Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 16, Reaching the Halfway Point.

To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.

Day 13

Thursday, February 10, 2022, 11:05AM

SOG 6.0knts

We have wind! We are sailing wing on wing, the mainsail has a single reef in it and is out to port, the staysail is poled out, with the Jockey pole to starboard.

There was discussion yesterday whether it was “wing to wing”, “wing on wing” or ”wing and wing”. I have heard wing to wing, and wing on wing, I have never heard wing and wing. When I have internet access and on the off chance I remember this topic, I will look it up to see what the actual term is supposed to be. I digress, as I said we are sailing, heading west, close to our exact halfway point. Historically the first half, which we have completed, is the slow half, lighter, flukier winds with the boat heading south even though your destination is west. If all goes well we should be in Guadalupe in 11ish days.

Officially, according to several websites, it’s “wing-on-wing”.

Winds and seas are still predicted to increase over the next couple of days, followed by favorable wind speeds for the rest of the journey.

We are out of gin!

Up to now the weather has been quite benign, as wind and waves pick up, I’m sure our Cocktail Hour will either lessen or we will lose the cocktail part of the hour.

No fish hooked since the big one that got away, we have caught some plastic and a lot of seaweed. So much seaweed that we have reeled in the line until we get out of the seaweed patches.

Dennis made wraps for lunch, chicken and coleslaw.

I did dinner last night, seared rib-eye steaks with pepper-onion-tangerine-Worcestershire sauce, carrots and roasted potatoes. The potatoes were the star of the show, potatoes, garlic, EVOO, smoked paprika and salt; roasted on high, great. The steaks themselves, not so good, typical Spanish steak, very little intramuscular fat, a bit tough, not a lot of flavor.

Too lean (equals dry) Spanish beef rib-eye steak.

Cocktail Hour, as previously mentioned we finished off the gin. Jens served up some cured smoked tuna- Tuna Jerky; weird texture, it will definitely not be a future go-to item. Spanish White Anchovies, love’em. Iberico Ham, so good, Jens exclaimed how the it tasted “nutty” and I explained how pigs used to make real Iberico Ham are fed a diet of almost exclusively chestnuts and black acorns giving the ham the nutty flavor that Jens pointed out, as well as a dark, almost purple color to the meat. It was wonderful.

I just opened and read my kids letters. Cate’s was very sweet, written in different colors with a girly flourish. Shane’s on the other hand was much longer, not nearly as sweet, lots of profound language, starts off his letter by referring to me as a “Fuckhead”, rants a bunch in the middle about football, skiing and about how much he expects that I will be looking forward to a beer when we arrive in Guadeloupe. In closing he signs off as Tommy Chong, does he think I won’t get the reference or is he trying to bust my balls? I’ll go with the latter. Both kids have always shown their love in different ways, their letters epitomize this. I love them both the same.

No dolphins in a couple of days.

I made another loaf of Focaccia yesterday, I flavored it with green olives, freeze-dried basil and sunflower seeds.

John swabbed out the bilge, checked and added some oil to the engine as well as checked the engine coolant level.

We have used more than half of the fuel on board, hopefully we won’t need to use the engine often during the remainder of our voyage. As a precaution, to conserve diesel we are going to run the gas generator on deck to recharge the batteries, instead of using the boat’s engine to do it.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 12, Making Water and Catching Fish

Apr16

Day 9

Sunday, February 6, 2022, 12:04

SOG 6.1kts

It’s officially the longest sail I have ever been on, second was the delivery of Tiger from Bermuda to Antigua with Neil and Ronel Holtzhausen on their C&C 41, in November of 2007.

A sistership to Tiger and Bermuda to Antigua map with distance.

We had a very busy day yesterday. After I showered, a boat shower, using very little water. It was determined that we needed to make water, not an easy task, though well worth the effort.

To run the watermaker we had to set up the generator; the other boat charging systems, including the boat’s diesel engine, do not produce enough power to run the watermaker. We emptied out the “pit”, where the generator is stowed of enough stuff to access it. We pulled out bags of clean linens that we weren’t using and a couple of duffle bags. Once we had clear access to the generator, we pulled it up on deck, filled its gas tank and lashed it onto the poop deck. It started right up and was attached to Avocet’s power, producing the necessary power.

To run the watermaker, which is also locaed in the “pit”, it is a multi-step process, first we have to open the thru-hull fitting allowing saltwater into the watermaker. I climbed into the pit so that I could increase/decrease the pressure of the water going into the watermaker. John handled the switches at the Nav-Station, turning on the power, priming the system and then turning on the pump that forces the water through multiple very fine filters and a reverse osmosis thingy, to desalinate the seawater. Within seconds of John powering the pump there was a POP, then there was a loose hose with water pouring out of it. I yelled to stop the system, which John did. The problem was obvious and I caught it within seconds. We didn’t open the discharge valve for the excess water that was being desalinated to escape overboard. I yelled down for a screwdriver and in about two minutes we were back in business. Discharge valve is now open, we restarted the process, it went off without a hitch. In about two hours we had a full tank of fresh water. We kept the generator running for another hour to recharge the house batteries.

We are constantly adjusting the sails. The wind speed and wind direction determine which sails we use and how we adjust them to best capture the wind keeping Avocet moving in the right direction at decent speed.

My feet, while I was chilling on the foredeck looking aft.

John set up a Jockey pole for use with the stay sail, it’s to be used in the same manner as the whisker pole, same thing only smaller, adjusting the foresails’ clew, keeping it where we want it.

On the Thursday before our departure we went to three stores looking for cornstarch, and we struck out. Going through the galley cabinet I found an unopened box. John had brought a third checked bag at a cost of $200, full of food. My first thought when he told us about his $200 bag was- y’know they have stores in Lanzarote, right. My second thought was you paid $200 to bring $40 worth of food with you, why? So far out of that bag I have used bread flour, whole wheat flour, yeast and when I heat up the chicken coconut soup I will use that damned cornstarch to slightly thicken it.

We opened the cooler that Dennis and I filled with vacuum sealed meals that we froze in Lanzarote. It was just as we expected it to be after a week- nothing was frozen, though it was all still cold. Dennis emptied Avocet’s drop-in refrigerator and I passed him down, through one of the deck hatches, most of the food that was in the cooler. He layered as much as he could in the refrigerator, leaving just mashed potatoes, carrots and mushrooms in hopes of using them before they became fish food.

The photo of the cooler full of hopefully still frozen vacuum sealed bags of food we made in Lanzarote that I have used several times already.

We are down to the onboard refrigerator as our only way to keep food cold. There is no more ice except for the few cubes that are made each day by the refrigerator. Those cubes are necessary for crew morale…cocktail hour. We are using one of the empty coolers for storage and another has mine and Dennis’ laundry in it with detergent and water, the boat’s movement is agitating it. A little later we will rinse with salt water and then with fresh water before hanging it to dry.

Just before cocktail hour we hooked a fish, Dennis yelled “fish”, John responded and went on deck to help if needed. I was filling my water bottle and did not hear him, Jens was in the galley with headphones on and did not hear him either. As I climbed up on deck through the companionway, I saw Dennis lifting a small Mahi Mahi into the cockpit. It flapped a bit and got some blood splatter in the cockpit sole, Dennis dispatched it of its life and we went on to enjoy our Cocktail Hour. Sliced tomatoes, Parmigiano-Reggiano and boquerones drizzled with EVOO. Washed down with gin and tonic for Dennis, John and I; Jens as usual opted for some Irish whisky and soda.

Cocktails out of the way Dennis went below to finish putting dinner together: Tagine with shrimp and chicken served over couscous.

While Dennis was below, I filleted the fish, throwing the head, bones, guts and skin overboard. We were left with two nice, yet small fillets, I think it will be just enough for tomorrow night’s dinner. We gave the cockpit a good cleaning and we were ready to go on to tonight’s dinner, with a second round of drinks and a half a gummy to wash it all down.

The small Mahi Mahi that Dennis caught bloodying up the cockpit.

Dennis served up the tagine, we ate, listened to music and chatted until about 9:30PM, which was great because I had the first watch, which was now half over.

Nothing happened during the rest of my watch and at 11PM I went below for another solid 7 hours of sleep.

During the night John got an updated weather report from Chris Parker. Chris is the Chief Forecaster at The Marine Weather Center and has been helping mostly small private boats with weather forecasts and routing advice since 2010. He told us that we should head south for an additional three hundred miles before heading west again. This was so we could avoid a couple of days of very light winds followed by a day of heavy wind and seas. Going south should provide more consistent wind and smaller seas. This is all good, at some point we were going to have to go further south in order to line up on Guadeloupe’s latitude.

I am in the process of making another loaf of focaccia, this one with some whole wheat flour, green olives and rosemary mixed into the dough.

I also made some chicken apple salad to eat whenever.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 11, Watch Changes and Baking Bread.

Apr15

Day 7 and 8

Friday, February 4, 2022, 12:26PM

SOG 5.7 knots

Sails are set wing on wing.

This morning John decided to change our watches, based on forecasted fair weather nights, from 2 people for 4 hours to 1 person for 3 hours, which will give each of us more time to sleep longer at night.

While I napped the others cleaned out the pilot berth, a single berth usually at the widest part of the boat, up high, tucked just under the deck. The berth is designed to keep its occupant snug, well protected during rough sea conditions as well as within close access to the cockpit. On most of the boats I’ve been on, the pilot berth is either used for storage or has been converted to cabinets, bookshelves or a combination of the two.

Different uses for a pilot berth.

The purpose of the berth cleanout is with the new watch system we would each have our own berth. Dennis and I have been sharing a berth, now we will each have our own. The cons of the pilot berth are that it’s located right in the middle of the salon, so it’s noisy and active, as well as it’s a pain in the ass to climb into and out of and I’m not as spry as I used to be. The pro is that you have your own berth.

Jens out did himself with last night’s dinner, Date-Walnuts-Manchego Stuffed Baked Pork Tenderloin with Broccoli and Basmati rice. Cocktail hour was shrimp with the Canary Island Red Sauce, quite good store bought guacamole, tortilla chips, manchego and crackers. It was really good.

I made some focaccia dough this morning, I will bake it later today.

We still haven’t opened the cooler with all the food that Dennis and I made in Lanzarote. We figure even if it’s not still frozen, it should at the very least still be cold. We’ll see.

Day 8

Saturday, February 5, 2022, 9:13AM

6.0 knots SOG

Later today will mark the first week of our crossing complete, after a rough start, it’s been fairly mellow.

The fuel tank still leaks a little. The leak is on the top of the tank where there are three see-through windows that Gary the mechanic at the marina in Puerto Calero “fixed”. Yesterday John applied another bead of Phil Swift’s Flex Seal around each window. That combined with keeping the tank no more than three quarters full has made a big difference. John has diligently sponged out the bilge of diesel each day with less to mop up as we progress.

When I dragged my ass out of my bunk after 7 hours of fitful sleep, thanks to the new watch system, which I did from 11PM until 2AM, John and Dennis pointed out the obvious, our clocks were wrong.

According to yesterday’s time it was getting dark close to 9PM and getting light a little after 9AM. I made a half-hearted argument that we should keep the time the same to enjoy cocktail hour and dinner during the light hours and who cares if it’s not light until 9 AM. I was debunked, we switched our clocks to the correct local time. We will now have to start our evening festivities a bit earlier each night.

We officially made our turn to the west yesterday, as of this morning we have a tick under two thousand miles, as the crow flies, to reach the waypoint outside of Guadeloupe’s main harbor.

Our GPS shows we are a couple of hundred
miles north of the Cape Verde Islands

Each day, during all daylight hours we have been fishing, well, we set up the rod with a lure and let it out. The only catch so far was a piece of plastic on Wednesday afternoon. We will make the same effort each day, however the probability of catching something before we close in on the Caribbean is highly unlikely.

I’m halfway through reading my fourth book, which is about double the amount of books I’ve read in the last 6 months. Fortunately I downloaded my Kindle with several books before departure. Here is what I’ve read so far:

In Her Tracks, by Robert Dugoni

Invisible, by James Patterson and David Ellis

Boy Underground, by Catherine Ryan Hyde

I’m half way through- The Last green Valley, by Mark Sullivan

The sky was incredible last night. The stars were right there, so bright, you could reach them, it felt as though we were sailing through them.

Looks like today will be shower/laundry day. Dennis had the great idea of turning one of our empty coolers into a clothes washing bin. Load it with clothes, salt water and soap; lash the lid down and let the boats motion do the work, rinse in freshwater, wring them out, hang’em to dry. Avocet will look a single-wide on a summer afternoon, when mom’s not too hungover.

We are planning on opening the cooler with the pre-prepared meals in it today, I’ll let you know how that works out later.

We have made a few sail changes, nothing major. During my watch, with a following breeze of 17-25 knots. We were flying a double reefed mainsail and a reefed furling jib. We were moving along great 6.5+ knots without too much movement. The only issue was the jib, being blocked by the main, was flapping quite a bit. I debated my choices- turn up 20’, filling the jib with the change of wind angle. Turn down 20’ and put the jib out on the starboard side keeping the mainsail out on the port, wing on wing. The third option, which John pointed out when he checked in with me, was to just roll up the jib and be done with it, which is what we did. We lost less than .5 knots of speed, we also lost the noise of the jib and its accompanying gear flapping around and gained the comfort of a flatter boat.

Once again we didn’t suffer with our dinner last night-

Cocktail Hour- Shrimp with Crunchy Chili Oil, Guacamole with Tortilla Chips and Smoked Cod with Crackers.

Jens was once again our dinner chef- Soy Marinated Pork Medallions with Tangerines, Baked Potato, Coleslaw and Corn, along with some of my homemade Focaccia.

John is now running the engine three times a day to ensure that we have the needed power, especially for “Iron Mike ” the autopilot and the refrigerator which has the ability to make a couple of trays of ice per day, the perfect amount for our cocktail hour.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 10, Up the Mast

Apr14

Day 6

Thursday, February 3, 2022, 1:09PM

SOG 5.7kts

A lot of shit going on this morning. We started with light winds, just about 3 knots, so we decided that we should take the trysail down. The trysail is a small, usually brightly colored sail, much smaller than even a triple reefed mainsail. Its purpose is to be used in heavy wind situations. We pulled it up yesterday, in the afternoon when the winds were hanging in the 20’s with gust expect to be even higher, just as a precaution going into the overnight; changing sails at night is not usually fun, and can be dangerous.

The trysail wouldn’t budge; it should easily slide down on it’s own independent track with little resistance. Both John and I tried pulling with all our might, and our weight to pull it down, no go. Next we added a downhaul, a line used to as its name indicates down haul something. We attached the downhaul to the sail tack, the bottom front corner onto a winch, still wouldn’t budge. On to our next solution, I would go up the mast in a boatswain’s chair, basically a canvas harness that you sit in while someone, using a winch, pulls you up the mast.

In a boatswain’s chair jut above the first spreader.

While I get myself situated in the chair, John puts together the tools I may need, as well as grabbing the electric winch handle. It looks and works like a high powered, high torque, low speed drill. I tied the spinnaker halyard directly to the boatswain chair, not trusting the shackle, not just this shackle, but any shackle to hold. Direct line, with the shackle as a backup failsafe is the way to go.

Using the electric winch, John got me about six feet off the deck, and I stopped. John yells up to me “battery is dead, let me get the other one”. So I’m suspended there, rocking with the boat, steadying myself with the port inner shroud in my left hand and other secured halyards in my right, with my feet fending off whatever when necessary as the boat sways. John made it back on deck, replaced the battery, and up I go…about three inches, “fuck, looks like we’re doing it manually”, I here John exclaim; the back up battery was also dead. By this time, even though the boatswain chair was digging into my nether regions below and my chest up high, I was getting somewhat comfortable with my surroundings.

John slowly raised me to the top of the trysail and I started pushing each glide down. Surprisingly none of them were stuck, it just seemed to be the culmination of all the glides needing to be lubed with spray-on a graphite lubricant. From the top I pushed each glide a few inches at a time down the track as John lowered me in unison. At first it was just a few inches at a time, then a foot at a time, then two, then John was able to pull the sail free of the track and lower me to the deck. At this point if it weren’t 10AM I would have had a beer.

John lubed the track and the glides, we folded the sail, put it into its sail bag and stowed it below decks.

We caught our breath and had some water, the wind picked up, so we had to stop slacking and put up some sails. Which we did, we pulled out the jib on the starboard side, decided it would be better, for our heading, to switch it to the port side, so we pulled it in so we could let it back out on the port side. Then it was time to pull up the mainsail, we tried to do that but we needed to turn into the wind to do so. To keep the jib from flapping around while we pulled up the mainsail, we once again had to pull in the jib. Jib in, head into the wind, mainsail up, turn down, jib out, and we’re off and going.

Last night’s dinner was another Jens job, breaded baked chicken, coleslaw and basmati rice. As usual it was quite good.

It’s time to mention Cocktail Hour- Most nights before dinner we have had the civilized occasion of a cocktail, some light snacks and some conversation. It really is something to look forward to each day. Our cocktails today were for Dennis, John and I, Gin and Tonic. Jens went with Jameson and soda. The nibbles were crab salad and smoked gouda with crackers. We’re still not suffering.

I had the midnight to 4AM watch, with little wind we motored the whole watch, no other traffic on the AIS.

As I have experienced other long distance blue water sails it was time to start the: “Guess what time we will arrive” contest. After much debate and lobbying from John and I to have the rules be whoever comes closest to the time of arrival in Guadeloupe wins, that’s it, none of this “without going over” shit, which would favor the last person choosing. Whoever wins doesn’t have to pay for dinner or drinks the first night in port. Oh yeah, I won the guessing game for the Marblehead to Halifax Race on Avocet in 2017.

These are our “official” guesses-

John 2/20 @6PM

Dennis 2/22 @11:47AM

Peter 2/23 @10AM

Jens 2/20 @6AM

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 9, Getting Clean, Adjusting Sails and Testing the Brownies.

Apr13

Days 4 and 5

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

25’25.468N 18’10.313W 10:30AM
402nm made good

I’m clean! First shower on board, first shower since Saturday morning, which isn’t too bad. Light trailing winds and moderate seas make showering an easy task. Oh yeah…I pooped for the first time at about 4:30AM, now that was momentous, I was getting backed up. Had success again at 9:30AM today, I’m on a roll…well using one anyway. Okay no more poo talk for the duration of the trip, unless….

During the day yesterday Dennis and John filled the fuel tank using 15 gallons from the auxiliary jugs we filled in Lanzarote. 15 gallons for more than 30 hours of engine operation is not bad, less than .5 gallons per hour.

The same photo of the diesel jugs I’ve used before.

In the Afternoon John checked the engine fluid levels, all seemed to be good.

Jens made Chicken Piccata-ish with baked potatoes and broccoli for dinner. It was quite good, making me think about how much Colleen and Shane love their Chicken Piccata.

Nothing to report about the overnight, Dennis and Jens saw a ship pass during their first watch, that was about all the excitement.

Jen’s made smoked salmon, veggie, cheese frittata for breakfast. I’m gonna have to step into the galley at some point to help Jens out. Keep in mind the galley is a one person at a time size. Dennis and I have been helping with clean-up and when it comes to utilizing all of the food that we prepared at Villa Azul in Lanzarote. We will step up to the plate helping Jens keep us fed.

The food that Dennis and I prepared is all in a cooler lashed to the deck, just forward of the mast. When we packed the cooler everything was frozen solid in vacuum seal bags, hopefully they are still frozen solid, no one has opened the cooler yet, that will probably happen tomorrow.

Cooler filled with the food that we prepared at Villa Azule.

Light rain and light winds so far today, though…

John just yelled down the companionway that we have some thunder and squalls coming, that should be interesting, hopefully not too interesting. He doesn’t seem concerned, that helps with any anxieties I may claim not to have.

Day 5

Wednesday, February 2, 2022,

23’57.776N 20’49.415W 3:35PM
542 nm made good.

COG (Course Over Ground) 240’m

SOG (Speed Over Ground) 6+kts

With the wind almost directly behind us, we are sailing “wing on wing”. The main sail is out almost to the spreaders to port and the jib is poled out with the whisker pole to starboard. This point of sail will give you both decent speed and a flat ride. You just have to make sure you keep the sails full, the main sail with the boom, if not lashed down properly, in a jibe, could fly across to the opposite side of the boat causing substantial damage to the boat or anyone’s head that happened to be in the way.

Later in the day the wind and seas have picked up substantially, 20 knots plus sustained, gusts to 27 knots. Seas my guess are running upwards of 10 feet. We adjusted our course slightly and changed our sail format from wing on wing to a starboard tack with both sails out to port. Switching the main to the trysail, rolling in the jib and pulling up the stay sail.

Jens cooked some steaks and roasted potatoes for dinner. Did I mention, I need to step up my galley game. Jens is doing too much, he doesn’t seem to mind, but I want to help.

Winds have calmed down a bit, the forecast looks good, we have decided to leave the small sails, the trysail and stay sail, up to deal with changing them tomorrow morning during daylight. John wants to test the brownies. As a loyal crew member, I didn’t want John to have to try them on his own, so I “volunteered” to join him; I am a real team player. Remembering the “advice” from the shopkeeper in Lanzarote, we cut that in half. John had about a quarter of a brownie and I had about an eighth. It was plenty, that shit was strong, nothing over the top, no sea monster hallucinations or anything like that, just a nice glow.

With our slightly altered minds, we had an uneventful watch. Talking, looking around and eventually I could concentrate enough to read.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 8, Settling In

Apr12

Day 3,

Monday, January 31, 2022

26’15.006N 16’44.206W 4:00PM
237nm made good

Last night and today have been much less eventful than the previous 24 hours.

Jens is still hanging in the galley, sandwiches for lunch, roasted potatoes, carrots and soy marinated seared pork medallions for dinner last night, yeah, food wise, we are not suffering.

During my first watch last night with light wind and flat seas we motor throughout it. The biggest excitement was seeing two fishing boats on the AIS system (Automatic Information System). We could see the lights from one of them, when they came within 1.6 miles of us. I read on my Kindle, looking around, at all of the instruments and the horizon between each chapter. I think John was able to get about 2 hours of sleep, which was great, he has been going strong since long before our departure.

I crashed from 12:45 until 3:45 when I got up to relieve Dennis and Jens for my second watch. When John and I came on deck there was another fishing boat passing 1.2 miles in front of us. Before sunrise, just after 7AM, it was much the same. I read, looked around, John slept, I read some more and looked around.

Even with full foul weather gear I was surprisingly chilled to the bone. I’m sure the temps were in the low fifties, however, being stagnant, just sitting in one place for several hours, the chill creeps in.

At sun up we shook out the reefs in the main, going from double reefed to full main. Avocet is equipped with the ability to put three reefs in the main, making it smaller or larger to adjust for different wind conditions. With a little bit more wind in the air, we also pulled out the jib. There was enough wind to fill the sails, but not enough to power Avocet more than 3 knots, so we kept the motor running, pushing us along at close to 6 knots.

Dennis arrived on deck at around 8:30AM with coffee for us. After coffee, we deployed the Whisker Pole, a 5” diameter aluminum pole used to keep the clew of the jib, the lower aft point of a sail, where you want it to be. It is attached to the mast on an up-down adjustable car. At the jib clew there are lines used to adjust the clew of the jib, up, down, forward and aft. The idea is to set it in a position, whereas, even with the pitch and yaw of the boat the jib will remain in a position to best capture the wind.

Sunrise with the whisker pole rigged and ready.

While John, Dennis and I were busy on deck Jens prepared breakfast, scrambled eggs with sauteed green peppers and onions, toast, seared leftover meatballs and some jarred Spanish Verde sauce, along with a hit of guava juice.

After brushing, flossing and medicating, I hit the V-berth for a needed nap. I woke to the quiet of no engine, the wind had picked up enough for us to be doing better than 5 knots. I also woke to a dressed lunch salad of lettuce, tomatoes, croutons, smoked sockeye salmon, thanks Jens.

Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 7, Fuzzy Heads From Diesel Fumes.

Apr11

Day 2

Sunday, January 30, 2022

27’37.55N 14’78.96W 1:25PM
137nm made good.

A lot has happened since yesterday’s entry. We departed Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain at 3:41PM into 10 foot swells, not breaking, with about 20 knots of wind. Steve and Victor were there to see us off, there was even a band playing on the opposite shore, which I will tell myself that they were there to send us off in style, most likely it was a wedding reception.

A dream boat with a band playing on the patio behind them as we departed Puerta Calero.

Just before departing, I called Colleen and the kids. I was able to talk to them individually, it was great. We talked about how I am quite “nervecited”, It’s a long trip, a lot could go wrong, as well as I will probably have many exciting experiences to share. At the same time, it’s a long trip and I am going to (already do) miss them very much. We also talked about the “nor’easter” that they were dealing with, expected 18 inches of snow. I’m somewhat glad I don’t have to deal with that, at the same time I wish I was there to enjoy the experience of a couple of snow days with them, shoveling, a fire in the fireplace, some great food, a nice bottle (or two) of wine and my pretty awesome family, I’d be digging that too.

Nor’easter that hit the Boston area with upwards of 24″ of snow on January 30, 2022

After a bit of shaking down, getting acclimated, we were sailing a very respectable average of 6.5 knots. Unfortunately as the day progressed the wind regressed.

About an hour into the sail John checked on the seals on the starboard midship diesel tank which he had the boat yard in Puerto Calero replace. They were leaking like a sieve, copious amounts of diesel were flowing into the bilge. Below decks smelled like a fuel spill. Not the way I was hoping the trip would start.

The leaking new seals on the fuel tanks.

As usual, John jumped into action doing dealing with initial clean-up, while figuring out the best way to deal with the situation. He found a tube of Flex-Seal (thanks Phil Swift) and with some effort, by globbing a ton of Phil’s black sealant around in the area where the new seals were supposed to be working, he was able to turn the flow into a dribble. Keep in mind we filled the tanks just before departure, so they were full, to the point of expanding, which will hopefully mean that as we use fuel the likelihood of leaking will diminish to nil.

John and Jens syphoned and sponged out the bilge while Dennis and I sailed the boat.

It was pushing 8PM when they finished cleaning up the diesel mess, I’m sure it will have to be done again later today, as well as another application of Flex-Seal. That combined with running the engine for a few hours in an effort to empty the tank a bit, will hopefully keep this problem to a minimum and John can address it in Guadeloupe.

Jens, who had been below breathing the fumes for the past several hours decided it was time for dinner. At this point I would have passed up a few bags of chips and said “have at it guys”. Not Jens, amongst the cloud of diesel mist Jens cooked us meatballs with curry powder, Basmati rice and sliced dressed cucumbers. His effort was very appreciated.

We started our watch schedule Dennis and Jens went from 8PM to 12PM, John and I from Midnight to 4AM and then back to Dennis and Jens from 4AM to 8AM. I was able to sleep for most of the 4 hour break between watches. I’m sure we will switch watch times tonight and after a while switch watch partners.

With a gentle nudge, Jens wook me up for my watch at 11:55PM. I had set my alarm, which went off at 11:45PM as it was set to. I was just sluggish getting my ass out of my bunk (diesel fumes?), currently, the V-berth that I have been “hot-bunking” with Dennis. Don’t get the wrong idea, Dennis and I are sharing a bunk only when the other has vacated it. I love my little brother, but not like that.

During the first hour of our watch John decided to start the engine so that we could charge the battery. It started right up and ran perfectly for about 5 minutes before it sputtered to a stop. FUCK!!! It sounded like a fuel issue, with tank seals being replaced, I was thinking what could have possibly gotten into the fuel to cause the engine to stop? Can we drain, clean or replace the filters? I didn’t know. John had just gotten a bunch of work done to the engine at the same Puerto Calero boatyard that did the faulty repairs to the fuel tank. Which made me think, what else did they mess up?

Meanwhile, the GPS display starts flashing on and off. Double FUCK!!!

John and I sat in the cockpit contemplating our options, to start making repairs right then, even though we didn’t know what we were doing, head towards Grand Canary Island and abort our trip or keep going without an engine? Going without an engine would be difficult, not only because of the obvious- during the times that you need to propel the boat through the water without sails, you were out of luck. Also, it’s the main power source for the boat, sure Avocet is equipped with solar panels, a wind vane and even an auxiliary gas powered generator. The wind and solar by themselves don’t produce the energy needed to run all of the boat’s systems. The biggest draws of power being the refrigerator, if needed the water maker and also the much needed and lauded autopilot.

Adding the generator would help, but the generator is not a built in unit, we would have to pull it out of the “pit”, the large stowage area beneath the port cockpit seat. We would have to lash down the generator, pull start it and attach it to the boat’s electrical system. This of course would be a royal pain in the ass, not only could it only be done weather permitting. We would have to run it for about an hour, charge the batteries that power the electrical systems for the boat, we would have to do it twice a day, and to top it all off we would have to stow it back in the pit after each use. Otherwise it would be in the way and there would be a chance of swamping it with seawater.

While we were sitting there stressed to the gills, John said, “I think I know what it is” and he did. When he was swabbing out the bilge cleaning up he had to shut off the valve leading from the fuel tank to the engine. Remember that he did this. John went below and opened the valve, we were back in business.

As for the GPS display, we don’t know the cause of the blinking, but it seems to only happen right after shutting down the engine. I’m guessing that it’s some sort of change in voltage problem that settles down after a few minutes.

The rest of the watch was uneventful, serene, there was a beautiful star lit sky somewhat hidden behind the Sahara dust fog.

During the night we could see a distant lighthouse on the east coast of Fuerteventura, another one of the Canary Islands. It may be the last land based light we see until we arrive in the Caribbean.

At watch change Jens made a pot of coffee for us, he used some of the Guatemalan coffee that Steve brought for us, it was really good. Breakfast was more of Steve’s coffee and a store-bought premade Spanish Omelette, it was also quite good.

Hopefully we will settle into some smooth sailing tomorrow.

Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 6, Casting off.

Apr9

Puerta Calero Marina, Lanzarote, Spain.

Day 1

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Go day!

After another round of Steve’s coffee (this time Guatemalan), on the veranda Dennis and I met with John and Jens at the cafe in the marina. Dennis and I had the assignment of getting bottled water for the trip. Avocet already had, according to John’s notes, more than 180 liters stashed on board. It was determined we should get an additional 160 liters. We went to the little market at the marina, which, not surprisingly, because the Canary Islands are a jumping point for transatlantic crossings, had plenty of large jugs of water. The staff there seemed to think it was totally normal for someone to come in and buy 30 each 6ltr jugs of water, for those of you quick with math, yes, we went with 180 additional liters, instead of the predetermined 160 liters; too much fresh water would not be a problem.

Earlier in the day Jens returned John’s rental car to the airport, Steve would return ours when he went to the airport for his and Victor’s return flight home to Madrid.

Back on Avocet, we stashed the water, most of it went under the dropped down salon table.

James, the mechanic, met with John and went through the autopilot stuff. Things are looking good for an afternoon departure.

Dennis and I took one of the coolers to Villa Azul and loaded it with the bags of food that we prepared and froze. Fortunately everything was frozen solid, there was some concern, it did take full 2 days for it to all freeze. With the cooler filled, we grabbed our bags, gave the villa a once over and headed to Avocet.

Steve and Victor came with us, helped load the last of the goods on board.

In the mayhem of the last minute preparations, Dennis and I forgot to get more ice. We didn’t have much room for more ice, but we did have some and we should have gotten more. We were going to get it when we got the marina, but we figured there would be plenty of time to get it later, at the last minute…we didn’t, we forgot. Jens didn’t say anything, but you could tell he wasn’t too happy with our forgetfulness. He was right though, we should have prioritized the ice.

Steve and Victor joined us on the trip to the fuel dock. Victor even got to drive the boat, which I think he enjoyed. The plan was to fill the onboard fuel and water tanks as well as all of the auxiliary tanks that are attached to the lifelines along Avocet’s gunwales. The yellow jugs are for diesel, red for gasoline (generator, dinghy outboard) and clear are for water. Once the tanks were full we would depart.

Full diesel containers and one of our three very full external coolers.

Steve and Victor helped us cast off from the dock at 3:41PM. Our sailing trip of an expected 3100 miles and a time frame of 21 to 26 days has begun.

Our staring point, the fuel dock at Puerta Calero Marina.

Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 5, Final Preparations.

Apr8

Friday, January 28, 2022

Puerta Calero Marina, Lanzarote, Spain

We had a busy day today, starting on the veranda with some more of the Ethiopian coffee that Steve brought with him.

At 10:30AM we headed to Arrecife to find the Customs Office. Someone had told John where to go, so we followed him there. John and Jens in John’s rental, Dennis and I in ours.

We ended up at the Arrecife Police Station, where no one was of much help. Not much English spoken, along with the typical cop attitude, we were sent in circles. We eventually took it amongst ourselves to go to the marina, which was in close walking distance, to ask around there where we needed to go for customs. First stop was the “Information” kiosk, not much information was found there. On we went, subsequently John asked an obvious boater if they knew where we should go, she directed us to the Marina Office. The people in the office were very helpful, sending us about 5 miles by land or 200 meters by sea, to the shipping port, where the customs office was. John also was able to get the same address from the marina manager in Puerto de Calero, which we were able to put into our phones for GPS directions.

Eventually we found the right office in the right building, and we got our passports stamped and off we went.

Dennis and I headed to Avocet to organize whatever we coud. John and Jens went in search of a new third cooler and a gaff for fishing. We planned on meeting at the boat later. I dropped the car off at Villa Azule for Steve and Victor to use and Dennis and I headed to the marina.

We went through a lot of the provisions already on the boat, throwing out some obviously bad items, opened out-of-date products, small black bug riddled pasta and rice, and rancid oil. No real surprise, the boat has been sitting for months.

John and Jens soon returned with the cooler and gaff. It was decided that John and I would stay on Avocet, cleaning and organizing, while Dennis and Jens would go to the supermarket for provisions.

James, one of the mechanics from the marina, with John, changed the filters and went through the operations of the watermaker. It was running late, for James, so John and James agreed to meet in the morning to test and calibrate the operation of the autopilot.

When James left John and I got a lot done- we cleared the decks of all unneeded items. The big plastic jugs filled with diesel from Avocet’s tanks, which had to be emptied before the seals were replaced, needed to be poured back into the tanks. We took the anchor from the bow and put it into the pit along with the gas generator, duffle bags, linens, excess lines, amongst a whole lot of other stuff.

Diesel jugs and one of the three coolers.

Dennis and Jens filled their car with an absurd amount of food. It took well over an hour to find homes for all the food on Avocet. With every little cubby, hanging net hammocks were filled. It was getting late and we were hungry.

The Upper Deck closes at 10PM and it was 10PM, fortunately over the 2 weeks that John was in Puerta Calero he had forged a great relationship with the staff there and were well taken care of even though it was past there normal hours. Steve and Victor met us there. We finished our night with some food, beer and talk of tomorrow’s anticipated departure.

The crew with Steve and Victor at The Upper Deck Restaurant.

Our hope is to depart tomorrow afternoon. There are some final systems checks to be done, as well as topping off our tanks, getting bottled water and ice.

Doing the Atlantic- Chapter 2, Planning.

Apr1

For the best reading experience, read the chapters in order.

This is a short chapter about our planning to get to the starting point of our trip across the Atlantic, Puerta Calero, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain.

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Dennis and I booked our flights to Lanzarote. We will fly out of Boston on Monday, January 24 at 9PM, arriving in Lanzarote on Tuesday the 25th at 1:05PM with a short layover in Madrid. The plan is to meet up with John, who will arrive in Lanzarote on the 20th and do whatever needs doing to ready Avocet for departure. Avocet is on the hard awaiting John’s arrival. He has an insurance survey scheduled, he wants to test out the autopilot and the watermaker, I’m not sure if they are new, re-built or he just wants to test them after sitting on the hard for a few months. We also will use the time to provision the boat.

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Our Brother Steve and his son Victor are meeting us in Lanzarote. Steve and Victor live in Madrid and are making the trip to see us off. Because of COVID, I haven’t seen Victor in almost 3 years. Steve, I saw in October for the unfortunate occasion of our father’s funeral. Steve booked us a 3 bedroom villa in Puerto Calero, Lanzarote, a short walk from the marina where Avocet will be moored. Steve and Victor will be arriving on Wednesday the 26th and departing the following Sunday. So, we should be able to help provision AVOCET and have some quality family time.

Sunday, January 9, 2022

I am having my daughter, Caitlin, set up a Zoom meeting for tonight to go through any questions, concerns and expectations that we may have for our upcoming trip. I hope to get a grip on what we need to pack, answer questions on expected weather, ascertain what gear and safety equipment we may need as well as get John’s opinion on whether or not I should buy an In-Reach personal SOS communication device.

Monday, January 10, 2022

Dennis, John and I had a ZOOM meeting last night and reviewed the trip. It was a productive meeting, we talked about provisioning, gear, packing and other expectations. John informed us that he has tested positive for COVID. Jens did not take part in the Zoom meeting, John said he was unsure of his status, and he wanted to be sure that Dennis and I were okay with just the three of us doing the crossing. We are.

Update: John texted that Jens is a go, which is great.

2 weeks until our flights to the Canary Islands. The countdown has begun.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

I am thinking about using the trip as an excuse to get a small laptop. I can use it to write this journal as well as storing movies and music for the trip. I first thought that I would look into a Chromebook, but my son Shane shut me down on that- “they suck, they are like a large tablet with a keyboard”. I thought, well that seems like exactly what I want. After a bit more thought, I do want something with a Windows operating system, not google OS. So the search begins.

12 days until departure.

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Less than a week until we head out. I am now writing this on my new Lenovo 14” laptop. I’ve downloaded a couple of movies and plan on doing a few more. Music will follow.

I started a list of stuff to bring with me, it’s not too bad, about 70 items, including everything from socks, underwear, foul weather gear, Man Overboard (MOB) device, toiletries, medications, passport, towel, sunblock to proof of vaccination. It all has to fit into a medium sized duffle bag and a large-ish waterproof backpack, I think it will.

I also bought a vacuum sealer. The first couple of days in Lanzarote we are planning on making and freezing as much food as possible. A vacuum sealer will be great, we make, chill, bag, vacuum seal and freeze the food. The sealed bags will take up a lot less space than foil pans, and, unlike the foil pans they won’t leak all over the cooler as they slowly thaw; hopefully this plan works out.

Earlier this week John sent a link to us about how the Canary Islands are suffering through clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert, looks like air quality and visibility might suck a bit, here’s the link: https://www.guidetocanaryislands.com/intense-calima-historic-proportions-affects-canary-islands-moment/?utm_medium=website&utm_source=mail&utm_campaign=bottom

Yesterday I took a Personal Float Plan that Chip Gavin, a longtime sailor friend, sent me to use as a template, and I made it my own. I also sent it to Dennis to do the same. It was a great help, all that information in one easy to read and understand place. Thanks Chip, it was extremely helpful. I printed a copy and emailed Colleen a copy of mine.

6 days until departure and counting.

Thursday, January 20, 2022

John is in Lanzarote, I saw a Facebook post that he has already befriended a couple from another boat. It looks like they are going to delay their departure a couple of days so that we can sail in tandem.

I rented a car that I will pick up at the airport in Lanzarote on Tuesday afternoon and Steve will return it on Sunday morning.

4 days until departure.

Monday, January 24, 2022

The day is here. I’m meeting Dennis at the airport at around 7PM for our 9PM flight.

I’m almost packed, I still have to put my clothes together and put them into my, not so fancy, new, quite large L.L. Bean duffle bag that I bought yesterday. The medium one I was planning on using may have worked, but it would be like putting 50 lbs of stuff into a 30lb bag.

Hopefully the day goes without a hitch. I spent way too much time last night getting the needed COVID QR code from the airline. Just a couple of words on Iberia Airlines’ website, it sucks. There is no excuse for how bad it is. This is not a new revelation, I have been traveling to Spain regularly for 30 years, my brother Steve and his family live there and we have been fortunate enough to have visited him often. Their website is very difficult to manage, I was allowed to go on their site to pick my seats, and do an online check in. After spending 20 minutes filling out all of the forms, passport info etc, you are then told that you have to check in at the airport. This pisses me off, not only because of time lost, but, I paid extra to be able to choose my seats ahead of time. In addition to that, some of the online forms, though translated to English, the drop down multiple choice answers were in Spanish. Fortunately, after many years of DuoLingo, I could muddle through with my rudimentary Spanish.

Okay, back to getting my shit together.