The start from Gran Canaria was quite "fierce" with a lot of wind and big waves, but that meant that we also had good speed.
We covered a distance of 156 Nm the first day - "this bodes well, we thought", but eventually route selection and less wind were decisive for how fast it went.
Egil (crew) did not feel very well the first day 😟, but since then has had no problems and he also eventually got his first night shift alone after having shifts with Monica. This meant that we could all sleep a few more hours at night.
Egil got a nice video of dolphins that followed us for several minutes on day 2.
As the routines were incorporated and the wind slowed down, there was plenty of time to read books brought along and enjoy the sun and sunsets.
With a little less wind than the first 2 days, it was time to get up the genaker. On the way up, something suddenly fell on the deck?!, What was it? - a bolt? It did not sound good, a bolt should preferably be stuck in something. We took the genaker down again and it turned out that the block that the rope is going through at the top of the mast had come loose. This meant that we could not use the genaker until it was fixed 😏. Without genaker, the speed was slower and more and more boats "passed" us, but no point in getting annoyed, the sun was shining and it got warmer the further south we came 👍.
The fishing line was released and after losing several fish and also lures, hooks and tendons, we finally got one all the way to the platform behind. Egil was ready with the "hook", but 10-20 cm from the bathing platform came one last twitch from the fish - gone !! The hook slipped and whizzed between Kai and Egil and got stuck in the cockpit roof 😲- puhh, luckily it went well, no one was hit.
After a few days we started having problems with the chartplotter. It restarted and reset all settings over and over again. Kai contacted Raymarine in Mindelo, Cape Verde and they had a new one in stock 👍. Great! , but with a new chart plotter, we also had to have a new radar - insanely expensive, but it had to be fixed before the long crossing 😏. Will not be shopping for a laaaaang while …….
We arrived in Cape Verde early Sunday morning, Nov.14th at 06:51 (utc-2).
7 days at sea had been completed and Egil (crew) had also completed his «maiden voyage». 😃
In Cape Verde we were on the island of Sao Vicente, but also visited the beautiful neighboring island of Santo Antão. The south side of the island was dry and barren, while the north side got moisture from the Atlantic Ocean and was green and lush. We drove minibuses on narrow paved roads over the mountain. The road has been laid by hand. There were 2 work teams that started at each end and they met on a narrow edge, here the mountain plunged down several hundred meters on each side. Without a built-in guardrail, we would never have dared to drive on the edge😬. However, it was an absolutely fantastic view, and without having been to Peru, this was similar to landscape photos from there 😉.
We ended the trip with lunch in a converted stable that was located deep in a valley - very nice and different 😃.
The remaining days in Mindelo were spent on some repairs and some shopping. Otherwise, the World Cruising Club held a welcome party and award ceremony for the first leg.
On Friday November 19th, the start of the long journey across the Atlantic to Grenada took place. Pretty great with so many boats sailing, all with the same finishing goal, but still different courses.
It did not take many hours before most were out of sight 😏.
We got off to a fresh start, with a lot of wind and fairly large waves, but it did not last more than a day. Then we got into / near a quiet belt that did not give us more than 2.5-3 knots speed - then it does not go much forward 😟.
We still have 3 hour shifts, it slips a bit during the day, but it works well at night, then everyone gets the opportunity for 5-6 hours of sleep in a row.
Kai does not relax as well as he is after all the one who is responsible and can / understands most of what is going on. He therefore sleeps in the cockpit and does not sleep as well, at least not in the beginning. There is a lot of trimming of sails and weather-/ course-routing. And with a less experienced crew (me) and a completely inexperienced (Egil) it will be a lot on Kai 😏.
The genaker could now be used after we fixed the halyard (rope) on Cape Verde. It worked fine until the wind became too strong (it only lasted a while), but then we used the pole and the genoa instead.
It continued with alternating winds, but with the right tailwind and straight course it was up with genaker again on day 4. There was no more wind than we could have pole and genoa as well. It looked great with "butterfly wings" and it made good speed 😃. Pole and genoa down before nightfall.
At 04.00 there was a bang and Kai who was on duty saw the genaker fall in slow motion, into the water and along the boat😮.
Every man on deck!
We had to haul it up on deck, it looked fine, no damage - what happened? The snapchackle for the genaker halyard must have loosend, but is that possible?
Kai had to go up in the mast, in the dark, while the waves rocked the boat and the mast swayed 2-3 meters from side to side, not a good feeling up there, but it "had to" be done.
He grabbed the genaker halyard and got it down. The ring to the chackle must have hooked itself into something and opened up - there is probably a microscopic chance that it will happen, but it CAN obviously.
"A blessing in disguise" - the engine had been stopped / turned off just minutes before the genaker ended up in the water. Wow, thanks - because that could really have been problematic, with ropes and fabric in the propeller.
The next day the gennaker was hoisted again, now the release ring was taped so that it could not be opened.
We had several hours of good sailing, BUT it only lasted one day !!, then it happened again. Genaker fell into the water again ?!
What?!, What's going on?
We got genaker hoisted up on deck again and Kai had to get back up in the mast. It was not the release ring that got caught, but the snapchackle itself that gave in, it could not withstand jerks and snatches by the genaker in the wind.
Then it was the pole and genoa instead.
When we did not have special "challenges" to take care of, the days became quite similar - sleep, eat, watchshifts. ..plus not least to enjoy sailing, be completely "alone" as far as you can see, beautiful sunrises and sunsets and beautiful starry skies. In short, quite amazing 😃
Below us 4-5000 meters of water - above us only sky🤔
After a few days, all other boats had "disappeared" and we saw that we fell abnormally far back on the ranking list. Kai began to wonder about our weather routing - "what did the others see that he did not see". We have been sailing for quite some time, he can trim sails and read the wind and the boat is relatively fast - what are we doing wrong ?! He actually got quite annoyed and said "amateurs, we get to do something we can"
But when the routing after a week wanted us to sail far, far south towards Suriname and Brazil and then follow the coast north to the Caribbean, he realized - here is something wrong !! 🤔
Kai checked the preferences that had been entered to the routing app and discovered that he had forgotten to change comfort sailing from the Mediterranean "not over 2.5 m waves" (in the Mediterranean the waves are sharp) 😂, and in Atlantic Ocean below 2.5 m is difficult to achieve, so then you must avoid wind too 😏.
So we sailed away from good sailing winds for the first 900Nm😡😂. The other boats had a good laugh over the VHF.
In the Atlantic Ocean, it is longer between the waves and even though they are higher, it does not feel too bad.
With new preferences added, our weather routing was - "go with the wind straight west" 👍.
But more happened - when we had to take down the pole in anticipation of a possible stronger wind, the snapchackle came loose there too !!!
Luckily, the heavy barrier did not hit Egil 2 meters away, but thundered into the railing and the plank that was tied to it. No damage to anything.
Now snapchacles are beeing retired, they can not withstand the load!
This is something Kai has thought that maybe should be replaced, but "it has been used before, so then it's fine" ?! 🤔
From now on there is no more "wondering if" without doing something about it !! There's usually a reason why Kai wonders.
We see lots of flying fish all the time and have also got some on deck.
One night when I, Monica, was awake, I suddenly heard something "splashing" into the cockpit. After looking for a while, I found a flying fish. I managed to push it out the back, but at the same time something hit me in the head. 😳
What was that? It was the leek that hung under the solar panels that fell down and hit me 😃.
In addition to all the flying fish we got on board we also managed to catch a nice tuna, just the right size for sashimi for Kai and Monica - Egil is not very fond of fish 😮, so he just took a taste.
More for us 😉
It gradually became clear that we might have been quite lucky with our route choice anyway when a lot of unstable weather was reported further south, with rain showers and wind. You want to avoid that if possible 😉
Day 9, day, Sunday, we did not get away from our first "squall" (rain shower), it quickly became dark clouds around us and from we said "now we reef" it took only a few seconds before it "bucketed down". There was a gale and torrential rain.
We managed to get most of the things down into the boat before it got too wet and Kai was quite happy, because now we had rinsed away all the salt on the boat and the metal shone brightly again 😃.
The next morning we got squalls again, and got to experience again how important it is to reef the sails. From the first raindrops to torrential rain and wind with gale force it took only about 30 seconds😲. Those who do not reef in time often have their sails torn.
wow, what rain!, the sea foamed and there was a wall of rain - I have only seen something almost similar - in Bergen 😉.
We also had a slightly unpleasant experience one evening. We were called up on the VHF by someone who introduced himself as a sailboat that was 5.5 Nm behind us portside and he asked a lot of questions - if we participated in ARC, from where and when we started, how many we were on board and our average speed. They were themselves an "independent" boat ??
Hmmm, unusual questions just to "greet"!
Then it was easy to ask oneself - was it real or "hijacking"?
We could not see them on our chart plotter, so Kai tried to get in touch with Daniel, so he could check online if there was a sailboat behind us. Kai had to wake Sandra so that she could get hold of Daniel since he was at a work "Christmas party" 😅.
Daniel called back and could not see anyone, which was not so strange since online search is also AIS based.
All this happened while there was a big, messy sea and increasing wind and I (Monica) was behind the wheel and working so I was completely "sweaty" 😟. Eventually, Kai took over.
When we finally saw some light behind us, it did not match the lantern guidance for a sailboat - what was this ?!
We turned off our lanterns and VHF and sailed "black" / invisible the rest of the night. In the morning we saw no one anywhere, not even on the chart plotter.
Hmm, very strange and quite uncomfortable 😟
Friday morning, day 14, we saw a boat !! 😃 - a tanker. Nice to see a boat again, but we did not see this one on our chartplotter either!
There is something wrong, first the radar stopped working and now the AIS reception is not displayed !!! - the chartplotter is new !! 😩 - must be checked when we get to Grenada.
Suddenly our "nice" morning was interrupted by a loud thump and the boat "stopped" a little up and changed direction - what the h... was it? !!! We are in the middle of the Atlantic. Kai was down in the boat and checked some electrical connections, and ran up.
Egil stood at the helm and looked towards starboard, then towards port - there came a WHALE along the side of the boat - we had hit a whale of 12-13 meters !! 😮
It was hurt, we saw lots of blood around it and behind the boat 😥. Kai described the strange feeling you got the moment we understood what had happened - great fear of our own situation and sadness for the whale at one and the same time.
We checked all sorts of places we could check, but could not find any damage to the boat or water intrusion - puhh! BUT sad with the whale, hopefully it can handle it. Surely they go deep to stop bleeding - high pressure on the wound?
No time for any pictures of it, nor would it be a "nice" picture 😔
But then again, hitting a whale!, in the middle of the Atlantic !! 😳 very sad day.
One night, Kai and I were sleeping in the cockpit, I (Monica) woke up because I got wet in the forehead - does it rain through the bimini (the roof)?
Up and check, it was a flying fish that hit me in the forehead - wuæch !!!
Down on the floor with it and Kai got it tilted out. It smelled "VERY" fish, maybe not so strange 😉, but I still managed to get back to sleep again.
The next morning there were 13 flying fish on deck 😏.
We are approaching the goal, Grenada appears on the chartplotter now - only 160 Nm left.
The last 2 days we have had the "company" of an ARC boat, Orion - it is nice to see a sail nearby during the day and a light at night.
We talked on VHF in the morning and suddenly there were 2 more boats that were within radio range - we are not completely alone out here.
We had good speed the last 2 days and nights until December 7th at 03.26 (utc -4) I woke up and saw the lights from Grenada.
Yayh, we have crossed the Atlantic! 😀
We arrived at Port Louis Marina, St.Georges, Grenada, December 7th at 08.31 (UTC-4) after sailing 2203 Nm (4080 km) and 18 days at sea.
We arrived just in time for the marina's welcome party the same evening, but first we were greeted at the quay with the marina's welcome bag and rum punch.
The World Cruising Club's award ceremony in various categories took place at The Aquarium Restaurant, a fantastic place right down by the beach - just as I have seen pictures of and imagined what the Caribbean should be 😃.
Wow, we're actually here - we did it !! 😃
Ps We crossed the Atlantic without any injuries, the first day in Grenada Monica steps into a hole on the sidewalk - now crutches for a week 😏.
Monica og Kai Robert
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