A day or so before we crossed the equator, the South Easterly winds we've
had for days turned more East and settled on East North East. t first we
were flying our gennekar, and at 1am our time when the wind started to
shift the angle of wind become a bit tight to fly the gennekar. She is
good for up to 120 degrees, but at 90 degrees to us, or on the beam as the
nautical term goes, not so effective when the sea is building. Fortunately
my crew is always ready for whatever the situation requires. I woke them,
switched on the deck light, and soon we had the gennekar snuffed and
folded away. We tied sacrificial reeflines to the mainsail on second reef,
and unfurling the genoa or headsail, we were doing quite fine. A fairly
extensive operation which took us about 30 minutes, and at last we were
really sailing again, the two sails creating forwad momentum for us. With
the gennekar the wind pushes us, with the head and mainsail, we are
actually getting sucked in. An effect similar to squeezing a wet bar of
soap between your hands and it pops out. At 6am the wind was shifting SE
again, and down went the sails and up went the gennekar. At about 11am he
wind decided to settle now for ENE and once again we had to bring the
gennekar down again and raise the main sail which is generally good for up
to 20kts of wind. Undo the second reef sacrificial reef lines, tie them on
the first reef and hoisted the mainsail. I was watching a bank of dark
clouds in the distance while we hoisted the main. We face directly into the
wind when we raise the mainsail, and once she was up and I turned the boat
to set the sail, the wind suddenly started rising to 23kts. Turned back
into the wind, dropped the main to second reef, and tied the sacrificial
reef lines down again. Tightened the luff of the sail, went on a
broadreach, unfurled the genoa, tied a sling on, and then aimed the boat
for our next waypoint again, aiming for a point just below St.Lucia on a
beam reach. I a nutshell, we were working harder than usual to keep up our
speed, and stay within an acceptable safety margin.
At 2pm our time, or AM 11:00 UTC, we crossed the equator, and each one of
us had a few little offerings for Neptune. At sunset the night before I
spotted dolphins jumping across our bow and we had an amazing time with
them, as we always do. I did not mention it to the crew, but an old saying
is that when dolphins come to play, trouble is on its way. Anyways, closing
in on the equator, Thibault was keen to be dragged across behind the boat,
and was ready and waiting. I looked at our wind angles and boat speed, and
on a broad reach our speed was slow enough to be dragged across. We thus
sailed on a close reach up to the line, and just before the equator, I gave
Thibault the thumbs after turning to a broad reach, running exactly
parallel to the this fictitious line that seperates the northern from the
the southern hemisphere. His Gopro was set, and once he was in and being
dragged, I slowly eased across the line. With a great woohah, jubilation,
and blowing the foghorn, we announced our arrival in the northern
hemisphere. We have all crossed the equator before, so there was no ritual
for a first crossing, just saying thanks and being happy for once again
having made it thus far.
The sea continued to get bigger and bigger, and ominous looking clouds were
moving in from the east. Soon the wind was peaking at just over 30kts,
easing off to 25kts at times. We furled or genoa in deep, set our sails and
braced ourselves for a tough one as the sun was setting. And it certainly
was fairly rough. Thibault got a good splash or two from waves breaking on
the side of the boat and I also got a little splash on my watch after
Thibault. I had my foul weather gear on as I saw what happened to Thibault
and only got a little wet. Quite warm out here, and T in his T-shirt and
shorts got properly wet. We also had a bird landing on deck and he remained
with us for the remainder of the night, seeking some shelter from the
strong weather. At least a dozen flying fish landed on deck, some of whom
we could safe and threw back in the ocean. Some of them you don't see and
hurl the stiff bodies the next morning. Thibault found one in the saloon
and thought he was dead. Took some papertowel to pick he fish up and toss
him overboard. Great was his surprise and shock when the fish wriggled
still very much alive, and he managed to safe that one. Quite a sigt seeing
the flying fishing being disturbed by the yacht and flyng up into the air.
The strong wind had them hovering quite high and now ways they could get
going on a flight. Just up, hovering, and drop straight down again. In the
gloom of our navlights quite an eerie sight, but magic as well.
So yes, quite a rough night for all of us, being pushed off our course for
a while. We are a day or so away from the Amazon river. We will cross the
mouth between 150 - 200 nm offshore.We were being pushed closer to land,
but also know that once the weather settles a bit we can work our way back
ot again. This morning the skies are blue, the waves not so aggressive, the
wind also more at ease. Which means we can sail at a sharper angle and give
out a little more head sail and make great speed towards St.Lucia again.
We're going to fast to fish, and the boat is a bit difficult to stand and
do poi as we are riding up and down the swell coming at us from right
angles. Not much else to say other than all is well with us. A bit rough
still but we are getting the hang of it.
Wishing you all the best till next time.
Paul
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Monday, February 24, 2014
Fernando de Noronha to Brazil
This morning I took over watch from Thibault at 6am. Boat time is UTC+2,
and during the night we arrived at the coast of Brazil. A light drizzle
was falling, and the morning light was a lightish orange colour as the
sunlight was was filtered by the soft rain. The soft rain was also
blocking the wind a bit, and I started one of our motors to keep our speed
up, assisting the gennekar. Thibault and myself were chatting a bit when I
saw the wind picking up slightly from 7kts to about 12 kts. Often the wind
would be very light, and as soon as you start a motor the wind picks up
again. Strange but true. I was keeping an eye on what was coming from
behind when the wind starting climbing to 15kts, and just in time I saw
the surface of the water in the background flattening out as a stronger
wind was coming through. In a flash I knew what was happening and asked T
to get ready to drop our big powerful gennekar, and to do it quick. During
the gentle periods I've trained the crew to keep the uphaul and downhaul
separate, for an occasion just like this, where there is just no time to
try and figure out which one pulls the sail up and which one pulls the
sail down. In a flash T was ready, the wind rapidly shifted direction and
backfilled the sail, and as he started pulling the sail down the wind
exploded on us at about 50kts which would have ripped our sail to shreds
if she was still up. Boats have also been dismasted like this. From behind
the helm I was releasing the sheet and it slipped from being a bit wet,
giving me a nasty little rope burn across my fingers. I used my foot as
well to gain control of the sheet again and a nice rope burn on my foot
was the result. Once the sheet was free I moved forward quickly to help
Thibault to bring the sail down. Fortunately the adrenalin was pumping and
I did not feel any pain as we had serious work to do. The rain was pelting
down now but the sail was down and we were safe. A few rainbows appeared,
what a way to start the day ! I attended to my rope burns and fortunately
just blisters. From many years of experience I instinctively made sure my
fingers didn't get between the winch and the rope, and also made sure my
feet didn't get tangled in the rope. That would have been seriously bad,
losing some fingers or/and a foot. While we are waiting for the weather to
settle a bit, I have some headsail out and motoring to charge the
batteries as well. Tricky to say the least. The weather seem to stay a bit
strong, and I won't be lured into flying the gennekar. She has now been
flying for 21 days on the trot, day and night. Instead, we have "Stormy"
our loose headsail which we fly in unison with our genoa for the stronger
stuff. Our goal is to sail fast and safe :), and we have all the toys,
thanks to our awesome team in Cape Town. The advantages to sail for the
best delivery team in the world.
We have been doing great speed the last few days, and three days ago we
hooked a marlin. Although our line is 1500kg breaking strain tied to a
bungee cord, the line snapped like cotton. Unlike a sportfisherboat that
uses rods and reels and can turn around quick and pursue the marlin while
giving it some line, we keep on moving forward. No reel and thus no line
to give out and no way we cn turn around at a whim and chase the fish. I
heard the commotion outside and the marlin was jumping out of the water
trying to shake the lure. An unforgettable sight, and the hook will rust off
within a few days, the acids in the fish's mouth combined with saltwater
will make sure of that. Lucky fish !!!
The night before last, Saturday night we sailed past Fernando de Noronha,
about 30nm south of this beautiful island, playground for the wealthy
Brazilians. Made me think of my crazy friends in Brazil. Guga, legendary
sailor and Garret, restaurateur extraordinaire, who together makes a mean
team sailing a racing trimaran and who also won the last race from Fernando
de Noronha to Recife in Brazil. Sailing on the edge of the edge, and if I
remember correctly they wacked it in under 24 hours. Pure racing machine,
no luxuries, no auto pilot, just a tiller. Out in the open with seaspray in
there faces. Guga at the helm, Garret holding the sheet ready to let it go
just before they broach. Broaching is when your boat gets tumbled forwards
into the waves, and no, you don't ever want to do that. Making their
sponsors proud, Lubrax being their main sponsor. Crazy cats on a trimaran,
but good cats. This race is held annually, and is highly competitive. And
then there is Christiano, or Chris, crazy gourmet chef, who prepares his
meals with great gusto and passion, travelling the world plying his trade.
And another friend, Jappa, real name Henrique, investor of note who plays
the stock market.Father Brazilian, mom Japanese, hence the name Jappa ;) Oi
!!!! to all my very good friends in Brazil. One love to your all.
Yesterday at 2pm we passed Atol dos Rocas. We came within 2nm of this
incredibly beautiful atholl, and made radio contact with the marine
biologists who stays on a very small patch of seasand. Google earth this
place and you will see what I mean by a small patch of seasand. I have
sailed pass here on a few occasions before, and I am always a bit nervous
sailing in close proximity to this ring of jutting rocks and shallow water.
A shipwreck tells the tale of the dangers of bad navigation. I radioed them
twice, and after a few minutes a guy replied. I asked if he speaks English,
and no, no English. A few minutes passed when a female voice came over the
radio, and she could speak English. We had a most delightful little chat,
sharing info and pleasantries. They were a team of four, have been on the
atholl for a month, and will be replaced by another team within the next
few days. We also had our very first visit by dolphins since we left Cape
Town. Atholls are formed when a volcano erupts from the ocean floor and
rises to the surface where it cools down, then sink slightly back into the
sea. Corals cover the surface, and inside the crater you have shallower
water where fish breed in great safety. Very interestin how they are formed
and how they support marine life.
Stuart and myself have taken up learning to speak French, and I pulled out
of the hat a French Rocket Language course that I purchased years ago. What
a pleasure to have Thibault here to guide us as well. He now at times
just speaks French to us, for a whole day. A lot of laughs and good banter.
And Stuart and myself also now greet each other in French and make small,
very small conversations. With poi Thibault is a step or two ahead of me in
mastering this ancient performance art. Last night the guys cracked some
glow sticks and you can imagine the swirling patterns they created. I
unfortunately was asleep. They glow for about 8 hours, and we were planning
to crack them early in the evening. While Stuart was attaching them to the
poi ball, he cracked one by accident, and what the heck, cracked both and
started playing. Happy to report that I have suffered no injuries anywhere
from the flying balls on a chain with swivels. We have enough glow sticks
to last a while. It just gives Thibault and me an idea of what you can do
with poi. From my side I am teaching the boyz how to bake bread, make
flapjacks and a few sailing tricks. And so we all learn from each other :) I
showed Stuart what Pleiades looked like through binoculars, and he was in
awe. A cluster of stars close to Orion, one of my favourite little jewels in
the sky. As we were watching we also saw a satellite orbiting our planet,
and a bright shooting star leaving a long trace of smokey fire in its wake.
So much out here if you just look around a bit. And I am sure that is the
same where you are, much more going on than you know. Of course natural
beauty has to compete with television. But you have a choice. Not everything
on tv robs you blind, but most of it is really just a waste of time. Makes
you a sponge just passively absorbing all the indoctrination, and takes away
your own authenticity. Bad news is king on your screen, and you can't wait
to share it with someone who might not have heard. Mental pollution is what
I call it.
Our next stop, a F1 style pitstop is St.Lucia and then a downwind run to
Panama, giving the A,B,C and other smaller islands, Venezuela and Colombia a
wide berth. Outside we had a hard time getting Stormy up, balancing it with
a bit of genoa, as the wind remains fairly strong. The swell is also picking
up and we are surfing down some of them. And sometimes we surf down sideways
and the boat runs away with us, backfilling one of the two headsails. And
when it fills again it is quite a strong action. To prevent this as much as
possible we have tied a few lengths of mooring lines together with a big
monkey fist knot right at the end which we drag behind the boat. It slows us
down just a little bit, but we are running on a much straighter line. We are
fortunately in the area where the South Equatorial Current and the Guiana
Current comes together giving us excellent speed. The wind is still between
20 and 40 kts, which is why we rigged our twin sail configuration, two wings
out front. The genoa we can furl in and out as conditions dictate. A brown
booby bird is also following our boat and hunting the flying fish that we
disturb when we sail past. Our exact position at PM 01:00 UTC was
02*42'S/036*09'W and we are following the 2000mt contour line where te
current runs strongest.
Wishing you all that is good till we meet again.
Paul
and during the night we arrived at the coast of Brazil. A light drizzle
was falling, and the morning light was a lightish orange colour as the
sunlight was was filtered by the soft rain. The soft rain was also
blocking the wind a bit, and I started one of our motors to keep our speed
up, assisting the gennekar. Thibault and myself were chatting a bit when I
saw the wind picking up slightly from 7kts to about 12 kts. Often the wind
would be very light, and as soon as you start a motor the wind picks up
again. Strange but true. I was keeping an eye on what was coming from
behind when the wind starting climbing to 15kts, and just in time I saw
the surface of the water in the background flattening out as a stronger
wind was coming through. In a flash I knew what was happening and asked T
to get ready to drop our big powerful gennekar, and to do it quick. During
the gentle periods I've trained the crew to keep the uphaul and downhaul
separate, for an occasion just like this, where there is just no time to
try and figure out which one pulls the sail up and which one pulls the
sail down. In a flash T was ready, the wind rapidly shifted direction and
backfilled the sail, and as he started pulling the sail down the wind
exploded on us at about 50kts which would have ripped our sail to shreds
if she was still up. Boats have also been dismasted like this. From behind
the helm I was releasing the sheet and it slipped from being a bit wet,
giving me a nasty little rope burn across my fingers. I used my foot as
well to gain control of the sheet again and a nice rope burn on my foot
was the result. Once the sheet was free I moved forward quickly to help
Thibault to bring the sail down. Fortunately the adrenalin was pumping and
I did not feel any pain as we had serious work to do. The rain was pelting
down now but the sail was down and we were safe. A few rainbows appeared,
what a way to start the day ! I attended to my rope burns and fortunately
just blisters. From many years of experience I instinctively made sure my
fingers didn't get between the winch and the rope, and also made sure my
feet didn't get tangled in the rope. That would have been seriously bad,
losing some fingers or/and a foot. While we are waiting for the weather to
settle a bit, I have some headsail out and motoring to charge the
batteries as well. Tricky to say the least. The weather seem to stay a bit
strong, and I won't be lured into flying the gennekar. She has now been
flying for 21 days on the trot, day and night. Instead, we have "Stormy"
our loose headsail which we fly in unison with our genoa for the stronger
stuff. Our goal is to sail fast and safe :), and we have all the toys,
thanks to our awesome team in Cape Town. The advantages to sail for the
best delivery team in the world.
We have been doing great speed the last few days, and three days ago we
hooked a marlin. Although our line is 1500kg breaking strain tied to a
bungee cord, the line snapped like cotton. Unlike a sportfisherboat that
uses rods and reels and can turn around quick and pursue the marlin while
giving it some line, we keep on moving forward. No reel and thus no line
to give out and no way we cn turn around at a whim and chase the fish. I
heard the commotion outside and the marlin was jumping out of the water
trying to shake the lure. An unforgettable sight, and the hook will rust off
within a few days, the acids in the fish's mouth combined with saltwater
will make sure of that. Lucky fish !!!
The night before last, Saturday night we sailed past Fernando de Noronha,
about 30nm south of this beautiful island, playground for the wealthy
Brazilians. Made me think of my crazy friends in Brazil. Guga, legendary
sailor and Garret, restaurateur extraordinaire, who together makes a mean
team sailing a racing trimaran and who also won the last race from Fernando
de Noronha to Recife in Brazil. Sailing on the edge of the edge, and if I
remember correctly they wacked it in under 24 hours. Pure racing machine,
no luxuries, no auto pilot, just a tiller. Out in the open with seaspray in
there faces. Guga at the helm, Garret holding the sheet ready to let it go
just before they broach. Broaching is when your boat gets tumbled forwards
into the waves, and no, you don't ever want to do that. Making their
sponsors proud, Lubrax being their main sponsor. Crazy cats on a trimaran,
but good cats. This race is held annually, and is highly competitive. And
then there is Christiano, or Chris, crazy gourmet chef, who prepares his
meals with great gusto and passion, travelling the world plying his trade.
And another friend, Jappa, real name Henrique, investor of note who plays
the stock market.Father Brazilian, mom Japanese, hence the name Jappa ;) Oi
!!!! to all my very good friends in Brazil. One love to your all.
Yesterday at 2pm we passed Atol dos Rocas. We came within 2nm of this
incredibly beautiful atholl, and made radio contact with the marine
biologists who stays on a very small patch of seasand. Google earth this
place and you will see what I mean by a small patch of seasand. I have
sailed pass here on a few occasions before, and I am always a bit nervous
sailing in close proximity to this ring of jutting rocks and shallow water.
A shipwreck tells the tale of the dangers of bad navigation. I radioed them
twice, and after a few minutes a guy replied. I asked if he speaks English,
and no, no English. A few minutes passed when a female voice came over the
radio, and she could speak English. We had a most delightful little chat,
sharing info and pleasantries. They were a team of four, have been on the
atholl for a month, and will be replaced by another team within the next
few days. We also had our very first visit by dolphins since we left Cape
Town. Atholls are formed when a volcano erupts from the ocean floor and
rises to the surface where it cools down, then sink slightly back into the
sea. Corals cover the surface, and inside the crater you have shallower
water where fish breed in great safety. Very interestin how they are formed
and how they support marine life.
Stuart and myself have taken up learning to speak French, and I pulled out
of the hat a French Rocket Language course that I purchased years ago. What
a pleasure to have Thibault here to guide us as well. He now at times
just speaks French to us, for a whole day. A lot of laughs and good banter.
And Stuart and myself also now greet each other in French and make small,
very small conversations. With poi Thibault is a step or two ahead of me in
mastering this ancient performance art. Last night the guys cracked some
glow sticks and you can imagine the swirling patterns they created. I
unfortunately was asleep. They glow for about 8 hours, and we were planning
to crack them early in the evening. While Stuart was attaching them to the
poi ball, he cracked one by accident, and what the heck, cracked both and
started playing. Happy to report that I have suffered no injuries anywhere
from the flying balls on a chain with swivels. We have enough glow sticks
to last a while. It just gives Thibault and me an idea of what you can do
with poi. From my side I am teaching the boyz how to bake bread, make
flapjacks and a few sailing tricks. And so we all learn from each other :) I
showed Stuart what Pleiades looked like through binoculars, and he was in
awe. A cluster of stars close to Orion, one of my favourite little jewels in
the sky. As we were watching we also saw a satellite orbiting our planet,
and a bright shooting star leaving a long trace of smokey fire in its wake.
So much out here if you just look around a bit. And I am sure that is the
same where you are, much more going on than you know. Of course natural
beauty has to compete with television. But you have a choice. Not everything
on tv robs you blind, but most of it is really just a waste of time. Makes
you a sponge just passively absorbing all the indoctrination, and takes away
your own authenticity. Bad news is king on your screen, and you can't wait
to share it with someone who might not have heard. Mental pollution is what
I call it.
Our next stop, a F1 style pitstop is St.Lucia and then a downwind run to
Panama, giving the A,B,C and other smaller islands, Venezuela and Colombia a
wide berth. Outside we had a hard time getting Stormy up, balancing it with
a bit of genoa, as the wind remains fairly strong. The swell is also picking
up and we are surfing down some of them. And sometimes we surf down sideways
and the boat runs away with us, backfilling one of the two headsails. And
when it fills again it is quite a strong action. To prevent this as much as
possible we have tied a few lengths of mooring lines together with a big
monkey fist knot right at the end which we drag behind the boat. It slows us
down just a little bit, but we are running on a much straighter line. We are
fortunately in the area where the South Equatorial Current and the Guiana
Current comes together giving us excellent speed. The wind is still between
20 and 40 kts, which is why we rigged our twin sail configuration, two wings
out front. The genoa we can furl in and out as conditions dictate. A brown
booby bird is also following our boat and hunting the flying fish that we
disturb when we sail past. Our exact position at PM 01:00 UTC was
02*42'S/036*09'W and we are following the 2000mt contour line where te
current runs strongest.
Wishing you all that is good till we meet again.
Paul
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Happiness is ........
Perhaps you are wondering what it is like to be out at sea for days, for
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
Happiness is ........
Perhaps you are wondering what it is like to be out at sea for days, for
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
Happiness is ........
Perhaps you are wondering what it is like to be out at sea for days, for
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
Happiness is ........
Perhaps you are wondering what it is like to be out at sea for days, for
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
weeks, for months even, without seeing land. The longest stretch I've had
was 56 days. On other occasions I have sailed from Gibraltar to Sicily in
four days, and the next time it took us three weeks, beating relentlessly
against the beasterly easterlies. Sailing within 10 nautical miles of the
North African coast, tack(changing direction +- 90 degrees), sail 50 miles
away from the coast and then tack back again. On an average run one can
expect to make 150nm towards your destination in a day, on that occasion
we were gaining 40nm a day. How does one provision for such occasions ?
How do you make sure you have enough water ? In general we carry 700 ltrs
of water in our watertanks and then another 300ltrs in smaller drums.
Obviously we use water very sparingly. When we cook pasta or rice we use
1/3rd seawater and 2/3rds fresh water. The salt content is then perfect,
and you save a substantial amount of water like that. There's not much
dust and dirt out here so we don't shower every day. No need to. And when
it rains, we have means of catching the water and filling whatever we can
with fresh rainwater, and shower to our heart's content. Very often it
looks as if it will rain for a while, you grab your shampoo and shower
gel, get all soaped up, and the rain stops. This happens ore often than
not. We also use seawater to wash ourselves with and then rinse the
seawater with a bit of freshwater. And when we shower with fresh water we
do what is called a navy shower. Quickly wet yourself and turn the water
off. Then lather yourself before having a quick rinse. No long showers
ever for us out on the ocean. Some boats have desalinators or watermakers,
using seawater to make freshwater. It filters out most minerals as well
and some watermakers actualy replace some of these minerals. I rate any
yacht club or marina firstly by there showers :)
Next on our survival list comes food. ETA stands for estimated time of
arrival, and you try and estimate how long it should take you, and how
long it could take you. How many crew you have on board, and how much each
one normally eats. I am not a big eater, but some of the thinnest dudes
I've had the pleasure of sailing with also had some of the biggest
appetites I have seen. And a stretch that can take anything from four days
to three weeks makes it rather difficult to estimate. So we always go for
the latter. And should we not use all the food, we give it away once we
arrive at our destination. Fresh produce don't last all that long. For
fresh greens we sometimes sprout all types of seeds and beans. At times we
are fortunate to catch fish, but the sea is not full of fish, contrary to
the popular saying. Fish we can also dry out here, no flies etc to spoil
it. We normally process the freshly caught fish and freeze some in Jiffy
bags. To cook our food we use gas, and once again it is tricky to estimate
how much gas to take with. We conserve gas by adding the exact amount of
water in the kettle to make a cup of coffee or tea for example. When you
run out of gas you may have a microwave on board which you can then also
use.
Which brings us to the next question. How much diesel do you carry. Once
again on average we carry 700ltrs in our tanks, and then whatever extra
you want to take in smaller drums. If you run out of diesel you are also
in big trouble. All our instruments run of batteries, and to charge the
batteries we use diesel. If you no longer have battery power, you have no
way of communicating, whether by satelite phone or VHF, which is a very
high frequency radio transmitter and receiver. No GPS either. For this
very reason we always carry our own handheld GPS and extra batteries, and
paper charts. And should the GPS system for whatever reason be turned off,
we also have ways and means of estimation our position using the sun,
moon, planets and stars. "Man, the navigator" is a fascinating book that
explores the way ancient mariners, especially the Polynesians, navigated
their way across vast expanses of ocean.
And then there are also storms and ships and potential underwater hazards
you have to take into consideration. And then crew dynamics. Living in
close quarters for extended periods of time can be taxing on anyone. You
may now wonder why on earth anyone would want to do something like this.
And on top of it some people get seasick as well from the motion of the
ocean. I guess I wonder why some people become dentists, or prostitutes,
or accountants, or lawyers, or prison wardens, or miners, or soldiers and
so I can go on and on. I guess it takes all sorts of people to make the
world go round, figuratively speaking. I really do not judge any of the
above professions. I am a jack of many trades, and master of some. I am
fortunate to have a passion for what I do, for being out here on the ocean
wide. Even at school I use to sit and stare out of the window at the
clouds, especially in the maths class :) Biology fascinated me on the
other side. With maths I did enough to pass, I excelled in the natural
sciences. A song by Supertramp comes to mind, or rather some of the lyrics
in the song. Dreamer........nothing but a dreamer. And then The Logical
Song by the same band.
Staring at the clouds there are some wisps of cirrus clouds forming,
telling me that there are stronger winds coming soon. Late yesterday
afternoon the wind at times would get to up to 20kts, and the sea was a
bit lumpy, swell coming from this side and that side. I was wondering if I
should drop the gennekar, and as usual, when a thought like that comes to
mind, I react immediately. It has been my saving grace on many occasions.
Even though we have some time to make up, throwing all caution to the wind
has never been my strong suite. We dropped the gennekar and sailed with
two headsails out front throughout the night. Lost a bit of pure speed,
but also conserved our gennekar as she does not like being thrown around
by a bouncy sea. This morning the sea was more settled and decided to
raise the gennekar again. And we are flying. My weather guru predicted
stronger winds for Friday, and the signs are visible. Not stormy weather,
just stronger :) In the interim, we are doing exceedingly well out here.
Fair winds and following seas. Just the way we like it. In the next few
days we will reach the Brazilian coast. And running up the coast at the
2000 mt contour line we always get excellent current, which will assist us
tremendously in our quest to go as fast and as safe as possible.
Had a good laugh at Thibault this morning. He warmed up some left-over
pasta for us, and as he turned away for a moment or two I added a few
drops of Tabasco to his pasta, and mine as well. He then added some pasta
spice and went outside to enjoy his little meal. Soon he came in and
looked at the ingredients of the pasta spice with a frown on his face. I
asked him what the matter was and he explained that there was a slight
burning taste in his pasta which was not there yesterday, slightly
perplexed :) The smile on my face must have been a dead give away, and I
informed him that I added a few drops of Tabasco, by accident, to his
pasta. He sighed relieved knowing now where this little burning sensation
came from. Even the bit of Tabasco could not take away the very happy
smile on his face caused by receiving mail from the love of his life on a
little hill just outside Lyon, France. Merci beaucoup Helen ! Stuart is
outside tending to his dreadlocks and I am now ready to sign off and take
over watch. Lovely conditions for helming. If you don't know what that
means, it means I turn off the autopilot and steer the boat myself for a
while. Nice swells running from a slight angle, good steady winds from the
same angle. Perfect conditions to play a bit, surf a bit, and keep our
catamaran purring with delight.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Paul
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
To be or not to be
Shakespeare coined the term to be or not to be. I would like to complicate
it a bit. To be AND not to be. At first I think it is complicated, and
after giving it some thought, I now think it is much less complicated than
William's original phrase. We have come a long long way in the last 400
years or however many years ago the Bard scribbled these words with quill
and ink. The Dark Ages are long gone, yet the Light is only now starting
to dawn upon us. Let me try an extreme example. You are either dead or
alive. Really ??? Do you really think your body is "dead" once you stop
breathing and your heart stops beating ? Not true at all. Your body now
starts decomposing, bacteria and maggots and all types of weird and
wonderful creatures and processes takes over. Life feeding on life and
soon your body will be part of the soil again. Ashes to ashes, dust to
dust. And so the circle of life continues. And part of your body becomes
part of something else again. When my belated wife passed away in '99 I
was devastated. In a desperate attempt to keep some part of her alive I
asked the doctor if any of her organs can be transplanted. Cause of death
eventually was kidney failure and all her organs were affected the doctor
informed me. Her body was cremated. I left some ashes here and there,
special places we've been together on land. The rest of her ashes I carried
with me for two years. And wherever I sailed all around the world, there
would be quiet moments for me when I felt her presence and would sprinkle
some of her ashes. I never told any of my crew on these trips what I was
doing, it was a purely private affair, something I did because it felt
right. There is no sadness left anymore. I got married again about two
years later, and the love of my life, my daughter Maryna, was born. So yes,
life and death, and the circle of life. I know the score. One and the same
thing. To be AND not to be. That is purely the physical aspect of things.
On the physical level, there is simply a transformation of matter, of
energy. Your breath becomes part of the breeze again, and your body gets
absorbed back into the next cycle of life. We often use the expression that
we throw things away. Like your refuse. You throw it away. I have taught my
daughter that there is no place like that. There is no away. Somewhere,
whatever you have thrown "away", there it still is. If it is organic it
will transform, if it is not it will pollute. Plastic bags takes how many
years to break down ? A thousand or more ? I don't know. Google it. I am
simply trying to say that death is not the end, it is actually the
beginning. Of life. A leaf that falls off a tree does not die, it simply
transforms to feed life again. Old sailors never die, they just rust away
:)
Ok, so you may think I am slightly cooked. Been in the sun too long. Been
without wind in the sails too long. Been sailing the oceans for too long.
You may be right, and you may be wrong. To be and not to be :) Let me check
our logbook quick to see how long we have been without wind. 13 days, with
an average 7kts of light breezes. Makes me think of a song by JJ Cale, who
passed on recently at 74 if I remember correctly. Song's name " They call
me the breeze ". If you like a bit of blues, and like original artists,
youtube this song. Real laid back. We, on the other side, are not so laid
back. We have been running our motors for as many days, flying our gennekar
for as many days. And by days I mean nights as well. Every now and then we
get a spell of 12 or 13 kts, switch off the motor and sail a while. Hoping
that this is the day we start clawing our way back to our required average
to make our deadline in San Francisco. But alas, soon the breeze dies down
again. We are smack bang where the tradewinds should be blowing a
consistent 15 to 20 kts. Which would cause a bit of swell to build, which
would cause us to gain some momentum. Fortunately we have enough diesel to
keep on motoring and stay in contention to catch up again.
We tried the mainsail and genoa when the wind turns from ESE to ENE placing
us on a broad reach hoping to generate some wind and speed but to no avail.
We were hoping we could move our apparent wind angle closer to our beam. We
were doing a knot or so slower. Our sail area on the main and genoa is about
115 m2, the gennekar is about 130 m2, and on a broadreach the wind pushes
you. We did that little exercise on Sunday. Jokingly we rest six days a week
and on the 7th day we work :) In reality we work 24/7, always ready to trim
the sail, or tweek it a bit to use another term, to make the most of slight
changes in wind angle. We even move the boom across and in line with the
wind angle on the gennekar. Between the tack lines I also tie a bungee cord.
It serves two purposes. In light winds, which is what we are dealing with,
the sail now and then backfills, and when it fills again there is a bit of a
jerky movement. The bungee absorbs this shock quite effectively and
preserving our sail. Then it also creates a pumping action as the sail fills
with a bit of wind, and gives us just a little extra speed. Yes, we are
trying everything to go fast, and to go safe, and to preserve our sails and
our boat and stretch every liter of diesel to the max. . Most difficult to do
in such light airs. And it does make a difference when you adjust your sail,
even just a little until you hit the sweet spot. Currents we also take into
consideration, and by changing our angles to optimize. All it takes is all we
got, all the time. We hope it is enough. Should the light breeze come off the
beam, we will also try our mainsail and gennekar together. At the moment the
wind is building very nicely, and we remain positive.
On the boat all is fine. One day flow into the next. Our fishing lure has not
lured any fish yet, too calm really. Progress with poi is slow but steady. We
are less than 1000nm from the Brazilian coast. Our current position is
09*35'S/21*12'W at 1pm UTC. To be crazy and not to be crazy, fine line :)
Over and out till next time.
it a bit. To be AND not to be. At first I think it is complicated, and
after giving it some thought, I now think it is much less complicated than
William's original phrase. We have come a long long way in the last 400
years or however many years ago the Bard scribbled these words with quill
and ink. The Dark Ages are long gone, yet the Light is only now starting
to dawn upon us. Let me try an extreme example. You are either dead or
alive. Really ??? Do you really think your body is "dead" once you stop
breathing and your heart stops beating ? Not true at all. Your body now
starts decomposing, bacteria and maggots and all types of weird and
wonderful creatures and processes takes over. Life feeding on life and
soon your body will be part of the soil again. Ashes to ashes, dust to
dust. And so the circle of life continues. And part of your body becomes
part of something else again. When my belated wife passed away in '99 I
was devastated. In a desperate attempt to keep some part of her alive I
asked the doctor if any of her organs can be transplanted. Cause of death
eventually was kidney failure and all her organs were affected the doctor
informed me. Her body was cremated. I left some ashes here and there,
special places we've been together on land. The rest of her ashes I carried
with me for two years. And wherever I sailed all around the world, there
would be quiet moments for me when I felt her presence and would sprinkle
some of her ashes. I never told any of my crew on these trips what I was
doing, it was a purely private affair, something I did because it felt
right. There is no sadness left anymore. I got married again about two
years later, and the love of my life, my daughter Maryna, was born. So yes,
life and death, and the circle of life. I know the score. One and the same
thing. To be AND not to be. That is purely the physical aspect of things.
On the physical level, there is simply a transformation of matter, of
energy. Your breath becomes part of the breeze again, and your body gets
absorbed back into the next cycle of life. We often use the expression that
we throw things away. Like your refuse. You throw it away. I have taught my
daughter that there is no place like that. There is no away. Somewhere,
whatever you have thrown "away", there it still is. If it is organic it
will transform, if it is not it will pollute. Plastic bags takes how many
years to break down ? A thousand or more ? I don't know. Google it. I am
simply trying to say that death is not the end, it is actually the
beginning. Of life. A leaf that falls off a tree does not die, it simply
transforms to feed life again. Old sailors never die, they just rust away
:)
Ok, so you may think I am slightly cooked. Been in the sun too long. Been
without wind in the sails too long. Been sailing the oceans for too long.
You may be right, and you may be wrong. To be and not to be :) Let me check
our logbook quick to see how long we have been without wind. 13 days, with
an average 7kts of light breezes. Makes me think of a song by JJ Cale, who
passed on recently at 74 if I remember correctly. Song's name " They call
me the breeze ". If you like a bit of blues, and like original artists,
youtube this song. Real laid back. We, on the other side, are not so laid
back. We have been running our motors for as many days, flying our gennekar
for as many days. And by days I mean nights as well. Every now and then we
get a spell of 12 or 13 kts, switch off the motor and sail a while. Hoping
that this is the day we start clawing our way back to our required average
to make our deadline in San Francisco. But alas, soon the breeze dies down
again. We are smack bang where the tradewinds should be blowing a
consistent 15 to 20 kts. Which would cause a bit of swell to build, which
would cause us to gain some momentum. Fortunately we have enough diesel to
keep on motoring and stay in contention to catch up again.
We tried the mainsail and genoa when the wind turns from ESE to ENE placing
us on a broad reach hoping to generate some wind and speed but to no avail.
We were hoping we could move our apparent wind angle closer to our beam. We
were doing a knot or so slower. Our sail area on the main and genoa is about
115 m2, the gennekar is about 130 m2, and on a broadreach the wind pushes
you. We did that little exercise on Sunday. Jokingly we rest six days a week
and on the 7th day we work :) In reality we work 24/7, always ready to trim
the sail, or tweek it a bit to use another term, to make the most of slight
changes in wind angle. We even move the boom across and in line with the
wind angle on the gennekar. Between the tack lines I also tie a bungee cord.
It serves two purposes. In light winds, which is what we are dealing with,
the sail now and then backfills, and when it fills again there is a bit of a
jerky movement. The bungee absorbs this shock quite effectively and
preserving our sail. Then it also creates a pumping action as the sail fills
with a bit of wind, and gives us just a little extra speed. Yes, we are
trying everything to go fast, and to go safe, and to preserve our sails and
our boat and stretch every liter of diesel to the max. . Most difficult to do
in such light airs. And it does make a difference when you adjust your sail,
even just a little until you hit the sweet spot. Currents we also take into
consideration, and by changing our angles to optimize. All it takes is all we
got, all the time. We hope it is enough. Should the light breeze come off the
beam, we will also try our mainsail and gennekar together. At the moment the
wind is building very nicely, and we remain positive.
On the boat all is fine. One day flow into the next. Our fishing lure has not
lured any fish yet, too calm really. Progress with poi is slow but steady. We
are less than 1000nm from the Brazilian coast. Our current position is
09*35'S/21*12'W at 1pm UTC. To be crazy and not to be crazy, fine line :)
Over and out till next time.
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