Day Fifteen (Sunday)
A fast and furious night with wind between 25 and 30knts most of the time,
sails well reefed and Nimrod tracking faultlessly towards The Caribbean,
noisy and bumpy on board but we seem to be used it now and we arise
refreshed ready for another day on the Big Blue Sea. Another record for the
24hr distance at 185nm, a couple more days to see if we can improve again.
You might wonder why we are saying conditions are bumpy on board when you
may have heard that waves out in the ocean are big gentle rollers - well,
there are different sorts of waves out here.
Firstly there are the waves that are generated by the wind as you might
expect. These are generally close to the same direction that the wind is
blowing from, in our case these are coming from the East so are nearly
directly behind us. The size of these waves depend on the strength of the
wind, how long the wind has been blowing and the fetch or open water
distance the wind is blowing across (about 2500nm for us right now). If you
ask Google you will be able to find tables or calculators to tell you how
big these waves might be.
Secondly there are swell waves caused by weather systems in other parts of
the ocean and these waves can travel thousands of miles from where they were
generated, but they do tend to be much further apart and so smoother. At the
moment we are getting swell of around 3m from the North generated by the
North Atlantic low pressure systems that bring storms to the UK.
Sometimes there is secondary swell generated in different areas of the ocean
and coming from another direction.
All these waves and swell are then superimposed on each other and that is
why the seas can be anything but nice and smooth waves. Sometimes the waves
combine to produce larger than average waves and sometimes they cancel each
other out and also anything in between to give us our bumpy sailing
conditions.
Clocks back another hour on board today so we have a 25hr day and are now on
the same time zone as Barbados – just to make sure we are fully acclimatised
when we get there.
Broken cloud today with plenty of sunny spells, temperature is now in the
high 20's so very tropical, seawater temperature is also up to 28deg – quite
a while since we had sea temperatures that high, ideal for snorkelling
around the reefs and beaches.
Today Nimrod's cockpit was turned into a Chinese Laundry but that is a story
for Rich to tell.
So I wet my bed, so what! The erstwhile mentioned super large waves and
35knt winds are enough to put it up anyone, not to say the threat of Dr Hook
and Alice yet to be played on Nimrod's HiFi. First rule of maintaining your
berth well aired is NOT to open the hatches whilst sailing and rules of
course are made to be broken, aren't they? In this case no they are not and
despite days of no sign of the seas broaching our deck today it did and
despite my top hatch only being open an inch the effect was that that Moses
had pre-planned before crossing the Red Sea. Thank the gods of the wind and
sun and my crew mates help plus a couple of extra clothes lines my mattress
(dried on the saloon roof), quilt, both sheets, 4 pillows and some of
contents of my case were dry enough by sun down for me to re-make my bed. A
little stiff & salty to lie on but hey what the heck!
24hr Distance Covered to Sun 12/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 185 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 15Deg 53.7 Min North, 53 Deg 34.1 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 182nm
Distance to Go: 390nm
Day Sixteen (Monday)
After another impressive 24hr distance of 183nm it looks like today should
be our last full day and night at sea. Eyes will be well and truly peeled
tomorrow morning for the first sighting of land for over two weeks.
The early hours followed the same pattern as the last couple of nights with
winds picking up a bit and a good number of squalls to deal with, some with
heavy rain and winds up to 35+knts, all safely dealt with by the efficient
on-watch crew. Dawn brings mainly clear skies with pretty steady 20-22knt
winds to keep us trucking down the rhumb line at around 8knts. Still the
occasional squall and big waves to contend with.
We returned to the great fish hunt yesterday and we trailed our 4 lures for
around 100nm to no avail. Stalking continued today with lures sent out on
reconnaissance at breakfast time and we were hoping for a bit more success.
All was quiet until just after lunch when a couple of the reels went
zzzziiiiippppp, crew jumped into action like a well oiled machine and sails
were quickly furled. One fish had escaped but the other was putting up a bit
of a fight, as we reeled it closer to the boat we could see a good sized,
pissed off, Mahi Mahi careering left and right on the end of the line. Got
him to the boat, safely gaffed and landed on board with very little drama
and we have the biggest fish of the trip so far – 14kg and about 1.2m long,
definitely an impressive specimen. Dinner tonight is more posh fish fingers
with the freshest Mahi Mahi you can get. We will post pictures of the trip
when we manage to get some decent wifi service.
As we look out at the jumbled up sea state we thought we ought to lend a
thought to the intrepid rowers currently undertaking the Talisker challenge
from Gran Canaria to Antigua. They left on 12th Dec and the lead boats
should just about be turning north towards Antigua from their east west
crossing somewhere south of us. The others including Ian Davies (a fellow
Oswestry Rugby Club man) of the Mavericks will be somewhere further back.
They have our respect and admiration plus recommendations of good
psychiatrist, they must be one measure short of a rum punch.
24hr Distance Covered to Mon 13/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 183 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 14Deg 49.5 Min North, 56 Deg 28.4 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 180nm
Distance to Go: 210nm
Day Seventeen (Tuesday)
The last night watches for Chris, Dave and Rich started with near dark skies
before the moon rose, giving a spectacular view of the starry skies,
offshore the stars are brighter and clearer than anything you can ever see
from land and the number of stars visible is truly amazing – makes you think
how small and insignificant Planet Earth is in the grand scheme of things.
Still nearly full moon so the bulk of the night is bathed in a silvery glow
of moonlight and conditions are fairly pleasant with fewer squalls and
pretty steady winds around 20knts, sea still bumpy though. Dawn on our last
day brings mainly clear skies, steady winds and temperatures in the high 20's.
Fishing lines out to try our luck for the last few hours – Sue says she
still has some room in the freezer.
Land Ahoy!! at 1230UTC - time to start getting Nimrod ready for our arrival.
Sue – Well we are on our last day today, Barbados here we come!! Fridge is
well stocked again and I can taste the bubbles!! The crossing has been good,
haven't seen as much sealife as I thought we would but the freezer is well
stocked up with fish. My little world hasn't stopped moving for 17 days,
there have been no flat calms that I read about, where you could go for a
swim but maybe that's just as well as there may have been sharks lurking!!
The humongous waves and surfing down them hasn't bothered me at all, they
are fascinating to watch but it's the constant noise and movement that gets
to you at times. I am so glad I have done it but see no reason why people
would want to do it over and over again. I have the T shirt so that's enough
for me. Gilly's daily envelopes have been a real treat and we have all
enjoyed them, thank you Gilly xxx. We hope to be anchored by 2pm and
seagulls are now flying above us so land can't be far away. Our welcome
party have arrived in Barbados and hopefully await us with Rum Punches!!
Hope you have all enjoyed our updates and photos will follow soon. My claim
to fame is I was the first to spot land!! I could smell the rum!! Thank you
to Chris, Rich and Dave for eating everything I put in front of them, doing
all the watches and all the fun we have had along the way. Talk to you very
soon Vikki and Joe!! Lots of love xxxx
Dave – At approx 08h30 local time this morning Sue was first to shout "land
ahoy", about 20 miles distant on our port bow. After 16 days and some 2,600
miles that one hell of an achievement! Thanks to the Hydrographers of a
bygone time and especially Mr Harrison for his timepiece as none of this
would have been possible without them. The last several days have been
quite testing, winds gusting to 30+ knots, big swells running in different
directions confusing the sea. Nevertheless, Nimrod and her crew have taken
it all in their stride. The crossing has been largely eventless but there's
good reason. Boat and skipper were both fully equipped, prepared and ready.
Everything has worked like a dream, full credit due to Chris. I suspect
that we'll all leave the boat a few pounds heavier. The food quality,
quantity and variety has been amazing, always prepared with love and a
smile, it can't always have been easy as Nimrod hurls herself head first
down the waves. Thanks, Sue, really appreciated. Every day aboard has been
a school day as we've learned from and taught each other, special thanks to
Rich. So many lasting memories have been created. We should soon be back in
civilisation as defined by access to WiFi. I'm looking forward to speaking
to my lovely wife, I've missed her. And on to the next adventure.
Rich - This is all very heady stuff! Dave has said it all so I'll keep it
short for once. It's been a privilege. Thanks Chris and Sue for the
invitation, both of you and Dave for the company and friendship. It has been
a bon voyage indeed.
What an amazing feeling to be anchored in Barbados after nearly 2700nm of
sailing and just under 16 ½ days. Nimrod looked after us every mile of the
way and the only boat problems were caused by our own mistakes. Many thanks
to Rich and Dave for joining us and helping make the passage so safe and
enjoyable, both of them performed admirably.
And of course very special thanks to Sue for looking after all three of us
for the whole time with some stunning catering in less than perfect cooking
conditions – an awesome girl!!
24hr Distance Covered to Tues 14/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 182nm
Position at 12:00hrs 13Deg 31.5 Min North, 59 Deg 15.5 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 179nm
Distance to Go: 31nm
Anchored Dropped at Port St Charles, Barbados : 1630hrs UTC, 1230hrs Local
Rhumb Line (Shortest) Distance: 2650nm Actual Distance Sailed: 2694
nm
Total Passage Time: 16 Days 8 Hours 30 Minutes Average Speed:6.9
knts
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Sunday, January 12, 2020
Barbados - The Final Countdown - Days 13 and 14
Day Thirteen (Friday)
As you can see from the figures another speedy day aboard Nimrod getting us
towards Barbados at a very nice pace. A fairly comfortable night on board,
especially compared to the previous night, so everybody got some decent
sleep. The morning saw us with steady winds of around 15-17knts and regular
seas, in the afternoon the wind turned fluky and we had lots of squalls
around us so we had a fairly slow period with boat speed down around 4-5knts
and occasionally even less in the calms between squalls. Some heavy rain in
some squalls even allowed us to catch some water off the bimini roof to top
up our supplies. Late afternoon into evening saw the wind return to the
18knt area and we were back up to speed again. The first part of the night
was fairly quiet and comfortable.
Today is also weather forecast day so we can see what we have to deal with
for the next few days. Still a pretty good forecast with NE winds,
15-24knts, forecast for the remainder of the trip meaning we can point our
bows straight at Barbados.
Morning action was a 5kg skipjack tuna that was landed pretty quickly and
dispatched with dodgy alcohol and the priest. Unfortunately when it was
filleted it was found to have parasites in the flesh so we sent it back
overboard – nobody wanted to risk dodgy stomachs when we are 700nm away from
land.
Afternoon action was a bit more exciting. Afternoon tea of freshly baked
treacle tart and ice cream was very welcome amongst the squalls and we were
relaxing and reading under the clearing skies. Next thing all hell breaks
loose on the fishing lines with all four reels zipping out line at a rapid
rate, Chris winds the brakes down on the reels to slow the lines down while
the crew rapidly furl the twin sails to slow us down and let us deal with
whatever was on the lures.
First fish was reeled in to the back of the boat, a decent sized Mahi Mahi
that made a last bid for freedom before Chris could secure it with the gaff
and escaped. The next three fish were all reeled in, gaffed and landed –
good work by all the team. We ended up with two Mahi Mahi around 8kg each
and one around 6kg, a great catch. All filleted, bagged and piled in the
freezer we now have enough Mahi for about 10 meals for the four of us, but
only about 4 days left at sea.
It was all going a bit too smoothly so while we were tidying up things after
our mad half hour the sheet of the gennaker managed to work its way loose
from the winch and the big sail tried to wrap itself around the forestay.
Chris and Rich had a fight on their hands to sort things out, eventually
having to undo the existing sail sheets and clip on a new one to allow the
sail to be rolled up safely. Old sheets then reattached, sail unfurled again
and off we go again. Could have done without the drama and excitement but
all dealt with fairly comfortably and no major problems – good work by
everyone on board.
Mahi Mahi fillets with creamy mushroom sauce, roast spuds and sweetcorn for
dinner, awesome as ever and eagerly devoured by all.
Rich - Clearly the picture is of a humdrum passage with no drama and
stupendous eating, well if you want real risk then all you have to do is use
Sue's precious clothes line pegs, I know this after years of losing the odd
one overboard then the ritual of donning mask and fins and going to search
for the little buggers, and I was not going to do this mid Atlantic. So
after much self debate I decide the risk over the reward of clean clothing
is well worth it. Inevitably it rains on washing day but that only helps
rinse the overused soap out of my 3 T-shirts, Shorts and UPs. I economise
on the pegs, none lost, dry clothes and I live to rescue a gennaker another
day.
Evening brought us steady winds so sails were reefed a little for the night
and watch rota takes over for the dark, not actually very dark at the moment
with a stunning full moon lighting the skies all night.
24hr Distance Covered to Fri 10/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 174 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 18Deg 35.9 Min North, 48 Deg 12.9 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 175nm
Distance to Go: 731nm
Day Fourteen (Saturday)
Chris - We are still on a direct line to Barbados at very good pace,
everybody now excited as we get closer and closer. At 6pm (boat time) we
passed the 500nm to go mark – almost a walk in the park.
Early hours of the morning the wind picked up a bit so seas got a bit
bumpier to end the night, throughout the day winds have been pretty steady
at 18-20knts pushing us along happily. Seas are now around 3m high and we
are surfing down the bigger ones, pretty exhilarating stuff. The waves do
seem to come in fairly regular patterns with the bigger waves every seven or
eight peaks. As the big ones approach Nimrod rises up the approaching face
of the wave, things seem to go quiet for a few seconds, our bows tilt down a
bit at the top of the wave then we are off, hurtling along with the crest of
the wave, speed building – 10, 12, 14, 16 knots, with the water rushing past
our hulls sounding like a freight train. After that the stern dips down as
the wave passes under us and the bows seem to point skywards before we level
out into the calm of the trough behind and continue on our way.
No fishing exploits today as we decided to have a day off from the hunt
because the freezer is now quite full. More fishing before we arrive no
doubt. Still no sightings of whales or dolphins, maybe they are waiting to
guide us into Barbados. Rosie Skye report seeing 2 whales and lots of
dolphins down to the south of us.
Mainly sunny weather with very few squalls today so a relaxing day on board,
we expect the wind to pick up a little overnight to give us a couple of days
of 25knt winds – good for progress but may be a bit rolly on board, with the
Rum Punches getting closer I am sure we will cope.
Rich - As we enter the night winds increase up to consistently 20knt plus ,
the sky is clear enough to get a good look at the stars even though the now
waning moon follows us from the east lighting up the trails of white
frothing from or twin hulls. The breeze is warm with the temperature still
at 27deg and the view and ride from the helm is exhilarating.
Caroline's dinner time quiz was played this evening, with a mix of general
knowledge and TV cryptic's the competion was fierce with Chris winning by
quite a bit and collectively achieving all correct answers but two. I mean
who knows what TV programme is "its just below zero"?! Thanks Caroline.
Sue – Well all the days are starting to roll into one but D Day has arrived,
tomorrow I will make ice and stock the fridge up with some proper stuff,
ALCOHOL!! Dave and I are fantasising about a large G&T with ice and a slice
and I just happen to have some lemons spare. Can't believe we have seen no
Dolphins or Whales but live in hope and still have 2 days out at sea to spot
them. I have tried taking pictures of these awesome waves we are presently
surfing down but you just can't capture it, it's like being on a big water
roller coaster. Mind you I could do with getting off it whilst trying to
prepare meals etc!! After much huffing and puffing on the balloons Gilly
sent us the men resorted to using the dinghy pump and a very strange balloon
pet was made. Strangest looking dog that I have ever seen!! Richard has
adopted it and it now lives in his cabin. Looking forward to catching up
with family and friends very soon, lots of love xxx
24hr Distance Covered to Sat 11/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 168 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 17Deg 12.7 Min North, 50 Deg 44.1 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 159nm
Distance to Go: 572nm
About 8am Sunday local time on board Nimrod as we send you this update and
we are speeding along to the finish line, now less than 400nm to go with our
ETA Tuesday PM.
As you can see from the figures another speedy day aboard Nimrod getting us
towards Barbados at a very nice pace. A fairly comfortable night on board,
especially compared to the previous night, so everybody got some decent
sleep. The morning saw us with steady winds of around 15-17knts and regular
seas, in the afternoon the wind turned fluky and we had lots of squalls
around us so we had a fairly slow period with boat speed down around 4-5knts
and occasionally even less in the calms between squalls. Some heavy rain in
some squalls even allowed us to catch some water off the bimini roof to top
up our supplies. Late afternoon into evening saw the wind return to the
18knt area and we were back up to speed again. The first part of the night
was fairly quiet and comfortable.
Today is also weather forecast day so we can see what we have to deal with
for the next few days. Still a pretty good forecast with NE winds,
15-24knts, forecast for the remainder of the trip meaning we can point our
bows straight at Barbados.
Morning action was a 5kg skipjack tuna that was landed pretty quickly and
dispatched with dodgy alcohol and the priest. Unfortunately when it was
filleted it was found to have parasites in the flesh so we sent it back
overboard – nobody wanted to risk dodgy stomachs when we are 700nm away from
land.
Afternoon action was a bit more exciting. Afternoon tea of freshly baked
treacle tart and ice cream was very welcome amongst the squalls and we were
relaxing and reading under the clearing skies. Next thing all hell breaks
loose on the fishing lines with all four reels zipping out line at a rapid
rate, Chris winds the brakes down on the reels to slow the lines down while
the crew rapidly furl the twin sails to slow us down and let us deal with
whatever was on the lures.
First fish was reeled in to the back of the boat, a decent sized Mahi Mahi
that made a last bid for freedom before Chris could secure it with the gaff
and escaped. The next three fish were all reeled in, gaffed and landed –
good work by all the team. We ended up with two Mahi Mahi around 8kg each
and one around 6kg, a great catch. All filleted, bagged and piled in the
freezer we now have enough Mahi for about 10 meals for the four of us, but
only about 4 days left at sea.
It was all going a bit too smoothly so while we were tidying up things after
our mad half hour the sheet of the gennaker managed to work its way loose
from the winch and the big sail tried to wrap itself around the forestay.
Chris and Rich had a fight on their hands to sort things out, eventually
having to undo the existing sail sheets and clip on a new one to allow the
sail to be rolled up safely. Old sheets then reattached, sail unfurled again
and off we go again. Could have done without the drama and excitement but
all dealt with fairly comfortably and no major problems – good work by
everyone on board.
Mahi Mahi fillets with creamy mushroom sauce, roast spuds and sweetcorn for
dinner, awesome as ever and eagerly devoured by all.
Rich - Clearly the picture is of a humdrum passage with no drama and
stupendous eating, well if you want real risk then all you have to do is use
Sue's precious clothes line pegs, I know this after years of losing the odd
one overboard then the ritual of donning mask and fins and going to search
for the little buggers, and I was not going to do this mid Atlantic. So
after much self debate I decide the risk over the reward of clean clothing
is well worth it. Inevitably it rains on washing day but that only helps
rinse the overused soap out of my 3 T-shirts, Shorts and UPs. I economise
on the pegs, none lost, dry clothes and I live to rescue a gennaker another
day.
Evening brought us steady winds so sails were reefed a little for the night
and watch rota takes over for the dark, not actually very dark at the moment
with a stunning full moon lighting the skies all night.
24hr Distance Covered to Fri 10/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 174 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 18Deg 35.9 Min North, 48 Deg 12.9 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 175nm
Distance to Go: 731nm
Day Fourteen (Saturday)
Chris - We are still on a direct line to Barbados at very good pace,
everybody now excited as we get closer and closer. At 6pm (boat time) we
passed the 500nm to go mark – almost a walk in the park.
Early hours of the morning the wind picked up a bit so seas got a bit
bumpier to end the night, throughout the day winds have been pretty steady
at 18-20knts pushing us along happily. Seas are now around 3m high and we
are surfing down the bigger ones, pretty exhilarating stuff. The waves do
seem to come in fairly regular patterns with the bigger waves every seven or
eight peaks. As the big ones approach Nimrod rises up the approaching face
of the wave, things seem to go quiet for a few seconds, our bows tilt down a
bit at the top of the wave then we are off, hurtling along with the crest of
the wave, speed building – 10, 12, 14, 16 knots, with the water rushing past
our hulls sounding like a freight train. After that the stern dips down as
the wave passes under us and the bows seem to point skywards before we level
out into the calm of the trough behind and continue on our way.
No fishing exploits today as we decided to have a day off from the hunt
because the freezer is now quite full. More fishing before we arrive no
doubt. Still no sightings of whales or dolphins, maybe they are waiting to
guide us into Barbados. Rosie Skye report seeing 2 whales and lots of
dolphins down to the south of us.
Mainly sunny weather with very few squalls today so a relaxing day on board,
we expect the wind to pick up a little overnight to give us a couple of days
of 25knt winds – good for progress but may be a bit rolly on board, with the
Rum Punches getting closer I am sure we will cope.
Rich - As we enter the night winds increase up to consistently 20knt plus ,
the sky is clear enough to get a good look at the stars even though the now
waning moon follows us from the east lighting up the trails of white
frothing from or twin hulls. The breeze is warm with the temperature still
at 27deg and the view and ride from the helm is exhilarating.
Caroline's dinner time quiz was played this evening, with a mix of general
knowledge and TV cryptic's the competion was fierce with Chris winning by
quite a bit and collectively achieving all correct answers but two. I mean
who knows what TV programme is "its just below zero"?! Thanks Caroline.
Sue – Well all the days are starting to roll into one but D Day has arrived,
tomorrow I will make ice and stock the fridge up with some proper stuff,
ALCOHOL!! Dave and I are fantasising about a large G&T with ice and a slice
and I just happen to have some lemons spare. Can't believe we have seen no
Dolphins or Whales but live in hope and still have 2 days out at sea to spot
them. I have tried taking pictures of these awesome waves we are presently
surfing down but you just can't capture it, it's like being on a big water
roller coaster. Mind you I could do with getting off it whilst trying to
prepare meals etc!! After much huffing and puffing on the balloons Gilly
sent us the men resorted to using the dinghy pump and a very strange balloon
pet was made. Strangest looking dog that I have ever seen!! Richard has
adopted it and it now lives in his cabin. Looking forward to catching up
with family and friends very soon, lots of love xxx
24hr Distance Covered to Sat 11/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 168 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 17Deg 12.7 Min North, 50 Deg 44.1 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 159nm
Distance to Go: 572nm
About 8am Sunday local time on board Nimrod as we send you this update and
we are speeding along to the finish line, now less than 400nm to go with our
ETA Tuesday PM.
Friday, January 10, 2020
We're Going to Barbados - Days 11 and 12
Day Eleven (Wednesday)
Early hours of the morning were pretty civilised, good progress being made
and not too bumpy or noisy on board for sleeping. Around dawn the wind
started to pick up as the forecast said and we had 18-22knts of wind from
ENE and we were flying along at 8-9knts on a direct course to Barbados.
Weather download today – this shows winds of 20-25knts from ENE for the next
few days so we will be making good speed towards Rum Punch Land. The weather
forecasts we have had for the trip have been very accurate so far with both
wind speed and direction being close to what we actually got so pretty
impressive.
Wind continued to build through the day so sails were gradually reefed down
to keep us as comfortable as possible but the sea state is a bit mixed up at
times, hoping it starts to become a bit more regular with this constant
wind. Speeding along at 8-9knts, surfing down waves at 12-14knts, pretty
exciting sailing. Another great 24hr run of 169nm, ticking the miles down
nicely.
Fishing was not good today, we had three bites but they all escaped before
we could get them anywhere near the boat. Plenty of time to add to our tally
though.
Posh fish and chips for dinner, mahi mahi fillets with a yogurt, breadcrumb
and herb coating, stunning stuff but cooking was definitely a bit more of a
challenge today with the bumpy sea state. Great job by Sue to serve up such
a feast in the conditions.
Late afternoon into the night the wind is 20-25, gusting 30knts so sails are
well reefed for the night but still noisy and bumpy on board. We did pass
the 1000nm to go marker late today so our distance to go is now only three
figures, final countdown time. Our sail plan of twin headsails, one poled
out each side of the boat is working very well, the poles are fixed in
position with three lines each so we do not need to touch them. We just roll
the headsails in or out depending on the wind speed so very easy to deal
with. With the 25knts wind we have now both sails are rolled down to about
half size and we are still hurtling along around 8knts. Our autopilot has
steered every mile since we left and is doing a great job, even surfing down
waves we stay close to our course and just hang on for the ride.
24hr Distance Covered to Wed 08/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 169nm
Position at 12:00hrs 21Deg 31.66 Min North, 42 Deg 51.54 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 169nm
Distance to Go: 1083nm
Day Twelve (Thursday)
Dave - Solo night watches are a magical experience, a time for reflection,
to think about absent friends and to appreciate supportive loved ones. I'm
missing them all, especially my little furry pal. The waxing moon and cloudy
skies obscure all but the brightest stars but does not detract from the raw
beauty of this night time wilderness. It's a privilege to share this vast
ocean with no one else. During daytimes, we've had a fair amount of cloud
but in the bright sunlight the sea is a stunning colour of blue with crystal
clear waves breaking over our transom.
Nimrod is our chariot; she pulls us along like a majestic stallion,
harnessing the power of the wind in her two headsails. She's also a sleigh
ride as she surfs and skews down the 2-3m quartering waves.
The latest weather update suggests continuing fair winds so we are daring
ourselves to estimate an arrival. We now have more than 1700 miles under the
keel with around 900 more towards our destination. I suspect that we'll
probably all suffer bout of land sickness after acclimatising to days of non
stop swells. The rum punch that awaits us should serve as an antidote.
Chris - Best 24hr run so far with 180nm covered up to midday, pretty
impressive we think. The wind and seas did start to ease a little towards
dawn but it was probably the noisiest, bumpiest night of the trip so far.
Seas have settled a little through the day and the wind is a nice steady
18knts so much more comfortable on board.
A better day for fishing, 4 bites on the lures and 2 Mahi Mahi landed, one
around 6kg and the other about 2.5kg, crew are waiting to see what delights
appear out of the galley tomorrow.
Our weather forecasts and boat speed are combining to give us an ETA in
Barbados of PM Tuesday, a long way to go yet so still little more than a
guess at the moment, have to see how the next couple of days pan out.
Rosie Skye are still about 200nm to the south of us and making good
progress, they should arrive about a day behind us. Our friends on Purrr are
also heading to Barbados but they left nearly a week later than us, they are
sailing in 30+knts and 4m seas at the moment so life is probably a bit
bouncy on board. We expect to be ready with Rum Punches when they arrive.
Sue – Well as the men said we have had a few noisy and rolly day and nights
but the waves are a bit more settled now and the swell is pushing Nimrod
along nicely. Ear Plugs have been a godsend at night, as long as I can't
hear those waves crashing I can switch off!! Caught 2 more Mahi Mahi so more
posh fish and chips to come, yummy. I got your text message Vikki so you did
it right, thank you for your lovely words they were much appreciated. Gilly
has set us a challenge to make our own pet today(Fri) and included 5 long
thin balloons to do it with. Guess who I am going to nominate to start it
off??? Have promised the men Treacle Tart today(fri) for afternoon tea so
better go and rise to the rolly challenge!! Lots of love xxxx
24hr Distance Covered to Thurs 09/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 180 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 20Deg 07.47 Min North, 45 Deg 38.95 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 177nm
Distance to Go: 906nm
Early hours of the morning were pretty civilised, good progress being made
and not too bumpy or noisy on board for sleeping. Around dawn the wind
started to pick up as the forecast said and we had 18-22knts of wind from
ENE and we were flying along at 8-9knts on a direct course to Barbados.
Weather download today – this shows winds of 20-25knts from ENE for the next
few days so we will be making good speed towards Rum Punch Land. The weather
forecasts we have had for the trip have been very accurate so far with both
wind speed and direction being close to what we actually got so pretty
impressive.
Wind continued to build through the day so sails were gradually reefed down
to keep us as comfortable as possible but the sea state is a bit mixed up at
times, hoping it starts to become a bit more regular with this constant
wind. Speeding along at 8-9knts, surfing down waves at 12-14knts, pretty
exciting sailing. Another great 24hr run of 169nm, ticking the miles down
nicely.
Fishing was not good today, we had three bites but they all escaped before
we could get them anywhere near the boat. Plenty of time to add to our tally
though.
Posh fish and chips for dinner, mahi mahi fillets with a yogurt, breadcrumb
and herb coating, stunning stuff but cooking was definitely a bit more of a
challenge today with the bumpy sea state. Great job by Sue to serve up such
a feast in the conditions.
Late afternoon into the night the wind is 20-25, gusting 30knts so sails are
well reefed for the night but still noisy and bumpy on board. We did pass
the 1000nm to go marker late today so our distance to go is now only three
figures, final countdown time. Our sail plan of twin headsails, one poled
out each side of the boat is working very well, the poles are fixed in
position with three lines each so we do not need to touch them. We just roll
the headsails in or out depending on the wind speed so very easy to deal
with. With the 25knts wind we have now both sails are rolled down to about
half size and we are still hurtling along around 8knts. Our autopilot has
steered every mile since we left and is doing a great job, even surfing down
waves we stay close to our course and just hang on for the ride.
24hr Distance Covered to Wed 08/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 169nm
Position at 12:00hrs 21Deg 31.66 Min North, 42 Deg 51.54 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 169nm
Distance to Go: 1083nm
Day Twelve (Thursday)
Dave - Solo night watches are a magical experience, a time for reflection,
to think about absent friends and to appreciate supportive loved ones. I'm
missing them all, especially my little furry pal. The waxing moon and cloudy
skies obscure all but the brightest stars but does not detract from the raw
beauty of this night time wilderness. It's a privilege to share this vast
ocean with no one else. During daytimes, we've had a fair amount of cloud
but in the bright sunlight the sea is a stunning colour of blue with crystal
clear waves breaking over our transom.
Nimrod is our chariot; she pulls us along like a majestic stallion,
harnessing the power of the wind in her two headsails. She's also a sleigh
ride as she surfs and skews down the 2-3m quartering waves.
The latest weather update suggests continuing fair winds so we are daring
ourselves to estimate an arrival. We now have more than 1700 miles under the
keel with around 900 more towards our destination. I suspect that we'll
probably all suffer bout of land sickness after acclimatising to days of non
stop swells. The rum punch that awaits us should serve as an antidote.
Chris - Best 24hr run so far with 180nm covered up to midday, pretty
impressive we think. The wind and seas did start to ease a little towards
dawn but it was probably the noisiest, bumpiest night of the trip so far.
Seas have settled a little through the day and the wind is a nice steady
18knts so much more comfortable on board.
A better day for fishing, 4 bites on the lures and 2 Mahi Mahi landed, one
around 6kg and the other about 2.5kg, crew are waiting to see what delights
appear out of the galley tomorrow.
Our weather forecasts and boat speed are combining to give us an ETA in
Barbados of PM Tuesday, a long way to go yet so still little more than a
guess at the moment, have to see how the next couple of days pan out.
Rosie Skye are still about 200nm to the south of us and making good
progress, they should arrive about a day behind us. Our friends on Purrr are
also heading to Barbados but they left nearly a week later than us, they are
sailing in 30+knts and 4m seas at the moment so life is probably a bit
bouncy on board. We expect to be ready with Rum Punches when they arrive.
Sue – Well as the men said we have had a few noisy and rolly day and nights
but the waves are a bit more settled now and the swell is pushing Nimrod
along nicely. Ear Plugs have been a godsend at night, as long as I can't
hear those waves crashing I can switch off!! Caught 2 more Mahi Mahi so more
posh fish and chips to come, yummy. I got your text message Vikki so you did
it right, thank you for your lovely words they were much appreciated. Gilly
has set us a challenge to make our own pet today(Fri) and included 5 long
thin balloons to do it with. Guess who I am going to nominate to start it
off??? Have promised the men Treacle Tart today(fri) for afternoon tea so
better go and rise to the rolly challenge!! Lots of love xxxx
24hr Distance Covered to Thurs 09/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 180 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 20Deg 07.47 Min North, 45 Deg 38.95 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 177nm
Distance to Go: 906nm
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Life on the Ocean Waves - Days 9 and 10
Day Nine (Monday)
A noisy and bumpy night on board but that means we were going pretty fast,
we had to reef the larger headsail down a few turns because the wind picked
up to around 20knts and boat speed was over 9knts with surfing down waves
around 11-12knts. By midday we had completed our best 24hrs of the trip so
far with 171nm covered and we should pass the halfway point late today.
Another weather download today shows around 15knts from the East for the
next day or so before backing NE and increasing to 20knts. At the moment we
are sailing a little bit north of the direct course to Barbados but when the
wind turns to the NE we should be able to head direct to the north tip of
the island.
More fresh baked scones with jam and cream for afternoon tea – we will have
to get the china tea service and silver spoons out if this carries on. Mahi
Mahi fillets with buerre blanc sauce for dinner, went down very well. Sue is
planning posh fish fingers for the rest of the Mahi Mahi.
Spotted a good few flying fish around the boat today so hopes are raised for
some sightings of bigger sea creatures. A bite on the fishing lines late
afternoon but it got off quite quickly.
21:30hrs we passed halfway so Sue liberated a bottle of bubbly from the
fridge to celebrate, feels like we can now start counting down to Barbados
instead of counting up – Rum Punches are getting closer.
24hr Distance Covered to Mon 06/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 171nm
Position at 12:00hrs 22Deg 55.03 Min North, 37 Deg 15.59 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 164nm
Distance to Go: 1404nm
Day Ten (Tuesday)
Sue here, the answers to the quiz questions-88 Piano Keys 1000 One thousand
words that a picture is worth 200 two hundred pounds for passing go in
Monopoly and 13 Thirteen stripes on the American Flag, hope you got them
all!! Well we are still bobbing along nicely but Yoga is definitely not on
as rolling around the cockpit floor is not a good look!! Mind you all the
cream teas might not be helping!! I will stick to my squat challenge and I
even have to hold on for that. The sea seems to have a knack for picking up
whenever I start cooking. The flying fish are amazing, when I first saw them
I thought they were small birds but couldn't work out what they were doing
all the way out here!! Blond moment!! Back to my galley now to make
Chocolate Crunch Cake, lots of love xxx
Rich here here !! After yesterdays monster 171nm/164nm today's 161/156nm was
about as expected by the forecast but should be the presage to a big day
tomorrow – see tomorrow for further details. Sue got the days sweepstake for
the 24hr distance. The wind and sea aren't quite in tandem with the wind
more south of east than east and predominant waves coming from SE with as
secondary wave prevailing from the east. When combined we get some good
sized waves say 3m and when we surf them it's whizzo! (I must be watching
too much of The Crown , although then it would be f***ing whizzo).
Still no other company in our empire of the deep blue either on the AIS let
alone in sight, who cares, not bovvered.
Rosie Skye continue to track us albeit nearly 300nm south of us and at our
estimation (Michelle we need the time of your position please?) around 100nm
to the east, but their breeze might be more than ours.
The crews's morale is great especially with today's weather being sunnier
and bluer. We are fed fantastically and there are bits and bobs to do. I had
my third lesson on the sextant today flying solo on readings and recording
and then running through the calculations with a slight nudge here and there
from Dave – guess what? I am within 10nm of our GPS, and although pretty
darn good I would have been counting on spotting smoke on the southern
horizon from the BBQs of Barbados if the difference had been due North.
With the clear skies we got an amazing nights sky with the now near full
moon first creating almost full light then as it dropped towards the western
horizon a silverly shimmering sea and after it disappeared the galaxies
appeared in their full glory, I spotted Mars in the SE nestling in with
Scorpius, Bootes dead overhead and the Plough to our North. What a great
way to finish a day.
PS Did I say that I proudly wore my 1980's Oswestry Rugby Club cap as we
crossed the half way mark. That must be a first.
24hr Distance Covered to Tues 07/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 161 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 22Deg 27.35 Min North, 40 Deg 03.61 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 156nm
Distance to Go: 1248nm
Rosie Sky - If you get this then Charlie on Purr reports no delivery
received at Las Palmas before they left on the 4th. Also your last messages
come through as Incompatible Message Format, maybe you are including some
non standard characters or message too long or something like that. Most of
your messages are received OK, we can only receive basic text message on our
phone (not like your GO).
A noisy and bumpy night on board but that means we were going pretty fast,
we had to reef the larger headsail down a few turns because the wind picked
up to around 20knts and boat speed was over 9knts with surfing down waves
around 11-12knts. By midday we had completed our best 24hrs of the trip so
far with 171nm covered and we should pass the halfway point late today.
Another weather download today shows around 15knts from the East for the
next day or so before backing NE and increasing to 20knts. At the moment we
are sailing a little bit north of the direct course to Barbados but when the
wind turns to the NE we should be able to head direct to the north tip of
the island.
More fresh baked scones with jam and cream for afternoon tea – we will have
to get the china tea service and silver spoons out if this carries on. Mahi
Mahi fillets with buerre blanc sauce for dinner, went down very well. Sue is
planning posh fish fingers for the rest of the Mahi Mahi.
Spotted a good few flying fish around the boat today so hopes are raised for
some sightings of bigger sea creatures. A bite on the fishing lines late
afternoon but it got off quite quickly.
21:30hrs we passed halfway so Sue liberated a bottle of bubbly from the
fridge to celebrate, feels like we can now start counting down to Barbados
instead of counting up – Rum Punches are getting closer.
24hr Distance Covered to Mon 06/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 171nm
Position at 12:00hrs 22Deg 55.03 Min North, 37 Deg 15.59 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 164nm
Distance to Go: 1404nm
Day Ten (Tuesday)
Sue here, the answers to the quiz questions-88 Piano Keys 1000 One thousand
words that a picture is worth 200 two hundred pounds for passing go in
Monopoly and 13 Thirteen stripes on the American Flag, hope you got them
all!! Well we are still bobbing along nicely but Yoga is definitely not on
as rolling around the cockpit floor is not a good look!! Mind you all the
cream teas might not be helping!! I will stick to my squat challenge and I
even have to hold on for that. The sea seems to have a knack for picking up
whenever I start cooking. The flying fish are amazing, when I first saw them
I thought they were small birds but couldn't work out what they were doing
all the way out here!! Blond moment!! Back to my galley now to make
Chocolate Crunch Cake, lots of love xxx
Rich here here !! After yesterdays monster 171nm/164nm today's 161/156nm was
about as expected by the forecast but should be the presage to a big day
tomorrow – see tomorrow for further details. Sue got the days sweepstake for
the 24hr distance. The wind and sea aren't quite in tandem with the wind
more south of east than east and predominant waves coming from SE with as
secondary wave prevailing from the east. When combined we get some good
sized waves say 3m and when we surf them it's whizzo! (I must be watching
too much of The Crown , although then it would be f***ing whizzo).
Still no other company in our empire of the deep blue either on the AIS let
alone in sight, who cares, not bovvered.
Rosie Skye continue to track us albeit nearly 300nm south of us and at our
estimation (Michelle we need the time of your position please?) around 100nm
to the east, but their breeze might be more than ours.
The crews's morale is great especially with today's weather being sunnier
and bluer. We are fed fantastically and there are bits and bobs to do. I had
my third lesson on the sextant today flying solo on readings and recording
and then running through the calculations with a slight nudge here and there
from Dave – guess what? I am within 10nm of our GPS, and although pretty
darn good I would have been counting on spotting smoke on the southern
horizon from the BBQs of Barbados if the difference had been due North.
With the clear skies we got an amazing nights sky with the now near full
moon first creating almost full light then as it dropped towards the western
horizon a silverly shimmering sea and after it disappeared the galaxies
appeared in their full glory, I spotted Mars in the SE nestling in with
Scorpius, Bootes dead overhead and the Plough to our North. What a great
way to finish a day.
PS Did I say that I proudly wore my 1980's Oswestry Rugby Club cap as we
crossed the half way mark. That must be a first.
24hr Distance Covered to Tues 07/01/2020 12:00hrs UTC : 161 nm
Position at 12:00hrs 22Deg 27.35 Min North, 40 Deg 03.61 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 156nm
Distance to Go: 1248nm
Rosie Sky - If you get this then Charlie on Purr reports no delivery
received at Las Palmas before they left on the 4th. Also your last messages
come through as Incompatible Message Format, maybe you are including some
non standard characters or message too long or something like that. Most of
your messages are received OK, we can only receive basic text message on our
phone (not like your GO).
Monday, January 6, 2020
Atlantic Adventures - Days 7 and 8
Day Seven (Saturday)
A steady night on board, 6-6.5 knts boat speed and pretty gentle seas mean a
comfortable night on or off watch. Cloudy skies at the moment so no star
gazing on night watch and less solar power in the day. Hoping for sunshine
in the next day or so. The cloudy skies mean sextant lessons were cancelled
today, we are trying to persuade Sue she should have a go when the sun comes
back.
Today our on board time goes back another hour so we are now 2hrs behind the
UK. The excitement for today is downloading the latest weather info, this
shows 12-15knts from the East for the next 3 or 4 days increasing towards
20knts and backing NE at the end of that time. That is about as good as we
could have hoped for, everybody very happy, good decision to stay North.
We are starting to see some definite patterns in the days, late afternoon
the wind tends to drop for a few hours, then up to the early hours it seems
to stay pretty steady before increasing a few knots towards dawn then stays
steady through the day. Sue is not happy with this cycle because the sea
always seems to get a bit bumpier just as she is preparing dinner.
Reached the 1000nm sailed milestone today, also means we have covered well
over a third of the distance. Rich has decided we are now close enough to
start guessing our ETA so he has devised a fiendishly difficult scoring
system (just to make sure he wins) and we have to revise our predictions
every other day with points for how close each try is to our actual arrival
date and time.
In the afternoon we changed the autopilot setting so we are now steering to
the wind angle so if the wind direction changes then so does our steering
direction. This means that the sails stay set correctly all the time because
the wind is always the same direction to the sails. So far it is working
well and it also seems a bit more comfortable on board.
24hr Distance Covered to Sat 04/01/2020 12:00hrs : 150nm
Position at 12:00hrs UTC 24Deg 04.26 Min North, 31 Deg 37.50 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 148nm
Distance to Go: 1720nm
Day Eight (Sunday)
Sue – Well considering how much sea we are surrounded by we haven't seen
much sea life but we did catch a big Mahi Mahi yesterday so that kept the
men busy for a while. That's supper sorted for today. My afternoon teas are
going down very well, homemade ginger snaps, vanilla ice-cream and maple
syrup on Saturday and scones with strawberry jam and cream yesterday. Think
we will all be rolling off Nimrod when we reach Barbados!! Gilly's daily
envelopes are keeping us entertained, the last quiz has us stumped on 2
questions 1. 88 = PK? and 2. 1000 = W that a P is W??? We did get 22 of them
though, here are a few 32 = D F at which W F? 13 = S on the A F? and 200 =
P for P G in M? Have a go and don't cheat on google!! Answers on next
email/blog. Well we will reach the halfway mark today so the Bubbly is
chilling ready, highlight of my day. Richard and Dave have been reading a
book we have onboard called This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay, their
laughing is very infectious!! You should read it and see!! Hope my kids are
ok, thinking about them every day. (Joe, Vikki, Chris says it is ok to send
me a text to our satellite phone if you want to, love you both loads xxx)
The men are doing all the watches but Sues Café is open from 11am until 7pm
so don't think I am doing too bad!! Looking forward to my Rum Punch Party in
Barbados hope Caroline, Debbie and Kathryn are on the case!! Lots of love to
all my family and friends xxx
Wind picked up later in the day and from 1800hrs to 2400hrs we have been
scooting along at around 8knts, we hope to smash our 24hr record tomorrow
but you will have to wait until the next blog to see if we managed it. Still
mainly grey overcast skies but is showing signs of clearing so we might be
sunbathing soon. Life on board is a bit wobbly with the mixed up sea we have
at the moment but we are coping pretty well, glad we are on a cat and not a
monohull. Late today we ticked down below 1500nm to go.
24hr Distance Covered to Sun 05/01/2020 12:00hrs : 155nm
Position at 12:00hrs 23Deg 22.44 Min North, 34 Deg 15.47 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 152nm
Distance to Go: 1568nm
A steady night on board, 6-6.5 knts boat speed and pretty gentle seas mean a
comfortable night on or off watch. Cloudy skies at the moment so no star
gazing on night watch and less solar power in the day. Hoping for sunshine
in the next day or so. The cloudy skies mean sextant lessons were cancelled
today, we are trying to persuade Sue she should have a go when the sun comes
back.
Today our on board time goes back another hour so we are now 2hrs behind the
UK. The excitement for today is downloading the latest weather info, this
shows 12-15knts from the East for the next 3 or 4 days increasing towards
20knts and backing NE at the end of that time. That is about as good as we
could have hoped for, everybody very happy, good decision to stay North.
We are starting to see some definite patterns in the days, late afternoon
the wind tends to drop for a few hours, then up to the early hours it seems
to stay pretty steady before increasing a few knots towards dawn then stays
steady through the day. Sue is not happy with this cycle because the sea
always seems to get a bit bumpier just as she is preparing dinner.
Reached the 1000nm sailed milestone today, also means we have covered well
over a third of the distance. Rich has decided we are now close enough to
start guessing our ETA so he has devised a fiendishly difficult scoring
system (just to make sure he wins) and we have to revise our predictions
every other day with points for how close each try is to our actual arrival
date and time.
In the afternoon we changed the autopilot setting so we are now steering to
the wind angle so if the wind direction changes then so does our steering
direction. This means that the sails stay set correctly all the time because
the wind is always the same direction to the sails. So far it is working
well and it also seems a bit more comfortable on board.
24hr Distance Covered to Sat 04/01/2020 12:00hrs : 150nm
Position at 12:00hrs UTC 24Deg 04.26 Min North, 31 Deg 37.50 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 148nm
Distance to Go: 1720nm
Day Eight (Sunday)
Sue – Well considering how much sea we are surrounded by we haven't seen
much sea life but we did catch a big Mahi Mahi yesterday so that kept the
men busy for a while. That's supper sorted for today. My afternoon teas are
going down very well, homemade ginger snaps, vanilla ice-cream and maple
syrup on Saturday and scones with strawberry jam and cream yesterday. Think
we will all be rolling off Nimrod when we reach Barbados!! Gilly's daily
envelopes are keeping us entertained, the last quiz has us stumped on 2
questions 1. 88 = PK? and 2. 1000 = W that a P is W??? We did get 22 of them
though, here are a few 32 = D F at which W F? 13 = S on the A F? and 200 =
P for P G in M? Have a go and don't cheat on google!! Answers on next
email/blog. Well we will reach the halfway mark today so the Bubbly is
chilling ready, highlight of my day. Richard and Dave have been reading a
book we have onboard called This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay, their
laughing is very infectious!! You should read it and see!! Hope my kids are
ok, thinking about them every day. (Joe, Vikki, Chris says it is ok to send
me a text to our satellite phone if you want to, love you both loads xxx)
The men are doing all the watches but Sues Café is open from 11am until 7pm
so don't think I am doing too bad!! Looking forward to my Rum Punch Party in
Barbados hope Caroline, Debbie and Kathryn are on the case!! Lots of love to
all my family and friends xxx
Wind picked up later in the day and from 1800hrs to 2400hrs we have been
scooting along at around 8knts, we hope to smash our 24hr record tomorrow
but you will have to wait until the next blog to see if we managed it. Still
mainly grey overcast skies but is showing signs of clearing so we might be
sunbathing soon. Life on board is a bit wobbly with the mixed up sea we have
at the moment but we are coping pretty well, glad we are on a cat and not a
monohull. Late today we ticked down below 1500nm to go.
24hr Distance Covered to Sun 05/01/2020 12:00hrs : 155nm
Position at 12:00hrs 23Deg 22.44 Min North, 34 Deg 15.47 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 152nm
Distance to Go: 1568nm
Saturday, January 4, 2020
Nimrod from Mid Atlantic - Days 5 and 6
Day Five (Thursday)
So this is a blog written today (Friday) about yesterday (Thursday, in this
script "today") to be posted tomorrow – so keep up!
First things first my fellow travellers are masters of many things, I am but
a willing apprentice.
Having attended masterclasses in Sail repair, sea fishing, gutting and
butchering and spinnaker raising and dropping in the last couple of days I
couldn't wait for today's offering.
Days of course are 24 hour affairs with mine starting at 0000hrs half way
through the 2300 to 0100hrs Ships Time watch, (or 0000-0200 UTC the datum
time used in our log). A neat little watch with all good – I take the
midnight log reading, watch a little of Ant Middleton's Mutiny & go about
some final checks before Chris's watch. Log, AIS (more later) and Radar
check for incoming weather done all looks good but when it comes to the sail
check disaster, our lovingly repaired Kite has split full length from head
(just below CJs repair) to port side tack. Don't panic Rich! It's not
hanging in the sea, the seam is holding as is the repair, sea state
reasonable, wind is behind and we have momentum, I of course have my life
jacket and harness on, just go and get Chris and follow the procedure we
practised. Chris is up sharpish after a rib jab from Sue "Rich is knocking
on the door and says the sail has gone again". Within minutes with multiple
clip ons and clip offs we have the lines released, sock down over the sorry
spinny, and it down on the trampoline then straight into re-rigging the two
headsails on poles in a gull wing formation. All I have to do is follow
instruction and by 0120hrs all is complete and we continue on our way. I'm
off to bed with adrenaline still in my veins but a dull feeling of sorrow
that all that repair work has been almost for nought.
By comparison the second watch of the night is routine (other than running
off a 20 min exercise regime of squats, sit ups and mountain climbers) and
updating the log at 0600, at which point I realise my apprentice's error of
making both log entries one hour late having used ships time rather than
UTC.
After this the day pans out quite without drama – 4 fishing lines all day
with Sue praying to the Mahi Mahi god but to no avail, a debate amongst the
lads on the rights and wrongs of "lieing" about engine emissions results,
and a self teach in session on RYA Weather through Chris and Dave's
favourite RYA instructor Chris Tibbs (what an excellent read). You would
have thought there was little else I could absorb in a day but then there is
Dave's Sextant lessons I have signed up to and whilst he has us within 10nm
of the GPS position I have us in the southern pacific and 4 hours later than
when we took the readings – Fiji here we come!
For dinner we call up a Suesaroo & within minutes a star curry with GF nans
and homemade mango chutney appear. As the day ends and Nimrod accelerates
to 7 to 8.5Kn we celebrate another milestone reached with 2000 miles to go
along our great circle route – cant be bad can it.
In amongst all the above we dug out the sat phone to post our update from
the previous days and to get the latest weather forecast, you might have
heard the cheer when it showed that the big patch of calm ahead seems to
have disappeared. Still shows lighter winds for the weekend but enough to
keep us moving steadily we hope, seems our decision to stay North might be
the right call.
24hr Distance Covered to Thurs 02/01/2020 12:00hrs : 147nm
Position at 12:00hrs 25Deg 20.01Min North, 26 Deg 04.41 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 146nm
Distance to Go: 2030nm
Day Six (Friday)
A pretty fast night with winds at 17-19knts from just south of East most of
the time pushing us along at 7-8knts directly on course for Barbados,
surfing down some of the waves at over 10knts. Sea has built up a bit with
the stronger winds but it is still comfortable on board.
Forecast for today is more of the same and then the wind should ease for a
couple of days.
A very good 24hr run, everybody is happy with our best day yet, have to see
if we can beat it later in the trip. Not so good with the fishing the last
few days, we have had four lures out for three days, only one bite and it
got off before we could do anything, at least it did not run off with the
lure. In fact we have seen just about nothing apart from one or two birds.
Sue is expecting dolphins, whales and turtles on a daily schedule so she is
a bit disappointed so far, bound to improve though.
Today is Chris' sextant lessons with Dave. Taking the sun sights went pretty
well after we managed to find the sun – you might be thinking "how hard is
it to find the sun?" Well it is more difficult than you think with a sextant
because the sun is reflected through a filter and a mirror to be projected
into your view through the eyepiece when you are looking at the horizon.
This means you are not looking directly at the sun but trying to guess where
to point the sextant so the reflected sun appears in the view to the
horizon. Once you have got it sussed out you then adjust the sextant to make
the sun just sit on the horizon and record the exact time and sextant angle.
Take 4 or 5 sights to make sure. The rest of the process means looking up
lots of figures in various tables, taking X away from the volume of a bottle
of prosecco , adding in the number of crew, dividing by days left to travel,
etc, etc. Anyway you get the picture – this part takes Dave about 20mins,
Chris found an Excel Spreadsheet that does it in about 20 seconds (I can
send it to Nick because he doesn't like all the pencil work). After all this
the position from Chris' sun sights was pretty damn good, very pleased with
that. Rich has more lessons tomorrow to see if he can get us the right side
of the equator.
If anyone is interested in following our progress in real-time you can go to
the marinetraffic or vesselfinder websites. We are "Nimrod of Malvern". I
think both sites offer AIS satellite tracking as a premium service, no idea
how much the cost is but it will allow you to follow us and any other boats
all the way across the Atlantic rather than just when we are close to shore
based tracking stations. One caution is that our AIS is very low power
output so may not always be received via satellite and so position update
times may be fairly random. If the sites have a "trial period" option it may
be worth checking you can see us, however we do know that Colleen (Dave's
wife) is tracking us successfully on Marine Traffic.
24hr Distance Covered to Fri 03/01/2020 12:00hrs : 164nm
Position at 12:00hrs 24Deg 32.27 Min North, 28 Deg 55.96 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 162nm
Distance to Go: 1868nm
So this is a blog written today (Friday) about yesterday (Thursday, in this
script "today") to be posted tomorrow – so keep up!
First things first my fellow travellers are masters of many things, I am but
a willing apprentice.
Having attended masterclasses in Sail repair, sea fishing, gutting and
butchering and spinnaker raising and dropping in the last couple of days I
couldn't wait for today's offering.
Days of course are 24 hour affairs with mine starting at 0000hrs half way
through the 2300 to 0100hrs Ships Time watch, (or 0000-0200 UTC the datum
time used in our log). A neat little watch with all good – I take the
midnight log reading, watch a little of Ant Middleton's Mutiny & go about
some final checks before Chris's watch. Log, AIS (more later) and Radar
check for incoming weather done all looks good but when it comes to the sail
check disaster, our lovingly repaired Kite has split full length from head
(just below CJs repair) to port side tack. Don't panic Rich! It's not
hanging in the sea, the seam is holding as is the repair, sea state
reasonable, wind is behind and we have momentum, I of course have my life
jacket and harness on, just go and get Chris and follow the procedure we
practised. Chris is up sharpish after a rib jab from Sue "Rich is knocking
on the door and says the sail has gone again". Within minutes with multiple
clip ons and clip offs we have the lines released, sock down over the sorry
spinny, and it down on the trampoline then straight into re-rigging the two
headsails on poles in a gull wing formation. All I have to do is follow
instruction and by 0120hrs all is complete and we continue on our way. I'm
off to bed with adrenaline still in my veins but a dull feeling of sorrow
that all that repair work has been almost for nought.
By comparison the second watch of the night is routine (other than running
off a 20 min exercise regime of squats, sit ups and mountain climbers) and
updating the log at 0600, at which point I realise my apprentice's error of
making both log entries one hour late having used ships time rather than
UTC.
After this the day pans out quite without drama – 4 fishing lines all day
with Sue praying to the Mahi Mahi god but to no avail, a debate amongst the
lads on the rights and wrongs of "lieing" about engine emissions results,
and a self teach in session on RYA Weather through Chris and Dave's
favourite RYA instructor Chris Tibbs (what an excellent read). You would
have thought there was little else I could absorb in a day but then there is
Dave's Sextant lessons I have signed up to and whilst he has us within 10nm
of the GPS position I have us in the southern pacific and 4 hours later than
when we took the readings – Fiji here we come!
For dinner we call up a Suesaroo & within minutes a star curry with GF nans
and homemade mango chutney appear. As the day ends and Nimrod accelerates
to 7 to 8.5Kn we celebrate another milestone reached with 2000 miles to go
along our great circle route – cant be bad can it.
In amongst all the above we dug out the sat phone to post our update from
the previous days and to get the latest weather forecast, you might have
heard the cheer when it showed that the big patch of calm ahead seems to
have disappeared. Still shows lighter winds for the weekend but enough to
keep us moving steadily we hope, seems our decision to stay North might be
the right call.
24hr Distance Covered to Thurs 02/01/2020 12:00hrs : 147nm
Position at 12:00hrs 25Deg 20.01Min North, 26 Deg 04.41 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 146nm
Distance to Go: 2030nm
Day Six (Friday)
A pretty fast night with winds at 17-19knts from just south of East most of
the time pushing us along at 7-8knts directly on course for Barbados,
surfing down some of the waves at over 10knts. Sea has built up a bit with
the stronger winds but it is still comfortable on board.
Forecast for today is more of the same and then the wind should ease for a
couple of days.
A very good 24hr run, everybody is happy with our best day yet, have to see
if we can beat it later in the trip. Not so good with the fishing the last
few days, we have had four lures out for three days, only one bite and it
got off before we could do anything, at least it did not run off with the
lure. In fact we have seen just about nothing apart from one or two birds.
Sue is expecting dolphins, whales and turtles on a daily schedule so she is
a bit disappointed so far, bound to improve though.
Today is Chris' sextant lessons with Dave. Taking the sun sights went pretty
well after we managed to find the sun – you might be thinking "how hard is
it to find the sun?" Well it is more difficult than you think with a sextant
because the sun is reflected through a filter and a mirror to be projected
into your view through the eyepiece when you are looking at the horizon.
This means you are not looking directly at the sun but trying to guess where
to point the sextant so the reflected sun appears in the view to the
horizon. Once you have got it sussed out you then adjust the sextant to make
the sun just sit on the horizon and record the exact time and sextant angle.
Take 4 or 5 sights to make sure. The rest of the process means looking up
lots of figures in various tables, taking X away from the volume of a bottle
of prosecco , adding in the number of crew, dividing by days left to travel,
etc, etc. Anyway you get the picture – this part takes Dave about 20mins,
Chris found an Excel Spreadsheet that does it in about 20 seconds (I can
send it to Nick because he doesn't like all the pencil work). After all this
the position from Chris' sun sights was pretty damn good, very pleased with
that. Rich has more lessons tomorrow to see if he can get us the right side
of the equator.
If anyone is interested in following our progress in real-time you can go to
the marinetraffic or vesselfinder websites. We are "Nimrod of Malvern". I
think both sites offer AIS satellite tracking as a premium service, no idea
how much the cost is but it will allow you to follow us and any other boats
all the way across the Atlantic rather than just when we are close to shore
based tracking stations. One caution is that our AIS is very low power
output so may not always be received via satellite and so position update
times may be fairly random. If the sites have a "trial period" option it may
be worth checking you can see us, however we do know that Colleen (Dave's
wife) is tracking us successfully on Marine Traffic.
24hr Distance Covered to Fri 03/01/2020 12:00hrs : 164nm
Position at 12:00hrs 24Deg 32.27 Min North, 28 Deg 55.96 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 162nm
Distance to Go: 1868nm
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Nimrod Across the Atlantic - Days 3 and 4
Day Three (Tuesday)
Spinnaker repairs are taking most of the day, nothing too difficult about
the job it just takes time. It is now all stitched back together and we just
need to add some big reinforcing patches across the head of the sail where
it ripped across. Should be finished tomorrow.
Wind today started as Easterly around 18knts , slowly veered to ESE and then
back to Easterly, during the afternoon the wind speed has eased a bit so we
are making 5.5 to 6knts. Our weather forecasts indicate we should be getting
a bit higher wind speeds, nothing we can do apart from deal with what we
have. We have been talking to a group of three boats about 30nm to the south
of us who are also heading to Barbados. The main topic is an area of calm or
light winds ahead of us at the weekend, we should be approaching the area by
then so need to decide what to do. The other boats seem to have decided to
take a very southerly route, down to 15 deg N, to go around the bottom of
the calm, we have decided to stay north, close to the rhumb line and take
our chances. Heading that far south would mean sailing at a pretty
uncomfortable angle to the waves and will also add a couple of hundred miles
to the trip, so we are prepared to accept a couple of slow days if it
happens. The spinnaker will be back in action by then so we can make
progress in quite light winds. We will have to wait and see as to who made
the right call.
New Years Eve on Nimrod means we have allowed ourselves a bottle of bubbly
with our fillet steak dinner, many thanks to Dave for smuggling it in his
luggage. Happy New Year to everyone who is following our progress.
24hr Distance Covered to Tues 31/12/2019 12:00 : 158nm
Position at 12:00hrs 26Deg 14.40Min North, 20 Deg 48.23 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 153nm
Distance to Go: 2320nm
Day Four ( Wednesday)
A quiet and steady night, a bit less wind than forecast so boat speeds
around 5.5knts, increasing slightly towards dawn so a bit less distance
covered in the 24hrs, still very happy with our progress.
Spinnaker repairs continue in the morning with a couple of large patches to
reinforce the head of the sail and some lengths of webbing stitched down the
leeches of the sail to strengthen them and to protect against any chafe in
the future. Then pack the sail back into the sock, making sure there are no
twists in it. All ready to go back up by around midday after about 10hrs
repair work by the team.
Enough wind early afternoon for the twin headsails but by 1530 the wind
eased and the kite was hoisted and set, everything looks good with the
repair and we have gained around 1knt of boat speed so everybody on board is
happy since it could mean as much as a couple of days less at sea depending
on how the weather behaves. The extra speed also means we are more in synch
with the waves so life on board is a bit smoother.
Hi all Sue here
While the men have been busy playing I have been keeping busy cooking things
like Bakewell Tart with Raspberry Ripple ice-cream for afternoon tea, it
went down very well, reading, doing sudukos, some wonky yoga and taking
pictures of them playing. My friend Gilly prepared me a crossing bag
containing an envelope to be opened each day, such a lovely thought and I
look forward to them each morning, so do the men now!! We had Champagne last
night to celebrate New Year that was a real treat, roll on half way mark
when we will have another bottle. So far it has been a lovely sail the only
things I miss are my daily chats with family and friends. Still waiting for
the Dolphins to arrive or maybe a Whale but would prefer that to be in the
distance!! Richard and I are on a little squat challenge and on this moving
boat it really is a challenge!! Lots of love to you all xxxxx
24hr Distance Covered to Wed 01/01/2020 12:00hrs : 145nm
Position at 12:00hrs 25Deg 45.04Min North, 23 Deg 24.94 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 144nm
Distance to Go: 2176nm
Spinnaker repairs are taking most of the day, nothing too difficult about
the job it just takes time. It is now all stitched back together and we just
need to add some big reinforcing patches across the head of the sail where
it ripped across. Should be finished tomorrow.
Wind today started as Easterly around 18knts , slowly veered to ESE and then
back to Easterly, during the afternoon the wind speed has eased a bit so we
are making 5.5 to 6knts. Our weather forecasts indicate we should be getting
a bit higher wind speeds, nothing we can do apart from deal with what we
have. We have been talking to a group of three boats about 30nm to the south
of us who are also heading to Barbados. The main topic is an area of calm or
light winds ahead of us at the weekend, we should be approaching the area by
then so need to decide what to do. The other boats seem to have decided to
take a very southerly route, down to 15 deg N, to go around the bottom of
the calm, we have decided to stay north, close to the rhumb line and take
our chances. Heading that far south would mean sailing at a pretty
uncomfortable angle to the waves and will also add a couple of hundred miles
to the trip, so we are prepared to accept a couple of slow days if it
happens. The spinnaker will be back in action by then so we can make
progress in quite light winds. We will have to wait and see as to who made
the right call.
New Years Eve on Nimrod means we have allowed ourselves a bottle of bubbly
with our fillet steak dinner, many thanks to Dave for smuggling it in his
luggage. Happy New Year to everyone who is following our progress.
24hr Distance Covered to Tues 31/12/2019 12:00 : 158nm
Position at 12:00hrs 26Deg 14.40Min North, 20 Deg 48.23 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 153nm
Distance to Go: 2320nm
Day Four ( Wednesday)
A quiet and steady night, a bit less wind than forecast so boat speeds
around 5.5knts, increasing slightly towards dawn so a bit less distance
covered in the 24hrs, still very happy with our progress.
Spinnaker repairs continue in the morning with a couple of large patches to
reinforce the head of the sail and some lengths of webbing stitched down the
leeches of the sail to strengthen them and to protect against any chafe in
the future. Then pack the sail back into the sock, making sure there are no
twists in it. All ready to go back up by around midday after about 10hrs
repair work by the team.
Enough wind early afternoon for the twin headsails but by 1530 the wind
eased and the kite was hoisted and set, everything looks good with the
repair and we have gained around 1knt of boat speed so everybody on board is
happy since it could mean as much as a couple of days less at sea depending
on how the weather behaves. The extra speed also means we are more in synch
with the waves so life on board is a bit smoother.
Hi all Sue here
While the men have been busy playing I have been keeping busy cooking things
like Bakewell Tart with Raspberry Ripple ice-cream for afternoon tea, it
went down very well, reading, doing sudukos, some wonky yoga and taking
pictures of them playing. My friend Gilly prepared me a crossing bag
containing an envelope to be opened each day, such a lovely thought and I
look forward to them each morning, so do the men now!! We had Champagne last
night to celebrate New Year that was a real treat, roll on half way mark
when we will have another bottle. So far it has been a lovely sail the only
things I miss are my daily chats with family and friends. Still waiting for
the Dolphins to arrive or maybe a Whale but would prefer that to be in the
distance!! Richard and I are on a little squat challenge and on this moving
boat it really is a challenge!! Lots of love to you all xxxxx
24hr Distance Covered to Wed 01/01/2020 12:00hrs : 145nm
Position at 12:00hrs 25Deg 45.04Min North, 23 Deg 24.94 Min West
24hr Distance Made Good to Destination : 144nm
Distance to Go: 2176nm
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