Some squalls in the night brought about cockpit action, otherwise calm….and little wind.  The daily distances are mediocre, in fact they are too short.  We have a deadline 2 weeks from now when Magnus’ flight home is scheduled and from now on we need to make a mean 5 knots (!) Too be contemplated at breakfast this morning.

In the afternoon we fish and we get a catch.  Magnus is fishing responsible and all of a sudden the roller starts to make a noise. The line is being pulled and there is a ratchet sound..  Action! …and what skipper believes is a “goldmakerell”, about a kilo and a half is brought on board.  Quite perfect since Hans is making fish soup for dinner (!!)

In late afternoon the wind finally picks up a bit, 6-7 knots which gets us moving just a bit, 3-4 knots, slowly increasing. 

Hans’ fish soup is a success.  He has also baked some bread.  Very good indeed.

Not the best night, sleep wise.  No squalls, however, and we are in good shape for aggressive sailing in the morning. Spinnaker up.  After a while we realize that we may have a better going with the bigger gennaker…sail gymnastics again, only to realize that to get a really good going we have to aim for Halifax on the starboard tack and east (!) on the port….back to spinnaker with pole on the port side. Somewhere here we had breakfast, again with freshly baked bread,,,,, So, in the afternoon we head about 250 degrees which is a bit south of where we are going. We believe (hope) that perhaps the trade winds are further south (?) The weather forecast, however, indicates similar conditions all over this area of the Atlantic ocean.  American pancakes in the cockpit for lunch, Sanna again, easy going sailing has its merits.

Wind is really poor and the spinnaker is flopping this way and that with the swells.  So make 2-3 knots and that is not good enough. Hot day.  We pour bucket of sea water on top of our heads and then we rinse off with a bit of fresh water.  Refreshing for some time.

Simon makes his debut as a chef this evening.  Hamburgers + oven baked pommes stripes + beer.  Magnificent!  Our clocks are on GMT in the boat while we, ourselves, are “on the sun”.  So we have “late” breakfast a bit after sunrise and “late” dinners just a bit after sun down.  Since we are, today, at 31 degrees west the discrepancy should be about 2 hours.

At 4 o’clock in the morning we have our first squall !  A dark wall looms over us from the north, stars disappear and rain is in the air.  Wind picks up.  Time to get the gennaker down and this is executed with a bit of drama.  The snuffer takes a really hard pull to perform in strong wind.  We summon Stefan who just went off watch and Magnus who was sound asleep, to get up and out into the rain.  After 20 minutes it was over, stars reappear…but we set the genua for the rest of the night for the sake of good sleep….and we actually make 4-5  knots.

The wind is really poor, 6-8 knots and we do not make lot of headway.  It takes a lot of sail gymnastics; spinnaker up, spinnaker down, gennaker up.  In the afternoon we see a two-master just up ahead, the AIS says it is Lady Annabelle whom we know.  We do our best to find a groove to reach her but she sets of down-wind with good speed.  We suspect motoring.  Motoring is not prohibited in the cruising class, but there is a 1.34 time factor penalty.  So far we have refrained. Sanna makes chicken masala, which we eat inside where it is cool; the sun is relentless these days with very poor wind.  In the evening we settle for twin head sails, “winged”, that is the genua to the wind poled out with the spinnaker boom and the cutter headsail to the lee side.  All night we hobble along at a miserable 2-3 knots rolling wildly with the swell.

The night has been calm, too calm, and we are making 3-4 knots in disappearing wind in the morning.  Something needs to be done.  So we set the spinnaker.  This time we put a block at the outer end of the pole to lead the guy.  This way there should be no chafe and we make 5-6 knots.  We decide to set course along the great circle route and steer 272 degree.  Straight line and great circle navigation is confusing: We now steer north of west to go south (?)  We have approximately 2000  miles to go, we have done one third of the mileage in 5 days.

The wind fades down to 10-12 knots and speed is down too, again something needs to be done….so we hoist the gennaker.  210 square metter is 50% larger than the spinnaker and with the right angle we get going. All of a sudden we re making 8-9 knots in 10-12 knot wind, amazing (!!) and we are on the right track, too.  St.Lucia here we come!

So this should be the essence of trade wind sailing: A downwind sail up, the pressure in the sails counteract the swells so it is perfectly stable, a bit heeled over…and we are making very good speed.  Could not be better.

We have “äggakaka”for dinner. It is a sort of pancake made by Stefan on a recipe from his great grandmother + bacon + berries; extremely palatable and this evening we do not loose a single beer (!)  Every person is allotted one beer per day and we count this  not as alcohol but  “meal drink” . 

The watches has been set.  We go three shift and 4 hours each shift.  Every two hours a new crew comes up. Between twelve noon and two o’clock nobody is a formal watch and then we start again at two. This way the watches are pushed 2 hours forward every day so nobody has the “dog’s watch” every night.  After 4-5 days we shift so that everybody gets to sail with everybody else.  Works fine!

We wake to a gorgeous sunrise; with a free horizon in the east we suddenly see a yellow hump which increases and all of a sudden the entire ball rests on the sea.  Surprisingly quick.

Magnus has voluntarily accepted the role of bread master.  He sets a dough in the evening and bakes it in the morning so that there is fresh bread for breakfast (!!)  Nothing ups the senses at sea as freshly baked bread.  Magnus says he will do this every  morning (?!)

Over the day we investigate the power system.  The generator is dead.  It stopped as if turned off manually; a slow deceleration.  However, nothing happens when we try to start it again so there is no power.  Why? We don’t know. 

So we power the boat using the main engine.  Using the prompt set by the Raymarine nav.system’s complaint about too low voltage, we start up.  Running the engine 3 hours keeps us going for at least 12 hours, which is quite encouraging.  We should be able to get the St. Lucia with enough power.  Stefan has done a terrific job over the day controlling all batteries. This involves getting underneath a forward battery pack below the bunks in the forecastle, which is crammed with sails and stuff.  The aft battery pack sits below all our stores food stuff.  Stefan got over heated in the process but the batteries did not, i.e. they seem all OK.  He calls a friend on the sat.phone and we learn that low voltage when charging the main battery bank depends on a gigantic bank  (?750 Ah): “like filling a black hole”.  So we have a sound main engine, sound batteries but a faulty generator.  This is not good but much better than it could have been.

We have shut off the freezer for power economizing.  So we concentrate on eating the frozen and vacuum packed meat here.  We figure it will be OK for a week or so and then we will start with the cans.  Today we have entrecote, fried onions and potatoes.  Dinner, after dark in the main cabin, is chaotic due to rolling:  We loose three (3 !!) beers on the floor !!

It has been a good, albeit “unbalanced”, day.

We start to find our ways in dire bucking conditions.  Sleep is reasonably good for everybody, although probably because we are exhausted.  Very hard to relax and one needs to brace the torso constantly to keep balance.  Despite excellent eating we “think” we loose weight (?)

Hans is our “pumpmaster”.  We have shut off the automatic pumps in order to count the number of manual pumps strokes every day.  This is a way to keep track of how tight the hull is and that there is no leakage at the prop. shaft, rudder shaft, through-hull fittings, etc.  Today we had to pump > 200 strokes in both forward and aft pumps (!)  This is too much! Where does all this water come from?  Prop.shaft is tight, rudder axis is only dripping.

The generator does not build up a lot of voltage and we have to run it 5-6 hours every  day.  The prompt is when the navigation system complains about too low voltage.  In the evening the generator stops after an hour.  Immediate inspection shows that there is a leakage at the impeller house.  When the motor is running there is probably a spout of water coming in this way.  So, one problem solved (too much water in the boat) but another one acquired (no generator).  Did the generator stop because of no diesel or because it was “drowned” in water spray inside the casing? We will see tomorrow……

Meanwhile we run the big engine.  With two generators, it loads 100 Amp into the electrical system.  This is more than the generator, so we should be in good shape.  Only downside is more diesel consumption….but we’ve got lots of that.

We have had our initial attempts at playing music.  Sanna’s harmonica and Leif’s guitar make appearances.  Manoeuvring a guitar in rolling seas is no mean feat so the big band will have to await smoother conditions.

In the morning, after a good breakfast which we lay on the “kitchen island” for everyone to serve him-/herself, the wind settles a bit and we try the spinnaker.  This is a rather small thing with very thin shoulders, not bad for a first attempt in these conditions.  It works nicely.  The boat is well balanced and we can go perpendicular to the waves.   It is pretty dramatic a sailing for us, beginners in ocean trade-wind sailing.  After 3 hours the windward guy snaps,  again worn through at the end of the pole despite a stop knot to prevent chafe (!!)  With the snuffer we can bring it down good enough and dump it in the hold.   Back to genua sailing we go, and no main sail; so we were a bit unnerved by this attempt at racing.  This is comfortable and as long at the winds keeps up we make good speed., 181 miles during the last 24 hours.  We tend to cook one big meal a day and top off with snacks, coffee etc.  Today we make chicken + pesto pasta and it never tastes better than at large. Sanna makes a wonderful fruit salad desert since some of the fruits have been bruised by rough handling when one of the anchor points for our fruit nets came down; the entire wooden profile loosened.  These are conditions that test also the boat.

……and at 6 o’clock in the morning the genua sheet snapped, chafed off by the pole fixing.  An hour of physical struggle ensued until we got the twisted genua back where it should be.  Puh….and we haven’t been out 24 hours yet.  Every single task is done at the greatest effort because the physical constraints of out little society bucks like wild, up, down, this way and that way.  The wind is so strong, 25-25 knots, that we make good speed with the reefed mainsail only, and we let it stay that way.  We want to go south and we want to go west, we do both after a couple of jibes.  Sanna cooks us a marvellous chicken, rice and spiced casserole.  It is a question of getting used to these ultra strange conditions.  It will take same days.  The really good thing is the weather: 25 degrees warm even at night time and the sun is not, yet, too sharp.  We need to go 10 degrees further south and then west.

Today is the day..  Everybody is still asleep and skipper can overview the situation in good order.  The status of the ship is good.  We have come to a point where everything has actually been done.  All our food is on board – and that is no mean feat.  In the pilot house stand six 1,5 litre bottles with our name on.  These will be drunk and refilled every day so that we make sure we drink a fair amount of water.  Simon, who is our “hydration controller” we see to it that this is done.

 Every night there were parties, “sundowner drinks” etc…..and we have not participated.  There were too much to do and probably, one week of preparation is a minimum.  We could have had two and been able to move forward at a lesser pace.  Anyway, this way our dinners together have formed a strong team that know each other.  Team building is probably the most important single factor to make this successful.  …and we will join the parties over on the other side, when it is a done deal (knock-on-wood).

 We have different responsibilities.  Simon, as said, sees to it that we do not dehydrate, Sanna will do the plotting on the chart and run a parallel dead reckoning, Magnus will provide us with fresh fish (?), Hans checks the pumps every morning and night to se that we have no leaks,  Stefan will do a rigging security check-up every morning and night and Leif, finally, will  tend to the sun and the stars (astronomical navigation).  This way everybody has a personal responsibility for the group.

 Well, over-and-out from Aquaryd.  No more entries until we arrive at St. Lucia. Do wish us good luck !

Oh, what a show……There is activity everywhere.  Sun is up and there is wind in the air. Last minute preparations, filling up water tanks, buying the last minute bread to last us a couple of days at least…..Personally, skipper tended to some last minute administrations on the computer, hooked up at club Varadero.

At 11.00 we left the berth.  Gigantic loud speakers played opera music: “Farwell…sail well…” I do not know who sang.  Outside the harbour there were, of course, hundreds of boats going this way and that.  80-footers were mixed with boats one third of their size – and speed.  The ARC organisation had managed to have a local coast guard vessel, a rather gigantic grey navy like ship, as start vessel; we were supposed to pass close by outside this ship when passing the start line.  This we did at 1303, we thought that a dead on start was not necessary considering a close to three week’s race.

Weather forecast told of a north-easter, 15 knots at start and increasing the 30-35 knots at the “accelerations zone” close to the airport.  The high islands spread the wind so that there is a wind increase at the sides and relative calm leeward.  Especially south of Teneriffe there is a 100 nm long calm zone.  So we speeded southwards with a reefed mainsail and a reefed big genua.  Wind in the back is not so good.  Sails are not effective and the genua tends to be hidden behind the mainsail.  Since we want to go exactly in the direction of the wind we hobble long first on a port “tack” and then, in order not to collide with Africa on a starboard tack. In an attempt at stabilizing the genua we put it on a pole, first in the winged position (sails out on different sides) but the we jibe the mainsail with both sail on the same side…….

Saturday morning the day before departure….(!!)  Despite this has been in the planning for a long, long time there are still bits and pieces that need to be dealt with….and some won’t probably be done when we must leave.  This is the nature of dead-lines.  A good thing about them, though, is that when they have passed you can relax: Nothing more can be done.  Skipper is starting to covet this point in time….

Today, we will sneak over to the diesel pontoon and “fill her up”.  It is always good not to be low on motor power, not that we will motor across but we need to run the generator every day.  Today, also, meat and fruits/vegetables will arrive.  The meat arrived vacuum packed and frozen and will be dumped directly into out freezer not to be opened for some days (?) This lowers power consumption, which is always an issue.

Provisions arrived today, the first part.  18 crates of food stuff + 360 litres of drinking waters in the shape of 8 litre still water, 150 1,5 l of agua con gaz…and some beer.  All this stuff , by some magic provided by Sanna and Simon, disappeared in the holds, beneath floor boards, behind back rests, in cupboards and God knows where, but it does disappear.  Not before, however, every bit of card board, carton and paper is discrded.  They may hold cochroach eggs and we do not want them on board.  All items are instead marked for content directly on the tins/jars etc.  The final difference is that we have to hoist the gang board some inches; we are floating lower in the water.

Skipper and Magnus attended seminar “astronomical navigation” and found that it is not all that hard.  Can be mastered but we need to know the sun’s declination at 1400 hour on November 25^th…(?) in other words: We need astronomical tables.  These are not at all to be found locally, and a very nice Swedish speaking guy in the local Volvo Penta dealer tried to telephone some friends but to no avail: The book is not to be found in Las Palmas.  We will have to try to borrow a copy and make copies.

What clothes does one wear.  At the seminar they told us “protection” at all costs.  Long sleeves, hats, trousers etc.  So today Stefan and Skipper took the car to El Corte Inglese and invested in 2 shirts each, white, button-down collars and long sleeves.  These should be airy enough not to suffocate us but will provide shadows,     

We find that the days pass extremely fast.  There is so much to do, little things which are no big deal separately but when accumulating before a dead-line it gets to be quite a lot.  Today, the forward oo has finally been brought to submission.  Wonderful job by Hans. The port steering light has also been fixed.  There was a short due to oxidised cables and connections and now we have changes all that.  Perfect job by Stefan (!)

We have been provided with a “tracker”, a GPS device that on a continuous basis sends out our position to the satellites.  These data can be accessed through the app YB3 that can be downloaded.  Choose “ARC 2015” (that is purchase for a small sum of money) and you can follow all the boats (and search individual ones).

On Sunday, November 15^th, skipper returned to Las Palmas and the boat.  There are 7 more days before the departure.  As expected there are a number of things to do.  Hans has stayed down here during these last two weeks and he has fixed a lot of things.  The spray hood is very neatly fixed, the pulpit has been welded and arrangements have been made to have a canvas cover over the companionway and an upper half made in plexiglas.   Other things remain.  First and foremost we must get the front toilet in prime shape. 

BabyBlake is supposedly the best marine toilet in the world, it is certainly the most expensive by a huge margin.  It needs, however, a lot of tender loving care and if not it goes berserk.  In our case this involves spraying black water on one’s legs while flushing and this is a no-no.  So seals need to be replaced.  If you need a tiny quarter-inch “lip seal” you need to order an entire total service kit at a price approximately equal to an entire toilet of a different make.  If you screw this new seal up, which skipper did, and need another one you need to go through a number of intermediates and, at the time of this writing,, we do not know the end result of this endeavour.  Plan B is to throw the g-ned thing out the door and replace it…..

Las Palmas is absolutely crowded with sailors.  They hang out at Sailor’s Bar, where things are very cheap…and not very excellent.  They also hang out at Rolnautic, the local ship chandlery.   They are having a very good business these days, with frantic strangers tearing at them for help from all directions.  Absolutely chaotic…..and as time for departure approaches it is getting worse.  For a small sum of money one can buy a temporary membership to the local yacht club, which provides a considerably more plush environment…and a functioning WiFi-connection (!!) this most important attribute of modern sailing (read: existence?)…and they have a pool, a gym and a decent restaurant.

We are planning for provisions.  What number of pasta packages do we need.  Liters of drinking water? Jars of pesto? Types of biscuits?  Chocolates?  The questions are numerous and we can certainly not risk being short of “anything” during the final days.  We will carry bottled waters for the entire trip and rely on the tanks (1000L) for back-up, laundry, (showers?) etc.  They say that these boats flow lower in the water at departure from all the foodstuff on board and that this may play games with sea cocks getting flooded etc…….another thing to check.

Yesterday we passed the safety check.  Every boat is checked on a rather huge number of items to carry, preparations to have been made, knowledge to have…..It was all administered by a genial elderly British gentleman with a huge experience.  We had a rewarding chat as we walked around the boat.  Very valuable.  We had to add to our resources another 5 parachute lights, 2 red lights, 1 orange water colourer, 2 whistles, 1 buoy light and a spare VHF antenna.  Not bad at all!

Simon, law student from Uppsala arrived on skipper’s plane, Sanna, my brother’s daughter arrived 3 hours later. Magnus, lawyer from Lund came on Monday and today at 1500 we expect Stefan, hand surgeon from Lund.  The crew will be complete. 

We take turns to go to seminars according to the different tasks each one has been allotted to.  We do keep pretty busy..!