Sailing the Atlantic - 2019 Part 2
From Las Palmas Gran Canaria to St Lucia Winter 2019
We are now Mid-Atlantic and counting down the nautical miles to our destination of St Lucia in the West Indies. The view from the cockpit doesn’t really change, just a vast ocean all around and an even bigger sky, as far as the eye can see and nothing around us except us.
Fresh Food
This is when the simple things grow so much in importance to daily life. The provisioning by Ann & Emily in Las Palmas was meticulous. All fresh fruit & vegetables were individually wrapped in newspaper and placed in baskets securely fixed in the forward cabin. Eggs were stored in a way that would allow them to be turned every day to stop them from going bad. The fridge was rammed with pre-packed meats, vacuum packed fresh pasta, fizzy water, cans of soft drinks & Beer.
This hard work and attention to detail is now paying off. We are eating just as we would at home, but the one communal meal eaten together, is now the focal point of each day. The china plates are in their cupboard, stuffed with towels, spare tee shirts and anything that will stop them clunking together, as the boat speeds towards her destination. Instead, we are eating from what we affectionately call ‘dog bowls’. These are high sided garish coloured plastic bowls, that keep the food inside. Cooking is done on a gimble & fiddled gas cooker and a microwave. Cooking anything in sea like this is hazardous. We use a pressure cooker, sometimes without the seal and just the lid on, to keep the contents inside, should the pot should decide to part company with the cooker.
The Weather
This middle week of this passage has brought a lot of squall activity. The upside is the speeds are high and the daily mileage is racking up, but it takes it’s toll on the crew. We have changed the watch system to ensure that at night there are two people on watch at the same time. We can’t afford to have an accident happen that is caused by fatigue or a badly made decision. Some days are better than others and gradually the squalls go back to being manageable by one person and things start to get back to what is our new normal. As we pass the 1000 miles to go mark on the chart, Ann brought out a bottle of Brandy which we mix with cold Coke and a slice of lemon, to cheer this milestone achievement. Just one.
Last night was one of squalls, big seas and strong winds. Fortunately all was from behind, but we would just get the boat set up, running lovely with her two poled out headsails. No sooner would the sky darken hiding the light from the moon, the wind speed increase quite dramatically as the rainy squall passed through. It was exhilarating in a scary sort of way.
The seas were running behind at around 3 to 4 meters but higher at times. As the wind started to increase, so would the boat's speed. Looking back at the following seas, the blackness of the water blanked out the milky horizon until it was much higher than that of the boat. The foaming wave crests could be seen and heard as they grew closer to the stern. The transom then lifted as if to let the wave pass underneath as Summerwinds propelled herself down the wave with great speed and arrow straight accuracy. Although we have done a lot of sailing over the years, this never fails to fill me with a sense of awe, especially as the nearest land to us is Brazil over 1400 miles away.
Mid Atlantic
Our Sailing Position
We are currently sailing downwind with two headsails both poled out with separate poles. We have the mainsail up with three reefs in and cranked down tight centrally. The wind and sea are from behind. The sails are pulling us forward and reefing is very easy. Just ease the sheets, pull in a few turns of the drum rope and the sails open & close up like curtains. The purpose of the mainsail is to counter against rolling and stopping us broaching as we run down these big seas.
Since running with this configuration, we have found other benefits. We have long had a metallic clunking from inside the boom when the mainsail slatted from side to side. We have spoken to riggers, suggested perhaps it was something to do with the reefing mechanism inside. They said no, but it was always a mystery. A couple of mornings ago out popped a 2m length of 1" stainless steel tube. Ann wouldn't let me throw it away, so it’s now strapped on deck. Yesterday out popped my long lost fibreglass rod that I used to get the reefing pennants in, when they got pulled out one winter by mistake. Today we got another little present. Out popped an 8 foot length of 1" square solid teak trim. We are still pulling out remnants of a massive bird’s nest from last winter in the Azores.
Don't know what to expect next.
Land At last!
Finally we round the headland, the waters become calmer and we can hear the sound of life on the island, the hum of cars and calypso music coming from the seaside bars & cafes. We enter the marina, get allocated a berth, tie up our amazing old boat and jump ashore. We have done it. We have just crossed another ocean!
