Distance sailed today: 129 NM Total distance sailed: 776 NM Midnight GPS position: N 23.05 W030.09 Wind: ENE Wind Force 4-6 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 2.4hr I was just finishing my 4am to 8am watch this morning, when I noticed that the batteries were getting low on the boat. […]
Monthly Archives: August 2007
Distance sailed today: 110 NM Total distance sailed: 647 NM Midnight GPS position: N 23.57 W027.59 Wind: NE Wind Force 4-5 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 40 mins Whether you like it or not, weather is a big deciding factor which way you go in the Atlantic. Today the Atlantic […]
Day 404 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Ten
Distance sailed today: 107 NM Total distance sailed: 537 NM Midnight GPS position: N 24.32 W025.57 Wind: NE Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 2.1hr We sailed past a longitude/latitude convergence point today. 25/25 it was. Very exciting. Here in the offshore ocean, the law is that you […]
Day 403 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Nine
Distance sailed today: 105 NM Total distance sailed: 430 NM Midnight GPS position: N 25.24 W024.14 Wind: NE/E Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 2hr THE DUTY ROSTER First Mate Ellie has made up a daily roster that covers lunch, dinner, and cleaning duty. There are three of […]
Day 402 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Eight – How things ...
Distance sailed today: 98 NM Total distance sailed: 325 NM Midnight GPS position: N 26.14 W022.36 Wind: NNE Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 10.1hr A D-shackle broke on the mainsail boom this morning. Unfortunately the checking of this particular shackle was overlooked because Steve usually secures the […]
Day 401 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Seven
Distance sailed today: 110 NM Total distance sailed: 227 NM Midnight GPS position: N 26.49 W020.56 Wind: NNE Wind Force 3-4 Sea state: Slight Generator hours: 5.5hr Nothing quite like being flung about half way up a mast… There were a few screws loose on the forestay – the ‘mast’ […]
Day 400 – THE ATLANTIC: Day Six
Distance sailed today: 20 NM Total distance sailed: 117 NM Midnight GPS position: N 27.19 W019.09 Wind: NE Wind Force 4-5 Sea state: Calm to slight Generator hours: 8.3hr “There are two flappy things on a yacht – one at the front, one in the middle. The front flappy thing […]
Day 399 – THE ATLANTIC (Day 5): Leaving Hiero (Canary ...
“It’s not that we’re overly supersticious, but it’s just that we have never left on a Friday before” said Ellie delicately this morning. Fair enough with me, I thought, and it was settled, wait it out another day to leave tomorrow. The weather maps were still showing not much wind […]
Day 398 – THE ATLANTIC (Day 4): Supersticious?
No sailing today, just maintenance. After some discussions with people in the know about the new electric engines in the boat, Steve set about making some modifications to fix the problems we were having. Still clearly adamant that heads should roll at Lagoon Catamarans for the malfunctions he has encountered […]
Day 397 – THE ATLANTIC (Day 3): On Hiero Island ...
Distance sailed today: 96.5 NM Total distance sailed: 96.5 NM Midnight GPS position: N 27.47 W017.54 Wind: Variable Sea state: Slight “French plastic boats, good. French electrics, bad.” Skipper Steve Dewhurst on a certain model of catamaran. STOMACH STATE:Feeling better, but still a little queasy. We are now on the […]
Day 396 – THE ATLANTIC (Day2): On land already?
Distance sailed today: 88.2NM Total distance sailed: 88.2NM Midnight GPS position: N 27.38 W017.17 Wind: Variable to NNW 2-4 kt Sea state: Slight STOMACH STATE: Crook. Not feeling the urge to puke, but well and truely getting there. We finally got away from Tenerife at 11:30am this morning after filling […]
Day 395 – THE ATLANTIC (Day 1): Leaving Tenerife
“At least there’s less dog shit here. France is dog shit central.” – Skipper Steve Dewhurst lamenting about too many drunk British tourists in Las Americas, Tenerife. We were hoping to head out today. However a quick check of the weather maps showed little improvement on the wind situation. Skipper […]
Day 394 – CANARY ISLANDS: Bobbing in the marina
“Quick! Look rich!” – Skipper Steve Dewhurst upon seeing tourists looking at the yacht in the marina. “I’ll be buggered if I’m going to go out there today!” said Steve when he climbed out of his berth this morning. The wind was blowing from the south this morning. And less […]
Day 393 – CANARY ISLANDS: Lazy Sunday
Hello from the Canary Islands. The yacht is amazing – I have a double berth all to myself including ensuite. Big stable catamaran. We depart on Sunday. You can keep a track on where we are by logging onto the following website: Access: Yacht Control Username: u_CAT008 Password: WHALE This […]
YACHT TRACKING
“Go south till the butter melts, then turn right.” – Skipper Steve Dewhurst on how to get across the Atlantic. So the plan was to set sail today. However the wind was not 100% great, and there were still a few things to organise before setting off. One of those […]
Day 392 – CANARY ISLANDS: Melted butter
“Working on a sailboat is 10% sailing and 90% cleaning.” – Steve Dewhurst The boat that we are delivering on this trip has been sitting in the marina in San Miguel in Tenerife for one month. The previous crew that got it from France down this far disintegrated due to […]
Day 391 – CANARY ISLANDS: Sailing is 10% sailing and…
Did lots of flying and ‘normal’ traveling today. Flew from La Rochelle (France) to London (England), then from London to Tenerife (Canary Islands, off the coast of Morocco, North Africa). It was six hours of flying in total, but much more waiting. It took one hour and a half to […]
Day 390 – FRANCE and CANARY ISLANDS: From La Rochelle ...
OK, so I know I said that I wouldn’t be using an airplane to get back to NZ, so I guess that this is cheating just a little, but tomorrow I depart La Rochelle to fly back to London, and then from there fly to Tenerife, Spain – flights reimbursed […]
DAY 389 – FRANCE: Guess who has a crew position…
I spent more than six hours in the Decathalon store today. Way to make you go crazy. First I spent an hour or so tracking down the cheapest possible footwear I could find. The result was a 5 Euro pair of shoes on special, discounted from 35 Euros. They should […]
Day 388 – FRANCE: From Nantes to La Rochelle
Bonjour from France! This hitchhiking business is hard work. Sure, you don’t have to carry a heavy backpack on your back, but when you are super tired and can hardly keep your eyes open, but are stuck in a truck, your only option is to fight the tiredness and try […]
Day 387 – FRANCE: La Havre to Nantes
A big event happened today in the 14degrees Journey – I hitch hiked for the first time, ever. The plan is to hitchhike down to La Rochelle, France, and hang about there for a while trying to find someone to let me come aboard their yacht as crew. Any yacht […]
Day 386 – ENGLAND: From Couldon to Portsmouth
Ailsa has friends in Couldon just south of London who own a Laser 2 Regatta sailboat. Ailsa and her flatmate and I went down there for a bash at the Weir Wood Sailing Club’s reserviour with Paul and Elise. Paul expertly showed me the ropes, and despite the fact that […]
Day 385 – ENGLAND: Sailing in East Grinstead
Went to Les Miserables tonight. Amazing. Just amazing. It was the 9,000th performance of Les Miserables in London. There was no photography allowed during the performance, so no action shots. As usual, my favourite song was Bring Him Home, sung brilliantly by John Owen-Jones in the lead role as Jean […]
Day 384 – ENGLAND: Les Miserables
Updated the following pages today: The gear page including a comprehensive Wish List containing items that I require for the ongoing journey across the Atlantic Ocean and across North America. It’s never been easier to become a physical part of the 14degrees Journey! I have added a Why Skateboard? page. […]
Day 383 – ENGLAND: Some bits and bobs
Went on the tube the other day. It took us about 20 minutes to get from Limehouse to the Westend. I’m sure if I was on a bike it would have taken just as long, but been much more refreshing than being cramped into those tiny little tubes on tracks […]
Day 382 – ENGLAND: Cabin fever
Well, it’s time to go home to New Zealand. Enough of this galavanting around the countryside. Time to get on back to the motherland. This is the plan: From England to New Zealand – without flying From western France to Florida, USA by yacht. Across the USA by skateboard from […]