Passage 6Please sign our guest book.Las Palmas to St Lucia with the ARCSubject: Off Tommorrow We have nearly finished our preparations and we are all knackered and a little anxious but ready to go now. Weather report is for good winds NE force 3-4 but the waves are likely to be rather rough (upto 18 feet high and lumpy) due to a storm to the north. After Monday as we move south the winds should increase a bit but the waves die down as we get into proper trade wind sailing down towards the Cape Verde Islands with a steady N/NE-erly. We plan to turn west at 20 degrees North:25 West or there abouts depending on the conditions and take the 'southern' route to St Lucia. James is well kitted out with fishing gear and we are hoping to have fresh fish along the way at some time. Right now it is going dark. It has been cool and very wet and windy today but the front is going over and all is set for a fine start tomorrow. I have got the little video camera to work so we should have some amazing footage of 240 yachts milling about before the start. Kittiwake is a well prepared as we can all make her with plenty of back-up for just about every contingency I can think of - so although the scale of this adventure, both distance and endurance needed, is bearing down on us tonight - we are ready for the off. |    | |||||||||
|
Log 27.11.06 The start was a sight to behold with 240 yachts milling around in the outer haorbour of Las Palmas in brilliant sunshine, blue skies and a gentle NNE wind. The racing divisions got off first and the crusing division started at 13:00. We set a a course to take us five or so miles east of Gran Canaria and then down to the south. This way we aimed to avoid the wind acceleration zone south of the airport. Looking at yachts to our starboard it seems this was not necessary as the winds seemed steady. We had a gentle night - much better than expected as the swell stayed low with gentle breezes. We ran through the night on poled out genoa to port and mainsail to starboard. Dawn was beautiful but the wind has now nearly died and even though we now have our cruising chute out we are making only very slow progress. Life at sea is always eventful and we have already had to make repairs to a spinnaker pole that came away from its car on the mast. Now OK and it looks as though all the workers who were clambering on board in the past months have over stressed the pulpit and one of the deck fittings has parted. Hey ho, ever resourceful these problems are now contained and are minor. Power consumption is a constant thought. The long nights mean we burn nav and domestic lights more and even though we are very careful they drain power quickly. We have had the generator going for 6 hours already. The Hydrovane self steering is working very well and as this needs no power it is a great first choice instead of the autopilot that drinks power although it is capable of holding a tighter course when the wind shifts. We have settled into our watch system of 2 hours on and 4 off with a dog watch between 18:00 and 20:00 where it advances to give everyone a different night watch each 4 days. We are about to get our first weather report from the ARC. All in good spirits and well. Mark Log 28.11.06 At last - what we came for - true blue water sailing in brilliant sunshine, a deep swell and a steady NE 15-20 knot trade wind. We are swishing along under all plain sail of poled out genoa to port, mainsail to starboard and stay sail to starboard, our best rig for performance and flexibility in these conditions. We are doing 7 knots, more at times, as we run down towards the Cape Verde Islands. Chris is making bread and singing sea shanties. I have got the generator running to top up the batteries after the night and to power the water maker that is squirting out 'fresh'water into our tanks at 55l per hour. We did a controlled gybe last night to take us on a more westerly course when the wind changed and we are now back on a south westerly course. It has been reassuring to note that we have not had to make any repairs to anything for the last 36 hours. A full boat check has not shown up any excess wear or tear on anything but we did reset a block for the genoa to make sure no chaffing happens. Everything is a big learning experience - from trying to eat in a deep swell with everything heaving about to finding a comfortable place to wedge yourself when trying to sleep. Systems management is a constant pre-occupation and balancing power drains and supplies versus diesel and water reserves. The same thing goes for course - do we go for speed or for southing or westing or a bit of all three. It is a constant trade-off. Doubtless we will get the hang of it as we balance all of these factors while ensuring we achieve our prioroity of arriving safe and well. Mark Log 29.11.06 After a wonderful day of sailing in increasing winds, into Force 7 at times, we just continued to run south west and then west as the wind shifted to the east. At times we were surfing down quite large rollers of some 12 feet and doing 10 knots over the ground - well above Kittiwake's hull speed of 9knots. During the night we averaged 7 knots and saw 5 or so other yachts around us. It is exciting sailiing at night with the rush of the rollers creaming around the hull and giving a lifting surge to the whole boat and a twist to the stern before she scurries down the other side. Sailing like this requires a lot of concentration to avoid going off line and getting broached. But this is the sailing Kittiwake was designed for and she takes it all in her stride. The stars last night were spectacular, even with a half moon shining brilliantly, before the clouds came over and made it hard to see the waves around us. The night was spoilt though over concerns about our water tanks. Just before retiring after my mid evening shift I checked the bilges - part of the routine. I discovered to my dismay that they were awash with fresh water and one of our fresh water tanks was empty. The automatic bilge pump was working to clear this adding to the night time drain on the batteries. We isolated the second tank and pondered our situation. If we had a leak we could not fix and there second tank was also affected then we had a real problem. On gettng up all the saloon floor boards and shifting the steps the next day we identified the problem A faulty pressure valve on the immersion heater was blowing water into the bilges everytime we used the pressure pump to deliver water to the taps. Now we know this it is easy to switch the pump off after each use and we will be OK. As I speak the water generator is refilling the tank and by this evening we will be full again! Just shows what one has to cope with at any time. The sailing now is wonderful again and although we are all tired out after the night and morning exertions - we are back to fine spirits. Chris's bread is excellent and his shanties keep our spirits up. Graham loves driving the boat as hard as the wind will take us and James is a constant help in his swift diagnosis of just about any problem. The whole team is superb in wrapping around and being helpful and considerate to everyone else. We are on course and on schedule and taking things as they come - although hoping for an easier time of it soon. Crawling around on the floor with you head in the bilges while the whole world is pitching and rolling is not fun. Mark Log 30.11.06 We have reached the latitudes of the tropics! Quite a milestone for us as this is the furthest south any of us have been under sail. The weather today is notably warmer but unfortunately the wind is now fitful and light. We have been motorsailing along in light airs since last night. It was a pity to have to put the engine on but we are driving down to the south to reach the winds to be found at 20N and below. This hopefully will give us a strong push to the south and west before running west to St Lucia. The gentle night gave us a chance to catch-up on much needed sleep. All of us were very tired getting used to the watch system and the exertions of running the boat. The nights are very long - it is dark by 19:00 and sunrise is not till 07:30. It takes some getting used to after cruising in summer in higher latitudes where the nights are short. Nevertheless the star display was superb and quite a lot of shooting stars added to the show. At dusk James caught his first fish, a three foot long 'Kingfish'. I've just filleted it and we are about to have it for breakfast. Dolphins came to play around us in the dark last night before dashing off in a display of swimming finesse. Now a word about ropes! Ropes are our best friends. Not that any 'rope' on a boat is called a rope - nothing so simple. They are sheets or halyards or painters or strops or lashings or warps or -- you get the picture. They are our work horse and helper but they are capricious. Given any chance and they will play tricks on you. Turn away and they are in a tangle. Blink and they have made themselves into a failed macramae class. They go into a 'wriggle'and end up looking like spaghetti tossed in oil. I'm not sure whether this is because they are sulking or they are just full of mischief. Ignore them and they get into all sorts of trouble. They get jammed, torn, chaffed and tatty. We are learning to treat them like children - with constant attention they are rewarding but let them get bored or ignored and they get themselves into all sorts of trouble. We are hoping for some wind soon - but for now we are content to motorsail along enjoying a beautiful day. All the ships systems are working, which is a relief in itself. PS: the fresh kingfish filleted and fried in oats with scrmbbled egg, orange juice and coffee on a tropical morning was a delight. Mark Log 1.12.06 Thank goodness the engine is off at last after motorsailing for most of the past 24 hours to get us put of an area of very gentle variable winds. Our strategy of pushing south on engine towards 20N has worked and we are running along now towards our nominal way point of 20N 25W to the NW of the Cape Verde group in 15 knots of wind from the NE. Kittiwake is at her very best when running downwind on poled out genoa to port and mainsail and stay sail to starboard. She looks like a real sailing ship then. We have found that this is much better than even the cruising chute for these middling airs and it is a rig we can sustain right up to gale force by just reefing the sails as needed but without having to change them or bring the pole in. The strategy of using the engine has meant that we have used about 23% or our fuel but we expect that the need to use it in future will be limited as the trade winds should be steadier as we head further south and west. The bonus of the engine was that, despite the racket, it gave us massive amounts of electricity. We could put the lights on, run the autohelm, play music and feel relaxed through the long, dark hours without fear of running the batteries down. Chris made a fruit loaf and then entertained us royally with a recitation of Tennyson's Revenge' recounting the expoits of Grenville and his heroics against the overwhelming odds of the Spanish fleet. He was word perfect and never hesitated for a moment as he held us spell bound by the events of that night. He also gets us singing along to his vast repetoire of sea shanties from various ages. It all helps to build our spirits as we look out over a darkening world with no descernable feature in it but the brightening stars and the waxing moon above. Last night was truly special. We gathered on the foredeck to get away from the engine noise to enjoy the gentle sighing of the waves on the bow and the warm tropical night airs gently wafting around us and sang and sang. No audience but the waves and stars. [I should add that we all had our full kit of lifejackets, personal strobe lights and safety lines clipped on throughout.] Now a little about 'Disc World'. Those of you who have read Terry Pratchet's books will know what I am refering to. Fiction? Yes in Terry's books but reality for us over the past 24 hours. Never have I felt more strongly that we were at the centre of the 'world' and the only inhabitants of that world. For 360 degrees we have had an perfect disc of horizon around us. During the day the sea is a steel blue, gently heaving and glinting carpet that stretches as far as the eye can see. It meets the sky as a sharp line above which is the palest wash of duck egg blue that gradually shades into the deepest azure at the zenith of the dome above us. No clouds - just this perfect, featureless mantle except where it pales around a hazy sun. At night the disc becomes gun metal grey and the dome a darkening grey through which the constellations emerge and progress in a continuous movement above the mast from port to starboard. The need for collective and individual self reliance and inner strength is never more apparent when these gentle conditions allow one to reflect on where we are and what we are doing. When it is rough and there is lots to do these thoughts are pushed back by the immediacy of the need. For the record we had chicken fajitas for dinner last night washed down with alcohol free larger and then coffee and fruit loaf. This morning Chris and James treated us to scrambled egg, bacon and yep - fruit loaf! All of the ship systems are working perfectly and we are making good progress. Curry tonight - well it is Friday whether at sea or not! Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 02.12.06 How things can change - last night we enjoyed a lamb curry with chapattis, pickles and garnish - sailing along in a gentle swell, comfortable breeze and a rising moon. The night air was warm and we were all relaxed and refreshed after a wonderful easy day of perfect sailing in gentle trade winds. At 15:00 we celebrated the 'turning of the corner'. We had run down as far South as we needed to catch the winds and set a course just south of west directly for St Lucia. By the 06:00 watch the wind had really picked up and with it the seas. They have built to 8-10 foot swells that are coming at us in a confusion of intent from directly astern and over our starboard quarter. We reefed down twice in the dark to settle Kittiwake more comfortably into the new conditions. All morning we have been running along driven by Force 5-6 winds that gust up to touching gale force for periods. Our 'disc world' is now a heaving welter of planished steel rising to crests and sinking valleys that rush down on us a great speed. The sound is a mixture of a speeding express train, renting sheets, fizzing spray and the occasional gu-splosh of a collapsing pinnacle of water. The whole scene is a tossing patchwork of deep blues, steels, decorated by the diamond sparkles and turquoise of the breaking wave crests. The sun is brilliant in a featureless dome. It is strange not to have any clouds in this tossing seascape. To add interest to an already amazing scene are flying fish putting on a remarkable display. These are not the tiddlers of further north but the real thing - the size of large seabass. They burst out of the waves ahead of us and glide for 100s of metres skimming the waves and following the valleys before landing on their tails to skip once before burying themselves in the next wave. It is quite clear they are steering with control and intent like low skimming seabirds on the hunt. Our other companions have been two Kittiwakes that are fishing around us but blithely ignoring us as irrelevant. We have now run some 800 nmiles and we are current about 750 nmiles SW of Gran Canaria. We are entering new ground both geographic and in the conditions we are facing. Kittiwake and crew are coping very well and it looks as though we are in for a long day - may be more. The conditions may be more demanding than we have had so far but they are ideal for rushing us West and we are now ahead of our schedule having run some 90 miles through the night. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 03.12.06 One week at sea, one third of the journey done, 950 nmiles sailed, on track, on schedule, Kittiwake and crew all doing fine. It is amazing how quickly we have adapted to the changes. Yesterday dawn the world was a heaving cauldron of what seemed like huge waves and challenging conditions. True, the waves were upto 12 feet high, at times, the wind was gusting gale force and the boat had adopted a crazy rocking, pitching motion. But now this has become the norm and not worth remarking on. We continue to cook, eat, read, do e-mails and even sleep while everything around is creaking, groaning, banging and clattering on deck, in the cupboards and under the floor boards. The wind continues to blow steadily from the east but teases us by dropping to 10 knots only to rise to gale force 33 knots or just to drop back to 25 and round again. This can take seconds or minutes. All the while white crested rollers come sweeping up from behind sometimes on the quarter (port or starboard) and sometimes from dead astern and often all three together. This leads to a peculiar twisting, pitching motion that is quite unpredictable. Within this 'norm' are two strange extremes. The first is to be welcomed and savoured. Very occasionaly the pattern of waves balances out to give a brief period of complete calm and no motion. When in your bunk in that phase between sleep and awake these periods come as fleeting moments of eternity. The boat and your senses seem to fall into a different dimension where time stands still and all is peace. It seems limitless, infinite, unbroken. Reality crashes back at some indefinable moment and the pitching resumes. The other extreme, and not so welcome, is when the conditions contrive to build upon each other to give a monstrous result. Graham was on the middle watch last night when this huge wave, all of 15 feet, came thundering out of the night as a wall of water racing to the stern. The boat stopped all forward motion, was 'sucked' backwards and then surged forward on a white rapid of raging foam incandescent in the moonlight. This lifted up and propelled all 15 tonnes of Kittiwake along at over 13 knots for a hundred metres or so before settling her down again in the wave patterns of before. All of this goes to show what a good sea boat this Westerley Ocean 49 is. With a combination of Hydrovane and autopilot these extremes are coped with without strain. We have come to find that the combination gives super hands off control with much less power consumption than just the autopilot itself. This morning being a Sunday I had the Master at Arms beat to quarters and we had morning prayers, before I read the Article of war and all crew witnessed punishment - just two flogging for this past week so crew morale is rated as good. To be serious - all on board are getting on very well with great regard for each other and although it seems amazing that we still have another two weeks or so of this spirits are high. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 04.12.06 Dawn was a long time coming this morning. The night was long and arduous albeit uneventful. Clouds covered the moon and delayed a lightening to the east till almost 08:00. This drew out a period of endurance of trying to sleep or keep watch in a tumbling heaving world on sudden lurches, jolts and skidding, twisting skitters. The perplexing triangular patchwork of waves that we have had for the past 36 hours continues to toss us about in a random fashion. The good news is that the wind has held and is speeding us along well above our target passage average of 5.5 Knots. Kittiwake is taking these vex some waves in her stride. Each time a roller surges up from which ever quarter she lifts her stern and, with almost contemptuous ease, shrugs off the surge and settles back down on course in the wake of the scudding foam crest. At night all colours mellow into shades of grey, black and silver. The soft forms of waves and clouds form a natural backdrop against which the lofty architecture of mast, rigging and wind-taught sails stand proud as though bracing the sky itself. With light came a birthday! James is 25 today. At 10:00 on completing his watch it was porridge and present time. The cockpit was a scene of exfoliating delight as layers of wrapping paper we removed to reveal a wealth of gifts from thoughtful people - from those aboard and at home. James was delighted with his gifts and cards and well wishes. We shall celebrate with a huge chocolate pancetta that we bought for the occasion in El Corte Ingles in Las Palmas. Talking of thoughtful gifts my new barometer, an advance Christmas present from Wyn and Roy, my parents-in-law, now graces the aft cabin and the sure-footed, steel insulated mugs given by them as a previous Christmas present continue to do brilliant service. We have now covered 1091 nmiles from Las Palmas and achieved 154 nmiles over the past 24 hours at an average speed of 6.4 knots. If we keep this up we will be in St Lucia a week on Saturday although that seems an awesome age away given the need to play each moment as it comes to do just the simplest of things. Spirits are excellent and all systems working well save for the water maker. This continues to be spasmodic in its performance in these big seas. We may need to rig a jury feed for the seawater that does not drag in as much air which is limiting its production. We have plenty of water anyway so long as we are careful with it. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 05.12.06 Grey sea, grey clouds, grey light, grey dawn such as it was. We had a fine run through the night on a freshening wind and rolling seas doing an average of 7 knots over the 12 hour period and 6.8 over 24 hours - our best sustained run yet of 163 nmiles. We think the tropical current is also helping us along now, one of the reasons why we chose the more southerly route. The morning brought our first proper rain with showers drenching the deck and giving James who was on the helm an unexpected but much welcomed refresher. He quickly took of his T shirt and enjoyed his impromptu cleansing. In fact we all appreciated his improved toilette! The seas have been building during the morning. We regularly have big rollers learing down on us, foaming on the crest and glinting a deep turquoise as the pale sun light shines through their tops, before they break in a welter of spray around and beyond our counter. We reefed down again a little while ago and the motion is easier. As I write the wind keeps rising in pulses to gale force before dropping down to a solid Force 6-7. I am sitting in the swivel chair at the navigation table doing rotations to the left and then the right with annoying regularity - like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. The others around me are having brunch and I will join them shortly. Chris made some more bread yesterday and we have eaten the baps and are on to the loaf. Now a little on how we organise our day. We began the watch system of two hours on and six off at 20:00 on the first evening and have kept this up ever since. We are into the third cycle now. The dog watch between 18:00 and 20:00 moves the roster one notch each day so everyone gets a different series of slots through the next 24 hours. Life is relatively easy for us because of this. Those with three or only two on board, or who are racing, have to stand longer watches more frequently. Nevertheless we get very tired and sleep is not always easy. Exhaustion catches up and grants proper sleep every other night. With the long nights it means doing two spells each at the wheel during the night every other night. The morning awakening is staggered as people rise or retire. We don't all get together until about 10:00 when coffee or tea is shared. At this point tactics for the day are discussed, the night's run commented on and the sails reset if necessary. By now the power in the batteries is down to 70% and the generator has to come on for a few hours. Lunch or brunch is a moveable feast of something light but occasionally we will have scrambled eggs and bacon. Mid day is when I do the position reporting and daily log. We also send and receive e-mail and get the latest weather reports and fleet positions. I spend about 90 minutes at the laptop and sat phone. After a break I try to link in to the SSB radio net but as boats get spread out this is becoming less certain. During the afternoon we do boat checks and catch up on rest or read (yes even reading is possible now we have our sea legs) when not on watch. Dinner is cooked in the dog watch and depending on conditions we will enjoy this together in the open. By the time it is ready it is dark so the edges of our world close in to the confines of the cockpit. Now the art of conversation, tale telling and singing become very important to entertain and recharge our spirits and shared intent. Conversation usually carries on into the 20:00 to 22:00 watch with people going below to get some sleep if they are on at midnight or later. Everyone is being very good at waking themselves up 10 minutes or so before their watch so they are ready for a prompt hand over. And the cycle repeats itself again and again. It is still a little mind bending to think that we are not even half way yet with so much still to do. The importance of statistics cannot be over emphasised as an aid to morale. Milestones of silly consequence become truly important. For example, 'we have done 10% of the night watches', 'we have done 20% of the distance', 'we did our best night's run of 7 knots sustained over 12 hours', 'we only have 1650 nmiles to go'. Speculation and calculation on our arrival date and time is continuous and updated regularly. The big milestone will come tomorrow when we should reach the half way stage in distance. Graham is keeping a meticulous log and he and Chris are constantly working out averages and days to go, speeds to make etc. In the meantime we exist from moment to moment and keep in check the burden of knowing how immense the ocean is we are oh so slowly traversing and how far we still have to go. Mark Chris has been suffering from a recurrence of his back problems. In the absence of a chiropractor he is doing extraordinary stretching actions about the boat involving much prostration and genuflection while emitting the bellows of a walrus in rut. In spite of our self enforced celibacy this is not attractive. Subject: Log Kittiwake 06.12.06 What a night! This pushed us all to new levels of experience. As dusk gathered last night the wind continued to grow and build the seas around us. Throughout the night we had a steady near gale conditions gusting gale force with 12 foot curling seas boiling around our counter and spilling along the port quarter gunnels. The waves viewed from aft were larger than we have ever known. Rearing out of the dark they loomed down on us in a rolling irresistible gathering wall that came on with a tearing, rip-rushing noise akin to a passing jet engine. The rigging was whistling in sympathy in an eerie way. What made for at truly uncomfortable motion was that not all of the waves were coming from dead astern. Every other one or so was crashing in from the starboard quarter creating a viscous rolling, pitching, corkscrewing motion quite unpredictable by wave but persistent in effect. Time and time again I was moved to view the waves as young stallions charging around in biostrous glee, kicking and bucking. A numberless herd migrating across a vast and lonely prairy. They wished no harm but were ignorant of their casual power. We reefed down twice before dark and even on this limited sail area we averaged 6.5 knots through the night. At no time did Kittiwake feel out of control or other than completely dependable. She just took it like an old hand, which she is of course, and shrugged off the worst with a swish of her stern and cruised on. At least we had enjoyed probably the best meal on board before the conditions focussed our minds on other things. Chris did a potato rosti with fried onions and cheese and I pan fried some pork fillets in butter and glazed them in honey and herbs. We served them up medallion style dressed in pan juices with fresh peas from the freezer. It was a truly delicious combination. Now for a little on the In and the Out-worlds. Same boat, a few steps away but utterly different. In the Out-world with the wind on your face, spray in your hair and wheel in your hands you are of the Passage. In the In-world you are but a passenger. In the Out-world you feel at one with the elements; part of the living, sighing moving whole rushing through the night. While not master of the elements you have influence. You can reef, you can steer, you can anticipate, you can ameliorate and mitigate. You are consequent upon the stage. A vital part of the drama and a contributor to the fugue. By contrast, below amongst the paraphernalia of domesticity (books half read, clothes unwashed, cooking smells and the glow of lights and instruments) you are helpless. A victim of every twist and turn, jolt and judder. There is no way to relate or anticipate. You are thrown about, brought up sharp, thrown and dumped. Even the simplest of tasks become onerous. Sleep is all but impossible. Going to the loo an exercise in controlled precision or wet feet! The noises around are severe - creeks and bangs, slaps and thumps. Not down here the natural sounds of wind and water but mechanical, harsh, material under stress and telling you so. Notwithstanding all of the above our confidence in ourselves and Kittiwake quietly and soberly grows. We have come through our worst night into a lovely day of scudding clouds and restless seas. The wind has dropped a notch or two and we have let out a reef. We covered 154 nmiles over the last 24 hours and this afternoon at about 15:00 we will pass the milestone of half way!! From now on the distance to run will be less than that covered. Now that's a truly motivating position to be in. All on board are in fine spirits and coping well. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 07.12.06 Over half way in time and distance now and running our westing down at a fine rate of knots. We did 170 nmiles in the past 24 hours rushing through the night and into the new day on just heads sails. We have 1296 miles to go. As we move further west the chances of squalls increases and I was concerned that it would take us a long time to reef the main under pressure. So we have furled in the mainsail completely. We are running on poled-out genoa to starboard with the stay sail set to port held in place with an extra sheet to give it better shape and power. The result has been very satisfying with an excellent turn of speed, less rolling and a rig that is flexible to conditions. It was good that we did what we did. The shape of the old mainsail has gone baggy under the pressure making it difficult to roll away into the mast. Further, the continuous loop roller line was getting harder and harder to get through the clutch as it has roughed up around the stitching of the joint. We will need to find a permanent fix for the mainsail problems when we get into St Lucia - looks as though I will be treating myself to a new sail for Christmas. We don't know why but all of us had real problems getting to sleep last night. We don't think it was the dinner - I did chicken and chorizo ragout with aubergine, chick peas and spinach, flavoured with anise and oregano served with rice. A one bowl wonder but very tasty. I have to say in passing that the quality of the meat we procured from Las Palmas has been consistently excellent. Our sleeplessness that brought us all on deck by 04:00 was probably more to do with the clammy night air and the rushing, surging motion of the boat. Kittiwake seems in a hurry all of a sudden and she is doing all in her power to speed us on our way. The conditions that so taxed us two nights ago are now the norm. Again it amazes me how we accept each turn of the ratchet and get on with it. None of us would contemplate going out into these conditions of continuous near gale to gale force winds and 12 foot breaking seas in the English Channel but we have been coping with this for the last 72 hours. And it is set to last well into next week. The frequency of the viscous cross waves has decreased but we still get them and they slew us around in a haphazard way making life very uncomfortable. In the sunshine and the warmth on your back it is an exhilarating experience, at night in the damp confines of the cabin it is horrible. Now for a little on our power as Time Lords. Did I forget to mention this newly acquired facility? Being masters of our own universe - not yet the whole thing - we can determine when night begins and morning starts, when the moon rises and sets and when the stars are allowed to shine. We can decide to have a long sunny evening or a short night. We can decree that it shall stay dark till the end of breakfast or light as we choose. London may be on UTC but out here in the middle of the Atlantic WE can make time whatever we choose. So far we have left the clocks on UTC rather than putting them back each week by one hour so we are in synch with St Lucia when we arrive. This means our evenings get longer and our mornings later but this suits us all and it means we will have four hours or so in hand when we arrive. Life is now about keeping everything together - people, boat and systems for the next 9-10 days. We all want to 'be there' now. As we get closer to St Lucia everything becomes a little less critical. In stead of having to last three weeks each day it will be less to the point of arrival - sails, diesel, water, food, rigging etc. We always knew that the physiological and psychological test would be the greatest - the sailing by and large looks after itself. All on board well and in good spirits. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 08.12.06 The winds have held steady at 20-30 knots heaping the seas and making life uncomfortable but delivering our best 24 hour run yet of 174 nmiles at an average speed of 7.2 knots. We would welcome a break to the continuous gyratory swings of up to 30 degrees inclination to port and then to starboard and back again in a 60 degree arc of gut wrenching torque. Anything not locked down comes bursting off shelves or sink top and goes clattering across the floor. You cannot leave anything unattended for a second without it becoming an unguided missile. As I type my wrists are pressing down hard on the key board to stop the laptop becoming airborne. For once I have something to report to break the monotony of the daily routine and to spare you from my rambling introspections - we saw a yacht! Three in fact. Five days without seeing anything then 3 come rolling by in a matter of hours. London bus syndrome seems to hold good even out here. The first came down from the north east at 22:30 UTC as dusk was gathering. I made radio contact on the VHF ch16 and we switched to SSB 4048 for a chat. The yacht was Shania out of Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria bound for Martinique, skippered by Jurs a German Swiss. They were having troubles with a broken main boom fixing and gennaker pole. They needed a bolt and we offered one from our range of M12s but they needed something bigger that we do not stock. Nevertheless we kept company through the night and have talked since. He is running on just his genoa but still making 7.5 knots. He is not of the ARC. Later last night another yacht came creaming out of the darkness to pass between us heading south west. It kept going without making contact. From the course I suspect he was also not of the ARC but bound for Trinidad or close. This goes to emphasise that being on watch means just that and no matter how tired you are constant vigilance is vital for safety. The third yacht is off our starboard bow this morning some 6-8 miles way. Time will tell if we will get to identify her. Now for a little on 'going walk about'. No we have not gone stir crazy or Australian. I am referring to when one leaves the confines of the cockpit to do a boat check, unsnag a line or stow the rubbish in the fore hatch. Getting out on to the heaving deck (double safety lines clipped on throughout and with someone watching for any problems) even for a few minutes is exquisitely refreshing. It is like taking a run on a cliff path or a jog in a park. It is only when you are out there that you realise how confining the cockpit and cabins have become. Kittiwake is a spacious boat and we have plenty of personal space but going out on deck is the equivalent of doing an EVA from a space shuttle. You get a totally different feeling and perspective. Liberating. Last night I filleted a half leg of lamb and marinated the meat in cumin, garlic olive oil and lemon. I fried it up with onions and mushrooms before throwing this and all the juices together with chopped apricots, raisins and herbs in couscous. Total yum on a windy evening. Another night down and another day well on. 1124 miles still to run but lots behind us now. We are all finding it a bit arduous and longing for a cool beer on a stable floor. We are still running a dry boat. If the winds hold we should be making land fall Saturday week or even a week today - a little longer if the trades moderate. All on board in good spirits. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 09.12.06 What a day a day makes. The seas moderated at the beginning of last night and the frequency of the vicious cross seas diminished. Accordingly we all had a much better night's sleeps and a good run through a quietening night. Even so we made 166 nmiles in the 24 hours to 09:00 UTC at an average speed of 6.92 knots/hr. Last night was a night of stars. Brilliant in intensity, majestic in their slow progression before the rising of a near half moon dimmed those around it. I was fortunate enough to be on watch twice last night and saw both the rising of the moon and later the sun out of a dawning new day. As the moon rose directly in our wake to the east it created a silvery road leading all the way back to the coast of Africa 2000 miles away. As the night wore on the moon arched directly above us shining through the hatches to light each cabin in turn. So bright was its brilliance you could read a clock face easily as its dancing beams bounced off the bulkheads and floor. As dawn broke the moon was still in near full ascendancy racing us to the west, lofty and isolated in its vacuous space, cool and remote. Yet as the skyline to the east turned from palest yellow to a warmer glow the rising sun cast pinks and violets forward onto the moistly haze of nascent clouds to the west. As the sun grew in strength it reached higher and higher till it caught the moon and drew it down from the heavens to hold it in the growing day amongst the forming clouds. Quite a catch! With the dawn the winds dropped further and we got out the cruising chute for an exhilarating couple of hours before we broke a block and brought it down to service. We are back to running on poled out genoa and stay sail but still making over 6.5 knots in moderate winds. We have had VHF chats with boats close to us including Swift and Intemperance. Nice to have some company. Last night I cooked a truly delicious Thai chicken and prawn red curry that met with great approval with not so much as a smear left from a massive great bowl. Having the right ingredients is so important and the lime leaves from the UK and fresh ginger really made it. Chris is making bread again and we are looking forward to that for afternoon tea. We have now crossed the two thirds marker with only 945 milles to go. ONLY 945! That's as far as Newhaven to Lagos or 20 cross channel crossings! OK we still have a HUGE 945 nmiles to go but the numbers are getting smaller now. I achieved a personal best last night so I'm feeling smug today. I smashed through the 15 minute barrier for the slowest eat of a Snickers bar. Doesn't get better than that. All on board feeling refreshed and positive about an arrival on St Lucia next weekend, maybe earlier if the winds hold. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 10.12.06 A gentle night in moderate airs sailing along in a lessened swell at 5.6 knots - just above our target speed at any one time of 5.5knots. We are well up on this on average and thus on our original estimated time of arrival. Unless the winds really die down we should be arriving on St Lucia on Saturday. We have 824 nmiles still to run. We have just spent the second successive morning trying to get the cruising chute to work properly to get the best out of the light airs. Nothing wrong with the sail itself - but the snuffer system is proving to be a nightmare. Basically it takes every opportunity to twist its entrails around the sail either going up or coming down making the flying of the sail untenable. We cannot risk being caught with it up in a squall or even a rising wind if we cannot get it down quickly. We had to dump it this morning when things got too lively. It is particularly disappointing for Graham who loves speed. I'm none too pleased either because I paid to get it fixed. I had discussed the same problem from our experiences with the snuffer when doing the Rally Portugal with a sail maker in Las Palmas. He made modifcations to the snuffer and I had a new fixing welded to the stemhead fitting - but all to no avail. I'll need to look afresh at the issue when we get to Rodney Bay. We have been in true picture book trade wind sailing conditions for the past few days. At night and day the serried ranks of cumulus clouds align in parallel columns above us stretching as far as the eye can see fore and aft. They tower above us like ships of a high seas fleet. Sometimes they are small and fluffy other times tall and ponderous portending rain. They take on shifting personalities as they change shape and aspect to us. Some are cute like Disney animals, some look like cartoon cars - one was a dead spit of a Nissan Micra - and sometimes like strange exotic creatures resembling dragons or mythical sea serpents. At dawn the clouds are solid, grey against a yellowing sky. As the sun gets up they become suffused with pinks and apricots, soft and vapourous. With full light they take on a steamy whiteness, brilliant against an azure zenith. At dusk they process is reversed until they blend invisible into the darkening sky. As the moon rises they spring to form again - dark bases, flat and solid. Great black sails like those of Theseus's ship as he set off to take on the Minotaur. As the moon rises their tops become silvered in brilliant white light till they glow magnesium white hung in an inky black firmament. Day or night the clouds area constant ever changing source of delight and interest to speed our passage. Last night Chris cooked us rump steak in red wine (nothing drunk) with fried onions and fresh vegetables followed by a fresh fruit salad - very tasty. Our stores of fresh food have lasted very well. The white cabbage and green apples have proved to be remarkably resilient. We are settling into another day of sloshing about in this perpetual swell as the wind rises again and we are trotting along at 6.5 knots on our reliable rig of poled out genoa and stay sail goose winging on an easterly breeze. All on board in good health and fine spirits but wishing the days away now. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 11.12.06 Over three quarters of the passage completed! We went through this psychologically important waypoint last night. As I write we have 678 nmiles to go. The winds have moderated to give easy Force 4 -5 sailing in a sloppy swell of just some 6-8 feet. We still get the viscous cross swells that must be plaguing everyone but these are down to 1 in 30 or so waves rather than every other one. Even in these lighter winds we have averaged 6.2 knots keeping us on schedule for a Saturday arrival. Graham is anxious to try the modifications he made to the cruising chute snuffer. He has rigged it the same way as on his own boat Amiee with all the snuffer lines running outside of the bag. He has taken out the smaller snuffer lifting lines and replaced the small double block with one of our large spare blocks. Looks good and makes sense. We had all sorts of 'fun' getting the sail out of the snuffer for this to happen and even more getting the sail repacked back into it. We achieved this the way I did it on Rally Portugal by stretching out the sails down below the whole length of the boat. It took three of us the best part of an hour to get it all together again as we wrestled away in the heat and the swell. Imagine trying to re-install the entrails of a 25 metre eel that is very much alive and not enjoying your attentions and you get some idea of what a struggle it was. We were all dripping with sweat and feeling groggy from the swell by the time all was flaked away. Last night we had an unusual log entry - 'observed much cosmic activity'. Shooting stars were dropping out of the sky at regular intervals from the zenith streaking down to the west. The largest showers were seen between 12:00-02:00 UTC and again around 06:00. Talking of unusual log entries - we have one for Thursday 23rd November 13.14 UTC. It was so remarkable that even though we were not at sea it warranted an account. 'First ever sighting of a Spaniard in a hurry'. Had it not been for the fact that three of us were able to confirm disbelieving eyes we would have dismissed it as pre-ARC nerves. But no, it was true. Coming down the escalators in El Corte Ingles in Las Plamas this young Spanish male shop assistant rushed past us and disappeared into the lunch time crowd. Like a squall it was all over before we knew what had hit us. We were not reefed properly and we were left somewhat buffeted by the experience. Last night to James's huge disappointment he caught a fish on the line. It ran out masses of line and bent the rod right down. It was still dark and our cast iron rule is 'no one leaves the cockpit at night unless with double safety lines on and another member of crew on hand to help'. I had just gone off watch and James didn't want to disturb me. The fish hung on till just 30 minutes before the next watch change and then - got away! The only sign of it were teeth marks on the lure. The line is out again but we have only had strikes at late dusk or early dawn so we do not expect to get anything again till at least tonight. I cooked us beef (diced rump steak) in a rich roasted red pimento, Madeira wine and black olive sauce on farfalle pasta with fresh sliced green beans from the freezer. Another winner. We made a fresh fruit salad or apples and oranges and nibbled Chris's excellent flapjacks for desert. We are well into our last Monday at sea. The sun is hot, the winds favourable out of the east/north east, boat and all aboard in good shape -I guess we'll carry on. Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 12.12.06 Wow - what a 24hours we have had! More action, more concern and more thrill, more learning than the rest of the trip put together. As I write we are dodging rain showers and squalls in fitful winds that build and die, veer and back. This morning at 10:40 UTC James and I had an impromptu shower on deck courtesy of a massive downpour that had the scuppers running with fresh rain water. The skill is to judge when to get soaped up before the shower runs dry again or else you are left with an itchy day ahead. Yesterday evening as the winds moderated Graham had his chance to try out his modifications to the cruising chute snuffer. Great improvement. He is to be congratulated on this. It went up and came down again very well. Although not perfect it is serviceable and his modifications were very timely. At 18:00 UTC we flew the chute, and coupled with the poled out genoa, were able to achieve a steady 6 knots even in lights airs. We kept this rig flying right through the night till about 07:30 (still dark in these latitudes at this time). It takes a very high degree of concentration to keep this huge sail powered in fickle winds so that it does not collapse on itself as the wind shifts, which it did constantly. It was a long night with little sleep as we each took turns at the helm. We brought it down when we saw our first real squall coming up at us out of the dark. I tried out the radar on the squalls. Remarkable. They show so clearly as yellow and blue swathes on the screen. We have a MARPA facility that means we can 'acquire a target' and track its speed, bearing and whether it will close with us, and if so when. We have only used this for shipping previously - but it works just as well for squalls. From the radar it was clear Kittiwake was running between two columns of squalls six miles apart. We were right in the middle of a corridor. The morning broke and it was easy to see the next wave of showers and squalls that provided entertaining sport and huge exhilaration. My concern related to the water maker. As the seas settled yesterday afternoon I tried again to get it to work. It did so brilliantly pumping out at a rate of 55 l/hour. The lack of heal meant there was no air getting into the system and things were looking good. I took a break from nursing it to have a wash and within 4 minutes James was banging on the aft heads door saying we had smoke in the aft compartment. Sure enough there was a thin haze smelling of electrical burning. We immediately switched the unit off and investigated. It turned out to be a faulty capacitor. I discussed this with Seafresh the manufacturers by satellite phone who confirmed the problem. There was nothing we can do to rectify this ourselves as we do not carry spares of this specialist type. The advice was to put up with the smell and turn the pump pressure down a tadge. Advice we ignored as plain stupid and dangerous. A closer look showed the capacitor had already scorched and was likely to catch fire. This would have been disastrous. James again showed his innate capacity to identify a potential crisis and deal with it appropriately. Needless to say we will not be bothering with the water maker again this trip. Seafresh will replace the parts on warranty in St Lucia but this is little compensation for a large outlay that has consistently failed to deliver what it was supposed to. Now for a little on Daemons. Not till last night did I realise Kittiwake has one. Those of you who know Philip Pulman's trilogy starting with 'Northern Lights' will know that Lyra has a daemon called Pantelemon (forgive the spelling if wrong, it has been a while since I read it). Her daemon is her alter ego, friend and inner self. In the National Theatre stage production of the trilogy, 'His Dark Materials', the daemons are portrayed as silk puppets that accompany the person wherever they go. Last night the cruising chute was for all the world like Kittiwake's daemon. Silk-like, ephemeral, skittish, powerful, provocative and omnipresent. It hung off our port bow, huge in the dark drawing us forward, flying free high above and beyond the guard rails but like a true daemon inseparable going only where Kittiwake goes. Chris cooked us a tasty spiced pork fillet in onions and tomato with rice for dinner as a prelude to the night's challenges so we were well set up. We have 542 nmiles to run now and we are still on track for a Saturday landfall so long as the wind holds. All on board well and in good spirits not despite the set backs and challenges but because of them! Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 13.12.06 A gentle tropical night - velvet black, warm, misty-moistly, all embracing. The stars loomed so bright and clear above a low haze. A weak moon arrived late to give substance to the trade wind clouds keeping silent station above. It would have been perfect but for the steady, but reassuring, drone of the engine. The wind had dropped in the evening. In spite of moving the pole and genoa over to port and resetting the cruising chute to starboard there was only sufficient ESE wind to ghost along until the breeze gave out. As night gathered we resigned ourselves to the engine. We caught a small breeze from the ENE mid watch and put up the genoa and stay sail to assist the engine that was then throttled back. Dawn broke over a wonderful scene. It is beautiful out here. This morning the wind is picking up a little. The sun is already blazing hot. As I write the team are resetting the pole from port to starboard. With the wind now in the ENE we hope that by doing this, and flying the chute to port, it will give us enough way to do without the engine. This task is not simple. It involves releasing the genoa sheet and rolling the sail away using the self furling line. The stay sail is similarly stowed. That leaves the pole to be brought down. This is tricky in a sloppy swell. First the preventer stay and the down haul are slackened. The uphaul is raised slightly and then the pole track slide loop on the mast is pulled up to raise the car that carries the slide that holds the inner end of the pole to a track in the mast. As this goes up the tension on the uphaul is gradually relaxed so the pole's outward end can be swung inboard and the end lowered to the deck. At this point the genoa sheet, preventer and down haul sheets are removed from the end of the pole and made good by clipping them to the points along the base of the guard rail. The up haul is then raised a little as the pole man guides the outward end of the pole, now vertical, into its ring at the base of the mast to lock it safely down. The reverse process is now put in place to raise and position the second pole to starboard. The pole is then ready to fly the genoa again and reset the staysail. This leaves the port side clear to raise the cruising chute. This is an enormous sail kept in a bag in the forward cabin. It is brought up head first through the hatch and a halyard attached to raise it to the top of the mast. At this stage it is still in its snuffer - a huge red tube like sleeve that goes from deck to mast top level 18m up. The tack (front foot) of the sail is attached to the ring bolt in the stem head fitting beyond the anchor roller. The clew, or trailing end of the foot of the chute, is secured to a sheet that comes all the way back to a block at the stern of the boat and then forward to a cockpit winch. When ready the snuffer man hauls on the uphaul that raises the horn of the foot of the snuffer right the way to the top of the sail. As it does so the wind begins to fill the chute and it billows out and sets. The snuffer lines are secured to hold the horn above the sail and the sheet is trimmed to get the best performance out the rig. It is an impressive sight. Red, blue, and white segments of a huge half balloon flying 2 metres up and beyond the deck soaring 18 metres high. Kittiwake's daemon is present again speeding us onwards. The lads have done a great job. All beautifully set and sailing along in light airs at 5knots over the ground. The engine is off. Peace resumes and we are a yacht again! The business of the above involves three people - one in the cockpit and two on the deck, 18 different lines and five winches and serious concentration and coordination. It is very easy to get lines twisted or to get the line if a sheet set beneath a guard rail when it should be above. If this happens the line will chafe so it has to be reset and this can involve getting the whole pole assembly and its rig down again on deck to sort it. This time the lads did it perfectly first time. Last night I cooked goujons of rump steak marinated in soya and worchestershire sauces, garlic and cracked black pepper. The goujons were pan fried in hot oil in small batches so they seared, and carmalised while staying pink in side. These were put to one side while a creamy mushroom and red roasted pimento sauce was prepared for the rigatoni pasta. The goujons were returned to the pan for a final flourish before being served on top of the pasta and sauce with fresh white cabbage and spinach, from the freezer. Fresh and dried fruit to round off. We have been keeping yacht time to UTC (UK time) to enjoy late light 'Scandanavian summer' evenings and a late dark 'Scandanavian winter' mornings. We Timelords decree this because we prefer this to it getting dark at about six o'clock in the evening. It also means we will have four hours spare on the day we arrive to get in during day light if needed. All doing well and in good spirits and still on track for a Saturday arrival. Mark All in fine spirits Subject: Log Kittiwake 14.12.06 Cruising chute up to port, stay sail to port and genoa poled out to starboard doing between 5 and 6 knots in light airs over a beautiful seascape of glinting light and towering clouds. 293 nmiles to go. We wish we had a little more wind to speed us over the final stages. It is very frustrating bobbing along quietly out here when we could be enjoying a rum punch or even a long beer. We have stuck to our 'dry boat' status. Annoyingly none of us feel any better for the abstinence. We have been drinking 'Bavaria sin alcohol' beer. Sounds like a perfect recipe for a fine time doesn't it? What an advertising line! But as 'sin' means without in Spanish it rather oversells the appeal and under whelms the senses. Last night we were surprised to encounter a freighter outward bound from the Windward Islands given her reciprocal course to us. We saw the lights first and confirmed her course using MARPA on the radar. She passed 3.6 nmiles to starboard doing 15 knots. Shortly thereafter we saw another ship's lights but this was well off and it soon disappeared from view. It just emphasises yet again how vital constant vigilance is on long night watches hundreds if not thousands of miles from anywhere. Constant boat checks and a skipper's ear for unusual or unexplained noises is also key. I came up on watch a couple of nights ago to hear a faint clinking coming from the aft rail. I immediately went to investigate. Just as well - the bolt holding the brace to the pole that supports the wind generator and satellite phone mast was about to drop off! A quick turn with a spanner and all was well - but it could have been a different story. James and I have just had a real good work out pumping fuel from our reserve tank into the main tank. The pump is a manual one situated in the engine room. As the engine had been running for part of the night, to make good our speed in light airs, the compartment is like an oven. We took turns pumping over 190 litres. We were both running with sweat and looking like stokers on a steam ship when we emerged onto the deck for a well deserved bout of fresh air and fruit. We have enough fuel in our tanks to motor all the way in with plenty to spare but we still prefer to sail while the winds hold. Now a little about weather report areas. Just as we have the shipping forecast sea areas around the UK so too does the Atlantic - but the areas are vast. The areas are all called after girl's names. The first we went down is called Yasmin. She runs down from the Canaries to the Cape Verde islands. As we turned right we passed into Ellie and then Kate. We are now on the very southern edge of Olga. These areas are vast, some 10,000 square miles or so of ocean. Soon we will pass just to the south of Tess ending up into the northern edge of Sue. Tess and Sue are much smaller covering respectively the Leeward and Windward island groups and their surrounds. The ARC weather reports have been very good for the most part and I can now pick up reports from Florida for our areas on the Navtex. Last night we brought forward Friday night- we Kittiwake Timelords are quite adept at this - to make it curry night! The lamb had decided to defrost so it was good to use it. I prepared a lamb tikka chana sag - succulent lamb pieces cut from the bone, marinated in copious amounts of fresh ginger, garlic, lemon zest and my mix of spices. This was flash fried with onions and more spices to give a rich gravy to which tomoato and chick peas were added and finally spinach to just warm through. We had this with hot pan charred chappattis and good old Patak's hot lime pickle. Gorgeous - not a scrap left. Chris had baked some fresh scones so we had these with home made damson jam (courtesy of Julia, Chris's wife) for desert. We were well stuffed. Pity the beer was sin alcohol. No substitute for Kingfisher. We are counting the hours down and Chris is calculating and re-calculating our ETA depending on 5 knots, 5.5 knots and 6 knots etc etc. All in all it looks like an arrival on Saturday afternoon or later that night. All on board in good shape and spirits except that James is thoroughly fed up with fish biting through his metal traces and escaping. We all live in hope for a yellow fin tuna on the line. I have the wasabi, pickled ginger and soya sauce all ready for sashimi! Mark Subject: Log Kittiwake 15.12.06 A wet, wet, wet morning. If it were not for the 25c, the grey, the slop and the chop would make you think we were in the English Channel. Rain coming down in sheets from huge rain clouds - scuppers awash, wash boards in place, hatches closed, Graham cooking us all porridge. In fact the analogy with the English Channel is quite apt as we now have a distance to run close to that of Newhaven to Plymouth. 144nmiles to St Lucia with Barbados only some 100 nmiles to the south west. We are on track for a Saturday morning arrival and we should be tied-up in time for lunch local time. We are pressing on with a combination of just sails when the wind blows strongly, which it did for most of last night, and motor-sailing when it drops. We will press on like this regardless because it will give Graham and Chris another day to explore St Lucia before they fly back next week to another world of Christmas trees and last minute shopping. All being well this will be my last daily log while at sea. We have had a wonderful time. Good sailing, good companionship and good food all the way. The experience has been close to my expectations of being routine 90 percent of the time, exhilarating 10 percent of the time and uncomfortable all of the time. The best bits have been surfing down 10 foot swells in 30 knots of wind and screaming out loud with the joy of being alive standing half naked in a rain shower as the cool fresh water cascades upon you. The quiet evenings have been special with the wind light and the swells low, talking or singing shanties to entertain ourselves as the sun sets to the west and suffuses the cockpit in a rosy glow. We have certainly eaten well and this has been a real plus. The quality of the food from El Corte Ingles has been consistently excellent and the meat stayed fresh all the way. We had the last of the fresh greens yesterday and we still have onions, garlic, ginger and fruit hanging from the netting in good shape. The worst bit has been the swell - constant heaving and jerking, rolling and pitching, sometimes regular but often quite random and occasionally viscous. It can catch you off guard at any moment even in periods of low activity. It makes it impossible to really relax and doing even the simplest of tasks is made irksome. For example just checking the engine oil in a hot engine room being bounced around with no visual reference point leaves you feeling exhausted after a few minutes. The sailing has been undemanding most of the time and always well within the capacity of the boat. I have deliberately chosen not to push the rig and drive on too hard. Two thousand nine hundred miles is a long way by any standards - and I plan several months of Caribbean cruising early next year and then the return trip of some three thousand more miles. Conservation and safety is more important that arriving a day or two earlier. My first and indeed only goals has been to arrive safely and to have travelled enjoyably. This brings me to you. Thank you all of you who have shown such interest in our endeavours and who have been kind enough to send us e-mails and wish us well. We have all valued this enormously. My special thanks to those of you who have been so generous and indeed courageous in allowing us to fulfil a dream. I am thinking specifically of wives, parents and grandparents who have had to endure three weeks of uncertainty and had the really hard job of worrying while being powerless to influence events. This must have been particularly hard as news of de-masting, rig failures, rudder loss, man over board and mental breakdowns have taken their toll of the fleet. You have also had to cope with matters at home without the usual support. We are very mindful of this and we are very grateful. I think we all new before we set off that the mental challenge would be the hardest. We knew we had a well founded boat, experienced crew with complementary strengths in depth and excellent support from the World Cruising Club - but it is along way. There is no getting off, no getting out of the situation, no going back. The only option is to cope and carry on. In this is the challenge and the satisfaction. But be in no doubt we have all had to confront our own demons in the night and conquer them. In this is the challenge and the satisfaction. My demon came unbidden on the second night. A beautiful night easy sailing and no surface worries - and just as you think this is wonderful a great sense of something like claustrophobia swept over. It was like being trapped in a lift or on a crowded tube. The sudden pressing realisation that you cannot get off or out! The moment passes but not without real mental aggression to subsume the feeling. It never completely goes away but you MAKE it manageable. You HAVE to. It is in this context that we express our deepest empathy and heartfelt wishes to those few who were not able to conquer their demons and to the crew, friends and family of those affected. We more than many understand how terrible that must have been and we wish all a speedy recovery and a return to the joy of sailing. I marvel at the ease with which others in the fleet seem to cope - particularly the Norwegian boat with four children on board, three under seven years old. We are four strapping fit blokes that can all cook and sail. Managing a family while doing all of this is nothing short of remarkable. Finally my thanks to my super team. They have been great. Each has brought their own special dimension. Graham for his sailing skills, sail repair and washing up. Chris for his fresh bread and scones and his inexhaustible capacity to entertain. James for his intuitive sense of danger and instinctive responses that are always right. Each too has been generous in wrapping round, supporting each other and being the truly super people they are. Not one cross word, not one unselfish act, not one moment when they were not supportive and understanding of my needs as skipper. There have been occasional differences of opinion on what exact course or sail to set but never anything that was not talked through and agreed. Am I surprised? Not really. I chose them all knowing them to be the great people they are. We are now on the home run. One night to go and a dawn approach through the St Lucia channel south of Martinique and then a quick run down the north west coast of St Lucia to Rodney Bay. The sun is out again, the rain dispelled and we are in fine spirits and good health. Thank you for putting up with my ramblings. I hope they have given you something of an insight into life aboard Kittiwake as she completes the longest stage of her Atlantic Islands Adventure. See ( www.kittiwake-Atlantic.net) for the story so far and what is still in store. Mark | ||||||||||
 HOME | ||||||||||