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.

weather

The wind strength has abated somewhat but I'm still sailing hard on the wind as it is still coming from the same direction that I'm trying to go. I'm currently on a heading of 121M and making about 8 knots. Horta is now 695NM away at a bearing of 087M; still hoping for a Friday arrival but I'll have to work to keep the boat moving at a good pace with this wind opposing me. That's one of my lessons from John Kretschmer; keep the boat moving. It's too easy to put off making sail trim changes and to sacrifice boat speed that over time extends the trip significantly. At night I give myself a break and I'm happy as long as I'm getting 6 knots or better but during daylight hours I've managed to be pretty vigilant at making adjustments frequently.
I've seen 2 ships in the last 24 hours and two more are near me right now per AIS even though they aren't in sight.
Had a nice breakfast of cinnamon raisin toast and coffee. Beautiful blue skies and the sunshine quickly brought warmer temps after a cold night.
I managed to connect with my Dad (& Mom) this morning via sat phone. I'm having much better performance after relocating and adjusting the antenna. Iridium is currently in the process of launching a new constellation of satellites to greatly improve bandwidth of their NEXT system. It was originally supposed to be online in time for this trip but I suspect it will be about a year before it's available. Future world travelers will still be able to be well connected (if they choose).

HFD

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Being so far away from my family on this day makes me reflect even deeper than I normally would on how important my family is to me. I received a beautiful card from Paige, Drew & Lucas with a note from each of them. It brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't ask for three better kids; they are each so special. It's a great feeling to have raised them all to have surpassed where I was when I was their age and in some areas where I am today even though I have 30 years on them:-)
I also received a card from my wife Sallie who has been so supportive of my wild hare, boondoggle, midlife crisis, sabbatical, call it what you will. Her tolerance and continued support just reinforces how lucky I am to have her in my life and to have created our family together. I couldn't ask for a better partner.
And to my Dad, thanks for instilling a sense of adventure in me so many years ago. But more importantly, giving me the confidence in myself to prepare for and methodically attack the unknown. All those dinner table conversations that challenged me and the many answers that came from a reference book even though you probably knew the answers already were very formative. Thanks. You are one of a kind!
And HFD to my father-in-law Bill. I appreciate all the help and support you have provided when we're away from home and for your consistent and sincere support for all of my family ( even me, your SIL!, go figure)
So Happy Father's Day to all the fathers and to everyone that has a father. It's a great day to show that appreciation!

slacking

The wind velocity is gradually decreasing but the wave state remains so still a bit of a crazy motion. I keep trying to cheat north at every opportunity but Mother Nature isn't having it. As a matter of fact I've had to fall off to 127M when Horta is at 91degrees. Supposedly I'll be able to recover this lost ground a few days from now as the wind backs a little. Time will tell...
746NM to Horta
36 45.347N
44 06.222W

the new fad

I've created a new diet called the North Atlantic diet. Whenever you feel hungry you just hop on the diet machine, The Shaker(TM), and it shakes you until your appetite is gone.

same ol'

Different day, same weather, although it's partly cloudy today instead of the heavy cloud cover of yesterday. Sailing under double reefed main and single reefed genoa. I've been underway for 7 days now. 814 miles from Horta; hope to be there by Friday.

ahaken, not stirred

Well I've gotten a reintroduction to "Ocean...Atlantic Ocean" today. It's been like a bucking horse all day. So much so that it's been hard to read for very long before feeling queasy. So my day has been: read, queasiness, nap, repeat. It got up to 22C today but it's back down to 18 as the sun is going down now. I've crossed into the next time zone now so I'm two hours ahead of east coast time. Looks like this wind direction will be with me for a few more days so the bucking will continue. So far the boat is holding up just fine though.
892 miles from Horta. Currently sailing close hauled on a course of 122M which would take me south of the Azores but the wind is supposed to shift in a few days so I can add some northerly to my course.
37 45.525N
47 26.528W

agitated

The wind and waves are now coming from the northeast and the boat is on a eastward heading so we are now pounding into the waves. Feels a little like The agitation cycle in a top load washer. The weather report shows several days of this. Temp is 18C. Hanging on...

warm wishes

Here's a pic of a parting gift of well wishes from the castoff party. My feet have been cold today so I warmed the rock on the stove and wrapped it in a towel. Toasty toes now!

sail loft

Looks like I'll need to find a sail loft soon. Hopefully there's one in Horta. It's a popular stop for sailors crossing the North Atlantic so hopefully they have one. There was a cool one in St George's Harbor on Bermuda. I stopped in and took a few pictures. Notice that the sewing machines are at floor level and the operation sits in a pit so the floor is at a proper working height.

sad gennaker

At first light I went out to check on things. After being so proud of myself on getting the gennaker furled in the heavy wind, in spite of the bottom being fueled very well, the top of the sail worked loose some and the edge fluttered so much it tore the tensioning line out :-(
In retrospect I should have fought taking it down last night as I had to do it this morning anyway in 30 knots of wind. The weather reports that I should be in 10 knots of wind right now; I beg to differ.
989 miles to Flores.

gray

I haven't seen the movie "50 Shades of Gray" but this is what I would guess it's about, a rainy dark day on the North Atlantic.

AC

Thanks to the new email search engine, Pigle, I just learned the Kiwis soundly defeated Sweden, 5-2 in the finals of the America's Cup competition in Bermuda. So now the Kiwi's ga against the American team Oracle in a "first to seven wins" series.
Thanks Pigle!

try to keep yoir hands up!

It's a bit of a roller coaster ride out here tonight. Sailing downwind under a reefed genoa but still averaging over 8 knots. I keep looking for the carnie to come by and lift the safety bar from my lap and let me off but he must be on an extended smoke break.

too much wind?

After all my complaining about not enough wind, as the sun set today the wind picked up further to the point it was too much for the gennaker. The gennaker is rated at a max apparent wind speed of 18knots. Since the wind is currently coming from directly behind, and with a boat speed of a minimum of 8 knots, that means once the wind exceeds a true 26 knots, the gennaker could tear. I definitely don't want that. Also the boat just hit 20.3 knots surfing down a wave which is way too fast for my comfort. On top of that darkness is impending. So, how to furl 100 square meters of sail in heavy wind? I unfurled the genoa so it caught the wind instead of the gennaker (the gennaker is mounted at the end of a 2 meter bowsprit) allowing the gennaker to flap in the spoiled air behind the genny. Worked like a charm.
Yes, Sallie, I had my life vest and harness on. Especially after seeing a big wave come from a different direction than the primary wave train and break over the cockpit side earlier today. Ocean sailing at its best as long as nothing breaks :-)
This weather front is supposed to pass thru tonight and leave 15 knots of wind behind it.

not a Trump fan

A posting on the board at Bermuda Customs:

not a Trump fan

A posting on the board at Bermuda Customs:

scraping the bottom

What do you do when you get to the bottom of the chip bag and can't buy more? Be creative!

still cruisin'

Averaging almost 10knots since this morning. It's hard to take a picture of waves that give any sense of scale but this one shows the wave peak above the horizon. The camera is 9 ft above the water so this is a pretty sizable wave. Top speed today that I noticed was 17knots.

going fast

Waves are now 2-3 meters from directly astern. Still wing-on-wing with full main and gennaker. Averaging over 9 knots for the past half hour. Highest speed has been 11.5 when surfing down a wave front.

morning

I shortened sail last night around 2200. It's a funny feeling how darkness brings some apprehension with it. Of course it's based in reality as it's always harder to perform tasks when you can't see well. But still managed about 6.5 knots overnight. There is now about a 1.5 meter trailing swell. I unfurled the gennaker as soon as the sun rose to get the speed back up over 7 knots again. 1212NM to go to Flores. The weather shows in a couple days the wind will be shifting almost 18o degrees so will likely be pounding into waves at that point. Time will tell...

speed

I've hardly touched the sail trim this afternoon and we continue to rocket along wing-on-wing. I may have to tone down my future commentary that cats don't like wind from directly abaft. When I feel the boat surge I sometimes sneak a peak at the SoG (speed over ground) gauge and many times it is at 9 knots. It's a real spirit lifter as the last few days of no wind sometimes has had me in the mental doldrums.
I checked the fuel usage today. Amazingly, after having the starboard engine on for about 48 hours, 2/3's of the starboard tank remains! And I haven't touched the port tank other than a short period maneuvering in port so it's still at 99%. That's definitely a lesson for me as it's a very different result than when I've run the engines at 2100RPM. While 1500RPM doesn't push the boat very fast (~4 knots) it helps to lift spirits seeing a 4+ on the SOG gauge instead of 1 or 2.
We're currently 1294NM from Flores; Horta is about 130 miles further on. I was originally hoping for a June 23 landfall in Horta but I already used up my "cushion" days. We'll just have to see what the weather gods have in store.

Moitessier

I'm now (re)reading "The Long Way" by Bernard Moitessier. I first read this book almost 5 years ago when I first came up with this pipe dream. It's so hard to believe the completion of this Atlantic loop will be over in one month.
The book details Moitessier's participation in the first sailboat race that was around-the-world solo nonstop. He's a person that was completely "at home" while at sea. As a matter of fact, so much so, that when he realized he was going to win the race, he decided to continue on around the world instead of being part of the media circus that would ensue.

Shhh!

In the immortal words of the great Elmer Fudd, "Be vewwwy quiet". I don't want to jinx this perfect state. Good wind, following seas, beautiful weather, and making good velocity (towards the Azores no less!)
Currently wing-on-wing with the full mains'l and gennaker and making 7-8 knots. One meter choppy seas but since they're coming from directly astern it couldn't be a much smoother ride.
This is the sailing I've been waiting for. It almost makes the last three days of no wind worth it (but not quite).

front

This cloud front overtook me from astern this morning. It looked ominous but it just dumped some rain and had maybe 15knots of wind with it. Wish I could have kept the wind. It's still very light winds out here. The forecast indicates 10knots building to 20 tomorrow. I'm (impatiently) waiting...

sunset

I'll spare you the sunset picture for tonight. You'll just have to trust me that (once again) the sun set right on the horizon at the scheduled time.

Quantum gravity book

I just finished "Reality Is Not What It Seems" by Carlo Rovelli. It's been quite a while since I have read any physics books. It used to be something I did on a regular basis but I always struggled finding books that didn't heavily lean on advanced math. I have no interest in dusting off my calculus books to try to decipher the complex equations used in this field. I think the most rudimentary equations surpass my abilities to comprehend the intent anyway. Rovelli does a nice job of being light on equations but still providing them via footnotes for those that are able to follow along. The first half of the book is a summary of the history of physics that I believe every student should read. The second half of the book is a laypersons guide to a variety of quantum topics. While I t's a layperson's guide, it has some really challenging concepts. An example of which is that there is a minimum size in the universe, a Planck length, which is about 10 ^-33 centimeters. Accordingly
, he makes the assertion that anywhere that infinity is used in physics equations is probably incorrect as there is no such thing as infinitely small or large.
This book is definitely worth a read for anyone with an interest in the mysteries of how our world is constructed.

wind

I finally have a little wind so was able to turn off the engine about an hour ago. The weather report shows it filling in nicely after midnight and then getting heavy later tomorrow. Ought to be moving fast for the next several days with up to 25knots of wind from mostly behind. Time to batten down the hatches!

A Fluke?

Is it a fluke that my favorite mug holds exactly a pint? I think not!

Dave's (I mean Carlos) not here

Proof that Carlos is not onboard.