2013 - Transatlantic Crossing

Transatlantic Crossing - November, 2013

My last blog entry was over 2 years ago (May, 2013).  We had just completed our maiden voyage with Peregrine from Baltimore to our home port of Stuart, FL.  I had visions of continuing this blog with all our adventures, but, well, life just took over, and we got busy living it.  It is now over 2 years later and I’m ready to catch up on the blog.  I have my hand written journal, so I think I can piece the story together without too much trouble.  So here goes…..

Our friends, Lyn and Martin Cooper purchased a new 45’ Lagoon Catamaran in France, and needed crew to help them sail her across the Atlantic.  They hired a captain along with other friends to sail her from La Rochelle, France to Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands.  We signed on for the second leg of the trip (Lanzarote to Antiqua).  It took Steve and I three separate flights to get to Lanzarote.  Our first flight departed Orlando at 2:30pm, November 5th.  From Orlando, we flew to New York, from New York to London, then on to Lanzarote.   We arrived in Lanzarote November 7^th at 12:30pm.  It was a long 46 hours!

Rubicon Marina, Los Palmos

While there, we took a couple of days to tour around the island.  Lanzarote is a volcanic island with a rugged coastline.
 

 

Evidence of a lava flow that occurred in the 1700’s is still visible today.  In spite of this ruggedness, they actually have grape vineyards and wineries here – how convenient!  The planting method is quite unique.  The climate is arid, as they are located just 80 miles off the coast of Northern Africa/Saharan Desert.

Bodega Stratvs Vinyard

Vineyard farmers must dig 6’ deep holes down through the lava soil/rock to reach the fertile soil.  They then build lava rock walls in a semi-circle on the leeward side of the newly planted grape vine to collect dew and to funnel any rain that might happen to fall directly to the plant.  The vines are small and rather gnarly, but the method obviously works, because the wine was great!  Just more proof that “when there is a will, there is a way”.

Susan and Steve sampling the wine at the Bodega Stratvs Winery, Lanzarote

There are six of us in the crew that will be taking the new boat from Lanzarote to Antigua, approximately 3500 miles across the Atlantic, and here they are!

L to R:  Jules, Steve, Susan, Martin, Lynn and Robert - Rubicon Marina, Los Palmos)

November 10th we were off the dock at 11:30am.  Here we go!!! 

Jules on the left and Martin at the helm

Seas quickly built to 6’.  Chris Parker, the cruiser's weather guru out of Tampa, FL has advised that we head south for better winds.  He will be communicating with us via fax and satellite phone.  By the first night and into the second day, Steve, Martin and I are all seasick!  Both Martin and Steve succumbed to painting the port side of the new boat.  I was able to fight through it by not getting out of bed.  But we were all on Zofran and Dramamine.   Steve and Martin quickly recovered, but I remained with a low grade nausea most of the trip.  This meant no caffeine or alcohol for me – BUMMER!

Day 4 - I was awakened from my afternoon nap by Jules yelling “Susan, dolphins!  Up front!”  I was out of the cabin and on the bow in less than 30 seconds, I’m sure.  There must have been at least 30 dolphins.  They were jumping in our bow wake, slapping their tails, rolling up to glance at us hanging over the bow, looking at them. They hung with us for about 15 minutes.  What an awesome experience.  Even a mom with her baby in the group!  It is moments like this one that keeps us doing what we do.

Martin and Susan hanging over the bow.  Jules and Lynn on the starboard hull

 

By Day 9 we started running into squalls as we dropped below the 20 degree latitude line.  The code zero sail can’t take much more than 16-18 knots of apparent wind for long before it will tear, so it’s got to come down during these squalls.  Our first squall was quick moving and dished out 35 knot winds.  Day 10 brought more squalls.  Robert saw winds at 43 knots on his night watch.  Seas are consistently 6-8’ swells with a chop.  Day 11 we hear there is a depression forming just north of us.  We begin heading further south (Latitude 15 degrees) to avoid the high seas.  We are getting warmer as we venture south.  The days start running together and on Day 12, November 21^st, we thought it was Thanksgiving.  So, we celebrated with turkey and dressing dinner.

L – R: Robert, Lynn, Martin, Steve, Susan

Oops.  Thanksgiving is still a week away.  How funny is that!  It’s amazing how cut off you feel from the rest of the world out here.  Day 14 we hit the doldrums!  No wind with a flat calm sea. There is a lot of water out here!  Pretty eerie, actually.  Fortunately, by the next day, the winds began to build around noon.  We have 1000 more nautical miles to go before we arrive in Antigua. 

Day 17 4pm: A shout from Steve from the fly bridge helm station.  There was more excitement in his voice than I think I’ve ever heard.  “Whale, whale, whale”!  As I ran from the salon to the cockpit, there, just 30’ off the stern I see the huge whale bend his back, heading straight down and back to the abyss.  Steve heard the spew of the whale’s blow hole, and when he turned to investigate the noise, the whale was about 20 yards off the starboard side.  He estimated it to be about 35’ in length with a big bulbous head – sounds like Moby Dick to me!  Our first siting of a sperm whale – EVER!  Very exciting for us.    Seas started building by nightfall.  Another storm during Robert’s shift (9p-12a).  Winds up to 37 knots.  Seas were quite sloppy, causing us to be tossed about in our cabins while trying to sleep.  Jules reported being airborne off his bunk.  Day 18: DTW (Distance to Waypoint) is 500 miles!  But who’s counting!  Day 19, 10:30pm: I felt the boat racing across the waves like a runaway railcar – NOT GOOD!  On with the foul weather gear and into the salon we go.  We meet Martin coming out of his cabin.  The boat was traveling 13 knots.   Winds were 40+ knots with heavy rain.  Robert came down out of the fly bridge soaking wet.  The main sail came down and the Genoa was reefed.  The storm passed without incident.

Here is an example of what we faced day after day, or rather night after night.  These cells can be quite scary to look at, and unnerving to sail through.   This one was on Day 20.

Day 21: It’s 2:00pm and we just had lunch sitting around the cockpit table chatting.  The seas were fairly consistent with 8-10’ swells.  We were all rather riled to see one particular wave come rolling in toward our stern measuring close to 15’ – way over our heads!  The boat took it better than I did, as the big wave just rolled right under us.  It’s never a good feeling to be surfing in a 45’ boat!

If we weren’t dealing with squalls, we spent most of our days reading, chatting, eating, practicing knot tying, watching the sun rise and set, etc.  The days were long and the night watches were longer. We got lots of practice identifying all the constellations.  The stars were spectacular from horizon to horizon.

Steve keeping watch on the flybridge

Susan practicing with the lines. Lynn in background

 

Steve enjoys one of many beautiful sunsets

Day 22: (Sunday, December 1^st) Our last watch, and again with the squalls starting right after midnight, but nothing too serious.  6:00am Steve and I heard commotion in the salon.  Upon investigation, it was our much anticipated green mountains of Antigua.  LAND HO!!!

The mountains of our long awaited Antigua

 As we slipped southwest of the island and out of the path of the big rollers we had been dealing with for the past week, the seas were flat calm.  Jolly Harbor was in our sites and would be our final destination.  Steve and I made flight arrangements into Miami for the following day.  It was back home for us.    

We can now say we’ve done it.  We sailed from the Canary Islands across the Atlantic Ocean (approximately 3500 nm) and into Antigua in 21 Days.  We are probably not interested in doing another crossing any time soon; however, the experience was something we will treasure forever.