round we go!!
| Vessel Name: | Bubbles |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Fast Passage 39 |
| Hailing Port: | Seymour IN |
17 September 2012 | Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVIs
The final blog, Bubbles sold yesterday
First lets go back to that week in May in the British Virgin Islands… we had over 20 sparkling crew on board Bubbles (all wearing the coral crew shirts) approaching the round-the-world finish line at Nanny Cay. With only a few hundred feet to go the propeller fell off. Not being able to raise sail [...]
22 July 2012
the last leg sail
We had good wind on the morning we set sail to complete the 90 mile last leg (from St. Martin to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands) of Bubble’s circumnavigation. With a full boat, I was on deck explaining some navigational markers to some of the more virgin crew when Trevor at the helm yelled [...]
10 June 2012 | St. Martin
Magic Aboard Bubbles
That night in St. Martin the party aboard Bubbles can only be described as magical. With Christmas lights strung up both in the rigging to light the deck, and in the interior to light below, a special glow illuminated the boat that had carried us around the world. Paddy King lead a conga line of Bubbles [...]
04 June 2012 | St. Martin
The Round the World Pre Party Begins!!
The seven of us woke well before sunup to the Indiana Jones theme song cranked over the Bubbles sound system. Sails were up by sunrise with Paddy King at the helm and brother Joe standing by as we watched the morning light illuminate mountainous Saba's cliffs rising from the sea. With 20 knots of wind [...]
31 May 2012 | Saba Rock
the Sea Hawk 4 takes flight
The day sail to Barbuda was sunny with good wind and buzzing excitement from both new crew and old. Arriving in the poorly charted waters we ran aground, but jumping into a shallow sea full of starfish isn't a bad place to get stuck. Ashore the six of us strolled on an endless beach of pink sand with [...]
19 May 2012 | english harbour, antigua
Adding more Bubbles
Bubbles and crew ran completely broke of funds after Carine flew back to Amsterdam. Having neither cash nor credit via any type of card, Diego and I resorted to trading. For a couple dive tanks we got the jib sail repaired, for a regulator we got fresh produce out of a local garden. We were able [...]
heading to the Cooks
Friday morning we got up early and headed to shore. We had a few stops to make: the Gendamarie, grocery store, and post office. It's funny getting around town because it always involves hitchhiking, and then Alex or Joe handing the driver a beer cuzie that says Bubbles.
We packed everything up on the boat, cleaned her off, and stowed the dingy onboard. There were some really good winds blowing through the last few days so we wanted to leave Bora Bora quickly to take advantage. Eventually we made it out to sea by noon.
We're now on our way to the Cook Islands. The winds are at our backs, blowing at a steady 20 knots. We're having some fun trying to get the wind vane to work well since our autopilot is still out of commission. We're sailing "wing and wing" so every once in a while she veers off course and the wind blows the main sail inward. Just give her a good tug and set her back on course and that's that. Sailing at night is quite a unique experience. There are literally stars above and below you. The sky is so dark at night that you can spot a shooting start every few minutes. When you look down at the water you can see the bioluminescent plankton sparkle in our wake - it's pretty cool.
With our current course we hope to make it to the Cooks in 4 days. There are a few atolls on the route that we have to steer clear of but other than that it's quite straight. I'm hoping something tugs on this handline we're dragging. We bought wasabi and have tons of ginger onboard :
