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Atlantic crossing – week one<\/strong><\/p>\n Nov 24<\/strong> From Antonio:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n We made good speed during the night with gennaker and a little mainsail. The wind still had a lot of North in it but this morning it did swing enough to the east and voila up went the Parasailor. And I have to say a very sleek manoeuvre by Christian and Connor forward and myself at the winches. 140 squares meters in 25 knots true wind is pretty good. The Parasailor is a hybrid between a spinnaker and a kite, if you are curious about it, go to their website. It is a very cool sail, with an opening in the centre that stabilises the sail and gives a good lift up to the bows. And two mahi mahi in the oven today!! They are not too big and dinner will be a treat! Probably we will cook cabbage and have some fresh tomatoes.<\/p>\n Sailing the trade wind in a cat is a novelty and is pretty good. NO ROLLING! The waves are about 3 meters and the only thing we do is accelerate on them instead of rolling on top of them. That makes life easier Anyhow I still ask every manoeuvre be done with life jackets and the same to go to play on deck. We are doing 7 knots solid, sometimes more in 20 knots up. On the boat we have a relative wind of only 12 knots but if I had to turn the boat, we would be in a half a gale. And the spinnaker does not come down in 2 minutes, so good lookout by the crew constantly. From Connor and Anita, Tosca and Indra:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Already 9 days at sea! So far, it has gone much more quickly then we expected, as there always seems to be something to do, or see.<\/p>\n Tosca and Indra have been baking almost every morning, coming out with brownies, banana bread, lemon cupcakes, lemon cake, banana cake, and cooking has been on full throttle, as we want to eat as much of the fresh vegetables and fruit as we can! A washing line has been hung over the cockpit, and we have feasted twice on beautiful MahiMahi fish. We’ve had 3 flying fish land on deck (all only discovered the following day, so they were horribly dried up), and we have sighted two turtles. We never see turtles in New Zealand, so it was so amazing seeing those beautiful animals up close!<\/p>\n We have heard from “Song Of the Sea<\/em>” that they saw a turtle tangled in netting. That was very sad to learn, when you think of how many other turtles there must be in the ocean affected by human waste. Thankfully the guys decided to stop and untangle it and the turtles we have seen looked healthy, one we think very old as it had barnacles growing over its shell.<\/p>\n Flying fish, manta trawls, and gender balance<\/strong><\/p>\n The sun was shining and Sea Dragon was sailing wing-on-wing. This diamond sail combination makes a beautiful sight against the cool blue sky. At 1pm sharp, it was time for our second manta trawl, which we accomplished smoothly in 1 hour 20 mins. Shanley assures us that this is a great time for our second attempt, and we are all pretty excited at the prospect of breaking some kind of record. We\u2019re hoping to be down to 1 hour by the time we reach Martinique \u2013 let\u2019s see if we\u2019re up for the challenge!<\/p>\n Read more here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n www.panexplore.com\/news\/ships-blog\/<\/a><\/p>\n Tropical nuisances<\/strong><\/p>\n We\u2019re getting closer to the tropics with their warmth but nuisances as well.<\/p>\n First, the flying fish. Usually when the first flies through the air and lands on your deck, most people say cute little fish and throw it back into the water. But then when this happens tens of times and maybe one gets hit while at the helm they become a nuisance. I remember the blog a friend that crossed the pond recently and was amused to see the change in the tone of the posts from amusement to despair regarding the flying fish. And they also stink \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n The second a bit more serious: the tropical squalls. Not sure about the proper wording but they are some sort of mini storms when the wind goes up 50-100% and changes direction by even 50 degrees (which both are a lot and you need to be prepared). The good part is that they are visible in the distance, a dark cloud that goes down into the sea. So we get a lot of rain too. They only last 30-40 minutes and then everything goes back to normal.<\/p>\n Speaking of which\u2026we\u2019re out of wind, crawling at 2-3 kn (when we should do at least 6-7 kn or 12-15 km\/h). I\u2019m not decided if to start the engine or just wait. We need to save the fuel for later if we need it (e.g. in case of a serious breakage in the sailing systems).<\/p>\n We also had\u00a0our share of accidents. Today the boiling coffee pot fell off (my mistake it should have been in the sink) and Alina got a small burn on her right hand. Nothing serious but we all know how annoying burns are\u2026and I have to cook again \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n www.sevenseasadventure.net\/blog\/<\/a><\/p>\n Nuit de crise<\/strong><\/p>\n We got the wind smack in our rear and Firmin is having a hard time steering\u00a0straight. At the change of watch, at midnight, we were hit by a squall with\u00a0 heavy rain in it. Jean-Paul was not wearing his foul weather gear and got\u00a0 drenched. We gybed as quick as we could since the wind had shifted to\u00a0 South. At the end of my shift at 3 in the morning, same thing. Heavy rain and gybing. The wind was back to East hence again wind at the back which\u00a0 implies that we are moving slowly and it is rather uncomfortable. We tried\u00a0 the spinnaker, but another squall showed up and we took it down to avoid\u00a0 taking undue risks.<\/p>\n For the day, we only covered 129 miles and closed on\u00a0 the finish by 119miles. We are possibly losing ground on the others.\u00a0 However, they probably have to face the same conditions.<\/p>\n papyjovial.blogspot.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n Never thought I’d hate low pressures.<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, so every day since I started talking about winds and waves, we’ve been going through these mini storms. We’re not sure whether it’s squalls, low pressures or actual mini storms, but either way they’re super annoying and a little terrifying. In less than a minute the winds go from “I wish we had a bigger sail, we’re totally gonna be the last boat” to “oh my god what is that sound, is this dangerous, roll in the sails WAIT A MINUTE LOOK HOW FAST WE GO”. So then this goes on for around 10 minutes, usually with rain, and then all is back to normal.<\/p>\n We got pretty used to this by now, but this time the “back to normal wind” spiralled around from all directions, throwing the sail back and forth. Are we in the eye of a low pressure? I don’t know, but we’re motoring our way out of it the best we can.<\/p>\n Nothing to worry about though, we’re doing very fine.<\/p>\n Please stop those low pressures though. gazelrebel.blogspot.fr<\/a><\/p>\n After a short technical stop, Mandarina left Mindelo today at 17:00 UTC bound for Martinique.<\/p>\n – entdeckt, haben wir ihn jetzt diesen viel beschr Wind, von dem so viele sagen, Segel hochz u nichts tun bis man am anderen Ende ankommt<\/em><\/p>\n – fehlen dann noch mal zusaetzlich 1,5h Schlaf, schwacher Trost, dass es nachtr rel warm ist. Heute Mittag die ersten Passatwolken am Himmel<\/em><\/p>\n – 120grad aus dem Nichts, halsen, Zunahme von 10 auf 20kn binnen Minuten, was geht da? Natuerlich zu zweit an Deck, mitten in der Nacht, da<\/em><\/p>\n – Die Tour ist an sich schon ambitioniert u schon gar mit 3 kids, kann hier nicht jedes Detail schreiben, so wie gestern Nacht, Winddrehung<\/em><\/p>\n twitter.com\/@OFF45392364<\/a><\/p>\n You can see the position of the boats on the tracking map<\/a>. The weather forecast is here<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sephina <\/p>\n Atlantic crossing – week one<\/p>\n Nov 24 A little too much excitement. At around 0200 with rising winds we decided we needed to drop the parasailor. Wind was a steady 25K gusting to …<\/p>\n
A little too much excitement.<\/strong>
At around 0200 with rising winds we decided we needed to drop the parasailor. Wind was a steady 25K gusting to 30K and the squalls weren’t showing any sign of letting up. Add to that some unpredictable surfing at 12K and the autopilot fighting hard to keep us on course, so Aviad and I prepared to drop it. It was a difficult drop, partly because I neglected to release the lazy sheet so there was a bit of tension on the sail keeping it filled. Jen heard me yelling above the wind to Aviad and came to assist us and we managed to recover it unharmed. The parasailor was flapping around like a cut pig; as Aviad and I finally wrestled it on deck and into it’s bag Jen said the plotter was showing 38K…ouch!
The cooler damp night air has about 30% more power than the daytime air due to the added density. We really feel the difference as Sephina is comfortably cruising at 7-8K in a daytime 20K, but easily adds 2K boat speed in the denser night time 20K winds.
After that we toddled along under jib only at 5-6K for the rest of the night and re raised the parasailor in the morning to have a nice sail all day averaging 6.5K
Tonight we will probably drop the parasailor before the evening winds get too strong and relax again with just the jib overnight. It looks wet and squally ahead and it’s easier on everyone to keep watch as well as sleep if speeds are lower and just the jib to take care of…
Read more here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong>
sephinacat.blogspot.com.es<\/a><\/p>\nOm<\/h2>\n
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We have been running under it for all day. The wind is stable in direction but varies in speed. We keep the spi pretty high in the air to depower it. It is not perfect but safe in the blows.<\/p>\n
But what a ride!
The days go fast,baking in the morning goes furious, I look at the gas bottles in silence….
Thank you Christian, for your ability to fish and clean the fish is top order.
Now is half past five and the sun goes down fast here in 19 degrees North, so we go to prepare the boat for the night soon.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, we almost caught something bigger… a huge shadow was following the lure, but I think it discovered that the pink plastic squid was not in fact, a squid. Thank goodness it didn’t grab onto it, or we would no longer have a fishing line!<\/p>\nSea Dragon<\/h2>\n
Seven Seas Adventure<\/h2>\n
Papy Jovial<\/h2>\n
Kristine<\/h2>\n
www.goodbyeland.blogspot.com<\/a><\/p>\nGazel Rebel<\/h2>\n
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Predator – Rapala ou cueillette<\/strong>
Apr\u00e8s une nouvelle sortie du Rapala – leurre plongeant et color\u00e9 mais n\u00e9anmoins solidement arm\u00e9 – nous avons du nous rabattre sur le don c\u00e9leste nocturne ; je veux parler du poisson volant.
\u00c9videmment c’est moins rentable que la coryphene en cuisine mais c’est gratuit.
Un morceau au citron et l’autre po\u00eal\u00e9 : c’\u00e9tait un grand moment gastronomique.
Probablement une petite journ\u00e9e au compteur aujourd’hui – une bonne densit\u00e9 de grains mais pas tous tr\u00e8s productifs. \u00c7a signifie :
– h\u00e9siter \u00e0 sortir un spi ou un code 0 pour \u00e9viter les pi\u00e8ges
– prendre un ou deux ris pour deux rafales \u00e0 30 noeuds et h\u00e9siter \u00e0 les larguer en attendant le grain suivant.
Autant dire que la nuit on n’h\u00e9site assez peu et qu’on laisse les deux ris du premier grain du soir.
C’est l\u00e0 qu’est le curseur de notre travers\u00e9e !<\/em><\/p>\nNYenergi<\/h2>\n
Arr\u00eat \u00e0 Mindelo La rupture de la drisse de spi nous oblige \u00e0 effectuer un arr\u00eat \u00e0 Mindelo pour effectuer la r\u00e9paration en t\u00eate de m\u00e2t et changer la drisse. Nous serons \u00e0 Mindelo demain matin en d\u00e9but de matin\u00e9e. Arr\u00eat pr\u00e9vu entre 24 et 36 heures<\/em>.<\/p>\nMandarina<\/h2>\n
Apr\u00e8s une courte escale technique, Mandarina a quitt\u00e9 Mindelo aujourd’hui \u00e0 17h TU, en direction de la Martinique.<\/em><\/p>\nHapa Na Sasa<\/h2>\n
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Tweets:<\/strong><\/p>\n