The Atlantic Crossing started in Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, as you have read, then stopped in Mindelo in the Cape Verde islands for a week then continued on towards Port Louis, Grenada for another two weeks. Half the yachts planned to go direct from the Canary Islands to Grenada but in the end only two wet direct. The rest stopped for either fuel pick up or for the week at Cape Verde islands. We were very glad that we had elected to stop for a week as we had some repairs after the first leg including a bent boom! The only disadvantage was the chance of catching covid – as happened to three boats – and getting delayed.

I have split this blog into three sections since it is quite large:

Part 1 General

Part 2: Birds, fish and the GOES Project

Part 3: the best from the rally blogs

Departing the Cape Verde Islands

Activities

You may ask what we do for fifteen days at sea except sailing, eating, sleeping, and reading, but the days seem fairly full. Activities also depend on the weather. The first couple of days were fairly windy( see photos under weather) so other than sailing not much was done, whereas the last week was very relaxed, even the Chief Engineer was catching up on his rest.

While there are all the routine activities like cooking and washing, they are slightly different from ashore. We are lucky to have a big cockpit so offshore all the washing can be hung up there instead of on the foredeck!

We have a roster for night watches and share the cooking for dinner – other meals depend on the availability and variety of food. We have done very well so far and by day 12 the only items we are running low on were fresh salad vegetables (out), cooking vegetables (will be out today), fruit (will be out tomorrow), pre-cooked dinners, and pre-cooked lunches (still two days supply). The only staples we are getting low on are butter.

We run the generator every day to top up the batteries, and since we are lucky enough to have a water maker and a washing machine, we run one or another or both while the generator is on. Usually, we make water every day and run the washing machine every second day so we do not get a backlog of dirty clothes or linen. Pete has definitely decided that a washing machine is on the agenda for his yacht when and if he gets back to NZ.

Maintenance

There are many/endless maintenance jobs for the Chief engineer.

Not everything goes according to plan. The second day out was a major when we decided to end for end the spinnaker halyard as it was looking raggedly. He was up the mast issuing instructions which the crew did not entirely manage to get correct. Step 1 was to cut off the chaffed end. Got that right. Step 2 rethread it which was not going well – kept jamming.

That took so long (as far as he was concerned) he came down, looked at the rope, and told the crew to chop the end off as they hadn’t taken enough off so the line was still fat. Which we did but then he realized that it was the new end. It was just that the line was going the wrong way. This caused an African war dance but then – he had to splice another loop before going back up the mast.

In the end, all was fixed. As Pete says ” All will be right in the end and if it is not right it is not the end”

We also need to adjust the spinnaker/code 0 halyard each day so it does not chafe through in one spot. We are seriously considering getting another halyard put on at the next boatyard stop as a spare.

There are engine belts to check and, in some cases, tighten. Then there is engine oil and filters to check and steering fluid to check. Then we lost another freezer pump which regularly die but we did not really need this to happen at the beginning of a long voyage.

Weather Updates

We regularly download the weather, the weather routing, and the GPS tracking of the fleet from Predict Wind. When we decided to do the Atlantic crossing, we were really expecting constant winds (the trades) from one direction at a steady speed. On this trip, we have had nearly everything. High seas, flat seas, high winds, no winds. Mostly dead astern so the only sail that will really work for us is the spinnaker and the main is so large that it blankets the spinnaker so we cannot run them both at the same time. Running with just a spinnaker also makes for much smoother sailing and no concern over the noise and activities of the boom.

We have also had the assistance of ‘Met Bob”, but despite his best efforts the wind that we have all been waiting for does not seem to want to arrive. We are just grateful that we are finally at 15kts again today. With the spinnaker up we can achieve a boat speed of about half the wind speed, but below 10kts it drops down to about 3 kts – not going anywhere fast, only enough to just keep the sail inflated.

Then there is matching the forecast to the actual conditions which are not always the same!!

Mid Atlantic Swim

On day 8 when we were slopping along at 3 kts we decided we had to go for a swim. Dropped the sail and left Hew on board to guard the boat while the rest of us went swimming. The depth was 4250m. Deeper than Mount Cook is high.

The next day we had another swim and Neville managed to photograph a 50cm long clear Arrow fish, a Plankton eater.

Blogs- Predict Wind and Website

We also write the mini blog on the Predict Wind Tracking site, as most of you will have seen. https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Eleuthera. Additionally, there was also a rally blog participants in the rally could see. This is really interesting to see how all the yachts are going each day and their headings and speed and whether their track is better than yours. It does not directly relate to conditions as some are using motors and some are not, and there is a big variety of sail wardrobes. The pick of the sails if you can afford it is a parasail for these conditions – but very costly if it shreds itself!! We found that the yachts behind us seemed to collect all the bad weather. We seemed to miss nearly all of it on this leg. We had left two days behind the main group but by mid-way had caught up with all of them except the front runners.

The main blog items for the web page were left until we arrived as most had to be done via the web. When I was initially writing this blog it was day 12 and I was sitting down sorting through all the photos to get some sort of order before we arrived so that we could post immediately on internet availability. Unfortunately, activities took over and I am only onto it now. There may also be several updates as other photos and videos are found.

The Final Few Days

It took another 3 days of downwind sailing to get to Port Louis. This is really the cruisers’ dream – downwind under spinnaker and steady winds. In the end we managed nearly a week under spinnaker with the crew relaxing in the cockpit usually looking aft at where we had been.

Finally, we did have some lovely sunsets and these photos will show you the best of them. It was time to relax on the foredeck and have a drink. Often the dolphins would be there at that time of day as well. We were so lucky.

We arrived at 3 am to a warm welcome from Carlota and Oliver from Viking Explorers and then the Grenada Tourism Authority https://www.puregrenada.com/ with a gift basket and rum punch. The crew from two of the other yachts also turned up for a welcome rum punch and then champagne as we celebrated our arrival as the sun came up.

It was a great feeling, and Port Louis is a beautiful marina with very lush growth around, small buildings, and a lovely swimming pool for everyone to use. More like a beach resort than a marina. https://en.cnmarinas.com/marinas/port-louis-marina/

Part 2: Fish, Dolphins, Whales, and the GOES project. https://kiwiflyingfish.com/2022/02/atlantic-crossing-2-birds-fish-and-dolphins/

GOES Project

The GOES project is about gathering planktonic and plastic data on the deep sea areas of the world’s oceans. https://www.goesfoundation.com/citizen-science-project/ . Many of the yachts in the crossing took regular GOES project samples at midday and midnight and then analyzed these about 4-6 hours later.

The sample is checked 3-4 hours after being taken. Then the analysis may take from 30 minutes to 3 hours depending on the observer. Mark decided that the holes in the filter should be marked to keep track of the photos. But the ink he used leaked all over the slide which was not good when you are looking for black spots on the filter from out of the ocean. Instead, you got ink residue as well.

All the participants in the project obn the various boats have been finding lots of black bits (unknown origin), plastic threads, and plastic pieces. Far too many plastic pieces to be good for the ocean. What we all agreed was that although the project is fascinating it is also frustrating as the microscopes do not quite give you the resolution you need to find all the copepods and other tiny sooplankton creatures.

Also zooplankton and phytoplankton. The most interesting being miniature shrimp-like creatures.

Since we had a microscope, Neville then transferred his attention to the Saragossa weed floating past and found miniature shrimps in that as well.

Fishing

In Las Palmas, Neville spent many hours with the other yachts advising on fishing lines and lures. He even took some of the yachties to the fishing shops to help them buy fishing equipment. For the first half of the trip, we caught nothing and several other yachts that Neville had helped were catching fish. Life was getting desperate for our fisherman!!. Pete caught the first fish of the trip on the second day but we threw it away because it was too small.

Then on the 6th day, we saw a Thresher shark trying to kill/stun Neville’s lure on the end of his rod that he also had behind the yacht. This was very funny but did not provide any fish to eat.

We had four hand lines out every day and sometimes also Neville’s rod. The crew suggested that he had too many lines out, but Neville was sure we were at the wrong speed – too fast or too slow!!

The fish we did see a lot of were flying fish. They often landed on the deck at night and Nev even tried to put some on the lines to see if he could attract any other fish!! That was right up until I wanted to take some photos then it was only the tiny fish and no large ones and they would not jump onto the deck!! Therefore we took a short video so I hope you can get the idea.

The lack of fish was getting desperate, more pressure was coming on for fresh fish and Nev started to lose interesting his lines. We were catching more sargossa weed than anything else. He then began fishing for shrimps out of the Saragossa seaweed!! Instead of cooked fish, we may be having shrimp cocktails!! See the shrimp above (under the GOES project photos)- he would have had to catch many many more!!

Finally, on day 8 he caught a mahimahi. This is a beautiful fish in the water and sad to see it die but it is also very good eating. Poisson Cru for lunch and fried fish with coriander corn fritters and mango salsa for dinner. We needed a change from pre-cooked meals and Neville learned a new recipe.

Dolphins and Whales

We have seen dolphins almost every second day, Atlantic common dolphin, Atlantic spotted dolphin, and the striped dolphin. Two very large pods and 3 small pods. Then two days out from Grenada we also saw four very small dolphins that we believe to be spinner dolphins. unfortunately they were not spinning – they just traveled past the yacht and did not stay. The second video is from a Gopro with a very wide angle so you can see the dolphins coming in from all sides. The video is not embedded,due to the length, just follow the link if you are interested.

Large Dolphin group on Gopro…….will be posted shortly

We also saw a pod of whales but fortunately or unfortunately they kept their distance. One of the other boats had hit a sleeping whale the day before luckily with no damage. The only shot I could get was of the water spout in the distance.

Birds

Tropicbird

Since day 7 we have also had visits from tropicbirds every morning and they are getting more regular. Day 8 -1, day 7-1, day 8 – 2, day 9 – 5, day 10 – 3. When there are two of them, they squawk at each other continuously. A lone one does not make any noise.  There are two varieties a red-billed tropicbird and a white-tailed tropicbird. They fly very fast and dive from great heights. One was definitely the red-billed tropicbird. The others may have been the white-tailed variety but identification is difficult. The tropicbirds move fast and the yacht is pitching ad rolling as well.

We bought an extra camera lens in Tenerife which has been excellent when you are on land. When the boat and the bird are moving it is often easier to use the mid-range lens for a quicker focus. we missed having a good identification book. Using internet ashore for identification is so easy that you forget there is none and sea and need downloaded books for identification oplates. A must for future passages.

Booby

On day 12 we awoke and the GPS was showing 450 miles to go to Grenada. Shortly after we saw the first Booby we had seen. Great to see a lovely soaring bird with all its pinions displayed.

The next day we saw three together we so thought we must definitely be getting closer to land.

We arrived into Grenada in the dark at 3am so did not see any of the bird life down the coast as we got closer.

After we had arrived we found that Grenada is full of birds and the ones I loved most were the minature humming bird. See post First week in Grenada. …….

Atlantic Crossing Part 3 Blog Exerts

Nearly all the Viking Explorer group left together. Sadly one yacht got a positive covid test and all aboard had to isolate. A second yacht had a medical issue and needed to postpone for another year. Two further boats delayed their departure to wait for lower winds.

We departed expecting 25-30kts from NE and we got 30G40. Seas 2-3m. The ride was a rough but exhilarating roller coaster for the first day. Max wind was 40.6kts and max boats speed 20.2kts – the fastest we have ever gone and that was with 2 reefs on main and similar on the Genoa. Over several hours we were regularly getting 16-18kts down the swells.

All was good until we needed to gybe and, unfortunately, it was a bad one. We did not know how bad until dawn the next day when Hew was looking at the boom under the mainsail cover and saw the dent/ bend.

We reduced to a third reef and then after further consideration dropped the main and continued hull winged on Genoa and storm jib. A good combination and a good ride downhill.

Later in the day, we were visited by a large pod of dolphins who had a great time jumping and during in the waves. About 50-50 individuals with babies but the pod did not hang around close to the bows but rather darted in and out across the bows and down the waves.

The following is rather long and unfortunately no music yet but the video shows some of the antics of the dolphins in the later afternoon. https://youtu.be/c1HXg6gdcUU

Day three and the wind was decreasing to we ran the spinnaker all day and night. Very pleasant.

No sailing incidents but Hew decided to be the cook for the night and during the preparation managed to fire the Pyrex dish out of his hands and down the stairs ensuring a spectacular explosion of glass pieces everywhere!! So much for a quiet night!!

On day four the wind dropped slowly all day. We had to drop the spinnaker and motor-sailed half the day with the Genoa and then with the dying wind dropped the Genoa as well.

It was a lovely day and all were relaxing and doing the washing and tidying up. I had sent an update email to the yacht Copepod to say all the water sampling was going well and we must catch up at the next stop.

The next minute Mark comes in with a very sheepish look on his face to say he had just thrown the sampling tube overboard!!!!! Adding to the plastic waste in the ocean. It has a hook to attach it while you are collecting the water but he decided not to do that grrrr. No more sampling until we can get a new one. His new nickname “Dr. Dolittle”!!!

Next, another pod of dolphins turned up – as soon as some got here others rushed in from as far as you could see. This time they all hung close under the bows of the boat and jostled for the price positions. Very unlike the behaviour of the other lot two days earlier.

They departed after about 30 min and it was lunch. The fisherman has been very quiet but he has had three lines out every day and only one nibble. Anyway out he goes after lunch to find he had lost a lure and never even heard it!!! Problem with bungee cords on nylon and no steel trace. … No more fish seen that day 🙁

That night we decided with one day to go we should all watch a film with dinner so sit down to Bohemian Rhapsody!!

The next day we were all relaxing and suddenly Mark yelled “fish”!! Pete lept up to make sure it was true, Nev came rushing up out of bed, cameras came out – in case it jumped off. It was a beautiful blue Mahi-mahi or Dorado as they call it here. It is so beautiful in the water it is sad to see it caught.

Anyway, it was lovely to have sashimi for entré and fried fish for dinner, then poisson cru the next day.

Tuesday morning we were within sight of land. Petrels were the first bird we saw then the 3 local gannets kept us enthralled watching them catch fish in front of the yacht, including one flying fish.

We arrived in the harbour just after 1230 – it is littered with wrecks and some derelicts. We berthed at 1239 with marina assistance and met the local representative Stev, plus the marina staff. Next were the health authorities to look at our vaccination certificates and PCR test results. Followed closely by the rigger to look at the boom.

We sat down to lunch while waiting for the office to open. Then later we removed the mainsail and boom.

Next, I went to sort out the marina. The staff were all lovely, smiley faces, very friendly and helpful. The whole atmosphere of the marina is very casual snd reminds us of Fiji and the Pacific.

Followed by a meet-up at the bar.

We all needed local SIM cards so that was handled in the marina office by a phone lady

The riggers returned to pick up the boom which required a lot of manouvering around the office.

Finally, we could relax with beers and a Mojito!!

The next Viking yacht did not get in until about 8 pm. They were also looking at repairs as they had blown their Genoa apart!!