Author ArchiveDay 10, November 24, 2009 Hello Everybody, We made it! Anchor down at 9:10 am. All the best from Avalanche, glad to be here! Keep watching, we plan to post photos and tales of our week-long vacation. Day 9, November 23, 2009 Hello Everybody, We don’t dare make any statements that might jinx us, but it appears likely that Peter will be able to fly out on Wednesday. The wind is holding at about 18 or 19 knots and we’re posting SOGs in the 7’s with occasional 8’s and 9’s! We’re looking forward to sailing around Antigua and into the harbor (directly to the fuel dock) around mid day tomorrow. With any luck that will give us the afternoon to wash away the salt, put away the offshore gear, get into vacation mode and put the beer on ice! Finally today we had three fish hit Jake’s line: 2 sailfish and a Mahi Mahi. The first sailfish, reported to be a beautiful big fellow, got away with the lure. The Mahi Mahi was given a little slack in the line and got away. Leo got the second sailfish to the boat. He was just beautiful, with a wonderful long bill and tail. As Chris was reaching to grab him he shook the lure loose and swam away. We had planned to release him anyway. When Peter checked his lines he found that his lures were gone–no wonder he hadn’t had any strikes. So the score is now Jake and Leo 2, Peter and Chris 0, fish 2. No movie tonight. The crew was actually a bit tired today after staying up to watch the movie last night and then standing watches. Tonight everyone not on watch is in bed. We got the cribbage board out, though. Kim and Jake taught Chris the rudiments of the game. Kim played her cards very well and beat the boys handily. Jake is teaching Leo navigation, so this afternoon Leo was entering daily positions from the log book on a paper chart. Apparently the next lesson will be figuring average speeds. We want to set Leo up with a new chart, so he can record all six of his trips on Avalanche. That will certainly give him some practice! All the best from the crew of Avalanche, looking forward to walking on solid ground, anticipating a cold beer, and sorry to see our trip come to an end. Day 9, November 23, 2009 Hello Everybody, This is just a quick update to let you know our overnight SOG has been 8.3, at times as high as 9, thanks in large part to high quality hand steering. The wind is holding between 12 and 15 knots and we’re sailing with main, Yankee and staysail. If these conditions hold Peter should make his flight. I neglected yesterday to tell you that the crew decided to forgo a deep water swim in order to save the hour it would have taken, just in case it would be needed to get to Customs in time. What a bunch of great folks! I’ll report whatever happens today later on. Meanwhile, we’d love to know how the football games came out. All the best from the crew of Avalanche, enjoying a sunny day with fair winds. Day 8, November 22, 2009 Hello Everybody, This has definitely been a trip of extremes, and I’ve made note of some of them (so far). They could change. The best mileage in a day (measured at 1600 each day as we talk to Herb) is 200 miles, an average speed of 8.33 knots; the worst 138 miles, an average speed of 5.75 knots. Normally we can count on 180 miles a day, an average speed of just under 7.5 knots. So far this trip we’ve had 3 days over 180 miles, 4 days under. Our best 2 hour speed over the ground (SOG) was 9.3 knots (twice), the worst 5.18 knots. We had 60 hours when the average wind speed never dropped below 20 knots, peaking at 31.6 (the highest gust was 37); and 64 hours of average wind speed below 10 knots, the lowest 3.1 knots. When we left Jamestown the water and air temperature were 56.6 and 56.8 respectively, now we have 84.3 degree water, and 89.6 degree air during the day, 82 now at 10 pm. We still have caught only one Mahi Mahi. We’ve seen very few Portuguese Man ‘o war, their “sails” glinting in the morning sun; and we’ve had a couple of flying fish come aboard–one hit Peter in the chest! Otherwise it is like a desert out here. I forgot to report that Peter’s ManOverBoard watch alarmed twice during the first couple of days. The first time he was asleep in bed, sweating, and the alarm sounded. Everyone heard it except Peter, was dreaming about an annoying alarm clock. The second time the watch was under Peter’s foul weather jacket when so much spray was coming aboard, and the watch alarmed. The system worked great. Everyone woke up and headed on deck to see if there really was a Man OverBoard and the system placed a waypoint on the computer chart and navigation system. We are now about 270 miles from Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. Unfortunately the wind we have been counting on is now predicted to be lighter than we expected: 10 knots instead of 10-15 and 15-20. The good news is that it is backing to the east so we won’t have it dead on the bow, and our sails can help us. As I’ve reported, we have been motoring at 1500 rpms to conserve fuel. Jake has been constantly refiguring the fuel burn. He knew that we burned 2.88 gal/hr at 1800 rpms, but he didn’t have good data on lower rpms. The longer we run at 1500 rpms, the more data he is collecting. Currently he is basing his calculations on 1.5 gal/hr at 1500rpms, and of course, by extension, less fuel would be burned at lower rpms. As I type the wind is building up from 8.5 to about 11 knots from the NE. We have the main, Whomper, and staysail out, but continue to use the engine to keep our SOG at 7 knots (or above). As the SOG increases above 7 knots, we decrease the engine rpms. We’ve been running at about 1200 or 1300 rpms since dinner. We will continue to use the engine as necessary until our fuel drops to 30 gallons, at which point it will be sails only. Then, as Kim said yesterday, the sailboat race will be on. The reason for keeping our SOG at 7 knots is that Peter has a flight home on Wednesday at 8:20 am, so he can have Thanksgiving with his family, a tradition he has forfeited for many years while he has sailed with us. The boat and crew must be checked in with Customs and Immigration and Peter checked off the boat before he can go to the airport. And that will have to happen on Tuesday before the office closes at 5 pm. If we can maintain a SOG of 7 the computer tells us that we will reach Falmouth Harbour by 1 pm. We’re doing our best! SOG has been over 7 since dinner. News Flash: The watch has just turned off the engine. The wind is at 12 knots from the NE and our SOG is between 6.5 and 7.26. The computer predicts Falmouth Harbour at 5:45 and 9:30 Tuesday morning. Wish us luck! We had a first tonight. After we all had dinner together under the stars in the cockpit, instead of heading for bed, the entire crew sat for an hour or so enjoying the beautiful weather: crescent moon, stars, light breeze, warm air. Meanwhile, the “film festival” continues. Today’s matinee was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and tonight’s movie is Casino Royale. All the best from the crew of Avalanche, doing everything we can to keep moving toward Antigua, using as little fuel as possible, to get Peter home for the holidays. Day 7, November 21, 2009 Hello Everybody, We are motor sailing slowly. We’ve made 138 miles today, down considerably from our normal average of 180 and our earlier daily totals of just under 200. There isn’t much wind, generally 5 knots of wind with 12-15 in an occasional squall, so we’re running the engine at 1500 rpms with the mainsail rolled out. The wind is on the nose, so we can only roll out a jib occasionally. We’re still around 450 miles from Antigua and have at least another 24 hours until we find real wind. While we’re watching and wishing for wind, we are also checking our fuel burn rate and plotting strategies to get further faster. So far Kim is being quoted as having the best idea. “When we run out of fuel, we’ll race to Antigua”. The small boat racing skills will come into play. Certainly it’s not the briar patch: we’ve got lots of food, plenty of water, sunshine and possibly a chance to swim. And we all really think the lowered speed will reduce the burn rate enough to get us to the wind. Meanwhile we’ve had a nice day. Kim treated us all to a big breakfast: bacon, potatoes and eggs. That was followed by lox & bagels for lunch and taco salad for dinner. We had showers all around, the water is 83 degrees. We’ve had the fishing lines out, but no fish. We have been able to open hatches throughout the boat, a very unusual treat and a result of the lack of wind. We watched a movie last night, The Edge, and tonight’s movie is 50 First Dates. As you can tell, we’ve been relaxing. All the best from Avalanche, wishing for wind. |
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