Well, we did it, we made it to Antigua, only a little bit worse for wear.

We arrived in Falmouth Harbor Thursday morning at 04:00 only to discover that my anchor windlass would not deploy so we picked up a mooring.  Fortunately, the problem was minor, a tripped circuit breaker so after throwing the switch it worked again.   After a swim, a beer and a bit of celebratory rum as the sun came up, we moved over to the dockyard, Pandora’s home for the next week.

So, 1,750 miles and 11 days later we arrived, a long way from Hampton.  This is us, in Hampton the evening before our departure, raring to go, me, Cliff and George, both veterans of past runs aboard Pandora.   Note the jackets.  It was chilly.  Cold didn’t last long aboard Pandora and after day one of the trip it was positively hot and sticky. The 11 day run was several days longer than anticipated and the miles a lot farther as well.  As the crow flies, the run to Antigua is about 1,450 miles, we ended up sailing over 1,750 miles due to the adverse Equatorial Current that runs north along most of the area we sailed through.  And, in addition, we spent a lot of time sailing east without actually getting closer to our destination, waiting for the southerly winds to shift to the east.   It was a real world example of “you can’t get there from here”, in the extreme.   But we eventually did get there…

Things ended out working well but early forecasts suggested that we might run out of fuel before we made it to Antigua due to light and adverse winds.  We spent a lot of time trying to calculate fuel consumption, how much we actually had on board and when it would run out.  The only way that I can know for certain how much “usable” fuel we have aboard is to run on a tank until the engine dies when it’s all gone and note how much it takes to fill it up again.    I have a pretty good feel for this but haven’t systematically run the fuel out as I did this time.

We ended up running two of our three tanks completely out and there were many anxious hours spent wondering what would happen when we were down to the final tank.  However, in the end  we had better wind than anticipated and arrived in Antigua with fuel to spare.  While some estimates suggested that we’d be running the engine as much as 150 hours we only ran it about 110 hours which I was comfortable as on my last run south I ran for 130 hours and still had fuel left which suggests that we actually had a cushion of at least 2o hours.

We had moments of frustration, like when the main halyard parted and the sail came crashing down on the deck, but there were moments of serene beauty like the stunning sunrises every morning. I found that I could watch the receding wake as our vane steered along tirelessly.George spent hours listening to music, sometimes loosing himself in the moment during night watches and singing WAY LOUDER than he realized.  Love those cool shades?  Totally hip?  You be the judge.Cliff just enjoying the view a few days after he recovered from early-on mal de mer.  With Pandora in cruising mode, it was pretty much a wreck down below, at least it seemed that way to me, the anal skipper with all the cushions covered with canvas sheets.   These covers really proved their worth as we discovered leaks we didn’t know we had.  Isn’t that always the way?While we had our share of squalls, we had many many hours of wonderful sailing, ably assisted by our newest crew member, our windvane steering unit, Lisa.  I understand that most crews so attached to their vanes that they give them names, unlike electronic pilots that often end up with names that are not altogether complimentary.  After years of sudden changes in course, Pandora’s electric pilot is “Crazy Ivan”.

So, what to name our new pilot?  The leading contender, suggested by George is “Lisa” as in Lisa Simpson, of “The Simpsons”.  The idea behind this, George’s idea, seconded by Brenda, is that Lisa is widely regarded as the smartest member of the Simpson family, or should I say “crew”.  I’ll admit that I am not totally on board with this so I won’t be having Lisa tattoo’ed on my arm quite yet.

So, here we are and after only two days in port, the hardships of passage are becoming a distant memory with Pandora safely tied up here in Nelson’s Dockyard along with many others in the fleet, all proudly flying their Dawg Colors.Is there any spot on earth prettier than this to tie up your yacht?And, while Pandora was the first to actually tie up in what was an empty dockyard, prior to our arrival.  She’s clearly not alone any more.  It is tremendously gratifying to me personally to have so many of the boats tie up here in the Dockyard with the rest of the fleet after so many months of planning.And…the parties have begun, the week of events that we have planned for the fleet.   There’s a lot on tap including, and you won’t believe this one, an evening of Crab Racing.  Yes, Crab Racing!  Stay tuned for news about that one.

Meanwhile, some boats are still working their way south, way short on fuel, working through their on-board gremlins, waiting for favorable winds or dealing with critical breakdowns.  For an area that normally has too much wind, we are not seeing that now with nearly flat calm conditions expected for the next few days.

While I didn’t feel lucky at certain points on the trip, Pandora actually had it easy compared to the trials of some who ran into all sorts of mayhem.  In hindsight, Pandora and her crew made it here with a minimum of fuss.

Some had real issues to contend with.  This story, scary in the extreme, shows what can happen when you are far from land.  Aboard one boat was a crew member who had a liver transplant years ago and accidentally lost his vital medication, only a few days into their voyage.  This harrowing story, fortunately with a happy ending, was described to me by Hank, Salty Dawg president.

Hank wrote: (with a tiny bit of editing by me, I’ll admit)

“One boat, just arriving now, had a serious issue offshore.  A member of the crew accidentally dropped his supply of anti-rejection pills down the head (boat lurched, lid left up and the pills flew out of the vial, of course, landing right in the head.  The pills were gone that had to be taken on schedule for life after a liver transplant in 2013.  Without his medication he would only survive for a few days, not enough time to get to Antigua.  After lots of phone calls at our end to an immunologist (my brother) and the crewman’s doctors in NY, we learned that Prednisone would work fine as alternative to his prescribed medication to suppress immune system and get him to Antigua.  In checking around the fleet, we found two boats 90 miles away that had Prednisone aboard.  And then a miracle, the skipper found they had a supply in their first aid kit.  Disaster averted!

Several days later, when contacted by United States Coast Guard about how things were going, the crewman said he preferred to have his regular medications.  The USCG said no problem, and would send a supply out to him.  So last Sunday the USCG did an airdrop from C-130 flying 3-1/2 hours out of Elizabeth City NC.   

The crew of the yacht were able to recover the medical pods that included the lifesaving drugs to keep his body from rejecting a transplanted liver.  The USCG C-130, after hours of flight arrived on the scene, flew overhead, tossed the package to them and flew back home.”

What an amazing and gratifying story of Dawgs helping other Dawgs along with an amazing feat by our own USCG.

Another boat was struck by lightening a few days into the trip and lost all of their electronics.  They diverted to Bermuda where the captain and crew are now working hard to finish the installation so that they can get underway.  They are doing the installation themselves as the local dealers in Bermuda are too busy to help.

How about a fouled prop in mid ocean?  While a crew member on that yacht was swimming to remove a piece of line that had tangled with their prop they were visited by a curious whale, just checking them out.

Another boat made the mistake of putting their dink in davits hanging out over the stern and when it got rough the dink broke loose and was swinging wildly.  While the skipper tried to subdue the bucking dink, his foot was badly hurt.  Ultimately, the dink was cut away and lost.

But wait, there’s more.  SV Cayuga, is still out there s-l-o-w-l-y sailing toward Antigua as they lost their engine water pump and, as a result, the use of their engine early into the trip.  Since then they have been a prisoner to really light winds for days as they slowly sail and drift along.  This trip has seen it’s share of really light winds and very tough timing indeed for them.

Their best guess is that they will be somewhere near Antigua on Sunday so I have arranged to have Paul, co-owner of the Admiral’s Inn, run out with his boat to tow them in.  The parts, currently on the other side of the island, will be sent here to the Dockyard so that repairs can be made.    So, for now, it’s up to the crew of Cayuga to make their way to Antigua.  Here’s to a speedy passage, if that’s not too much to ask.

Another boat lost all of their newly installed electronics and had to rely on their GPS transponder to figure out where they were and text information to others to keep them informed on progress.  Happily, they approached English Harbor during daylight hours on Thursday and had an easy run into the Dockyard.

Yes, Pandora had it easy and now we are here in Antigua enjoying the fun.  And, speaking of fun, the parties have begun and last evening a local art gallery, Rhythm and Blue, owned by artist Nancy Nicholson, had her season opener party, timed to allow the Dawgs to be a part of the fun.  With what seemed like an endless stream, or river, of rum punch and appetizers along with a terrific reggae band, the event was really a lot of fun. A great turnout.
And, the Dawgs were well represented.
This evening Ann-Marie Martin, the Commissioner of Parks, is throwing a free party for the Dawgs including food and drink, their way of saying thanks for us coming to Antigua.

And, there’s more, something each day to look forward to for those who joined in on this year’s Salty Dawg Rally to Antigua.

So there you have it, while it was Antigua or bust for Pandora, it seems we have a lot to be thankful for as we ended up being only a little bit busted and we had a much easier time than some.

However, everything is working out, late or not for all the Dawgs heading our way and there will still be parties in store for them when they arrive.

 

The mood of the fleet, as evidenced by this morning checkin SSB net, has lightened quite a bit now that conditions are just easy reaching toward Antigua.  As of late evening yesterday, at around 23N, we began to pick up steady trade winds, the very thing that everyone has been waiting for since leaving Hampton.

After days of hunting for favorable winds and a painful amount of time heading more east than south, toward Antigua, it is a huge relief to be pointing directly toward our destination with a minimum of fuss.

The wind is solidly from the east now which puts us on a point of sail with the wind just forward of the beam, a great sailing angle for Pandora.   Wind speeds are consistent, moderate and running between 13 and 15kts, making for easy sailing.

We are still bucking a slight northerly current but we are going fast enough to see over the bottom speeds in the 7-8kt range.  It wasn’t more than a few days ago when we were motoring directly into light winds and current that we had to settle for speeds of about half that to make things worse, we weren’t even heading directly toward Antigua.

I like this much better and to be able to see that the mileage to Antigua is now under 300 miles warms my heart.  Actually, “warm” is the word of the day as it’s pretty hot and stuffy down below.  We can’t open up any hatches as the odd wave hits Pandora without warning, splashes over the deck and would surely find it’s way down below.

I can recall a time on my last run south when I had the small hatch over the galley open only to be shocked when gallons, and I mean gallons, of water surged in,  soaking me and the galley with an inch or more of water in a single shocking moment.  What a mess with salt water sloshing around on the counter and seeping into the fridge and behind cabinets, an experience that I don’t want to repeat.

So, hot and steamy is the word until we get to Antigua.     And, the answer to “when will we get there” seems to be in the wee hours of Thursday morning.

While we plan on tying up at the Dockyard in English Harbor for the next week with most of the other rally boats, we will first run next door into Falmouth harbor as the entrance is easier at night and there is enough space to get into calmer waters before we take down the main.  Recall that I am using my toping lift as a main halyard and taking that down means going up on deck to release the line, something that I don’t want to do in the chop outside of English Harbor, where the waves can be pretty large.

After a celebratory bit of rum after we drop anchor the crew will settle down for a nap and then move Pandora over to English Harbor in time to tie up at the dockyard when they open at 08:00.

After tying up in the dockyard we will clear in to customs and immigration, take the main off of the boom to send it out to the sailmaker for repairs which it is badly in need of.  I am hopeful that the repairs will be good for at least another season or two but I guess I’ll know more after the “diagnosis”.

However, the big event for me will be seeing Brenda as it’s been more than three weeks since I left home to begin preparing for the run and now making my way to Antigua.

For now I am so pleased to be making good time on the final leg to Antigua.  Steady as she goes about sums it up.

We are down to the last 420 miles or so until we arrive in Antigua.    It’s funny to say “last” as that’s still a very long way to sail but after over 1,200 miles under our keel, that doesn’t sound like all that much.   Now that we are finally headed directly for our destination, with predictable winds in the forecast, somehow it doesn’t seem all that far away anymore.

Overnight and today, Monday, have offered a welcome respite from the drama of the last few days and I am happy to report that we have not had any more broken gear and a lot less action in the squall department.  We did have a big squall with really heavy rain last night that followed us along for nearly 5 hours but there wasn’t much wind, not even enough for sailing actually.  However, it kept us busy and at the helm and ready just in case.

Today was a beautiful sunny day and we took advantage of the light winds and smooth conditions to transfer all of the fuel that I had in jugs, 22 gallons, into the port fuel tank as that tank and the mid tank under the floor had been run down to empty.  We kept running on each tank until the engine began to shudder as it sucked in air.  Even though we had more fuel in the third tank and in jugs, it is very disconcerting when the engine begins to shut down and you are over 400 miles from anything.

And, as I switched to my last tank, I couldn’t help but remember two years ago when I did just that and discovered that my tank had water in it which rendered the entire tank unusable.   The good news is that we switched and everything is good.  And, as I just put the fuel into the other tank from the jugs, I am confident that the remaining fuel in the other tank is clean too.

We are currently running on the starboard tank, the last full one, which we estimate to be about 30 gallons and then once we run that one out, if we do, we will switch back to the tank with the fuel I transferred today.

Antigua is still a long way from here and it’s a bit unsettling to know that if something were to go wrong we don’t have enough fuel to get there under power alone.  Losing the main halyard on the main the other evening is something that I don’t want to repeat.

However, the wind is beginning to fill in and we should be able to shut off the engine around midnight and sail most of the remaining distance to Antigua from here.

George spent several hours today working on a spreadsheet to keep track of our motoring time as well as to track our speed with the goal of estimating our arrival time and be sure that we don’t run out of fuel.

Timing is important as he and Cliff have to catch the same flight on Thursday evening at 5:00 and they don’t want to miss their flight and have to buy another ticket.  They are both a bit bummed that they can’t spend even one day enjoying Antigua but the idea of paying for another ticket doesn’t sound appealing either.   Besides, I am sure that they are really excited to be heading north to the chilly North East.

Brenda emailed me today to say that there is a possibility of snow in CT on Wednesday.  What fun.

I feel badly for my crew having to leave immediately as this is a very long way to sail just jump off of the boat and into a taxi.

Hopefully we will have at least a few hours for them to get the lay of the land.  Besides, I do have to buy them a rum punch to toast their arrival before I see them off.

Brenda arrives on Wednesday afternoon and will be living in the lap of luxury, with the bed all to herself until I arrive at the beautiful Admiral’s Inn, located right inside the dockyard where Pandora will be berthed.

And when will we arrive, you ask?   We’ve been giving it our best guess for days now and now that we are entering more predictable winds, we are pretty sure that we will arrive sometime late morning on Thursday, with a few hours to spare before they head to the airport.

So, that’s it, we are down to the last stretch on a long run and I am getting pretty excited about seeing Brenda after several week away.

And speaking of excited,  I am sure that Andrew Dove at North Sails will be thrilled to see me with my damaged mainsail that is badly in need of repair.  I’ll also make he local rigger happy when he prepares my new main halyard and snakes it down the mast.

So, there you have it, after 11 days at sea, and I hope that’s all it turns out to be, Pandora will arrive in Nelson’s Dockyard, perhaps the most beautiful harbor just about anywhere,  in good style.

And, I’ll be arriving just in time as the first of our week of planned events is on Thursday evening to honor the Salty Dawg fleet and their successful passage to Antigua.

I know that a good number in the fleet won’t arrive until later in the week but that’s why we have a full week of event so fast or slow, everyone will be able to enjoy the fun and celebrate their successful passage.

Oh boy, I can’t wait to have a rum punch.
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It’s Sunday evening and I am plenty happy to put the last 36 hours behind me.

Before I get into all that, and there’s plenty to write about, I’ll note that we are FINALLY HEADED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, toward Antigua.

Remember, we have been heading on a more easterly course for what seems like months now, waiting for the southerly winds to let up and shift east, to the more normal trade winds that are normal for this area.

Chris Parker, our weather router, predicted that the southerly winds and seas would begin to die down today and they finally did around sunset.   We waited a bit for the lumpy seas to begin to settle down and turned south, directly toward Antigua, now still about 550 miles south of our position.

We have mostly been on hold for several days now as we sailed east, while waiting for these southerly winds to die down knowing that we would likely be motoring into light winds for about 24 hours before we finally, and I do mean FINALLY, connect with the long awaited easterly trades.

I was checking my notes on the run home from Antigua two seasons ago, and recall we enjoyed trade wind sailing hundreds of miles to the north of where we are now.  On that trip, heading north, we did the entire run in about 8 days and not the 10 plus that we will likely spend clawing our way south to Antigua.

Brenda has been watching the shared page for the rally and tells me that we are ahead of most of the fleet.   Oh boy, I don’t feel like we are ahead of anything.

So, about my day.

At about 04:00 this morning we heard a noise and discovered that the mainsail was down on the deck.  I couldn’t frigging believe it.  The same thing happened on our way north two years ago when the headboard was pulled off of the sail and I had to go up the mast to retrieve, the most terrifying thing that I have ever experienced.

So, there I was, it was still pitch dark and the day was getting off to a terrible start.

Somehow the main sheet, the line that holds up the sail, had parted where it goes into the masthead and down the sail came in a lump.

George and I got started cleaning up the mess and getting the sail lashed to the boom while Cliff made sure that we didn’t get into any trouble and manned the helm.   What to do?

We talked it over and decided that the best option was to remove the topping lift line from the aft end of the boom and use that as a secondary halyard to pull up the main.  Then we took a spare halyard from the front of the mast and threaded it back to provide some support for the end of the boom.  It was a difficult lead as the line came out of the mast on the bow side so it had to be swung around the shrouds and lead aft.   That wasn’t a good lead and could easily lead to bad chafe.  However, I wanted to be sure that there was something to support the boom if we ran into problems again.

So, some hours later we were back in business with the mess cleaned up and flying the main again, although with one reef in to be sure that we didn’t put too much stress on that new line.

Problem solved and I headed to the galley to get some breakfast together.  I put a good healthy amount of raisin bran cereal in a bowl, reached into the fridge to get some milk and promptly dumped the entire bowl of cereal down into the fridge.  I couldn’t believe my luck.   Another mess to clean up.

But wait, there’s more.    A while later we were hit with a large squall, not one with lightening but there was plenty of strong wind up near 40kts and deluges of rain.  Ok, one more squall and it wasn’t our first on this trip.

I went down below and discovered salt water dribbling down from behind the headliner, all over the settee cushions, TV and down the bulkhead.   I had seen a tiny drip the day before and made a mental note to check on it when we reached Antigua.  Now, with much more water coming in, it became much more urgent.

My first thought was that the leak was coming from the fittings on the deck that house the hydraulic hoses for the boom and I spent about 30 minutes, all while being splashed by seawater coming over the starboard bow and caulked them with care.  And, let me tell you, it’s not easy to work with sticky black glue while being tossed about and splashed by passing waves.   And, to add to the picture, all this involved taking out tiny screws, saving them and reassembling a sticky glued up mess when I was done.

Mission accomplished and I headed back down below to clean up and put on some dry clothes.  Another squall passed and the leak, was worse, much worse.

Back into my wet clothes and up on deck again.  That’s when I discovered the “real” source of the leak.  On either side of the mast are stainless tube bars designed to lean against when working at the mast.  The are aptly called Granny Bars, for those that need a bit of extra support.  Anyway, these have three legs, each bolted to the deck.  It seems that one of the nuts on the thru-deck bold had some loose and the base was pulled up out of the deck exposing a 3/8″ hole in the deck.   I guess that we had dislodged it somehow while working on the mast.  Actually, I checked behind the headliner and discovered that there wasn’t a nut on the hold-down bolt.  It was plenty rusty and I expect that perhaps the problem was that when the boat was built a steel nut was used by accident and it had finally rotted away.

Fortunately, I was able to find a nut in my hardware supply that fit, no easy feat given the fact that it was metric.  I put a liberal amount of sealing compound under the fitting and tightened it down.  Problem solved?  I sure hope so as I have worked hard over the years to find leaks, track them down and dry things out, often a very difficult game of cat and mouse.

I guess that the leak is resolved as not 15 minutes after I had come back into the cockpit, the largest squall of the trip hit us with winds up to 40kts and a deluge of rain.  No leak, or at least none that I could detect but perhaps I was too busy.

So, there you have it, a day that proved once again, that “into every life a little rain must fall”.

No kidding, today was a real soaker on that account.

However, all is well as we are FINALLY pointed toward our destination, Antigua even though it is still over 500 miles away, the fact that we are going in the right direction, makes it feel like it’s right around the corner.

So, if we are able to keep up an average speed of 6.5kts and nothing important breaks, we should arrive in Antigua at some point on Thursday morning.

Oh yeah, one more thing.  During one of the squalls today, as we bucked from wavetop to wavetop, something crashed onto the top of the dodger and bounced into the water, our circular TV Antenna, which must have broken loose from all the wave action.   I haven’t yet checked but am now wondering if it hit one of the solar panels.  They are glass…

So, Pandora’s bow is finally pointed toward Antigua and tomorrow should be better.

We deserve it.