This is it, we've made it, it took us 14 days to make the 2695 nautical miles! We are absolutly exhausted but it is so nice to be back in the human world! We are in Antigua, Falmouth Harbour, in the Catamaran Marina where we will stay a few days to relax, this is one of the few places I have been in the world with so many superyacht. The Catamaran Kaluah that we met in the middle of the Atlantic arrived safely today and gave us some wonderful shot of Blue Dawn sailing which you can check out in the "Photo Gallery" link.
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All good onboard but getting tired of the rocking-rolling motion of the last 12 days especially now that the wind has dropped a bit. We heard a big scary bang last night and found the pole for the headsail flying around. The track which hold it broke apart, we were lucky that the ropes were still holding and we manage to get it down and lashed it on deck, we were lucky in our misfortune which is not the case of many other out on the ocean. Two boats have been abandonned so far, one lost it rudder, but worst came today when we were listening to the SSB, they giving a distress message of a man which fell overboard last night with no lifejacket on! To our greatest relieve and surprise he was found but in very bad condition. It is so terrible to face these ordeals because (and hopefully so) we do not think about all of that when going at sea. But we try to keep our spirits high and look forward seeing land again.
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Blue Dawn is now an old lady (14 years) but she is having the time of her life ridding with excitment the big swell, it is still blowing 30 knots and when we've got a great wave she reached 15.7 knots when she surfs down the crest! We only have the headsail poled out and the staysail the other side, we took the mainsail and the MPS down a few days back to try to slow the boat down, we do not want to loose the autopilot! But it is getting better and better, land is only 875 miles away now so another 4 or 5 days. This passage has been like living inside a washing machine and every simple day task has become a mission. Going up-down then right-left, it feels a little bit like when a car is aqua-planning! All well onboard but we keep hearing some bad news on the SSB about broken down boats from lost mast to detached rudder, hopefully we are so many that help and assistance come quick. This is it for today, enjoy the comfort of the solid ground and have a thought for us out there!
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It is now 10 days since we left the Canary Islands and we have not stopped rolling and rocking around, we will have a very peculiar walk once we arrive back on land in about a week. We have been very lucky to get full moon for the last few nights and it is beautiful to do the Dog's Watch with the moonlight shinning on the sea. Our friends behind on smaller boats are having a not very nice time in those big and confused waves. The yacht which made the Mayday call a few days back has now been abandonned, and the vessel is just drifting along on its own until it will sink I guess, very sad! We met with another boat yesterday, a Catamaran Khalua, so we had a chat on the VHF and made pictures of each other, it was impressive to see it disappear behind the waves. This is all the news for now, not much is happening but this is the beauty of it!
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| Atlantic Crossing |
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We have now reach Mid-Atlantic and have begun to get used to the eternal rhythm as we are lifted and rolled in that following sea whose marching lines are lipped with white. The waves have built up now with this steady 25 to 30 knots wind from the East but it means that we are racing fast towards the West. By reaching the center of this ocean we have enter the majestic "Tropic Bird" territory. This still comes as a surprise to me, even after a second crossing of the Atlantic, to spot those wonderfully beautiful birds. It is hard to believe that they actually live 1500 nautical miles from the nearest land, they do not return except for the breeding season, they roam this solitary corner of the earth. They look like white seagulls with a more delicate shape to their body but the beauty of them is their two long and narrow feathers stretching down their tail. They have become our constant companion and I am sure it will not be long before they come and rest on Blue Dawn at night. Most ancient sailors and even Columbus spotted them and encouraged those great discoverers to think that land could not be far away, a big surprise laid headed of them, another huge body of water!
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Had up to 30 knots wind yesterday from the East with 3-4 meters swell, are now sailing dead down wind and to our marvel reached 13 knots yesterday! Every morning we have our little ritual which is to remove any flying fishes which have fell aboard during the night, if we could get them in time to eat them! In gliding, flying fish can almost double their speed, reaching up to 60 km/h over 30-50 metres or more in length to escape predators such as swordfish or tunas.
We've got two terrible news, one sailboat lost is mast about 200 miles away from us and another one a lot farther back had made a Mayday. It is a big concern and heart breaking when vessels so near are in danger and hope all is well with the crew. We have seen a sail on the horizon and it is quite nice to know that we are not alone out there. We still have 1666 nautical miles to go and everything going great on board, sleeping, reading, watching movies, listening to the radio and cleaning stainless. We are both getting use to the watch system and to sleep by bits.
Bonjour Papa & Maman et merci pour le coup de tel hier, baisers, tout va bien, Geraldine.
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This is it we have entered flying fish neverland, they always seen to anounce the wind and we have now about 26 knots of true wind. When the swell is pushing us forward and the boat is surfing down its slope we reach a top speed of 11.5! That's seriously fast for us and we are moving along the chart a lot faster now. Birds are playing is the waves to find breakfast but seem more like kids having fun. Our heading is still 240 degree and we will turn for Antigua in another two days. We have seen no boats for the last 24h, but hear on the radio that a long way down south there are some courageous guys rowing across the Atlantic from Dakar to Guyanna, that is such an achievement, there were also going fast and working on the oars 18 hours a day!
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Since we left we have done about 466nm not very fast as the wind is light (12 knot true) but then it is rather nice to be pushed along on a flat sea, to sit back and enjoy the wonder of the marine life. Yesterday the horizon was blocked by a huge number of dolphins swimming in tight formation, reminded me of some ancient army tactics, they then separated themsleves in three groups. One, racing fast under the bow, some more on the side diving from Port to Starboard, and the last group surfing on the gentle rolling swell behind us. Just incredible! We haul up the MPS with a huge sunset on it and as we are going West, we were lucky to have two sun setting! All well and we made radio contact with some other boats not far from us on a informal net giving each other weather and postition. Two of them had drinks together last night, this is the way to go!
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