Friday 8th April
Well for a change the final log is being written in port (I personally
believe that I'm still in a sober enough state to manage.....).
The reason for the last log being written a little late is down to mother
nature and her desire to make us work very hard for the last 50 miles of the
trip beating into 30 knots of wind with big seas. Everyone managed
fantastically as we bumped and bounced our way around the islands with a
spectacular view of Pico with it's snow covered cape. Tied up here in Horta
now you'd never guess just how rough the weather is a couple of miles off
shore at the moment.
So how did the trip go then? Well the first thing to say is that it was all
up wind in the end (times that Challenge yachts make perfect sense), the
winds were strong, 48 knots was the peak and looking at the nav computer our
average wind strength was 29 knots, all true windspeeds to the apparent over
the deck was anything up to 10 knots higher than that!
We made great speed covering 978 miles in 5 days and 1 hour, very close to
200 mile a day average, something that up wind is a challenge for any yacht.
Everyone has a lot of colour, not so sure it's come from the sun, more
likely wind and rain burn! But smiles abound and Pete's bar and a few
stakes are the plans for this evening once everything is packed away again.
Just two weeks time and we'll be heading out from here for the final run of
the Atlantic circuit and heading back home to Southampton. After this fast
and hard trip I'm in two minds over wanting to beat our 7 day record for the
1500 mile trip or having a relaxed slower calmer sail. We'll just have to
wait and see what the weather gods put our way!
Thanks for reading my general rambling of life aboard and once again thanks
has to go out to Jonty my special first mate on the boat for all the hard
work and rain he's put up with this trip without a grumble (he even had to
put up with my cooking one night on this run!).
Till next time! Kurt
Thursday 7th April
Water, water everywhere has been the theme for the last 24 hours. Crossing this low has brought some fickle winds with it although mainly around 30 knots but varying directions as well as solid rain!
This means we're all experiencing a bit of a roller coaster ride with regular 12 knots runs and a solid 10 knot average being maintained, it's just the clambering in and out of waterproofs at every watch change that can get a bit wearing (although it can bring plenty of humour watching people struggle out of everything as the boat moves about!).
We've now less than 200 miles remaining to Horta and are currently passing the tiny island of Santa Marina. Winds look like they should stay with us most of the way with the possibility of a little headwind for the last few hours just to make us all work for that first drink ashore that little bit harder!
I'll update you tomorrow on when we arrive but it looks mid to late morning at the moment, which is near as matters 200 miles a day for the entire trip, not bad for a gentle mile building sail between islands!
Wednesday 6th April
After a very changeable 24 hours we are at the moment beating hard into the wind attempting to make as good a course as possible as a cold front passes over giving us all a gentle shower wait for the sunshine we can see on the other side to reach us and bring with it another set of conditions. So what's happened?
Yesterday we were making good progress wondering when we were going to hit the patch of light to no wind between the two pressure systems, that turned up around 1pm with the wind dropping down to 2 knots and a glassy sheen appearing across the ocean. Timing was great for us to start the donkey (the engine to those of you not used to being at sea) have a relaxed lunch in the sunshine and for everyone to enjoy a hot shower as we slowly cruised across the flat waters.
It additionally gave us chance to replace a car on the mast track (these hold the sail to the mast track, not the sort that drive down the road!) that suffered a little the previous night when we were reefing in storm force winds, so down came all the sails, a quick 10 minute fix before hoisting again and making sure everyone is keep properly fit.
The wind started to slowly fill in as we relaxed eating Jonty's special spag bol with organic New Forest beef (very much enjoyed!) and by the time the washing up was done and everyone set for the night watches we were happily cruising along on a beam reach at 9-10 knots under starry skies enjoying the pleasures of ocean night sailing.
Onwards to this morning and the front mentioned at the start of the blog appeared on the horizon, waterproof donned we continued, as is quite normal we experienced a 60 degree windshift as it came across in the space of 5 minutes and now we're making 9 knots through it wondering what we'll be getting on the other side. More tomorrow!
Oh and we've been making great average boat speeds and have 380 miles left to run so Friday looks very likely now unless we have to tack the remainder of the trip!
Tuesday 5th April
After all the excitement of the first 18 hours life is now calm on Big Spirit. Smooth seas, 15 knots of wind, easy close reaching and an average of around 8 knots in the sunshine.
We're making a direct line for Horta now, through the night the clear moonless sky was full of shooting stars and the sea seems to have been full of dolphins who regularly come to see that this big bright orange thing is splashing through the seas.
Life is starting to fall comfortably into a routine now with everyone getting used to the watch system and even enjoying hot showers to wash off some of the salt we were all coating in during our wild first few hours.
My favourite boat food is on the menu tonight so very much looking forward to a huge bowl of Jonty's spag bol.
Weather wise we're now heading for the narrow band of very light winds that make up the eye of the low pressure system we have to cross to make it the Azores. Everyone is keeping finger crossed we manage to sail as far as possible and minimise the amount of motoring required to cross and pick up the winds on the far side. From all the weather information it looks to be 60-80 miles across so tomorrow I'll be able to tell you how we've faired.
Monday 4th April
Not many trips start with quite the level of excitement as this one.....
Coming out of the South of Gran Canaria you are firmly in the wind shadow of
the island with still calm conditions but as you move away from the cost you
experience something called the acceleration zone, yesterday this decided it
was a good day to make some extreme winds.
30 minutes into the passage we had an average of 42 knots gusting to 48
knots, in old money this is force 9 gusting 10. It was one of the times I'm
very grateful to be sailing a Challenge yacht as reaching across for 4 hours
in these conditions with a couple of reefs in the sails made for exciting
rather than terrifying sailing although maybe more extreme than some of the
crew were hoping for to start the trip out with.
Over night we have safely cleared all the islands and are pushing out to
sea, first 24 hour run is about 220 miles. This together with a slight
shortcut past La Gomera means we now have less than 750 miles to run and are
averaging a solid 9 knots at the moment meaning there is every chance I'll
be in port to see the F1 qualifying as well as the race!
Crew are settling into the routine now, a solid meal of sausages and mash is
planned for dinner and we're hoping this solid 60 degree reaching conditions
hold for a couple of days.
More tomorrow!
Sunday 3rd April
Everyone is up early, preperations are underway, final fresh fruit and bread are being bought and soon we'll be underway. The weather for this trip is looking good with a sunny start and 20 knots of breeze to take us away from the chain of islands that make up the Canaries. We'll be sailing almost due West for the first 18 hours round the bottom of the islands before lining up directly for the Horta on the Island of Faial in the Azores.
Currently it looks like the winds will be very light on Wednesday for us so there maybe lots of time for some sunbathing before the winds fill in again and we have the potential for a good blow for the final day or so. Our goal is to arrive by Saturday to enable everyone to spend a day or so relaxing and enjoying Horta before taking their flights home.
I'll update this blog daily from sea with our progress and some of the amusing stories from life at sea!
