Transatlantic: Second Week

Out at sea, time is no longer as much of a thing to you. There are no deadlines, there are no schedules, you simply are where you are when you are. For this reason, the second week is actually 10 days long.

We have come so far, yet gone no where.

Last week, we were floating around the Bahamas, this week we are floating closer to Bermuda. We crossed the Doldrums, and gained some wind, but yet we are still out in the middle of the ocean with no sight of land.

Yesterday, the view was waves in all directions.
Today, the view is waves in all directions.
Tomorrow, the view will still be waves in all directions.

The sun rises and sets over a world completely covered by water, and we are merely passing through.

Transatlantic: Day 17

We are moving! Another day of 90+ nautical miles and we are quickly gaining on the next place we can make landfall!

Yesterday, some clouds warned us that conditions were going to be deteriorating. Today, those conditions arrived and we were ready!

With our staysail and trysail set, we are ready to handle any conditions that could come our way.

While I’m not a fan of squalls, and I’m really not a fan of squalls in the dark, squalls at sunset are breathtakingly beautiful! The colors of the sunset mix and combine with the moisture in the air from the clouds. What would have been another ordinary sunset was a world of pastel and surreal but all in front of our eyes!

Having our storm sails set and ready took the fear that loomed in my mind and shut it away! We were ready for the winds that could accompany a squall and all we had now to do was enjoy the beauty that was being presented to us hundreds of miles from civilization.

On a side note, an easy way to judge how bad a squall will be is to look at the rain coming out of it. If the rain is vertical, there probably won’t be much wind. If the rain is slanted, then that is the direction of the wind.

Do you see the flaw in this method of observation? What if the rain is slanted towards you? It looks like the rain is falling vertically and you would expect no wind, but in fact it could be quite tremendous and catch you off guard.

These clouds were all around us and the rain in all of them seemed vertical. The lack of white caps also meant that there was little wind at the moment, but it is always best to reef down in anticipation and simply lose a few knots of boat speed for a while than to be caught out at sea with too much sail up!

Transatlantic: Day 16

We are moving! Our old record of 80’s got shattered and we almost made it into the 100s club. After almost a week of sitting, we are now scooting along covering 90 nautical miles in a 24 hour period.

One of the cooler parts of crossing an ocean is you get to see magical sunrises and sunsets. When I’m on land, I try and avoid watching the sunrise, as this means I had to get up that early. On watch, sunrise signifies that you are soon finishing your watch and will get some sleep in a moment!

In the Westerlies, you will also need to keep an eye out for cloud formations that are going to warn you of upcoming weather far better than any Weather Fax would. 

This cloud is warning us that there is instability in the air around us and squalls can be upon us overnight.  

It pays to keep a weather eye on the clouds as changes in their shape can tell you how to prepare your sailplan before it strikes! 

Transatlantic: Day 15

The winds have arrived!

If someone tries to fear-monger you into getting a giant and expensive diesel motor for your sailboat because they tell you that you will "DIE” in the doldrums from running out of food or water, don’t listen to them.

Sailboats have made their way through the doldrums for millennia without a diesel motor. All you need are the right kind of sails! We have nylon (spinnaker material) sails for just this purpose. We have a drifter and a light air mainsail which give us a full suit of sails for these windless regions of the world.

The best way to get out of the doldrums is to sail straight through them in the Gulf Stream. The current will keep pushing you along and you will make it through this region in about a day.

If you are like us and wandered too far from the stream, you are going to spend some more time in this region of the Earth. We spent a grand total of 4 days crossing the doldrums. Once we were on the Northern border of it, the Westerlies (winds that consistently blow from the West) popped up and began carrying us along.

We were going downwind, and the mainsail kept fighting the windvane with weather helm. It also stole clean air from the jib, making it really annoying to us.

With the sail lowered all the way, the boom would shimmy and scoot around, making a really annoying noise and chaffing on the canopy.

Our solution was to lower the topping lift and let the boom rest on the bimini. The friction of the boom on the rails held everything still and made for some peaceful times in the cockpit. The jib filled with clean air and produced lee helm that the windvane loved for our course.

To make this moment even more special, we got a great sunset to match our moods as night befell us!

We were once again on the move!

Transatlantic: Day 14

Today, we moved a little faster, averaging just over 1 knot for the day! We covered a grand total of 37 nautical miles in this 24 hour period!

Light air sails carried us through the Doldrums, as there is no option for us to motor through these waters. The clear skies and calm waters let our last functioning solar panels keep everything charged up and running.