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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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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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Day 12
Wednesday, February 9, 2022, 12:45PM
14’19.546N 32”34.801W 1631nm made good.
SOG 6.0knts
Winds are still quite light, we are and have been since dusk last night motor sailing, which is exactly as it sounds: running the motor while sailing.
Chris Parker, our weather guru, has insisted that we continue to head south-west until we hit the 14 parallel of latitude before changing our course to due west. The goal is to try to avoid some nasty weather to the north of us. The predicted weather the next few days will be a stark contrast to what we have dealt with since Sunday. Winds are expected to pick up tomorrow and Thursday, to the low to mid twenties, while continuing to pick up through Saturday. Thursday and Friday, expected winds are in the mid-twenties with gusts to the high-twenties. The worst of it is expected on Saturday, sustained winds in the high-twenties, with gusts into the mid-thirties. Leveling off a bit on Sunday in the low 20’s and Monday, becoming just right, about perfect, in the high-teens. The winds are predicted to be coming out of the north-east most of the time which means we will be on a starboard tack, taking the wind on our aft-beam which is preferable. None of the predicted seas are to be over 10 feet, which is high, but not scary. Bigger than the kiddie coaster, not the loop-de-loop coaster.
Heading west into the sunset and an ominous forecast.
Well, the head is still jocked. I did what any experienced boater should never do; I overloaded it, not with poop, rather with toilet paper. I know better! I’m embarrassed, not because I did it, but because I shouldn’t have done it. Wipe, flush way more than you think you should, repeat. I didn’t pump enough between wipes, dumb ass. Good thing there is a second head on board, you can guarantee that if the other head gets clogged it won’t be my fault.
Jabsco manual pump toilet, like the one on Avocet.
We got another hit on the fishing line. Our reaction was perfect, we all got into our predetermined places, ready to go. This fish was obviously quite large, the rod was bent to a promising angle, the fish was running, Dennis was reeling at the right time. We never did see this fish before the line snapped. This time it was not an operator error, it was the fish was bigger than the line test called for. We strung a new lure and leader and set it back out again vying that if the line breaks again we will change it out for a higher test. We’ll see…
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We broke into our Villa Azul food stash again last night, Chicken-Coconut Soup with Basmati Rice. It was delicious, not the depth of flavor I get at home with ingredients that were not available on Lanzarote, but like I said, still delicious. We have 3 more meals of soup remaining, not a bad deal.
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Cocktail Hour was Guacamole, Spanish White Anchovies, Manchego Cheese and Crackers. For beverages we tried/drank some Strawberry Gin and Tonic, and yup, it sucked. Round 2 was Bombay, much better.
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This morning we discussed amongst many other things, how much booze we have already consumed, considering we are getting low on gin, we were curious if it was over consumption or under provisioning. Since we drank a total of 6, 750ml bottles of booze (25oz, 150 ounces total) in 11 nights, equals less than 14 ounces per night, which is less than 3.5 ounces each. Obviously, we under provisioned.
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Dennis and I cleaned out the cooler that was full of the Villa Azul food. It was fairly nasty, with the expected upcoming rough weather we wanted to clean it out now before it got even nastier. While we had the cleaning supplies out we also cleaned the cockpit which was dirty mostly from general use and a little bit from fish blood. We’re becoming domesticated, our wives would be proud.
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I am once again clean, showered with clean under garments.
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Amazingly, we are still on our first roll of paper towels, granted they are the industrial, heavy duty Spanish type, but one roll for 11 days is impressive.
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Our plan is to fire up the watermaker again this afternoon, the main tank is just about empty.
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As of this morning we still had 1,700 miles to the harbor entrance in Guadeloupe, which is still more than half the distance. The encouraging thing is now that we have turned west all of the distance we travel will be “made good”, meaning that we are now making a beeline to our destination, no longer heading south so that we can eventually turn west. We have made that turn. 1,700mi/135mi per day = 12.59 days, which is very conservative especially considering the weather forecast. Alternatively 1,700mi/150mi per day = 11.33 days, still a bit conservative, yet doable.
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I will open the letters from the kids tomorrow. I am looking forward to it.
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We just deployed the spinnaker again, it looks like another day of light winds. Yesterday we were able to fly the spinny for about 6 hours before the wind diminished too low to keep it up. We ended up motoring throughout the night. We are hoping for more wind, not too much, just more. Seas are flat, it’s amazing that everything is so calm even though we are hundreds of miles to the closest landfall.
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The big one got away! At twilight last night we hooked another fish. This time when Dennis called “fish” we all came running. This baby was much larger than the one we caught 2 nights ago. Dennis reeled it in close to the boat, but the rod was still tied to the rod holder. We do this to keep it in place in rough weather or if a fish was to pull the rod out of the holder. I reached in between Dennis and the aft-lifeline to which the rod holder was attached and untied the line. Dennis handed off the rod to me so he could position himself a little bit forward where there is more space to maneuver. All the while this large iridescent bright blue Mahi Mahi was splashing away at the surface in a desperate attempt to escape our stomachs. John freed his newly purchased gaff, a big ass hook on a long handle used to bring fish from the water’s surface onto the boat.
Dennis reeling in the big one!
Dennis grabbed the gaff and gaffed our potential dinner at the gills, just where you are supposed to, right below the gills. As he was lifting PD from the surface to the deck, the big fucker thrashed it’s way of the gaff, fuck.
All hope for another Mahi Mahi meal was not lost yet, the hook was still in its mouth. I still held the rod keeping the fish at the surface, ready for another attempt with the gaff. Which Dennis made it look like a Brady to Gronk pass late in the fourth quarter to sure up another win. This time Dennis got our 12lbs of blue food porn on the deck, the fucker was on the deck!! However, it gave one last mighty thrash jettisoning itself free of the gaff and the hook, sending the lure flying. The lure quickly found its way into Dennis’ sock. We all thought it was his leg, stopping us all dead in our tracks. No one wanted to move the wrong way, possibly helping embed one or more of the lure’s nasty hooks further into Dennis’ leg. While we all stood there looking at Dennis’ leg, which was fine, but we were motionless, the big one flopped over the side and took off like a bullet. Another day, another fish tale.
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During our nightly ritual, cocktail hour, we came up with a procedure of what needs to be done next time- Make sure the rod is secured with a one pull release knot- Fish on line, yell fish. Start reeling it in. Put the engine (if running) in idle. Lower the solar panels. Move the rod forward, so there are less obstructions while boarding the fish. Since we don’t have a net we will have a large handled grocery bag available to use as a net if necessary. With this thought out procedure, hopefully the next one doesn’t get away.
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Speaking of fish, well mammals; most days we have had visits from dolphins. They typically swim alongside or in our bow wake, once, so far, they did a few jumps out of the water right on our starboard side. They do look really cool, like they are having fun. I hope they stay away from our fishing lure.
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There is concern that the “house batteries’’ may have been compromised. Most boats have house batteries, used for just about everything except starting the engine. The engine has its own dedicated starting battery that is wired separately to insure that you will always have the juice to start your engine. Unbeknownst to me, if you run your batteries too low, to 55% or lower, they will no longer hold a charge as well as they did before the low discharge. A few days ago the batteries got down to just under that 55% number, so we are keeping a closer eye on them making sure we don’t let that happen again, as well as seeing if the batteries were truly compromised.
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I just took a break from writing to use the head, and…I clogged the toilet! Fuck! We are figuring out the best way to resolve this situation. Currently, I have salt water on to boil to see if a bit of hot water will soften things up.
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Late yesterday afternoon, we decided, in an effort to keep the spinnaker full of air, to drop the mainsail. The thinking was that with the wind behind us, the main was blocking air more than it was capturing it. When we dropped the main we noticed that one of the battens, a semi-rigid membrane used to help a sail keep its shape, was missing the set screw used to hold the batten in place at the luff (front) of the sail. The battens typically go into a cloth sleeve stitched laterally into the sail, though I have also seen vertical battens as well, they just aren’t as common. John was able to find a replacement screw and the fix was in, done in about 10 minutes.
The batten on Avocet’s mainsail is circled.
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Before leaving home, in Arlington, my kids, Shane and Cate slipped notes into my duffle bag for me to read during my trip. On the outside of Shane’s he instructed me to open it “after we were aboard for a while”, “when I was homesick” or “just feeling lonely”. I decided that I would open them at the approximate half way point of our trip, we are not quite there yet; with this light wind it may still be a while. I am very much looking forward to opening those letters and thinking about my kids. I love’em.
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How I was feeling at the time.
Back to the toilet- I made a shitty situation even worse. I tried forcing the pump handle to push the clog through. For a moment I thought I was successful, the handle moved freely, but it wasn’t moving any water; I blew a gasket, on the toilet, not me personally. John has a spare pump on board which is great, however, useless until the clog is cleared. I shut the through-hull fitting, which allows water into and waste out of the toilet before I tried unsuccessfully, to unhook the waste hose to clean it out; nope not happening. Shitty getting even shittier. I also started to remove the old pump, when I took the pump off the base it looked as though the flapper mechanism which separates the water and waste was installed upside down and was stuck at an awkward angle. This may have caused the handle to move freely without discharging water. So, I flipped the flapper and put the pump back on its base. When we clear the clog we will find out if the flapper was part of the problem or if we have to replace the pump itself. It was just mentioned that we have a snake on board. After lunch I may take a crack (intended) at the clog using the snake.
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In the early hours of this morning we saw, on AIS, our first boat in 4 days.
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Last night’s dinner was Bolognese with Penne, Parmigiano-Reggiano, EVOO and more of my boat made Focaccia. The Bolognese is part of the bulk food that Dennis and I cooked and froze at Villa Azul in Puerto Calero. It was quite good and got rave reviews from Jens and John. This morning we ate the last of the Tortilla Espanol and Chorizo. Jens is in the galley putting together some chicken salad wraps for lunch.
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Overall our food supplies are good, we have put a huge dent in them, but the fridge is still full and we still have John’s canned goods from his $200 checked bag to fall back on, if we need to.
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Gin on the other hand is getting low. What will we do? We still have some beer, vodka and rum, we’ll have to see where each cocktail hour takes us.
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The winds are currently very light, we are flying the spinnaker, with winds so light we are only moving about 4 knots. Winds are supposed to remain light through tomorrow night, then should pick up for our tack westward.
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I had the 5AM ’till 8AM watch, which was quite pleasant, light breeze, full sails, reading and watching the sunrise. Very serene. Just after sunrise John got up and made us coffee. Fortunately we moved on from the last coffee, which was crap, way over-roasted and kinda rank. It did have a nice caffeine punch though, which once you got past the taste it was very helpful during the wee hours of a late watch. Each time I begrudgingly swallowed down a half a cup, dumping the rest of the cup. With this latest coffee I happily had a second cup. John said this coffee was one that he and Marcia got in Sardinia.
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Yesterday afternoon Jens called me up on deck to check out this bird that was soaring around the boat. Jens said that it has been doing it for about half an hour. It’s a cool looking bird, Long gray/blue beek, the top of its head is yellow, most of its body is white with gray fading to black wings. It was really interesting to watch it soar effortlessly all around the boat, as though he was checking us out as much as we were checking him out.
I toke a lot of photos of this bird, none of which turned out well.
That bird stuck around us yesterday for at least 3 hours. And, the coolest thing is that when John came on deck and saw the bird, after a bit of discussion with Jens, they ironically determined that our new, short-term, mascot was indeed an avocet.
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Also yesterday afternoon John received another weather update from Chris Parker. Chris highly recommended that we head another 300 miles south in an effort to avoid a situation of no wind followed by too much wind. We obediently obliged, changing our heading from mostly west to mostly south. We should be on this tack for 2.5ish days before heading back to our desired westerly direction.
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The winds dropped to the single digits, so, once we were all up and properly caffeinated, we pulled up the spinnaker. After a bit of figuring out, it went up without a hitch. The spinnaker itself is made from lightweight magnificently bright blue cloth with the depiction of an avocet screeching through sky, smack-dab in the middle of the sail. Our speed immediately increased from 3 to 5 knots, and a little while later the wind stepped up just a tick and our speed went to over 6 knots.
Avocet’s spinnaker.
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While I sit here writing at just after 11AM I am enjoying a Heineken. Yes, I did just use the words “Heineken” and “enjoy” in the same sentence. Jens “chilled” them in the ocean to about 70’. I have never liked Heineken, still don’t, urine would usually be thought of as an upgrade, but there is something about a semi-cold beer after physical exertion in the heat that is quite satisfying. I am looking forward to some hometown New England IPA’s, until then I will make peace with Heineken.
Writing at the Nav Station, while “enjoying” a Heineken.
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Yesterday, Dennis, like an obedient little brother, finished our laundry, hanging it to dry on the lifelines. This morning it was dry, so I folded and put it away.
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Dinner last night was on me. Mahi Mahi 3 ways. Sashimi with Soy, Lime, Chili Oil and Crystalized Ginger; Ceviche with Lime, Tangerine, Garlic. EVOO and Cayenne Pepper; Blackened with Cumin Scented Basmati Rice, Carrots, Mushrooms and a big squeeze of Lime. It was all really good. The only way to make it better would be if we caught a bigger fish…The line is out.
Blackening up some of the Mahi Mahi that we caught on Avocet’s stove.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Cocktails out of the way Dennis went below to finish putting dinner together: Tagine with shrimp and chicken served over couscous.
Dennis reeling in the Mahi Mahi.
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.
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Chris Parker
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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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I made some focaccia dough this morning, I will bake it later today.
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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.
Hopefully everything is still cool.
Day 8
Saturday, February 5, 2022, 9:13AM
20’51.871N 26’51.007W 990nm made good.
6.0 knots SOG
Later today will mark the first week of our crossing complete, after a rough start, it’s been fairly mellow.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
Someone else’s night sky photo.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
My first batch of focaccia.
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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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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.
A typical trysail
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.
Avocet is equipped with an Ewincher 2.
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.
Avocet’s mainsail back in action.
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.
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Last night’s dinner was another Jens job, breaded baked chicken, coleslaw and basmati rice. As usual it was quite good.
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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.
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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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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….
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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.
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In the Afternoon John checked the engine fluid levels, all seemed to be good.
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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.
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Nothing to report about the overnight, Dennis and Jens saw a ship pass during their first watch, that was about all the excitement.
A cargo ship passing us on the horizon.
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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.
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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.
A stock image of Wing on Wing sailing.
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.
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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.
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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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Last night and today have been much less eventful than the previous 24 hours.
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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.
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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.
John enjoying his morning coffee.
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.
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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.
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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.
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