TRANS ATLANTIC
Team Falshator ready to go
We dropped our lines and headed out 5pm on
the evening of the 20th November.
Whilst the outlook wasn’t the best with
South west winds predicted, the decision was made to go as the longer forecast
didn’t look that much better and we would like to get to the BVIs before Tori
our daughter arrives on the 10th December. As well as that, Ally our
crew member had just heard confirmation of a Job placement in the Panama on a
boat there and needed to get there asap.
So we were on the nose for the first couple
of nights with 2-3 meter seas, which wasn’t too bad but there were 30-knot
winds thrown in with the squalls so the reefing lines were working overtime.
We saw dolphins along side of the boat and
they were jumping out of the water some two meters. They looked like marlin on
the end of a line. The first time I’d seen Dolphins jumping this high, they
looked happy in their play.
The wind was predicted to come round to the
North east on the second day but it seemed to be dragging its chain a bit with
this and after three days it had just managed to come round to the North. All
this time there were rain squalls with wind attached coming through making the
nights interesting when you are on watch on your own. As night time came about
and the first shift was due, we would reef her down and depower the boat for
the night passage, making life aboard a bit more comfortable, and when the
squalls hit, it wasn’t that bad to ease the main and absorb them.
What this did of course was slow our
average boat speed down though, but the crew and the boat had to be looked
after, as it was going to be a long trip.
I was hoping that if we made an average of
6.5 knots per hour for the whole trip, then we should get into Virgin Gorda in
plenty of time.
While the boat was capable of gong faster,
it had to be taken into account the heavy load it was carrying with full tanks
of water, fuel, extra jugs of fuel, food, spare water (in case the water maker
went on holiday) and of course the crew. All this adding up to extra loading on
the boat, her rigging and of course Wally, our auto pilot. J
The fourth day I caught a Mahimahi after
the line had been out the back of the boat no more than 10 minutes, so it was
fresh fish for breakfast and the balance made into raw fish which was superb.
We have been eating well on board with Ally and Alex preparing most of the
meals so far and lots of fresh produce and great meals with it.
Alex showing me the USA delight- Apple and Peanut Butter
7 Knots of Breeze and sunshine
At this time of writing we have just past
the halfway mark. We are down at the 19-degree mark and there is still no sign
of these ’Trade Winds’ that are supposed to be here. It has been pretty
frustrating with shifty and variable winds, which at night drop down to 6 knots
so the engine is being used.
We have topped the tanks up with extra fuel
and still have another 6o hrs of motoring left , but I hope these trade winds
kick in shortly, otherwise we are in for a long trip!
There has been a couple of damages with the
Genoa having to come down and Shelly and I sewing a patch on the Leech of the
sail as it was starting to delaminate. The forward shower pump has decided to
play up and we are using the main saloon one. Two Battern holders in the main
have blown out so I took the batterns right out as we don’t need them for down
wind running and I had to shorten the 1st reefing lines again as
they were starting to chaffe through again. This time adding some tape around
them to try and help with the Chaffe
The halfway mark was celebrated by a
compulsory swim in the middle of the Atlantic and we couldn’t get over how warm
it was, with 27 degrees showing on the Chartplotter.
We are maintaining a course of around 260
degrees which is heading us west but also dropping us down the Latitudes as
well. Hopefully find those ‘Trade winds’ shortly!
The balance of the trip was pretty
frustrating with little to no winds, I think these ‘Trade Winds’ are a bit of a
myth as we never saw them. We had 6-10 knots for most of the trip and at times
no wind at all, which enabled us to have another swim in the beautiful clear
and warm water. We had competitions for the best dives, I don’t think any of
them were pushing for the Olympics and there were a few groans from the body
flops.
Flat out, zzzz
At least we had plenty of food and water
and the superb meals kept coming out of the Galley.
We would fly the Gennaker on its own during
the days and in the light winds, this kept us at a rate of 4-7 knots.
The decision was made to try and keep the
Gennaker flying into the night to try and keep the progress going, but it came
back to bite us.
A squall came through and through a certain
situation, we rounded up and tore the sail. We did patch it with tape and sewing, but this only lasted another 8 hrs before it went again.
It wasn't pretty but it gave us anther 8 hrs!
This would hurt us in the light
winds as we had trouble just with the main and Genoa up. They were back winding
due to the sea state and giving the goose neck on the Main a hard time. Which
meant running just with the poled out Genoa or motoring.
The engine had been serviced in Las Palmas
and the Tech there changed the oil to a heavier type-SAE30 and put a ‘special’
additive in it, apparently to arrest the oil consumption problem we had been
having.
What this did was cause the engine to burn
more fuel and instead of the 3.2 litres per hour as it has always done, the
fuel burn went up to 3.7 litres per hour.
This made us run severely low on fuel and
we had to call in at St Martin to grab some more. Going into Oyster Pond marina
at night was not easy, there were no Navigational lights there as was displayed
on the chart and there was surf both sides of the narrow channel. Needless to
say, I think I aged 10 years getting in there. Then we found the ‘Fuel depot’
which was displayed on the chart was only for Commercial Vessels only and we
had to catch a taxi with our empty Jugs to the local Petrol Station to get some
Diesel. All fun and games, but we got it and headed back out with 100 liters on
board and making for Virgin Gorda some 100 miles still to go.
The last 100 miles was probably the best
sailing we had had on the entire crossing with 15-20 knots and a beam reach all
the way.
Arriving at the Marina, we were greeted by
the friendly staff there and once Falshator was tied up, it was Rums all round
on board then up to the bar for a Celebratory Drink which went on into the
night and a few hangovers were on board the following morning
We met up with Tori, our youngest daughter
and her friend Logan the next day and it is great to have them on board. They
had flown a long way to catch up with us and looked pleased to be on board
although a little shattered by the Journey.
The weathers great and its time to enjoy
the BVIs and all it has to offer!
