Tabitha’s Tales

31 35N 65 31W COG 052(T) SOG 5.6Kts.

Well, we had a wonderfully brisk sail to get here from Florida and now we have a wonderfully restful ghosting sail to get the last 80 miles into St George’s. Bermuda.

The sea is flat calm, the wind only 5 knots or so from the NNW and we are making just 3 knots or so. Enough speed in this quiet sea to give Tabitha a sense of unhurried direction without arriving in Bermuda tonight. With luck we will be making our final approach at day break which is good though I don’t think it is a particularly difficult place to get into at night.

I have taken the opportunity to bring the laptop up into the cockpit which makes a nice change. The fishing line is streamed once again. It would be great to catch a fish to cook on the BBQ in port tomorrow.

The sun is shinning and the sea is a deep blue. It has no features but the occasional Portuguese Man-of-War comes sailing by and I have the camera in the cockpit, telephoto lens fitted, ready to try and capture a photo. The difficulty is that they pass so quickly by. I wonder where they are going? They have a sting which can be fatal. Doc David of ‘Tuesday’ once sailed through a field of them which lasted several days! Imagine, he couldn’t set foot on deck without sea boots for fear of a deadly sting
from one washed on deck in a lively sea.

Speaking of ‘washed on deck’, the flying fish seem to be a daily occurrence now. I am thinking of running a sweepstake. Guess the number of flying fish to be found on deck in the morning. It was 4 on Friday, 5 yesterday and 1 this morning!

30/04 1230GMT 31 19′N 66 05′W. COG 060(T) SOG 5.5Kts. 129nm logged last 24hrs. Total 824. 96nm to Bermuda.

It looks as though the passage to Bermuda is to be in two parts, the fast bit and the slow bit. Just as I was beginning to allow myself to hope we might actually get in tonight the wind changed.

At radio ’sched’ time yesterday afternoon I noticed we were heading more to the east and by the time I was free to go on deck and deal with it we were heading just south of east. The expected wind shift to the south west and west was on its way. Thus began one of those frustrating times when you just can’t get the sail configuration right.

Between 5pm and 10.30pm we had two reefs in the Main, one reef in the Main, no reefs in the Main and gybed at least twice intentionally and several times unintentionally. I tried broad reaching and wing a wing, put the pole out and took it down but I just could not get Tabitha moving at a decent pace in the right direction. The wind was too light for the sea conditions and was constantly knocked back out of the sails by the gyrating motion of the boat. Contrary to what you would imagine, sailing
with the wind behind you is the most difficult angle of sailing - especially when that wind is light and the sea is anything more than flat.

Slatting in light airs is far harder on the boat’s gear than strong winds and when I found the lower seam of the Genoa UV strip coming undone and beginning to fray I furled the sail and put on the engine. By 1.30am this morning a light but north westerly wind had developed and we were able to sail slowly towards Bermuda.

However, it is surprising how quickly the trials of yesterday evening are forgotten as we are now making a healthy 5 knots and the sound of slatting sheets and crashing sails is replaced by the steady swish of the sea as we whoosh our way north east. With luck we will be in for breakfast tomorrow which is, after all, a very good time of day to arrive.

I have a few stitches to put in the Genoa but it is just a continuation of the job I have been doing for about six months as the stitching attaching the sacrificial UV strip to the sail begins to show its age. What was it someone once said about ‘A stitch in time…!’

28/04 1233GMT. 29 55N 71 09W. COG 099 SOG 6knots. Last 24 hrs 156nm. Total 538. 386 to Bermuda.

156nm is an excellent day’s run.

A slightly more boisterous night last night. With reefs in the main and genoa we belted along at speeds consistently above 8 knots which was great. It was noisy though, with the ship creaking as the wooden furniture and floor boards moved against each other, the water swished by on the outside of the hull and occasionally waves crashed hard against Tabitha. I moved my napping position from the port sofa in the saloon to Sue’s bunk in the at cabin which was much more peaceful.

I went on deck this morning to find flying fish on deck. We have seen many of these amazing creatures this trip but this is the first time that we have had them on deck. They really are fish that fly - equipped with a proper set of wings/fins they don’t just leap out of the water but actively fly along changing direction and swooping low between the waves. They sometimes travel for 20 to 30 meters by doing this.

Cruising boats in warm latitudes often find flying fish on deck in the morning after a boisterous night because the fish can’t see the boat in the dark. They are said to have lots of bones and certainly at only three or four inches long, the four or five on deck this morning are too small to make breakfast. Many cruising boats carry cats onboard and it is a favorite sport of cruising cats to hunt the flying fish on deck in the mornings at sea.

27/04 1737GMT. 29 46′N 73 26W. COG 080(T) SOG 6.8Kts.

Setting up a daily communication like this is a bit of a risk. Technology and the marine environment are not happy bedfellows. One splash of salt water on the radio, the radio modem or the computer could mark the end of my ability to post these messages. A low battery could cause a temporary interruption to normal service and poor radio reception almost certainly will at some point.

The implication is that you should not worry if, from time to time, I can’t get messages through. Even if service stops for good, it doesn’t mean we’ve sunk. It will mean that I stupidly left a hatch open and a rogue sea splashed through onto some of the technology or I failed to to tie the computer in place and it leapt off the chart table when the boat leaned over. That is all.

Should we sink, or otherwise get into very serious difficulty we carry a beacon which beams the vessel identifier via satellite to the coast guard who know how to contact my family.

So don’t worry . . .

The day has turned into a real beauty with Tabitha eating up the miles heading due east at an almost steady 7 knots. I just sit in the cockpit and contemplate the flat blue sea or read my book. Tabitha does all the work and she does it hour after hour, 24 hours a day. The windvane steers. I check the course and speed, adjust the sails from time to time and scan the horizon for ships.

The time at sea to from Florida to the UK is, as it happens, about 40 days and 40 nights, but this wilderness is Tabitha’s natural domain. It is what she was built for, as she is amply demonstrating this afternoon. All I have to do is stay onboard and occasionally help her to head in the right direction. She does all the hard work. Its enough to make one feel like a bit of a cheat.

27/04 1235GMT. 29 44′N 74 05′W. COG 085(T) SOG 5.4Kts. Last 24hrs 137nm logged. Total 382. 512nm to Bermuda.

Not such a comfortable night with the wind backing more to the east making it difficult not to make too much progress north. We have been hard on the wind for the last 12 hours which makes for slower, less comfortable going. Winds are due to go more south today but then they weren’t supposed to go south east so who knows.

Wwe have seen only one other vessel in the last 24hrs which is quite nice. Maybe this will be our first day without seeing anything at all.

All well onboard.

26/04 1235GMT. 29 17N 76 36W. 071(T) 4.4kts. Last 24hrs 109nm. Total 245nm. 645nm to Bermuda.

Another good night. This can’t last! Still focused on trying to make east and not north in light SE winds. Apparently, I can expect more wind later today and tonight.

I hit a bit of a low early evening yesterday so opened my first ‘occasional surprise’ from Sue which was actually a very early Birthday present. ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide’ unabridged read by Stephen Fry. It certainly did the trick. I have very few audio books but they are just the thing as a Radio 4 substitute.

I had a good long conversation with a friend aboard ‘Estelle’ this morning. The long range radio makes such an enormous difference.

Today’s problem is what to do with only one appetite and three foot of fish, (well 2ft now minus head and tail). Your favorite Mahi Mahi recipes would be very welcome.

25/04 2130GMT 29 02′N 77 51′W 080(T) 4.6Kts

Scenes of bloody carnage in Tabitha’s cockpit marked the end of the curse that has dogged us for over a year. Since the beginning of our trip we have tried and failed to catch a decent sized edible blue water fish. Other boats have caught plenty. We have come close on several occasions but always failed at the last moment to actually get the fish aboard.

This time, when the reel span out indicating a bite, I made sure I did everything right. We hove-to to slow the boat. played the fish for a while, bought in the other reel, pulled the fish in slowly giving it time to exhaust itself and finally grabbed it by the wire leader and hauled it into the cockpit. This time, I took the precaution of photographing it in the water before trying to haul it aboard.

It put up a jolly good fight and the cockpit certainly looked like the murder scene that it was. A real man on fish fight - boy they are strong! The Mahi Mahi (also known as Dorado and Dolphin fish) arrived just in time for lunch which was Mahi steak baked in butter and pepper, wrapped in tinfoil inside the new pressure cooker (which incidentally is marvelous and has been used for almost every meal since I got it!).

So the curse is broken but the challenge remains - with steaks and fillets from a three foot (well just under - I measured it - honest!) fish in the fridge how does the singlehander serve it for breakfast, lunch and tea?

Weather remains very benign with a freshening breeze expected tomorrow evening to propel me on my way - and make things a little less comfortable.

25/04/07 1229GMT 28 56′N 78 34′W COG 082(T) SOG 4.2Kts 749nm to Bermuda

136nm over the ground logged in the last 24 hrs.

A really good night. The wind veered slightly and picked up to around 18kts which had Tabitha romping along making some good progress to the east. I think we are back on track. We can expect light winds today but so long as they don’t drop any further I shall be happy. Got some good sleep so I am feeling quite positive.

The couple of hours motoring didn’t seem to do much but in the end it was of little consequence as the wind filled in.

The new AIS receiver is a really positive addition to watchkeeping out here. The best thing is that you can easily see if a vessel on a course giving a risk of collision is changing course because the data is transmitted directly from the ship’s systems.

Time for breakfast. Thanks again for your messages.

25/04 0022GMT 28 20.5N 79 38.5W COG070 SOG5.8kts

Night is falling on the first day of the crossing and already I am motoring. The trouble is the Gulf Stream which flows north at a wopping 2-4 knots. Great if you want to head north but not good if you are trying to get east against a light ESE wind. The trouble is that the more slowly you go, the bigger is the component of northerly current in your track over the ground. Thus I was only able to make 015(T). Herb is anxious that I don’t get pushed too far north because of a frontal system on Friday.
With winds veering to the south on Thursday he felt I shouldn’t worry but I decided that it makes sence to get out of the stream as best I can now. I am watching the sea water temperture closely as this will be the best indication that I have got across the centre of the stream.

With the excitement of the departure over, I guess it is not surprising that my spirits have dropped a bit. These first few days are difficult to manage as tiredness, queasiness and the strangeness of it all tend to have an effect and make everything seem a bit gloomy.

I really have nothing to complain about and all is well on board.

24/04 1738GMT 27 49′N 80 04′W 040T 3.9Kts

How would you spend the evening before the start of your first solo Atlantic crossing? Read a book? Watch a favorite movie? Well its not my most favorite but ‘The Perfect Storm’ is favorite with my Family. Earlier this trip we visited Gloucester, Mass’ where the film is set and visited ‘The Crows Nest’ which is featured in the movie.

Before leaving Vero Beach I popped into the bookswop to find a someone had left quite a few VHS videos and ‘The Perfect Storm’ was among them. I great way to pass the final evening.

Departed as planned. America is now well below the horizon and the curtesy flag is down! Makeing slow but comfortable progress.

Thanks to everybody who sent Bon Voyage messages.