Fleetwoods Circumnavigation

No fish this Friday on the line but I did have two decent flying fish laying in front of the companion way with the morning paper. I fried them for breakfast. They are tasty. You might remember that I had a bowl full of them one morning, just before arriving in Trinidad, in May 2007. And then in Trinidad the Swedish couple on “Acapella” made maatjes, pickled flying fish, what a treat, with ice cold Aquavit. At 19.30 hours I was at 33.44 N 58.03 W By the way, not sure if any one caught the error on UTC. Europe is two hours ahead of UTC, not behind. Also yesterday was July 2nd not June 2nd. I am now 1446 miles from Azores. That made for a 101 mile day. Last night was slower. I found that I could not budge the main sail boom. I had to wait till daylight to free up the friction caused by one of the hose clamps that I put on to temporarily fix the broken gooseneck. So I could only fly a head sail during the night, which was plenty before night fall but then I needed more sail during the night. It was a very nice sailing day to-day, not as rough and lots of sunshine. But the wind has now dropped to where I can only make 3. 1/2 – 4 knots with the most sail area that I have up now. But it gave me the opportunity to get several good pictures of these unusual critters that sail over the surface. It’s an unreal sight. Herb promises me decent conditions and wind for the next four/five days, as long as I stay below 35 North. To-night is the Cryptogram on Radio Nederland. I missed it the last number of weeks.

Well, I wish every one a very happy and pleasant 4th of July Holiday.

At 21.30 utc I was at 33.33 N 59.57 W with 1540 Miles to Azores. A 119 mile day. At 2.30 in the morning I had to pry the washboards out of the companion way entrance to get on deck. A horizontal sheet of pounding rain hit me. I wrestled my way, dressed in watch band, head lamp and safety harness to the foredeck to douse the head sail. It had to be blowing more than 30 knots in this rain squall. The rest of the morning it was a steady rain. Dark and miserable in the cabin. But what the heck! As long as I am making progress. Talked to Herb. Stay on the 33.30 latitude, don’t go further north. Without the sun I have had to run the engine to charge the batteries. No luck on the trap line. The lure stays on the surface because I am moving too fast. I’ll have to add more weight.

At 18.30 UTC (I am going to use this now till I get into the West Europe time zone)UTC or Zulu Time is 2 hours before Europe summer time, 4 hours before Atlantic Summer time and 7 hours before Pacific Daylight Saving Time) I am at 33.24 N 62.23 W with 1659 miles to Horta, Azores. A 124 mile made good 24 hour period. The winds strengthened last night and I had to drop the main and sail with just the 90% jib. In the morning they were getting close to 30 knots, reefed the jib to 60%. All night there had been a heavy cloud cover, pitch black. Then the rains came, in buckets at times, and gusty winds. For a while I sailed under bare poles. Then the storm jib but in the afternoon the clouds broke up and the wind also went back to less than 20 knots. Right now they are back to 25. Herb gave me a new waypoint, keeping me going dead east along 33.30 latitude. Since yesterday he had me going more north eastward.

There are these beautiful little creatures sailing along the surface. Not certain if these are Portuguese Man of War. About 2 1/2″ (65mm) long. Looks like something for kids to play with in the bathtub. The sail looks like a transparent rooster comb. The odd part is that they sail with their sails directed the same way as the wind direction. They come in different colors. White sail with light blue body/boat. Yellow with red, etc. They are difficult to catch quick enough to have the camera ready. But I promise a picture.

Tuesday evening: It is 9 p.m. and I am having one of the best sails ever. Since leaving Bermuda 6 hours ago my speed has not fallen under 6 knots. I just put a third reef in the main, for the night. It is still blowing close to 25 knots. When I approached the fuel dock there was a boat at the dock and he informed me that there was another boat ahead of me in line. Guy with a British accent, American flag. When I said : “oh, really!” He sarcastically snapped back: “Yes, really”. On the way out he passed me while I raised my sails. His boat was all of 48 foot. Then I sailed past him. So, I got my revenge. His crew finally managed to get the way too big reacher sail down with the snuffer sock. Real sailors only put socks on their feet. The Bermuda AM station is playing oldies, like real oldies, forties/fifties, “Jezebel”, (if ever a devil was born without a pair of horns,,,) etc. So, it’s Kareoke night on “Fleetwood” without an audience.

At 17.30 Bermuda time I am about 20 miles East of Bermuda. Good strong 20/25 SW and doing over 6 knots. According to Herb this will last thru Thursday morning nand then moderate to 15/20 knots, same SW direction. That’s good news. My Grib files show some light winds in 4/5 days. I got fuel and water ( 13 gallons) about 4 to 5 in the emergency can, so, apparently I did not quite fill the new bladder tank. But that should be enough. I leave Bermuda with some sadness. I enjoyed this place and met lots of nice people, some will stay friends. This morning I had a nice talk with Matteo at the customs dock, he is from Lombardia, married to a Dutch lady and making his home in Cuyck, Holland. He is a paid crew on a 65 foot Swan. And enjoyed seeing Rod again. He and his handsome son and beautiful wife and daughter were sitting next to me at mass last Sunday. He is from Bataan, P.I. and works at a sail loft and rigging outfit. Kelly, an R.N.from Missouri who crewed on “Voyager” with Ed Mapes, the skipper and crew in the Marion-Bermuda race. Marion (??) is near Newport and this race is held every odd year. The traditional Newport-Bermuda race is sailed in even years. The Marion race is lower tech and more for offshore cruising boats. I had a great chat with the attendant at the fuel dock, about our faith. I could have stayed longer and learnt more about it’s history.

So, for the next three weeks or so, till I make landfall, I will not be able to have internet access or see mails directed to jack@cometosea.us

Put in the new pre-feeder for the head foil, installed the spare water tank bladder, received the repaired auto pilot back this evening. In the morning I need to check out with customs and then move to the fuel dock to fill up and get water. Did my fresh vegetable/fruit shopping.

Wireless righ now is a very weak. Radio Transmission was very difficukt with Herb and the boats here could not get a forecast. But the grib files look good and we do have local predictions on VHF. Squid , sauteed with a shot rum, and penne, salad for dinner.

The picture is of  ” Westward”. She arrived Sunday. Last night I had  beer and a chat with one of the crew at the Dinghy Club.

"Westward"

At 16.30 hrs (Eastern Daylight Saving time : deduct three for Pacific add 6 for Europe) I am at 32.17 N 66.20 W with 75 miles to go to Bermuda. So, if these winds hold I’ll be in before dark Friday evening, into Bermuda. In the last 6 hours I have covered 28 miles or an average of close to 5 knots. From yesterday’s position at 15.30 hours till 0600 this morning I covered 5 miles towards Bermuda. An average of 0.3 miles per hour…… I believe that I prefer a gale, praying hard, to the agonizing penitence of no wind at all and being slapped around by the waves and surge. It is impossible to sleep with the racket. If I have a sail up it will act as a giant fan when the boat is slapped from side to side by the remaining waves/surge from the previous storm. So, the windvane is confused by the fan wind as to where it ought to go. I did give in and motor for a few hours till the wind filled in. And now it is like a sailor’s dream. Full main and a pole out 140% on a beam reach in about 15 knots of wind.

The Harken dealer in Bermuda has ordered the head foil feeder replacement that is laying, by now, on the bottom of the Atlantic, thanks to the great service I always get from Fisheries Supply in Seattle.

At 15.30 hrs I was at 32.30 N 67.14 W with 123 miles to Bermuda. In the last two days I have made good 109 miles to Bermuda. That is a day’s sail in the trade winds. But Herb tells me to wallow around and no need to crank the engine on because all I would accomplish is to meet up with gale force winds nearer to Bermuda. So, I am just going to listen to sails slat and the boat rock and roll. Most of the day the winds were in the 5/8 knot range and I stayed under 3 knots of progress. Right now there is no wind. Doll Drums like. Heavy thunderclouds are building up ahead. So, it looks like Friday for my land fall.

This morning I dropped the main for a reef change and the boom goose neck was tearing off the mast. Looked nasty. Pop rivets popped, the machine screws left their holes. I had a problem with it a year ago and when in Florida, for my haul out in spring 2008, I had the mast off the boat and replaced the stainless machine screws with a larger diameter and re-tapped the holes. Stainless and aluminum are not compatible. I used a dope to isolate the two metals but apparently it wore off. I managed to temporarily fix it with a large hose clamp around the gooseneck track and the mast and shoring it up with rope.

No luck, on the trap line. The Saragossa weeds are gone. As I had expected, looks like I got away with insulting my sons and their 75% American male contemporaries.

I have been reading a Dutch book “Heimwee naar de Horizon”.(Longing for the Horizons) My oldest nephew Dirk Jan gave it to me. Peter Stuivenberg, the author, has some moments of literary genius but for the most part it is confusing and zig zagging through too many subjects. The most annoying part is where he uses English. Te pas en te onpas. And it would be similar to me writing a book in English and throwing in a bunch of German. Because he just is not that proficient in English. But then who am I to criticize?  Bless Charlotte Kolsky, she taught me more English than anyone. She used to take my business letter dictation in shorthand and when it came back to me to sign, it was not even close to what I blabbered to her. Charlotte was my first American boss’s secretary, she wore these lacy white blouses, short grey hair, and as a 21 year old Dutch immigrant, coming up in the Southern California wood business, I was impressed.