Day 4 and Maunie's first catch

A little additional news from today for you – at lunchtime Fergus announced that he thought it was time to go fishing so he attached a green plastic squid lure to the new line, purchased in Las Palmas and loaded onto the sea-fishing reel mounted on Maunie's aft rail. Between us, what we know about ocean fishing could be written on a matchbox so there was not much confidence of a result, it must be said.

 

35 minutes later, though, the reel started screaming so we wound in the 150m line to land a beautiful 4lb Dorado. A shot of cheap vodka into its gills finished it off in a humane way and Fergus 'Robson Green' McDonald gutted and filleted it very expertly. So we're looking forward to our fish supper.

 

From now on blog entries won't have as many photos, due to limits on sat phone data for each month, but we'll try to add a few special ones as we go. We'll still aim to update the blog with a story each day.

Day 4: A sample of on-board life

Hi from us all on Maunie. Life aboard is settling down (though the boat continues to sail straight or level!). We're making steady progress though the wind in just a bit too much for the Parasailor and not quite enough for really good speed under the foresail. Winnie the Windpilot continues to work brilliantly so the on-watch crew can keep an eye on her but not be chained to the wheel for hours at a time.

 

Rich – whose susceptibility to sea sickness is legendary – is now feeling good and enjoyed his night watch.  He looks a little rough but assures us he'll have a shave soon!

 

Fergus has been doing some Extreme Washing so has a clothes line rigged on the foredeck; look out for photos of Extreme Ironing in future blogs. Aside from this he's our nominated rig expert so does a daily check of all the wires, ropes and shackles; this morning he found the snap-shackle at the bottom of the yankee had popped open so we rectified this safely but it illustrated the importance of these daily rig inspections.

 

Di has been doing sterling work around the boat – she had quite a lively watch last night when some rain squalls arrived so Graham was on hand to help gybe the boat (alter course to bring the foresail onto the opposite side) to get a better direction and speed.

 

The skipper is fiddling with water-maker and generator to ensure we don't run out of electrical power and to provide water for luxury showers. Last night he cooked a roast chicken dinner, with new potatoes and green beans. We all had to balance our plate to prevent spillage but it was very much enjoyed and it was a nice bit of normality in a slightly surreal world to be able to sit together at the dining table.

 

As we write the sun is out and we are trundling along at nearly 7 knots. Our best 24-hour run is 160 miles so we're keen to beat this – we want to arrive in Saint Lucia before the faster boats drink all the rum!

Day 3 and the Parasailor adds entertainment

All well aboard Maunie, we are pleased to report. Yesterday afternoon the Force 6s began to ease so we launched the Parasailor spinnaker – the first time a moment of inattention from the skipper at the wheel resulted in a perfect 'wine glass' knot so we sorted this and relaunched for an hour or so before dusk when the photo was taken.

 

Last night was a lot less rolly so we all managed some off-watch sleep after a good evening meal and feel a lot more with-it today! The generator has been running for 3 hours to recharge batteries and to allow us to put the breadmaker into action – the first Atlantic Loaf looks pretty good! Meanwhile we flew the Parasailor again for a couple of hours but lots of clouds kept bringing extra gusts of wind under them so we took it down before it became too emotional to keep sailing with such a huge sail!

 

Life on board is beginning to fall into a good routine. Rich, Dianne and Fergus are on a 3-watch system so they each run the boat single-handed for 3 hours at night and 4 in the day. Graham floats between watches and is the first to be called on deck if a sail change is required; he also runs the 16.00-20.00 watch so that the normal watchkeeper becomes 'mother' to clean the boat and cook the evening meal. During the day there is usually a couple of us on deck and there are daily jobs to be done – running the generator and watermaker, downloading weather information (and emails) from the sat phone and taking part in the daily SSB Radio 'Net' where boats equipped with these long-range radios share their positions and weather conditions and any other tips or news.

 

The weather isn't exactly wall-to-wall sunshine at the moment – lots of clouds – but when the sky does clear at night the full moon is absolutely stunning. We're still on a strategy of making some distance southwards as well as west as there is a low pressure system developing in mid-Atlantic which may just give us a patch of no wind if we get too close to it. For the moment, though we have excellent sailing conditions and Maunie is doing well; you'll be able to see our position on the Fleet Viewer on the ARC website (we can't view it due to data limitations).

 

Best wishes from us all

 

 

ARC Day 2, Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

We've decided that although we left the Las Palmas marina to the sound of the 'Yeo Valley Naturally' song on the stereo, we should change Maunie's tune to the 'Theme from Rawhide' as we're certainly Rolling, Rolling, Rolling now!

 

The 11.00am start was quite a spectacle, with 200 yachts jostling for position for a good start; some jostling more competitively than others, it must be said, with 2 boats incurring a 3-hour time penalty for being over the line before the gun. We got a good start and were soon charging south with boats all around us. Big rain squalls brought 30 knot gusts so we reefed down (reduced the sail area) and then dropped the mainsail to sail through the night with just the yankee (foresail) up, a safe and still-fast rig. We've been averaging close to 7 knots and are currently (10.00am) about 75 miles due south of La Gomera, heading slightly south of due west.

 

Conditions were pretty tough on board with Force 6-7 winds behind us and a 3 metre swell so Maunie has been sleigh-riding down the waves. Getting any sleep off-watch has been tough so we are all feeling a bit jaded this morning. However, a full moon last night, bright sunshine and dolphins all around us this morning and a breakfast that included Bimbo toast have been highlights of the passage so far. The dead squid found on the deck was a surprise too.

 

Thanks for your messages and we hope that you can follow us on the Fleet Viewer. We're about to download the weather forecast to decide on our course strategy. At the moment, following the Great Circle (shortest distance) is good, with these fresh NE winds, but we think we'll need to head south to avoid a low pressure system at the weekend.  Best wishes from the Maunie Crew.

 

 

Leaving at 11.00am

The postponed start kicks off at 11.00am today so an early start for the crew this morning. Slight administrative snag has been discovered, however: our magnetic cards won't open the gates on the pontoons or the shore loos this morning! Aaargh!

There will be lots of photos photos of the start on the www.worldcruising.com/arc website and we'll try to post a blog from sea this evening.

Please do contact us! We can't see comments on the blog but we can receive emails. The boat address is:
maunie (at) mailasail.com

(you'll need to replace the (at) with an ampersand - it's written like this here to stop the spam bots) so do drop us a line (we can't manage photos or attachments),

Best wishes from the crew

Safe, Happy, Fast

Crossing the Atlantic in a 38ft yacht is no small challenge so we thought it might be helpful (and reassuring to family and friends) to put some notes down about our strategy for the voyage - both on the ARC and beyond. So, whether you are sailing with us or just following our progress, you'll know how we're approaching the trip.

Our order of priority will be: Safe, Happy, Fast.

Safe

Safety is our top priority and our approach is a combination of safety by design, safety through training and safety through behaviour.

Safety through design

Fundamentally Maunie is a very safe boat. Her heavy displacement, immensely strong construction, massively over-specced rigging and the shelter offered by her deep cockpit and her pilothouse mean that she'll cope with conditions that we aim to avoid.

Our voyage will predominantly take advantage of favourable trade-winds (so we don't expect to be beating to windward as in the photo above!) and ocean passages will be timed to avoid seasonal bad weather but we’ll still be prepared for the worst. Talking to those who've experienced ocean crossings themselves and to the organisers of the ARC, it's clear that these voyages inflict a lot of pressure on a yacht compared to coastal sailing. In particular, rudders and steering gear do a lot of work in downwind sailing in sometimes large ocean swells. Maunie has a full ‘skeg’ rudder so that the rudder blade is supported by strong bearings top and bottom, unlike a lot of racing-derived boats where the ‘spade’ rudder is only suspended from a top bearing. Maunie also has a second Windpilot self-steering rudder on the stern which will do most of the steering at sea (the main rudder will be locked off in the straight-ahead position) but it also offers emergency back-up capabilities.

We carry a storm staysail (in a fetching shade of orange) and, together with a triple-reefed mainsail, this gives us a gale-proof small-sail rig which will allow us to maintain control of the boat without being over-canvassed. At the other end of the wind-scale a new Parasailor spinnaker has been purchased that will minimise uncomfortable and potentially dangerous rolling down-wind.

A well-designed boat is only as good as its maintenance regime, of course, so over the past 3 years we have been assiduously updating things. The rigging and sails have been replaced, as have the sea-cocks, the gas system, fire extinguishers and life raft. We've added additional safety devices such as an active radar transponder (which makes us look like a very big echo on a ship's radar screen), an AIS transponder (which transmits out position, course and speed to nearby vessels), an EPIRB emergency beacon (linked to satellites), a personal locator beacon (a small EPIRB carried by the person on watch), an AIS man overboard locator and a heavy-weather drogue anchor. Life jackets have been professionally serviced, emergency flares replaced and our first aid packs updated.

Maunie carries a long-range single side band (SSB) radio which has a range of many thousands of miles and we have added an Inmarsat satellite telephone which will allow us to download weather and safety information anywhere in the world.

Safety through training

Dianne and Graham have done many thousands of sea miles in a variety of boats in voyages which include two round-Britain circumnavigations. What’s become clear is that we never stop learning – which is part of the appeal of sailing to us – and, whether it’s learning by experience, mistakes or formal training, we keep adding to our combined knowledge bank.

We have both completed our RYA Yachtmaster Offshore courses, both theoretical and practical, which cover navigation, boat-handling and safety issues in yachts. Graham is a fully-qualified Yachtmaster, Dianne’s exam was cancelled due to bad weather but we’re pretty confident she’d have qualified if it had gone ahead.

Beyond this we’ve both completed the RYA Sea Survival course, the Ocean Safety course and sailing First Aid courses. Dianne has recently gone on to complete the 10-day ship’s medic course of advance first aid, plus second aid, at sea.

Our crew, Fergus and Richard, have also many sea miles to their credit and have both undergone recent training including Sea Survival, Safety at Sea, First Aid and VHF Radio.

Safety through behaviour

We have learnt through experience never to underestimate the power of the sea or to overestimate our own abilities. We therefore adopt a safety-first culture on board at all times. Personal safety is the individual responsibility of each crew member but the collective responsibility for safety of the crew and the yacht is that of the skipper, so this is his one area of absolute rule! One important safety responsibility is to ensure that the crew is properly fed, watered and rested to minimise accidents caused by fatigue, so a watch-keeping regime will allow the boat to be properly managed 24-hours a day whilst giving the crew time to rest.

Aboard Maunie, lifejackets are worn on deck unless conditions are so benign that a decision is given by the skipper not to do so. At night they are always worn on deck and crew members always clip their life harnesses to strong-points; those same harnesses will be used if conditions become challenging during the day and this is again the skipper’s decision.

Running the yacht in challenging sea conditions brings a range of safety risks, from slips, to cuts and rope-burns. A spillage of hot food or liquid in the galley, for example, could cause a substantial scald so don’t be surprised to see photos of the chef wearing a rather fetching bright orange waterproof apron at the cooker! We will be particularly cautious at the start of passages and at watch change-overs to make sure that we can acclimatise to the conditions.

Rest assured, sailing is statistically a safe sport but our crew behaviour will be vital in ensuring that all the ‘just-in-case’ emergency systems that we have in place will never be needed.

Happy

This is going to be a voyage of a lifetime and isn’t designed to be some kind of test of mental and physical resilience! There will be a lot of time at sea where there isn’t a huge amount to do, sailing wise, since the self-steering will do the pointing-in-the-right-direction task and the sails, if properly set, should look after themselves. So we’ve put some thought into comfort, wellbeing and entertainment, with a particular reference to sailing in the heat of the Tropics.

Maunie’s a pretty comfortable boat to start with but additions like cushions for the cockpit seats, a large bean-bag for reclining on the foredeck and a bimini sun-shade over the cockpit just add a few important notches of comfort. A reverse-osmosis fresh water-maker will mean that drinking water won’t have to be rationed on voyage and that regular showers and clothes washing will mean we don’t start to smell too badly – we probably wouldn’t notice but anyone meeting us in St Lucia will be pleased.

Food and drink will become important highlights of our days, so two well-stocked fridges will allow us to enjoy fresh food for most of the 3-week Atlantic crossing, hopefully augmented by some freshly-caught fish. We’ll make fresh bread aboard and have upgraded the cooker to a very smart new model which will be more economical on its gas usage and will not add undue heat to an already hot galley.

Off-watch, we’ll have films on the laptop and music on the ipod, linked into the boat’s stereo, plus plenty of reading matter on the Kindle.  We just don’t want you worrying that we won’t be having a good time as we sail steadily towards the palm trees and coral sands!

Fast

Maunie is no racing boat but we will still sail her to the best of her capabilities – half a knot of consistently lost speed due to poor sail trim could add two days to our crossing time between the Canaries and the Caribbean. The new Parasailor spinnaker should deliver extra speed, safely, compared to just using our white sails so hopefully will give us a couple of days’ advantage and the fancy folding propeller will similarly add about half a knot of speed compared to the original fixed prop. The ARC isn’t a race but there are prizes so there is a natural competitive spirit and we want to get to St Lucia before the rum runs out!

On the ARC we’ll be on the small-side, at 38ft, compared to the average of 50ft and, put simply, increased waterline length delivers greater boat speed. So on the ARC website, you’ll find a tracker which shows the live position of each of the 230 boats taking part. Some of the big, fully crewed racing boats will complete the trip in about 11 days but we expect to be closer to 22 days; so we’ll have more people to cheer us in at the finish line in St Lucia.

We’ll keep you posted on our progress as we cross the Atlantic. We just can’t wait to go!

Hurry up and wait, again

The final preparations were in full swing yesterday and almost every mast in the fleet seemed to have a crew member perched in it, fixing anti-chafe materials and checking fittings. At lunchtime we had the Skippers' Briefing, which included the latest weather forecast from weather guru Chris Tibbs.

The news Chris shared wasn't good. Once again the weather isn't doing what it normally does here at this time of year so instead of a nice north-easterly to blow us south towards our preferred route, Sunday's start would be in a very breezy south-westerly so we would be beating to windward for the first 24 hours. To add to this challenge, the predicted swell at the south of Gran Canaria would be 6m (with wind waves against the swell) and big rain squalls would follow. There were a lot of glum  faces in the room, I can tell you.

So, for only the second time in the history of the ARC, the start has been postponed until Tuesday for the Cruising Division (the Racing crews still have to go today!). It must have been a tough call for the organisers but they clearly recognised that to send a wide range of heavily-laden cruisers, many with children aboard, out into these conditions would not be a good thing.
Have a look at the www.worldcruising.com/arc website for more details

On Maunie we would probably be one of the better boats to face the predicted sea and wind conditions (we've already experienced similar on the way here) but it would have been a wet and uncomfortable start to a 3 week voyage so we're now resigned to a couple more days here and hope that things will be better on Tuesday.

Our extra time here won't be wasted, of course. Rich is perfecting his sewing and creative skills and produced an excellent net bag for the onions whilst Fergus has been setting up our fishing kit. Di produced a batch of excellent-looking flapjack yesterday (of which the rest of us are negotiating early-tastings) and is now talking about carrot cake...  Graham is studying weather charts and routes and we're all just working though the little jobs that will make life on board more comfortable. We'll keep you posted!