Colliding with whale

It's been a week since we departed from St.Helena. We have nearly covered a thousand nautical miles, sailing ninety percent of way. A few sail changes here and there, mostly cruising with the gennaker on a run. We had one small inclement weather system passing close by, and had to drop the gennaker in a hurry one morning as the wind shifted and started building and raining. Started a motor, manned the lines and dropped the gennaker. The whole procedure took less than two minutes, and soon we were sailing on the opposite tack with our genoa and the wind at a hundred and forty degrees from behind us, gusting up to twenty four knots. The system blew over a few hours later, and the gennaker could go up again, and dry nicely in the sun and the wind. Excellent sailing conditions and the Maverick 440 a wonderful experience to sail. Smooth, flowing lines, no sharp corners or edges, beautifully designed functional features, and excellent use of space. Very gentle boat to sail and to l
ive on.
And strong, very strong.

Just after lunch today we were still at the table and talking about not catching any fish, and the lack of seabirds or dolphins. I related how I was once on watch many moons ago, and after two weeks of not seeing any life, I was wondering if there is any life out here. The next moment a massive whale surfaced right next to me and blew a huge plume of water in which a rainbow formed due to the angle of the sun. The whale checked me out for a while and moved on. I was moved beyond words. 🌈🐳🌞

Jane mentioned that she would like to see a whale. We were cruising beautifully at seven knots when we struck something about eight hundred and fifty nautical miles from the coast of Brazil. For a moment, we were slowed down radically and altered course about thirty degrees to starboard. Fortunately the sail pulled us straight again and back on course. In a flash my mind eliminated possibilities. Reef? Not out here. Container? Not a busy shipping area and no big storms. Log? Not close to any river mouth. Whale? I ran outside and spotted a pod of whales, about a dozen I would guess. Most of them have gathered around the whale we hit, and I could see a flesh wound on top just behind the whale's dorsal fin. Two whales followed us for a few minutes surfing down the long swell as they often do. We checked the bows, the bilges, the rigging, the rudders inside the engine rooms, all good. With my gopro I took some underwater footage, and the keels, rudders, props and sail drives were
also
all good. We are extremely lucky not to have suffered any damage, and I hope the whale will also be OK. 🐋I have sailed over 270,000nm, and it's the first time I collided with a whale. The Maverick is obviously a strong boat, and we are grateful to be in great shape.

Have a whale of a day

Paul





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She's like a rainbow

We've been sailing for nearly a week now, gennaker mostly, day and night. Adjusting the halyard after every shift to prevent chafe on one spot. Mostly light winds, but the Maverick 440 is relatively light for her size, well balanced, strongly rigged, comfortable and a huge pleasure to sail. Our folding props gives us an even better turn of speed. If you don't know what a folding prop is, it is an incredible piece of engineering that makes the blades fold into each other, and creating no resistance through the water when sailing. A fixed prop keeps on turning, creating resistance and vibration. When you need to motor, the folding props unfold, and you can adjust the pitch to normal or overdrive. Overdrive gives you more power at lower rpms. We could gain up to a knot faster with the folding props, and over 8000nm, it makes a substantial difference.

This morning it was more overcast than the previous days when Don took over watch from me at 6am. An hour later he called us to drop the gennaker. The wind was now building from the south and it was starting to rain. In no time we had the gennaker doused and bagged, and unfurled the genoa with the wind at about 140°. It was the first time we had to douse the gennaker in a hurry, and it went smooth and fast. We maintained good speed for a while, and wind up to twenty four knots. Two hours later the wind backed to an easterly, and we raised the gennaker again. A little bit of action always good for us, and we enjoy keeping our boat happy. Speed is not our first priority, although we do our best to keep going fast. But never at the expense of safety, or flying a sail with too much wind. The hurricane season officially starts June 1st. We are thus trying to maintain a good speed. The sooner we can get to the US, the better.

We are being spoiled by Jane. She mostly prepares lunch for us, and she loves cooking. She has a few very appreciative crew on board,and we are living and eating well. We are using both lpg gas and an induction plate. Another invention that amazes me. Wonderful to have a watermaker on board, and through our solar system, the hot water is always hot.

We changed lures two days ago, but still no luck. Also no birds where we are, and very few flying fish. Normally one gets dorado or wahoo out here, and getting closer to Brazil, our luck might soon change. Often we catch big dorado as we get to the north easterly tip of Brazil.

All is well on SV Jubilee, and one day flows into the next, ever getting closer to land again. The moon is now just a sliver that smiles at me on my early morning watches. Soon it will be new moon, or dark moon as it is also called. It is also when the stars shine at there brightest, sending there pulsating colours and secret codes into the galaxies. What I also find interesting, is that according to scientists, the light we see from a star now is the a reflection of a much earlier event. Travelling at the speed of light, the light only reaches us hundred of thousands of years later. A bit mind boggling.

With the rainy weather action we had earlier, we also had a stunning rainbow. Another natural phenomenon that amazes me endlessly. Whenever I see a rainbow at sea, I always think of my friend Danny in PE. A most colorful character.

I hope you have a great weekend ahead, and also be moved in a way by the wonders of nature all around you.

Peace out

Paul





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Whatever floats your boat

When you meet a boat for the first time, you think of it as an inanimate object. Without character or substance. But once you get to spend some time with her, you realize there is far more to it than just a mere boat. I have never seen an ugly boat. Sometimes odd looking, sometimes impractical, but never ugly. You go through all the systems, check how they all function, and make sure everything is working fine. You normally have a few hands on board to assist or to just sail along. During a short day sail, you get a feel for how the boat reacts under different conditions.

You then prepare for a longer trip, and sailing at night with watch systems in place. It is during your watches that you really get to know the boat. When everyone is sound asleep, and you are alone on watch with the stars and the moon and the dark sea. It is then that you really start bonding with the boat. When you start hearing little noises and squeaks. Important that you listen to these noises, and make sure everything is and stay shipshape. Even when you are not on watch, as captain, you stay attuned to the sound and motion of the boat.

During easy passages the boat mostly stays a boat. Once you have experienced some heavier weather though, you built some trust in the boat, and you realize she is a good boat. You look after her, and she will look after you. Very true on boats. We spend weeks at sea without stopping, and when we stop, it is not long before we long to get back to boat and out on the ocean blue. Dame Ellen McArthur wouldn't leave her boat after winning a non stop around the world race. It took a while for her team to get her to step ashore and face all her fans and the media. That is how one sometimes bond to a boat.

I guess everyone reacts different to boats. For many people it is just a thing that floats. For some of us, it is where we live and eat and sleep. It is our temple, our platform from where we can observe nature as it has been since the seas first formed. Our carriage that takes us across vast stretches of ocean. For me, it remains a miracle, a mystery.

On our boat currently, we've had the gennaker up for a few days and nights on the trot. A bit of rain now and then, but consistently good sailing conditions.

Catch up again tomorrow

Paul



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Nothing but a dreamer

As a young boy, I was fascinated by anything that floats. When it rained, we used to build small boats with ice-cream sticks and float them down the streams that formed. Running barefooted after our stick boats, life was in the moment, without a care in the world. I was five years old when I took a canoe out early one morning where we were camping. It was still dark, and everyone was sound asleep. I wanted to drop my bait a bit deeper than I could cast, and took my fishing rod with me on the canoe. When I was deep enough, I turned sideways and casted my bait even deeper. In the process I capsized the flat bottomed canoe, heavily dressed with jeans and a jersey. After a few attempts I managed to right the canoe and get up again. Thoroughly drenched I made my way back to shore and rekindled our camp fire, shivering in the icy cold morning air. I removed my wet clothing and hanged them on our washing line, wrapped a towel around me and soaked up the heat from the flames. I was h
ooked,
having survived this little ordeal.

At thirteen I experienced a windsurfer for the first time. Big flat One Design boards were then the thing. I was with some friends at a dam, and was thrilled being able to sail. It took me about half an hour to get to the other side with the wind from behind. My whole being was laughing at this incredible experience. It took me about three hours to sail back to our camp, against the wind. Sunburned, thirsty, hungry, muscles aching, but I was in my happy place, and learned a few valuable lessons.

From then on I read every book I could find on boats. Libraries, bookstores, magazines, whatever I could find. From ancient craft right through to the newest racing craft. It was a whole new world to me, and that's how I wanted to see the world, by boat. I thought I would work for forty years, buy a boat and go sailing. Read somewhere that the nearest thing one can build to a dream is a sailing boat.

I grew up far from the ocean. There was always this incredible yearning for the sea. Every ad on tv with some ocean in was inspiring, every program or movie I had to study, not just watch. Reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull made me reach out for more. I dared to dream. In my mind's eye, I found myself floating on the big blue, gently rising up and down with the swell. Maths class was one of my favorite places to dream, sitting and staring out the window at the clouds. Our maths teacher was not passionate about maths, and neither was I.

My life took saw some highways and byways, and in due time I moved to the coast. Life took a few drastic turns, one thing led to another, and before long, I was out at sea. A friend of mine had a rubber duck and we used to go fishing, launching at the local yacht club. We would be on the water before it got light, and motoring past all the sailing vessels in their berths just added fuel to the fire. Soon I enrolled in a sailing academy, and not long after hopped on a sailing boat, Perola do Mar, to Madagascar. This was in 2000 and I was in heaven. I got injured in Mada, and had to go back home for a while. A few years later I decided to pursue sailing as a career, and have since logged over 270,000nm. Living my dream.

And just when I thought life couldn't get better, I married my dream girl. And I try to figure out how dreams work. The Khoi San have a saying that we are dreams from the great Dreamer who dreams us and everything else into existence.

I hope you also dare to dream, and that your dreams also come true. On our side, we have beautiful sailing conditions and making good miles on our dream boat.

Until the morrow

Paul






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Into the Trades

The trade winds have found us ready and waiting, and we are sailing beautifully with the gennaker up. Just enough wind to keep us close to six knots. The trade winds are caused by the earth spinning in an easterly direction. In the southern hemisphere this causes the south easterly trade winds, and in the northern hemisphere, the north easterlies. A fairly constant source of wind, and have been used by sailing ships for hundreds of years. The Chinese were the first to sail to all the corners of the world. In most history books you will read of Portuguese and Spanish explorers, but if you dig a bit deeper, you will find they were not the first. I often wonder about the real history of the world, on all levels.

The world wasn't mapped and charted then, it was really going into the unknown, and the charts that were available, was although extremely valuable, also not that accurate. The charts were so valuable, that in Spain only the king would entrust them to the captain, and handed in a lead laden tube. With strick instructions to sink the charts if they were attacked and conquered by another ship. A dark world of the unknown and superstitions. The ocean floor is scattered with wrecks and cargo from all over.

Nowadays we have the luxury of satellites and GPS, radar and IAS to make life at sea fairly safe. We can download weather from wherever we are and communicate globally. I still use the stars to navigate by, but only for fun. Celestial navigation is an ancient craft, and fascinating to see how every nation named the constellations, and the images the stars shaped in people's minds. In the west, we are more familiar with the Greek mythology and constellations. Life at sea then was also adventurous I'm sure, but much more dangerous. And much harder. Most of the crew were passed out drunkards that were rounded up and "volunteered". The ship owners did not care much for the safety of their vessels or crew. They were insured and that's all that mattered. This was more an English thing. I once stood in Cadiz, Spain, looking at an exact replica of a Spanish galleon. The craftsmanship was immense, and I stood in total awe. I also had a sense of the confidence such vessels instilled in
their
crew.

Life at sea nowadays is a much more civilized way of getting around. We live well, we eat well, and we have lots of time on hand. It is not always easy going, there are times you wish you were somewhere else. But then you face the challenge, the storm blows over, and you are on your merry way again. In distance I have sailed nearly thirteen times around the world, and during this time, I only had two occasions where things were really challenging. Being continuously on the move is way of life, and we do it for long stretches at a time. It's a different world out here, where you are close to the stars and the moon and the sun. And a 360° seaview most of the time. It is peaceful beyond measure, and I hope to share some of that with you, which is why I write to you.

Until next time

Paul









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Signs in the skies

Last night, during my two to six watch, I was wondering about something. On my night watch, the Southern Cross sits on my left hand side. Half moon was nearly above us, dimming the stars somewhat. Whilst watching the Southern Cross, a meteor flashed through the sky and ended straight in the center of the Southern Cross. At the same time a pod of dolphins arrived and kept me company where I was sitting on one of the bow dolphin seats. For me, this was confirmation about what I was thinking. It is the way my life goes. I always get signs to show me the way.

We've had precious little wind for the past few days, but we managed to keep on sailing. The wind angle was between ninety and one hundred and twenty degrees, and we rigged our top down furling Code 0 sail for the first time. Not very big, but it kept us going through the lighter breeze. Sometimes we had current in our favor, and at other times we were straight up against the current, costing us some speed. But we never despair. Knowing that the only constant factor is change, we patiently wait for the current to change in our favor again, and change it does.

This morning the wind starting veering more towards a south easterly direction, and it was time to change sails again. The Code 0 is not so effective with the wind coming in at one hundred and fifty degrees. We furled in the Code 0, and even though it is a top down furling Code 0, we still had to struggle a bit. Once furled we lowered the sail and bagged it before we rigged the gennaker. The gennaker went up beautifully and is giving us a better turn of speed.

As usual, the light winds is our biggest challenge, and the best sail in the world for these light winds is the Oxley Levante sail. I have proven it sailing over 7000nm, averaging 6.4kts and only 60hrs motoring. The best I have done before was 300hrs and averaging 6.2kts over the same distance with a similar yacht. And even this was wow. Using only 60hrs motoring over such a long distance is completely out of the ballpark, way out.

The Oxley Levante sail does spoil one a bit, and one forgets that not all sails are equal. On long crossings, we always take a lot of extra diesel with. On my current trip we didn't take any extra drums of diesel. We have enough diesel to motor for ten days, which will give us about 1500nm. Our next possible fuel stop was over 2000nm away when we departed from St.Helena , and we have no option but to sail whenever we can. And we are doing exactly that, doing our utmost to squeeze some motion out of the light winds. Stronger winds are much easier to sail, we can adjust the size our sails accordingly. We are expecting a bit more wind to come through tonight, and it should stay with us for a few days.

I hope you are having a great day, and wonder if you also sometimes get signs from above.

Until tomorrow

Paul

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St.Helena touch and go

It is always a most wonderful experience to step ashore at St.Helena. After two weeks at sea, watching the remotest island in the world appearing on the horizon, is a rare pleasure. Up to three years ago, the only way to get to St.Helena, was by water. In 2018, a long debated airport was completed at a cost of three hundred and sixty million British pounds. It is not a touristy island with palm trees and white beaches. It has a rich maritime history, and the most famous passenger that stepped ashore; Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, lived his last days here. It is a huge expense to build an airport for an island of 4500 people. There are obviously some advantages to the airport for the people, but I think it is more a strategic stronghold for the British. Falklands has huge oil reserves, and Argentina claims it as theirs for various reasons. The British have to be able to defend their ownership of the Falklands.

We arrived on the 26th, exactly four months to the day I arrived here last. We had to stay aboard and quarantine for two days, had covid swabs done early on the second day, and on the 29th we were allowed ashore. We met Port Control, Customs and Immigration at the Customs House where we cleared in and had our passports stamped.

We booked accommodation for the night at the legendary Consulate Hotel. We had fish cakes and chips at Anne's Place for early lunch, and for dinner we had pork belly strips. It was a quiet night and we retired to our rooms early. Friday we took on fuel, paid our Port and mooring fees, and had our passports stamped out. I climbed Jacob's Ladder to freshen up some graffiti on step no.428. At last I managed to count how many steps up to this particular step where my daughter and myself sat and scratched her name 13 years ago.

Don and Jane had their laundry done, and caught the last ferry back to the boat at 6pm. Thomas and myself stayed for another night at the Consulate. At about 7pm we went down to The Mule at the wharf and ordered two pizzas. We had a drink or two and moved over to Donny's for a drink. From there we made our way up to the Standard and had a final drink there before we went back to the hotel for an early night again.

Saturday morning had a nice shower. On sea we have short showers to safe water, on land it's a luxury to shower for a few minutes. Had a cup of ground coffee, said our goodbyes and popped at Anne's Place to also greet our friends there.

9am we took a ferry to our boat as our plan was to depart at 10am. We hardly arrived when we noticed that the boat closest to us is now much closer, and in a flash realized our shackle on the mooring bouy had come loose and we were adrift. Just in time managed to start our motors and safely worked our way between the mooring bouys and the yachts tied up there. We were extremely fortunate to be there at the exact time and managed to avoid any mishaps. We rigged our bowsprit again, and soon we were flying our gennaker and making good way towards Brazil. The wind was slightly more than predicted and we made good ground. Sunday and Monday light winds predicted, and we are doing our best to keep on sailing and doing OK. We have limited fuel on board, enough to motor for ten days. We thus have no option but to sail whenever we can, even if we are going a bit slower. Running out of fuel is not an option we want to contemplate.

But here we are, back at sea again. Peaceful, quiet, slowly making way towards Brazil.

I hope you are having a good weekend, and will touch base again tomorrow.

Paul





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