Atlantic Crossing – Part 2

This is the second part of our sail across the Atlantic Ocean first part can be found HERE.

Day 11 – December 28, 2020

• Distance latest 24hr: 118 nm
• Total distance: 1181 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked carrot bread with fried egg
• Lunch: Curry stew with Mahi-Mahi and rice.
• Dinner: Pasta with pesto and halloumi
• Sunrise: 09.19 UTC

During the night we got a bit more wind so we made good speed. Around 2pm UTC we reached halfway which we intended to celebrate with some cheap sparkling wine we bought in Mindelo. The wine was disgusting and we ended up sharing a Coca-Cola instead. During the afternoon we read for a while and ate some chips. Looked a bit a movie during dinner before we started our night shifts.

Day 12 – December 29, 2020

• Distance latest 24hr: 119 nm
• Total distance: 1300 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked carrot bread with fried egg with some tea
• Lunch: Fruity foil-baked Mahi-Mahi with sweet potatoes
• Dinner: Spagetti Carbonara
• Sunrise: 09.27 UTC

A big shower showed up during the night and cleaned the boat of from all salt. The previous days we haven’t had so much rain and there has been so much salt all over the boat. The wind also picked up a bit during the night, but it was no worries. During most of the crossing we used our largest staysail instead of the genoa. The genoa we have is very big and a light-wind sail and as it is very rolly on the ocean the genoa slapped a lot, and the staysails did not (or at least not as bad). We actually found that sometimes we had less headsail up in light winds just because of the slapping. We read a lot during the day, made food, did the dishes, read some more. Did some afternoon-fika of the last oranges we had left, oranges with almonds. When we prepared the fika a big wave hit us, leaving chopped oranges and almonds all over the table, fortunately no oranges in the sofa! We had a lot of seaweed floating around us, it got stuck in the lure and the wind-vane. During the afternoon several dolphins showed up to escort us for a while. We watched some movie while eating dinner.

Day 13 – December 30, 2020

• Distance latest 24hr: 106 nm
• Total distance: 1406 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked buns with marmelade and tea
• Lunch: Tomato-based fish soap
• Dinner: Spagetti Carbonara
• Sunrise: 09.34 UTC

It was very little wind during the night and we ran the engine for a while. In the morning we got hit by a line squall with a lot of rain and some wind so we hoisted the sails again. We watched some movie while eating breakfast until the rain passed. The wind stayed during the day and we sailed almost beam reach with mainsail hoisted as well, the first time we set mainsail during the crossing. It was a very sunny and warm day, but quite windy so not any trouble with the wind. Spend a lot of time in the cockpit, reading as usual. Caught a big mahi-mahi (85 cm), which ended up as several nice filets.

Day 14 – December 31, 2020

• Distance latest 24hr: 89 nm
• Total distance: 1495 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked buns with marmelade and tea.
• Lunch: Tomato-based fish soap
• Dinner: Sweet-and-sour fish stew
• Sunrise: 09.43 UTC

Barely no wind during the night, and it stayed that way all day. The wind had changed direction and was blowing against us. We hoisted the main in the morning as we had to sail close hauled. We tried to sail for a while, but it was so little wind so we ended up dropping the sails and took a swim in a very calm Atlantic ocean instead. After just drifted for a while we started the engine. Got visited by some dolphins today as well. During the evening the wind picked up and we hoisted the sails again and during the night we took down the main again as the wind turned again so we sailed broad reach/downwind again.

Day 15 – JAnuary 1, 2021

• Distance latest 24hr: 137 nm
• Total distance: 1632 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked buns with marmalade and tea
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: Red curry fish stew
• Sunrise: 09.49 UTC

It was a pretty windy day, and also quite some rain. We sailed with the biggest staysail and made an average 5-6 knots, sometimes up around 7 knots. The waves are also a bit bigger than what they have been the previous days. We tried to watch some movie inside the boat but it was warm, humid and rolly so nice to go out in the cockpit after a while. Saw a container ship which passed quite close to us (less than 2nm). Saw some dolphins again.

Day 16 – JAnuary 2, 2021

• Distance latest 24hr: 144 nm (record!)
• Total distance: 1776 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked buns with marmalade and tea
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: Red curry fish stew
• Sunrise: 09.59 UTC

Made really good speed all night and continued like that throughout the day, thus the record. We still only sailed with the largest staysail, but we made good speed anyway and it felt safe. When we ate breakfast a big wave washed up into the cockpit and washed away Thomas last sandwich. We both got quite wet and we had some water inside the boat as well. We got a mail from home that the volcano on St Vincent (where we were heading) might have an eruption and that people living close to the volcano should evacuate. Other than that we spent the day as we usually did, reading and listening to music. It was quite cloudy all day but with a semi-cool sunset. During our entire crossing we never had any really beautiful sunset, quiet disappointing actually.

Day 17 – JAnuary 3, 2021

• Distance latest 24hr: 133 nm
• Total distance: 1909 nm
• Breakfast: Freshly baked buns with marmalade and tea
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: Omelet with corn and bacon
• Sunrise: 10.08 UTC

The wind was still string during the night and we continued making good speed, and no rain this night which was really nice. In the morning the wind calmed down and we tried the genoa. Compared to the cloudy yesterday, today was very clear skies and sunny. We caught another Mahi-Mahi, which we put in the freezer to eat when we had arrived. As we got closer to land we got more lazy with the food, and made mostly simple meals.

Day 18 – JAnuary 4, 2021

• Distance latest 24hr: 125 nm
• Total distance: 2034 nm
• Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and sugar topping for Petra and peanutbutter topping for Thomas
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: Ramen-noodles
• Sunrise: 10.18 UTC

Now we had gotten really close to the Caribbean and we spent most day watching the horizon after land, checking on the plotter how far we had left and just waiting instead of doing something with our time, like reading a book like we usually do or prepare a good dinner. Finally when the sun was about to set we spotted Barbados.

Day 19 – JAnuary 5, 2021

• Distance latest 24hr: 140 nm
• Total distance: 2174 nm
• Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and sugar topping for Petra and peanutbutter topping for Thomas
• Lunch: Pasta with pesto
• Dinner: —–
• Sunrise: 10.28 UTC

We sailed pass Barbados during the night, and it was quite unusual to see so many lights in the sky again. One fly-fish got into the cockpit this night. We have had a lot of fly-fish on deck during the crossing but this was the first that flew into the cockpit. It was a sunny day and we were really happy when we spotted the very lush island St Vincent. We arrived around 13.30-14.00, after 18 days at sea, to Young Island Cut where we took a mooring in the quarantine area. We were scheduled to take our tests the day after. We sat down in the cockpit and opened our bottle of champagne we had gotten as a gift from our friends on the crossing.

More about the test procedure and quarantine days in next post.

If you are interested here is our YouTube videos from our sail across the Atlantic ocean (we have English subtitles for all the videos):