Atlantic Crossing - Part 3

Light winds and our underperformance

Can you believe we are actually mid-Atlantic in this pic?

We only averaged 5.8kts over the duration of our 3,131 mile passage. After the first 48 hours, we'd averaged a speed of 8.5kts, so you can tell that latterly, the wind strength had dropped off. I had estimated on 21 days but it actually took 22 days, largely because we almost completely lost our wind in the initial part of the final week so had to we motor at just 5kts, just 1,200 rpm to conserve fuel.

Our chart plotter displaying some stats just prior to our arrival in Martinique 

Did the slow pace really matter to me? If I'm honest, yes it did. We were only using our foresail for most of our westerly passage and that was reefed from 74 square meters to about 65. Why? Because the genoa was pretty knackered and the skipper was trying to ensure it didn't get damaged any more. So why didn't we use our mainsail? When you're sailing downwind, that means with the wind is behind you, the mainsail will block wind from the foresail in front of it, unless you set the foresail on the opposite side. This configuration is known as goose-winged. This usually involves using a whisker pole to hold the genoa out in position, so it can't flap. But our whisker pole was broken, the boat also had a large spinnaker but this couldn't be used either because it had also been shredded. So yes, I was disappointed that this fast cruising yacht was being 'nursed' all the way across. 

I've been lucky enough to have owned several different high performance cars. You can't drive them fast on our roads, so I did many, many track days. Why did I do these? Because I wanted to and loved, to drive those cars to their limit, not nurse them around like walking a greyhound on a lead. 

My TVR Sagaris, it always put a smile on my face when I pushed it to its limits

You must remember though that our skipper's primary consideration was and should always be, the safety of his crew and vessel. Tomasz was just doing his job. It wasn't his yacht and he wasn't responsible for the condition of the sails etc. Tomasz performed his role of skipper perfectly and my criticisms are in no way aimed at him. The boat was actually very well maintained and I know that stuff just breaks, whether it's a yacht or a supercar.

A proper roller coaster ride

Still, we did have one really decent piece of sailing action. At about 1am I got up from my bunk because I could tell the wind had picked up considerably. The wind was gusting to 45kts and the swell was at least 4m, sometimes I'd look behind us and the swell was more than half the height of our mast. The genoa had been replaced by the tiny storm jib to power us by the time I'd emerged. The boat was picked up by each wave and then we surfed down into the following trough, reaching more than 10 kts and a top speed of 13.5 kts was recorded! Wow, what an amazing roller coaster ride it was, without doubt the most exhilarating part of the trip and it lasted for three hours! My adrenaline was really pumping and it sort of made up for the slow stuff. 

So what's life on a 50 foot cruising yacht like?

Piligrim at anchor in le Marin  bay, Martinique as we depart for dinner ashore

Piligrim has a bow thruster to make 'parking' easier, a motorised anchor winch, plus another motorised winch in the cockpit for raising and lowering the rib (a dinghy with an outboard that has a fibreglass bottom). Below it has an electric oven (brilliant), a 3 ring gas hob, two fridges, a freezer and a watermaker. It also has containment toilets that don't discharge waste back into the sea, it's even got a washing machine. These are all powered from batteries that get charged by the engine's alternator and large solar panels.

I love life on board and I'm able to quickly settle into the watch system and luckily, I don't need to sleep for more than five or six hours per day. My waist shrinks due to the constant use of my core muscles, needed to balance myself on the rocking and rolling boat. They even get a work out while I'm sleeping, to stabilise my body. It would be easy to overeat, but typically I'd have fruit for breakfast, bread, cheese and salami or soup for lunch and then a decent evening meal. I try hard not to snack too often as well. 

We took turns to cook and wash up, although I did less washing up and much more cooking than the others. I can only read in short spells, so I'd rather be occupied than just staring out to sea, plus I just love cooking...

Really sorry I still can't upload videos on here, here's a snap of mummy orca though

Conclusions

So what did I learn from this adventure? Well sailing over three thousand miles was actually much easier than I'd expected. The wind was very kind to us even if we could have done with more of it at times. Would I do it again? Probably not in a westerly direction. Sailing back is a different ball game though, much cooler, bigger seas, typically stronger winds and a longer time at sea. Sounds interesting. But I'd love to cross the equator next, maybe a trip down to Brazil and then on to South Africa would be perfect for me.

Just like my time last year sailing with Norwegians, I enjoyed the company of the Polish crew. We all got on so well, it proves that I was just unlucky last year sailing on the Discovery 55 and the Nauticat 521. 

Breaking News...

On Christmas day I was on my way to the local church but I didn't make it there because I noticed to my surprise, that my favourite bar, near the marina was actually open (L'Annexe). I soon got chatting to a professional Corsican skipper who had just flown in. He is scheduled to sail a cat up to the island of St. Martins which is half French and half Dutch, so no Covid restrictions because like Martinique, they are part of the EU.

He was kind enough to invite me to join him at a party that evening on a true pirate ship called Victorious. Needless to say, I had a great time with some very interesting characters. When we got aboard the cat, anchored adjacent to the pirate ship, my first assignment was to cook dinner for six, which I managed to do in less than an hour. Just chicken and rice with a few herbs...

Two fishy looking pirates - me with Lilian another French skipper

The dinner I cooked was nothing very special but it seemed to go down well with me hearties. We retired back on the cat and I slept soundly. We went ashore for a coffee in the morning and the skipper was waiting to hear from the cat's owner, who is supposedly on Martinique. Until he hears from him, the trip to St. Martins is not even confirmed but hopefully I'll join him for a month, to sail around some of the local islands. We certainly got on very well and his english is pretty good.

I'll keep you posted on developments...

Hope you all enjoyed a fantastic Christmas, mine was certainly very different and unexpected!

Please comment below and Happy New Year to you all, God bless you.

ps. I intend to go to St Stephens mass service tonight at 6.30pm! I'm not Catholic but who cares...