Category: Sailing

POS: 7 42S 132 12.7W

Things break on boats. It doesn’t matter if we are talking dinghies or super yachts, things regularly break on them all. The only difference is the cost to replace or fix them.

We have a lot of ropes and wires supporting and controlling things and inevitably from time to time they wear out. In a post a few days back we mentioned a guardwire snapped. Its made of stainless steel and subjected to cyclic loading every time the boat flexes. One second its tight, the next its just that tiny bit slacker, and stainless steel corrodes. Eventually it had had enough and parted where the flexible wire went into a solid fitting. Not a big issue but a breakage all the same.

We join ropes onto sails and other fittings in a number of different ways. Sometimes we tie them, sometimes they are spliced and sometimes we use shackles. Shackles come in many forms. Standard metal ones that need tools to tighten them and undo them, fancy metal ones with spring plungers allowing them to be fastened and released by hand and Dyneema soft shackles. Metal shackles are heavy and can damage things when they fly around on the loose corners of sails. Dyneema is an amazing material. Weight for weight its something like 9 times stronger than steel. Its like a very light strong rope (which is also very UV resistant). We attach almost all our sheets and guys to the sails with Dyneema shackles. They require no tools, are very light and super strong. They are readily available in chandleries but also easy to make so we make our own.

However like anything, eventually they wear out and snap. We swap them around from one use to another because each different task has different wear points and different loads, and although we do daily inspections of anything and everything that might wear, there are some things that are difficult to inspect under sail. We also double them up in high load, high wear areas (such as genoa sheets), so if one fails the other takes up the role.

Overnight we lost one of the spinnaker guys. The soft shackle wore through where it was attached to the clew of the Parasailor. No drama, the sail flew comfortably without it, just not quite so stable, we carry spares, so at first light we replaced it (safer and easier to do in the light and with both of us on deck). We needed to gybe anyway so we combined the two tasks.

So apart from fixing the water generator (a 5 minute job), that was pretty much the excitement for the last two days. The winds have varied, we have had a little rain, plenty of sun and we are closing in on the Marquesas, albeit frustratingly slowly at times. We hear from friends behind that they have had consistent winds all the way, whereas friends in front and ourselves have had to pick our way around the holes. That’s sailing.

We continue to eat well, we now have cup cakes again, fresh bread and we celebrated the 500 miles to go mark (slightly prematurely as it was going to occur in the small hours) last night.

The nights are starting off very dark now, as the moon is not rising until several hours after sunset, but its still very big and almost full, so we have nights of two parts: After sunset, a pitch black start, where the stars are super bright, but the horizon and approaching waves are not visible, it can be slightly spooky hearing approaching waves but not being able to see them, followed by an amazing moon rise as the yellow circle gradually appears out of the darkness brightening over the next half hour or so to give a dim light making everything around visible. This remains until the eastern sky starts showing a golden glow as the sun nears the horizon, and daylight begins. We do see nature at its best.

All is good on board.

POS: 7 48S 125 44.5W

The sun is out, the breeze is back and we are heading in roughly the right direction. After yesterday’s moonlight gybe we have been sailing in beautiful trade wind conditions, that increased slightly overnight and decreased as the sun came out. Due to the huge deviation in course our daily run of 137 nm doesn’t really do justice to the speed we travelled since that’s the straight line distance and actually we sailed the other two sides of the triangle – probably more like 155 nm in total.

We enjoyed a delicious pressure cooked Beef Bourguignonne last night followed by home made coconut ice cream and passion fruit sorbet.

Our trusty water generator sheered another shaft coupling in the middle of the night, an unfortunate trait it seems to have at regular intervals so that’s currently out of action, but I think we have a replacement or two so it should be back online later today.

We are beginning to see more birds around – small flocks now rather than just intrepid individuals and the flying fish remain entertaining and in many cases suicidal overnight.

With just the Parasailor up for the last few days, noise levels on board have dropped significantly. Snatch blocks rattle occasionally and guy lines tap on the deck but we don’t suffer the continuous creaks and groans of the kicker, reef lines and genoa cars. Which means sleep should be easier and generally is, however not for me last night.

For some reason I never settled and although Lesley did a very long watch somehow I didn’t make the most of it. Our Parasailor is huge and small changes in wind strength give rise to huge changes in boat speed. I could feel the boat’s motion change all the time as I stirred. The gentle quiet rocking in the lulls and calm seas, followed in the gusts by first the slight surge as the transom was picked up by a following wave (its quite surprising how fast the waves build as gusts come through), then the increasing roar as the boat accelerated down the face of the wave only to be slowed again when the bottom of the trough was reached. Then a pause as the boat waited for the next wave to catch up and the cycle to be repeated.

The noise level of the water flowing past the hull is very different at 5 or 6kts in flat seas compared to 10 or 11 kts scooting down aerated waves. You can often judge the boat speed from in the cabin just from the noise of the water – your head is quite close to the hull from the saloon bunk that we use on passage.

We now have 793 nm to go and the routing software suggests winds will drop a little again for a while so our arrival date may slip to Thursday. Not an issue – we will arrive whenever we do!

All is good onboard.

POS: 7 29S 122 38.8W

There is something frustrating about sailing on a course that takes you nowhere near your destination. Even more frustrating is doing so slowly! That has been the theme for the day. The weather is constantly changing and over the sort of distances we are sailing it would be very unusual to find that a straight line from start to destination would be the fastest route. Wind strength, wind direction, ocean currents and other factors all come into the equation when determining what is the best route to follow. However we are lucky compared to sailors of even a generation ago. They relied on looking at the skies and plotting the change in air pressure etc. trying to figure out what was going to happen and the best route to follow.

We are fortunate enough to have satellite communications and weather routing software. So on a regular basis (at least once a day and often more frequently) we tell the software our current position and where we are wanting to go, press a few buttons and a little while later we get a load of data back suggesting our optimum route. The software knows how fast we travel in different directions based on the wind strength so looks at the predicted wind and determines the route accordingly. However its all based around predictions of what the weather is going to do over the period of our trip. Our software uses four different weather models so we get four different routes normally! Different models are more or less accurate in different parts of the world so we have to take decisions based on which we think is going to be the most accurate (often a good starting point is to ask ‘which of the models is suggesting that at the current time the forecast conditions match what we actually have?). On the rare occasion that the models agree on a route that’s great because there is a fair chance that they will be accurate, if not its a question of judgement and experience (or rolling a dice if you are more sceptical).

Yesterday all the models vaguely agreed we needed to get north to avoid a big wind hole. How far and on what course was different on each but the theme was the same and the wind was progressively getting lighter.

So we gybed the Parasailor and started heading north west. It was slow. It was forecast to be slow but we managed to keep moving without the use of the engine. Normally light winds mean flattish seas and yesterday was no exception. Washing was done, salt was cleaned off stainless, work was attended to and rest was achieved – we even managed some board games without the pieces sliding around. But the chart plotter showed us heading nowhere near our destination – Hawaii was probably on the cards!

We had expected to pass the 1000 mile to go mark early evening but that didn’t happen. But slowly and surely as the day progressed and we go further north the wind increased from a light zephyr to a steady breeze and the boat picked up a little speed. Nothing ground breaking but a more positive pace, albeit towards Hawaii.

The daily run was just 131 nm, however if you straightened out the track it would have been more like 140 nm we actually sailed.

We did celebrate the 1000 mile to go a little prematurely since it was going to pass in the middle of the night and we counted down the time until we could gybe back and head towards the Marquesas again.

That time came an hour or so before sunrise and we performed a textbook gybe in the light of the moon and the deck lights. So now we are heading in the right direction. The wind is still quite light but is forecast to increase as the day progresses. The sun is out, the seas are pretty calm and the boat is doing its stuff nicely. The routing software suggests we have several days like this to come. Distance to go 978 nm. Happy Easter everyone!

All is well on board.

POS: 8 21S 119 44.9W

A quiet day today with light winds over the quarter. At first light the Parasailor went up and that has given us a lovely stable platform.

Out track today shows us heading in many different directions as we try to keep the boat moving, but also try to get a little north into the better breeze. The 24 hr run shows 151 nm, well down on previous days but could be worse and might still be tomorrow unless we find the wind to the north.

Chocolate cakes have run out but we did have a lovely chicken satay for dinner and a packet of chip cookies did fall out of the cupboard into my hand this afternoon.

1145 nm to go so if we find the breeze, we might be into three figures tomorrow night – I sense another small celebration coming!

All is good on board.

POS: 8 33S 118 18.9W

A relatively quiet 24 hours here in mid ocean. The seas continue to suprise us, even more so as the wind drops. It can be quite flat for an hour then out of nowhere it becomes a bit lumpy for a while, then goes back to being flat again. In general its far more comfortable than it has been so getting some good rest has been easier.

We have seen no boats or wildlife except the occasional bird and many flying fish for days now.

The wind is very broad now and has dropped so speed has dropped off too. The 24 hour run was 171 nm which will probably be about the average for the rest of the trip – it may even drop off below that looking at the forecast, however we do have our Parasailor out of the bag now which should help.

All is well onboard.

POS: 7 50.3S 115 03.1W

The nearest land is a long way away. In fact yesterday we were further from land than we are ever likely to be in our lives again – some 1500 nm. But now we are getting closer again since we have passed the half way mark.

Celebrations were a little muted since we have both been pretty exhausted, but we did share a beer and toast the achievement over dinner last night. It was a very late dinner because Leslay had been sleeping in the afternoon and I left her to sleep well past our normal dinner time, rather allowing her to wake naturally (or more likely to some bang or crash or unusual lurch as is the norm in our small world). Twenty minutes after dinner I was fast asleep and slept solidly until woken for my shift at 2 am.

We can’t complain though, as we have had some pretty decent weather for a few days now, no rain to speak of, warm trade winds coming from further behind every day and deep blue seas with water so clear that you can almost see through the tops of the breaking waves, which are getting fewer and further between. The boat’s motion changes from minute to minute. The waves and swell are now mainly coming from the port quarter and much of the time there is now just a gentle long swell (always difficult to judge its height but our routing software suggests it should be between 2 and 2.5 metres at the moment which is probably about right) with about 10 seconds from peak to peak, overlayed with much shorter steeper smaller waves. As the underlying swell passes underneath the boat its picked up and lowered gently and rolls according to the slope of the water. At times though the combination of the swell and superimposed waves gives rise to a more vicious roll – inevitably when you are pouring tea, or getting something out of the oven, or walking across the cabin, or climbing out of bed. Its a randomly moving world, but luckily we have lots of handholds. Its pretty dry onboard now too – very different from when the wind is coming from in front. Generally the waves pass underneath the boat, but every now and again the combination of swell and wave will result in water slapping the side of the hull, spewing upwards and the resulting spray being caught in the breeze and driven across the deck or into the cockpit. Its not a problem just slightly irritating especially if its 5 minutes since you came out of the shower! Luckily its not a frequent occurrence now.

With dropping, backing winds our daily distances covered are back down a bit, but still reasonable at 183nm and 188nm. Nights are brighter – it will be a full moon on Friday, the daily count of flying fish is reducing and the boat is holding together rather well. I think that’s about it for now.

All is good on board.

POS: 6 56.3S 109 54.7W

After a relatively relaxed night with waves decreasing we were treated to a spectacular display from a large pod of dolphins just cruising on past, leaping at time metres from the front of the breaking waves and crashing gently into the back of the ones in front. The nightly delivery of dead (well dead by the morning) flying fish and squid continued with a mix of about 10 around the boat.

The lures went out mid morning (plastic ones), and shortly after lunch a Mahi was spinning line of the reel. Unfortunately a bit of clumsy handling timed perfectly with a big lurch over a wave, released him back to the ocean, but no such luck for his bigger sister a few hours later who is now filleted, partly eaten and the remaining 10 portions in the freezer! Lesley is a happy girl…

With a freezer now full of fish, the rods are away for a while since unless we think it will be eaten we don’t tend to haul them in just for the sake of it.

The rest of the day was spent doing some washing, cleaning salt off the boat and getting some rest which is getting easier since the boat is more stable and its easier to sleep. Boats ahead are reporting very rolly conditions so its important to catch up on sleep while we can.

Despite the wind easing, the daily run was still good, noon to noon was 205nm and 18:00 to 18:00 a little less at 203nm (maybe something to with stopping the boat twice in the afternoon to land fish!)

Wind increased for the evening a little but not enough to make the sea uncomfortable. The moon is getting bigger and setting later so coupled with much clearer skies the nights are much brighter.

This is being written a little later than normal and we have now been at sea for 7 days. We expect to be halfway on Monday night or more likely Tuesday morning, so we probably have another 10 or 11 days to go. The wind dropped further overnight so one of the reefs has come out of the mainsail and we have a full genoa. If it continues to drop we will be back to full sail later today. One of the spinnakers might have to come out to play soon, so even more reason to get some good rest now.

All is well on board.

POS: 6 27.9S 106 94.7W

How long is a day? Obvious really – 24 hours. But only obvious because we learnt it at school and we have accurate time pieces that keep track of time to within thousandths of a second a year.

Anyone who has taken a long haul flight from East to West or West to East will have experienced the shift in time between where they boarded and where they landed. Get on a plane in London in the morning, get off in New York 7 hours later and its still morning, although your body clock tells you otherwise. Has time reall stood still? No of course not its just different time zones, ensuring that day and night in different parts of ye world all occur during the hours of light and darkness.

Travelling just a little South of West, we see this effect every day. For every degree we sail west, the sun rises and sets 4 minutes later every day! To compensate for this we can change our clocks to effectively move ourselves into a different time zone whenever we want.

But what about the ancient mariners who relied on the sun for defining their time and for navigation?

Local ‘noon’ or the point at which the sun is at its highest is frequently used as a time for navigating with a sextant, and many things on a ship are based around sunrise and sunset, all of which as we have said above differ by 4 minutes a day for every degree we travel East or West. Sunrise and sunset are also effected by latitude and time of year which must have made it very difficult for those ancient mariners to have a consistent ‘day’.

One thing is for certain, I would have wanted to be sailing East not West, because based on the above the days would always have been shorter so less time between meals!

Our last day has been quite pleasant. We are in the South East trades now and our speed has been quite reasonable – we covered 189 nm during the timed 24 hours (and due to the fact I am writing this a little later and we have had a cracking last 12 hours overnight covering 105 nm we now have less than 2000 nm to go, and we are over a third of the way).

We had a deck full of flying fish and squid this morning so I got the ‘cruisers guide to fishing’ out and looked up how best to utilise the squid as bait!

I had already dropped in one normal lure and unfortunately with a quick scream of the reel, something large took the lure, the stainless trace etc. and snapped the line mid length – very strange indeed, but maybe it had been snagged on something which gave me an idea – ;ets have a ‘Squid Off’. Plastic versus real (well used to be real but now rather dead). So on one rod the carefully prepared dead squid was trailed and on the other a plastic squid lure. It was a bit uneven since the plastic lure was about 4 times the size of the real one, but that ink and other goo to attract the predators so each had their own USP.

First blood (well bite) went to the plastic lure within less than 30 minutes but the hook wasn’t taken. Then the sun came out brightly, which in my limited experience means a sinking lure is a better bet than a surface one and both these were surface lures. There was no more action until just after lunch when the reel with the real (dead) squid started screaming and we landed a small female Mahi. It was certainly big enough for several meals but having caught several Mahi before and realising just how young this one must be we returned it to live another day. By dinner time Lesley was somewhat regretting the decision since its a while since she has has fresh caught Mahi, but on balance it was probably the right thing to do.

So which was better? Inconclusive, but the plastic ones are far easier and less mucky and less smelly to prepare!

We saw no boats and no wildlife today but we did see some shooting stars in the partly clear sky. Other than that not much has changed. Apart from a few rolls of genoa in and out to match the changes of average wind strength the sail plan has remained constant. The regular checks around the boat have revealed nothing more sinister than a broken lower guardwire across the gate to the bathing platform (trivial, not used at sea and easily fixed with a short length of dyneema) so things are holding up pretty well.

All is well onboard.

POS: 5 54.3S 101 39.7W

Last night got a bit busy, so two days in one here.

Day 3 was looking like we would have a reasonable run, right up to the point the sun came up, the clouds rolled in, the rain came down and the wind went did a runner! After a great night we were wallowing and the radar was showing showers all around us. The engine went on and we picked our way as best we could between them. Lesley was happy though, since with an upright boat the washing machine could go on! Less than an hour later a light breeze filled in and we were sailing again albeit at a rather slower pace. We l;eft the clouds behind, hung up the washing and had a relatively peaceful day. Our 18:00 24 hr run was about 169nm. A lovely steak dinner followed, washed down by a glass of Chateau Neuf du Pape (I wish… We actually don’t drink alcohol on passage except for the occasional milestone celebration, so a glass of chilled tap water actually accompanied the steak). However Lesley had baked cakes so I was allowed one or two of those (allowed one and sneaked two…).

And then our small world changed. As darkness fell we could see a band of cloud ahead across the entire horizon and the radar started showing bright orange patches all over the screen – rain, like the morning, however unlike the morning this rain was accompanied by wind, and lots of that too. The entire night was spent driving through and between rain showers in gusty variable winds that reached mid 30s knots, whipping up the sea into an uncomfortable steep sharp chop. On watch was wet and off watch was noisy and uncomfortable. We drove the boat higher in the lulls and lower in the gusts through the total blackness on a zig zag beam reach to try to get through the band of rain and just as the horizon started to appear at first light a couple of stars appeared just above the horizon – the first signs that we were close to the other side.

As the morning progressed the sky cleared and a patchy sunshine replaced the total grey mass and the wind became steadier.

And then a small triangle appeared on the chart plotter about 8 miles away. Initially just for a second then it disappeared, then it came back slightly closer. Small triangles indicate other boats that are being picked up by our AIS – some electronic gadgetry that allows people to see us and us to see other people. Each boat has a unique number and the numbers are issued by the country of registry. All british vessels start with 235 so I could see this was another british boat, heading roughly the same direction as us. We called them on the VHF radio and got an instant reply, and had a brief chat about routing weather and the general unpleasantness of the previous night! Apparently two of their friends are a little way ahead too, so we might see them over the next few days too. Whilst there is something very nice about the peace and solitude of ocean sailing, its also quite reassuring to discover there are other vessels around.

It took almost the entire day for the sea state to die down to something more comfortable, but finally now (at 21:52 local time), the winds are steady and the sea not too lumpy – just the normal waves and swell you would expect so far from land. The good part of the day is that despite a very wiggly course as we steered through the changing breeze, we were travelling a little faster, so we covered a straight line distance of 185nm in the 24 hrs to 18:00.

Hoping for a little more rest tonight we have kept a rather small sail plan until the morning so don’t expect to cover a huge distance overnight, but at least the current is now showing marginally in our favour.

Our tally of squid and flying fish found on the deck keeps increasing, but due to the bouncy seas the lure didn’t go in the water today so it was curry for dinner (and a few more cup cakes).

All is good onboard.

POS: 4 06.6S 97 02.3W

Not a great deal worth writing about has happened over the last day. We have kept the wind, so haven’t needed to burn any diesel and we have seen no wildlife except a few small birds – it always seems amazes me to see birds this far from land.

There seems to be a bit of a fight between the currents – we are not yet south enough to be consistently in the west going current and the direction can change frequently. On balance its been pretty neutral, maybe slightly in our favour over the last day. Distance travelled has been 169 nm so pretty consistent but that will improve hopefully over the next few days.

One of the fishing lures went out this morning and the reel screamed a few hours later as we hooked a nice Mahi. Unfortunately I let the line go slack as I left the rod to slow the boat down after a few minutes fight and it threw the lure. Shame as Lesley fancied Mahi, but we did land a smallish black fin tuna a few hours later – enough for several meals.

The boat is behaving well, a morning inspection found no issues except a small squid on the foredeck. It seems a little warmer – maybe since the wind has backed a little and the skies have been mainly clear with a small scattering of cloud.

All is good on board.