Tag Archives: boating

Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 27, Heading Home.

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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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 25, Spinnaker Troubles and Arrival Preparations.

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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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 24, A Memorable Catch and Slacking On My Watch

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.

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I finished reading Beasts of a Little Land, by Juhea Kim, quite good.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 23, Less Than 400 miles to go.

As this adventure winds down and the seas have for the most part calmed down, I am getting the chance to reflect on the trip, the opportunity it has been for me, as well as its experiences……

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

Day 21

Friday, February 18, 2022, 9:15AM

15’46.22N 54’42.89W 3003km made good.

SOG 7.2kts

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Sailing wing to wing again, triple reefed main and a bit of the jib.

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Dennis and John sailed through a squall this morning, 30 knots winds and heavy rain, I slept through it, there has been nothing but blue skies since.

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Shane, my son, finally got back to me about the Super Bowl, claiming he won our bet, we’ll see about that.

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We just had a visit from a pod of about 8 dolphins, they are always cool to see. With the rough seas it’s been about a week since we last saw them.

It’s comforting to be seeing dolphins again.

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Dinner last night was a collaborative mediocre effort. Soy marinated Seared Pork Medallions. When I made some sauce for them, using the marinade, I used too much of it. I could have used ¼ the amount and double the amount of butter which I used to finish the sauce, it would have been a lot better. Roasted potatoes, very good.  Needed a vegetable, considering we have about 20 cans of corn on board we should have used that.

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Cocktail hour was Parmigiano-Reggiano and spicy Lomo with more of Jens’ homemade crackers. It was another single beer Cocktail hour.

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We are seeing a lot of flying fish, occasionally picking them up off the deck, out of the cockpit and we even had one land on top of the dodger.

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I have the dreaded double watch tonight, hopefully the second to last double watch. 

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We haven’t seen another boat/ship in at least 10 days, probably more like 14.

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Bruises on my bruises, we are all getting banged around on the boat, both below deck and on deck. We have all ended up with many, many little bruises up and down our legs and arms.

Avocet’s galley, the culprit to many of my bruises.

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I’m looking forward to talking to Colleen and kids, taking a long hot shower and sleeping for more than three hours at one stretch.

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V-berth is hot, humid and dank, it’s where Dennis and I have been trading off the bunk, there is no ventilation there because we have Avocet’s dingy and a bunch of gear strapped to the deck right on top of the V-berth hatch. It was so hot in there last night that I ended up sleeping for 2 hours on the salon sole (floor).

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I made coleslaw with the rest of the cabbage, raisins and apples today.

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The only fresh food left at this point is 2 bulbs of garlic, 15 potatoes and 10 limes.

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Charging system for the batteries is not working properly- no more refrigerator.

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 21, Spectacular Sailing!

Wind and seas have finally calmed a bit, wind is at 15-20kts and seas have settled to 7-12ft. Still rough, but not crazy.

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.

Days 18 and 19

Tuesday, February 15, 2022, 12:45PM

14’11.045N 46.56.521W 2522nm made good.

6.2kts SOG

Dennis enjoying some light work on the helm.

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It started calming down last night during my first watch, before midnight. Sailing has been very good since then. It is a huge relief to be out of those conditions, the boat and crew handled it extremely well.

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Another one beer cocktail hour last night, olives, hard salami, Manchego cheese and crackers were last night’s hors d’oeuvres selections. Dinner was a bowl of the too thick, underwhelming chili that I made at Villa Azul.

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We are almost out of all of the fresh food. Lots of food still in the cupboards, though.

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We are starting to get excited about landfall in Guadeloupe; 6ish more days. I am looking forward to being able to talk with Colleen, Shane and Cate; as well as checking out the island. I have to see if Guadalupe is someplace that I would want to drag Colleen to in the future.

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I need to do laundry and have a quick boat shower.

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Bilge is still getting water in it, John is bailing it out 2-3 times per day. 

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We changed the ship’s clock back an hour today, we were supposed to do it at longitude 37’5, we are now at 46’5, oh well we’re on our own time.

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Day 19

Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 4:40 PM

15’75.099N 49’37.342W 2683nm made good.

SOG 6.5kts 

Seas are still quite high, high enough that if the weeknight ‘round the buoy racers were out in this, they would wish that they were at their Yacht Club’s bar drinking god-awful Dark ‘n’ Stormies while clad in their Nantucket red shorts, collar turned up Polo shirt and loafers while talking about their masculine escapades that they have partaken in behind their third wife’s back. 

The only good thing about Dark ‘n’ Stormies is the after race schwag handed out at large races by the rum distilleries.

One of my many Rum Race Hats

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The storm jib and trysail down, triple reefed main, staysail are up, with a bit of the jib out, just because we can. 

Dennis under the dodger, hiding from the sun.

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Cocktail hour, olives, tuna jerky (blah), smoked gouda and Jens’ crackers.

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Jens made crackers from some focaccia dough that he asked me to put aside for him. They were great; crispy, olive oily and salty.

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Dinner was Chicken-Coconut soup, for the third or fourth time, a crew favorite. The recipe is in chapter 4.

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I did laundry by hanging the dirty laundry, pants and t-shirts off the stern of the rapidly moving, for a sailboat, boat. No detergent, no fresh water, just salt water. For the underwear and socks I did use detergent and salt water in a bucket, rinsed a few times and then hung them out. The clothes are still drying. I will report back tomorrow on how things worked out. 

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Sailing today and yesterday has been spectacular, moderate winds 15-20kts, and moderate, comparatively speaking, seas of 7-10ft.

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Still no motor, wind is our power source, providing just enough power for the fridge and little else..

Avocet on a mooring at Damariscove Island, Maine, in August of ’22,
the wind generator is attached to the stern.

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We have moved on to some gawd-awful coffee, something John has had on board since somewhere in the Mediterranean, it’s possibly two years old. The grind is for espresso and we are using a percolator. So, not only does the coffee taste like ass, it has a lot of chunks (well…grinds) in it. I keep drinking as much as I can handle at a time, maybe three ounces, before dumping out the remaining dregs. 

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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 18, When the shit hits the fan, shit goes everywhere.

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 15

Saturday, February 12, 2022, 1:50PM

13’45.90N 39’21.21W 2067nm made good.

SOG 6+kts

When the shit hits the fan, shit goes everywhere.

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No engine, with heavy wind, the wind generator was kicking in some amps, so we have been able to run the refrigerator, VHF and navigation lights

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Last night was hellish, 40kts of wind, 10-14ft erratic seas. Before dark we lowered the mainsail and pulled up the storm trysail. Until about 9PM we sailed with the trysail staysail combo, at that point Jens and I were called on deck, we were off watch until midnight, to drop the staysail. The plan with the increasing wind and seas was to sail through the night with just the trysail; we were getting battered.

A great picture of John taken after the real shit weather.

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Soon after we started our midnight watch Jens had just strapped himself in at the wheel, and he got swamped. A direct hit with a wall of water square in his back, not only drenching him, but also pushing him forward into the wheel and across the helm seat from starboard to port. Besides being soaked, he was okay. In the immediate aftermath of this ginormous wave, Jens thought we had “gone into irons”, this is when your sails are trapped in the no-go zone, in essence stalling the boat. In reality we weren’t in irons we were in the froth of the wave that broke into our cockpit, the water was so roiled and aerated that it was causing the boat to stall. I had to shine my headlamp onto the sail to show Jens that the sail was full and fine. We were just stuck in the waves’ backwash.

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Did I mention it was a rough ride? I have been in higher seas, easily 20 feet high, on Neil and Ronel’s boat Tiger during a delivery from Bermuda to Antigua. Those waves were rollers, all in the same direction, well spaced apart and we were riding them; more fun than scary. The seas last night were much angrier, no rhythm to them, just bashing us, unsettling. 

Not my photo, but it’s a good representation of the seas we delt with for several days.

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In the wee hours things calmed down a bit, winds 20+ kts, with 7 to 10 foot pissed off waves.

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This morning we unhooked the staysail and replaced it with the storm jib. The storm jib is a very small day-glo orange sail, with the intended use of, you guessed it, sailing in a storm or storm like conditions. To change the sail Dennis and Jens with their harness on, attached to the Jack-lines, crawled to the bow. I manned the halyard from the relative comfort of the cockpit. I lowered the staysail as they gathered it on the deck, unhooked, bagged and sent the sail back to me in the cockpit. I passed up the storm jib and we repeated the process in the opposite order; unbag, hank-on, and pull the sail up, done. This is all done with the boat pitching and yawing erratically and an occasional wave breaking on to the deck. 

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The good news is today, tonight and tomorrow morning the winds are predicted to remain reasonable. The bad news is that last night’s drama is predicted to only be a prelude to what tomorrow night through Tuesday is expected to bring us. 25kts of winds with higher gusts and 10-14 foot seas for 2 days. Argh!!!

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Jens is a galley god, during the early part of last night’s mayhem he made some rice and heated up some chicken-coconut soup.

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I haven’t showered or changed my clothes since Wednesday, Yuck!! I am planning on making that a priority later this afternoon.

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Cocktail Hour was postponed yesterday, due to foul weather.

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Food stores are still plentiful, fresh items remaining include a few apples, 3 bulbs of garlic, ½ a head of cabbage, 5lbs of potatoes, 6 tangerines and a dozen limes. With the wind generator going strong, it should keep the remaining Villa Azul vacuum sealed items fresh for a few more days. We also have a vacuum sealed pork loin that Jens is going to cook soon, weather permitting. After that we do have lots of canned and dry goods, I won’t be making any bread until at least Wednesday.

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It may be windy and cool on deck, however with the wind and sea conditions we have to keep all of the ports shut making it a musty sweatbox below deck.

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If you are enjoying reading about my transatlantic adventure, please Like and Share.

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

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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If you are enjoying reading about my transatlantic adventure, please Like and Share.

Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 15, Weather Prediction, Still Fishing, Doing Some Math.

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

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…

~

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.

~

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.

~

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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Doing the Atlantic, Chapter 6, Casting off.

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.

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

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

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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.

Villa Azule

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.

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.

Ethiopian coffee beans.

~

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.

~

Arrecife police station.

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.

Arrecife Marina

~


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. 

Fishing gaff.

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.

Lidl supermarket in Puerta de Carmen

~

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.