This photo is another that I took while I was out for a run. I was in Cuba with my dad, I went for a run along Havana’s ocean front walkway and seawall called El Malecón. The image I saw before taking this photo is one of those that I could completely imagine as a great photo. I initially ran right on by before it clicked in that I had to go back, it was only about 20 yards before I turned back to capture this moment. The fisherman in the forefront in complete shadow with the waves breaking onto him, the bright sun and the Havana skyline behind him, I had to have it.
The link below is a blog post that I published soon after returning from Cuba. The post will tell you all about our trip, why and where we went, it also has a number of other photos that you may enjoy.
I showed this photo to my slightly older and immensely wiser brother, Steve, when he referred to the building as Motif #1, I didn’t have a clue as to what he was talking about. I thought what the f*#k is a Motif #1. Now that I am writing this post I thought that it might be prudent to find out the origin of it’s moniker. So I googled it…
This Boston Magazine article has all the information that you will need-
To me this iconic red fishing shack is synonymous with Rockport, it brings back memories of summer visits on my father’s boat(s), as well as on my own sailboat, where we would just tie up to the pier and head into Rockport, usually for ice cream. I have even docked at the pier overnight on a couple of occasions. No one ever said we couldn’t and we never gave it a second thought. Now, I’m sure you would be asked to leave or you would have to pay some outlandish fee to tie up to this or any other pier in Rockport.
I took this photo in June of 2021. It was a hot day and we were still dealing with the effects of COVID 19. Colleen and I were off from work, EVOO was still closed and the kids classes were all online. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and have some quality family time. We headed up to Rockport, do a little sightseeing, a possible plunge into the frigid North Atlantic at Front Beach, followed by local seafood at The Lobster Pool.
Taking the photo wasn’t as easy as it should have been. We parked in a public lot near the Motif, not a hundred yards from where I took the photo. It was a picturesque day, I saw the little red building that I always associated with Rockport and I started directly to the end of an apposing pier, where it looked like I would be able to take advantage of what looked to be great photo opportunity. I didn’t get 10 yards before a professional looking woman holding a clipboard said that I couldn’t go any further along the pier. I shrugged and kept going, I wanted this photo. By the time I got to the end of the pier and quickly took my photos, the woman was right behind with the back-up of a couple more officious looking people, still yapping that I wasn’t supposed be there. She was saying something about having rented the space for the afternoon. I recall saying something about it being a public space and for her to have a nice day. After we backed away we noticed that there was a film crew there. I have no idea what they were filming, however I do know that they didn’t want to film me.
Anyway, I took the photos and they came out great. Now when I see the photo on Za’s wall, with that one shot, I have 3 generations of memories, my childhood with my parents and siblings, being there on my own sailboat, as well as being shooed away by some film people with my kids.
Recently a longtime guest of ours asked if they could buy the photo; they also claim to have some family memories of Rockport. Being a businessman, who am I to say no, we sold them the photo. Don’t worry, I have the original and have already ordered another enlargement to made, it will soon adorn the wall of Za once again.
In April of 2015, Me, Colleen and our kids Shane,10 at the time and Caitlin then 7, did a family vacation during the kids school April break. We first drove to Washington D.C. where we did all the usual touristy things. We visited the Lincoln monument, walked through and discussed the Viet Nam War Memorial. We got up at some ungodly hour for the opportunity to go in and up the Washington Monument. We also went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, as well as the Museum of American History. We strolled by the White House and waved to “Uncle Barry and Auntie Shelly”. It was a great few days, as usual I took many photos, none of which made it to the heralded walls of Za.
From D. C. we drove to NYC, well Hoboken, NJ, where My sister had a condo and was kind enough to let us squat for a few days. The location was great, very convenient. To get into Manhattan, from the condo it was a 3 minute walk, followed by a 15 minute ferry ride and boom there you are right downtown. As with D.C. we did all of the touristy things. Strolled through Time Square, did the Empire State Building thing, walked the Hi-Line, Had dinner at Jonathan Waxman’s (one of my favorite chefs) restaurant, Barbuto, in the Meat Packing District.
The next day the weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky, a slight breeze and temps in the low 70’s, we took a ferry out to see the Statue of Liberty. The statue was open and we were able to climb the stairs up to the observation deck in Lady Liberty’s crown. We had a great day, as I mentioned the weather was perfect, I was with my family and I got to go on a boat ride; not much could be better.
With the perfect conditions I was able to get some great shots of the statue, including this one. I had the photo enlarged and placed on the wall when we did our most recent renovations in 2021. This photo gets a lot of comments, including, surprising to me, “what is it”?. Since I took the photo I know exactly what it is and with a quick glance I can almost understand the question. Most people do figure it out quickly though.
In the immortal words of another famous explorer, Dora… “We did it, we did it, we really really did it”.
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
16’16.13N 61’31.50W 3537km made good.
With a desire to check out Guadeloupe, as well as the need of a few restful days. Dennis and I decided that we would get flights home on Thursday. So we extended our hotel reservations for 2 more nights.
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Of course we extended our stay before looking at flights. When we looked for flights, this was our choices: Wednesday- 1 layover, $360. Thursday- 3 layovers, $570, 15hr flight time. Friday- $1300. We obviously went with Wednesday. I would have liked to spent more time on Guadeloupe, however, a Wednesday departure made the most sense. The hotel was very accommodating and changed our reservations to fit our Wednesday departure.
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John and Jens rented a car so we could tool around the island checking out the local sights.
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Dennis and I had to go to the airport to get our obligatory COVID tests, which ended up being a pain-in-the-ass. We were sent to the wrong place twice before getting the correct information. $50 later, with negative in hand, we were good to go.
We drove to the Botanical Gardens, about a 45 minute mountainous curvy roads ride. We checked them out, they were really cool. Honestly though, the best thing was that we were able to walk more than 40 feet in one direction for a long period of time.
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We stopped at an oceanside restaurant/bar and had a bit of food and a couple of beers before heading back to the hotel to clean up and eat again.
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We went to the hotel’s dinner buffet, it really sucked! I mean it was gawd-awful. I was belching up the mystery meat, which they called veal, for hours. I just don’t know what they could have done to this meat to make it taste like this, I can’t think of a way to describe it except that it tasted like death, which I suppose it was.
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We finished off the night at the beach bar, which is where we should have eaten, instead of at the buffet. Jens turned us onto some Taiwanese Whiskey, which was damn good, almost good enough to rid my mouth of the flavor of the veal.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Same spot, we haven’t moved.
Breakfast was at the same buffet as last night’s debacle of a meal, and it was adequate.
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I chilled on the beach for an hour, deleting thousands of emails, reading the 3 emails I found of interest.
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We checked out of the hotel and John and Jens drove us to the airport.
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We’re explorers, just like Dora.
The banner that Shane and Cate made for us, Yup I am very lucky!
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Thanks for reading about my journey, I enjoyed writing it as it happened in 2022 and now finally presenting it in this format. Since our transatlantic I have continued to sail on Avocet regularly, as well as on my friends Tom and Mary Mitri’s boat Glory. I even charted a catamaran in the British Virgin Islands for 12 days in 2023, for a memorable family vacation.
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The fun doesn’t end there though, this year I have planned in June, a 1000+ mile trip from A Coruna, Spain to The Azores. In August, I will sail with John and my brother Dennis on Avocet from St. Pierre, a French Island territory located just off Newfoundland to Halifax, Nova Scotia. And, In November I am planning on sailing on Glory from Norfolk Virginia, first to Bermuda and then on to Antigua. I don’t know if I will write about these upcoming adventures or not, if I do I will share the stories on this blog. Thanks for reading!
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Jens and I saw land just after sunrise at 6:00AM. Guadalupe we’re here!
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
Day 24,
Monday, February 21, 2022, 7:00AM
16’09.92N 61’02.21W 3510km made good.
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SOG 7.2 kts
Jens was holding out. He saved some of the best for the last Cocktail Hour, Smoked Sockeye Salmon (I have no idea where he stashed that), olives stuffed with anchovies, crab salad, coppa and crackers. We finished Jens’ supply of Irish Whiskey, also stashed somewhere, a generous pour for each of us.
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I cooked, yup, you guessed it, Mahi Mahi for dinner. Seared with Basmati Rice and Coconut-Lime Sauce. I do love Mahi Mahi, however I think I will be laying off it for the foreseeable future.
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Jens and I had the double watch shifts last night. We had a visitor in the form of a black bird who hung with us for about 6 hours spending most of the time on the solar panel, where of course it pooped several times on the solar panel as well as on the whisker pole’s after guy line (another one of the impressive amount of ropes that we need to not only know the the name of, but also what they do).
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Dennis noted seeing lights off to our starboard bow at 3:30AM. Our first sight of anything land based in 22 days, we later determined that these lights were on wind turbines on an island adjacent to Guadeloupe. Jens and I saw land just after sunrise at 6:00AM. Guadalupe we’re here!
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We were still about 20 miles from our waypoint at the entrance to the harbor and we needed to prep the boat for our no engine arrival. We put the dock lines and fenders in place. John ran through the plan with us, we were ready.
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Since we didn’t have the option of motoring into the harbor, John thought we should enter the outer harbor under reefed mainsail; which we did. We also raised the staysail for a few minutes in an effort to gain enough speed for the needed sharp right turn into the marina, and then directly into the wind, so that we would have the speed needed to carry us through the wind and back to a sailable course.
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John called the marina on the VHF radio, which, not surprisingly, there were problems- the 2 handheld units had battery issues, the redundant wired extension in the cockpit had no sound. After a few attempts and some broken communications, John had me go below to the primary VHF at the Nav Station and talk to them, which I did. I was able to confirm that the marina knew we were coming, what our situation was and that they were sending a boat out to help us.
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We ended up being seconds away from dropping the anchor; our plan to have enough speed to power around the sharp corner into the entrance of the marina didn’t pan out. Jean-Marc, an employee of the marina in a small skiff with his expert boat handling, got to us and towed us with little effort, perfectly stern first onto the dock.
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Avocet, after 24 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the dock in Guadeloupe.
We all made phone calls letting our loved ones know that we made it, no life insurance benefits for them.
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We did a quick initial clean up of the boat, folded and stowed the staysail, flaked and covered the mainsail, looked for and eventually found the pump to pump up the dingy.
An approximate representation of our trip using Windy, an excellent app for us laymen to get up-to-date weather information.
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The dock we were at was a 1 minute dingy ride or a 30 minute walk to the marina office and their customs computers. We opted for the dingy ride. We all went to the office, filled out our obligatory customs forms and went in search of food and beer. Close by we found some burgers and beers that fit the bill.
A chipper crew after 24 days at sea. Jens, me, Dennis and Captain John.
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On to finding a hotel, after some deliberation, it was decided, upon Jens’ suggestion, that we would ask a taxi driver about the best, most convenient, inexpensive places to stay. Antionette, the first local cabby we ran into, we thought was going to come through for us. She drove us about 3 miles from the marina to a hotel, near the Casino.
We went through the pain-in-the-ass process of checking in. Which included using an ATM type machine for check in. This should have been a dead give away that we were not where we should be, we soldiered on. The ATM thing wasn’t giving us what we needed, so Antionette chased down an employee to help us out. With his help, we thought we were all set. 2 rooms, 2 beds each room, great.
We dragged our oversized bags up the 3 flights of stairs to our rooms only to discover that there was only one bed in each room. Not gonna work, I love my brother, but I gave up sharing a bed with him about 45 years ago. Back down the 3 flights of stairs to try talking to the employee, who speaks no English. He, the employee, somehow had Antoinette’s number and called her back to the scene.
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While they were trying to figure out our options, which I believe was 1 room with 3 beds and the other with 1; we just spent 24 days in a confined space with each other and we wanted our own space. I asked John for his phone, his was the only phone amongst us with any juice left in it. I looked online and found a place, Hotel Fleur D’épée, it was on the beach and closer to the marina. I called them and confirmed that they had rooms available and what they would cost.
So, we begged off, hopefully I don’t have to put a hold on the payment for the tenement.
Antionette drove us to the other hotel, which was fine, a tourist hotel, not special. 4 rooms and the potential to sleep for more than 3 hours without having to get up to man the wheel, I’m in.
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The arrival at Guadalupe waypoint, our predetermined official end of the crossing, was made at 11:30AM local time, John won the “time of arrival” bet, the rest of us would be buying his dinner and drinks.
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With only about 250 miles to Guadeloupe, we are preparing Avocet for arrival.
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
Day 23,
Sunday, February 20, 2022, 10:10AM
16’17.63N 59’20.36W 3342km made good.
SOG 5.3
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Sailing wing on wing, light winds, light seas equals a slow boat, 5ish knots.
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I made Mahi Mahi Chowder for lunch today: butter, flour, garlic, chicken bouillon cubes (yup, I used them), water, potatoes, canned corn, canned mushrooms, dry thyme, black pepper, salt, canned evaporated milk and a lot of diced up Mahi Mahi. It came out really good, surprisingly John had three bowls, he is usually a light weight. Jens and Dennis each had 2 and I had 1.
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Yesterday at dusk we were flying the spinnaker, it was the beginning of our Cocktail Hour, when the wind picked up to be a bit too much for the spinny. We decided to take it down. Well, that was not an easy task. The spinnaker is an asymmetrical spinnaker which means that it is shaped in a way that it doesn’t need a pole to hold the sails clew, aft most triangle, in place. It basically flies free, attached to the boat at the top with a halyard to lift and lower the sail. A line at the tack, the forward most triangle at the bow of the boat and a line at the clew. We adjust these lines based on wind speed, wind direction and boat direction. An asymmetrical spinnaker will often come with a “sock”, when you pull up the sail it is conveniently covered in this sock, the sock’s opening is at the bottom of the sail with just the clew and tack sticking out of the sock, attached to their respective lines and ultimately the boat. There is a continuous line going the full length of the sock that when you pull it one way it pulls the sock up exposing the sail to the full force of the wind. Conversely when you pull it the other way it lowers the sock pulling the sail into the lowering sock, making it no longer open to the wind, forming a long thin sausage looking thing. Well, this didn’t work. The spinnaker was stuck open, with the wind continuing to pick up, this was not good. We needed to get the spinnaker down before it tore or worse, fouled something in the standing rigging or went under the boat. The sock was not an option so we needed to lower the sail onto the deck, this is not easy when the wind is strong, as you lower the sail the wind just pushes it away from the boat. Heading up into the wind will alleviate this, but, if you go too far into the wind it can be disastrous, almost definitely tearing the sail. John, as usual, steered the boat into the perfect position for us to get the sail onto the deck with no damage. Once on the deck Dennis and I manually stuffed the spinnaker into the sock, hoping that tomorrow will bring lighter wind conditions for us to raise the sail again and figure out what went wrong with the sock.
A properly working spinnaker sock.
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When the spinnaker was bagged and tied to the deck. We reefed the mainsail and raised the staysail. We were once again sailing with the right sail plan, so we got back to enjoying Cocktail Hour. We purposely went light on today’s fixings for Cocktail Hour- pistachios. John and I had some white wine, Jens and Dennis had a bit of Irish Whiskey for their daily libations, I did spill Jens’ drink while we were reefing the main. It was dark and he did leave it wrapped amongst the reef lines, which when he put it there we didn’t know that we were going to reef the main. I felt bad, especially because of the dwindling supply of grog, but I got over it quickly.
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During the day we got the boat ready for our arrival, clearing the deck of all extraneous crap, organizing the trash and recycling, retrieving the anchor from the “pit” and reattaching it to its’ chain and securing it to the bowsprit. We placed the anchor in the “pit” before departure for several reasons: too much weight on the bow, it could become dislodged from its cradle in rough weather, which could cause huge problems. The anchor chain comes out of a hole at the top of the chain locker that we wanted to stuff and duct tape it, blocking any water coming over the bow from swamping the chain locker, adding even more weight to the bow and possibly seeping into the boat. As well as when you’re in thousands of feet of water there is really no need for an anchor with 200 ft of chain, it won’t do you much good.
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I went to grab John a Coke from one of the coolers on deck and was surprised to find most of the cans in the cooler had split from so much jostling around, making quite a sticky syrupy mess. Dennis and I cleaned it out, throwing away about three-quarters of the cans in the cooler.
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Last night’s first watch was far and away my most difficult yet.
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
Day 22
Saturday February 19, 2022, 12:50PM
16’12.13N 57’21.39W 3188km made good.
SOG 6.0kts
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The wind and seas are pretty calm, we have been flying the spinnaker with a reefed mainsail. Our speed has been ok.
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Dinner last night was pasta with a tuna tomato sauce that Jens made, it was quite good.
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Just after dinner last night we realized that the fishing line was still out. Dennis reeled it in, noticing as he was pulling the last of the line that there was a fish on the line. It was about 3 ft long with an eel like dark body, a regular fish tail, not an eel tail, huge eyes, and a set of pointy sharp teeth that would make any yippy rat-dog owner proud. None of us knew what it was, so we didn’t want to eat it. Since it was already dead we just left it at the toe-rail until this morning, at which point I took some photos and set it back into the sea from which it came.
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Cocktail hour was a single glass of red wine for me, we are seriously down on alcohol. Only a bottle of Jameson and a bottle of red wine left.
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Last night’s first watch was far and away my most difficult yet, only because of how tired I was. I was totally spent. Weird sleep schedules, V-berth barely habitable and constant movement have made for an exhausted me. Just after dinner, I was already on deck anticipating my upcoming watch, Dennis was on the wheel. My 8PM watch start time, came and went, I slept through it. Dennis passed the watch off to Jens, who was my watch partner. I woke up 30 minutes later just in time to take my (Jens’) turn at the helm.
I stood behind the pedestal, glaze eyed, with my head no further than a foot from the compass, staring at it with drool running down my chin, literally drool running down my chin onto the compass. I was snapping my head up and down, nodding off for seconds at a time. I barely made it through my ½ hour at the helm before Jens, thankfully, took over for me. I then proceeded to sleep in the cockpit through my next shift on the helm, waking with about 5 minutes left in it. At first I thought “cool I woke up just in time” then I realized I screwed up, I slept through most of my watch. Jens said that he tried to wake me a couple of times, but I didn’t budge. I Will try to make up the time to him as we proceed through our last couple of days.
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Once relieved from our shift I brushed my teeth and went straight into the moist nest and crashed. Dennis had to shake me awake, which should never happen, I was so spent. I felt a lot better during our second watch, it was pleasant, sunrise, tea, biscotti followed by some coffee and more biscotti.
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We caught a mother of a Mahi Mahi, the thing was huge, easily 30 lbs.
We were sitting around debating whether we should have the last of the beer then or save it for later, when the fishing reel screamed WzzzzzzzzzzWzzzzWzzzz and the rod bent signifying we either caught another round of seaweed or we got us a fish. Our predetermined positions were taken, Dennis grabbed the rod, John on the helm, Jens with gaff and me helping wherever needed. We rolled in the jib, John steered a slower course, Dennis reeled whenever the fish would allow, it was a back and forth battle that we were going to win. Yesterday, after losing 2 lures to fish that got away I switched the line from an unknown test to a 60lb test. Dennis kept reeling and we were able to get a glimpse of the fish, determining that it was indeed a Mahi Mahi and a big one at that. Dennis got the fish to the stern of the boat, Jens gaffed it through its gut and with my help we lifted it over the lifelines and right into the cockpit, behind the wheel right at John’s feet. John jumped up onto the seat, while the giant Mahi thrashed about, somehow getting through and in front of the wheel where I had the unenviable task of stabbing the fish through the eye with my handy dandy sailing knife. We won this battle.
When the Mahi Mahi was in the water and while it was quickly dying, the fish was an incredible blue color, which faded as the fish died. It was really something to see and something to think about…Food for thought.
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Time to have the last round of beers, warm but celebratory.
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After several buckets of saltwater to give the cockpit a quick rinse of all the blood we took some photos and put the fish up onto the gunwale for me to butcher, which I made quick work of. At least 15lbs fillets, and incredible catch. Too bad we didn’t catch the fish earlier in the adventure, when we had refrigeration and more time to eat it.
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Once the Mahi Mahi was filleted and put away, within an hour of landing the behemoth, I made blackened Mahi Mahi sandwiches with coleslaw on my homemade focaccia.
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For dinner Jens made, you guessed it Mahi Mahi, he served it with Basmati rice.
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We set the spinnaker, which is easy once it’s up and flying however it can be a beast to set up.
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We are all stuffed with Mahi Mahi and a bit worn after a long day.
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
With the increased wind and seas, photos of the next few days were lacking. I will try to add some visual content with stock photos and some of my own photos that were not taken at the time. In addition, my writing time was clipped to mostly short snip-its that I hope still convey the nuances of our adventure. PM 4/22/25
Day 16
Sunday, February 13, 2022, 2:37PM
13’59.987N 41’53.504W 2216nm made good.
SOG 6.0kts
The winds are in the low to mid 20’s, seas- many over 10ft. Still sailing with just the storm jib and trysail, yesterday from about noon until 11pm we also pulled out several feet of the furling jib giving us a little bit more speed without overpowering the boat.
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Today’s winds and seas are what was predicted by Chris Parker. We are still trying to stay a bit south to avoid the highest of the forecasted wind and seas.
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We should be through the shit on Tuesday with favorable wind conditions for the remainder of the trip.
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Jens’ bunk with Jens in it, got swamped. Jens had just gotten off his watch and was in desperate need of some rest, he had just settled into his bunk. In an effort to let some of the dank out of the now shuttered for days sweatbox of belowdecks, the hatch just above his bunk was open, only about a half inch. The wind and seas are following us, so the chances of a wave breaking over the bow into Jens’ hatch were minimal, still existing though. He and all of his bedding got soaked. He closed the hatch, changed his clothes, dried off and moved around his bedding and climbed back into his bunk when we got hit by another wave. Even with the hatch closed and secured, he got sprayed again. The 34 year old hatch seals are the culprit, another item for John to add to his upcoming repair list. Jens went through the process of drying out himself and his bunk again.
One of Avocet’s hatches in the foreground, not the culprit hatch, that one is difficult to see, located between the mast and life raft. Jens at the helm in the background. This photo is from Boothbay Harbor Races in July 2023.
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We did have a Cocktail Hour last night- Serrano Ham, olives, nasty smoked dried tuna, smoked gouda and crackers. A bit of red wine for John and I, whiskey for Jens and Dennis. Villa Azul Bolognese for dinner.
Serrano Ham, a staple of our Cocktail Hour refreshments.
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All of this hand steering is making my shoulders feel the pain, only about 1100 more miles with no autopilot to go.
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These seas are the kind that would even have Erik Aanderaa of the YouTube channel “No Bullshit Just Sailing” fame appreciate them. They are relentless.
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John is still pumping/sponging out the bilge a couple of times a day. He believes that the engine’s raw water intake through-hull fitting is leaking and being exacerbated by the sea conditions; another item to add to his growing list.
An example of thru hull fittings.
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Dennis threw out some of the chicken breasts we cooked at Villa Azul in Lanzarote, this is an indicator for us to keep a close eye on the remaining Villa Azul food. Fortunately the bottom of the fridge is very cold, keeping a fair amount of that food frozen.
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If you are enjoying reading about my transatlantic adventure, pleas Like and Share.
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
Day 14
Friday, February 11, 2022, 2:08PM
13’64.56N 37’35.43W 1928nm made good.
SOG 7.5 kts
With the increased wind and seas, photos of the next few days were lacking. I will try to add some visual content with stock photos and some of my own photos that were not taken at the time. In addition, my writing time was clipped to mostly short snip-its that I hope still convey the nuances of our adventure. PM 4/22/25
Lot’s to report, The shit has hit the fan, no power, no motor!
AAGHHH!!
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Last night at about midnight we were running the generator, John wanted to use the gas generator to charge the batteries, saving the diesel, for the main engine. The generator stopped having a load on it, and had a noticeable drain of power. The batteries were not charging and the motor would not start. John worked through the night trying to figure out the problem to no avail.
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No power means- no autopilot, no charging of boat batteries, no refrigerator, no lights, no instruments etc. The battery power we have remaining is being conserved for navigation and compass lights.
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We set up the windvane, a mechanical backup to the autopilot, and it is also not working properly. I got to hang over the stern of the boat to replace a couple of lock washers on the windvane. I was harnessed to the boat, however it was still a bit unnerving to be hanging over the water with no land in any direction for nearly a thousand miles. Without the autopilot or a properly working windvane, it looks like we will be hand steering the last 1400 miles.
An example of a windvane.
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We changed our watches back to 2 man shifts, I’m now with Jens and we trade off at the wheel every thirty minutes.
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Last night before the electrical issues we hung out in the cockpit and I learned how to play the card game Hearts.
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Dinner was baked potatoes filled with Villa Azul chili, cheese and onion, not bad.
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Vodka and Tonic equals Gin and Tonic without all the flavorful parts, we suffered through them during last night’s cocktail hour. Jens served up Spanish white anchovies, Serrano Ham, hummus and crackers.
A Boothbay G&T, enjoyed well after our transatlantic sail, a night before we sailed Avocet in the Boothbay Harbor Regatta races.
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I am amazed at how many birds there are out here in the middle of the Atlantic.
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Decent winds out of the northeast at about 18 knots, boat speed is good.
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If you are enjoying reading about my transatlantic adventure please Like and Share.
To start reading about my transatlantic adventure from the beginning (highly recommended) follow this link.
Day 13
Thursday, February 10, 2022, 11:05AM
14’01.797N 35’35.259W 1772nm made good.
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”.
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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.
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We are out of gin!
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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.
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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.
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Dennis made wraps for lunch, chicken and coleslaw.
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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.
Iberico Ham
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.
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No dolphins in a couple of days.
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I made another loaf of Focaccia yesterday, I flavored it with green olives, freeze-dried basil and sunflower seeds.
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John swabbed out the bilge, checked and added some oil to the engine as well as checked the engine coolant level.
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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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