Atlantic Adventure News

Follow the attached link to see a few pictures from the trip:

21/12/2003

We crossed the finish line at the contrived looking time of 12hr34.56min on 14^th December. We were a day ahead of my original estimated time but we did a fairly large number of hours under engine to achieve this.

After 20 days of coping with a following wind we suddenly had to tack into the wind to get across the finish line, however we did it without looking too silly. We were all suitably elated at completing the trip and Susan did not even wait for the sails to come down before jumping over the side – she then had to swim quite hard to get back on the boat.

We were greeted with the traditional rum punches, crate of beer and fruit. The rum punches were quickly followed by a bottle of Moet Chandon, setting the trend for the rest of the day. The celebrations went on into the small hours and as usual you had to be there to appreciate them. One item of note was right at the end of the night when Susan was returning to Pinball. She claims she was distracted by finding Andy looking a melancholy (or unwell) at the back of the boat, however she managed to walk straight off the end of the pontoon finger and into the water – this of course had a very sobering effect!! The pontoon fingers are quite short and there are no stop signs, however !!!!

Monday was a very quiet day – almost non-existent for some people, however we were obliged to open a bottle of champagne when some friends who had just arrived came to visit us.

We left St Lucia at about 2.0pm on the Tuesday, planning to sail through the night and anchor in Guadaloupe on the Wednesday night. We had dinner passing Forte de France on Martinique. The sailing was quite different from the Atlantic, the wind was on the beam and there were lots of other yachts and cruise ships, it was a nice change. We anchored in a bay called Anse a la Barque around lunch time and all got in the water for a bit of snorkelling, however the water visibility was poor and we just had to make do with beers, sparkling wine and a cheeky little vin rouge to go with our Coq au Vin.

On Thursday we sailed up to Jolly Harbour on Antigua. For lunch we ‘hove to’ and had a very pleasant lunch sitting in the middle of the Caribbean sea looking at Guadaloupe, Monsarrat and Antigua – pretty unique. We were later treated to a spectacular sunset over Monsarrat, where the sun appeared as if it was sinking into the volcano. We then had the excitement of getting into Jolly Harbour in Antigua in the dark, this included coping with a red flashing light which could only be seen from about 10 yards.

Jolly Harbour marina covers a huge area as it includes about 500 villas with their own yacht berths. Pinball is now secure in it’s berth for the next 4.5 months, overlooked by a very large and smart Casino – it does serve very reasonably priced drinks however.

14/12/03

Well it is just incredible, here we are sailing along with St Lucia off our port bow and Martinique off our Starboard bow. We are just 28 miles from the finish line and should be there just after mid-day St Lucia time. The Champagne is ready to put in a bucket of water to cool and we are getting the boat ready for our grand entrance.

Unbelievably we still do not see any other yachts - did they cancel the ARC and not tell us??

Susan sighted land at 6.12 local time and we have all been pretty excited. We had our first dram on board last night when we had less than 100 miles to go.

13/12/03

We are now just 155 miles from Rodney Bay, difficult to believe. We are sailing along at just over 5 knots in yet another very hot day (31 deg C) although it is a bit cloudy. With the sailing we have managed over the past 2 days, we now have enough diesel to motor to Rodney bay if the wind drops, so we are confident about getting there late Sunday.

We have been surprised that we haven't seen other yachts over the past couple of days, maybe they are all already in St Lucia!

We are now starting to get the boat and ourselves ready for arrival, doing some paper work, cleaning the inside and outside of the boat, looking out our matching Pinball Wizard shirts, etc.

We plan to stay in St Lucia for 2 nights (partying!!!) then head up to Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Antigua.

11/12/03

We are 420 miles from Rodney Bay and are once again motoring in very light winds.

It is very hot and we have been motoring for 1.5 days. We have put up the Bimini to get some shade and we have rigged up some other 'Heath Robinson' sun protection. However don't feel too sorry for us we are coping!!

We had further excitement yesterday morning when I caught a large Dorado. It was extremely hard work to reel it in as it put up a great fight, it was jumping up out of the water then diving down into deep water, but it tired before I did, only just, and we managed to get our big fish hook into it. I filleted the Dorado and then Andy baked some of the steaks - it was delicious. We have other steaks for dinner tonight. Andy's quote was that it could have fed a family for a week. The Dorado was so heavy that it broke the end of the fishing rod, which was only rated for 50lb !!!

Andy was on watch this morning as the sun rose and was treated to a school of about 20 porpoises, which had come to play.

We do not quite have enough diesel to reach St Lucia, so we will have to decide when it is best to make do with the light winds and sail. We will do this after getting another weather forecast. We are still hopeful of getting to St Lucia on Sunday evening.

We are beginning to see a few more boats as we converge on St Lucia, but they are still few and far between.

Well I am due on watch.

09/12/03

We are just 650 miles from St Lucia, but progress has slowed without our spinnaker. Next time I need to take 2 spinnakers!!

We have been enjoying great weather and very light nights with the full moon lighting up the sky and sea as if it was daylight. The days have been filled with a variety of jobs - checking the engine and the steering, topping up the diesel from the 'jerry cans', washing some clothes, cleaning the toilet and the fridge, etc.

We saw another yacht this morning, but it then put up it's spinnaker and stormed off into the distance - we will catch it up overnight as we tend to sail with a more aggressive night sail plan than most yachts.

We have been doing really well in conserving fresh water and only switched to the 2nd tank yesterday, i.e. we have used less than a 3rd of water in 2/3rds of the trip ( DLS's rule on water conservation is that 2 cups of water should be enough for a full body bath - the crew have commented on this but I know they are joking!!!!). We also have enough food on board to do a 2nd Atlantic crossing although we are running short of essential items such as Muesli bars and sweets!!!

We have now revised our target for reaching St Lucia from Saturday/Sunday to Sunday/Monday, But we are at least confident of making it by Monday as we will soon be within our diesel range and can motorsail if we hit really light winds. We are starting to talk more about what we want to do ashore, e.g. shower, cold beers etc , a sure sign that the end is in sight.

Well back to our chores - I feel the need of a shower - well a wipe down with baby wipes!!

07/12/03

We are now less than 900 miles from St Lucia and over 2/3rds of the journey complete.

We had to motor for 2 days from Thursday lunchtime to Saturday at 2.0pm (Local PW time). This was a bit frustrating after 11 days of great winds and sailing. However on Saturday morning I landed a 3ft fish, which Andy thinks was a bonito ( a large blue fish), but we need to buy a book on Atlantic fish to be sure (Photos will be added to the site when we get back). It was quite a struggle reeling in the fish as it put up a powerful fight. I caught the fish using the lure and tackle recommended by Eric, a friend from St Lucia, so well done Eric. I later cut off some fillets, which Susan fried and it was delicious. Most of the fish was thrown back into the water as we have no means of keeping the spare fillets.

Shortly after catching the fish we noticed another boat sailing, so we raised the spinnaker and finally put the engine off - bliss!! The other boat was making it's way to Cuba and Martinique and had nothing to do with the ARC.

We were soon sailing at over 6 knots and sometimes up over 8 knots. This spinnaker run continued through Saturday night and we were making really good time and had some fantastic sailing. We were however caught in a squall around dawn and at 7.50am a sudden heavy gust broached the spinnaker and Susan, who was at the helm called for help. The boat was leaning right over and water was pouring along the cockpit coaming. I released the spinnaker sheet and the boat started to come back up a little. By the time I went back down below to put some clothes and a lifebelt on, the spinnaker was starting to rip apart. After a great effort Andy and I managed to snuff the spinnaker and get the ropes back on board. That however is the end of the spinnaker for this trip as it is too badly damaged for us to sew by hand. It will have a big impact on our speed for the rest of the trip.

The past few days are typical sailing, long periods of relative relaxing followed by feverish activity when thing go wrong or major sail changes are required.

We are now sailing along with the Genoa and Cruising Chute poled out, but in the light winds we are only managing 4.5 - 5 knots.

Last night I was on the 11pm to 2am shift. I was sitting at the helm with shorts on, bare feet and a long sleeve shirt to keep the chill out. We were doing about 7 knots, a thousand miles from land in any direction and it was a very bright night due to the almost full moon. It was pretty idyllic and a good reminder of why people do this sort of trip. It is worth noting that Andy then came on watch and the heavens opened up - but my watch was great!

Well it is back to reality and trying to find a way of getting PW to move quicker in light winds - we should have had 2 spinnakers - next time!!

05/12/03

We are currently motoring across a glassy Atlantic with no wind and baking sunshine. No sailing but we are managing to chill out (metaphorically anyway).

We completed a wonderful 27 hour spinnaker run yesterday afternoon, including overnight on Wednesday, when the wind just died on us. For a few hours we had the spinnaker, mainsail, mizzen sail and the mizzen staysail up, this is a first for Pinball Wizard. Unfortunately there were no other yachts about to take our photo - I did think about blowing up the dinghy and setting off to take photographs, but I was persuaded to be sensible.

When the wind died we either had to switch on the engine or just wallow until wind appeared. From the weather forecast it looked like it could take a couple of days for wind to manifest itself, so we decided to use some of the diesel we had stocked up with. We are still motoring after 23 hours and it looks like it could be a while yet before we get back to sailing.

We are now in the area which is 1,000 miles from the nearest land in all directions, and the diesel onboard should be enough for 160 hours, or approx. 850 - 900 nautical miles. But the forecast is for 20 knot winds in our favour - just not clear when they will come.

Last night we had a VHF call from another yacht, Sanuk, which was also having problems with their Iridium Satellite phone. The skipper asked if we could send in his position and let the ARC people know of his problem. I managed to do this and contacted him again to give him the latest weather forecast. Sanuk later called us again to ask if we would like to share in a Barracuda his crew had caught and filleted. As we were in sight of Sanuk and catching her up I said we would be delighted. As we drew alongside the crew heaved a plastic bag onto Pinball. The 3 guys with just shorts on may have thought we were overdressed with our lifejackets on, but better safe than sorry. After this extraordinary mid Atlantic encounter, which is our first contact with another ARC yacht since we started, we said farewell and headed off with our Barracuda fillets.

We took advantage of the spare time to do some maintenance chores this morning. It was surprising to see the extent of wear on the spinnaker and Genoa sheets, but reversing them should see us through to St Lucia.

We had the Barracuda steaks this lunch time, courtesy of Andy, and they were very nice indeed. Sadly no wine to accompany the fish, but we are sticking to our plan of no more than one small beer per day. In fact we have only had 2 beers each so far!!

We have been trying out our own fishing gear since yesterday, but no catch so far. This is despite taking advice from a renowned expert in Las Palmas.

Well it is too hot in the saloon to write any more, I need to get back to baking on deck - maybe it's time for a 3rd beer.

Cheers,

David

Ps. I have tried to get other crew members to share in doing this log, but so far to no avail. [we have been fighting for a turn on the emails......Andy and Susan]

03/12/03

We are now 4 days into our adventure and all is going well. We have made 292 miles in the last 48 hrs, which means we have actually travelled further than that as we don't quite go in a straight line.

Now that I have a little more time I will describe the excitement of the start. During the week before the start the excitement grew as crew arrived on all the boats including Pinball Wizard. We had a number of social events and got to know the crew on quite a few boats. On the morning of the start there was a subdued atmosphere until about mid morning when the boats were getting ready to set off. Some of the crews had gone to quite a lot of trouble to make the start exciting. The crew on a Welsh boat, Bardeau, had all dressed in 'evening wear', dinner suit jackets and bow ties for the men and a slinky black number for the female on board. They left with the music of the Dambusters. A catamaran left with 3 of the young crew dressed in white with white gloves all disco dancing on the foredeck to loud music. We all had our matching Pinball Wizard shirts on and many other boats all had similar matching outfits.

Once we were out among the 200+ other boats, we put up all our sails and made a determined attempt to cross the line with the leading boats - we did pretty well we think and got off to a good start.

Our first excitement happened later that night when we found that the carpet was wet and that the bilges were full of water. After a slight panic I found that a sea water inlet hose on the engine had come loose and the problem was quickly fixed. We have since had a further incident when the end of our new Genoa pole came apart in the middle of the night. It certainly gets the adrenaline going sorting out pole problems on the foredeck in the pitch black.

We have had some great sailing so far, often with the best winds during the night. A 3 hour shift really goes quickly when you are battling with the wheel to keep the boat 'steady', flying along at 7-8 knots with large surfing rollers attacking the back of the boat. Maybe we are mad but it really is great fun. We are now completely out of sight of other boats and we only saw 2 boats yesterday.

We have been managing to feed ourselves well and it looks like we have enough food on board for 2 Atlantic crossings. Our dinners so far have included roast chicken, admittedly precooked, tortillas, sweet and sour pork and last night we had fillet steaks!!

Well it is now time to send in our position report to the ARC office.

03/12/03 (cont'd)

We are now halfway to St Lucia with 1400 miles to go. We are sailing with the spinnaker up doing over 7 knots in brilliant sunshine having just had a nice lunch.

We have had some great sailing, particularly over the past 2 days when we have had a series of squalls with winds up to 40 knots, although it didn't feel like that with the following wind. We had some great surfing waves, which had Pinball doing over 8 knots at times. The main wildlife we have seen is flying fish, we have had a shoal of about 50 'fly' past and quite a number of smaller groupings. About 4 nights ago we had 4 flying fish land on the deck, with 2 of them hitting Susan a glancing blow as she was helming.

We have seen very few other boats, either ARC yachts or other shipping, so it is a real surprise when a container boat comes straight at you.

We have been hand steering all the way so far, although I now have the autopilot working correctly. This has meant that we have had very little time to relax and read books etc, it had been anything but boring. The crew are all in great spirits but beginning to look forward to a shower. We are doing well in conserving water and are still on our first tank, so we are going to treat ourselves to a wash of our hair and a good  wipe down.

We will have a beer tonight to celebrate the halfway mark. We did also have a haggis dinner the other night to celebrate St Andrews night!

27/11/03

David phoned tonight at 1930 on the SAT phone. They are having problems with the aerial so are unable to send e-mails or contact the ARC office to update their position. Hopefully the problem will be rectified soon. They are all well and enjoying the sailing.

UNA.

25/11/03

We are now 2 days into our Atlantic crossing and we are doing great. We have travelled about 250 miles in the past 48hrs which is on schedule for our trip. The weather has mostly been fine and reasonably steady winds, with the odd squall and very light wind periods.

We are all in good spirits and the crew are beginning to find their sea legs, Susan has had her usual initial sea sickness and I (David) had a problem of losing balance and damaging my right hand in breaking my fall. However we are both on the mend and Andy has been fine but tired.

Our 3 hour shift pattern is working well and our walkie talkie system gives the helmsman the ability to get someone up if need be. We are heading South West, taking a mid line between the trades route via the Cape Verde Islands and the Rhumb Line heading straight for St Lucia. We are expecting the Azores high to head South and we want to take advantage of the Trades winds when they come.

10/11/03

Pinball all set for the ARC. New equipment fitted includes: Sea water pump at the galley, Keel cooler for fridge,  2nd spinnaker pole for twin headsails, Snuffer for cruising chute, MOB receiver to use with personal MOB phones, new twin hook life lines, water filter for fresh water. All electrical and charging equipment checked and now working. Having safety check done Tuesday. Fair amount of provisioning done. Party season started -   pontoon party Monday night, welcome party Tuesday. We just need some more provisioning and we will be ready for the off.