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We left Lanzarote with a forecast of several days very light winds. This was a worry as our passage was to be in excess of 2800 miles and clearly we needed to conserve fuel both for the engine and generator. We expected that the trade winds would more likely become established in the south earlier, so we set off in the general direction of the Cape Verde Islands where we would be able to refuel if necessary. We sailed very slowly with some motor sailing when the winds were particularly light. At least the seas were flat and it allowed us plenty of time to get used to living on board.
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The sunsets were glorious
The final week was in contrast quite a downer. The winds died again and our attempts to sail south to bypass the calms were thwarted by a SW wind which was not forecast. Our fuel was getting low, and the light winds lasted for 4 days. Eventually the wind reappeared, but the squalls were even worse; we experienced as many as 10 one night, and they were a constant problem during our night watches. Either we could remain well reefed down with the obvious effect on our speed, or we had to be prepared to reef many times each night.
The first appearance of a squall (on the left) followed soon after by the more ominous appearance (on the right). This heralded gusts of up to 40 knots
We finally worked ourselves into a position slightly south of Antigua to pick up a forecast 10-15 knot ESE wind for our last day only to be hit by a "Christmas" wind which was in the region of 30-35 knots from the NE! By then we were tired and keen to see Adam and his family who had been waiting for us in Antigua for several days. We finally anchored overnight off Jolly Harbour 23 days and 5 hours after leaving Lanzarote. We covered over 3100 miles searching for the best winds, averaging about 5.6 knots. Then we discovered that hurricane "Orla" was currently in the Caribbean - fortunately well north of us, and of low strength. December hurricanes are very unusual but it was our luck to be sailing the year that there was one!
Our first Caribbean anchorage
Adam was here with his family when we arrived and we explored several beaches and other parts of Antigua while they were here.
The beaches are deserted
Street Market in St John's
The view over English Harbour from Shirley Heights
Sally-Anne; Graham and Clarissa joined us for Christmas and New Year after Adam and his family returned home. We moved to Nelson's Dockyard for a traditional West Indian Christmas.
The carol singers on Christmas Eve had a slight soul element to their singing)
Relaxation on board during the quieter first week
By the second week we had picked up the trade winds and turned west about 200 miles north of the Cape Verde Islands. We had a week of glorious trade wind sailing with our twin headsails allowing us to cover over 150 miles daily. We experienced some exhilarating sailing initially but then started to experience night squalls of up to 35-40 knot gusts. This was particularly tiring for us sailing two up because the sails constantly needed altering. But it was partially compensated for when we saw fin whales breaching about 100 metres from us, and later were accompanied by one for about half an hour.
We didn't successfully photograph the whales we saw but this is what we saw! They are about 25 metres long.
We carry fishing gear but did not use it. Flying fish were however there to be found on the decks in the morning on most days during the second half of the passage
Our real positive gear success was the twin headsails which could be reefed singlehandedly in squalls but also allowed us to keep up with bigger potentially faster boats. Also we were delighted with the duogen tow generator which really produced a lot of power at the higher speeds we sailed at. The hydrovane wind steering was a partial success, especially when the sea state was not too rough, but it was not accurate in a big sea, and we preferred to resort to the auto pilot in the more extreme conditions.
We mainly had few gear failures. Although the duogen was a great success we found an in line fuse holder had melted and we had to bypass it. We also had trouble drawing air into our water maker. The seas were too rolly for it! It eventually turned out that the sea water inlet had been sited too close to the water line and the problem was only resolved when we resited it later. But potentially most serious, we blew a cylinder head gasket, which did not actually cause us any problems on passage because we used the engine so little.
This is the last place for us to get major repairs done until we reach Australia. We are currently living with engine parts all over our cabin floor while we await the correct gasket being flown in, but we hope to have the engine working in time for us to move down to Nelson's Dockyard for Christmas.
Banana plant by the roadside
Falmouth Harbour
The steel band at Shirley Heights
Drinking champagne at Nelson's Dockyard on Christmas morning