Day 9, November 23, 2009
19 36 N latitude 62 10 W longitude
166 miles to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

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
21 21.8 N latitude 62 38.64 W longitude

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
24 12.9 N latitude 63 25.4 W longitude

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.

Day 6, November 20, 2009
26 42. N latitude, 64 11 W longitude

Hello Everybody!

I wish I’d griped earlier, because shortly after I posted yesterday’s blog the weather changed and our wishes were granted. The clouds were replaced by a starry sky; the wind dropped into the twenties, then the teens; the Yankee was rolled out; the onerous job of hand steering became a pleasure; foul weather gear was stripped off; moods lifted–and all before dawn! As the sun came up the whomper was out and we were motorsailing in dying swells, under a cloudless sunny blue sky with the hatches open. We all felt invigorated by the sunshine and set to work. The fishing lines went out first, then all six of us bathed on the aft deck and put on shorts, short sleeved shirts, and sun screen; the damp towels are drying in the sunshine; foul weather gear has been rinsed and is drying in the sun and breeze; the cockpit has been hosed with fresh water and dried by the sun. I shoveled out the galley, wiping down surfaces and cleaning out the fridge. We had a selection of left over one pot meals for lunch, followed by ice cream for dessert, and now we’re ready for shrimp scampi in the cockpit for dinner. Leo and Chris replaced the waterlogged receiver for the auto pilot remote, so hand steering is again merely optional. The watermaker has been on for almost 5 hours making about 160 gallons of lovely fresh water; and the freezer, which refused to run when heeling more than 15 degrees, us back on line. Crew members have completed their unpacking after half the trip and done some laundry; the music system has been going constantly with the watch’s favorites; Jake has even suggested we plan to watch a movie after dinner tonight. This is the kind of day we had all looked forward to.

There appears to be a slight cloud on our horizon. According to Herb we have lost one of our days of wind. We have 400 miles to go to the wind and 350 miles of fuel. Remember our gamble? We hope it doesn’t come back to haunt us. But don’t worry. We’ve put energy saving efforts into effect: we’ll be running the engine at only 1500 rpms to conserve fuel, and we’ll have our Whomper up as much as possible. With our crew of small boat racing sailors we should be able to squeeze every inch out of every whiff of wind.

We have sent 3 photos, which should be in the vicinity of this blog. In one,Leo is driving during some of that heavy wind. The other 2 show the Sargasso weed piled on deck and caught on the deck and lifelines. We haven’t had any fish or other wildlife, but we’re watching for it.

P.S. to Herb, we had clear reception of everything you said to Melinka, who is only about half a degree away.

All the best from Avalanche enjoying the sunshine and hoping for more.

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Enough Already!
Day 5, November 19, 2009
29 07.0 N latitude 64 35.5W longitude

Hello Everybody,

Enough! Enough one pot meals, enough salty drippy foul weather gear, enough sweat soaked clothing underneath, enough slamming doors and cupboard doors as they come loose from their catches, enough water bottles rolling across the deck, enough bracing oneself to stand, enough grabbing for handholds with every step, enough only going on deck when on watch because there is so much spray. We want showers! We want to sit down to eat together on deck, not huddled under the dodger; we want our auto pilots back; we want our living space to dry out; we want to put our clothes on without grabbing something to stay upright. Now that you are in tune with the mood of the crew, I’ll tell you why we feel that way.

Ever since we crossed the Gulf Stream and began sailing the wind has increased steadily up to about 30-35 knots, with appropriately large accompanying seas. Plenty of spray and even waves have been hitting the crew on watch. Each day the weather prognosticators encourage us to think that the winds will lighten “soon” in “3 more degrees” at “30 degrees N”, and we look forward to that. And every day they predict just one more day. This is about the 3rd day (feels like a week) and everyone is getting tired of this weather. Enough already. We’re really ready for sunshine and for calmer winds and seas so we can all shower, so we can dry out our clothes and so we can sit in the cockpit and enjoy the ride. Unfortunately today we had too much sail up when the wind hit 36 knots and we broached, sending things below flying and drenching the cockpit. Both autopilot remote jacks got wet, and with the big seas and spray we can’t take them apart and dry them out. Until then both autopilots are out of commission. So while we’re waiting for sunshine and less wind we are hand steering. (That is, the watch crew is hand steering. I’m making one pot meals.) The mouse and keyboard on the navigation computer went flying off the desk as well, so they are now tied and velcroed down, respectively. We’re just frustrated, cooped up and looking forward to real Caribbean weather.

We did have some fun today. Chris, Leo, Peter & Kim all managed to watch some or all of a DVD about treasure hunting in the Bahamas. Earlier everyone had threatened to get on the back deck and take a shower, but only Leo actually did. He was all cleaned up, dried off, and climbing back into the steering cockpit when a big wave hurled salt spray all over him. He had to go back and rinse off again. Kim made the sensible decision and showered in the head. At least two of us smelled good.

At dinnertime I noticed an AIS contact about 8 miles away that I was then able to locate on radar. It was the yacht First Light, 102′ long, heading to Antigua. It caught my attention because it was moving erratically at only 1 or 2 knots. We called them on the VHF radio to ask if they were all right. They reported hydraulic steering problems, but thought they had them under control. We had all been concerned initially (until the boat’s name was revealed) that it might have been an overdue sailing yacht heading to Bermuda from Nova Scotia.

We did get some photos of the Sargasso weed on the deck and rail, but we haven’t gotten it downloaded yet. We’ll keep trying to get a photo on the blog.

All the best from the crew of Avalanche, who have had enough already and are looking forward to sunshine and showers!