August 31st, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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. So I started the generator. It kicked into life with a shudder and got into its rhythm.
Then it stopped.
I tried starting it again, and once more it stopped, flashing a yellow light seven times. The short error list to the right of the button indicated that seve flashes meant that there was ‘no raw water flow’. Something was stopping sea water being pumped through the cooling system of the generator – essensially just a big diesel engine.
The generator is essential for charging the batteries that power all the electrics on board the boat. Lights, computer, GPS, navigation equipment, auto pilot, auto steering, freezer, fridge, etc etc, not to mention the electric motors that give the boat drive when there is not enough wind.
Steve heard the generator start and stop two times, and was up before I had a chance to wake him. “I bet you it’s the darn impeller,” he mumbled, still half asleep.
From previous experiences, Steve always carries a spare impeller with him on long trips. This is a rubber paddle wheel of sorts that pumps water through the cooling system of the generator. With continual contact with salt water, the rubber inevitably becomes hard and brittle, eventually breaking away.
With a large spanner and some long nosed pliers to get at the small bolts to remove the water pump cover, Steve managed to get the old impeller out. It was long gone. Below is the new impeller on the left and the old one on the right.
With the help of some dishwashing liquid to lubricate the new impeller, we finally managed to get the new one into the tight fitting water pump housing.
An easy job, but I am glad that Steve always carries a spare impeller. If not, things could have been much worse.
Ellie was on lunch today and made some delicious quesidillas, a Mexican delight with cheese, onion, salami, and tomato sauce sandwiched between tortillas and then toasted on a hot fry pan.
August 30th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 trade winds really started to kick in, giving us a steady five to seven knots of speed.
The weather can however go pear shaped out here. This is offically the Atlantic hurricane season, and this year there have already been four named storms, all originating from around the area that we are sailing in. To be caught unawares of the development of a big storm is courting death.
That’s where a certain bit of 40 year-old marine technology comes in. The weather fax.
This great piece of kit receives a fax signal sent over a VHF radio band. At present we can pick up weather faxes from England very clearly, and ones from New Orleans and Boston in the US when the conditions are right. As we move closer to the US, we should begin to pick up the US faxes more clearly.
The VHF radio has a sound lead that goes from the radio into the microphone port on the laptop computer. The weather fax software then detects the sound from the microphone and decodes the signal into a weather map image. These weather map images are then saved onto the computer for futre reference. It takes about 10 minutes for a full weather map to be downloaded.
The image above is a rather rough image from the New Orleans station. It shows possible tropical cyclone formation areas. Thankfully none of these are anywhere near us at present, and all storms will be heading away from us towards the west.
The weather map below is from Northwood, England, that covers the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean. There is a small tropical wave about 200 miles west of us, towards the bottom center of the map. We will need to keep our eyes on that one.
Ah yes, how can I forget, today I made my first loaf of bread on the boat. 500g worth of flour – made two big loaves in the gas oven on board.
August 29th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 can chuck anything you want overboard, so long as it isn’t made of plastic. That means that we throw overboard food waste, cans, glass, cardboard, and mutinous crew etc only. The plastic stays onboard, neatly stuffed into empty 8 litre water bottles, to be disposed of when we get to the British Virgin Islands. The tight seal on the cap of the bottle prevents any unwanted smells to escape during the three weeks passage across.
August 28th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 us on board, so we each do one of these duties once a day. Today I was on dinner duty.
The beauty of this boat is that it has a freezer, fridge, gas stove, gas oven etc. Also, being a catamaran, the boat is relatively stable even in fairly rough seas. This means that you can spend time making a meal without having to wory about pots going astray.
So I defrosted some frozen chicken legs, filleted them, and made a classic Japanese dish called Oyakodon. This consists of crumbed fried chicken laid on top of rice, covered in a runny egg and sweet teriyaki sauce. Upon Skipper Steve’s suggestion, I used crunched up cornflakes instead of breadcrumbs, and it was very good.
WATCH ROSTER
“When you’re on watch, you do just that. Watch.” Skipper Steve Dewhurst on the duty of a crew member.
There are three of us on board this boat. We all do eight hours of watch per day, these eight hours split into two lots of four hours. At present, I am on watch from 4pm till 8pm, and 4am till 8am. During this time I will sit at the helm and watch for boats, changes in weather, wind direction shifts etc. Due to the wonder that is auto-helm and wind-steer, there is practially no need whatsoever to steer the boat manually. If the need arises for that, Steve is usually the one who takes over.
The watch that I’m on now is considered to be one of the better ones. You get the sunrise and sunset. So far these have been fairly normal sort of sunsets and sunrises, but the clouds make for a nice show every now and then.
The moon over the last few mornings has been amazing. Big and bright.
And at 4am in the morning, there’s nothing quite like a small shot of strong French coffee to wake me up!
August 27th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 bolt in all the shackles on the boat with a cable tie, to prevent them working loose. This boat however was prepared by someone else…
Fortunately Steve was able to salvage a replacement shackle from the spinnaker sheet (‘sheet’ means rope) block (‘block’ means pulley). Then came the problem – what to replace the spinnaker sheet block shackel with? We don’t have a spinnaker with us, so whatever we use to re-attach the spinnaker block with doesn-t need to bear any forces. First Mate Ellie ducked inside and came out a few moments later with a padlock – just right!
And in othew news, we caught a fish today. A good 4kg torada. Foul-hooked through the eye, but caught all the same. We had the line trawling along behind us for about four hours and as soon as the reel gave out it’s wonderful clicking noise to indicate that something was hooked, it was all go.
A few minutes later, we had a gutted headless fish in the freezer.
August 26th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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’ that holds the genoa in place – so someone had to go up and tighten them. With very little to hold onto, it was a battle to say the least. One hand holding onto the forestay, one battling to keep the screwdriver in the head of the screw.
The wind today was fickle at times, not characteristic of the trade winds that Steve is looking for in this part of the Atlantic. At one time steady and strong, at other times gentle and useless. By 8pm however, the wind had steadied enough to put a full sail out.
The type of sail formation that we have set at the moment is called Wing On Wing – used for ‘running’ with the wind. That is, heading straight downwind with the wind behind us. The main sail is set out as far to the port side as possible, and the genoa is set as far to the starboard side as possible. This captures as much wind as we can to push us downwind.
August 25th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 is called the genoa, the big flappy thing in the middle is called the main sail.” Skipper Steve Dewhurst on sailboat terminology.
The first half of today’s sailing wasn’t. Leaving Puerto de la Estacia we had a tail wind, but Steve kept the sails down until we cleared the island of Hiero. Acceleration zones are aplenty in this area – areas of very strong winds funneled through gaps in islands that can flip a yacht quicker than you can get the sails down. Or, in our case, since we are in a very stable catamaran, we could lose out mast in a very strong gust, rather than be flipped.
Once clear of the southeast tip of Hiero, we had smooth clam waters for a few hours until we got well away from the island. Once clear, we put up the main sail and genoa – full sail – and enjoyed some of the first real sailing of the trip so far.
And the sun even gave us an OK sort of sunset.
August 24th, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
“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 to the south and west anyway.
This unscheduled day off gave us time however to make some last minute dashes into town with the help of Tony and Jan in their station wagon. They are living now in Tenerife, but are originally from the UK. They buy old houses (like, look, it’s only got three walls), renovate them (as in, rebuild them), and then sell them.
The capital of Hiero is a small town called Valverde. Here we were able to buy an extra gas bottle, an extra 150 litres of diesel, and some odds and ends.
Once back at the marina, we enjoyed a pleasant evening with Tony and Jan.
August 23rd, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 on the Lagoon 420 catamarans (he had similar issues with another boat that eventually had to be abandoned on one of the more northern Canary Islands), Steve decided that the way forward was to set up soem additional cooling fans in the engine compartment of the port side motor, assuming that overheating was the cause of the problems.
Two 12volt fans were promptly cannabalised from the saloon.
These were spliced to a 12 volt power source (waste water pump) and set up in the engine compartment. One directed straight at the port side motor, and another directed towards the port side CPU (engine controller).
Time will tell whether this hack will fix the problem, but with the navigation lights fixed also, it was a rather sucessful day.
That was, of course, until the local ATM machine ate Steve’s credit card. “I’m sorry, Senhor, bank officials will not be able to get here for at least four days,” said the shop owner next door.
Luckily I had some Euros in cash on me, so we were able to pay the marina for the two days we would stay there – 62 Euros for two nights. So no credit card for Steve and Ellie!
August 22nd, 2007 | categorizilation: all categories,The Atlantic
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 southern and most remote of the Canary Islands, Hiero, in a marina called Puerto De La Estacia.
This was not a scheduled stop at all.
Basically, the boat has been giving us too much grief – we had to stop to make repairs and sort out what was going on. At 8am this morning, we arrived at a marina at the south of Hiero, the one below. However it was not very well sheltered from the strong Atlantic swell, and along with the fact that we had to moor up to a high concrete warf did not ease Steve’s concern that we might damage the boat if we stayed there.
A local kindly told us about another marina, recently completed, that we would be better off mooring at. This was about 15NM to the north, into the wind. We had little choice, so we set off again.
The boat that we are on is a new Lagoon 420 catamaran. The company which makes the boat is a French company, Lagoon Catamarans. The 420 model is a 42 foot hybrid. That is, the engines are electric. When the batteries are fully charged, the boat wil run at full speed for about 30 minutes. With the onboard diesel generator running, the boat will run at half speed for as long as you have diesel.
Half speed into the wind today was slow going. We were only managing 2 to 3 knots. Steve and Ellie were wishing that Lagoon had just forgotten about the electric engines all together and put in some reliable grunty diesel engines.
We did make it to the other marina however, and were happy that despite the fact there was only a big concrete warf to moor to, the marina was well sheltered from the strong swell. The plan is to stay here two days in order to try to fix the noisy port side motor and the navigation lights that mysteriously are not working.
