Transatlantic Crossing

Well we have finally reached Barbados safely and all in one piece you will be glad to hear (I hope!). We arrived in Barbados at 12.10 local time (1610 GMT) on Friday 11 December after 21 days and 5 mins at sea, covering 2736 nautical miles. Our fastest 24 hour run was 141nautical miles. Our position is 13⁰ 06’ 074N 59⁰ 37’ 745W for those who may wish to know!

Tenerife to Barbados

We left Santa Cruise, Tenerife at 16.05 on Friday 20 November 2009 which was a day later than planned due to a parcel of necessary parts expected to turn up earlier in the week not actually turning up till Friday morning! The necessary repairs then had to be carried out swiftly. This would not have been a big problem except for the fact that Nick had a flight booked to fly back home from Barbados on Saturday 12 December and it was now going to be touch and go as to whether we could get there on time, the cost of him changing the flight etc was going to be somewhere in the region of a thousand pounds!

As we left the marina at Santa Cruise for our 2,800 mile passage across the Atlantic, amid Keith getting in the fenders and with dancing and singing on the deck ‘Oh! we’re going to Barbados’, the comment from Pete, who was on the wheel, was , is it left or right out of the marina?’.........and he meant it!
The first 24 hours there was no wind and we had to motor, we obviously could not keep this up, but fortunately the wind kicked in the following afternoon.

The following are extracts from my diary during the trip to outline our voyage:

Day 3

Pretty lumpy night but has calmed down a bit now. Blowing a force 5 to 6 we are surfing down the waves as the wind is behind us, every now and then a rogue wave will hit us side on and knock the boat off course causing ‘Old Harry’ (our wind steering vane) to struggle to bring her back and we have to jump on to the wheel to correct it. It also knocks everything flying down below which makes for an uncomfortable motion.

Pete has not been feeling too good, he thinks he is also dehydrated which is not helping him. He is still soldiering on and keeping his night watches though. He must be rough as he couldn’t join in with our 6 o’clock sundowners drink we have each evening! We allow ourselves one drink unless we can think of an excuse for a double sundowner....it is my mum’s birthday tomorrow so good excuse for a double tomorrow!


The clocks go back one hour every 15⁰ of longitude so we put our watches back 1 hour today as we have passed the 15⁰ meridian (means we get there an hour earlier!)

Day 5

Still trying to catch fish, we are trailing a paravane behind the boat sporting a rubber squid which the fish must obviously laugh at and swim by! Nick has decided we are doing ‘eco fishing’ to save the fish stocks!

Every day we do a noon day plot (GMT/UTC) as the Atlantic chart is such small scale that the plots would be on top of each other if we tried to do one any more often. At today’s plot we discovered that we had covered 141 nautical miles in the last 24 hours which amazed us all (best days run so far).

Keith has noticed water keeps appearing in the bilge. Keith and Nick keep taking up the floor boards, mopping out and putting talc in to try to find out where it is coming from. One of the worries is that if it were leaking from the fresh water tank it could be a real problem. They tasted it.....one day they decided it tasted fresh, but another they agreed it may be salty. We are trying to carefully monitor our fresh water usage. The boats tanks hold 326 litres of water and we also carry another 12x10 litre containers of fresh water. We decant it from the tank to a container and use a pump to extract it. We cook in half seawater and half fresh water, we wash up in seawater and any other washing to be done is also in seawater. We have a store of baby wipes so we can get a ‘wet wipe wash’ to freshen us up! We are allowed a half cup of water for teeth brushing.

We cannot run the fridge due to battery power so everything luke warm and as in the case of cheese, smelly!

Day 6

Nick told me we had caught our first fish during the night, I ran up to the cockpit only to find a 2” flying fish struck to the port side deck, must have committed suicide, don’t think it will feed the 4 of us!

We are trying to find the North East Trade winds? (sounds easy to all you people sitting at home I suppose). We are heading south with the Canaries current and have to turn west picking up the North Equatorial current when we are sure we have found the North East Trades which can alter from year to year......turning west too soon can result in getting caught in the ‘light and variables’ trapping us in the huge high pressure system in the middle of the Atlantic sending us nowhere very slowly, turning too late, adds hundreds of miles to our journey! As far as we are concerned we have had a constant force 4/5 from the north east practically since leaving the Canaries but the Trade winds don’t usually get up that far. The Trades are also characterised by the fluffy cumulus clouds which just hang around like puffs of smoke from a steam train (Pete and Nick call them Simpson clouds because they look like the clouds on the Simpsons!) We don’t seem to be seeing too many of them.

'Simpson' clouds

We had a meeting today and decided that we would go for it and make the turn after at 1500hrs today. Fortunately by the afternoon more and more the ‘Simpson’ clouds seem to be turning up so maybe we have timed it just right.....or maybe not, only time will tell. We made the turn, only 2080 miles to go now! An old adage about this passage is to ‘go south till the butter melts then turn west’.....but our butter has been runny since we left the canaries so no clue there then.

Had double sundowners because we have made ‘the turn’!

Day 7

Only 125.2 mile run in last 24 hours at noon day plot today. Still racing against time to try to get Nick there on time to catch his flight home. We seem to be in the Trade winds now, still touch and go for Nicks flight.

It’s quite amazing sitting watching the huge swell approach us from behind as we run down wind. First it looks as if the really big ones are going to catch up with us and come aboard, but then the stern of the boat just rises up over them and they just pass underneath us, or sometimes we surf down the front of the wave and are then get picked up by the next wave. Only occasionally does a big wave come from the side and knock us sideways especially if it breaks at that moment.

I made some scones to go with our afternoon tea which has become a daily ritual (the tea not the scones).

Great excitement, Nick called us as he had a fish on the line. We had to slow down the boat to reel it in as it was too difficult. Turned out to be a 5lb Dorado, Nick shouted for gin to pour down its gills and stun it and Pete only went and brought up the Gordons! We have a bottle of cheapo Larios and he uses the Gordons on the fish!! (can tell Pete is a rum drinker and not a gin one!) Anyway all was forgiven when Nick baked the Dorado with tomatoes onions and peppers, yum, yum (and was a nice change for me not to cook as I seem to have become the caterer, cook and general house keeper).

Keith has a schedule with Andy from the yacht Spruce at 1800 GMT were he talks to him on the SSB radio when we can hear him, he is in the Cape Verdes just now. Andy also has a sched with some Germans at this time and one of the Germans called us up and asked how we were catching fish as they are catching none. We, being British, of course gave him the benefit our superior knowledge, the Germans has never been known for their supreme fishing fleets I suppose.

Day 8

Decided to go mad and make poached egg for breakfast so that was when the pod of dolphins decided to turn up and play around the boat. They looked like Atlantic spotted dolphins from our crib sheet and they gave us a lovely display of jumping turning and generally having a good time for about 15 minutes before being distracted by a load of flying fish and they raced off after them.

Washed my hair today in cold seawater, didn’t feel too bad (as a diver I suppose I am used to having salty hair anyway!)

In the afternoon Nick caught another fish, this time it was a blue fin tuna, only about 1½lb (he didn’t use the gin this time, decided he couldn’t stand the agro!) We will have that for lunch tomorrow (the fish not the gin). Managed to make 130 miles at the noon day plot today. We have worked out that we are averaging about 128 nautical miles a day. If we can keep this up we should be able to make Nicks deadline......but it is very early days yet.

The dolphins turned up again at sundowners, the always seem to know if we are eating or drinking!

Keith cooked a curry made with hot dogs, not bad eating hot dog curry out of dog bowls (we eat out of dog bowls so the stuff doesn’t fall off the plate with the constant rolling of the boat). I made some Bombay potato to go with it.

Difficult night watch as the main sail kept ‘backing’ as the wind went round behind it.

Day 11

We shook out both reefs this morning as the wind has died to 12-15knots. We put the cruising chute up as our speed has dropped to below 6 knots, this gave us an extra boost.

Keith caught a 5lb Dorado yesterday so we will have fish and chips for tea tonight. Had better give the fishing a rest as we can’t keep up with the big fish we‘re catching!

Had a busy morning, made some bread rolls for lunch, did some clothes and T towel washing (in cold seawater with detergent), did the noon day plot (136 miles to our surprise), and cooked left over fish for lunch to go with the rolls. (Kneading bread in a forever rolling boat entails hanging on to the dough at each roll, going with it, then stopping oneself on the back roll by smashing hips first into the crash bar in the galley, but hey, at least the dough is still intact! I have bruises a kickboxer would be proud of.

Nick talked to Shani his partner on his satellite phone this evening (only about 3 trillion pounds an hour in case anyone is wondering why I didn’t call someone!) It was nice that Shani could then pass the message on to others that all is well on the good ship Rapau though.

Day 12

Passed our theoretical ‘half way’ mark at 0116 hrs GMT/UTC this morning (1358 nautical miles). Put our clocks back another hour a couple of days ago as passed the 30 degree meridian so now 2 hours behind GMT (UK time).

Great excitement mid morning as we saw another yacht! We spoke to them on the radio, they are Dutch and are heading for the St Lucia, Cuba, then on across the Pacific to New Zealand.....we suddenly felt as if we are just crossing the channel compared to their plans!! They quickly disappeared over the horizon.

At the ritual afternoon tea I produced a Madeira cake which I had kept as a surprise for the half way mark. We then listened to our usual half hour of audio story (the siege of Krishnapau is the one we are on at present, not brilliant, but passes half an hour before sundowners! Double sundowners today to celebrate half way!

Day 14

We have long run out of fresh fruit and veg except for some carrots that are going bendy so made a carrot and lentil soup for lunch. Managed 137.7 miles in last 24 hours so still on course for getting Nick there on time.

After cleaning the heads and heads compartment again I had to suggest to the others that it would be nice if one of them had a go at it to which Pete and Nick agreed, Keith had his head down so not there to hear take my wrath!

Since we have started fishing again in the last few days we have not caught a thing (apart from the suicidal flying fish that seem appear on the deck every morning). Apparently it says in the Ark skippers handbook that the fish won’t bite during a full moon....so that is our excuse just now!

The winds have gone very light so we put up the cruising chute to try to improve our speed. Reached the ‘1000 miles to go’ point during sundowners which deserved an extra drink this evening. Nick cooked a Chinese curry using tinned ham for tea, unique but nice.

Day 16

The last couple of nights the wind has got up and made for a very uncomfortable motion, rather like sleeping on a bucking bronco when it’s your time off watch. There was a fair amount of lightening going on ahead of us and a big squall came through during Nicks watch last night along with torrential rain which not only soaked those on deck but also came in through all the open hatches and windows particularly soaking Nicks pit.

The rolling is very tiresome today whenever trying to do anything, even making a cup of tea is a feat of balancing and timing! Nicks cushions are drying out in the cockpit as the sun is still hot even though the sea and swell is quite confused today, they make a nice back rest all the same.

We passed the 45 degree meridian so our watches went back another hour today.
Still no fish (don’t tell the Germans!)

Another unique culinary delight was Keith’s meatball curry this evening, he made it with an Achar Gosht paste and it worked quite well.

Day 17

Yet another squall with 40 odd mile an hour gusts last night and funny enough Nick was on watch and his bed and clothes got a dunking again! We are now calling him rain man as it always happens on his watch!

It was one of those eerie nights, while I was on watch I watched black menacing clouds ahead while I stood ready to jump on the wheel and help old Harry if they opened up on us usually with great gusts of wind along with the rain. The clouds stretched down to join the sea ahead like approaching a black hole, but luckily they had mostly moved north of us as we arrived in their vicinity. Keith noticed this morning that his fishing rod with his expensive reel has gone off the deck during the night, probably flicked off by a flaying gib sheet we expect.

The noon day plot saw only 125 mile run in the last 24 hours as expected because of the weather. Since my moan about the state of the heads they have gone up in the star rating of cleanliness, nice to see my moan was taken on board lads.

Nicks cushions are drying out in the cockpit again.

Day 18

Didn’t actually rain on Nicks watch last night at last. There must have been a mass suicide of flying fish last night as there were 3 on the deck this morning. Noon day plot (which now takes place at 9am local time) was 133.4 miles, only 490 miles to go so still on course to get Nick to Barbados before his flight home. The wind has gone light so put up the cruising chute at lunch time

I did fahita’s for tea with a tin of Lidel’s chilli con carne before going on to my 8o’clock watch. The cause of roaring laughter coming from down below at that point was due to Nick going into the heads and finding a flying fish on the floor having come in through the heads window. How unlucky was that fish, it had the whole of the Atlantic to jump into and he came in through our heads window about 18” by 4”!! Images of sitting on the loo and it flying overhead caused more hysterical laughter.....well we have been cooped up on this 36 ft boat, the four of us, for nearly 3 weeks!

Day 20

Made very poor progress overnight as the winds were very light. Keith called me up during his watch as the main sail had backed and he needed to leave the cockpit to attend to something (we made a rule that no one ever leaves the cockpit without someone else being there). It was then that he introduced me to our hitchhiker. A small brown bird had flown round and round the boat looking for somewhere to land. He had finally settled on the bimany frame over the cockpit (after trying the wind generator which is a rotating blade which he finally must have sensed after we thought for a horrible moment he was going to get chopped up!) He obviously needed a rest, and after around 3 hours, during Pete’s watch, he took off and carried on his apparently long journey.

We have gibed the main to get a better course and hopefully more speed today. Last 24 hour run was only 124 nautical miles. Looks like Nick will catch his flight home and possibly a night out also to boot! (Even if the wind dies completely now we probably have enough fuel to motor the rest of the way to get him there on time).
I made the Barbados flag in preparation for our arrival (getting quite excited and impatient now).

Had double sundowners as it’s our Jills birthday today.

During the night the wind kept gusting 28-29 knots which kept backing the main and the confused sea kept knocking us off course. Then, during my watch in the dead of night, a flying fish came flying into the cockpit and frightened the life out of me, I could only watch as it flapped about until it bludgeoned itself to death, I then felt sad that I didn’t return it to its watery residence while it was still alive. Anyway serves it right, God knows what untold trauma it could have caused if it had hit me on the way in!

Day 21

Dropped the main in the morning and ran on Genoa only as the sea was a mass of froth requiring strict attention to the wheel as poor ‘old Harry’ is struggling. Days run a disappointing 121 miles.
Sundowners was a ‘channel night’ (the night before getting into port). This allows double sundowners, plus nibbles and music, a right old party!

Wind and sea still not behaving too well. I did corned beef and potatoes for tea (another of my gastronomic delights) and we settled down to our final night watch of the trip. Made good speeds during the night.

Day 22 (well it will be at 14.05 GMT today (1205 local time), so if we make it before then we will have done it in less than 21 whole days.....confusing but believe me!)

Pete put the engine on at 0525 this morning to charge everything and get the fridge cold for the bubbly we intend to drink when we get there. Looking forward so much to having a cold drink as we have had no fridge the whole trip and everything has been luke warm. The sea has calmed down some.

Spotted land around 9am and Pete put up the Yellow quarantine flag, and Nick put up the Barbados courtesy flag. All getting very excited! Last days run was 137 miles.

Finally arrived at the customs dock in Barbados at 1210 local time which was 16.10 GMT so only 5 mins longer than 21 whole days (maybe if the customs man had caught our lines sooner we might have made the 21 days....but who cares we are in Barbados!!) Nick will have an evening out and AND catch his plane home!!

We immediately opened a bottle of bubbly to celebrate before Pete and Nick went off to the customs with all the papers which is the usual tedious routine on arriving anywhere. After that we will go off to the anchorage in a lovely bay and I cannot wait for a swim!