July 14th

Happy Bastille Day!!

Embraer 175

My third flight today, the Portland, Oregon to DFW leg, was on an Alaskan Airlines Embraer 175 regional jet. It had great legroom; Drew & Lucas would fit very well in this plane.

Art vs. Science?

As I was flying from Toulouse, France to Frankfurt, Germany today, I noticed a distinct difference in how the countryside is laid out in France vs. Germany. The French farm fields seem to be laid out like a jigsaw puzzle and the German fields much more rectilinear.

Solo (reprise)

I covered the more technical aspects of solo sailing relating to sleep schedules a few days ago. However, when reflecting back on the "scariest" moments I had during my crossing, there were a few incidents where I fell sound asleep for a couple hours. These incidents felt at the time that I had blacked out - not just fallen asleep but completely lost about two hours of consciousness in its entirety. This was in spite of having alarms set to go off between every 15-30 minutes so I could 1) assure sail trim was proper and 2)  verify no boats or ships (or land) was in close proximity. Normally, in my 15-30 minute sleep cycles I would only be 90% asleep and many times awoke before the alarm went off.  That said, when I awoke I wasn't fully conscious either; typically just acting robot-like to check the sails, do a horizon scan, check the AIS display and nod back off. At times I had intended to add into this task list to connect my iPhone to the sat phone and poll to see if Sal had sent a text message (about another 30 seconds) as we tried to talk occasionally after she got home from work but this was the middle of the night for me due to my time zone.  This "extra effort" was well beyond my mental capacity much of the time, I think partly because I knew in advance that it would be successful less than 1 time in 10 as Sal has a busy and variable schedule. I suppose if I had deemed it "critical to the mission" I could have had better success. Typically this would have entailed another 30 seconds of activity with the last 10 seconds just waiting for the system to poll. That 10 seconds is super tough as there is nothing to do but to try to remain conscious. I certainly get a failing grade on that count. 

So back to the "black out" episodes...

Reflecting back on my transit from the BVI's to Florida (through the Turks & Caicos and Bahamas) I also had a similar blackout event. When this first happened I viewed it as an aberration and chastised myself for a moment of weakness. Every night when I started this sleep-cycle process around 11:30pm I would have a "fully conscious" discussion with myself (not out loud) on the discipline required for the night as my nighttime self had a separate voice to rationalize shortcutting steps, i.e. "I'll just check the sails this time, the AIS will alert if we're on a collision course and who would be way the "F" out here on this course in a boat without AIS (and not maintaining a watch)" 

So overall it was a pretty rational voice which takes a lot of discipline to counteract. (I had varying levels of success in dealing with my unruly, disrespectful, and disagreeable semi-conscious self)

On my crossing I had two instances where this battle between my conscious and semi-conscious self was temporarily silenced in its entirety. I awoke each time afterwards with a start; realizing each time that the boat had been underway without a captain. These moments of realization were truly scary for me. At all other times I felt mostly "in tune" with the boat and felt that I was mostly aware of a significant wind change or change in the boat's motion.   In reality I don't think the "blackout moments" were 100% true because I was super-paranoid about running the boat aground when near land so I was always extra-vigilant on a tack that could put us aground if I fell asleep for a few hours. Ditto if I anticipated a weather change. So somehow the brain has a self-preservation circuit that can't be switched off entirely even though my conscious self felt completely disconnected from it. 

I haven't read accounts of other single-handlers in modern times, just people like Slocum, Moitessier, and Knox-Johnston; but all of those were in a different age, although Sir Robin  (Knox-Johnston) participated in last year's Route de Rhumb, a solo transatlantic race at the age of 72?

I suspect many current solo sailers don't publicize their methods due to potential litigation issues if an accident were to occur. But maybe I just haven't looked closely enough. 

So this process, and my objective technical success, since I met my goal without any real mishaps while underway, I find internally quite rewarding even if an outside observer saw me as just a lucky firefly in a shooting gallery :-)

The U.S. of A.

It's been an eye-opening experience as I've gone from country to country how different the US is from most other countries. As we are flying towards Portland, there was an announcement on filling out the US immigration/customs form. Do NOT do an upstroke on the "1" and do not cross the "7". In Europe, a one tends to be written like an inverted "V". The opposite does not happen, when entering Europe (or other countries I've visited) they do not tell you how to write your characters with conformity. Overall, we seem much more restrictive, as I learned when trying to bring my boat into the US. We seem to hold a very unusual place in the world today. I'm curious if those that have traveled more extensively than I feel the same.

German security

I had to go through airport security again in Frankfurt. These Germans don't mess around. My crazy backpack that looks like a black blob under the x-ray wasn't going to get through like in France. They pulled everything out one by one for examination. In the meantime they called over two policemen with rifles and bulletproof vests to oversee the operation and to quiz me on specifics of some of the items. They also ran a swab test and told me I had some type of chemical residue that caused concern. In the end I passed muster and they gave me my 4 trays of stuff for me to repackage.
I'm now planning my next adventure. I'm thinking about doing the opposite trip of what I just finished: high latitude (arctic) instead of tropical, high speed (near the speed of sound) instead of 8 knots, and with several hundred people instead of just a few (or one). Here's my planned route:

Moitessier quote

There are two terrible things for a man: not to have fulfilled his dream, and to have fulfilled it.

Bernard Moitessier, The Long Way

I guess that means I need to find a new one to chase...

Credit card

FYI: as a reminder to myself, the next time I travel to Europe, I need to remember to get a credit card that uses a PIN instead of requiring a signature. After finally locating a gas station yesterday, it had no attendant and would only take a credit card that uses a PIN (apparently). I even tried my VISA debit card but it wouldn't take that either. Lesson learned (if I remember it).




-Greg

Homeward bound

I was woken up by my alarm at 5:30am from a really deep sleep. I had gone to sleep around midnight; this was my longest uninterrupted sleep in a month. Man that felt great! What a luxury. Best sleep ever!
I rifled through my luggage for awhile and jettisoned all non-essentials as I had researched the cost of overweight baggage ($250each). Since I had weighed by bags the prior day I knew I had to shed weight in one bag and I was still carrying a 5th bag that I knew I needed to lose since checking a 3rd bag would be $300 and I already knew my 2nd checked bag was going to cost $100. I continued to put anything small and heavy in my backpack which was already pregnant and overdue:-)
Next I had to shuttle my baggage downstairs as it was impossible to carry everything at once without breaking into an immediate sweat. Fortunately no one lugged a bag off while I was getting the remainder.
I almost left the hotel without formally checking out as I sometimes do in the US, but fortunately I took the time to stop at the front desk. Apparently that's the custom as they needed my credit card to complete the checkout process.
I got lost driving to the airport as the map I was following for the area near the airport was from prior to the airport reconstruction. I could see the control tower but couldn't find the rental car return. I even found the offsite lot where they process the rental cars but it was not for returns. Try as I might, I could not find a sign that said "rental car return" just a whole lotta signs in some foreign language. Someone was not thinking of me when they designed this place. Eventually I drove by a parking ramp and recognized the logo of the rental car company, EuropCar. Voilà! Merci beaucoup!!
I checked in my little Fiat and relieved it of its heavy burden. Fortunately there was a trolley cart nearby so I could exercise my balancing act once again.
I eventually found the correct terminal for Lufthansa and a super-helpful gate agent. We weighed my bags. 23Kg for one (the limit) and 23.5 for the other. She said it was good. Wow! I had been prepared to go through another quick weight-loss process right there on the airport floor so fortunately I was spared that exercise. Then she did a double take on my first flight and said there was insufficient room for a second carry-on. She would have to take one of my carry-ons and check it. No charge!
Things are looking up as this bag definitely wouldn't fit in any carry-on sizing gadget so I was going to have to hope along the way that no one gave me a hard time about it. Of course, my backpack won't fit in one of those either but I've never had gate personnel stop me for a backpack before.
So that just left me and my backpack to go through security. Of course there are lots of people in this serpentine line where icons show to put certain types of items the ubiquitous plastic trays. Of course almost everything in my backpack qualifies for removal. I took out my two laptops, a camera and a few other items to put up a good show of effort but the security lady that was placing the items into the scanner just frowned disapprovingly mumbled something in French then because she didn't know what else to do, out my bag through. I walked through and watched the agent review the X-ray of my bag. It was just a big blob of black. But off to the side (in a side pocket actually) was something dark and identifiable. The CO2 cartridge for my life vest. She circled it and sent my bag down an alternate conveyor for "bad bags". It did the roll of shame to the French TSA-equivalent agent where she informed me that that was "prohibited! You understand?" I put up a small argument in my defense that it was for a life jacket, it was properly marked, and that I had flown to France with it previously. Apparently my argument was falling on deaf ears as she didn't speak English. She repeated her "prohibited!" declaration so I signed her form and moved on.
On to my gate with two hours to spare.



-Greg

Solo

Well now that I've successfully made it ashore I'll spill the beans a bit on why I was closed-mouthed about single-handing the crossing. As with most litigious Americans, or should I say litigation-fearing Americans?, I was fearful that in my sleep-deprived state I would hit another small craft in the night. Obviously if I hit one of the many cargo ships or tankers, they would be none the wiser. But a small craft, say something less than 100 feet long without a steel hull, I could have caused some serious damage - and the result could have been especially dire when 50+ miles offshore. The international rules on boats/ships at sea is that an "active watch" must be maintained at all times. But I don't believe "active watch" has been tightly defined by international maritime courts. However, I do believe it's been defined to be a person, not an "electronic watch".  I relied on 1) me, in a conscious state 2) me in a semi-conscious state and 3) electronic (AIS) alarms that would alert me to boats in my proximity. 

#3 is problematic as not all boats have AIS. All commercial shipping has AIS now, as do most recreational bluewater boats. But it's not mandated for recreational boating. It's also not mandated for some fishing vessels and there are a lot of tiny fishing boats still in active use (news to me). 

Also, as I realized in the Mediterranean recently, the idea that a commercial boat would always avoid me, while generally true, is faulty. What about the commercial boats that are drifting (not underway)? There are MANY of these in the Med. Of course the danger (to them) is only if they're small. But I definitely saw a good number of these. They would be of the assumption that the boat bearing down on them was going to change course prior to impact and they might be challenged to move at the last minute depending on what they were doing. 

Now on the flip side, the likelihood of two boats colliding is probably about that same as trying to shoot a firefly with a BB gun at 30 paces. Not very likely. But... devastating results if it actually happens. 

Fortunately the law of averages was on my side, but it did make for some stressful times when I was super tired in the wee hours. Especially when in high-traffic areas. 

Avoiding a ship-to-ship collision is like driving a car through a busy intersection without a stoplight but in super-super slow motion. You typically know with 20+ minutes advanced warning that you are on a (near) collision course. There's lots of time to react, call the other ship on the radio, etc. so that's all good. On the other hand, since I was so much slower than most of the commercial traffic (7 knots vs 16-20), I was way better off letting them maneuver around me than vice-versa. This resulted in many, many times, waiting for them to make a course change while I desperately trying to stay awake. All the wile knowing they would squash me like a bug if they didn't take action, so don't nod off!  A pretty strange circumstance in today's fast-paced world. By the way, there are still a lot of people out there single-handing.  There are even quite a few sanctioned single-handed ocean races even though it's fairly well known that they aren't fully complying with regulations. 

Anyway, all is well. Nobody died )that I'm aware of). 

Tilley hat

A big thanks to Wes Patterson who replaced my Tilley hat after I lost my prior one on a BVI trip we were on. I was pretty crushed when we couldn't find it after circling for awhile because it had a lot of "experience", aka character. He surprised me with a brand new one a few weeks after our trip of which I was very grateful but it lacked that lived-in look. Well, I can now report that the new one has gotten a lot of experience this year. It has fallen in the drink (& been rescued) 8 times so far. Hopefully this one is a lifer!
On a related note, Antoine lost his hat overboard near Barbados. I promptly turned the boat around to rescue it even though he said not to bother because he wasn't enamored with the hat. I told him, "you don't understand, it's a matter of principle" :-)

Excess baggage

This is me and my 170 pounds of baggage making the freight elevator earn its keep.

Packed up

Well I've packed my stuff and I'm heading out to find a rental car so I can drive to Toulouse to catch my flight tomorrow morning. The boat looks much nicer after a thorough cleaning.

Tied up

I made it in with no drama. Currently tied up to the fuel dock.

Canet-en-Roussillon

Approaching Canet before dawn, 5am local time. Venus is welcoming me after a long journey.

D day -2

Today was a bit of a Celebration Day (sorry for the trademark infringement Led Zepp) as the tough sailing is now solidly behind me assuming the weather person can do a two day forecast with some precision. I sent a summary email to Pascal, the boat owner, of myriad of damages I've inflicted on his boat over the last year as well the general wear and tear issues that need to be addressed. He now has a crunch to get the boat ready for the next charter which departs August 1st. I'm returning the boat one week early which hopefully gives him a little extra time to make it better than ever for the next customer. Overall, I'm relatively impressed with myself that all the issues are pretty minor; but of course my ego took a serious hit with each problem. After several years of studying (and a fair amount of life experience on the water) my expectations were perfection which is probably a bit unrealistic. But after 10,000 miles I'd say I'd give myself a passing grade for a first-time
bluewater captain. I started seriously packing today; tomorrow will be dedicated to cleaning. I should arrive in Canet-en-Roussillon on the 6th. Then a scramble to get to the airport in Toulouse. After that it's in the hands of the pilots to cross back over the ocean in a half-day that it took me a month to cross.

The "other" Rock

Can anyone from the first crew name the town this rock towers over? Seeing this rock for the first time will be etched in my memory for a long time. We were trying to seek shelter from a storm. It had been a stormy day with lots of wind and rain and sizable waves that we were beating into. It was a punishing way to start out and after darkness fell everyone wanted a break for the night. We had been navigating from inside to stay out of the nasty weather as we approached land around 11pm. As we got close we put our foulies on and went outside. Towering over us about 200 meters away was this 1000+ ft tall rock. I was awestruck.
Answer: Calpe, Spain

HFoJ

Happy 4th of July everyone! Except any of you British that might be reading this, well, I've got separate sentiments for all of you :-)
By random chance, Ray Charles' America the Beautiful was the 2nd song that played this morning, how appropriate. I still remember his awesome performance that Sal & I went to at the Meadowbrook Outdoor Music Theater in Rochester, Michigan. I'm glad we took the opportunity to see one of the greats. What a performer!
As I sail (well, motor-sail actually) along the south Spanish coast at daybreak on this beautiful blue-sky morning, I'm so grateful for all the Freedoms we have. So many people paid the ultimate price for us to be where we are today, it's worth taking a (very) long moment to reflect on that sacrifice. And also a great day to renew our commitment to do our part to continue to make it better. Voting in every election should be every US citizen's minimum commitment. While I've voted in almost all presidential elections, I myself have represented very poorly in state & local elections so I should be holding my tongue on my disappointment in our elected officials. Every candidate that didn't get elected is potentially a rational voice missing from discussions. I renew my commitment today.
I hope everyone has a great celebration today; I suspect mine will be somewhat subdued over here as I anticipate their fireworks displays will be underwhelming:-) and I hope I don't upset someone when I shoot off all my aerial flares as part of my own celebration.
Happy 4th!!

Cabo de Palos

After tacking upwind today I finally made it past Cabo de Palos at 7pm local time.

Not a gentleman

There's an old phrase, "a gentleman doesn't sail to windward"; well apparently I'm not a gentleman because that's all I've done since I've been in the Med it seems. Just pounding one wave after the next and they are short period waves so quite choppy as opposed to long swells like many ocean waves. Currently passing Cartagena, Spain where I kept the boat for awhile last fall. Next up are the Balaeric islands, Ibiza, Mallorca, and Menorca.

Pan pan, pan pan, pan pan

There have been many calls from the Spanish authorities on the VHF radio today to notify mariners of a bunch of people (~60) in a black rubber raft that departed from Morocco and headed towards Spain. There are three types of emergency signals on the radio, all of which are always broadcast three times in succession. In order of severity, securitè ( informational) , pan pan(significant health threat), and mayday (immediate danger of loss of life).
I'm not sure of the policy of why they don't just go and immediately rescue them. It may be that they can't take action until they are in Spanish waters. But I can't imagine rolling the dice of being and choosing to be in a raft with all the ship traffic in this area. Wherever they're coming from must be pretty bleak. I'll have to read up on this as I also heard many of these calls last fall when I was coming through the Med in the opposite direction.

Hasta la vista Spain

The wind remains right on my nose tonight so I'm going to tack off toward Algeria for about 60 miles then northward after that if all goes to plan.

Awards

"And the award for best scenery from a gas station goes to..."
La La Land!
Oops, wrong envelope
Alcaidesa Puerto Deportivo!

traffic jam

Wow! The amount of ship traffic here in the Mediterranean is incredible. And of course the wind is on my nose again (as it was when I was coming through this same area last fall in the opposite direction); which means I'll need to tack throughout the night while dodging ships. Good times!
Today I committed to scheduling my return flight on the morning of July 7th. Now that I have purchased my ticket I'm extra motivated as anyone that is aware of my frugal ways will testify :-) If all goes to plan I should be able to arrive in Canet-en-Roussillon by noon on the 6th. Then I need to find transportation to Toulouse. I've already started packing a few things but will accelerate that as I get closer to the boat's home port. Hopefully I can get most of the interior cleaning done before I get back so once I get into port I'll just need to refuel, scrub the salt off the outside, and do a walk through with Pascal.

Africa

Tanger, Morocco; the "other side" of the Straits of Gibraltar

The Rock

The Rock of Gibraltar in the morning mist. If I don't sink within the next 5 miles, I will have successfully crossed the Atlantic twice this year.

traffic

As I approach the Straits the traffic is increasing. Had some nice wind this afternoon for awhile but it's abating as I get closer to Gibraltar. It looks like I'll arrive at first light in the morning and get refueled and hopefully be back on my way shortly thereafter.

windy

The wind has definitely picked up over the last hour. I'm now down to the third reef in the main and a little over three reefs in the genoa. I also altered course by 15° to run with the waves a little more from the stern. The sun is down now and there's just a little twilight remaining. It's a bit ominous to look aft and see the dark shapes loom over the stern but as they approach the stern faithfully raises to accommodate them and we shoot forward and surf downward.
I think the ocean is just giving me a pleasant little parting gift as this is what, to me, ocean sailing is all about.

update

The wind has remained steady all day; pretty much the same as the last few days. The wave heights are growing accordingly with the largest ones approaching 4 meters now. It's funny, just after I wrote that things are mostly the same, it appears to be kicking up some and I'm getting tossed around a bit more. I know this because things that previously stayed in place all day are now being thrown across the salon. That means it's probably time to put in a second reef in the main and genny if it persists.
Currently averaging over 9 kn on a broad reach. The course is 106° magnetic and I am 220 nautical miles from the Straits of Gibraltar. The sun will set in about 30 minutes and I can already feel the temperature starting to drop. By time the sun sets tomorrow I may be able to see "the Rock" of Gibraltar. Passing that will officially mark the end of this transatlantic journey.
I'm getting very anxious to wrap up this adventure as I have met/survived all the challenges I was seeking. Hopefully I'm not jinxing myself as I still have a week of sailing before I'm done and the Straits of Gibraltar are always very busy so remaining vigilant is key.
Today I read Grisham's Sycamore Row. I've been mostly reading non-fiction so it's been a nice change of pace. Yes, I read the whole book today; it's been a long time since I've devoured a book in one day; feels very satisfying.

same ol'

No change out here - still plowing through 2-3 meter lumpy seas at about 8 knots. I've gotten used to the motion and can read with no problem. I'm 302NM from the Straits of Gibraltar so hopefully by Saturday morning I can stop in at Alcaidesa or Gibraltar to fill up with fuel and maybe grab a few groceries. Fortunately, since the Açores are owned by Portugal, I've already cleared into the EU and because of the Schengen (sp?) agreement I don't need to clear in to most other EU countries; basically one stop shopping. So that should help to make the stop very short and allow me to get back on my way.

change is in the....

I found out early today that Pete would be unable to join me in Portugal. So I've now changed my next destination to Gibraltar which is 439NM away. I've had great wind all day today making a steady 8-9knots directly on the rhumb to Gib under 1st reef main and full genny. The seas are up to 2+ meters now and coming from just a little aft of the port beam so it's a little bit uncomfortable but not bad. The positive mental energy of going fast toward my destination diminishes the impact of getting tossed around a bit. If this wind holds I'll be out of the Atlantic in 3 days.
I'm seeing lots of ship traffic now. A hour ago I had three ships in sight at the same time and currently have the Zim Ontario passing me bound for New York. I'll have to be more vigilant until I get through the Straits of Gibraltar to make sure I don't end up like a bug on a windshield but with AIS and radar all should be fine.

shifty

At 0700 finally had the wind shift I've been waiting for so was able to change to a port tack. Currently on the rhumb to Portimao, Portugal making 8.5 knots. One meter following, well call it quartering, seas. 368NM to go to Cabo de São Vicente; with Portimao 20 miles beyond that. Gray skies ahead, blue behind.

music appreciation 102

I can say without a doubt that I've listened to more music in the span of the last three weeks than at any other time in my life. By a long shot. My "go to" music is blues, rock/blues, and reggae but in the 55GB of music I have with me there's quite a bit of diversity.
I happened to notice a "style" of music that I hadn't really been cognizant of before. Basically it consists of a single female voice with minimal accompaniment and minimal processing or amplification - just raw - with some phrases partially spoken not sung.
These few songs are in that style:
Like a Fool- Keira Knightly
Your Song- Ellie Goulding
Eet- Regina Spektor
...and maybe
Imagine - Avril Lavigne
This style would probably get old for me pretty quickly if I listened to much of it back-to-back, but it's quite refreshing occasionally interspersed. I assume there's a lot of this type of music "out there" but these are the only examples I possess.

winding down

Well, as the sun sets behind me and the air temp begins to drop during "Captain's hour", I'm now down to 450NM until I reach the European continent, Portugal specifically. At roughly 150 miles per day that means the end of this transatlantic is "just" 3 days away. It was just a few years ago that I took my first blue water trip with John Kretschmer to get my "feet wet" in regards to ocean sailing. That was a 500 mile jaunt from Tortola to Grenada and back. I recall what a weird feeling it was when we were around halfway to Grenada. We were at least 100 miles from the nearest land and many of us were thinking "what if something goes wrong?" Help is a looong way off. I've definitely had twinges of those same feelings on this trip but this time the voice was just a tiny whisper and of course I needed to add a zero on the distance :-)
The pace of life onboard is so much slower than "land life" I suppose it's a good thing that I have a final busy leg through the Mediterranean and a bit of a race to catch a flight before I call this adventure done. I have a possible flight on July 7 out of Toulouse but the odds aren't great that I'll be able to make that flight as it looks like in the best case I can get in to Canet-en-Roussillon late on July 6. That's cutting it tight considering that I need to travel 100 miles to get to the Toulouse airport with public transportation and, get this, their signs are all in French! Crazy, eh? Oh yeah, I'll also be hauling 3 big bags of "stuff" and my backpack. A fitting end to this adventure!

stowaway

Found this guy trying to take a ride without buying a ticket. Looks like he had a rough night and an even tougher morning.
I tossed him overboard after advising him to drink plenty of fluids, preferably with electrolytes.

parting is such sweet sorrow...

Cruising along slowly this morning at 4.7 kn under full main and full genoa. Genoa, you ask? Why not the Gennaker?
Well that's a bit of a long story. I've had the dreaded halyard twist problem once again. I fought with it for over two hours yesterday as I knew I was going to want to use the gennaker when I found some wind. Try as I might, I could not get the twist out and therefore couldn't hoist the gennaker. I ended up resorting to not using the 2 to 1 ratio as the halyard system is designed and instead just hoisted it directly. The gennaker flew just fine until 5 AM this morning at which time the halyard parted and the sail flopped down into the water :-( There's no damage to the sail; but my pride took another harsh blow (is there anything left of it?) Fortunately I've had several people aboard much smarter than me look at the problem and weren't able to immediately figure out the cause so at least I'm in good company :-)
So that's why the genoa is now in service.
When I get to Faro I'll probably drop a new halyard in place for the Mediterranean leg.

status

Finally found some wind today. Sailed for awhile at 25° south of the rhumb line to maximize speed but had a little wind shift after a few hours so now am wing-on-wing on the rhumb. 600NM to Faro, Portugal where I'll pick up Pete Preston for the return leg through the Mediterranean. I'll need to keep my speed up over the next 4 days to assure I make it there during daylight hours.

a little wind

There's finally a little bit of wind; just enough to fill the gennaker but not enough to help the boat speed significantly. However this is the first time I've flown the gennaker since my (temporary) repair of it. It looks good! It's hard to detect the repair in this picture unless you know exactly where to look. The weather forecast looks like the wind will fill in within a few hours and I'll be mostly downwind so it'll get a real test yet today.

times two

The wind is twice as strong and the waves are twice as high today as compared to yesterday. Which is to say it's still really calm. I found out that my friend, Pete Preston, is going to join me for the final leg in the Med. it seems very fitting that he is with me at the end as he was the first crew to sign on to this adventure. I'm going to pick him up in Faro, Portugal. It's pretty much right on the way to Gibraltar. I adjusted course by 2° yesterday to make that my next destination.

Beautiful colors

Just took these two pics back-to-back. Sunset behind and subtle color transitions ahead

Terceira

Sailing (well, motoring actually) by Terceira, Açores. My last internet connection until about July 1 :-(

Whales??

I've been looking for whales all day today but no joy. Thought with the ocean being so smooth I'd see some. They probably have really good memories and recall this being a high crime/violent neighborhood so make themselves scarce.

Calm day

It's still calm enough to waterski on the ocean. Departed Horta 12 hours ago; 61NM today.
1025NM to Gibraltar.
Mt Pico can still be seen towering above the clouds.

Paris dolphins

Calm

It's so calm today...
How calm is it?
You can take-off and land a drone on a boat!

Azores

Just noticed this posting in my unsent folder from a few days ago...
It's a gorgeous morning here in the calm waters off the Azores. I'm currently sipping on a Cappuccino left behind by someone that was onboard back in the Med. Make note: no picture of a chicken on the label. But it doesn't say "gluten free" so it's probably packed full of glutens.

On the road again...

Headed out of Horta at 7am bound for Gibraltar? Pete Preston may be joining the crew for the Med portion of this return leg. We are still working on logistics but Gib is probably the easiest place to reach for both of us, Faro might be option #2. The Açores are beautiful. They are very green with a strong contrast to the bright white color of most of the buildings. It's interesting that their local economy a long time ago was based on whaling. They discontinued that several decades ago (I believe) and now have tourism and especially whale watching as a large draw. That's what I call a pivot!

Steve Jobs

I believe this is the Yacht that Steve Jobs had built right before he passed away:

Huuuuge

A pod of very large dolphins swam out to greet me as I approached Horta. As Paris Hilton would say, "They're Huuuuugggge!"

Shalom

I rec'd a call on the VHF asking for assistance from a solo sailor that was behind me a bit saying he is out of fuel and trying to get into Horta but with no wind (and what little there is is directly on the nose) it could be a long day for him. The boat is Shalom, a 22 ft sloop. Yes, that's not a typo, 22 feet long. It's a German boat but coming from the Bahamas. 33 days since he left. Fortunately for him he knew my weak spot and offered to buy me a drink if I'd turn around and assist him. Otherwise, who knows what I would have done :-)
And as some may recall, I have some gasoline on board, which is what he was looking for. Kismet.

Land Ho!

Mt Pico and Faial at first light. Still 30 miles away.

ships galore

After two weeks at sea of only seeing a very occasional ship on the chart plotter, courtesy of AIS, suddenly the display is full of ships. The furthest away is 110NM. This is beyond the range of the technology as I know it to be. There must be a repeater, possibly on top of Mt Pico, that is relaying the signals. Either that, or I don't understand something quite right. In the past though, I have never been able to see a ship (even a very tall one) much beyond 20 miles. Most of these ships show as "engaged in fishing" so I assume the Azores are a great place to get a fish dinner.
The ocean couldn't be much more serene than it is right now. The 3 ft swells are about 150 ft apart so it's just just like being rocked extremely slowly. The air is just a bit cool but the late afternoon sunshine is warm. The ocean surface is sparkling like diamonds toward the sun. It's hard to believe it was a bit of a tempest just a day or two ago.
...talk about mood swings...seems a bit manic to me :-)

Gringo salsa

Based on my posts today, I'm obviously scraping the bottom of the pantry (of things I consider edible). Apparently, Geofff Glaspie (from Vermont) left his salsa onboard. I hereby propose that any salsa that is mild be labeled "Gringo".
So, in the future, the choices are hot, medium, and gringo.

music appreciation

I've noticed over time that I really like when a song changes the beat/time signature & style for the bridge, especially when it goes to what I would call a Latin rhythm. I found three examples but I'm sure there are many more.
Beatles: Rock and Roll Music
Quito Rymer: Pon Me Mind
Quito Rymer: It's Been a Long Time

Anyone know of more examples?

Also, a quiz for the day: when in the Bahamas I heard that J. Geils had passed away. Can you name another band that is named after the lead guitar player where they are not the primary vocalist?

One answer: ina unyra (rot13 encoded)

music appreciation

I've noticed over time that I really like when a song changes the beat/time signature & style for the bridge, especially when it goes to what I would call a Latin rhythm. I found three examples but I'm sure there are many more.
Beatles: Rock and Roll Music
Quito Rymer: Pon Me Mind
Quito Rymer: It's Been a Long Time

Anyone know of more examples?

Also, a quiz for the day: when in the Bahamas I heard that J. Geils had passed away. Can you name another band that is named after the lead guitar player where they are not the primary vocalist?

One answer: ina unyra (rot13 encoded)

faint call

I received a faint call on channel 16 on the VHF radio an hour ago. All I could make out was the word " catamaran " with an accent of Spanish or Portuguese. VHF radio is line-of-site so they could either see me or our antennae could "see" each other. My antenna is at the top of my 55ft mast so it can "see" over the visual horizon that I can see from deck level. I've see no other boats since a day or two ago and have no boats currently on my AIS screen (AIS shares the antenna with the VHF radio).
I first tried to get them to repeat the radio call but received no response. Then I scanned the horizon with binoculars for a very long time. Bouncing back & forth to the radio inside to see if they were calling again. I heard a couple of squawks on the radio but no other voices. Normally the radio doesn't squawk so this was likely someone trying to transmit.
So with a lot of spare time out here, this makes one's mind go into overdrive. Was this someone in distress? Maybe in a raft with a low power VHF handheld radio (like what I carry; redundant to the boat's radio). If so, wouldn't they be more likely to be broadcasting a mayday than calling out to a passing boat by type of vessel? However, if someone's been in a raft with the weather like we've had for the past two days, they would likely be a little scrambled. Also, if they had spotted me visually as a catamaran, they would have to be very close to me - less than two miles. Any further and you can't discern a cat from a monohull. I performed multiple very thorough scans but couldn't see anything and it's an extremely clear day with zero haze to the horizon. I also scanned visually by standing on the top of the cockpit roof which puts my eyes over 15ft above the water. No joy.
Just in case, I put a waypoint on the chart showing the point of contact.
So what's another possibility?
It could be the monohull I passed a day ago so they are likely somewhere about 20-30 miles behind me. That's potentially the outside range of the VHF radio. If they didn't write down my boat name from AIS, they could be calling to me by boat type as we ended up sailing side by side just over a half mile apart for awhile.
Maybe they want to buy me a beer at Cafè Sport in Horta?
Yeah, that's the ticket!

Stop the madness!

Even Kellogg's is stooping so low as to use the chicken's visage yet upon inspection of the ingredients ( no longer?) has ANY chicken included. Apparently Paige's sensibilities are sweeping the world but the advertising hacks are still leveraging the chicken's image to push their products. Hopefully the chicken union is cashing in somewhere along the way.
(In case you couldn't tell) it's a very quiet day out here on the ocean. The wind is dying, the big waves are gone, and it's warming up. Basically lake sailing.
122 miles to Horta
Oh yeah, I'm in a new time zone again; GMT -2.

cluck, no!

Maybe I'm going stir crazy, but it looks like I found another product with a chicken on the label but no chicken in the ingredients:-)

150NM

At dawn I still have enough wind to keep the speed above 7 knots on a close reach with full main and genoa. The weather forecast now shows it hanging on for another few hours before I lose it. Hopefully the wind will clock toward the stern so I can try out the "new and improved" gennaker that I finished my crude repairs on last night.
150NM to Horta. I should be there tomorrow morning. Yay!

making progress

The rainy & cold weather has stayed with me all day but fortunately so has the strong following wind and swell. I haven't had to trim the sails or adjust course in hours; we continue to make great progress at 9+ knots all day. At dusk the wind quieted down a couple knots but we're still surfing down waves with some frequency.
I've been sewing the gennaker pretty much the whole day; 11 hours so far with maybe an hour left to go. The wind is supposed to diminish significantly as I approach Faial as is typical. A high pressure system called the Azores High sits over the general area more often than not. The typical route is to navigate to the north of Faial, then drop down. Obviously I chose not to do that on this trip and it looks like my gamble is going to pay off as there is a large area of calms predicted to be just to the north for the next few days. I've reserved enough fuel to be able to motor most of the time for the last 150 miles or so. Hopefully the gennaker is happy tomorrow and can take some advantage of the 5 knot winds that are predicted to start at dawn tomorrow.
224NM to Horta, Faial

sail repair

Today is rainy/drizzly and colder but the wind is finally from astern as are the swells. Currently running almost DDW under full main and 1st reef genny in 20knots of true wind (about 12 apparent) making 10 knots average plus some significant surfing on 2+ meter swells. BTW, it's an awesome sound when you surf over a wave that breaks underneath the boat; you can hear the rush of bubbles and foam as it rushes through the tunnel between the hulls.
I got up this morning with the intent to repair the gennaker In case I can't find a sail loft in Horta that can fix it in a hurry. If I had my Sailrite machine here and the right materials I'd say I could fix it in less than an hour. Unfortunately all I have are manual methods so the results won't be pretty but hopefully will get me by until I can get it repaired properly.
286 miles to Horta.

PSoA

Thanks to Carlos for leaving behind this delicacy in the snack drawer. Fortunately, by reading all the fine print, I realized that this likely would be awarded the Paige Seal of Approval as no chickens were harmed in the making of this Spicy Chicken Instant Noodle dish.

Moitessier

I've been re-reading Moitessier's "The Long Way" in small doses. I want to make it last the remainder of the time I'm in the Atlantic. He has quite a way with words which makes we wish I had more skill and creativity in that discipline. An except from his time in the southern ocean:
"I see a beacon in the night, it blinks between the waves, and I slowly awaken. The moon comes in through the porthole, brushes my lids, wanders down to my chin, comes back to my eyes for a second, goes over to see what is on the stove, returns to touch my eyes, lightly, consistently, goes away, comes back again.
I lie outstretched, not moving. I listen. The wind has dropped further. Before, it was whispering on the edge of the partly open hatch, talking in an undertone . Now too, but lower. The water sounds have also changed, and there is a slight rolling to starboard that was not there when I went to sleep. I try to guess whether the rolling is due to less pressure of wind against the sails, or to a change of the course. But I don't understand, since the motion is to port at the right place in the sky. She should not be coming through the porthole if the course has changed. Rolling says it has changed, And Moon says no. I try to figure out who is right, feeling with my senses. There is no danger, and plenty of time. If danger threatened, the fight of the swell with the coast would fill the cabin with its roaring. And I hear only the murmur of water on the hall, a sound from Joshua that says all is well despite the quarrel between the rolling and the moon. I do not want to shine a li
ght on the compass to find out: it has to come by itself."
-Bernard Moitessier
There is a lot of time out here where you find yourself in a quasi-sleep state feeling the motion of the boat and trying to determine if something needs attention. Sail trim, course change, etc. The boat makes a variety of sounds as does the sea. Whats is the range of "normal" and was that last loud pounding the start of a trend or just a one-off anomaly? Moitessier does a masterful job of putting down on paper these feelings that are unique to being at sea.

music

I listen to a lot of music out here. Most of the time I have my music playing in random mode instead of a particular playlist. As my daughter, Paige, & I shared an iTunes account for many years and I've never weened all of her selections out, I frequently have a "Paige song" start playing which brings fond memories back of her wide range of musical interests, from plays and operas, to some that I'm not even sure of what to call the genre (hip hop & rap?) and everything in between.
It's great having her out here with me....
I love you Paige.

good luck?

The wind has continued to back this morning, to the point now that my heading is direct to Horta. Too good to be true?
No complaining can be heard about pounding into a two meter swell at 7-8 knots; maybe because it's too loud in here ;-)

backing

The wind has been gradually backing (going counterclockwise on the compass rose) this morning so I'm now at a heading of 87 degrees. The bearing to Horta is still a bit further at 73 degrees but I'll take this as long as it lasts. So if you look at my current track, that's the reason for the latest hook turning NE from ESE.

dawn

Still passing Numawan at dawn.

night light

It's been an unusual night tonight. After so many days of not seeing any boats other than an occasional ship crossing my path very quickly, I am slowly overtaking another sailboat on a similar course. That means for night watch I need to be diligent to not run it down as it has the right of way, known in boating parlance as being the stand-on vessel. My boat being the give-way vessel.
At 0200 I had the boat, Numawan, one mile off my starboard bow. One mile is pretty close; much closer and I might start making that captain, or whoever's on watch, nervous. All I can see is his white stern light as is acceptable per regulations. I can tell I'm seeing a white stern light at deck level as it is blinking irregularly likely due to waves frequently obscuring it. Most sailboats nowadays also have a tricolor light at the top of the mast to make them more visible from a distance but this boat obviously doesn't (or it's not working or someone forgot to turn it on). She should only see my green bow light and a similar green from the top of my masthead (my boat has a tri-color). To those that haven't boated at night, you might be incredulous that something a mile off would be considered "close", but when you can only see a single point of light there is no way to accurately judge distance. So you can quickly get surprised when what your brain thinks it's figured out sp
atially turns out to be inaccurate. Also, to change course isn't just turning the wheel. There are multiple sheets and other things to coordinate. So time, and therefore distance, is your friend.
As a personal illustration point, I had an experience in the Caribbean a few months back when I was on watch in the middle of the night in 20+ knots of wind and big waves where I had a large vessel angling toward me (very fast) looking as if it was going to cross from port to starboard but I could see the red bow light and red masthead tricolor light. This boat was not sending AIS signals so I couldn't "cheat" and see it on my chart plotter. This is extremely unusual for big boats these days. Did I mention it was coming very fast? I was on a starboard tack so I should have been the stand-on vessel unless I was overtaking it (which I wasn't) or the upwind boat (which I was), but every captain is required to take evasive action to avoid a collision regardless of right of way. I chose to gybe hard to port and probably came within a couple hundred meters of a huge (repeat huge) sailboat. My immediate reaction was that I should have made the opposite decision and come about hard t
o starboard. I say this as an example of a first-hand situation where clearly my understanding of the spatial situation was not what it appeared to be. To this day I don't understand how I could have been seeing red lights based on its relative motion to me.
Back to tonight,.. Then a squall swept through. Suddenly the wind picked up my boat speed jumped from 5.5 knots to 9 knots. At the same time there was a wind shift (they almost always come as a pair). So I adjusted course to stay hard on the wind and try to keep the boat speed around 7-8 knots. The next time I looked up I saw a red light off my port bow. Just a minute ago he was off to my starboard showing a white light. WTF!?
I checked to starboard. Yup, she was right there where I left her; still showing her white light. So where'd this other thing come from???
The light looked a little more orange than red. Maybe a freighter? It's not on AIS as all commercial ships are required to broadcast now. It looks very tall and almost dead ahead, I would guess at least a couple miles off. As I continued to watch it, it looked more and more orange and less and less as a point source of light. I'm 500 miles from land so it can't be that. Then it became brighter and more readily apparent that what I'm looking at is the tip of the smile of a new moon rising at the horizon (hence the red/orange color) but mostly obscured by a dense cloud.
I'd like to say this kind of thing is an extremely rare occurrence but it's not. Also, you're not always your sharpest self at nighttime. I recall distinctly thinking one time that I was overtaking a very close boat that turned out to be Venus rising.
So now I am passing Numawan and she's showing her red port bow light and occasionally her white stern light as she swings in the waves and sometimes neither when a tall wave passes between us and obscures her entirely. All is well.
...and that sneaky new moon is nowhere to be seen due to the heavy cloud cover.

overtaking

I can see on my AIS display that I'm overtaking a 45 foot (14m) monohull sailboat. This will be the first sailboat I've seen since I left Bermuda. It's currently over the horizon, 8 nautical miles away so I should overtake it this evening as I'm going over a knot faster.

overnight

At dusk last night squalls appeared on the horizon and rapidly over took me as it got dark. This brought a change of wind direction and for about an hour or two I was able to maintain a course about 100° .but I also had to reef down to a 2nd reef on both main & genny as the wind was over 20 knots. The wind eventually clocked back to where it was originally. If you look at my track from last night you can see me adjusting course many times to battle the changing wind direction. At first light everything seems settled back to where it was so I shook out the reefs (actually kept a 1st reef on the main). Pulling weather now hoping that I'll see more wind direction like last night again. Fingers crossed.

see salt

Everything on deck is covered with a heavy coating of salt after two days of spray. Today was a really nice warm day, no rain, and much less spray from the bows. A nice change after a few shut-in days.