Sea Dragon
Finally after days of rain, storm and strong winds, we made our first trawl. The trawl was an ‘all hands on deck’ task. We put out the trawl in calm seas, travelling at 2 – 3 knots of boat speed. All the path was recorded in detail with Marine Debris Tracker as were the conditions, like wind, speed, and direction.
Everyone watched the trawl with curiosity as is it sliced through the water, resembling an animal gobbling plankton on the surface. The ocean looked pristine and deep blue, but the trawl told a different story…
Upon removal, we found plastic in the net, clear pieces of film, and fragments – the trawl captures plastic fragments that are 333 micrometers and larger – along with fish larvae and fish eggs, two baby squids, and lots of tiny crustaceans. Our onboard aquatic toxicologist, Diana, examined the marine life and smallest bits of plastics under the microscope. The total of plastic fragments we found from this first trawl was 38. We will repeat the trawls every day we sail.
Read more here
The Larrikin
Well we have had to postpone our fishing for last few days as unable to keep lure in the water as we surf down the swell at up to 14 +kts. We have managed though to have quite a few flying fish land on deck overnight, not sure what they were thinking!
The weather has been kind, wind from ENE 20 kts, swell 2.2m from NE and no shower/ storms. We are all well and enjoying the ride, boat still in one piece (no breakages).
Hope the rest of fleet now enjoying this ‘trade wind experience’ and all well with them.
Seven Seas Adventure
We finally got a break from the heavy winds and big waves. Winds settled in the 15-20kn range (25-35 km/h) and waves down to 2-3m. Also, we’re sailing on a more comfortable downwind course (i.e having the wind from behind). Peaceful sailing, the kind I’ve been dreaming since we decided to cross the Atlantic.
Yesterday we started fishing and we brought a fish as close as 2 m from the boat when it snapped and broke free from the hook.
Today we had another one who managed to escape but at least it was further from the boat so we didn’t feel so frustrated. But then luck was on our side and we had a 2 kg dorado (mahi mahi) for lunch. As we thought we could fish for tomorrow too, I asked Huw to pick a lure and we cast the line just to catch another dorados lightly bigger. 2-2 fish versus us, we declared a draw and stopped fishing.
For those who don’t know the Seven Seas Adventure team: it’s just me (Liviu), Alina, our son Paul, who today celebrated being 4 years and 6 months and Huw (a friend who offered to help us with this crossing). It would have been too tiring for just the two of us to sail so long with Paul. When you have a kid of his age on a boat, you are 2.5 persons eating but just 1.5 sailing, as you need to give him a lot of attention.
www.sevenseasadventure.net/blog/
Papy Jovial
There was more to the story of the whale than what I told you. When Jean-Paul spotted it shortly before 9 a.m. it was on our starboard side on a collision course with us. Jean-Paul stayed ready to take the helm to avoid hitting it . Then it disappeared below our bow and reappeared on the port side swimming alongside us. Jean-Paul felt that they were staring at each other. Then it rolled over to show us one of the fins that they have on each side as if to say “hello !” and then swam away south. For Jean-Paul it was a very emotional moment and he was quite excited about it . The same day around 5 p.m. we had a group of hundreds of dolphins coming to us to play with the boat. Quite a sight !
papyjovial.blogspot.co.uk
Cocojet III
Pascal Guiraudou has spoken to skipper Nicolas Hauzy on his mobile this morning, and he is fine. He did not break his ankle, just badly cut the flesh. He was operated on the cruise ship and is now in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente in Cape Verde. The accident happened when he was working in the engine room, when one of his trouser legs got entangled in the engine shaft. He won’t be able to sail for at least 2 weeks, but they are not giving up their sailing plans. Cocojet III arrived on Monday afternoon at Marina Mindelo in the Cape Verdes.
Pascal Guiraudou a parlé au skipper Nicolas Hauzy au téléphone, et il allait bien. Sa blessure était sévère mais sa cheville n’est pas fracturée. Il a été opéré sur le paquebot de croisière Saga Pearl II, et est maintenant à Mindelo, sur l’île de São Vicente au Cap Vert. L’accident est survenu alors qu’il travaillait dans la cale moteur et que le bas de son pantalon s’est pris dans l’axe moteur en rotation. Il ne sera pas capable de naviguer avant au moins 2 semaines, mais les projets de navigation ne semblent pas remis en cause. Cocojet III est arrivé à Mindelo cet après-midi et est amarré à la marina Mindelo.
Mandarina
Mandarina has also arrived in Mindelo, having made a detour to the Cape Verdes to fix a problem with one of their solar panels as well as to refuel. They will leave on Tuesday bound for Martinique.
Mandarina est arrivé ce matin à Mindelo. Ils se sont déroutés sur le Cap Vert pour réparer un problème sur les panneaux solaires et refaire le plein, ils repartent demain midi vers la Martinique.
Kristine
Time flies.
“Sleep tight, brother.”
“It’s not like I have a choice.”
It’s hard to believe that we already spent a week at sea. And maybe even harder to imagine the coming weeks. Today I told my brother about how much I wanted a shower, steady ground and to actually be able to go to bed when you’re tired. “Imagine how that feeling will develop adding three more weeks.” Oh, boy.
Yesterday night the winds came back, but this time from behind, which is much more enjoyable. I shortened the sails on my own (girls can also sail!) and now I’m sitting here again, watching out for boats in this haystack. We’re back onto rolling again, but Jimmy Cornell promised all will be fine as soon as we get south. He better be right…
There isn’t really much else to report. Within my line of sight there’s usually just a bunch of water, two old sports and navigation systems steadily leading us west. In other words – I’m glad to have my books.
www.goodbyeland.blogspot.com
Serenity
We had an interesting development yesterday. We have found the trades with 15-17 NE winds. We had our genoa poled out and the main sail up and we were moving nicely at 6+ knots.
Everything was hunky dorey except for this darn cross swell. We rode up on a N swell, a big one, and the jib collapsed and as we rode back up the jib filled and BANG, the jib clew ring pulled out. We were able to safely get the sail down and secured even in the rough seas. We are cutter rigged so we are currently sailing with main and stay sail and averaging 5 knots.
We are OK but we may not arrive in Martinique until January. Thought you might want to know.
Alytes
Passatwind
Endlich ist es also geschafft. Wir scheinen einen stabilen Passat erreicht zu haben. Die Wettervorhersage sieht für die nächsten Tage Wind aus dem nordöstlichen Sektor voraus (Insh Allah). Alles zwischen 12 und 20 Knoten. Also angenehmstes Segeln.
So ist der erste Tag mit aufräumen, waschen und Normalität belegt. Wir kommen alle zur Ruhe und können endlich Arbeiten an und unter Deck verrichten, die im hohen Seegang der vergangenen Tage nicht möglich waren.
Mehr lesen: http://www.alytes.de/
Gazel Rebel
Les Walkyries ou Brassés comme des yaourts
Comme le dit souvent le skipper la voile est un sport étrange où on fonce parfois dans le noir… J’ajoute qu’avec un pilote retraité d’Air Glacière c’était une nuit wagnérienne . Chaque nuage nous apportait sa cohorte d’interrogations :
Refusera ou adonnera? Pluie ou pas ? Mollira ou forcira? Obama ou Clinton? OM ou PSG?
Les gloires du matin redonnent aux agnostiques confiance en la providence. Bien que Pascal de Cornellsailing.com pense que l’océan à été vidé de ses poissons nous retentons la pêche
Alternance de calmes et de 25 noeuds spi envoyé affalé nous continuons
Restez à l’écoute (et au bras tant qu’à faire – humour de marin)
Triton
Da muss man doch nur…
Ein bisschen an Afrika entlang zu den Kapverdischen Inseln runterrutschen, nach rechts abbiegen und schwupps – ist man in Martinique.
Aber bekanntlich haben die Goetter vor den Genuss ja zunaechst den Schweiss gestellt.
Das, was da unten auf der Wetterkarte so nach einer leicht zu vertragenden Front aussieht, brachte uns dann auch ein paar kleine Schwierigkeiten auf dem Weg zum Genuss…
…
Aber das alles ist ja nun Vergangenheit.
Momentan segeln wir im allerfeinsten Passat. Die Sonne strahlt. Der Parasailor zieht uns mit 6 Knoten gen Westen – Mauretanien und Cap Blanc liegen hinter uns, die Kapverden ein wenig links und vor uns Martinique ! (und noch ein bisschen Wasser dazwischen) Segeln vom Feinsten…
Wir haben mittlerweile (Heute ist bereits Tag 8 nach Abfahrt) den Suedkurs verlassen und, wie auch Bernhard und Angelika auf der VIDA, direkten Kurs Martinique abgesetzt. 262 Grad am Kompass.
Und dazwischen lagen abgerissene Fische an den Angeln : 2 Marline, 1 grosser Kingfish, ein 1,5m-Ding, was wir nicht identifizieren konnten, weil es nach diversen Spruengen in 150m Entfernung dann auch wieder frei war. Vier (!) verlorene Koeder. Aber auch eine gefangene schoene Gold-Dorade sowie ein kleiner Amberjack, die uns gebraten sehr gut schmeckten…
Hapa Na Sasa
Tweets:
20kn Wind von schraeg hinten, die Kids berichten von zeitw ueber 9kn ueber Grund, so rauschen wir dahin. Jetzt noch schnell Brot backen LG C
You can see the position of the boats on the tracking map. The weather forecast is here
