they’ve dug beyond that, they have virtually removed the top of one mountain that used to be called Table Top Mountain, and the locals are saying that since they have done so, it has reduced the rainfall! We’ve booked in for a week, but we’ve seen all we need to in two days, next Port-o-Call is Aruba about 80 miles NW, another overnighter, but this will be the furthest West we intend to sail. Unlike Bonaire the crime here is on the increase and it’s blamed on the drug trafficking from Columbia and Venezuela (only 35 miles away) it’s not as bad, but there are similarities to some areas of Trinidad, all of the local shops are heavily barred with just small openings to collect your goods and hand over the money.
After a week I’ve decided Curacao is full of very wealthy white Dutch people, some of the properties around this YC are palatial, with long sweeping gardens leading to the water’s edge and their large yachts moored alongside, Canzone is the smallest boat here by far, most of the others here are 50-70ft, game fishing boats.
Slavery was supposed to have been abolished here in 1863 (Britain abolished it in 1807) I’ve seen very little evidence of it, I suppose they are paid now but they still seem to be carrying similar tasks i.e. serving, cleaning etc.
We eventually left on Monday evening 12th for the 75 nm NW sail to Aruba, arriving at 9am the following morning after a good night sail with the trades still blowing easterly.
Aruba caters for the large Cruisers that are always tied up alongside, plenty of restaurants and expensive duty free shops, not my kind of place, hopefully we’ll be leaving here on Thursday for the long slog windward to the American Virgin Isles, there seems to be a lull in the winds over the next few days so we aim to take advantage, the chances are we’ll end up in Puerto Rico if we’re lucky or Cuba or Haiti if we’re unlucky, it should take a week.
This is the furthest West we intend to sail (70 degrees West), from now it’s homeward bound, this trip began for me in May 2005 when I joined the boat in Larnaca, Cyprus (35 degrees E) sailing North up to Bodrun through the Corinth and up to Split whilst in the Med, and then South to Venezuela, it would have nice to sail further West into the Panama Canal, perhaps another time!
Love and Regards
Adrian
PS
Just had an email from Mel Williams, a good friend of his in Trinidad had just been shot and is currently in intensive care, the threat of violence is real, and you should never drop your guard.
28th March
Dear all
Currently stuck in St Thomas's awaiting minor repairs, not too much of a problem because the place is safe, the sea is warm and the weather is fantastic.
Adrian
Puerto Rico-The AVI’s
We eventually left Aruba on Sunday March 18th, after continually delaying our departure awaiting calmer winds, every day the weather web sites were updating giving increasing wind strengths, they were doing me a favour really because Wales was playing England on Saturday and I really wanted to see or listen to the game, unfortunately I could only listen to Radio Wales on my laptop, all the TV stations were tuned into Yankie sports, but what a fantastic game, I bet the beer was flowing in the TA that day, that’s another holiday Phil can afford this year,(just received an email from him and he’s taken it already!! Italy I believe!) I hope Harpo and Co didn’t give poor Roly too much stick!
We left at 10am after clearing Customs and Immigration on a north easterly course heading straight into the north easterly trade winds and waves. By 11-30 I’d changed into dry clothes twice and had given up, now just wearing swimming trunks, Canzone is normally a very dry boat with a deep cockpit, this didn’t stop green waves swamping us every couple of minutes.
The weather forecast I was using was from the American Navy website (www.nlmoc.navy.mil/home1) giving accurate conditions for the Caribbean and whole North Atlantic up to 7 days in advance. It gave wind speed and direction, also wave heights, direction and distance between them, it proved to be extremely accurate as the conditions down here can be predictable, unlike back home, but I can remember seeing the atrocious weather the west of Scotland was experiencing which was travelling south before dying out in the bay of Biscay. I think Britain might have been caught up in the tail end of it, that would have been the match weekend, as I said, this site proved to be extremely accurate and I’m using it all the time. It did show that about 150 miles N of Aruba the winds would be dropping off to 25 kts and further N around Puerto Rico they would be down to 15 kts. 48 hours out of Aruba they had decreased to 22-25 kts but every 24 hours they were blowing us 12 degrees off our destination, further west, there was a real danger that we would make our landfall at Haiti, a real no go area, Voodoo is still one of its principal religions! (A challenge for John Hayward when he retires perhaps? It’s a much nicer climate than Risca). We decide to motor sail and still we could only make 60 degrees off the wind. Sunday night was the first time that the North Star appeared off our port bow, a true indication that we were heading home, it gave a nice comforting feeling to see it in that position.
We eventually made our landfall at 11 am on Wednesday just off the Mona passage on the East side of Puerto Rico the wind had blown us almost 60 degrees of course, but at least we were clear of Haiti, we then dropped the sails and motored in calmer conditions running parallel with the southern Puerto Rico coast, which happens to be 100 mile long. 24 hours later we decided to pull into a marina; it had taken 5 days and 4 nights covering 460 miles, not too bad considering the conditions. There’s a saying that “gentleman never beat” (to windward, that is) obviously they have never sailed in the Bristol Channel!
Once we arrived at t Palmas del Mar marina at the eastern end of the Island we decided to clear customs and have a good rest, the only problem was that the customs post listed on the chart didn’t exist and we had an expensive and long taxi drive to the next port to carry out these tasks, whilst leaving the boat at anchor. Last year I had problems with the American immigration at St Thomas’s, the next island , they refused me entry then because I didn’t have the appropriate visa, this time I had the visa, but no immigration office at the port! No such problems at the British Virgin Isles!!
When we had finished with the formalities of clearance we stayed at anchor in the middle of the marina and left at first light the following morning. So much for Puerto Rico.
Our next destination was only 30 miles away, the Isle de Viequies where we sailed into a small cove at Esperanza, this anchorage is as nice as it sounds, it had a very narrow entrance and once inside was not very deep 12ft at its deepest point, and we actually touched the bottom before finally anchoring. We spent two days here carrying out minor repairs including unblocking the toilet, drying out the inside of the boat and trying to exterminate any cockroaches if they hadn’t already been drowned, it’s not all a bowl of roses! Whilst snorkelling here I swam over a large ray, well over 6ft long, I also saw one jump completely out of the water, not sure what type they were, but after the Steve Irwin incident I decided to give them a wide berth. Incidentally the water temp here was 27.5 degrees C, the warmest so far, but the coolest is still about 25 degrees, warmer than a hot summer’s day in the UK.
Next stop was just a five hour sail north, to Isla de Culebra and into Bahia de Sardinas, like the last island it is relatively unspoilt, and used by American tourists travelling across from Puerto Rico for the day, there were some small basic guest houses / chalets that seemed to used by young American back packers, like most islands it became very peaceful as soon as the day trippers disappeared. This group of islands are part of the American Virgin Isles (AVI’s) and are too small or not enough depth for the cruise liners to visit, therefore as I said relatively unspoilt! We anchored off, near the ferry terminal and throughout the day loud Caribbean music was being blasted out, greeting the new arrivals and the visitors departing, there was lots of dancing and merriment, people were jumping into the sea and generally enjoying themselves, including the local teenagers, it was very entertaining, it all ended at 6pm when the last ferry of the day departed, and it turned out to be a very peaceful anchorage.
Upped anchor at 7am and 6 hours later we were approaching St Thomas’s, they have been advertising a new Super Marina for Super Yachts, so we called these up to try and book a berth for a few nights as we needed water and provisions, unfortunately we weren’t super enough! They were only accepting yachts 65ft and over, and we are only 40ft, so we had to motor around to next marina called Crown Bay and book in there, this was near the commercial part of the town with Container ships loading throughout the night, but they still were charging £35 a night, the most expensive by far, the average cost per night is about £10 for a 40ft boat, much cheaper than in Britain.
St Thomas was our intended destination when we had set sail from Aruba, on checking the charts we had been blown 180 miles West, off our course, we had been expecting this, in fact it was better than expected, and it gave us the opportunity to visit an extra three islands, two of which, Viequies and Culebra turned out to be delightful.
As far as I’m concerned St Thomas and the next island St John’s are real scruffy dives, with their shorelines scattered with junk and litter, but we had to stop off here to clear out from customs. It was here that our Northerly passage ended last year, and we headed back South to Trinidad where the boat was left during the Hurricane season, so we’ve almost covered the complete Caribbean chain.
At present we are stuck here with a knackered Bow Thruster and are awaiting its repair, Rowland has yet to discover that there is a rudder hanging under the stern! but at least it’s safe to leave the Marina and have a wander around, and only 30 miles away and our next port o call, is what I consider to be my paradise on earth,(second only to Rogerstone when I’m at home with my dear wife!!) and that is the Island of Jost Van Dyke,(part of the British Virgin Isles) and an anchorage called Great Harbour where we anchor off and visit a bar called Foxy’s , no cruise ships, no ferries, very few tourist, just a couple of small beach chalets and load of yachties at anchor, and there is normally a live band playing there a couple of nights a week, and its all free, in fact it’s so popular that the bands pay Foxy to perform there. I’ll tell you more about Foxy in the next email.
Richards Branson owns an Island not far away called Necker Island, we intend spending the next couple of weeks here just drifting around the British Virgins before we move on down to Antigua and back up to St Martin where we’ll pick up another crew, ready for crossing to the Azores.
Bye for now glad to hear the weather’s improving back home.
Love and regards
Adrian
top
Monday 23rd April
Currently in Antigua for The Classic Week and staying on for the Antigua sailing week, having a terrible time!!! Weather hot sea warm and blue, food too good, still no beer to date, money running out please send all donations to Barclays Bank Newport c/o A L Booth or I'll have to come home!
Adrian (report below)
BVI’s-St Martin- Antigua
Arrived in The British Virgin Isles ( Sopers Hole Tortola) on Friday 30th March, visited my favourite haunt, Foxy’s on Jost Van Dyke, then over the next month just drifted around the Islands, calling in on Jost Van Dyke, little JVD, Anegada, Virgin Gorda, and Philip Island. In my opinion these are the best cruising grounds in the whole of the Caribbean, beautiful, palm lined beaches, and totally safe, but as we left the area we were told that the gun and drug culture is starting to creep in from St Thomas , St Croix and St Johns, the American Virgins and I could see signs of it with youngsters driving around in high speed sports boats with 2 or 3 300hp motors hanging off their sterns, they wouldn’t be able to afford these high power crafts on a normal wage, but we didn’t experience any problems or feel threatened at any time.
Whilst in this area we sailed around Necker Island, this is Richard Branson’s private Island, and it looked as if a party was about happen as the local anchorage was filling up with some very large Super yachts, the two other adjacent islands were also private, not sure who owned these but it was confirmed that something was going on as singers and entertainers were being flown in for the bash.
After about a month it was becoming slightly boring I’m afraid to say, all the beaches were starting to look the same so we decided to move on down to St Martin, calling in on St Barts for a swim, it was while passing St Barts that I saw a massive Super yacht in the container port, I had heard about this yacht before but couldn’t believe what I was told, most of these Super yachts have a few toys perched on the aft deck such as the odd launch and a couple of jet skis and occasionally you might see the a helicopter perched there, but this one had a chopper on a heli pad, an 80ft yacht with a 4 spreader master PLUS a very large Sunseeker type motor yacht, and I suspect the motor yacht had the usual toys on its aft deck, I’ve since found out that it belongs to Romanov Abramovitch the Russian Chelsea FC owner. We stayed at St Martin for a couple of days and ordered some equipment in preparation for our return crossing in a month’s time and then cleared immigration and sailed off.
After an overnighter we arrived in Antigua for the Antigua Classic Yacht Race Week.
This is the hub of the sailing world with most of the best yachts in the world taking part over the next couple of weeks. The largest yacht in the world is here, the Maltese Falcon, it is a 3 masted junk rig schooner (for the purist Mirabella V is the largest sloop).
There are hundreds of classic yachts from all over the world including Charm of Rue, John and Maggie Hart’s old boat from Barry, and today Sunday I managed to hitch a lift as crew on Fiddler’s Green, a 1930 90ft top sail schooner originally from Holland but now owned by a young Aussie who has totally re rigged her himself, including cutting down the trees to make the mast and spars, and making all the blocks etc, a real craftsman, for me this is the equivalent of driving a vintage Bentley around Goodwood at their festival of speed weekend, I even took the helm around the first mark, unfortunately we missed it!! There was only 15 kts of wind and she needs at 25 kts to make her go, we were only averaging 3 kts! We hoisted 9 of her 10 sails including the 3 square sails not an easy boat to tack but we managed it. The pre race briefing told us we could start the engine to help us around the course if needed, everyone seemed pretty relaxed, it was more of an exhibition rather than a race for us, however we didn’t start the engine and sort of, completed the course we might have missed the odd mark by a couple of 100yds but no one seemed to care, the race distance was 24 miles and we were lapped a few times by most of the fleet, but it was the best sailing experience of my life, a fantastic day, not to be forgotten.
The Classics finish this week, then there is a break until the 29th and then Antigua Sailing week starts. We intend sailing back to St Martin on May 5th and start preparation for our return, that’s all for now, plenty of beautiful crafts to look over.
Adrian.
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 8:26 PM
Subject: Bermuda
Hi there landlubbersslight change of plan, currently in Bermuda, the attachment will explain why,
love and RegardsAdrian
Homeward Bound (Well almost)
Arrived back in St Martin on the 18th May after a short break back home, Steve Parker the extra crew arrived on the 20th and we set sail for the Azores on the 22nd, a distance of 2180 NM, the winds and seas were favourable SE 15kts with a beam sea, our first 24 hours we sailed 121 NM then 125, 127, increasing every day on the fourth day we were encountering rainy squalls every hour bringing with them winds of up to 30 kts, great, because it was increasing our speed to over 8kts during these short squalls. About 16-00 another one was coming through reaching 30kts, when all of a sudden there was a loud bang and the boat shuddered, I looked up and horror of horrors, the mast forestay had snapped and all that was holding the mast up was the halyard and the sail! We gingerly furled the sail, expecting the mast to come down anytime, however we succeeded and quickly used the spinnaker halyard as a makeshift forestay. We were over 400 NM out of St Martin and still 1800 from the Azores, a decision was made to carry on motoring to the Azores. After about 3 hours of a steady 5 kts and the boat rolling like a pig due to the beam seas I did some quick calculations and came to the conclusion that we only had enough fuel for 17 days if we could maintain 5 kts that still left us a couple of hundred miles short, a change of plan was needed motoring back to St Martin would add anther 900 miles to our trip, this was not an option, a quick look at the charts and Bermuda leapt out at me, only 800 NM away and in a N Westerly direction, slightly out of our way but right in the middle of the Gulf Stream current, which is where we are in right now, yesterday we covered 147 NM with a following wind and current, we are still 550 NM away (27th May) but making excellent progress, our ETA should be Wednesday, the weather is atrocious, grey skies, thunder and lightening, lots of rain, just like sailing back home.
We had five days of this atrocious weather, non stop rain, and the only sail we were able to put up was the mizzen and this was deteriorating rapidly, tearing along the luff and then the seams. We checked the fuel level daily and we appeared to be using a lot more than the 2 litres per hour I had been told was the fuel consumption, on recalculating it appeared that we were using 4.4 litres and not 2!!, this reduced our max range in perfect conditions to about a 1000nm. If we had carried on to the Azores as intended we would have run out of fuel after about the tenth day.
On day 8 there was another loud bang, this time the mainsheet snapped smashing the boom into the now precarious standing mast, day 9 and the wind turned North right on the nose cutting our speed down to less than 2 kts, we cut the engine revs to preserve what little fuel we had left, having emptied the 50 gals in jerry cans on the deck into the tanks and slowly limped in a north westerly direction hoping that the wind would decrease and the seas would flatten, on day 10 (May 31st) they did, and we crept into Bermuda at 16-00 having less than 10 gals in the tanks. The new crew promptly told us that he had had enough, that he was going no further and flying back home! Great what has happened people’s sense of adventure, not to mention loyalty. We are currently recruiting for another crew member (3rd time lucky) if we’re unsuccessful the two of us will sail her back doing a 3 hour on / 3 hour off pattern. Canzone is currently being thoroughly checked out and being re rigged, sails repaired and extra fuel tanks being purchased.
Fortunately I have a cousin who lives out here and he will be able to drive us around as there are no hire cars, taxis like everything else out here is very very expensive.
We are still 1850 nm away from the Azores, but are in a better position to catch and use acted on the info received, regarding the fuel consumption we’d still be drifting out in mid Atlantic now, well away from the shipping lanes. It’s been a fantastic old engine, running non stop (with the exception on 5 hours on day 4) for 10 days covering over 1200nm but it does USE almost a gallon an hour. It’s a Perkins.
Met a guy in St Martin, his name is William Garnier, ( in his early 30’s) he’s from Cornwall and has sailed across single handed on an Achilles 24ft, he’s now on his way back
Just met him again in Bermuda, he’s leaving for the Azores on Tuesday, a real star!
Hopefully the next email will be from the Azores.
Regards
Adrian
(Boot)
Stop Press
Just had an email, from Coxy, he’s flying out next week to replace matey from Penarth. I’m sure it’ll be 3rd time lucky!
Sat 24th June
Dear All
Still stranded in Bermuda ( I can think of worse places!), after limping in on May 31st, the failed rigging parts were ordered from Profurl the next day, after 2 weeks, and numerous pone calls to the manufacturers (French) and their agents in the UK and USA, still no parts, our calls weren't even acknowledged, disgusting after sales service! I suggest anyone thinking of purchasing their equipment or a craft with their gear fitted, to take heed of this warning, eventually a new complete system was ordered from Harken, it arrived within seven days! We completed the fitting today, the boat has been refuelled, reprovisioned, recrewed,and we are ready for the off on Monday, as soon as Rowland returns from a ten day visit to the UK to attend to some family business.
The next Port of Call should be the Azores ( 1850nm away) we should arrive there sometime around mid July, my next email should be from there, I think I wrote that before," if at first, you don't succeed- - - - - -"Regards
Adrian
Hi there landlubbers
see attachment for our current whereabouts, should be back home by the end of the month
RegardsAdrian
Bermuda to the Azores
We finally left Bermuda on Monday June 25th after being marooned here for almost a month; the morning we left I managed to obtain weather synoptic charts for the next five days. There were about four other boats waiting for a window in the weather before they ventured East, around the UK coast we wait for a window in the weather when there’s not too much wind, in Bermuda it’s the opposite, we were waiting for wind. The weather charts weren’t good reading, it showed a high pressure system stretching from the Azores to Bermuda, stretching the whole 2000 miles, we had had enough of waiting so we decided to leave and motor North East for a few days to catch the easterly flowing Gulf Stream and hopefully some wind, it turned out to be a big mistake!
Twenty four hours later and 120nm NE of Bermuda we were still motoring in a flat calm oily sea with no wind, when all of a sudden the engine, which is always run at 1000 revs started to accelerate to its max revs (2500 – 3000rpm) uncontrollably, we tried to pull the engine stop nothing happened, I jumped down into the engine bay and shut of the fuel taps again to no avail, there was no decompressor so again Coxy and myself were pulling on the engine stop, still it kept revving, the three of were looking down into the engine bay with horror and disbelief as the old reliable Mr Perkins seemed to be committing Hari Kari, the cooling water hoses were squeezed together due to a vacuum created in the system, oil and steam was belching out of every conceivable orifice, and thick black smoke was belching from the exhaust, an option would have been to cover the air intake to starve the engine of oxygen and I almost put my hand over the intake, if I had I’m sure it would have ripped the flesh from my hand, there was nothing we could do, we were waiting for it to either explode, or seize, after an extremely long minute the revs slowly died down and the engine stopped, oil and steam still oozing out into the bilges, when things quietened down the oil level was checked and it was found to way over the max, I had seen similar situations to this whilst working in the garage business, Techs occasionally would over fill the oil sump when carrying out oil changes and the engines would be self fuelling on the excess oil in the sumps seeping up through the piston rings. With the engine out of action we hoisted the sails and started to sail back to Bermuda, with the current wind situation it would take at least 4 days. After draining the sump it was found to be full of diesel, Coxy started to scratch his head and came to the conclusion that it must be seeping in through the fuel lift pump, after stripping it down his diagnosis was found to be correct, Morgan the Magician then appeared from the depths of the bilges with a brand new replacement pump, his wife has always complained that he’s a hoarder, thankfully she was correct. The pump was eventually replaced and after 4 hours of hard grafting by Able Semen Cox we started the engine, it burst into life and sung like a sewing machine, Coxy was congratulated on his stroke of genius, on correctly diagnosing and rectifying the fault, it came as a complete surprise, totally unexpected and totally out of character! He was immediately promoted to Chief Engineer and Head Chef; yours truly is still making the tea and washing the dishes, as one does at home!! I know my place in life!
Joking aside, I must give credit where it’s due, if it wasn’t for Mr Cox being able to diagnose and repair the engine we would have been delayed by at least another week and it also saved Rowland a fortune in repair bills and towing charges, Bermuda Harbour authorities wouldn’t have allowed us to sail, even if we were able to, into the very narrow entrance of St Georges Harbour, we would have had to use the services of the commercial tug. That day alone Coxy more than earned the cost of his air ticket.We altered course and headed back to Azores, whilst the engine was being repaired we had managed to sail 10 miles back to Bermuda, nine hours later we were in the same position as when the engine started to play up, it seems the Gremlins were still playing up. Later that evening about four or five dolphins appeared and started performing around the bow wave, they stayed with us for about 15 mins, and I took this to be a good omen.
Three days later and about 360 miles NE of Bermuda and after using 40% of our fuel, we managed to pick up some SW wind, by this time the 5 day synoptic charts had become unreliable, before I left home I managed to obtain some software for my laptop to access weather reports and charts through the SSB radio, unfortunately the tuition I was given was somewhat lacking (Howard) and I have now given up, perhaps a refresher course is needed. However there is this fantastic guy called Herb Hingleberg who lives in Canada, and every day, 365 days a year, and for the last 20 years has been helping yachties, commercial seamen and even sometimes the navy, who cross the Northern Atlantic by monitoring their progress and giving them free accurate weather information. After six days of trying, I managed to contact Herb and so far he has been a big help he is monitoring our progress and giving us a course for the next 24 hours ensuring that we stay out the High pressure systems where we would become becalmed. Until yesterday he has been extremely successful, we have been in fair SW winds for the last 9 days and have covered almost 1000 miles. The ideal situation is to just sail below the easterly tracking lows, picking their SW winds but above the high pressure system, squeezed between the two pressure systems.It is currently Day 13 (07/07/07) since we left Bermuda, and its 1250 miles to our stern, we are 650 miles from the Azores but have come up against light easterly winds which have really slowed our progress, unfortunately Herb doesn’t always get it right, even he has no control over the weather.
(For the radio buffs/hams, Herb transmits on 12.359 MHz between 2000 GMT / UTC and 21-30, participating yachts log in between 19.30 and 19.50, he then calls each yacht if they have logged in, I normally speak to him between 20-10 and 20-30, (Howard, perhaps you could try and pick us up, I’ll call you from the Azores, Herb’s call sign is “Southbound 2” and ours is “Canzone del Mar”. it would be interesting to see if we can make contact, I also intend using him on our way up to the UK)This is unbelievable; at exactly 7pm on 07/07/07 I managed to observe the “Green Flash”
The “Green Flash” occurs at the very last moment as the sun disappears over the horizon, and conditions must be perfect for it to be observed, I have looked out for it hundreds of times, every night when I’m at sea, and until last night have never seen it, Coxy also saw it so it wasn’t down to my imagination, another good omen perhaps, I think we’ll need it as our ETA at Horta is on Friday 13th!!
For the last 2 days we have been stuck in very light, if any winds, so we have taken a gamble and have been motoring NE for the last 36 hours to reach a latitude of 36 degrees, we were in 33 degrees (180 miles further S) to try and find some wind, by doing so we have very little fuel left, I know we still have our sails but they are of no use without wind, fortunately about 11am to day (8/7/07) we have found some light SW winds of about 6-8kts, and were creeping along at 3-4 kts, but not really enough to fill the heavy Genoa head sail, delving into the back of the locker we managed to find a dirty old sail bag which happened to contain an old badly stained and mildew covered lightweight Drifter / Cruising chute, we hoisted this and our speed immediately increased, over the next couple of hours the wind gradually increased to 15-20 kts giving us a speed of 6-7 kts and in the right direction, the gamble had paid off.6 days and 700 miles later we were still flying the Chute averaging 6kts, since leaving Bermuda we have had ideal conditions, blue skies, flat seas and fair winds, although sometimes not enough, Herb, and someone above has been doing an excellent job in looking after us.
At 23-00 on day 16 (Wed 11th) and only 165 miles from the Azores, our dear old friend the Drifter blew out, an unmentionable person on watch (Rowland, he must have had too much seawater I his tea) didn’t realise it was meant for light winds only, it had been a fantastic find, it had pulled all 15 tons of Canzone 800 miles across the Atlantic allowing us to conserve our fuel in case of emergencies. During the night the winds had picked up to between 25-30 kts, after we’d gathered the remnants of the sail the wind increased to 35kts, but we were screaming along in the right direction with just the Mizzen and furled Genoa, this kept up all night giving our best 24 hours of the trip (147miles). The next day the winds continued to blow in our favour.
At 2am on FRDAY 13th,( historically not a good day for me,) I spotted the lights of Horta, light drizzle began, the first rain in months a the visibility dropped to about 50yds, the next sighting was when we about 2 miles off at 8am, we entered the harbour, cleared immigration, customs and refuelled as we approached our berth some pals we’d first met in Antigua ,and then Bermuda met us on the pontoon with a couple of bottles of wine, that was it, the beginning of the end, we continued until the early hours the next day, it began with just the four of us, by early evening more and more had joined us Canadians, Americans, Dutch and even a lady from Hollybush, near Blackwood who recognised our Welsh accents, we’ve met some really interesting people and I’ve made lots of new friends, we seem to bump into the same people over and over again, they have become real friends, they are likeminded people from all walks of life and we share the same interests, today, trying to help us fix the wind steering gear, we had a German, a Hungarian and an English guy all doing their best to sort out the problem. Not a golfer to be seen or heard!
We will be staying here for about 4 days carrying out a few minor repairs, reprovisioning and recharging our batteries, we hope to leave for Barry on or about Tuesday 17th and it should take about 14 days max, Azores to Barry is approx 1300nm.
For the record
Bermuda to Horta, 2065nm,
St Maarten to Horta via Bermuda, 3240nm
Fastest 24 hours 145nm
Fastest speed 11.3 kts.
Highest recorded wind speed, 35kts
And it took us 17 days and 22 hours.
Let’s hope the next leg will be as comfortable as the last, looking at the current weather charts it is looking doubtful, but hopefully we should be back by the end of the July.
Bye for now.
Adrian
