Captains Blog 57 – Atlantic Crossing 2023 Daily Blog Posts Week Three

Show me the way to go home…………

Thu Jan 19 2023

………I’m tired and I want to go to bed.
No nautical blog is complete without some kind of reference to a jaws film. Last Tuesday during our morning coffee meeting, something rather large was sported heading to wards the starboard side of the boat , changed direction and disappeared. I estimated it to be around 2-2.5 meters, so quite large, we all agreed it could only be some kind of shark. Anyone for a swim ?
Anyway the miles are slowly becoming less and less and there’s talk of beer, wine, ice cream and all the other nice things we’ve missed over the last few weeks! The weather gods have been kind and blessed the last few days with low winds and small swells, this has allowed us to catch up on some well needed rest and moving around the boat is much easier. The only down side to having less wind is making power, with strong winds the boat moves forwards quicker allowing us to deploy the prop shaft alternator. This then provides power to the batteries and we can run pretty much anything we like, the main items we need are radios , navigation devices, freezer, lighting, water maker and general charging of iPads, battlers etc. With having low winds over the last few days the prop shaft alternator has not been able to give us the power we need so unfortunately the captain has suspended the use of the hot tub, cocktail bar and spa facility ( only kidding ). Instead of the prop shaft alternator we have deployed more solar panels to take up the slack and so far they’ve worked really well , mind you there’s plenty of sun shine here ! ( sorry all you guys in the uk with crappy weather ). The water maker we commissioned a few days ago is working really well, it takes sea water and turns it into drinking water!.It will make around 30 liters of water an hour so it’s a really cool bit of kit to have on the boat and will make life on board so much easier not having to worry about the amount water left in the tank!
I can feel a washing day coming on!

Yours with clean pants
Simon@sea

Ship’s Starting to get Weird

Thu Jan 19 2023

Funny old 24 hours. Yesterday afternoon with fairly low wind speed we decided to switch out the jib with the ballooner, a huge light weight sail. It’s not a simple task though!

The process goes like this: first disengage wind vane steering and turn on auto helm. Start engine and furl the Genoa and Jib together and bear away a little. Re-thread the jib sheet from starboard to port and unfurl sails again on port side. Lower the jib using the halyard, removing from furling device as you go. At this point you realise that the wind’s got up and it’s too blowy to deploy the ballooner, so I won’t bore you any longer, suffice to say the Jib went back up.

The night was an uncomfortable affair. The wind dropped to little over 12 knots so we wallowed along with sails constantly filling then spilling. Every couple of minutes a bigger wave would wallop us on the side with sufficient force to wake the dead.

As we surfaced this morning it was clear that the first mate was better rested than me and Si, but we soldiered on and after some coffee were into a few jobs. My spirits were raised when I saw Simon washing his under crackers in the cockpit! While listening to Kate Bush – This Woman’s Work!

Once the washing was done, we took 10 minutes out and all sat on the coach roof gazing into the distance. “Did we have any dead fish on deck this morning?” Asked Si, I responded that we did, but just one. Our record is 6 to date and we get at least one every day.

We sat in line and watched as 3 or 4 flying fish scud above the waters surface, weaving between the wave crests before plummeting back into the abyss. They’re amazing things, we all agreed and Simon declared them the rabbits of the sea as there’s so many.

“Shame we can’t harness their abilities” I said, “maybe we could create a sea chariot and have teams of flying fish to power us along.” Sarah suggested ushering them into nets attached to the chariot, but I thought mini harnesses would be far better as we’d be able to organise them into teams and have an aerial division and sub surface cohort working in parallel to maximise efficiency. Simon thought this would work and suggested naming them to identify slackers and dead uns more easily. Rodney was the first name we came up with, before realizing this was a stupid idea as chariots have open backs and would sink before we even set off.

I’m beginning to think we’ve been out too long now!

Captain Mac

44.312n 54 41.887w

I can see for miles and miles

Fri Jan 20 2023

When you first start talking to other sailors about doing a long passage like this, you’re always told the same thing – time is weird on a boat. You do a sail change, or adjustment and the next thing you know it’s 3 o’clock and you’re making dinner or having a nap.

You don’t tend to measure time as days of the week and UBT (Universal Boat Time) becomes a thing. You have to alter the clocks back by 1 hour for every 15 degrees West you travel. This means you have some devices on boat time, some on UK time and some ones destination time. It makes setting alarm clocks for watches really tricky, as Simon discovered when he turned up for his watch 2 hours early the other night – oh I was so tempted to just let him take over!

We spend a lot of time sitting in the cockpit (outside space), reading, monitoring the wind vane & direction readings, chatting a lot of waffle, talking about food, taking blood pressure readings, discussing what to have for dinner, disposing of the Flying Suicide Squad members, pondering on what we want to eat when we make landfall, working out the 6 hrly logs & distance covered vs distance to go & how long it might take us to get there at current rates of sailing, discussing what Simon’s having for his Sunday dinner next week – there’s mention of beef & dauphinoise potatoes.

You look at the ocean pretty regularly, as you can imagine. There’s not many times in your life when you get a 360 degree view of the horizon and we’re not sharing it with anyone – haven’t seen another boat or cargo ship for about 2 weeks now. The only thing that blocks your view is the occasional big wave in the distance.

The sea changes colour as well, most of the time it’s a beautiful dark blue, but at sunset or sunrise it’s the colour of molten lead, at night it’s pitch black and everything feels a lot quicker and hectic.

Life is simplified on these off shore passages, it’s becomes about the boat condition, the weather, food & water and crew morale. Without having access to the internet (the sat phone is like a 90s dial up modem) news, social media and all that jazz, we have no idea about what’s happening in the wider world. Trev says this means we are the center of our own world & I have to admit, I quite like it.

Currently Simon’s having a pre-dinner nap, Trev’s on wind vane watch and I’m finishing this so I can get back to monitoring the horizon again.

Sarah, Trev & Simon at Sea

I spy with my little eye………something beginning with L

Sun Jan 22 2023

Well folks,
This is the beginning of the end, we’re on our final run into Martinique. It’s 0430 in the morning and it’s hopefully my last shift on watch. There’s not a lot out here at the moment, it’s pitch black, a few lazy stars and no other vessel in sight. Coming up on our port side around 86nm away is Barbados and 108 nm on our bow is Martinique. So why cross the Atlantic? Well for the Captain and his wife is fairly straight forward question , it’s the stepping stones over to start the next chapter of their epic adventure. For me a little more difficult to answer, i suppose it’s the challenge and the adventure. I’ve always felt the lure of the sea and like most of us habour fond memories of days spent on the beach with our family, visiting our favorite places and spending time in or on the sea. Personally I like to challenge myself, take myself out my comfort zone once in a while to get the heart racing and the blood pumping. It’s a great way to learn more about yourself and this trip has been no exception.
I think for me, the most difficult part of a voyage is being away from my wife Laura, my two boys Theo, Beau and my two favorite furry creatures , Bolly and Honey ( Bollo, by the way is older than the dooms day book and will still take your hand off in the blink of an eye). I can’t wait to tell the kids off and hear dogs barking uncontrollably every time a leaf blows by the window. It’s funny how you miss the annoying things. Things I haven’t missed so much is the constant negativity of the uk media, complete and utter incompetence of the uk government and Moomins ( fictional Creatures that mope around making strange noises, there’s loads around Loughborough town centre).
In a nut shell, it’s been very tiring but a hugely rewarding passage, there’s been lots of laughter and a few tears ( mainly mine when I’ve stubbed my toe, knee, elbow, shin or head), we’ve eaten extremely well thanks to Sarah and her ninja cooking skills ( especially in force ten conditions , amazing) and the sea/ weather has been kind….ish. Oh and not to forget Trev’s delicious coffee at the morning briefings!
I won’t go into saying thank you’s just yet ,as there’ll be the obligatory highlights and awards blog …………watch this space !

Now , I shall look forward to a beer on dry land ! or anchorage!

Simon@sea

Are We Nearly There Yet?

Sun Jan 22 2023

It had to be the title of the last blog that we’d write, while we’re still sailing. It’s 12:10 (15:10 UK) on Sunday as I write this and the simple fact is that we are, if you look at the overall crossing. There’s around 58 nautical miles before we reach the most Southerly point of Martinique and at that distance we’re still too far out to see land yet.

We all hoped that we’d reach the anchorage at St Anne’s in daylight, but in reality it’ll be dark when we do so not ideal. That said, it shouldn’t stop us getting safely secured for the night. And what a night it’ll be!
No more having to wedge yourself into a bunk with a selection of cushions and blankets to mitigate the discomfort of being thrown from side to side constantly. Every single night.

No more night shifts looking out into pitch black hoping you’ll see something, anything other than total emptiness. It’s the one time when you really are on your own and there’s something pretty special about being the only person, with the exception of Sarah and Si, for as far as you can see. Which at night, isn’t very far I admit!

We’ve all been absorbed in our own little 46’ world, oblivious to what’s happening on the rest of the planet outside of friends and family. That’s been a very very good thing. It’s been a more basic existence, thinking of nothing more than food, cleaning and the odd boat job. Oh and snoozing.

I’ve just had to pause writing this as we were hit by a squall, which caused a wind veer of around 80° throwing the sail plan and crew into a frenzy as we tried to manage the situation. Only causality being a line holding a block for the preventer that snapped

Anyway, suffice to say that I’m really looking forward to seeing land, which with visibility as it is due to the rain ahead of us might be a while yet.

Captain Mac

Hello Martinique

Sun Jan 22 2023

We think you look nice, but it’s dark!!

We’re anchored safely & are enjoying a celebratory drink before a well deserved snooze

And now our watch has ended

Tue Jan 24 2023

First things first let’s get all bobblehattish and run through some journey stats (we spent some time last night lovingly trying to maths whilst tired):

Start point: Santa Cruz, Tenerife. Destination: Saint Anne’s, Martinique
Total mileage: 3034 nautical miles
Time taken: 19 days, 8 hours (467 hours)
Average mileage made per day 157
Average wind speed: 21.3 knots
Average speed: 6.5 kts
Total engine time: 3 hours
Number of naps taken: too many to count
Average hours of sleep, per person per night: 4 (at best)
Total hours of 1 pair of underpants worn (Simon at Sea): 7 days (168). Using Simon’s theory that they can only be used as ‘bed pants’ and turned inside out once every 48 hours. Up to the nose , smells like a rose!
Number of Flying Suicide Squad fatalities: 2-3 per day, 50-60 brothers (and sisters) lost
Water used: 650 litres
Lady beers drunk: 50
Celebratory tots: 3 (1000 miles, halfway and 2000 miles)
Ridiculous conversations leading to hysterical laughter: 583
Emotional breakdowns: 1 (Sarah)

Highlights vs lowlights
Sarah
The journey felt both easier and harder than I imagined it would. Easier in terms of meal prep, company on board (I thought we might be a bit more stroppy with each other), it was super nice to have 3 on board and we gelled really well. Lack of a phone – lovely to be able to post blogs & catch up with loved ones, even nicer to not have 24 hrs access to random social media & news

Lowlights – Total honesty? Setting up the wind vane and using it felt very much outside of my comfort zone. I’m used to being able to ‘manage’ the boat and sail when Trev’s sleeping. The wind vane is a very different set of skills & I didn’t like feeling like I didn’t know what I was doing.

Favorite bit of equipment on the boat: I’ve been told I can’t say Simon! So instead I will say the prop shaft alternator. This ruddy brilliant bit of kit pumps amps into our house batteries and lets us run the fridge, freezer, nav equipment and more importantly lets us charge up cameras and iPads for movie nights and blog stuff.

Captain Mac
This whole trip has been the culmination of 18 months hard graft but it’s been well worth while and I’m chuffed that we all got across safely and we’re all still friends, which is just as well as I’m married to one of them. Not Simon!

The days flew by and every morning we had a chat (laugh) before cracking on with a selection of jobs interrupted by the occasional pre doze nap, nap and, time permitting, a pre bedtime snooze. In fairness, we spent the whole passage being thrown about making every movement onboard a huge challenge.

I have to say that both Sarah and Simon have been amazing and have always been there when we’ve needed to do stuff. Sarah’s meals have been fantastic and all done on a wobbly, pitching boat and Simon has always been there when I’ve needed help. I couldn’t ask for more.

One of the main highlights for me was having consistent strong winds for the entire passage and one of the lowlights was having consistent strong winds for the whole passage. You can’t pick and choose!

As far as the best pieces of equipment goes, Sarah’s choice has been stunning, but also the auto helm and wind vane have been a god send. Obviously the coffee pot has been a life saver and one final star of the show is the 8 litre water container that now holds nearly three weeks worth of plastic packaging and still has a bit of room to spare.

Simon
Well what can I say apart from its been an amazing experience, I’ve known Trev and Sarah a fair while and to be asked to join them as crew to help cross the Atlantic was an honor. There’s nothing like getting to know your friends better than sticking them in a boat and sending them across the Atlantic , it’s going to go one of two ways. I knew that when they asked me join them they were the right people to do such a crazy thing with and I was right, they’ve both been amazing. Highlights for me have been the sheer adrenaline sailing gives one self, being part of a team that gels together to conquer all the problems Mother Nature throws at you . In fairness there’s been so many highlights it’ll take me half a day to write about them all and today is the first day in four weeks I’ve not managed to get a nap ( bit grumpy). But really did enjoy the morning coffee meetings when everyone looked absolutely knackered but the comedy was first class. The flying fish were a sight to behold, rats of the sea, and they bloody stunk probably like Captain Birds Eye’s pocket . There was also shouts of boobies which lifted the soul and watching folk rattle around the boat banging toes and knees alike. I must also mention Sarah’s ability to cook in some of the most hideous conditions I’ve witnessed, a true Jedi mater of the galley.
As far as best piece of equipment on board , we’ll I’m going to have to go with the handle on the centre of the door, inside my bathroom toilet, if it wasn’t for that door handle my face would look like I’d have gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. That bathroom handles selflessness allowed me the opportunity to use one hand pull up my pants and shorts without breaking out into the river dance and for that it’s a true legend!

I would like thank Captain Trev and Sea Lord Sarah ( high commander of the northern fleet) for allowing me to join them on this epic journey that I will never forget!
Thank you!

If you’ve enjoyed reading these blogs and want to continue the same amount of rabbiting (without Simon at Sea) you can find us at:

Www.bigboatyadventure.com or via Instagram at Big Boaty Adventure

Alternatively, if you’d like to hear from Simon at Sea you’ll have to petition for him to join us on another trip, perhaps the Panama Canal through to the Pacific???