Transatlantic: Day 19

The winds were actually light, and just enough to keep us from drifting west in the ocean current. Speed was not occurring for us, and that was fine. This meant that we would take a little longer to get close to Bermuda and that we would then be reducing our crew count by 1.

Today really wasn’t about setting any records, but it was a gorgeous display of the oceanic world so many never get to experience.

This sunset was once again different from any other day’s sunset. The lighting on the waves was just absolutely perfect!

With this sunset comes the close of this day and the beginning of the the night, when the sky fills with more stars than you can comprehend. While night watch is one of my least favorite times to be at the helm due to the nonexistent visibility of the wind which makes sail trimming a bit tricky, night watch out in the middle of the ocean offers the most spectacular sight up in the sky. Alarms are set not to remind you to look away from your book and check the horizon, but to bring your eyes away from the stars and down to the horizon where you search for little red, green, or white navigation lights; but there never is anyone out here.

Transatlantic: Day 18

In the Westerlies, lack of wind is not as big of a problem as too much wind. We are in search of the right amount of wind as we make our way towards Bermuda.

The winds are light with the occasional squall and we are trying to find our way as quickly and safely as possible.

The angry ego of our crew member has been broken by the spirit of the sea. He has learned that there is no way to order your commands at the natural world which we are guests in. Having accepted that defeat may be a thing he will have to admit, he decides to make a deal. If we can get near Bermuda by July 3rd, he will stay on the boat and continue his dream voyage of crossing the Atlantic with us as we venture across the ocean for more simplistic reasons (we want to sail to the Azores).

The date is July 1st, and he has given us 3 days to make it to Bermuda. If he were nicer to us, we would have raced that last bit of distance to encourage him to stay on board with us, but since he was very mean to us, we decided to take our time and enjoy the slow sail to Bermuda.

Getting there after the 3rd would avoid a confrontation since he would leave because he decided to leave and not because we ordered him off the boat!

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!