Into the Atlantic
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We sailed away from Gran Canaria, Canary Islands on March 11, 2023 with confidence, excitement and a healthy bit of trepidation. We knew our journey would be challenging, it is after all a very long sail for a small boat. But we felt ready. We had put a lot of blood sweat and tears into making sure of it. The crossing for us would be 3200ish NM to the Lesser Antilles, give or take few gybes. We feel overwhelmingly privileged to be on this journey around the world. I wanted to get that on the record before I tell our Atlantic crossing story. We have spent an inordinate amount of time outlining our short-comings and difficulties of late and if/when I sound like I'm complaining, just remember that as sailors we consider all challenges our own dang fault, even the weather. But I’ve never been one to hold my tongue concerning our sailing challenges and I won't start sugar coating now. Put on your seat belts and take your seasick pills. Adventure is another word for jeopardy. Lucky for me Macgyver Dois is on board. In hindsight we probably should have made a few more preparations and I’ll go into that in the Trip Briefing at the end. But we are fairly seasoned sailors (at least one of us is) and we were extremely late in the season. We were also illegal aliens and had been for 3 months. The fear of being caught in the Spanish legal system was an unbearable weight. We needed to leave. Yachting World Magazine Guide to the Atlantic Crossing summarized: “the transatlantic tradewind crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean is on many a sailor’s bucket list. Endless sunny days of running before the wind followed by nights under a sky full of stars with dolphins playing alongside…”. We were ready for sun, stars, wind and dolphin! After a blustery night we discovered a couple of hitch-hikers on deck... or they discovered us.Normally I'd let Skipper lounge in the cockpit well, but neither he nor the birds would be safe so he was confined to the salon. He really didn’t put up a fuss as I think he was relieved not to have to go out on deck. We gave the birds water and bread as they seemed to be looking for refreshments. We were still within a reasonable flight path of Africa and they left after a couple days. Challenge No.1 - The weather.The forecasts were mixed but 20kt winds were not worrisome and 6’ to 12’ waves didn’t seem like a game changer either. Thankfully we didn’t know the reality or we’d still be in Gran Canaria. We were dealing with fallout from huge storm systems rolling across the North Atlantic one right after another. Waves were pushed in Ashika's path by the cyclones starting from the North East, then from the North and ending with another cyclonic borne wave train from the North West. Waves coming from three or more directions resulting in a potato patch sea-state. The storms generated winds from their tails and manifested as wind behind us. The result was wind from one direction and 8 to 12' waves from several directions, converging to make our journey a bit bumpy. It was astonishingly loud. The wind howled and waves exploded on Ashika’s beam side. Although we had wind, we had to bear off the entire trip to balance between the wind direction behind us and the waves on our beam, moving at 4 or 4.5kts instead of 6 or7kts. We couldn’t avoid all waves no matter our course because they came from NE, North and NW but the genoa would not settle in the rolls. Each time, the Genoa rattled and snapped sounding like a bomb hit the deck and we were reminded that anything not nailed down was in danger of taking flight. Sleep was illusive for me for sure, but Dois can fall asleep on a moving tank. Tackling even the most mundane jobs was demanding. Neither of us ever felt seasick, but cooking that first week was a no go. By the time our premade meals were consumed our sea legs had returned. I did not go outside to take photos for the first 2 weeks. It felt too dangerous. |
An Accounting:
ITEM COST 1. New (to us) Main Sail $400 2. Replaced Rear Seal on Transmission $390 3. Replaced AIS $550 4. New (to us) Life Raft. $310 5. Fixed the Boom Vang. $198 6. Replaced 2 batteries. $300 7. Replaced Anchor Chain $412 8. Engine Mount Armature $250 9. Iridium Satellite Device. $700 10. Welded Penis onto Riser Priceless |
NOTES Very lucky to have found one that would work. Mechanic largest expense & so well worth it. incl. 20% Tax due to Canary Island new law. Un/used 4 man life raft. Welded bracket supports the boom nicely again. . 2x130amp automotive (need 2 more = full bank).. Really needed this new 100' -10mm galvanized. . Welding; fixed a scary vibration. . The ability to download weather maps, text & call anyone including Search & Rescue. . You might recall that Dois couldn’t come up with the Italian word for Nipple but did come up with a body part… priceless. . |
We are both so very grateful for our generous friends and families and we are ready to be done and push off into our Transatlantic crossing. And we are so close. But we have decided to wait for one more payday in March before we push off due to rigging issues and misc. as I mentioned above. We also still still need to finish our final food and sundry provisioning as well as extra fuel. Yes, we are a sailboat and planning on doing a lot of sailing, it is indeed over 3000 blue water miles and we don't carry THAT much fuel. With our satellite device we can see where storms are (or wind) so extra fuel means we can try to dodge a storm or make a doldrum less, well...doldrummy. All in the name of safely sailing this old girl home.
peace.
Our Moment on Game of Thrones
After the first 2 days of our journey to the Canary Islands, the morning's weather download now included a new feature; a storm would blow 40 knots right on our nose. We needed a hidey hole and we found one on the Moroccan coast. We would head for Essaouira and drop anchor in Slaver’s Bay, Astapor, the fictional home of the Unsullied Army on Game of Thrones. This location was rumored to be a favorite place to film, mostly because they didn't have to do much to capture the dark and ancient castle atmosphere.
Sometimes I find it difficult to describe our journey and not make it sound, well, miserable. Although I have been known to share a few sunrise and moonbeam pics, it's just not that fun to write about them. The out-takes, mistakes and downright bad luck experiences and consequent survival tactics are just more fun to write about and hopefully to read.
But our sailing adventures aren't all crisis mode, we have claimed our share of glory days. A huge pod of dolphin spent an entire day, along with their babies, playing, hunting and "cavorting" around our boat on an amazing journey through the the Gulf of Aden's infamous "Pirate Alley"... and escaped with all our bits still attached. We caught our first wahoo in the Red Sea... Wahoo! We have dived in Raja Ampat completely alone. Had amazing people share their culture, food and celebrations. Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets are the norm. Slices of oceanic adventure are abundant and I suspect this journey to the Canary Islands in the middle of the North Atlantic winter will have its rewards as well, it's just hard to see there from the freezing cold salon of Ashika at the moment.
But our sailing adventures aren't all crisis mode, we have claimed our share of glory days. A huge pod of dolphin spent an entire day, along with their babies, playing, hunting and "cavorting" around our boat on an amazing journey through the the Gulf of Aden's infamous "Pirate Alley"... and escaped with all our bits still attached. We caught our first wahoo in the Red Sea... Wahoo! We have dived in Raja Ampat completely alone. Had amazing people share their culture, food and celebrations. Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets are the norm. Slices of oceanic adventure are abundant and I suspect this journey to the Canary Islands in the middle of the North Atlantic winter will have its rewards as well, it's just hard to see there from the freezing cold salon of Ashika at the moment.
Keep your eyes on this space, it ought to get fun!
Dois Brock and I, Lauri Hamilton Brock, splashed our boat Ashika into the Pacific April 2017. Our around the world tour paused in Indonesia for a
Covid Vacay in March 2020. We successfully left Indonesia January 2022 and splashed into the Med from the Suez Canal/ Egypt July 2022.
The plan WAS to
get to the Canary Islands by December...nope.
🤔 uh, January,
definitely January for an Atlantic
crossing to the Caribbean, nope. We were late and made it to Lanzarote, Canaries on February 5th 2023! We are evaluating our final requirements for our transAtlantic crossing. See you on the other side.
Lauri
Covid Vacay in March 2020. We successfully left Indonesia January 2022 and splashed into the Med from the Suez Canal/ Egypt July 2022.
The plan WAS to
get to the Canary Islands by December...nope.
🤔 uh, January,
definitely January for an Atlantic
crossing to the Caribbean, nope. We were late and made it to Lanzarote, Canaries on February 5th 2023! We are evaluating our final requirements for our transAtlantic crossing. See you on the other side.
Lauri