Land ahoy....briefly
Hi all. We´ve completed phase one of this trip by arriving in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. The passage was about 700 miles and we arrived yesterday, the 7th. So it took a little under 5 days. We didn´t have very favourable wind, which was either not strong enough to make good way or coming from the wrong direction. We´ll be hoping that isn´t the case on the next leg as we are aiming for an average speed of 8 knots to get us to Antigua by Christmas Day. We can, however, rely to a large extent on trade winds which blow from east to west and are consistently over 20 knots. It will take us about 4 days to get down to a line of latitude where we can expect to find these trade winds which is about 20 degrees North and then we´ll change our heading from approximately south west to due west.
The temperature here is about 26 degrees C when the sun is shining and it´s only going to get warmer as we approach the Tropics. The temperature at sea is getting to that perfect stage of not too warm and not too cold and even at night it´s warm enough to stay on deck for a 4 hour watch without getting all togged up in oilies, hats and gloves.
We only had one drama on the way down when the engine failed in the middle of the first night. We were delayed leaving Gibraltar and didn´t get away until about 8pm. The sails were all ready to be hoisted but the skipper decided that we would motor over night due to the wind coming straight towards us and there being alot of shipping in what is a very conjested strait. When the engine gave up the sea state was reasonably rough, made worse by a healthy Atlantic swell and although the sea was by no means monstrous it mean´t that when the engine stopped we were being thrown around a bit - imagine duck in bath. So, all hands on deck, we got the sails up and set about getting the engine sorted. The problem was air in the fuel system so it had to be bled which took a couple of hours.
Apart from that the sailing has been great, sometimes surreal, occassionally boring (mainly between about 1am and 4am) and the crew seems to be getting on well. We learned alot about our consumption of food, water and fuel and as a result we´ve designed various systems for the next leg. We only have enough fuel to about a third of the trip under power as well as charge all the electrical systems. We have needed to impose some conditions on water usage because if we keep using it at the rate we did from Gibraltar to here we will run dry within 12 days. Some of the food we bought in Gibraltar has lasted well but some started to go off almost immediately. This is only going to get worse the further south we go and, therefore, the warmer it gets.
I could go on for ages about various other facets of planning, and wax lyrical about being at sea in an ocean with no light pollution at night (so the stars are amazing) and the feeling of being 100´s of miles away from the nearest land, but as a "friend" recently told me by e-mail, I cured his insomnia with my description of astro navigation in my last update :)
So I´ll dash off now. Have a magnificent Christmas and if you find yourself in the London area over the New Year period, give me a shout. I´m looking forward to a good old fashioned knees up and 5 days off with Tricia (Trish to those that have been subject to the re-branding of a few years back).
Take care, lots of love
me
The temperature here is about 26 degrees C when the sun is shining and it´s only going to get warmer as we approach the Tropics. The temperature at sea is getting to that perfect stage of not too warm and not too cold and even at night it´s warm enough to stay on deck for a 4 hour watch without getting all togged up in oilies, hats and gloves.
We only had one drama on the way down when the engine failed in the middle of the first night. We were delayed leaving Gibraltar and didn´t get away until about 8pm. The sails were all ready to be hoisted but the skipper decided that we would motor over night due to the wind coming straight towards us and there being alot of shipping in what is a very conjested strait. When the engine gave up the sea state was reasonably rough, made worse by a healthy Atlantic swell and although the sea was by no means monstrous it mean´t that when the engine stopped we were being thrown around a bit - imagine duck in bath. So, all hands on deck, we got the sails up and set about getting the engine sorted. The problem was air in the fuel system so it had to be bled which took a couple of hours.
Apart from that the sailing has been great, sometimes surreal, occassionally boring (mainly between about 1am and 4am) and the crew seems to be getting on well. We learned alot about our consumption of food, water and fuel and as a result we´ve designed various systems for the next leg. We only have enough fuel to about a third of the trip under power as well as charge all the electrical systems. We have needed to impose some conditions on water usage because if we keep using it at the rate we did from Gibraltar to here we will run dry within 12 days. Some of the food we bought in Gibraltar has lasted well but some started to go off almost immediately. This is only going to get worse the further south we go and, therefore, the warmer it gets.
I could go on for ages about various other facets of planning, and wax lyrical about being at sea in an ocean with no light pollution at night (so the stars are amazing) and the feeling of being 100´s of miles away from the nearest land, but as a "friend" recently told me by e-mail, I cured his insomnia with my description of astro navigation in my last update :)
So I´ll dash off now. Have a magnificent Christmas and if you find yourself in the London area over the New Year period, give me a shout. I´m looking forward to a good old fashioned knees up and 5 days off with Tricia (Trish to those that have been subject to the re-branding of a few years back).
Take care, lots of love
me
posted by Paul James at 1:36 pm
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