First week on route to St Lucia - 24 November to 1 December
Day 1 - Monday
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| The Start |
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| Sarah keeping a look out |
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| Andy and I navigating through the mass of boats |
The sea was a little lumpy but we expected better conditions
and lighter winds as we cleared South of Gran Canaria. The 30 knot winds however
continued until 1am in the morning when we hit the wind shadow caused by Gran
Canaria and we drifted aimlessly for about 4 hours until the wind once again
picked up. I was not part of the watch system for the first couple of days so
that I would always be on hand for any tricky manoeuvres which we had a lot of.
The consequence was that I had little sleep for the first 24 hours so very
tired. The waves were frequent and steep and were not all coming from one
direction which made the boat motion ragged.
Checked the engine bilge and we had no water coming in
Day 2 – Tuesday
Winds were around 25 knots but were constantly changing
which meant we were never on course for long. We had decided previously that we
would not worry about direction for the first couple of days but concentrate on
getting the boat sailing well and the crew working together. By the end of day
2 we had the boat sailing along although the lumpy conditions left over from
the storm made sleeping difficult. I slept for 12 hours without being woken
which I really needed – I had not realised quite how tired I had become.
Sarah cooked chicken and mushroom which in the unpredictable
and difficult motion of the boat it was a horrible experience for her. Not the
best introduction to cooking on board!
Day 3 - Wednesday
Into Day 3 we set the Hydrovane to steer the boat and it all
worked very well. We know adopted a 5 person shift pattern that Sarah had
worked out so it meant that everyone would get more sleep as we settled into
our routine.
This was the first day that we found water in the bilge – 1
litre which we traced back to a leak in the rudder. Only a slight concern at
the time since the water leak from the rudder appeared as one small drop every
minute or so – we could live with that.
Pasta for dinner because the sea made it impossible to cook
anything better!
Day 4 -Thursday
We found 4 litres of water in the bilge and the leak was
still small but increasing. We took advice from the boat builder via email
about the cause and his advice was to head to a safe port and get the rudder bearings
checked. We had our first crew conference and decided that we would continue
and monitor the amount of water, partly because of a new storm developing over
the Canaries would have made going back very difficult, if not impossible.
Sarah suggested that we head for Cap Verde which meant we
could continue to monitor the problem with an option (and our only option) to
go into Cap Verde 500 miles south if the problem did get worse. We discussed
the fact leaks only get worse and never better but we had no option other than
to go to Cap Verde in any case because of the weather. We also started to
discuss our contingency plans to have ready in case the leak worsened further.
Weather continued to be overcast and not very warm so we had
to wear jackets for much of the time. The sea was also a challenge as waves
came from different direction causing the boat to rock side to side as the
waves hit us. The sea continued to build as the storm had moved further South
which created a heavy swell.
A pod of 15 dolphins joined us at dusk as we were preparing
dinner, swimming alongside and playfully jumping out of the water to show off.
Dolphins are meant to be a sign of good luck, however on this occasion I am not
sure they were for us. It was a 20 minute peaceful and still moment
We ate one of our prepared meals that night – a Boeuf
bourgignon for dinner (prepared by Catherine the week before departure) which
did wonders for crew morale.
Day 4 - Friday
A check on the bilge showed we had taken on 8 litres of
water in the past 24 hours so it was getting worse. We had no doubt that we
needed to get to Cap Verde as quickly as possible and we emailed the ARC
organisers to inform them of our predicament. The stress levels rose visibly on
the boat as we now had to consider contingency plans for pumping out large
volumes of water if the leak worsened or we encountered structural damage
caused by the waves on the rudder.
We devised two methods of pumping out large volumes of water
should the worse happen. One involved connecting the water intake from the
generator directly into the engine bilge and the other diverting the manual
bilge pump into the engine compartment. Grab Bag was reviewed and finalised,
AIS personal monitors were checked,
The crew were brilliant and took it in their stride – we all
slept with life jackets close at hand and monitored the leak every 6 hours. We
also set up a twice daily update with the ARC in case we did need urgent
assistance. Spirits were generally as upbeat as possible, although everyone was
mentally strained and exhausted.
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| Martin losing a fish after a long fight! |
So despite a high level of stress, Andy and Martin took to
fishing in the afternoon and nearly caught a fish - it took them half an hour
to lose it!
Day 5 - Saturday
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| Catherine reading in 4m swell |
While the swell was now over 4 metres the waves were much
less steep and the leak went down to four litres over the last 24 hours. It
meant that the water leak had been worsened by the steep waves and the forecast
was for the waves to lessen over the next couple of days. Still we had 300
miles to go but the crew were much more relaxed now. We had our first really
enjoyable day sailing in the trade winds with some good sunshine. Catherine sat
at the back reading the newspaper while listening to music almost oblivious to the
huge swell coming in behind.
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| Andy on fishing duties |
Andy and Martin set up the fishing rod and caught
the first of the two fish – a mackerel which 3 hours later had been cooked as
part of dinner. This was followed by a lamb stew that Martin prepared. It was
much warmer now we were further south and we were in tee shirt and shorts
overnight.
First squall experience in the middle of the night, wind
suddenly increased from 15 knots to 30 with driving rain. Catherine and Sarah
were on watch and coped with it without any fuss – although they did look like
drowned rabbits! We continued to be hit with 5-6 squalls each night over the
next two days.
Andy was fishing off the back of the boat with his legs over
the side when he saw a shark in the water which he pointed out to me. I have
never seen anyone jump up so quickly! He also blamed the shark for losing yet
another fish off the line together with the lure. The other crew were sceptical
that it was a shark but we know what we saw!
Day 6 - Sunday
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| Catherine's first fish |
Waves now abating as the storm over the Canaries moved North
and the leak stabilised to 4 litres a day. Catherine took over the fishing rod
and caught a good size Mahi Mahi which was served as part of dinner three hours
later. Again a very relaxed day and we further enjoyed some good sailing in
pleasant conditions.
Catherine decided that Pizza would be a good option for
dinner and made the dough for the Pizza base. She prepared individual Pizzas to
order giving a range of options that Pizza Express would have been proud of.
This was prepared in fairly rocky seas which made standing up a challenge let
alone cooking 5 individual pizzas.
Day 7 Monday
We motored over night for a few hours so that we would reach
Sao Vincente in daylight. The last thing we needed was to come into an unknown
marina in the dark when we did not have detailed charts for the area. We had to
rely on the Pilot book to guide us in together with the GPS to give us an exact
position. Another good day sail although we motored through light winds to
maintain a day light arrival.
Arrived at 6pm with much relief. Now we just needed to sort
out how we fixed the boat. But first we had a good few beers and found a very
nice restaurant where we could relax and have some good food.
All we have to do now is get the boat fixed!
