Atlantic Crossing Blog from TRANQUILIZER
Departing from Antigua on 5th May our Bavaria 46 Phoebe B Heads for Gibraltar and onto Greece on a mile building distance cruising trip across the Atlantic.TO SEE OUR YACHTS ON ROUTE Please use the following link: http://live.adventuretracking.com/sailionian
| TRANQUILIZER ANTIGUA TO AZORES TO GIBRALTAR MAY 2010 | |
DAY 3. SY Tranquilizer, left Antigua noon 5 May. Skipper Alan and 4 c rew aboard. General Plan is to head North for 6 days the East for ano ther 10 or so. After 46 hrs we've made about 200nm in beautiful weath er with 2-3mtr seas and 15-20kt east winds.Sightings of A dolphin, A ship and lots of flying fish have added some excitement. Otherwise cr ew is settling in. Kevin.
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| Day 5, Posn 25.05.1N 059.51.1W wind SE15kts, COG 55T, SOG 6.5KT. This morning the weather is favourable for a direct course to Horta, Azores for the first time since we left.1-2m waves make fwd cabin not the best overnight bunk! Spotted another sailing vessel to the east of us. Seems they are a little faster. Crew is getting used to the bo at and her habits. Sea is becoming colder now we are some 350nm north of caribbean, only 22degC! Still no fresh fish, have to improve our fishing skills. Ivo. |
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| Tranquilizer Days 8/9 POSN 28.44.45N 52.42.28W COG 058T SOG 5.5kts 11 00UTC. Six reasons why imprisonment could be better than longhaul sailing! 1.You know the end of your sentanced term. There is a slight probabil ity you will arrive on schedule. 2.You are entitled to at least one walk a day. Walking is limited and you have to be on a lead all the time! 3.You can bribe the guards to get drugs, sex and alcohol. No items of interest in visable range, however the idea of bribing dolphins is considered. 4.You can have a shower. Just a salty cold one! 5.You kniow the reason why you are in prison. You signed up for this without any reason. 6.You can plot escape plan and even execute it if brave enough. The only escape is confining yourself to a smaller prison with very limite d supplies and company. But, all things considered, Sailing is great fun. :-) IVO. |
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| Day 10, Half way! POSN 30.05.2N 50.13.9W COG 060T SOG 6.8KTS WIND WSW 18KTS. So far, our "holiday" has brought us 9 days of beating into North and North-Easterlies, intermixed with days of windless calm. Sensing that a change was in order, Skipper Alan ordered fresh water showers for all onboard-not to surpass each man's ration of 2 sinkful s. After each of the crew's freshwater dance to Horus,the Egyptian Go d of wind, was completed,Lo and Behold! The winds have turned in our favour and we are now expecting to cruise downwind at 6-7kts for the next several days. Kevin. |
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| HALFWAY PARTY! 30.27N 49.33W COG060T SOG 6KTS WIND WNW6-10KTS Celebrations as we have past the halfway mark to the Azores. Our sist er yacht is due to celebrate with some left over champagne obtained f rom English Harbour after the Antigua week.(Note: We are surprised th ey have gone so far North but guess they are looking for the ice for the champagne bucket?) We have a dry boat (no alcohol but plenty of s ea water) so our bcelebration was with a can of grapefruit juice- vig orously shaken and quickly poured and drunk before the bubbles died a way! Winds are dropping again and mixed forecasts for next 7 days dep ending on which ship we talk to and which weather system they have. D ownhill from now on so should be quicker. Still experimenting with ti nned food and stir fry meatballs is not too bad! Ken |  |
BLOG TIME DAY 12. POSN 32.20N 45.05W COG050T SOG6KTS 2210UTC WIND SW1 5KTS Another gourmet meal cooked and eaten in record time whilst balancing against the bulkhead!Crew starting to complain about how many ways p asta and tomatoe sauces can be prepared! Contemplating incubating the eggs and fattening the chicks on rice....The closer we get to the Az ores the more we dream about fish, salads and fresh steaks and start to drool like Homer Simpson! Winds from the west and sailing nicely o n course with less than 900nm to go. Aim is to arrive Saturday if we can keep the wind. We were expecting delivery of our First 47.7 by FE DEX but they have failed to locate us..,maybe tomorrow?! Skip. |
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BLOG DAY 13/14 POSN 34.13N 40.30.5W COG 060 SOG 5.5 WIND WSW10KTS. 650nm from the Azores with supplies running low, the Skipper and his first mate were sitting this morning planning what we will purchase f rom the supermarket upon arrival. "Meat, yeah 6 kilos, lamb maybe, fi sh..!!" Dream boys, dream, you will have pasta tonight! |
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BLOG DAY 14/15 34.52.2N 39.05W COG 060 SOG 7.O 1400 UTC At the time of writing we have lost the wind again.(it has returned) Last night saw the magic "three" things go wrong, two minor and one a little time consuming! The first failure was the barometer which had been under-reading all the journey and the third was the speed log w hich gave a wobbly and had to be removed, cleaned and refixed. But th e second gave thge skipper and our new resident Latvian plumber or "s -diver" a couple of hours interesting work. Eighty litres of liquid " |
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BLOG DAY 21 - POSN: ALONGSIDE PHOEBE B, HORTA MARINA 1800UTC. Arrived Horta under sail. The last four hours reefed down, wets and lifejackets worn and fantastic tacking to Pico and back to Faial. Certain members of the crew were a little quiet but skip and first mate (helming) put this down to tiredness! Beautiful harbour and skipper sailed alongside Phoebe B with ease earning shoreside applause. Trip from Antigua turned out to be interesting but uneventful and if we had not lost the engine 450nm from Azores we would have arrived 48 hours earlier! Ken. |
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AZORES - GIBRALTAR
DAY 1 AZORES TO GIBRALTAR With 5 aboard Tranquilizer is pleased to announce her departure from Horta following an engine rebuild. The "elite" crew now need to average 6.77kts to arrive in Gib Monday 7th June. We have left in almost non-stop rain and SW15-20kts forecast for 36hours. Due to very poor vis we are running 2 people on watch, 2 hours on 2 off with the skipper "floating" and cooking. All in good spirits and currently motor sailing clear of the island of Pico. We have left our "mark" on the dock in Horta so as not to "anger the gods" and hope for fair winds. We will keep you posted on this - the last leg of an epic journey for me as skipper before I hand over the helm to my very competent second mate Dan for the last 2 legs to Greece. Al |
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BLOG DAY 2 POSN 38.32N 24.47W COG 088T SOG 7.8KTS Second leg second day and routine starting to work. Watch followed by sleep, food and more watch. Rain spoiling things for the first day a nd we are looking for sun to dry out the boat and ourselves. Five set s of dripping wet gear crammed into heads makes for slippy ablutions! |
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