Sailing with Asolare » ARC2007

ARC 2007 Daily Log 20: 25 Dec 2007

asolare — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 10:03:13 +0000

Merry Christmas!

We returned to Rodney Bay for Christmas Eve Sundowners with other ARC boats. ASOLARE extended an invitation to all other ARC boats to depart for an early 0500hrs morning sail to watch the sunrise and enjoy a Christmas Bacon and Egg Buttie and Glass of Champagne. We delivered everyone back to Rodney Bay shortly after 9am to enjoy Christmas morning in their own way and followed it up with a beach party in the afternoon – Not a bad way to spend Christmas Day!

ARC 2007 Daily Log 19: 24 Dec 2007

asolare — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:01:02 +0000

It is Christmas Eve and we have awoken to wonderful sunshine breaking past the Pitons. The three of us had the pleasure of three guests – Pauline – a St Lucian friend of mine that I worked with 3 years ago on the ARC. Also Caroline and Nunu from Yacht FARAWAY. The three of them joined us for the sail down the coast and sundowners in Marigot Bay before catching a taxi back to Rodney Bay.

We managed to book a table at Chef James Verity’s ‘Rainforest Hideaway’ restaurant. The restaurant overlooks a pretty view on the waters edge set into a beautiful ‘rainforest’ garden. Our 2-course meal was supplemented with 3 additional interim dishes chosen by the Chef. We finished with a Cheesecake and three spoons – probably the best cheese cake ever! Just as we were leaving we spotted a dingy from ‘HIPPOPOTAMUS’ (another ARC boat) who joined us for Gin ‘n’ Tonic on ASOLARE – another late night!

Sunday morning we explored Marigot Bay and its Marina development. Conducted some panic Christmas shopping, managed to book a table at the famous Lindera restaurant and bumped into ‘TROY’ – a Marina Manager who recently moved from Rodney Bay to Marigot Bay. Having worked along side Troy the past 3 years it was great to see him again. By late morning we were on our way to the Pitons – a race against time in order to make our table reservation of 1830hrs

We arrived at the Pitons mid afternoon and decided to moor between the two at Jalousie Bay. A quick swim before getting ready to go out – we made it just in time and watched the sun set over the Pitons from the famous ‘Lindera’ Restaurant high up on a ridge between the two Pitons looking down on Jalousie Bay.

ARC 2007 Daily Log 18: 21 Dec 2007

asolare — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 09:58:00 +0000

We were very pleased to discover that we had won 3rd place in our Division on corrected time after the number of engine hours and Yacht-handicaps had been taken in to consideration. YeeHa!

In Las Palmas the Skipper of Yacht BOOTLEGGER set the challenge of an inter-AMEL race. He kindly designed and made a superb trophy for the first AMEL across the line on corrected time! Our 3rd place in division secured us a 1st place against the other AMEL Yachts; ABORA (GER) in 2nd place, EUTIKIA (ITA) in 3rd place, BOOTLEGGER OF MANN (GBR) in 4th and ROCHELLE (USA) in 5th. . We were also given a couple of bottles of Rum for our role as Group D Net Controller. We are pictured with other Net Controllers from Groups A, B and C.

ARC 2007 Daily Log 17: 12 Dec 2007

asolare — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 09:55:48 +0000

We have arrived!

We crossed the finish line at 11 mins past midnight (St Lucian time – 0410 UTC) this morning and were safely tied to the pontoon by 2345hrs – and in a Bar by 2355 – just in time for last orders. In bed by 0230 and up again at 0730 – the Skipper made a quick dash to beat the queue of other crews trying to get their damaged sails into the sail Makers for repair! Clare and I took a wander along the pontoons to see who else had arrived. Having been Net Controllers during the crossing, the name ASOLARE is well known – so proudly sporting our Crew T-shirts we have been invited aboard for numerous cups of Coffee with many offers of beer later! It’s now midday so the next 6 hours will be hard graft to get the boat clean and make small repairs and complete all our arrival documentation prior tour first official commitment of the day – The ARC Arrival party hosted by the St Lucian Yacht Club on the beach this evening.

Thank you to all of you who have been reading our logs and following our progress – it was really nice to know you were out there supporting us. We are still communicating by Sat Phone, but hope to figure out an internet café at some point tomorrow – so a proper email then.

Thanks once again – we have had a great time and a fabulous experience! – Crew of ASOLARE

ARC 2007 Daily Log 16: 10 Dec 2007

asolare — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:53:37 +0000

Today Clare went up the mast for the second time to re-align a hailer-speaker that was pointing skyward. We will need it to play a couple of ‘victory’ songs as we cross the finish line and whilst making way through the cut into Rodney Bay Marina So far our short list runs to Tom Jones’ Sex Bomb, the 1812 Overture, Rule Britannia and Yellow Submarine

More eventfully …. The lashing that attaches the top of the Genoa to the Halyard has just failed and dropped the sail into the water! It is a very heavy sail we needed to get it back on board quickly. The Skipper took control in the cockpit trying to slow the boat down while the three of us battled with the sail in the rain! By lying down on the aft deck and waiting for the boat to heel over hard to port we managed to grab the head of the sail as it surfed down a large wave back towards the boat but the boat speed was still too high and the sail was pulled out of our hands back in to the water. So we left the sail dragging in the water and needed to take the ballooner down to reduce speed. In the process the skipper brought the boat round to de-power the sail which had the unexpected effect of blowing the lower part of the sail back on to the boat … we grabbed and stowed it fast!

With this sail now safe we took down the Ballooner. Unfortunately Sods Law applied, just a few minutes after the Ballooner came down there was another twang when the Gennaker Halyard snapped dropping this sail to starboard. We couldn’t believe it! a much larger sail (over 100 square meters of sail) now dragged along in the water. But this time we were already on deck so our reaction time combined with the sail being a lot lighter allowed us to pull the sail back on deck quite quickly.

The smaller sail configuration we should arrive ETA 4am UTC tonight.

ARC 2007 Daily Log 15: 9 Dec 2007

asolare — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:50:54 +0000

Another Sunday marks the start of our third week at sea. A number of the larger yachts have crossed the finish line along with a few fast smaller ones (with or with out engine assistance). At yesterday’s SSB Radio position reporting many yachts in our class reported between 15-24 hours of motoring in the last 24. We still have a total of only 43min motor for the entire trip – so our overall position should be more favorable than that indicated by ‘Distance to Finish’ once all the engine penalties are taken into consideration.

Today’s picture was taken last night just as we were sitting down to a fabulous Sunday Roast Gammon – complete with Cloves. We bought the Gammon in Las Palmas at the meat market – the Skipper drew a picture of a Pig and made ‘Oink Oink’ sounds to indicate we wanted Gammon. Having looked forward to this for 2 weeks we all agreed that PORK with Cloves made a tasty, if not a little unusual taste combination. Jonathan did a fine job and even made a chocolate cheesecake for dessert. I don’t think any of us have eaten so well – but then the off-watch crew have plenty of time to plan and prepare lovely meals.

Finally – there is one crew member aboard ASOLARE that is happiest most when pre-occupied with furtling the sails. Her name is Clare – and anyone who knows Clare will also know how dedicated and focused she is. This wonderful character trait has established itself with Clare inventing, introducing and playing ‘TELL-TALE BINGO’. The rules are very simple – all the tell-tales must be flying at exactly the same time on ALL 4 sails! (Gib, Stay Sail, Main and Mizzen). Once this is achieved ‘BINGO’ can be claimed. Whilst the Skipper does not declare his hand – evidence suggests that he is a closet Tell-Tale Bingo Champion!

ARC 2007 Daily Log 14: 8 Dec 2007

asolare — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 09:48:41 +0000

After 3 days of intense sailing through large stormy weather systems and skillfully dodging the squalls, we realized that our route now took us close to the Mid-Atlantic Tourist Board and Information Office. Having radioed ahead to confirm the Office was open on Sundays we made a quick gybe to port and took a direct route in order to take advantage of their complimentary Wi-Fi Hot Spot. Within 30 mins of arrival a sense of normality was restored as the entire crew managed to catch up on email, personal banking and the reading of other ARC Logs.

Food remains excellent. Last night we ate more of our Dorado caught on friday – Clare’s ‘Swiss Rosti’ – grated potatoes, onions, and fish – bound with egg and gently fried in chili oil. Yum Yum. This was followed by Sallyanne’s Spaghetti Bolognaise with Garlic Bread and then Big Bad Jon’s Frozen Icecream Twix bars (Which had been kept hidden all along!). This morning for breakfast was smoked Salmon, Scrambled egg and Spanish bacon on hot buttered toast whilst sat in the cockpit – the first time for several days that it has been calm enough and dry enough to do so.

For lunch we request that Clare re-make Swiss Rosti to use up the last of the fish. Then Big Bad Jon has volunteered to cook Full Sunday Roast (Gammon) for dinner.
Currently making way by 6.5kts direct to St Lucia having made our ‘fourth’ final turn to St Lucia! Therefore we predict arriving in the late afternoon of 12 Dec assuming no further distractions, deviations or lack of wind!

ARC 2007 Daily Log 13: 7 Dec 2007

asolare — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 09:34:14 +0000

Another night of squall dodging for many ARC Yachts. Most yachts seemed to take some comfort from the fact that there were plenty of other ARC yachts to talk to on both VHF and SSB. Most swapped weather information and discussed routing options as well as describing local conditions across the fleet. An indication as to the scale of the problems was captured by the attached photo. The red on the screen indicates severe heavy storms with winds up to 50kts surrounding the boat

Having said this the Crew of ASOLARE are feeling quite smug this morning because our talented Skipper observed the weather and by understanding how the system is developing the Skipper cleverly navigated and weaved ASOLARE through the array of squalls and weather systems all night to ensure our safety and comfort. We even made it through the weather system relatively calmly, happy and with no boat damage! So now, labelled a ‘Hero’, he is sleeping soundly in the aft cabin and we the crew have turned our full attention to cleaning chores to keep skipper happy.

At 1130UTC the ARC Radio network sparked in to life with a Fleet Wide Broadcast relaying a MAYDAY on behalf of Yacht SPAM. A network of VHF relay broadcasts quickly passed through the fleet alerting the yachts closest to the distressed Yacht. This was followed up at 1155 UTC when ASOLARE took advantage of the daily 1155-1200 listening watch on SSB ARC 4C to broadcast the request for assistance message from Cowes. Yacht BLUE SPIRIT was most suitably located and took control of relaying all messages and managing the response from all offers of assistance. A few hours later it was reported that all 3 crew had been transferred from their Life Raft to the safety of another Yacht demonstrating the major advantages of sailing as part of a large organised fleet of Yachts with a common communication network..

ARC 2007 Daily Log 12: 6 Dec 2007

asolare — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 09:30:45 +0000

The last 24 has proved a challenge to most of the ARC yachts, ASOLARE included, with significant number of squalls and thunderstorms spread over a large area. The problem was caused by a trough and a ridge of high pressure mid-Atlantic where most of the yachts are sailing currently (although we understand that the first super speedy yachts are expected to arrive in St Lucia today!). It is a known fact that on a yacht if anything is to go wrong it will happen at about 3 o ‘clock in the morning as it is very difficult at night to see the size scale and direction of developing storms. Fortunately ASOLARE is equipped with radar so we can see these menacing storms and in principle we attempt to navigate around or between them. (a black art to my mind, but one at which our skipper is very adept!) Without radar we would have simply had to reduce sail, batten down the hatches and accept our fate.

We had a very menacing 10 mile by 6 mile storm which we started tracking when it was14nm away. It was so vast we had to change our sail plan completely in order to keep out of its path. At this time we were in touch by VHF radio and in sight of yacht NOOKA just a few miles to the east of us. Attached is the picture of NOOKA looking quite tiny under a rather imposing thunder cloud. We knew they were well reefed and prepared but the cloud looked quite intimidating to us never the less.

Our fishing exploits have taken a positive turn; as I type I can smell sizzling garlic, lime and basil drifting from behind me in the galley and I can see Jonathan on deck extracting the BBQ from the Lazarette – This morning we caught our first fish, a 10lb Dorado. It put up a strong fight but slick implementation of operation Fish Recovery (as briefed by the Skipper yesterday) saw it swiftly on deck, despatched with Caribbean Rum, gutted and turned into Dorado Steaks.

ARC 2007 Daily Log 11: 5 Dec 2007

asolare — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:27:04 +0000

Yesterday the whole crew spotted one adolescent humpback whale. It breeched a few times just 0.5nm from our port side. Jonathan had been on ‘wild-life’ watch and was rewarded after 40mins of gazing at the horizon. At this point Clare made a timely observation; we would only spot more wild life if we spent more time looking for it! So Sallyanne volunteered to sit on the seat at the bow for a couple of hours of sunbathing…… oops wild-life spotting!

Last night a new sport was invented on board ASOLARE – extreme BBQ’ing! Dad, sporting lifejacket and with a lifeline securing him to the aft deck, noted that BBQ’ing at 45degrees must be considered one of the most extreme of on-board sports requiring the use of both hands to keep the food on the grill whilst maintaining near perfect balance and displaying the total calm and confident image one would expect from the Skipper!

Clare’s revelation about time spent on an activity could equally be true for catching fish. While we have spent our time watching and tweaking sails in order to remain competitive and engine free (only 40mins of Engine time so far), we have failed to catch a fish which is rather disappointing! Initially we thought we were going far to fast to catch a fish – but we speak to other yachts daily who have no problem with this and even grumble that they ‘caught yet another Dorado and did anyone know how to catch tuna’. So yesterday afternoon we took some advice from Jonathan on yacht AQUALUNA and Jeremy on ASTRA: They suggested that weight on the line and distance behind boat was not important – but using a squid lure skipping across the surface with a hook far back might work. So at first light this morning we deployed our latest attempts at attracting a fish – squid lure with a flying fish that landed itself on-board last night! Our Tactic change caught us a fish – but now we need to improve our ‘Landing a fish’ tactics!