Crew Preparations

Location: Walthamstow, London

Blogger:  Jenny

So, dad has asked me to give a quick update of how the preparations for our departure are going in the UK. Both of us have resigned from our jobs and we have handed in our notice on our rented flat. I only have four weeks left at work. It's getting very close.

We've been busy learning about sailing and getting prepared for the trip. This began on a very cold and wet Competent Crew course in March this year in the Solent. The conditions on the last day were pretty challenging and a ripped foresail (see below) gave us a taste of the problem solving often required on board a boat.

*nb - photos taken the next day safely in Poole harbour!

Two trips with mum and dad, first from Kafalonia to Sardinia and then a couple of weeks ago from Gibraltar to the Canaries complete our limited experience. For us this gave us the chance to have a proper run at some passage making and to build on the skills we learnt on the Competent Crew course. Dad is an excellent teacher, so we've had master classes in a number of the tasks on board and now feel much more confident that we will actually be useful members of the crew. We've also had a chance to do watches on our own and are ready as we can be for the big crossing.

We also recently attended a very interesting, if slightly terrifying Sea Survival course in Southampton. We learnt a lot about "worst case scenarios" (sinking) and even had the chance to practice getting into a life raft in full wet weather gear and life jackets (in a swimming pool). We learnt loads, although hopefully it will be a complete waste of money and we will never need to put in to action any of the stuff that we learnt. Mum and dad are doing the same course in a month or so.

I am the Team Petronella Entertainments Officer so have been busy finding things for us to do during the crossing. So far the list runs to Cribbage, 3/4-part harmony singing (a recorder has been purchased), cards and cryptic crosswords. Other suggestions on a postcard please (or in the comments section). We've all also suggested meals to have on a couple of days - one fresh(ish) and one store cupboard. The world-famous pasta-tuna-mayo is going trans-Atlantic.

Experimental bread baking

Ingredients 

The Mix

Final Result

We're not going to be able to carry bread for up to 30 days when we cross so today was experimental bread making day. It came out OK. Gill found it a bit salty but I didn't.

Tomorrow we have been invited by French Jen for freshly made crepes on her boat. Yum!

On holiday in La Graciosa

We've been 5 days here now and every day we try to do some exercise (you really would approve Jen). Twice we've walked the 2.8kms and back along the sands to the little town of Caleta de Sebo to buy bread and vegetables, another day we crossed the ridge to the next bay and just soaked up the sun and two days ago we climbed the volcano behind the anchorage.

Boats arrive and boats leave and we are now one of the longest residents. Nearly all are getting ready for a long passage either to the Caribbean or to Brazil (which is actually a considerably shorter passage than to the Caribbean I was surprised to find). Several boats that left Gibraltar at about the same time as us headed for Rabat in Morroco. Big swells starting the day after they arrived means they are still there (hi Jack, Fizzy and Dilek) but they are doing the tourist bit in the desert whilst waiting for the sea to die down and parts to arrive.

Social engagements are taking a lot of time too. Dinner on La Luna (just arrived from the Azores) together with Rob (NZ) and Jen (French) a couple of nights ago. They met online at a music dating site and soon Rob was on his way to France to see if they really were compatible. They hit it off and decided to buy a boat and go cruising. That was three years ago. Both Rob and Stewart from La Luna are guitar players so that was a lively evening.

Time is still playing tricks on us here. La Luna were an hour late coming to our boat for drinks because they were still on Azores time and Endangered Species were an hour out the other way as they came in from Rabat. UTC is the only common language we all speak.

The SSB net is getting going now people are making longer passages. I tried to check in when we were crossing from Gib to Lanzarote but was unsuccessful. Yesterday though the 4 yachts from the Atlantic Crossing Group that we have joined spoke with each other across the anchorage here and we were apparently very clear so maybe the day I tried there was just no traffic. More investigation required with yachts further away. If you have an HF radio (Chris) or just a shortwave radio you can listen in at 7am and 7pm UTC first on 6516.0kH, then 8131.0kH and if those don't work 12359.0kH and heear who's doing what.

We're not far from west Africa here and there is quite a bit of talk about Ebola and its potentoal impact on our plans. We haven't followed the news much but the view here is that world governments don't really understand the virus and it is spreading fast and unpredictably. If even a handful of cases are registered in Cape Verdes or even worse The Canaries there is a real danger that we won't be granted access to the Caribbean countries when we arrive. Worrying times, not just for us but for the world in general.

As well as exercise each day we are trying to do a job a day. Recent achievements include removal of Wanda's paddle (we may get a new one) and consideration of how Jenny, the electricity generator towed behind us (kindly donated by Peter and Catie in Kas) might be deployed. We have decided that as we already have one Jenny on the crewlist this one will have to be renamed. So instead of Jenny it will be known as The Toad [get it? - as in the towed...].

The weather has been generally very benign since we arrived. Last night though, although there was no wind at all, a swell developed sending quite large waves across the reef on the edge of the anchorage. We woke up wondering what the noise was and if we were dragging the anchor. A quick check outside proved that if we were dragging so was everyone else! So back to sleep again. This morning boats were bobbing around a bit and our return trip from the shops was quite exciting as we tried to time our departure from the beach to avoid the crashing surf [well, that is a bit of an exaggeration]. We got back safe and dry to the disappointment of the watching holidaymakers.

Right, Matelot has just arrived and are about to launch their dinghy for a cup of tea.

A near perfect anchorage

Current Location: Playa Francesca, La Graciosa

After a week in Arrecife the weather looked set fair for a couple of weeks so early one morning, before the wind got up, we inched out of the very tight marina [well done Gilly, a perfect exit watched by world girdlers from three pontoons]. While there we had met up with Turkish sailors on Vega, Robert and Carla on Moody Mistress from Canada, both Atlantic Crossing Group boats as well as our Danish next door neighbours who were heading off for southern Argentina via Brazil.

We motorsailed back up the east coast of Lanzarote where a week previously we had galloped down big seas when we first arrived here. Apart from a nasty wet squall as we rounded the vicious looking northern cape of Lanzarote it was fairly uneventful. By 2pm we were anchored in this most beautiful bay in the south of La Graciosa. You may have been here on holiday? This was our first attempt at anchoring since the windlass was repaired back in the UK. It seems to be working fine. At least, none of the new teeth came flying off as we anchored. I'm still trying to source a replacement though. There was one advertised on eBay in Georgia (eastern Europe) last week but it's now disappeared. Eventually one will appear I'm sure.

Nestled below an almost perfect little ex volcano we are sheltered here from the predominant northerly and northwesterly winds. Across the straits about two miles away is the harsh rugged northern coastline of Lanzarote. This has to be one of the most atmospheric anchorages we have stayed in. And we are here for up to a couple of weeks. At last time to chill out, read books and watch the stars. Just what some people think we spend our whole time doing. It's bliss.

That's not to say there are no jobs to do though. Already we have, almost, fixed the toilet (again), cleaned the outside of the boat, inspected and removed Wanda's lower parts, tidied the rope locker, entertained a single handed French sailor who, despite having cancer of the stomach from working on the French nuclear tests decades ago, set off this morning on his own towards Brazil. Tonight we have a couple of Americans coming over to give us their experience of many years in the Caribbean. Tomorrow we will climb our little volcano and do a bit of lying on the beach soaking up the still warm sunshine. GSK? Eat your heart out!

How (not) to wash! A beginners guide to washing on a moving yacht.

Location: Walthamstow, London

Blogger: Jenny

It's not all glamour you know! By popular request, a “How do you wash at sea?” picture blog. Photos from the most calm day of the trip, with the engine on (so not very realistic really). Sorry to those of you who do this on your boats on a regular basis and know the drill. Sandy, this one’s for you…..! It is HARD work.

Hairwash

Take two-day old, unwashed, salty, windswept, matted hair. When it’s really rocky you just can’t be arsed to wash at all!

Take a sink with a foot pump. Dampen hair using said sink and foot pump using as little water as possible (if water is very limited then replace this step with a bucket of sea water).

Add shampoo. Lather.

Rinse using sink and foot pump. Try and stay upright on one foot as boat rocks. Add conditioner. Rinse using sink and foot pump. Try and stay upright on one foot as boat rocks.

Dry hair using towel. Bash at least one elbow on wall as boat rocks and you are upside down. Add to growing list of bruises.

Brush or comb. Finished!

Body Wash

Time at start: 15:05

Take one washing up bowl. Undo rope holding jerry can in place, pour an inch of water into washing up bowl. Put washing up bowl down. Do up rope holding jerry can in place. Retrieve washing up bowl from other end of boat where it’s slid to.

Take washing up bowl, razor and soap onto deck (if nice weather, if not, wedge yourself in the front of the boat).

Forget towel. Go back down below for towel.

Wedge yourself at back of boat. Try not to slide off.

Wash legs. Shave legs (optional).

Wash body. Try and retain modesty (unlikely).

Wash dirty clothes, dry yourself, put clothes on. Pour minging water over the side.

Take all washing items back down below (note sleeping dad).

Hang out wet clothes.

Finished!

Time at end: 15:30

n.b. during the following wash to this when it was rougher I managed to pour my entire, fresh, washing up bowl of water over my clean clothes and towel……

Happy, Happy in Lanzarote

Current Location: Lanzarote Marina, Arrecife, Lanzarote

Blogger: John

Shortly after our previous posting the wind began to fill in and we tried out our new sail configuration. With one front sail out one side and one out the other it’s known as “goosewinging” or to the  Americans it’s “wing on wing”. To Jenny it’s “goosey goosey”. It worked a treat and for two or three hours we bowled along at 5.5k with the water swishing gently past the hull. Beautiful sailing in only 10-12k of wind. If this is what the Atlantic crossing is all about, bring it on!

Petronella sailing "goosey-goosey" towards Lanzarote

Shortly before dusk we decided to revert to just our usual genoa. Just then the wind decided to increase to 20k and we had a bit of a fight taking everything down for the first time. But all was good especially as this was the time that 40 or 50 massive dolphins decided now was the time to play with Petronella. They carved and curved through the ever increasing waves, big grey shapes zooming from side to side of the bow as I sat right on the front of the pulpit with my feet dipping into the water as we descended into the wave troughs. Awe inspiring stuff in that wild seascape.

Next up, I decided to try and fix Wanda who had gnawed through one of her steering lines where we had bent the leg years ago in Preveza. With judicious use of that most practical of items – a wire coat hanger – I managed to thread first a mouse leader of braided fishing line and then the new line, through the top of the leg, out the bottom, past two pulleys and through the central leg. A quick modification of the coat hanger and I was able to grab the line as we crested a wave and bring it back on board to tie the securing knot. Then it was just a matter of fixing the inboard end of the rope to the tiller control and getting Jen to lean precariously out the back to launch the steering paddle. Result! She (Wanda that is) then performed perfectly all the way to Lanzarote. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. This wind steering system is simply amazing. After a while you forget she is there keeping the boat on track, continually feeding back information from the wind and waves so that our course, even in 3m waves and strongish winds we rarely deviated from our chosen course by more than 5 degrees. The best Jenny could manage, and she is our master hand steerer, was +/-30 degrees. What a boon, and with no electrics to drain the batteries or whir and chirp as the autopilot does. A truly valuable member of crew.

Jenny completing the repair to Wanda

During the night the waves and wind continued to build and Petronella started the famous Atlantic rolling. Every few minutes she would start to gather pace with everything bashing and crashing. Gilly decided to go on a “rattle hunt”. She put drying up cloths in the cutlery drawers, wedged the crockery with stale loaves of bread and generally reduced the level of crashing by about 2 per cent! At one stage she came on deck to tell us that Jenny’s safety harness clip was keeping her awake as Jen slid from side to side in the cockpit!

At last at 5.06am Jenny shouted down “Land Ahoy”. After 5 days we could see the light flashing on Alegranza, the first of the Canary Islands. Unfortunately, just at this point I let my concentration down for a celebratory second resulting in me being flung right across the navigation station and into the galley. Luckily my head stopped inches away from the cooker door. A close shave. Anyway, we wound our way through the small north eastern islands and rocks and were met as the sun rose to a wild sea and a wild volcanic landscape. It felt as though we had done it but there was still 5 or 6 hours of exhilarating sailing down the eastern side of Lanzarote to complete. Just as were starting to celebrate we were suddenly whacked by a wave from the side that decided it was coming in to join us. I was on the upwind side and got a pretty thorough soaking. Marcus was next to me and he was pretty wet too. We saved Gilly from the worst of it but there was still plenty enough to plop down the open companionway and to splosh through the central hatch which wasn’t quite tightly enough closed and give Jenny a lapful of seawater.

Eventually Arrecife appeared and we motored in to the harbour round the breakwater and into the enclosed body of water containing the marina. It was still blowing 20k+ as we radioed the marina. They gave us a tricky berth and just as we had realised we couldn’t get in behind a large yellow catamaran the bow thruster decided to give up. Now we are stuck side on to the wind, halfway into the space between two pontoons with little control. All three of us were watching a “corner” of the boat as Gilly skilfully turned us round and got us out missing boats both fore and aft by less than a metre. A call to the marina office resulted in them giving us an easier double berth and we safely motored in and tied up. We had made it! Our longest passage to date (621 miles) with barely a raised voice and a whole lot of laughs. Well done, skip, well done crew, well done Wanda.

Now, a day later, we have cleared up the below decks devastation, slept a long sleep and been to explore Arrecife town. It’s a great place, not touristy and very Spanish with a hint of North African influence. Petronella will be happy here for a few weeks. This morning Jen and Marcus caught the bus into Costa Teguise to check out their Spanish lessons when they return in December. It looks good. By then they will have given up their jobs, packed up and left the UK for the foreseeable future to start their new life in Uruguay. Tomorrow they fly home. So tonight we are off for a last meal in Arrecife. The only downside is that our Shore Support Leader, Emma, won't be with us. Well done Wom for receiving all those radio email messages and keeping The Gs up to date with our progress. Wish you were here.

We have a few things to fix and improve before we set off across the Atlantic but overall I’m really impressed with how Petronella and her crew have coped with this passage. Roll on January.

left to right: Wanda, Jenny, Gill, Marcus, John, George ..... make a great team (but where is Emma, our Shore Support?

Previous photos..

Jenny, Gill and Marcus on The Rock

Barbary apes on The Rock - oops, wrong captions!

Escorting Dilek on Symina out of Gibraltar

Nearly There!

Current location: 120 miles north of Lanzarote



Blogger: Jenny



Two major events since yesterday; we've passed both the 400 and 500 mile marks!! The 400 mile mark was (obviously) celebrated with some chocolate yesterday evening and I imagine the same will happen for the 500 mile mark later today (8am is too early for chocolate it turns out).



We're now just 120 miles from Arrecife in Lanzarote, about 24 hours away. We've had to motor almost the entire way since the wind died down on Wednesday morning which is pretty frustrating. We're going to try out the probable "Atlantic Sail Configuration" later today though. This involves the poled-out genoa and a big, new, hanked-on genoa. It will be interesting to see if they can move us in 6 knots of wind….. The wind did get up briefly this morning and dad then I hand steered for the last of our night watches, but died down again quickly.



Yesterday's lunch of salad followed by cauliflower cheese and ham was a revelation! Turns out using and entire cauliflower and an entire block of cheese makes it really tasty!! We've decided to have our main meal in the daytime, as it gets dark so early, and it's always a mad rush to get everything done before nightfall. It takes so long to do anything that cooking is by no means a small undertaking; we had to serve the cauliflower cheese from the sink yesterday to stop the dish whizzing around.



Food makes up an important part of the day. This morning's breakfast was prepared by dad and Marcus and was dad's "signature dish" - omelette. This happened around 11am. The plan was nearly thwarted when one of the boxes of eggs turned out to be riddled with maggots, but there was just enough to go round. It's another signature dish this afternoon, this time mine and Marcus'; spaghetti with peppers, onion, chorizo, garlic and chilli. Wom and Abi will testify that this is a regular meal at York Road.



Better go as we need the weather forecast. Hopefully the next blog will be from dry land!!!



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Friday Update

Current Location: about 230 miles from the Canaries



Blogger: Jenny



We're still chugging along under engine with pretty much no wind (4knots) which is a bit annoying but means that it's pretty calm and Marcus is feeling much better. Having to write this below deck as the sun is too bright on the computer screen (life's hard).



Firstly an update on yesterday's jobs: I washed and chronicled the process in photos for a later blog when we can upload pictures, Marcus washed and changed his pants (relief all round), mum washed but didn't find the hot chocolate (more on that later) and dad achieved all of his objectives. All in all a productive day.



We were talking this morning about the passage of time on the boat. Time is broken down into watches of two hours so that you have two hours on watch then six hours off. If you're on watch during the day you need to be on deck, nominally keeping a look out, checking the AIS for other ships and checking George or Wanda (the autopilots) are keeping us on track, but everyone tends to be around, doing jobs or napping, reading or chatting. At night it's more formal, generally you're on your own unless someone else can't sleep and you're essentially scanning a pitch black sea against a pitch black sky for any boats that might be around.



During the night, we rotate between beds. As there's always one person awake, there are three "births" to choose from and we each have our favourite:

- The port three-quarter birth (aka the invalid bed) - Marcus

- The starboard pilot birth - mum

- The aft cabin - dad and Jenny



At the end of your watch there will be one empty bed and you can either go in there or arrange in advance for someone to swap. For example, last night, mum took over from me so I went in the pilot birth, but Marcus and I had arranged that he'd have the invalid bed back after his watch so when he got up I moved into that bed and when dad got up to take over from Marcus I moved into the cabin leaving the invalid bed free!! Mum originally thought we'd all have our own designated beds with individual sheet sleeping bags but this is just not possible. We just crash where we can.



Time passes in a very strange way on the boat. It gets light about 8.30am and people tend to emerge for breakfast around the start of the 10am watch (me this morning). The day flies past with one watch each taking us to 6pm and the start of preparations for night - the sun sets about 9pm. The nights can sometimes really drag if you're tired and sleepy and keeping your eyes open can be a major issue. Last night I did 40 minutes of yoga (stopping every 5 minutes or so to scan the pitch black horizon) which really helped, dad sometimes listens to talking books and Marcus listened to the World Football Phone In. You can't read because if you had a light you'd lose your night vision.



Yesterday was quite eventful. Marcus, mum and I were just chatting on deck when a huge dolphin leapt from the water about 10m from the boat. It was so high in the air - we reckon about 10ft - and sploshed back in before repeating again. We were all squarking so dad rushed up from his nap but he'd missed it and there was just some commotion and some more leaping from other dolphins a little way off. We're not sure what they were doing but it was amazing.



In other news, George, the autopilot packed in and dad had to rewire it into the long wire powering the old deck GPS. In the process he managed to unwire the GPS (mum was not impressed) but fixed it all in the end. Marcus thinks that the insulation-taped-wiring would contravene building regs! We also set up the new GPS and spent ages trying to work out why the two were not showing the same track. It turned out that for years, the old GPS had been set to magnetic north giving us a 5 degree difference. Dad pointed out that it was surprising they'd even managed to make it to anywhere in the past as we plot using true north.



We found the new hot chocolate this morning, but mum had bought one which needs to be made with hot milk - not ideal on a rocky boat with no microwave! In the end we experimented with milk powder and made a very passable alternative. This will complicate midnight drink making slightly which is already tricky with red lights only; when pouring boiling water into red cups you have no idea how full it is! Most tricky is red, pink grapefruit juice, into a red mug, using a red light.



Today so far we've cleared out the fruit net for rotten items, cleaned the floors and toilet, dad's checked the state of the diesel and we've decided we're having cauliflower cheese for tea.



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Jobs for the Day

Current Location: 100 miles west of Casablanca



Blogger: Jenny



Well. Not much happened really yesterday. Dad and I managed to (hopefully) fix Wanda in exchange for bacon sandwiches for breakfast cooked by mum. This involved us hanging me off the back of the boat, through a tiny gap in the push pit and then using the boat hook to push the paddle down against the resistance of the water whilst dad pulled it up into the slot. Sounds easy; it wasn't!! It took numerous attempts and so many bruises. But we got our bacon sandwiches in the end!



In other news, the weather and seas are much better, though we now have to motor as there's no wind at all. Marcus emerged on deck about 3ish yesterday just in time for delicious Shepherd's Pie (so delicious we had it for tea too) and is feeling much more perky which is great. We've just turned south towards Lanzarote and it feels as though we're well on the way, even though we're not actually half way there yet. We're about to place bets (with prizes) on arrival times.



As there's not much to update, I thought I'd give a taste of life on board. We were discussing our priorities for today at breakfast and thought they'd make for interesting (?!) reading. Here goes:



Jenny

- Wash hair

- Wash body



Marcus

- Full wash

- Change pants



Mum

- Hairwash

- Find new hot chocolate



Dad

- Stop and check engine

- Make sure a blog gets sent

- Get a weather forecast



As you can see, some strenuous tasks….. these will fill almost our entire day!! Quite a few of my friends (Sandy in particular) have had questions about how we wash on board, so we're going to chronicle today's wash for a blog post as it's relatively calm and stress-free today. We'll upload it when we get to Lanzarote, with pictures - watch this space!!



Many of you will be wondering why washing is taking such priority on today's job list. The simple answer is because we haven't yet washed properly since we left two days ago. That is except for dad, who washed yesterday (no one actually noticed). As the blog to follow will testify, washing is actually really difficulty and we had an in-depth discussion about preferred techniques at breakfast this morning.



It's about midday now and mum's just making a salad to have as a starter to our curry lunch, dad is simultaneously fitting a new GPS and doing a cryptic crossword - whilst on watch, Marcus is asleep (we did the last night watch) and I think I'm about done here.



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