Part ix - Life aboard H.Breed

Farewell to Steinar...

A special farewell dinner for a lovely shipmate - Steinar (on the right)

Tuesday 3rd November: Just prior to our departure for Puerto Rico on Gran Canaria, we said our goodbyes to Steinar, who's been a great shipmate. Steinar's flying home to his wife and work in Frederiksted. These Norges all live there and met through their involvement in their local scout movements; they've been scout leaders for more than 30 years and seem to do a lot for their local community of which they're very proud.

Steinar is a gently giant of a man. He did some 'special' work following on from his national service before becoming a professional diver, laying cables all over the world. He had two spells in decompression chambers after suffering the bends - the diver's curse. Today he suffers acute joint pain as a result of these incidents but a medley of painkillers help and he never uttered a complaint. 

He then skippered tug boats and towed ships and barges around Europe. His time away from home has cost him though, he's had four wives and six children. He's close to them, speaking with them all regularly during his time ashore with us. He was genuinely sad to be leaving but plans to join his fellow countrymen again, perhaps in Goa, India, at the end of next year. He fancies some more sailing on H.Breed across the notoriously wild Indian ocean. We're going to miss his calm, confident seamanship and great company...

So what does life aboard H.Breed entail?

Life at sea is obviously very different from our shore time. At sea, we each do a four hour watch, starting at 10pm running around to 10am. I chose to be on from 2am until 6am. I love the solitude of sailing under the stars while my shipmates sleep, or at least try to.

I watch the B&G touch-screen display in the cockpit that gives both radar and AIS (Automatic Identification System) information as well being the chart plotter. The screen swivels through 180 degrees to allow us to shelter under the spray dodger that engulfs the main cabin hatch, acting like a windscreen. 

We've found that some of the biggest ships don't use their AIS, as they're legally obliged to do. God only knows why, too lazy to switch it on or up to no good...? So actually surveying the horizon every ten minutes is also essential; I was spooked on one such occasion when I saw lights approaching behind us but nothing showed on our AIS. We have  a very bright stern light but this monstrous cargo ship just kept heading straight for us. 

An AIS has triangles on the screen representing each ship within a 40 mile radius. When you tap a triangle, it then tells you the name of the ship, it's size, speed, coarse, distance from you and with just one press of a button, it automatically calls that vessel on channel 16 of the VHS radio. I changed coarse and chose not to interrupt its helmsman's slumber and watched as it passed within half a mile of us; it was traveling at three times our speed. I was tempted to practice my morse code with our flash light, just one short four letter word sprang to mind... nah, let it go. They certainly keep you on your toes and liven up the watches - the dozy beggars.

Less than half a mile away. Imagine that approaching you on a dark foggy night, without its AIS switched on and some Dick asleep at the wheel... Not funny if you don't have radar, from which they cannot hide!

We have separate display in the cockpit for the wind. It shows the actual and apparent wind speeds, directions as well as our Speed Over Ground. We use this to trim the sails and to adjust their size using the roller reefing on the foresail and up to four reefs on the main sail. Once the wind exceeds about 12kts, 6kts SOG is easily possible. Above 18kts we start reducing sail area to stop excessive heeling and to maintain better control.

Watching the sun go down, best time of the day...

I love watching the sun rise and set at sea. I was able to observe the daylight hours lengthen as we headed south. Here in Puerto Rico we currently have about 12 hours of daylight and the days for me are spent in just shorts - a T shirt comes out after about 6pm. The temperatures have been in the mid 20sC, but the constant breeze keeps us pleasantly cool. Today I spent a couple of hours cleaning the galley thoroughly to ensure we don't get any infestations from the local insects. We leave our shore footwear on the pontoon to prevent cockroach eggs being brought aboard, pretty standard procedure by mariners in these warmer climates. An outbreak of those little blighters on board just doesn't bear thinking about.

I usually start the day by making a strong brew of the Norwegian's coffee, they really appreciate this routine. I plan our lunch and evening meal which usually involves defrosting some meat or fish from our brilliant little freezer. Gunnar eats very little during the day while Grunde and I seem to graze. I've been making various soups and bread for the daytime, seems to work well enough. They're happy to leave all the cooking to me which I prefer, the galley is my space! The Norwegians usually eat in silence which makes me chuckle but they assure me that this is a good sign - lol.

Life ashore is somewhat different. We rise late morning usually drinking and chatting in the cockpit until the wee small hours with music playing (quietly). Grunde spends a few hours most days doing his work which is designing heating, ventilation and extraction systems for various treatment plants in Norway. Then he goes ashore to meet Gunnar leaving me to cook with my music blasting away with a beer or two.

Arrecife to Puerto Rico

Note the name on that boat in the background - it has to be a lucky omen, right?

A straight forward 25 hour sail saw us arrive in the small harbour at Puerto Rico at 1pm on Wednesday 9th December. We had moderate following winds most of the way and we were cruising along at 7-8kts. The sea was very calm and early that morning, Gunnar spotted a gigantic whale about 200m from our boat. Unfortunately it made just one fleeting appearance so I didn't see it. Gunnar saw its huge tail come out the water and crash down before it dived under. We were only in about 300m of water so it seemed unusual but he was still on his first beer, so we believed him.

Later that morning I was sitting on the bow seat soaking up some sun when these little beauties appeared under my feet...

I'm sure they could hear me talking to them...

Going across the big pond

The plan is set to leave on Thursday 17th December for Tobago. The forecast for the next 10 day looks perfect with 12-18kt following winds. It should take about three weeks provided there are no windless spells...

Thanks for again for following my progress, God bless x