Loki / Blog
2010-01-31 Jolly Harbour, Antigua
We have cruised slowly along the southern and
western coast of Antigua. The water colours are fabulous, this
is because of the shallow waters with sand or coral cottom.
During this weekend Antigua has hosted the Superyacth Cup, while in English Harbour we counted 22 red top
lights together there and in Falmouth Harbour meaning at least
that many superyachts with mast height above 30 metres.
During the last week winds have been at 20-25 knots level
from E/NE so we have stayed in Jolly Harbour marina as the swell seems
to creep in also into the anchorages at the lee side of the
island resulting a rolly anchoring. The swell also means that it
is very difficult to get ashore on the beaches without getting
wet on the breaking shore waves. This we learned when
staying in anchor at Hermitage bay at Five Islands harbour.
2010-01-21 English Harbour, Antigua
We arrived to Antigua yesterday morning, the
Atlantic crossing from Cabo Verde to Antigua took 15 days. The
prevailing winds were E/NE 15-20 knots with squals of appr 30
knots. During the last two days the winds were below 10 knots.
In the last night 25 miles before Antigua in 1
km water depth we got stuck into a rope with plastic canister
floats, there were no visible marks or lights for that. We
managed to cut the rope but a portion remained jammed around
propeller/rudder, we arrived into Freeman's Bay with sails and
cleared the bottom at anchor.
Some statistics:
The winds were quite steady from E/NE with
squals mostly at nights. We made three gypes during the passage
with few more adjustment of sails according to winds.
Windpilot was steering most of the passage, in
apparent winds below 8 knots we used Autopilot (during two
nights) and in one day with many squals we hand steered.
We run Yanmar for 4 hours and generator for 9
hours, mainly to warm up water. The solar panels were generating
most of the electricity used.
The watermaker was produsing 480 litres of
fresh water, mainly for showers.
We catched 3 dorados, one wahoo and one
tuna during the passage. No sight of big whales.
Only during the last day we saw other boats
and ships.
2010-01-16 Atlantic Ocean 14.16 N / 52.48 W
During the last days the wind have been in E
i.e direct downwind to Antigua. We have kept some angle in
relation to the wind to reduse the rolling of the boat. Wind is
now back to 20 knot level after two days of 10 knot level, at
that time we sailed appr 120 miles per day. Distance to go is
540 miles i.e we will arrive to Antigua in mid next week.
The sea remains quite empty, no other traffic
have been sighted. Yesterday a group of Minke whales ( length
7-8) passed us on way to west. Fishing has not resulted more
catches, however we have lost three baits because of too big
fishes for our fishing gears.
2010-01-12 Atlantic Ocean 15.51 N / 43.34 W
After seven days at sea we are now halfway to
Caribbean, appr 1050 miles behind and the same ahead. Trade
winds have been steady E/NE 15-25 knots. The days are sunny or
half cloudy, the nights bring some rainshowers with occational
winds up to 30 knots.
We are progressing 140-170 miles per day and
are presently sailing downwind with the two headsails poled out,
genoa with spinnaker boom and cutter jib with main boom.
Windpilot have been steering steadily all the way.
We have got up three dorados sofar, quite
tasty addition to the daily menu. The sea have been quite
silent, no sight of other boats or ships, some dolphins and
birds as well as lot of fly fishes have shown up.
2010-01-07 Atlantic Ocean 17.12 N / 30.52 W
We have now been on way to Caribbean for two
days. The weather have been half cloudy with E/NE winds of 15-25
knots. Quite nice sailing in steady trade winds. On Atlantic
crossing we have with us Matti, the skipper of s/y Meriida.
Running the boat with three of us gives a good night sleep. We
are presently making appr 170 miles per day with North
Equatorial Current pushing us with appr. 0.5 knots. Distance to
go to Antigua is 1765 miles.
When leaving MIndelo the wind was blowing 30
knots in the channel between Sao Vicente and Sao Antao. The Sao
Antao island affected very turbulent sea and winds far SW of the
island.
Fishing is going on and we have got few bites
per day but sofar got only one small dorado up, lunch for today.
2010-01-03 Mindelo III
Christmas in Cabo Verde is a family
event where they are vandering on streets and visiting each
other's homes.
The New Year is the main party event here. It
was some suprise to see that the city was very quiet untill
midnight, all shops and restaurants were closed. However, at
midnight the streets were full of people and the celebration of
New Year started with major fireworks and continued loudly in
few closed locations with live music. The loud celebration
continued untill 08.00 the next morning after which the town was
again very quiet with people even sleeping on streets.
Experiencing the Cabo Verde Christmas and New Year was really
interesting.
Now we are preparing the boat for the Atlantic
crossing and plan to leave on Monday or Tuesday |
