It is hard to believe that we are only 100 miles from Antigua. We are into our 12th day at sea and it feels like it has been even more than that. Can you say “forever?”
Frankly, I have had quite enough of sunrises at sea but for consistency, here is one more…
And, as there is not a lot to take photos of: So, from the cockpit… Forgive me but there is not a lot to do at 6:00 in the morning on watch…
And speaking of 190+ mile days, proof of speed. From right to left. Wind speed, boat speed, wind direction and apparent wind and depth. However, depth is not correct as it is more than a mile deep here. Depth instruments often read stuff in the water or even changes in temperature.
As we rock along at 8+kts, we do leave a bit of a wake. Sadly, this does not do justice so you so suspend disbelief and go with me on this. It is a big ocean out there/here.
When we left Essex the water temperature was a chilly 61 degrees and it was downright cold at night. We even ran the cabin heat to keep things above 60 down below.
Fast forward nearly two weeks from our departure, and 1,700 ocean miles later, it is plenty hot and humid and the ocean has warmed considerably, into the 80s.
Each day the temperatures have climbed steadily but things did not really get unpleasant until two days ago when temperatures down below really climbed, into the high 80s. Even with fans blowing on us, it has become hard to sleep. With waves breaking over the boat regularly, we cannot open any hatches lest we end up with buckets of water below. A slow drip is bad enough. Years ago I left a small hatch open in the gally and had to mop up several gallons of water that came cascading down in an instant. I will not make that mistake again.
Since we entered the trade winds, we have not had to turn on the engine and have consistently reeled off over 190 miles a day. Alas, never 200 but 190, 196 and such is quite respectable. It is always a good thing when our speed picks up toward the end when we have all had just about enough sea time, thank you very much. When will we get there? Sooner than if we were going slower…
We expect to arrive in Antigua around midnight and we have not yet decided if we are going to go directly into English Harbor or perhaps duck into nearby Falmouth, anchor for a few hours and then move over to English Harbor once it becomes light.
The entrance to English Harbor is narrow and entering in the dark is daunting, well to me at least. The idea of going nearly 1,800 miles and ending up on a rock ledge in the middle of the night is not my idea of a good way to “end” the run so perhaps Falmouth makes sense.
The simple fact is that at midnight we will be tired after a long run and that alone suggests that the prudent thing is to “do easy”.
So, as we reel off the last 100 miles all I can say is that I am very much looking forward to toasting our arrival with Matt and Peter and then for a swim. Sans clothes? That’s my plan. Besides, it will be dark…
It feels good to be “almost there” but what I am looking forward to even more is “we have arrived”.
Not to jinx it as we are not there yet, but next post, from English Harbor…
And, on a more random note, Brenda, who I can not wait to see when I get home later this week. I wonder if she would have said “I do” had she even suspected what lay ahead…
It is Saturday afternoon; the sun is out and Pandora is bounding along on a very close reach in about 17kts. Of course, that means wet…
After yesterday’s post about the illusive 200 mile day, it is worth noting that our run from 10:00 yesterday morning till 10:00 today was a very respectable 196 miles. Not 200 but not bad.
I have mostly given up on trying to mop up the drips which seem to be coming from a few new places. The problem is that leaks generally do not show up unless we are really pounding. I think that the biggest leak is still coming from the mast fitting on the deck which needs to be removed, cleaned and rebedded. I have not decided if I will tackle that myself or if I will ask a rigger to address it.
The other leaks, a minor drips from the hatch near the galley and in the forward head are probably simple to fix but I will not go into that right now. We will see.
Anyway, we are bounding along and I’d say it’s safe to say that conditions are “sporty”, or “salty” as Chris Parker, our weather router, likes to say.
I received a note from my friend Tom who has an Oyster in the eastern Mediterranean where he sails with his wife Sarah. I understand that he helped deliver a friend’s Oyster from the US to English Harbor, where he is now. Sadly, I will not see him as he will be flying back to his home in Florida before I get there.
There has been a lot of back and forth between me and others as we plan the arrival events for the next ten days or so. It has been a bit of a challenge with intermittent connectivity with Starlink but way easier than in past years. However, despite some schedule changes, and a lot of back and forth, I think that most events are now scheduled.
We are 250 miles from Antigua now, with 85% of the run behind us. It feels good to know that we will be there soon but it is now a case of the “longest mile” as we INCH toward our destination.
It’s always hard to say exactly when we will be there but the closer we get, the clearer it becomes. At this point, it seems likely we will likely arrive somewhere between 10:00 on Sunday evening and early morning Monday, not to put too fine a point on it. That will have made the run in 12 days, not my longest but LONG, never the less.
The biggest uncertainty is that we are sailing fairly hard on the wind now and if the wind were to shift even 10 degrees to the south, we will have trouble making landfall on the eastern side of Antigua. If we must head to the western side, we will then have to motor directly into the wind and waves for hours to make English Harbor. I really hope that does not happen.
So, now that I am somewhat, kind of, reasonably, certain about the timing of our arrival, I am starting to think about all that I will NOT have to do aboard for much longer, like cleaning the head, moping up leaks along with dreaming up and cooking meals. I have tried hard to make sure that meals are not particularly repetitive and I think it is going well but the pickings are beginning to get a little slim so it is a good thing we are getting close.
Sailing fairly close to the wind, is rough and it is quite hot and sticky down below, with everything all buttoned up, so I really don’t want to do much cooking. When I asked what the guys wanted for dinner tonight, they both suggested egg salad wraps, exactly what I prepared last night. That will be easy and I can spiff them up a bit so they are somewhat different than last night.
Brenda thinks I am a completely uninspired cook but after watching her spin her magic in the kitchen over the years, I am not quite the luddite that she imagines. Just almost, but not quite. Besides, culinary expectations are not high when at sea, so everything tastes better.
After tonight, only one more dinner and then…
So, that brings me to the title of this post and what happens when we get to Antigua. I have no interest in posting yet another photo of a sunrise, although I did try and get a shot of a beautiful rainbow this morning but, alas, it faded quickly. No luck.
What I really want to think about now is being tied up in Nelson’s Dockyard, English Harbor, becoming reacquainted with the “Tot Club” (I am a member, you know.) and then going out for perhaps pizza or a burger. Did I hear someone say “rum punch?” I don’t think that I will get much pushback from the guys. They are ready too…
And, from top to bottom… Antigua courtesy flag, Tot club and Salty Dawg rally flag. A great combination.
And, in English Harbor, what awaits when the fleet arrives. Pandora tied up with a bunch of other Dawg boats. Tom tells me that the Dockyard is basically empty now but I expect that in three days’ time, they will be filled nearly to capacity.
Pandora with her boarding passarelle in place.
It’s going to be great.
As we basically start the season for the island, as there are no boats there now, everybody will be as happy to see us as we will be to see them.
It is Friday morning and we are about 450 miles from Antigua and solidly in the easterly trade winds. After enduring days of slow going and motoring for what seemed like forever, it is good to be sailing along at a less leisurely pace.
We encountered a number of squalls overnight and shortly after dawn, one left a rainbow in it’s wake, just a sliver that went up behind the low clouds.
Or, a bit closer…
You may recall that when we were north of Bermuda, we had to delay our southward track to allow for a low near Bermuda to dissipate. This meant that we had to sail to the east, making very little mileage south to our destination. Over an 18-hour period we only made 60 miles toward our destination. It was very frustrating. And, to make matters worse, the constant slatting of the mainsail caused some damage to the gooseneck, the fitting that connects the boom to the mast. I will have to get that repaired or replaced when I get to Antigua.
After motoring for days in very light wind, we finally entered the trades last night and our speed picked up a lot. We can only motor at a pace of less than 6kts and when motorsailing with a little wind to give us a boost, upwards of 7.5kts. Under sail things get a lot better and for hours now we have been averaging 8kts+ with a few periods of 9kts+. It is nice to see the miles reel off as we make our way south. ]
While the trades filled in yesterday evening, we continued to motorsail for a few hours and finally were able to turn off the engine. It is common for skippers to track their daily miles and see how many miles they cover in a 24 hour period and as I log our location and mileage every two hours, I can see how we are doing. So, for the last 24 hours we covered 182 miles with a mix of sailing and motorsailing, a very respectable distance. Now, as we are deep into the trades and under sail alone, our speed has crept up and if we keep up the pace of the last 12 hours we will have covered 192 miles in a day.
I mention all this as 200 miles in a 24 hour period is a “mythical goal” for cruising boats and to be even close to this is an impressive feat. And, one that Pandora has come close to but never achieved.
My friend George Day, editor and publisher of Blue Water Sailing magazine as well as a number of other publications, publishes a weekly newsletter, “Cruising Compass”, and in this weeks’ issue reflects on just how hard it is to push a cruising boat to cover 200 miles in a single day.
George had crewed with me on my last run to Antigua and here is what he had to say about the “200 mile goal” and his time aboard Pandora.
“Last weekend, American solo sailor Cole Brauer, who is racing in the non-stop Global Solo Challenge, notched a 220 mile 24-hour hour run aboard her Class 40 First Light. She is the first skipper in this event to do so, despite the fleet being comprised of many super light offshore racing monohulls. To reach a 200-mile day, you have to average 8.33 knots for 24 hours. This is commonplace for maxi racing boats, IMOCA foiling monohulls, high speed performance cats and super racing trimarans. But in mere mortal monohulls and most cruising multihulls, averaging 8.33 knots is mighty hard to achieve. A year ago, sailing in the Salty Dawg Rally from Hampton, VA to Antigua with SDSA president Bob Osborn aboard his Aerodyne 47 Pandora –a very slippery and fast Rodger Martin design—we had plenty of wind from good angles and saw four days over 190 miles. But 200? Wasn’t to be. And a few years ago, sailing transatlantic aboard Steve McInnis’s Hanse 50 Maverick, another fast cruiser with a powerful rig that seems to sail at 8 knots all the time, we didn’t crack 200 miles once. It’s the “average for 24 hours” part of the equation that is so hard to do. So, hats off to Cole Brauer –all five foot two and 100 pounds of her– and here’s to all of you who strive but most often fail to crack that ever elusive 200-mile day. If you have a 200-mile day story you’d like to share, send it to me at george@bwsailing.com.”
When Pandora really gets going, even if she does not go a full 200 miles a day, she is wet boat with water coming over the decks nearly constantly. Unfortunately, there remains a persistent leak near the mast and in spite of my best efforts, water is still getting below. Not a lot, but enough to damage the woodwork if I let it go. For those who follow this blog, I spent the summer chasing leaks and have made a lot of progress but have not completely solved the problem. Alas, one more job for the guys in Trinidad to attend to next summer.
So, here we are, me mopping up a few drips here and there and Pandora reeling off the miles toward Antigua. Not to jinx it, but it looks like we might arrive during daylight on Monday, a day sooner than we had expected.
That would be nice. Let us hope that nothing breaks and that the leaks slow.
Looking forward to a rum punch and a burger, medium please, when we arrive.
It’s hard to believe that we are into our 9th day at sea and are still 640 miles from Antigua. Think going from NY to Chicago at 6kts. That’s a long way.
The good news is that we are inches, feet, miles, a degree of latitude, well, at least some distance from the trade winds. The wind was VERY light overnight but now it is beginning to fill in from the NE. According to Chris Parker, our weather router, and the most recent GRIB files, we should begin to see sailable wind from the east within the next 40-80 miles, hopefully sooner.
As soon as we have wind on the beam (perpendicular to our course) of around 10kts, we should be able to sail. That would be great as I will admit that I am a bit sick of listening to the drone of the engine. Having said that, I am SO pleased to have enough fuel to handle all of the light wind.
Have I mentioned that we have been motoring a lot? “Yes, Bob, you beat that drum FOREVER, on every passage.”
It is now becoming pretty, sort of, fairly, a little bit clear that we will be arriving either late on Monday or sometime overnight Monday/Tuesday. Who knows, “we will be there when we are there”, as my Dad used to say.
Of course, what is a post at sea without a photo of the sunrise? Another very pretty one.
Zoom out and it looks a lot different. “Bob, Bob, it’s the same photo. Gimme a break!”
No, it’s not…
To prove that we were there. Pandora in the frame… Work with me on this…
And, as we motor along, really calm.
Other than that, not a lot to report.
I have been spending a lot of time refining the details of our arrival events for Antigua and while much of the schedule was in place months ago, there have been some shifting and additional events. In some cases, frustration for some as plans change. However, we get so much support from those who host our events in Antigua, I cannot complain and am grateful to everyone for helping to make the fleet feel welcome.
Oh yeah, Starlink has been working but is not flawless. It sometimes takes forever to boot up and tends to drop the signal regularly. However, having it, boogers and all, is so much better than any prior method of staying in touch.
The simple solution would be to purchase their high-performance antenna but it is twice the size of what we already have and draws more than 2x the power. I have heard that there will soon be a new HP dish out and that it is about the same size as what we currently have. It is worth it to me to wait and endure less than perfect connectivity for now. Poor connectivity or not, it is AMAZING to have such technology aboard Pandora.
Sure, we are still a long way to Antigua but the wind should soon be with us and it will be great to turn off the motor and enjoy the last distance to our destination.
So, we will continue to plod along and Antigua is still a long way off. However, it does feel like we are on the home stretch… well almost.
Well, first, perhaps a photo of a sunrise. “Not again Bob… Enough!
Sorry but there is not a lot more to take photos of when all that is out there is “water, water everywhere”.
Taken from another, closer vantage. Amazingly dramatic.
There is a modest amount of wind but it is directly behind us so nothing to do but motor. Besides, no reason to dawdle as it is, after all, a delivery.
We had a good sail for much of yesterday and ran our big code zero sail, perfect for wind under 15kts. Unfortunately, the sheet, which is very thin and lightweight, chafed on the main boom. Fortunately, Peter noticed it before it gave way. Wrestling that big sail in without a sheet would have been messy.
As of late afternoon, the wind dropped to less than 10kts and shifted to the north. And as Pandora is not really set up for sailing dead down wind, we cranked up the engine. This is fine as I always count on motoring a good deal of the time when on passage. If I were to do a transatlantic, I would have to get a pole to hold out the jib so I could run wing and wing and have better dead down wind performance. There is just no way to carry enough fuel to make a run across the Atlantic unless you are prepared to sail on nearly every point so sail you must, even if it is S-L-O-W.
Anyway, we have been motoring since late afternoon and expect that we will continue to do so until we reach the easterly trade wins, perhaps late tomorrow, Thursday. From then on, we should have excellent conditions for sailing as much as 600 miles with moderate winds on the beam.
As I have mentioned in prior posts, we often go for days without seeing another boat but as we passed Bermuda, we passed, or more often were passed, by others, going to or leaving from Bermuda, bound for points south.
Late yesterday evening a big sailboat that had been gaining on us for the last few hours, hailed us. “Pandora, Pandora, this is Nijad”.
I was off watch but heard the call and answered it. He had just called to say hi but I somehow recognized the voice on the radio and asked who it was. It turned out to be someone I knew, Jim, who had been the manager of the Deep River Marina where I had hauled Pandora for many years. Jim is now retired but delivers boats in his spare time.
For those who follow this blog, you have heard me gripe about a big marina company that has been buying up yards all over. Well, they purchased that yard in Deep River some time back and in speaking to Jim last night, I will admit that I expressed sadness that the yard where we had met was no longer the friendly place that it had been. He was very circumspect with his answer “well, things change”. An understatement if there ever was one.
They are on their way to the BVI, where the owner, not on board, has a mooring. What a small world. It is unusual enough to see a boat but to see one that has someone on board that you know, very unusual.
A few hours later, around 02:00 this morning, I contacted a tanker that was going to cross our bow, too close for comfort. As a rule, I always reach out to any boat or ship if their CPA, Closest Point of Approach, is going to be less than 1.5 miles. I contact them, explain the situation, and ask what they would like me to do. Inevitably, the big ships tell me to “maintain course and speed” and they will alter course and go around me. By and large, they are all very friendly and happy to help and often express gratitude that someone is paying attention. Perhaps I am also bringing some excitement into their day when not a lot is happening.
So, I called T Matterhorn, a 600’ tanker and asked for instructions. The skipper, or in this case, the second officer, said that he would alter course and give us a wide berth so not to worry.
Then, uncharacteristically, he (Karan) struck up a conversation with me. He was asking, why there were so many small boats so far out in the ocean. I explained that we were participating in a rally from the US to Antigua. As he made his way east he must have gone right through the main part of the fleet. Where we were, there really was nothing within sight for us. I expect that he sees more as his radar is likely much more powerful than mine. One way or the other, he had been seeing a lot of boats, much more than is typical.
Wait until he sees this tracking map. Pandora, one of many, many boats out here, one of the most easterly ones in the middle. Not sure, check out the fleet tracking map and cllick on Pandora.
He then goes on to ask many questions about what we are up to. How many boats were with us? Where did we depart from? Where are we going? Do we have engines? What do we do when the weather turns bad (pray, for one) and other questions, who is on board, who owns the boats etc. This whole topic is so foreign to him and I enjoyed sharing information with a willing listener.
He was particularly interested I where we were going and what we planned once we got there. I did say “parties”. I think that he likes that idea.
I gave him my email address, the address of this blog as well as the address for the Salty Dawg website so he can learn more about what we do.
Before we went our own separate ways, I asked where he was headed. Answer: Lavera, France in the Mediterranean. Now, that’s a place I’d like to go with Pandora. Will it happen? Who knows. There’s always a tanker… 🙂
When we signed off, I wondered if he would write to me and the next time that I checked my email, perhaps an hour later, there was a note from him. He gave me his name, Karan Bhanushali, second officer for T Matterhorn and that he enjoyed speaking with me and had many questions.
He also said that if I ever wanted to visit India, where he lives, I was welcome to visit. And, that he plans to be in the US next year to visit friends and would love to meet.
Frankly, I think that would be very interesting and hope that we stay in touch.
I am not sure where he was heading but Matt thinks he heard him say that he was on his way to France.
Will we connect again one day? Who knows, but the experience really struck me as quite remarkable, two boats on the high seas, with someone aboard that I know or sort of know now, in a single night hundreds of miles from anything.
The ex-manager of a boat yard in CT where I have had work done on Pandora for a decade, and an officer on a freighter that just happened to be passing by as we make out way south. Who would ever guess?
So, what next?
Perhaps I will get a ride on a tanker? That would be fun. many years ago my late father said, “Bob, wouldn’t it be great to see Gibraltar from the deck of Pandora?” What the heck, how about Lavera, France in the Med, wherever that is. I might even settle for that view from the deck of a tanker. Answer: Lavera, France in the Mediterranean. Now, that’s a place I’d like to go with Pandora. Will it happen?
No idea but it is certainly something to look forward to and an example of just how much serendipity can play a role in our lives. Right place, right time? Time will tell.
