Viewfinder

Vessel Name: Viewfinder
Vessel Make/Model: Acapulco 40
Hailing Port: Iqaluit
Crew: Jim Laverdiere Janette Wygergangs
27 February 2013 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife
21 February 2013 | at sea
20 February 2013 | at sea
19 February 2013 | at sea
18 February 2013 | at sea
17 February 2013 | at sea
02 February 2013 | Mindelo Cape Vede
31 December 2012 | Cape Verde
28 December 2012 | at sea
27 December 2012 | at sea
26 December 2012 | at sea
25 December 2012 | at sea
24 December 2012 | at sea
17 December 2012 | at sea
16 December 2012 | at sea
15 December 2012 | at sea
14 December 2012 | at sea
13 December 2012 | Las Palmas
06 December 2012 | Las Palmas
04 December 2012 | at sea
Recent Blog Posts
27 February 2013 | Santa Cruz de Tenerife

final one ....for now

This will probably be the last blog entry, at least for a while. The reason being is that Viewfinder is drifting in the Atlantic ocean without a crew as we had to abandon ship.

21 February 2013 | at sea

no title on this one

[s] [c1] [c2] [d] [t] [l] [a] [v] [b] # # # Well it is the start of day 6, and one day just starts to blend into the next. We are not seeing any marine life, although we did spot a bird yesterday. As well everyone is eating and drinking, which is a good sign. Gilson says that he is not sleeping well while the rest of us cat nap during our off watch. Last night's supper was pasta carbonara, perhaps a stew for this evening. And a last note for the day , we altered course, as we were going further north than I wanted ,and had we stayed the course, there would be no wind by saturday. Jim

20 February 2013 | at sea

A beautiful day

[s] [c1] [c2] [d] [t] [l] [a] [v] [b] # # #

19 February 2013 | at sea

getting on

[s] [c1] [c2] [d] [t] [l] [a] [v] [b] # # # The days are starting to go by quicker.People are getting settled into the watch system, and Fede gave up her claim to the port seat in the cockpit, because last night it was a little cold for her. Yes even here at Lat 17 degrees, the evenings and nights are cool. When I calculated our distance run yesterday, we had put 158 NM under the keel in 24 hours, today should be close to that. Everyone is happy with the progress we are making. Janette is feeling better today, as she has kept down the cookies she ate, this is a first since we left.Gilson is still not eating much, and Fede made tuna sandwhiches for her and I. Today people also changed some of their clothing, I need to change my t-shirt Gonna let you all go, have to catch the last episode of Downton Abbey

18 February 2013 | at sea

Day 2

[s] [c1] [c2] [d] [t] [l] [a] [v] [b] # # # We are into our second day out of Mindelo and everyone is settling into their own routine. The past 2 days have been great, in terms of miles covered, but right now the wind is dropping and we are slowing down somewhat. I will download my latest grib files, and see if we get some better wind. The skies are overcast Everyone seems to be getting over their sesickness , although not completely cured. Non one has really eaten anything substantive, for fear that it will come right back up. Fede has claimed her spot in the cockpit, it is the port side seat, here she reigns over her domain, only leaving it to go to the head, or take over at the helm. She has found that this is the most comfortable place to sleep while at sea, and she is not going to give it up to anyone

17 February 2013 | at sea

Martinique bound

[s] [c1] [c2] [d] [t] [l] [a] [v] [b] # # # They say that the third time is a charm, well so be it , as this is our 3rd departure for the Caribbean. Not that I expect the whole trip to be problem free. We left Mindelo yesterday, and in the last 24 hours we have covered about 140 NM, not bad considering we are using only the genny, and 2 crew have little or no experience at the helm. It did not take long for seasickness to grab hold either, about an hour out Gilson (the doctor) came down with a severe case of sea sickness, although he is still suffering, there have been signs of improvement. Both Fede and Janette, felt slight symptoms, but kept the contents of their stomachs intact. As per Robert of Bossanova, we are following his suggestion for watch schedule, which has the 2 ladies standing watch together, and Gilson and I together, although it is mostly me at this time, and I sure hope it changes. Going to keep this one short as I am back on watch in 3 hours ,and need some rest. cheers Jim

31 December 2012 | Cape Verde
Jim
I know that you haven’t read anything on the blog for the last couple of days. That isn’t because I haven’t got anything to write about, it is because of what I have to write about, trying to put my thoughts together.
Things were going smoothly, the weather was fine and the sailing was good. We were chewing up the miles. The first 24 hours we covered 140NM, the second day a whopping 170NM, and then Murphy showed up once again. It was at 05:00,on day 6 still dark with sunrise 3 hours away. Tom was on watch when he got backwinded . The pressure seemed to be to much for our new rudder and it snapped at the waterline, hanging on by I don’t know what. For the next few hours we steered the boat with great difficulty, getting the boat into the wind(20Knts) to lower the main was impossible as the hanging rudder was fishtailing skewing the boat to port ,then to starboard. This caused some wild gybes where at one gybe the boom broke in half making it very necessary to lower the main. With half the boom flailing wildly ,its jagged edges threatening severe trauma to anyone near it, we had no choice than to lower the main under very adverse conditions. Tom and Emma did a great job of this. Now we were without a main sail and 160KM from Cape Verde we limped along under engine. At one point about 8 hours laterthe fishtailing rudder finally broke away and left us with about 8 inches of rudder below the waterline, not much to steer with, but we got ourselves into the Mindelo Marina in Sao Vincente in Cape Verde.
It seems that bad luck has been following us, but then again we are not the only ones. We were the second boat in here that day with a broken boom, and there have been 5 in the last little while , as well as at least 3 boats with broken rudders, so misery does love company. Just to say that we are lucky compared to others. Just
this morning, a very large ferry boat leaving the dock ,wandered into the boats in the anchorage and rammed a catamaran, breaking its mast in half, and dragging it along.
So know we will wait here get things ship shape, and continue on our voyage to the Caribbean.
People may wonder why we continue after some bad experiences that we have had, but both Janette and I are confident in our abilities to cope with what is sent our way……and we don’t want to die in a rocking chair.
December 31, 2012
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