Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Evanston: charge; a little bit off; SNAFU


        When solar charging was capricious during the passage from St. Helena to St. Lucia, I realized that the most important use of electricity on GANNET is to charge my iPhone.  Second is to charge my 12” MacBook; third the masthead tricolor; and maybe fourth a tiller pilot, although that might rank lower than charging rechargeable batteries.
        My cabin lights are LuminAids, which are solar charged.   I have one flashlight that can be charged both by solar power and a built-in hand crank.  The Raymarine wind unit is solar powered.
        My iPhone is my chartplotter, e-reader and source of music.  
        Little GANNET has in fact an embarrassment of chart-plotters, four in total.  In addition to the iPhone, I have the charts and apps in an iPad mini, a full-size iPad, and different world charts in my MacBook.
        I have three small power cells on GANNET, each of which could charge the iPhone several times.
        The new Torqeedo battery comes with an accessory that plugs into the charging port and enables you to charge devices via USB.  That battery could probably charge a phone hundreds of times.
        However I happened across and bought the above Anker compact solar phone charger.  It folds into a third of the open size, weighs 12.5 ounces, costs $50 from Amazon, and actually works.  Mine arrived a couple of days ago.  I took it out to our balcony and when I plugged in my phone, the phone gave that satisfying ‘I am charging’ bing. 
        Earlier today I telephoned One Planet Energy to inquire about Solbian solar panels.  I will be buying two SP50Ls to replace the failed Aurincos.  They will go on the sides of the foredeck, leaving the area around the mast clear, and bring GANNET’s solar power to 200 watts, 50 more than she has ever had before.  I will be getting the Solbians with adhesive backing, textured surface and rear wiring.  It should be a clean installation.
        One way or the other, I think I’ll be able to keep my iPhone charged.

 ————

        When I said that water is 11 times denser than air, I was just a little bit off.  Dave, who was kind enough to offer what he called ‘a minor correction’, calculated the water is 772 times denser than air.  On the Internet  you may find the number as 784.  I don’t recall why I thought the number was 11, but then I’m old.
        I thank Dave for his minor correction of my major error.
        No wonder boats on foils go fast.

————

        This is the Moore 24, SNAFU, being towed into Morro Bay after being dismasted two nights ago during a race along the California coast.  She was being sailed by Karl Robrock and Gilles Combrisson, who were air lifted off by the Coast Guard and managed to return when conditions moderated and have SNAFU towed safely into the harbor.
        I have met Karl, who bought GANNET’s trailer, perhaps as an act of charity, and have corresponded with Gilles, whose firm made the pod that transformed GANNET’s cockpit.
        I expect more details will be known in time.
        I am very glad that Karl and Gilles are reportedly uninjured and SNAFU saved.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Evanston: shaky

        I have just uploaded nine more videos, completing the Durban to St. Helena passage.
        Whenever I upload a video YouTube provides the following message:  We detected your video may be shaky. Would you like us to stabilize it?
        No.  ‘Shaky’ is the nature of the experience.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Evanston: new videos

        
        I have just uploaded ten short videos to YouTube of the passage from Durban to St. Helena.  More will be uploaded soon, perhaps tomorrow.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Evanston: surprise; why?; unbricked; three; South Beach



        I do not usually have any interest in the America’s   Cup.  There is too much hype and too much money.   But a video link on the Sailing Anarchy site about the Swedish team caused me to watch the preliminary races yesterday and today and they were interesting.  The site, Bermuda, to which I have never sailed, is beautiful.  The boats, up on foils, sailing at twenty to forty knots, are beyond my experience.  There are no sail changes.  Only an incredibly flat wing mast mainsail and jib.  No spinnakers because they go so fast the apparent wind is always forward even when the true wind is aft.  This is not sailing, it is flying.  And there are frequent lead changes.  In most past America’s Cups the races were over at the start.  The boats go incredibly fast, out of the water suspended on narrow foils.  My memory is that water is eleven times denser than air.  The way to go fast is to fly and these boats fly.
        I do not watch the races live.  I record them and then fast forward through the commercials and the predictable parts.
        That the teams are named by nations is absurd.  The ‘United States’ team is steered by an Australian and lead by a New Zealander.  I don’t know how many, if any, Americans are even on the boat.  The America’s Cup has always been about wealthy men with big ego and corporations.  Team New Zealand’s main sponsor is Air Emirates, not quite a Kiwi firm, and  also the sponsor of Arsenal who won the FA Cup yesterday.
        I will continue to watch.  After seeing two day’s racing I don’t know who will be the challenger or who will win the Cup.  I didn’t expect to be interested, but I am.

--------
        This afternoon Carol asked me why I didn’t sail this year from Florida to Panama and then to San Diego.  Thinking that perhaps some of you have wondered as well, I provide my answer.
        I am late for the hurricane season in both the Caribbean and off Mexico, which nominally starts June 1.
        After sailing almost 8,000 miles in three months both GANNET and I need a pit-stop.  GANNET has not sustained any serious damage, but, as you have seen from the to do/buy list, the little boat needs some repairs and replacements.  And I am tired.  I am not at my limit.  If I had to, I could sail the 1500 miles to Panama and the 3000 to San Diego, but I don’t want to right now.  There is no way of knowing if this is just because I am old because there is no base line of sailors who have sailed a Moore 24 8,000 miles in three months.  
        And I want to spend time with Carol.  If women had not been a part of my life, I would have circumnavigated ten or twenty times, and my life would have been so much less.

————

        I am probably more senile than I think I am, which is as to be expected.
        I clearly remember deactivating the Yellowbrick after GANNET was in her slip at Marathon Marina.  However, as Bob and David let me know, it continued to send up positions.  I thank them for alerting me.  Somehow I must have turned the device back on.
        I went to my Yellowbrick administration page but could not find a way to deactivate the device via the Internet.  I was able to change the interval that positions are uploaded from six hours to the maximum twelve hours.
        I emailed Yellowbrick and explained the situation.   As always when I have emailed Yellowbrick I received a prompt reply that told me they could deactivate my Yellowbrick, but I could then only turn on tracking again at the device.  I emailed them to deactivate, and they did.
        If I thought that we were an intelligent species I would be surprised that companies like Torqeedo don’t understand how important support is to customer loyalty.  Apple and Yellowbrick do.
        While viewing the Yellowbrick tacking page, I went back to the first days after leaving Durban and found one position that showed a speed of 8.8 knots and another of 8.4.  Not up to America’s Cup standards but pretty good for a 24’ boat.

————

        I have been wearing my Apple watch and closing the circles on the activity app.  I have resumed wearing out the carpet in our stairwell, climbing twenty floors a day, and on Friday I did my full workout for only the third time this year.  I felt strong and was not surprised when I did my age in push-ups for the first time since early January, though I am a little sore today.  Sailing oceans you keep your upper body more than your legs, particularly on GANNET.
        The next workout day is tomorrow.

————

        Carol and I walked down to the lake yesterday.
        The photo above is of Evanston’s South Beach.  Not quite Miami.  The water of Lake Michigan often appears Caribbean turquoise.  In late May this is an illusion.  Though the air temperature was warm, the water is still cold. 

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Evanston: dancing trees

        A less than three hour flight home is a pleasant novelty compared with multiple flights totaling fifteen to twenty hours in the air over two days.  We landed a few minutes ahead of schedule at 3:00 p.m. and I was at the condo less than an hour later, in time to shower and await Carol’s return from her office.  When she commutes by train she comes through the door at 6:18.  I had the makings of martinis waiting.
        I had a Basic Economy fare on United, which means you board last, can’t pick your seat or have a normal size carry-on bag.  No problem for me with only my messenger bag.  It was really cheap, and the shuttle from Marathon to the Miami airport and the taxi from O’Hare home cost as much as the flight itself.
        When I left in January the trees were bare.  Now they are not.  We have lived in this condo since it was new eleven years ago.  The trees in front have grown so that they now reach above our third story windows.  It has been windy here and the limbs are in constant motion.  Last evening while waiting for Carol to come home, I was listening to a
shuffled non-classical playlist and a piece came on called ‘Creole Sunshine’.  I glanced up and the leaves were dancing in time to the music.
        I’ve watched the Cubs win the past two nights and Manchester United win the Europa League Final yesterday afternoon.  I’ve also ordered online a lot of the stuff on the GANNET list.
        Today is warmer, but yesterday when I walked to nearby shops it was 53ºF/11.6C, precisely half the temperature in the Great Cabin when I returned from lunch Sunday, and I wore socks for the first time in months and a Polartec jacket.
        Even though I had been in the country for a week before flying home, it seems odd that GANNET and I are both back in the United States.  I’m used to thinking of GANNET being on the other side of the world.  And it is odd to look out at the tops of dancing trees rather than water.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Marathon: from flat to flat



        Florida is the flattest state.  Depending on which list you see, Illinois is second or third flattest, changing places with Louisiana, so tomorrow I fly from flat to flat.
        Above is GANNET in her slip at Marathon Marina.  
        I had to take that for the insurance company.
        Here is a photo taken by Michael yesterday of the Great Cabin.  I thank him for permission to use it.

        Forward on the v-berth is a new companionway screen.  Not surprisingly the glue on Velcro fails in the tropics.  The temperature in the Great Cabin when I returned from having lunch with Michael and his wife, Layne, was 106ºF/41.1C.  So I used Gorilla Glue to keep the Velcro attached to the screen. 
        On the countertop to the right of Central is a box of St. Lucian grape juice and a LuminAid solar light.
        To the left of Central is another Calfamo fan.  Even thought the last four failed almost instantly, I bought another at West Marine last week.  This one is working.
        When I left Durban GANNET had no to do/buy list.  Now she does.  Almost 8,000 ocean miles will do that.
        Thinking that some of you might be interested, here it is, in no particular order.  I keep it in a useful iPhone app, Wunderlist.  

remove Aurinco solar panels
Torqeedo charging cord
fix wiring starboard deck light
secure Pelagic wiring
ship tiller pilots
fix winch
gooseneck bolt washer
cut off end of bolt port pipe berth
repair chaffing patches pipe berths
flares
electric crimp connectors
crimp tool
new jib or main sheets
companionway screen
documents folder
watch battery
toggles
Dr. Sails epoxy
rebed traveller
dodger shackles
spare JetBoil
headlamps
shock cords
genoa track cars
Velocitek
companionway slat
compass
Sportaseats
AAA rechargeable batteries
Icom radio clamp
touch up interior paint
Torqeedo battery
Life Seal
light weight foul weather gear
solar phone charger
dry bags
solar panels
leaks bow and cockpit
sheet to tiller wear
new mainsail and jib?

        I’ve already done some of these including the companionway screen, fixed the winch, bought flares—my old ones were out of date, dodger shackles, Torqeedo battery, and insurance, which wasn’t on the list.  In St. Lucia I bought sail repair tape, wood filler, some shackles, two buckets, a fan, and a new Windex which was also installed there.
        Also, Carol brought to me in St. Lucia a JetBoil stove, a Megaboom speaker and three Apple lightning charging cables.
        The question mark after the new mainsail and jib is a matter of whether I buy them this year or next.  I’ll decide when I return to GANNET in two or three months.  They are both starting to be weakened by UV.
        I wish to state that while I like their motors, I don’t much like Torqeedo as a company.  I have twice used the contact form on their website and never had a response either time.  Thanks to James I know what ‘Error 33’ means.  Torqeedo couldn’t be bothered to tell me.

        I heard from a reader who paid me a very great compliment by driving some distance to visit GANNET that the contact email described on the main site didn’t work, so I tested it, once with the first letter of my first name capitalized, once with it not.  I received both emails.  All I can suggest, Rick, is that you try again.

        That’s it until the nearest body of water is fresh not salt.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Marathon: St. Lucia to Marathon passage log

May 3, Wednesday
Caribbean Sea

0800 Towed from slip.

I woke at 0530 to the sound of light rain on the deck.  I got up to close the forward hatch.  I had the spray hood over the companionway and was able to leave it open which makes a big difference.

At 0600 I fit the Torqeedo.  It started.  

I had breakfast, shaved, went ashore to dispose of trash and fill my daily water bottles.

At 0745 I was ready to go.  I turned on the Torqeedo.  It ran for two seconds and stopped.  The display read ‘Error 33’.  I do not know what that means.  I disconnected cables, cleaned connections, sprayed WD40, repeatedly, and continued to get ‘Error 33.’  I cursed and went down the dock where I found a man in a Cigarette-type boat and said, “My outboard won’t start.  I’ll give you $50 to tow me from the dock.  He said, “Yes.  Are you ready now?”  I said, “Five minutes” and went back to GANNET where I removed the Torqeedo and outboard bracket and a stern dock line.  The man appeared and brought his boat alongside skillfully.  We tied together.  He powered us slowly from the slip twenty yards to the end of the finger where I raised the mainsail and said, “I can sail from here.”  I reached over to hand him the fifty dollar bill and he smiled and said, “No.  I help you today, maybe you help me tomorrow.”  

I thanked him, cast off the lines and sailed under mainsail around the edge of the marina and out the channel.  Once clear of the roughly twenty boats at anchor, I engaged the tiller pilot and went below to stow the Torqeedo, fenders, and dock lines.  We continue to sail under main alone, making 5 and 6 knots on a reach so broad we can not set both main and jib. 

1200
14º17’N    61º17’W
day’s run   23 miles     COG   306º   SOG 7.0
Key West    1313 miles (straight line)   301º

I went to sheet to tiller at 1000.  Full jib and full main.  A sunny, pleasant offing. 10-12 knots of wind.  2’ seas.   Forward hatch open.  We are sailing a little high of the rhumb line to the Mona Passage and must be getting a boost from current presumably from water funneling in from the Atlantic between the islands because we aren’t sailing 7 knots.  I can see the vague outline of Martinique’s mountains fifteen miles to the north.  St. Lucia no longer visible astern.  Cold pizza already eaten for lunch.

1500  We were heading too far north, so I engaged the tiller pilot and lowered the mainsail.  We were still heading too far north, so I gybed the jib to starboard and we are now on course for Mona Passage, the southern entrance of which is 400 miles away. We no longer have current with us and our SOG has dropped to 4 knots.  There are patches of sea weed floating about and I leaned over the side to see if we had any caught on the rudder.  We haven’t.  I can’t see if there is any on the keel.  

1700  About to sit on deck and listen to music in stereo, thanks to Carol bringing me a second Megaboom.  I have already benefited by having hot coffee in the morning and being able to charge my phone easily.

The wind continues light and inconsistent.  I gybed back to starboard an hour ago.  Earlier there were massive explosive clouds over the chain of islands behind us which have largely dissipated. 

1800  After dinner of chianti sausage, Irish cheddar cheese and a French ban baguette, I raised the mainsail.  The wind has veered and now is close to the beam when we are on course.  It didn’t much increase our speed, which remains around 4 knots.  Tiller pilot still steering, though I may go to sheet to tiller if this angle holds.  While on deck sipping a gin and tonic and listening to JESUS CHRIST, SUPERSTAR, I saw that we have cross seas.  Low 1’ waves from the southeast and the northeast slapping into one another.

When raising the mainsail it was satisfying to glance up at the masthead and see the wind angle on the new Windex.

1930  GANNET sailing 5-7 knots at or within one knot of true wind speed.  Half moon directly overhead.  A threatening cloud bank to the north losing shape.  A few stars.


May 4, Thursday
Caribbean Sea

0700   With the ominous and uncertain sky last evening, I left the Pelagic engaged expecting the wind to require too many adjustments for sheet to tiller during the night.  It did.  Veering and backing.  Strengthening and weakening.  I was up many times adjusting sails and at 0100 to lower the mainsail when we were dancing about too frenetically at 8 knots.  Awake at 0530 I raised the mainsail and went to sheet to tiller. 

It looks to be a nice day.  Mostly blue sky with scattered trade wind white clouds.  Three foot waves.  A white bird hunting around GANNET.  Jia Peng Feng playing on the Megabooms.  A cup of hot coffee into which I dip mini croissants kept in place by a shoe on the floorboards.  Decadence.

1200
15º29’N   63º06’W
day’s run   128 miles     COG  308º   SOG   6.5
Key West    1184 miles (straight line)
Mona Passage  283 miles  300º

Beautiful day.  Sky and sea blue.  Wind 12-14.  GANNET sailing at 6+ knots, though yawing under sheet to tiller steering.

1700  A perfect day.  GANNET is so much fun to sail, and I’m not even steering.  The jib is.  She is so quick and responsive to wind and wave, accelerating at the least hint of any increase.  

Sitting on deck an hour ago I saw a ship pass several miles ahead of us, heading south.  

It is odd to be sailing on a sea surrounded by land, rather than an ocean.  The nearest land now is Montserrat 100 miles ENE.

GANNET continues under sheet to tiller steering, averaging better than six knots since noon.


May 5, Friday
Caribbean Sea

0930  This is pleasant but slow.  We are making 4 and sometimes 5 knots under jib alone with tiller pilot steering under a mostly cloudy sky.

After yesterday’s perfection, the night was not.  I was up and down for three and a half hours, from 2130 to 2230 and 0100 to 0330 trying to balance the sheet to tiller steering.  The sky had clouded over and it was a dark, starless night.  I wore my headlamp.  I furled the jib further twice, played with the mainsheet, added, removed and shifted elastics, without ever getting us on the desired course.  Always we were far too high or too low with the jib collapsing and refilling with a crash.  At 0330 I managed to get to sleep with the expectation of sorting it out after dawn.  However after dawn, I still couldn’t get us balanced on course.  We continued to sail for the wrong end of Puerto Rico, so I lowered the mainsail and we proceed pleasantly and slowly.  I’m not sure what, if anything I am going to do about this.  The wind and our speed are increasing slightly.  I am occasionally seeing  SOGs of 6.  We are 60 miles south of St. Croix.  I just remembered that I haven’t set up the running backstay, which should be done when sailing without the mainsail.  So I will.

1200
16º49’N   65º00’W
day’s run   136  miles     COG   296º    SOG  5.0
Mona Passage   149 miles   293 º
Key West  1049 miles  (straight line)

Sky partially clear.  Some trade wind clouds low.  Some cirrus high.  Nothing threatening.

We continue to ease along under jib alone.  

In an interview earlier this year I was asked what I am still learning.  It is a good question and one I had not been asked before.  I did not have a good answer, but what I am still learning may be when to ease off and not suffer unnecessarily.  

The last of the sausage and cheese for lunch, accompanied by an apple.  I bought four Golden Delicious.  It was. 

1700  An easy day.  We’ve averaged five knots since noon.  A waypoint off the south end of the Mona Passage is 128 miles away, so we will be sailing it tomorrow night.  I have sailed Mona Passage twice before, the first time when north of Puerto Rico Jill and I were brushed by a freighter that broke a spreader on RESURGAM as recounted in the chapter ‘Adrift’ in A SINGLE WAVE.  We managed to reach Ponce on the south side of the island without losing the mast, made repairs, and then sailed back up the passage and on to Key West.  Large swells can develop in the passage, which is shallow on both sides.  We did not experience them then and I hope not to now.

Going to stand in the companionway and listen to music and sip red wine.   Bottled not boxed.  I bought two bottles of red and two of white in St. Lucia, all with screw tops so I can drink a half bottle one night and save the other half for another.

1900  A freighter heading west passed within a half mile astern of GANNET ten minutes ago.  She seemed to divert course to check us out.  I stood in the companionway watching her until she was safely clear.  Congested waters from now on.

May 6, Saturday
Caribbean Sea

0700  A quiet restful night.  I slept well and needed to.    I still woke often and sometimes GANNET seemed soundlessly motionless, but every time I checked our speed I found her making 5 knots.

This morning the same mix of high and low clouds and blue sky as yesterday.  We are 30 miles south of Ponce, Puerto Rico and 48 miles from a waypoint near the southwest corner of the island.  Sunshine.  Pleasant temperature.  Bach Partitas on the Megabooms.  Mini croissants and coffee.

1200
17º40’N   66º54’W
day’s run  121 miles   COG  298º   SOG   5.3
Mona Passage  26 miles  296º
Key West  930 miles   (straight line)

One dark cloud dropped a few minutes of rain on us this morning, but otherwise a sunny, clear day.

We are only 16 miles off the Puerto Rican coast.  I think can see land but it is indistinct in the clouds caught on the island.

I’m not sure what tonight will bring.  Or how I will approach it.  Certainly change. 

1840  We are in the Mona Passage.  Two hours ago bent by the land the wind veered and I had to gybe the jib to starboard.  This resulted in awkward motion, with the wind on one side of GANNET and waves on the other.  I forced myself to wait until 1730 to gybe back and we are now sailing more comfortably at 330º ten miles off the west coast of Puerto Rico and beyond the shoal water.  

The moon is ¾ full and above the horizon so we’ll have light much of the night.  It would be very nice if this wind holds.  

The sun has yet to set.  We are about to enter a new time zone, GMT -5,  but because Florida is on summer time which is the same as our present geographical time, I am not going to change ship’s time only to change it back when I reach Key West. 

Dinner of freeze dry beef stew accompanied by the last half of the bottle of red wine and a shuffled playlist of movie soundtracks.  The Overture from THE HERO is presently playing, and I still have a half glass of wine.

2000 Raised mainsail.  Present wind angle I can carry it without blanketing jib.  Gained more than a knot from 5 to 6+.  We are past the shoals on the Puerto Rican side and on course to clear those on the Dominican Republic side.  I’m going to bed, expecting to be up often.

May 7, Sunday
Atlantic Ocean

0550  The wind remained south all through the passage and the sea smooth in the lee of Puerto Rico.  Not until we cleared the north side of the island an hour or so ago did it return northeast.  I lowered the mainsail at midnight because it was blanketing the jib and raised it again a few minutes ago and returned to the blessed quiet of sheet to tiller steering. 

The sky is light, but the sun has yet to come over the horizon. 

I was up often.  Saw the lights of two boats in the distance.  Tired.

On this side of the islands we are back in the Atlantic Ocean.

1200
19º04’N  68º17’W
day’s run   116 miles   COG  309º    SOG   5.3
Key West   821 miles  

Continued beautiful weather and fine sailing.  Sheet to tiller with full main and a couple of rolls in the jib for balance.

I saw a ship entering the Mona Passage behind us this morning.

Our course yesterday zig-zagged so we did more than 115 miles over the bottom.  The day’s run is straight line from the previous noon position.

The distance to Key West is now approximately accurate.

1330  Still a beautiful day, but no longer beautiful sailing.  Just after noon the wind veered and lightened.  We were going due north.  I gybed and reset sheet to tiller.  We went due west.  I engaged a tiller pilot and lowered the main.  We are still 20º high of the desired course and only making 4 knots but that is the best I can do.  If I weren’t tired, I’d set the G2, but not having slept well two of the past there nights, I am and won’t.

I had wanted to use sheet to tiller to enable the batteries to recharge.  I am not certain how many successive days we can use tiller pilots and there are areas ahead, particularly the Old Bahama Channel off Cuba which are narrow with shipping lanes and we need to sail a compass course.  In partial compensation, we do get greater solar charging without the mainsail set.

1600  Ship passing several miles south of us heading east.  

We are only twenty-five miles off the Dominican Republic coast, but I have not seen land.  

From here on it is almost all coastal.  Land will always be within twenty or so miles. 


May 8, Monday
Atlantic Ocean

0630  Becalmed in moderate rain since 0400.  We continued sailing until 0530 when the wind went west and died.  I furled the jib, tied down the tiller and brought in the tiller pilot—I was using the last Raymarine which is quieter than the Pelagic.  Rain is pattering steadily on the deck.  Sky complete low gray.  We are drifting south at a half knot to a knot.  The coast is thirty miles away.  I am sitting in my foul weather pants and sea boots.  Going to make cup of coffee.  Slept well.

0830   Rain has paused and wind returned from the southeast.  We are underway, making 4 and sometimes 5 knots under jib alone.  Starboard broad reach.  Pelagic steering.  I can see the coast thirty miles away.

1030  Wind veered far enough for me to be able to set the main without blanketing the jib, so I’ve gone to sheet to tiller steering to conserve the batteries.  Not much solar charging today.  Light rain has resumed.  A ship passed a few miles south heading east.  Just after I tied the sheet to the tiller, GANNET
caught a wave and surfed for ten or fifteen seconds at I judge more than ten knots.  Go GANNET.

1200
19º54’N   69º37’W
day’s run  91 miles     COG 289ºn   SOG  5.5
Key West  731 miles

Wind continues to veer.  Now south and we sail on a beam reach.  A few drops of rain.  We are getting 1.8 amps of solar charging through the overcast.   I don’t give a bearing for Key West because we have to sail a serpentine course past shoals and islands.  

1250  Almost becalmed again.  When I plugged in the last Raymarine, it died.  Now all Raymarines are dead.  I continued to use them in fine conditions because they are quieter than the Pelagic and I think use less power.  The Pelagic is keeping our bow pointed in the right direction.   Our SOG is a surprising 2.5, some of which must be current because there is almost no perceptible wind.

1315  Becalmed.

1500 Light wind filling from the north.  Sailing at 4 knots on starboard beam reach.  Pelagic steering, though if the wind lasts, I’ll try sheet to tiller.

Ship passed north of us heading east.

We are 17 miles north of Cabo Frances Viejo, which I take to be Old Frank’s Cape.

Sun has burned off all low clouds and some of the high.  Half blue sky.

1900  The sun just set.  Late because I have chosen to remain on US east coast summer time.

Dinner on deck.  Leonardo da Fettuccini accompanied by a Bacardi Limon and tonic.  As earlier noted I am not a rum drinker, but I adapt.  

A cruise ship is passing several miles south of GANNET heading east.  Some aboard might have been dining.  Surely many were joining me in a sunset drink.  There are Caribbean cruises and there are Caribbean cruises.  I prefer mine.  I am sure everyone on board the cruise ship prefers theirs.

This is an unusual passage for me.  Shorter than most.  Often within sight of land.  And with a high proportion of wonderful sailing, including these last few hours.  Sailing is like surfing:  you often wait a long time for the right wave or conditions.  In St. Lucia another sailor and I were talking about this.  He estimated that only 15% of sailing is good.  That may be true, but as with a  surfer catching the great wave, it is worth the wait.

GANNET is sailing at five knots in not more than six knots of wind.  Heavier boats might be making two or three knots, or sitting dead in the water, or be under power.

Sheet to tiller balance is delicate at this wind speed.  It will surely change during the night.  I slept well last night.  I can get up tonight.

Other ways that this passage is unusual is that I still have fresh food:  apples, limes, mini croissants.

And that I do not think of the final destination, but of the next obstacle.  First it was the Mona Passage.  Next Punta Caba Isabels in the Dominican Republic to leave to port 50 miles ahead.  Then Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas 180 miles ahead to leave to starboard.  Then the ten mile narrows of the Old Bahama Channel 430 miles ahead between the Bahamas and Cuba.  And then the Cay Sal Bank.  And then Key West.  One obstacle at a time.

Looking over at the Dominican Republic I thought of Pedro Martinez, who was, along with Sandy Koufax, the greatest  baseball pitcher I have ever seen.  Koufax with the LA Dodgers when I lived there in the 1960s.  Pedro with the Red Sox when I lived in Boston in the 1990s. 

I  believe that I read that at one time 25% of active major league baseball players came from the Dominican Republic, which comprises 2/3s of a moderate size island.  The other third is Haiti.

For three or four years Pedro Martinez was unhittable.  He had too many pitches.  I also think I remember reading that one of those years he had statistically the best year of any major league pitcher ever.  Batters, even the best, came to the plate not expecting to get a hit.  You could see it in their stance.  Instead of hitting the ball with the bat, their only hope was to swing and that Pedro would inadvertently hit their bat with the ball.  

While on deck and now below writing I was listening to my Requiem playlist.  It just ended with the third repetition of the last incomplete notes of Bach’s ART OF THE FUGUE.  I wonder if anyone will listen to it when the appropriate time has come.

An almost full moon has risen.  I am going to start new music, take my unfinished drink and stand in the companionway and be immersed in beauty.


May 9, Tuesday
Atlantic Ocean

0700  A sunny morning.  Light wind continues.  GANNET glided smoothly through the night at 4 knots in about that much wind.  Maybe 5 or 6.  I did have to adjust the sheet to tiller a few times and once remained awake until a ship that was crossing our bow passed a few miles away.

We are 14 miles off Cabo Isabels, the northern most point in the Dominican Republic.  Looking at the Navionics chart in iNavX there is a good small harbor there and hotels.  I’m not stopping.

I use both iSailor and iNavX.  I prefer the appearance of iSailor and open it if I just want COG and SOG.  I find using the waypoint list easier in iNavX.  I have discovered that iNavX continues to use location services when running in the background, which enables it to provide position more quickly when reopened, but also uses battery power unless the app is completely closed, which I do.

As I have noted elsewhere, if you sail more than locally, charts for iSailor will be much more expensive than for iNavX.  To cover the Caribbean with iSailor takes several folios.  The one I bought that includes St. Lucia no longer provides detail of the Dominican Republic.  With iSailor the state of Florida alone requires two or three folios.  With iNavX you get Bermuda, the Caribbean and all Central and South America in one purchase; the Navionics entire US for, I think, $20; and can download the NOAA charts into the app for free.  However, the current version of iNavX crashes from time to time.  Thus far iSailor hasn’t.

1200
20º16’N   71º15’W
day’s run  95 miles    COG   283º    SOG 4.5
Key West  639 miles

Another glorious day.  Forty or fifty miles of the Dominican Republic visible to the south, along with one freighter heading east several miles inside us.  Getting good solar charging.  4.9 amps presently.  Batteries should be fully charged.

2000  Full moon astern.  Lingering twilight ahead.  I don’t recall perfection sustained this long.  The wind has increased to ten knots.  GANNET’s speed to 6 and 7.  I have adjusted the steering, adding another shock cord to the tiller and taking a couple of wraps in the jib.  I am deliberately sailing high of the rhumb line in an attempt to move north of the shipping.

This afternoon I watched huge cumulus clouds billow above Hispaniola, the island that encompasses both the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  They faded with the sun and only trade wind clouds remained.

Leaning over the side to wash spoons and plastic cups and the plastic bowl I consider to be the kitchen sink I find the Atlantic a bit cooler than was the Caribbean.

I glance up and see the light flashing on the Yellowbrick which means it is transmitting a position.  

We are heeled 10º and GANNET is more lively, dashing through the water rather than gliding.  We have moved beyond the Dominican Republic.  Haiti is south of us now.  By this time tomorrow we should be across the Windward Passage and north of the east end of Cuba.


May 10, Wednesday
Atlantic Ocean

0800  The wind increased a few knots during the night and I was up for an hour at 0100, as it seems I usually am, adjusting the steering.  I woke at 0530 to find us sailing fast, surfing on low waves.  When I turned on my phone I saw an SOG of 12.8 knots.  Too fast for sheet to tiller.  I put on my foul weather pants to keep my shorts dry and went on deck, engaged the Pelagic and lowered the mainsail.  The wind is not strong.  Only perhaps 14 knots, but we need to sail a compass course across the Windward Passage and avoid Great Inagua Island, which is 12 miles north of us.

I had hoped to move away from shipping last night and perhaps mostly did, but while I was on deck this morning I saw a ship ahead.  In the pre-dawn light I couldn’t make out his running lights or which way he was heading.  Finally I saw that he had already passed us and was moving away to the west.

1200  
20º43’W    73º28’W
day’s run   128  miles   COG  274º     SOG  5.9
week’s run    815 miles
Key West   515 miles

We continue under jib and Pelagic.  Rolling more than past few days.  

Not a spectacular week’s run in miles, but it was spectacularly beautiful sailing.  One of the nicest weeks I can remember.

1610  Lumpy seas presumably from currents around and between the islands.  Great Inagua north of us.  Cuba and Hispaniola to the south.  GANNET rolling and wallowing.

I used the first of the ship’s water today, that is the water carried in the four jerry cans.  I bought four 1.5 liter bottles of water in St. Lucia and filled my two day water bottles, one holds two liters, the other one liter, before I left the dock.  That makes nine liters, which is what I have used this week.  Or 1.3 liters or .3 of a gallon of fresh water a day.  The same consumption as on the passage from Darwin to Durban.  

I have more liquid than that.  Juice in the morning.  A can of tea or beer during the day.  And two glasses of something at sunset.  

I often read two books at once.  Usually one non-fiction and one fiction, but recently I have been reading books of poetry and another book.

I just finished Derek Walcott’s epic OMEROS, which we are told is Homer’s name in ancient Greek.  It is an impressive and entertaining achievement of a very high level.  Although there is an Achille(s), a Hector and a Helen, I did not find this a retelling of the ILIAD and the ODYSSEY in a Caribbean setting, but a work of brilliant originality.  Given time, I’ll read it again,

GANNET is leaping about so much I can hardly type and will stop.

1750  The chaos is behind us.  With a half furled jib GANNET is rolling along at 5.5 to 6 knots in 16 to 18 knots of wind on the beam, but the motion is not so extreme.  Two waves crashed on board and partially below.  The first in a very long time.  A dose of Moore 24 reality.  I have become spoiled.

I’m sitting on the starboard pipe berth, my feet braced on the port berth.  Billowing white cumulus clouds visible to the south through the companionway.  On the floorboards a tumbler of Chilean chardonnay and dinner of venison risotto steeping.  On the Megabooms, the Chieftains, TEARS OF STONE.


May 11, Thursday
Atlantic Ocean

0730  A beautiful, gentle morning.  

By 2200 last night the wind and seas had moderated, so I got up and went on deck, set the mainsail and went to sheet to tiller steering.  In the light of the full moon in a clear starry sky, I didn't even need to wear my headlamp.  With several more trips to the deck to make adjustments during the night, GANNET made her way smoothly onward.  I saw only one ship, but there may well have been more I did not see.  

The nights are slightly cooler.  For weeks I have been sleeping on top of a lightweight sleeping bag, but the past two nights I’ve pulled it over me.

Sailing at 5 knots under full main and jib, GANNET is presently 33 miles north of the Cuban coast and 44 miles WSW of Cay Santo Domingo in the Bahamas.  We should reach the southeast end of the narrow Old Bahama Channel tomorrow morning. 

1200
21º27’N    75º26’W
day’s run   120 miles    COG   300º   SOG  5.6
Key West   397 miles

Continued fine sailing.  Although I’ve been in the companionway often, surprisingly I’ve seen no ships this morning.

1630  G2 set.  Pelagic steering.  

The wind veered to the point the mainsail was blanketing the jib and sheet to tiller was no longer viable, so I set the G2 a half hour ago.  It increased our speed from around 4 knots to 5 and 6.  I will leave it up as long as the Pelagic can handle it.

Just before I set the G2 I heard a motor and saw a small power boat heading toward us.  Ever since fishermen who wanted to become pirates tried to board THE HAWKE OF TUONELA off Java on the last circumnavigation, I’ve been dubious about boats approaching us at sea, but this contained two teen aged boys in wet suits who wanted to sell me fish.  I said that I have no way to cook them.  The boys smiled, waved and headed south toward Cuba, forty miles away.  I guess you can cover that distance quickly in a small boat with a big engine.

Although it looks as though we are in open ocean, Bermudian shoals and cays are only a few miles away and we are in ever narrowing waters, culminating in the southeast entrance to the Old Bahama Channel 70 miles away.  We should be there in the morning and sail much of the ten mile wide channel with shipping lanes during daylight.  It goes on for 70 or 80 miles.  We need to sail compass courses for the next 150 to 200 miles.  Really for all the rest of the remaining 375 miles to Key West, though there is leeway once we are through the Old Bahama Channel.


May 12, Friday
Atlantic Ocean ? 

0800  The question mark is because I’m not sure what body of water we are on.  Whatever, we are between the southern Bahamas and Cuba sailing at about 4 knots under jib alone.  The G2 stayed up for twelve hours, but at 0400 it was starting to move GANNET more quickly than the tiller pilot could keep up and I felt we were almost constantly alternating between nearly gybing or broaching.  Not supportive of sleep.  So I furled, lowered and stowed it and went with the jib.  I was gong to this morning anyway because we have too limited maneuverability with the G2 for the confines of the channel ahead, though it is certainly the right sail to be set under present conditions.

Before that I was awake for most of the three hours from 0000 to 0300 because of two ships that behaved strangely.  A clear night so I had them in sight all those hours.  Both were brightly lit.  One came up from behind us to within a half mile off our starboard quarter, then fell back and over the hours disappeared astern.  The other was almost dead in the water directly ahead of us.  At first several miles away.  We finally passed her after I had to alter course to come up 10º.  She was steaming slowly south.  Perhaps both were killing time until they could enter some port.  

After lowering the G2 I did manage to get some sleep until 0700.  I’m tired and I thought that this coming night would be the one of broken sleep.

A few more low clouds this morning.  Wind directly astern and light.

1200
22º08’N   77º19’W
day’s run   113 miles    COG   296º   SOG   2.8
Key West   286 miles

Very unsatisfactory conditions.  Reefs and shoals near to starboard.  A stream of shipping near to port.  Light wind, 4 or 5 knots, almost directly astern.  Slightly toward starboard quarter.  

Interrupted by sound of an approaching motor.  Stood to find another two man fishing boat approaching.  Not the same boys as yesterday.  The one sitting aft at the outboard waved and shouted, “Hola”.  The other standing a bit forward pointed downward presumably toward their catch.  I shouted, “No.”  They waved and headed back to the Bahamian banks.

When under jib alone our speed dropped below 2 knots, I raised the main, which even blanketing the jib is giving us another half to full knot.  If the wind would just back ten or twenty degrees, we could keep both sails full.  We are stuck on this compass course.

Several cruise ships have passed.  I conclude that they arrive back in Miami tomorrow or even tonight and turn around to start the next cruise on Sunday.

1430

Not surprisingly I fell asleep sitting at Central after lunch of Laughing Cow cheese and crackers.  When I woke a half hour or so later, the wind had backed ten degrees and we are now sailing at 3 and sometimes even 4 knots.  No ships in sight at present.

1815  The light on Cayo Lobos rises isolated from the ocean two miles to starboard.  A ship heading east passed not long ago and is no longer visible.  I seem to have the ocean to myself.  

Other than the tiny cay on which the light stands, the only one on the Bahama side—there are several navigation lights on Cuba—there is not the slightest sign that water shoals from over a thousand feet to twenty within a hundred yards/meters.  I was thinking of the early explorers of these waters.  It is not surprising that there were wreaks.  It is surprising that not every ship was wrecked.

Chicken Vindaloo is steeping.  A shuffled playlist of non-classical is on the Megabooms in the cockpit.  GANNET sailing at 4.5 to 5 knots on a beam reach under full main and jib with the Pelagic steering.  I will set alarms tonight.  I’m not sure at what intervals.  I almost always wake before they go off.  I’d like to get at least four or five hours sleep.  I may also lower the mainsail and let us continue under jib alone.  Speed is not important tonight.  Staying out of trouble is.  My feast, and a gin and tonic, await.

2040  Mainsail down.  We are still making about 4 knots under jib alone.  The slower we go, the less distance we can wander off course during whatever intervals I sleep.  The AyeTides app has tides for a cay on the Bermudian side twenty miles ahead, but I don’t know what those tides do to currents here.

The moon will be up in less than an hour.  Last vestiges of burnt orange light to the west.  Lights on the Cuban shore visible and running lights of three ships.  I’m going to try to get some sleep.


May 13, Saturday
Old Bahama Channel

0645  We are almost through the channel.  Fourteen miles to go to the end of the traffic separation lanes.

I went to bed at 2100 and set an alarm for 2300, but was awake before it went off.  I reset alarms for every two hours and was caught only by the last at 0500 when I was in deep sleep and couldn’t figure out what the iphone klaxon was.  I got more sleep last night than the night before and am rested.

The wind remained light and backed steadily during the night.  Cuba is certainly big enough to create a night land breeze.  At 0100 I gybed the jib.  We were sailing level so I didn’t gybe my bedding.  When I got up a half hour ago I found the wind far enough forward on the port side to set the mainsail which has given us an extra knot, brining the SOG to 4.6.

There is a slight dogleg to the west in the channel.  I made that course adjustment at 0300.

I only saw one ship all night long and that was heading the other way several miles distant.

Now I can consider Key West, which is 215 straight line miles away, but we still have to skirt the Cay Sal Bank and sail a bit farther.

The fishy smell of the Grand Bahama Bank, invisible but only two miles to starboard, is strong.

0930  We are near the end of the traffic separation lanes and I’ve gone to sheet to tiller.  The batteries have been .1 lower each of the past two mornings with the Pelagic and the masthead LED in use.  12.3 this morning.

The first ship of the morning visible many miles to the south heading east into the channel.

Sunny.  A few high clouds.  Wind eight knots on the beam from the SSW.

1200
22º54’N   78º46’W
day’s run   93 miles    COG   288º    SOG   1.9
Key West  193 miles   301º

Wind has gone very light.  3 or 4 knots and starting to back.  We barely have sheet to tiller steering.  I have to readjust the elastic bands every ten or twenty minutes.  Now only one length of surgical tubing in place.  If the wind remains the same, I’ll go back to the Pelagic to keep us pointed in the right direction tonight.  We still have to skirt the fifty mile long Cay Sal Bank.

With my frequent trips on deck I’ve seen three more ships, all at a gratifying distance to port.

iSailor is better at keeping some detail when you zoom out.  It still shows the Cay Sal Bank when I view from here to Key West.  On a similar view in iNavX the bank completely disappears.  You cannot even view the full bank in iNavX.  This is true even on the bigger screen on my iPad mini.  There is something to be said for having both chartplotting apps.

1630  Wind continued to back to the northeast.  I gybed and rebalanced GANNET on a starboard beam reach.  The wind was less than 4 knots until 1400 and is now about 7.  We’re making 5 knots in approximately the right direction, but I’m still having to make frequent adjustments.  I may return to the Pelagic to see us through the night. 

1930  Dinner of Louisiana red beans and rice eaten on deck accompanied by a tumbler of Baron Philippe de Rothschild sauvignon blanc, the soundtrack of the movie, THE MAN WHO CRIED, and a cruise ship with more decks than I can count coming up a mile or so away to port.  Those on board are having a very different experience of the sea than I.  They probably don’t even lean over and rinse their spoons in the ocean.  All after I lowered the mainsail and went to the Pelagic to steer under jib alone because the wind has backed so that sheet to tiller can’t steer us anywhere near the desired course.


May 14, Sunday
Atlantic Ocean

0900  The sound of the jib fluttering woke me around midnight.  When I stood in the companionway I found that the wind had backed west until we were almost close-hauled.  Though the jib was trimmed for a broad reach, the Pelagic had dutifully kept us on the compass course.  I trimmed the jib and then raised the mainsail.  We were heeled 15º, so I shifted the Avon to starboard and my bedding to the port pipe berth.

At 0600 I went on deck and further furled the jib and put a reef in the mainsail, which has reduced the angle of heel and smoothed out the ride, though we are still moving about on several axes.  The wind has veered a bit and is now at 65º.  When we clear Cay Sal in a couple of hours we can fall off a few degrees.  We are still making better than five knots with an estimated arrival at the waypoint off Key West,102 miles away, before dawn tomorrow.  I’ll continue at this speed until we are closer in case the wind weakens or dies.

Water coming over the bow is not making it back to the companionway.  I have the spray hood up, but not tied down.  

Sun starting to burn through high cloud cover.  Barometer down only a millibar.

1200
23º39’N   80º30’W
day’s run   106 miles  COG  307º   SOG  5.4
Key West   88 miles   306º

Wind swinging back and forth through 20º, from close hauled to close reach.  Fortunately it has not headed us.  Yet.  Presently close reach.  Full jib.  Reefed main.  I won’t remove the reef from the main unless it begins to appear that we won’t get in tomorrow.  West wind is unusual here and I did not expect it.  High overcast remains, but clouds do not look threatening.

1630  Wind has gone very light and is heading us.  Took reef out of mainsail.  Still making 2.4 knots  but no longer on rhumb line.  Sailing to windward with forward hatch open.  68 miles to go.

Sponged a half bucket of water from the bilge.

Gave myself a good fresh water rinse in the cockpit.  

1810  Becalmed.

1900 Sailing at 4 knots 008º.  Wind has headed us.  Just what I didn’t want.  I hope it keeps on going until we can lay Key West on the other tack.  

Several ships have passed just north of us, some heading east, some west.


May 15, Monday
Florida Straits

0200  At 2130 the wind backed enough for us to tack to starboard and, briefly, sail toward Key West.  By 2300 the wind had died completely, leaving us drifting east away from Key West in 1 to 2 knot current.  I turned off the Pelagic.  No point is wasting battery power for nothing.  I’ve left the sails up, but may lower them.  Sea almost flat and glassy in moonlight.   Haven’t slept since midnight.  Waypoint off Key West 50.57 miles away.  This was a beautiful passage until it wasn’t. 

0230  Sails down.

0400 Drifting northeast 2.5 knots.   Already east of Marathon. 

0500  Can’t sleep.  I raised the mainsail to get it out of the cockpit.  I had left it draped there with the halyard still attached.  Ship passing south of us heading east.  I hope they are keeping a good lookout.  We certainly can’t get out of their way.

If wind ever comes up, I may try for Marathon, where I can anchor west of the key and try to get a tow in.  It is presently 29 miles away.  I doubt I can reach Key West today.  There are lots of rules and huge fines for anchoring and damaging coral in the Keys just to complicate matters. 

0530  Mainsail back down.  Flopping around too much.   Tied it to boom.

0800 Sailing 2.4 knots toward Marathon.  Over flown by Coast Guard patrol plane an hour ago.  It paid no particular attention to us.

0815  Speed now up to 3.5-4.0 knots.  With this current, our compass course is 285º resulting in a COG of 305º.  I’ve sailed these waters many times before and never remember current this strong.  I hope it decreases as we get closer to the islands.

1200
24º30’N   080º55’W
day’s run  55 miles    COG 310º  SOG 2.5
Marathon  16 miles   318º

Sunny morning.  Three sport fishing boats have passed heading farther out to sea.  Wind 6 or 7 knots, but we can’t make any speed.   We are partially heading into the current.  We just keep going slower and slower.  Frustrating and depressing.

1730  A brutal, tortuous day.  Light wind.  No wind.  Light head wind.  Adverse current.

We are presently three miles off Boot Key and in water shallow enough in which to anchor, though not in the location I want.  A great relief when we crossed onto the reef and the depth reading went from 170’ to 30’ and I knew we could get an anchor down and not spend another night drifting toward the Bahamas.  There is light wind from the northwest and we are sailing north at 3 knots, about the best we’ve done all day.  If the wind holds, I’ll try to anchor at the west end of the Key.  If it dies, I’ll anchor wherever we are and hope I’m not breaking any laws. 

There are many other boats around.  Several on day moorings near Sombrero Light.  Some sailing.  More powering. 

1830  I see three or four sailboats anchored where I would like to, but am not sure I can reach them.

1930  Wind died a few minutes ago.  Anchored in 12’ of water a mile south of the other boats.   

2100  After furling the mainsail and tying down the tiller I took the Sportaseat on deck, poured a Bacardi Limon and tonic, with a slice of lime still fresh from St. Lucia, and sat on deck and watched the sun set fiery red beyond the Seven Mile Bridge.  For a while I didn't even play music.  I just sat in silence.  

I was beyond my frustration tolerance level today.  At sea I would not have enjoyed the poor sailing, but I would have accepted it better than drifting helplessly near land and shipping and other boats.  It took us seven and a half hours to cover the last sixteen miles.

I finished my drink and went below to pour another.  

I brought up the Megabooms and played music.  First some of the Bach Cello Suites which suited my mood.  Then songs by Loreena McKennitt.

We still weren’t quite there.  Tomorrow I would have to re-anchor, go ashore, find a place for GANNET, retrieve the Torqeedo battery forty-five miles away in Key West, perhaps have to arrange a tow into the harbor which is accessed by a long narrow channel.  But those are problems of the shore.  A beautiful passage until the last thirty-six hours, but I am very glad to write:

Passsage over.

Daily runs  St. Lucia to Marathon total:          1323 

Daily runs Durban to Marathon total:             7746  

Daily runs San Diego to Marathon total:       23339