maandag 21 december 2015

arc 2015 Las Palmas naar Sint Vincent

Op 22 november was de start van de ARC.  met meer dan 200 boten  in de middag rond 13;00 uur over de startlijn voor en tocht (rally) van van 2700 tot 2900 mijl over de Atlantische Oceaan.

De bemanning van Shiva bestaat uit Inge en ik vergezeld door Mariette, Daan,Nicoline en Gerard. Het uitgangspunt was veilig met de hele bemanning aan te komen aan de overkant.  Bij voorkeur zonder al te veel schade aan de boot en als het even kon in een nette tijd; 16 dagen zou heel mooi zijn. We vertrokken met een stevige oosten wind flinke golven. De verwachting was dat de wind met zo'n 20 knopen East door zou blijven staan.  De hele tocht is door Nicoline als onze Manager communicatie, perfect vastgelegd op de ARC blog. Haar tekst geeft een prachtig beeld van alles wat we beleefd hebben. De volledige tekst wordt hieronder opgenomen.

Na aankomst in St Lucia bleek de ARC staf haar blog zo goed te vinden dat Nicoline de eerste prijs kreeg voor de blog over het leven op zee.



November 19, 2015 – The crew is complete! Yesterday morning Gerard and Nicoline arrived in Las Palmas. Few days before Herman and Inge had already welcomed Daan and Mariette. The four of them have been super busy with the preparations for the crossing & the fun stuff that comes along with ARC. So were they part of the ARC 2015 Opening Ceremony by carrying the Dutch flag in the midst of all other 36 nationalities that are joining the ARC 2015. On Monday they’ve rented a car to explore a bit more of the island and see the views of Gran Canaria. Last Tuesday there was an inspection on the rigging on board and Herman and Inge have joined several ARC seminars. Every evening there is the ARC Sundowner where the Shiva crew and all others that will do the ARC crossing (in total around 1250 people) can go for a drink and a chat which is great for hearing each others stories and getting more and more excited to actually sail away for Saint Lucia! What’s more, Inge and Mariette have been provisioning the non-fresh food already. In other words, stuffing the boat and filling all its empty cupboards and corners with pasta, rice, eggs, pepernoten, olives, chocolates, chips, etc. etc. The last empty spaces will be filled this Friday and Saturday with the fresh food. By the way, speaking about eggs, finally it has been decided that we bring 90 eggs on board and Daan has been numbering the eggs so that we can see which ones to eat first with respect to the shelf life. Smart thinking! We have removed the packaging material of all food and things for as much as possible so that we can minimize our share of garbage during the crossing. But to safeguard ourselves from cockroaches and other unwished animals and situations all is neatly packed in cover boxes. A well-structured and thought-through system of food we have now on board!

The arrival of Gerard and Nicoline yesterday was perfectly timed so to join as complete crew the ARC “ 80s Films” Costume Party. It felt as if we just walked out of the Crocodile Dundee film set! We didn’t win the best costume prize (perhaps because we were late!?) but of course that “didn’t kill the fun”.

After a good night sleep we started the day today with several tasks: we turned the boat so to lay out the anchor chain on the pontoon that enabled the Shiva men to mark the chain after every 10 meters (handy when anchoring in the Caribbean); we’ve marked the mainsail with tape to indicate where to put the reefs; we’ve washed the main deck and all its accessories; hung out the laundry; installed the Watt&Sea that will generate the electricity on board; and Daan and co bought the last fishing gear – the fishing preparations are REALLY getting serious…! And then it was time for us to join the life raft practice in the pool. With life jackets on we experienced what it is like to enter and exit a life raft and we got some good advices just in case we might come into such a situation. We don’t expect it at all but it’s good to be prepared for everything (that is what we will be) and it was also interesting and fun.

It’s beautiful weather in Las Palmas (happy I just brought 1 pair of jeans) and the atmosphere is great with so much people around that are all getting prepared for an ocean crossing.

Only 2 more days and then we will be taking off!!!

So what is it that we expect & dream? The skipper’s dream is to make a very beautiful and, if possible, quick crossing to Saint Lucia. The goal for Herman is to do it in 16 days. But most important is that everyone makes it to Saint Lucia safely and healthy and that the boat remains in good shape so that Herman and Inge can continue sailing for another few months after having arrived in Saint Lucia. So, safety first! Herman is also curious to get water from the water-maker and has all faith that Gerard as our Chief Engineer can repair it (anything) if needed. Furthermore with the wasabi, soya and ginger already on board he expects Daan to catch tasty dorades and tuna fish. And finally with daughter Mariette teaching him yoga and the view on the beautiful ocean he expects to feel very Zen (which is so popular and much sought for these days).
For Inge it’s a dream come true! In the 70s Herman and she found in a book shop the book “in 4 jaar de wereld rond” (in 4 years around the world) from Claes and Welmoed Honig and together they knew that’s what they wanted to do! And now it has become reality and will the dream start… With an enthusiastic crew we will be crossing the ocean and will enjoy many, new sailing areas. From the Caribbean Islands to the Bahamas, then along the American east coast to New York and perhaps even to Maine. Inge is very much looking forward to this adventure and all new encounters.
Gerard is also very much looking forward to the adventure of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. It’s great to use the Parasail together with the rest of the crew and of course he’s a little bit proud to be the handyman, ahum Chief Engineer on board. Hope it won’t be needed but if so we are in good hands!
Mariette is mostly looking forward to the yet unknown adventure of the ocean with wind and water being the most important topics of the day. It could even become a philosophical journey where it’s possible to reflect on the small and big things and choices in life. But let’s first get into the habit of living on a limited space with 6 people!
Daan expects to catch so much fish that he needs to stop fishing because people get nauseous of it! And mostly he dreams of the phenomenal views at sea like dolphins, flying fish, sunrises and sunsets, and night skies.
Myself, I’m super curious to experience what it is like to walk, sit, sleep, live on a constantly moving vessel but also looking so much forward to this. Over the last weeks, but mostly last night laying in my cabin, I was already picturing it in my mind and feeling it slightly due to the little sway that is around in the harbour. I expect to be very very happy and enlightened, I will tell you in a few days if this expectation has come true (or if it appears to be the opposite...!).

Next blog that we’ll post will be on Sunday or Monday when we’ve actually taken off! From then on we aim to post every day an update on the ARC log website. Don’t worry; they won’t be as long as this one! And please also don’t worry if a blog comes 1 day later, I could be just very busy reading, chilling, sleeping, cooking or just enjoying doing nothing …

Log day 1 - Clear start & first night

November 23, 2015 – We have taken off!! On Sunday just before noon we left the harbour of Las Palmas. Many people were waving us out which was great! An exciting feeling to know that you won’t touch shore for the coming 2,5 weeks. Manoeuvring through all the other ARC boats with mainsail (1 reef) and jib up we were heading off to the starting line. At 1PM sharp our group made a clear start. 15 minutes before another group had started with Team Brunel sprinting off and quickly leaving the rest behind them. There was about 22 to 25 knots of wind, with highs of 30 knots. It caused a good wavy sea, in my eyes waves of 4 meters at least, but in reality 3 meters I must say! It is very impressive seeing this blue high wall coming up behind the ship and then feeling the ship surf over this blue mountain. One of our best surfs made us go 14.2 knots in speed!! Of course this was just for a second, but still, a new record for Shiva! The average speed we were making was around 9 knots. Still surrounded by many ARC boats we were taking many pictures and of course competing already a little bit J At some point we lost the safety buoy (reddingsboei) because the force of the water had ripped it off, Gerard immediately jumped into action and performed a kind of solo man overboard rescue action. Great job Gerard!! The sun was showing its face now and then, but mostly it was cloudy.

Between 5 and 6PM we had dinner from a bowl. Mm goulash and rice, thanks Inge for preparing this upfront! After that the first people already went to bed to prepare for the night shift. Inge got seasick, for the first time at Shiva!! And therefore she slept throughout the night, for as much as possible... The boat was a washing machine for real… Rolling, bonking, splashing, tweaking, cupboard contents shifting, not easy to fall asleep this way!

With 2 reefs in the mainsail and jib up we entered the night. Gerard and Daan started. Mariette, Daan and Nicoline turned passes and so did Gerard and Herman. From 12AM onwards the wind was steady and the automatic pilot was taking good care of the ship and its course. The moonlight was so bright that it was like a spotlight on our boat and on the waves around us. It was very beautiful, almost magical! Mariette has seen one falling star and we could see still some lights of other boots further around us. We’re curious to explore how next nights will go, they say it gets easier after 2 or 3 nights, we do hope so but also believe so…!

This morning Inge was doing well again. Thanks Doctor Daan ;) The sun is shining and there is somewhat less wind, very pleasant. We see only 1 more boat and we still see the last island of the Canaries far away. Soon we’ll be on our own! The waves keep rolling of course, they come from the back and from left and from right, sometimes fast and sometimes like slow-motion. It’s a very specific swell! Outside we’re constantly wearing life jackets and inside the boat simple things like brushing your teeth become a huge challenge.

It’s just day 1, but already a very special day! First of all because we have sailed 202 miles in the first 24 hours of our trip, which is much more than we expected and a record for Shiva. Secondly, we’ve already seen the first dolphin swimming next to our boat. And thirdly, Daan just caught his first fish!! We think it’s a Mahi Mahi. It looks beautiful, now let’s see how it will taste!

In short, all is good here & greetings from the Atlantic!

Log day 2 - Lunch time

November 24, 2015 – It’s the second day of our crossing. The moment I am writing this, Inge just baked a bread, Herman and Daan prepared the fish that we caught yesterday and which is now smoking in the oven, Mariette is taking a nap after her yoga session, and Gerard is outside keeping an eye on the sails and the auto pilot. Last night went very smooth, we are getting used to the shifts of 3 hours up and 6 hours of sleep, it’s very doable. Also we start to get used to the noises and the rock and rolling, we start to get the sea legs!

Today the sun is shining and we have between 15 and 23 knots of wind. We are sailing goose winged (melkmeisje) and the waves are very pleasant, not too high. The distance we made today (day 2) is 177 miles.
We’ve just put the clothes of Gerard to dry in the sun because of the over deck water of yesterday that had soaked his wardrobe.

Now’s it time for lunch, the fish is ready and tasting wonderful, hasta manana!

Log day 3 – A bumpy night

November 25, 2015 – Last night Inge and Nicoline started the first night shift, we were going fast (12 knots) running goose winged with the mainsail and jib and we had the inner stay sail in between. A nice sight all these sails up. In the next night shift however the wind became stronger and Herman and co decided to change and lower some sails. We got into difficulties in getting the inner stay sail down. With all men on deck we finally managed to get it back to mainsail with 2 reefs and jib up. A tough job it was in the dark and with wind and waves. But the good result of the team work was reason for Herman and Daan to open the first beer on board!

Another job of this night was the leakage in the stern. Early morning Gerard and Herman discovered the root cause and have been able to fix it. All is good now!

So a little less sleep for most of us last night, but today is again a beautiful day and we’re doing fine. Especially seeing all those dolphins around our boat this morning made it again a beautiful day!! For several minutes at least 10 dolphins were swimming and jumping around our boat, really beautiful…

Day distance is 190 miles.

Daan and Mariette are now preparing dinner, after that we’ll get ready for the next night. Time flies here! It seems like we are having fun…!!

Log day 4 – Hello, is it me you are looking for?

November 26, 2015 – “Hello? This is sailing yacht Shiva.” “….” “This is sailing yacht Shiva. Hello?”

Last night during Herman and Daan’s night shift the satellite phone suddenly rang. Everybody awoke because hearing a phone ringing while being in the middle of the ocean is quite peculiar. Daan picked up the phone and the rest was quietly listening…

“This is sailing yacht Shiva. Hello?” “Hello, do you have engine problems?” “No, we do not have engine problems” “Ah alright, in that case I’ve dialled the wrong number, bye” “Bye”

Wow, what a story! ;) We were in contact with the outer world!! Too bad we didn’t ask for an update of what is happening in the world…

Furthermore it was a quiet and decent night and we all had a good night sleep. Today there is much less wind, so we are putting up the parasailor. We are the 8th boat of the 22 boats in our group, Herman and Gerard are busy navigating so we can follow the routes where there are better weather conditions (more wind). For that reason we sometimes take a slightly different course – not straight to Saint Lucia – so to catch more wind. Our goal is to overtake some other boats of course.
This morning we ate baked eggs for breakfast and now we are making pasta for lunch. For sure with some oranges as dessert, because today is orange day (yesterday was banana day). The sun is shining and the music is on, Saint Lucia here we come……!

Log day 5 – Thank God it’s Friday

November 27, 2015 – In the last 24 hours we have made 150 miles. It’s less than the days before but more than we expected because of the lack of wind. Last night the sail and jib were going left and right and left and right because of the little wind which made a lot of noise in the cabin (where people were trying to sleep). So again a bit of a bumpy night.

In the morning just after sunrise there was a big crowd of dolphins playing around our boat. There were at least 10 of them, even another group further away, and they stayed for 10 minutes or so around our boat. It’s so beautiful to see them swim through the water, overtake our boat, and then jump out of the water in front of our boat. Magical….

Today the lack of wind caused quite a flat sea. And for the first time of our trip we could have lunch at the unfolded table in the cockpit, walk through the cabin without too much of resistance (so Mariette and Nicoline could do some yoga inside) and simple things like brushing your teeth weren’t causing more black spots (blauwe plekken) (referring to an earlier blog).

So with little wind and a lot of sun it became a perfect Friday with Shiva crew in the chill mode reading books, listening music, sunbathing at the deck, washing our hair (for the first time since Sunday…!), playing games (pim pam pet), doing some yoga, enjoying the view of the huge parasailor and drinking a Radler during the “borrel” (5 o clock drinks). At borrel time Loupan, another ARC boat that was nearby us, even reached us through the VHF phone (marifoon) to ask us what rig we had now with this little wind. No wind, but thank God it’s Friday!

Log day 6 – Stars in your eyes

November 28, 2015 – We can see that the sun is setting and rising later compared to our clocks. Which makes sense because we are moving towards the Caribbean where it is 4 to 5 hours earlier. So we changed our clocks 1 hour backwards and this morning the sun was rising at a normal hour again. So nice to follow the sun and the moon and decide for ourselves when to adjust our clock settings. For all people at home: for us it’s now 2 hours earlier than in the Netherlands.

Yesterday night Herman and Nicoline started the 1st night shift. We saw some dark clouds coming up and in full sailing wear (except for the boots) we were ready for it. Luckily no rain came but some good wind did and Shiva made 9 to 10 sometimes even 11 knots of speed. Nice to make some fast miles again! One hour later however the wind lowered to the level of the day which made us go 5 knots of speed and sometimes even less. The next night shifts Shiva speed was steady with 6 knots. The weather can change so quickly here, in one day you can have all sorts of wind and weather. It makes a stunning sky with many different views, because clouds are changing shapes quickly and the sun or moon are painting the world in different colours.

Because of the clouds and no moon it was very dark, you could barely differentiate the sea from the sky. Impressive! Even more impressive was the sky full of stars that we could now clearly see. Stars all around us and the milky way right above us. Beautiful. As soon as the moon came up and found a way through the clouds Shiva was sailing in the spotlight again and still some stars were blinking to her.

So what is it that we do during our night shifts? Firstly the shift schedule starts at 5PM and ends at 9.30AM. We do shifts of 3 hours up and 6 hours down (asleep) and we are always with 2 during a shift. Herman, Inge and Gerard (generation X) turn passes and so do Daan, Mariette and Nicoline (generation Y). A nice thing is that after 1,5 hour of your shift the other Generation has a shift change, so you always sit the first half with someone and the second half with another one. Mariette usually prepares a Snack Bag and we make tea and coffee upfront. Then, during a shift it is important to watch the sails and the wind. The course is usually already determined, so we need to adjust the sails to the wind if needed. Also it is key to keep an eye on the surrounding if there are other ships or heavy clouds and possible rains coming our way. This can be done with the navigation system or radar or by eye of course. Other than that it’s mostly sitting and keeping each other awake J We are only busy if the wind is too heavy for the automatic pilot or if we need to change sails a lot. But so far the majority of time during our night shifts is spent sitting & chatting & now and then checking the surrounding. Key thing is that people are on deck and readily available for action if needed.

Temperatures during night are between 18 and 20 degrees, very okay but still necessary to wear a fleece or something warm and long trousers because you’re sitting still during the night with wind. During the day it’s about 25 to 30 degrees. 

Today it’s day 6 already and our day distance is 148 miles. In total we have now made 1051 miles, approximately 1700 miles more to go!

Log day 7 – Flying fish

November 29, 2015 – Today we are getting slightly nervous of the little wind that we have in this part of the ocean. We’ve seen on the grib files (weather navigation files) that a more windy area is 120 miles away from us. And that’s what we are heading towards. Last night we have tried to make as much speed as possible by putting up and down the helm (oploeven en afvallen) but we couldn’t get much faster than 5, maximum 6 knots. With today the same low wind projection we finally decided to put the motor on so we can get faster in the more windy area.

Daan had the 6.30AM morning shift and threw out his fishing line, believing most fish bite when the sun is rising. 1 or 2 hours later he yelled he had a catch and all of us approached him to assist and to take pictures and make a video. It was a big one! Daan was busy taking in the line, Herman grabbed the hook to pull the fish into the boot, Gerard put the knife and the alcohol ready, Mariette watered the cockpit to prevent it from blood stains, and Inge and I had the cameras ready. And then… the fish flew! It managed to unstring itself from the hook and went off like a flying fish…

What a pity!! We tried to cheer ourselves up by counting the real flying fish around our boat. Since a few days we see quite some silver coloured, shiny, tiny fish flying just above the water. Sometimes just 1, sometimes a bunch of them – really nice. But the real joy came when the sun was high in the sky…

… and Daan yelled he had a catch! Again all 6 of us jumped into action to assist Daan. This time everything went perfect and we pulled a beautiful blue, yellow coloured Mahi Mahi into the cockpit. At this moment in time we had 2 fishing line out. So just after pulling in the first fish, we also had a catch on the second line! When the second fish was almost pulled in – also a Mahi Mahi – it again got off the hook and off it went. Luckily this time no disappointment, because Herman started fileting the first fish we caught. And because the fish continued to bite! Fish number 4 had bitten off the bait and the hook, or the line had broken. Fish number 5 was lost and also went off like a flying fish. Fish number 6 was a Bonito (a sort of Tuna but smaller) and we caught it nicely and neatly. Fish number 7 was a Mahi Mahi, much bigger than the ones we have caught so far, and was pulled into the cockpit.

Wow what a day! Even though no wind and still on motor, we caught 3 fish which made our day. Herman is a professional in fileting and now we have 2 kilograms of delicious fish meat in the fridge. We’re thinking of making a fish curry for lunch, having smoked fish for the borrel, and grilled fish the day after. It looks like Daan is indeed going to catch so much fish that we will get nauseous of it ;)

Log day 8 – Downwind we go

November 30, 2015 – Yesterday late afternoon, before we started the night shifts, the wind increased slightly. With the code 1 and mainsail up we hand steered instead of using the auto pilot so to catch as much wind as possible. Great sail it is the code 1.

The night was peaceful and steady. Still a relatively flat sea but with some more wind now. We went on average 7 knots in speed and the sky was clear so we could see the moon rising from the sea horizon.

In the early morning we reached our way point. From here on we get into the more windy area that we had seen on the grib files and we can move westwards, directly towards Saint Lucia. With this new course (260 degrees) the wind comes from the back, which is perfect for the parasailor. Our 2 previous experiences with the parasailor were not perfect yet. It’s a new sail for the crew and it’s not that easy to manage a 206 square meter sail! But also we think the wind was too weak for the parasailor, the code 1 was better at that time. Today however the wind is 10 to 13 knots and the parasailor is doing great! We make a speed of 7 to 9 knots flat downwind, something we couldn’t have done with the gennaker.

It’s still beautiful weather, very warm actually. And today we saw another boat on the horizon which just called us on the VHF phone. We’ve had Mahi Mahi curry fur lunch, SUPER delicious, and now it is time for our siesta in the sun!

Our position is 16⁰45min North & 31⁰42min West. Greetings from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!

Log day 9 – Rolling westwards

December 1, 2015 – The parasailor has been up all night. It was perfect weather for it: steady wind of 12 to 18 knots. The sea got a bit more wavy though so we were rolling left and right in our beds again. This morning we lowered the parasailor – after 27 hours of great performance! – because the wind increased to 20 or more knots so we put up the mainsail and jib goose-winged. Also with this rig we’re going 9 knots in speed. We are making some fast miles now! Great to have good wind and to see how Shiva glides through the waves. Our day distance today is 185 nautical miles.

It seems like the trade wind (passaatwind) will blow us fast to Saint Lucia now. We are still sailing 260-270 degrees, straight to the island. The weather forecast looks positive. With this speed and this course we expect to be drinking rum punch in 9 or 10 days from now!

Log day 10 – Halfway and still enjoying

December 2, 2015 – As the salty sea and the strong wind can damage many little things on board we daily make a ‘chaving round’ so to check if all lines are clear and still quality conform. During today’s round we discovered that we had a couple of flying fish on deck. Mariette had already seen one jumping into the boat during her night shift and this morning there were 3 more on the front deck. Now we could examine them from close! Interesting birds, uh, fish.

We’ve sailed 188 miles in the last 24 hours. A nice distance thanks to the steady wind of 15 to 20 knots. We are more than halfway now!

Over the last days we have of course collected a fair share of garbage with 6 people on board and no collective garbage company. So we have our own system in trash management: compostable garbage can be thrown overboard; plastic trash is cut into small pieces and collected in one big, empty water bottle; metal trash like cans are smashed flat with a hammer and collected in one bag; all other is collected in a big bag in the back of the ship. Our aim is to arrive in Saint Lucia with as little as possible garbage of course.

Besides the garbage system we have a Shiva water system. The availability and usage of fresh water is something we need to think of in our daily life on board. We left Las Palmas with 500 liter of water in the tanks. We use it for cooking, cleaning, everything actually so we try to limit the usage as much as possible. A daily shower is therefore not part of the daily routine on board…! We are flexible and creative in finding ways to use it as efficiently as possible and even wash our hair now and then. If needed there is a water maker on board which can turn sea water into fresh water, around 50 liter per hour. The power the water maker needs comes from the Watt&Sea that is hanging in the water behind the boat and generating power. A nice system! It enabled us to take a real shower on the back of the boat!

As you can read, we keep ourselves busy! Even more so, we had a visit of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet who asked us to draw straws and write a poem for another crew member. In 3 days from now they’ll be back and we will be celebrating Sinterklaas!

Log day 11 – Ain’t no mountain high enough

December 3, 2015 – It’s day 11 of our trip. The sea is like in the beginning of our trip: long, high waves that are coming from the back right corner which is causing the washing machine effect. We therefore had a bit of a bumpy night, just because we were rolling in our beds and therefore some difficulties falling asleep. Other than that a fine night with no extraordinaries.

In the early morning Herman threw out a fishing line, with little expectation because of the high waves, but few hours later we did catch a Mahi Mahi again. Catching and preparing fish has become part of our daily routine now! We’re looking forward to the fish curry that we will have for lunch tomorrow.

Today started as a sunny and very warm day. Hours passed by quickly with people reading books, hand steering, listening music, knitting (new hobby of Mariette and Nicoline, with Inge being the teacher) and taking naps. Herman and Gerard have pulled out the Watt&Sea because it is causing quite some water due to a leakage in the stern that otherwise needs to be pumped out 4 times a day. In the afternoon it became cloudy with now and then a shower of rain.

The blue mountains keep approaching us from the back. It’s still amazing to see how the boat is lifted by these high walls of water and how Shiva can then make a speed of 12 or sometimes even more knots. On average we are making 8 to 9 knots. Hand steering goes much smoother than the auto pilot so that’s what we have been doing a lot today. It’s lovely to steer Shiva over the blue dunes and mountains.

Today we made 197 nautical miles in total and 177 effective miles, that is 177 miles closer to Saint Lucia. Also we crossed the 40th longitude and thereby we crossed the midpoint of our map. Reason to celebrate with a beer during the borrel!

Log day 12 – (Wild) Life on board

December 4, 2015 – Last night the half moon was illuminating our journey through the water. A half moon gives slightly less light than a full moon, but still it gives enough light to see somewhat of our surrounding. Night sailing remains to be a little wonder. It’s such a surrealistic view to see nothing around you, just the water and waves that are lightened by the moon and a dark sky with some stars or clouds. Further than that you only hear the ocean and feel the swell. It’s as if we are sailing through a painting. Or as if we are part of a film set.
(To the people that have seen The Truman Show: I sometimes imagine we suddenly sail into a wall…!)

In the last 24 hours we made 196 miles. And we have a new speed record: 15.8 knots thanks to a high wave that lifted us up and carried us forward very fast for a second of time. We have 4 meter high waves today and there are approximately 7 seconds in between every wave.

We’ve seen an orange buoy drifting by and we heard some noise on the VHF phone. When somebody sees or hears something like that – even an orange buoy… - he or she screams and then the rest of the crew comes to watch it pass by. Bizarre how such useless things can almost be a highlight of the day! It’s a sign of life, which is nice after having seen nothing but water and sky for the last 4 or 5 days.

The real highlight of today, and a big sign of life, was the white bird that was flying around our boat and that landed on deck for a couple of hours. We gave him a lift, Daan even gave him some food, and we took some nice pictures. He didn’t like the flying fish that were still lying on deck of the last night… But we were happy to have a pet on board. 

After the Mahi Mahi fish curry (our favourite dish on board) some of us took a siesta, read a book, or wrote a Sinterklaas poem. We all find our way so well on board. At some point we noticed that the jib sheet (schoot) had split. The line was broken by the constant pressure of the wind and we replaced it by the port side sheet. Also we then checked all the screws around the ship, because some of them get loose because of the constant movements of the ship. Such things are normal practice on board and keep us busy now and then. It’s important we keep checking and solving such things. This way we continue to fully trust Shiva in bringing us to Saint Lucia safely.

For the first time we have seen the sun setting into the sea. Usually there are clouds which take that view away, but today the clouds were only covering the top of the sun which gave a spectacular sunset view.

Log day 13 – Wishing on a star

December 5, 2015 – A dark night it was because the moon didn’t show its face before 2.30AM. It was cloudy with now and then a shower of rain. Still the stars managed to get through the clouds and showed their beauty to us. We’ve seen many many falling stars! It was a night of dreams and wishes…

At 4 o’clock today, after singing some songs, Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet left a bag full of presents and poems on deck! We’ve all read our poems and then we played dice for the presents. We ate home-made pepernoten and we were very pleased with this unexpected visit from our dear friends from Spain. Thanks for the presents and see you next year!

Today we made a distance of 207 miles, which is a new day distance record for Shiva. There are still no other boats in sight. We start to become curious for what it will be like when seeing land again…!

Log day 14 – Sleeping beauties

December 6, 2015 – We have entered the area of the Atlantic that is known for squalls: local wind and rain storms. You can recognize a squall by dark vertical clouds and you can actually see it moving. They grow and move quickly, so in case we come into a squall it’s only for about 15 minutes that we will be having strong wind and showers of rain. Yesterday night we have seen 2 squalls that just passed us. We’ve seen them on the radar but also by eye. It’s impressive to see how fast several clouds can compile into 1 dark rainy cloud. This time we were lucky, no need to put on our rain jackets.  

We were less lucky when few hours later we wanted to reef the mainsail. We had issues with getting the sail straight due to the lock of the line that slips, which we only found out today. Additionally often the electrical winch (lier) stops functioning because the power switches are suddenly turned off (overheated perhaps). It happened again last night in the middle of the action. The man were on deck and the woman inside heard somebody cursing about the winch and all 3 ladies jumped immediately out of bed towards the power switches. Quick reactions! I woke up few seconds before by the bucket of sea water that was poured over my face while I was sleeping – never leave your window open when at sea! So all crew was up in the middle of the night to fix the rigging. Approximately 45 minutes later the mainsail was reefed and the jib was out again and 4 out of 6 could go back to sleep.

Today there are still quite some clouds in the sky. It can be that we are in the sun with a blue sky above us and we see in the front or in the back a dark sky with clouds and showers. It changes constantly. In the late afternoon the tip of a squall passed over and all except for Herman stayed inside until the showers were over. Everything under control and now we’ve experienced a squall!

Finally we’ve seen a boat on the horizon! We expect to see more boats soon because we are getting very close to Saint Lucia now. We are on the 11th place of our group (in total 22 boats) and we expect and hope to arrive as 10th.

Other than the squall and the boat not much happened today. All of us have been taking naps during the day, due to the lack of sleep last night. So it was a quiet day! Now everyone is again in bed, with Inge on deck as night watch and me finalizing the log. When the log is sent I’ll join Inge and in 1,5 hour Daan will take my turn and I continue, just like the others, with my beauty sleep. J

Log day 15 – Endless time

December 7, 2015 – After a cloudy night with here and there a squall and a shower of rain, the day started cloudy, grey and humid. With most of us inside and waves of 3 to 4 meters it was a funny scene to see the 6 of us stumbling around while doing the morning dishes, brushing teeth, cleaning up the ship and pumping water out of the stern. You always have to hold yourself with one hand attached to the ship, leaving one hand free. If not, more black spots are a guarantee!

Around 11AM the sun pushed aside the clouds and we had a great sunny comfortable afternoon. Mariette and Nicoline practiced some yoga on the front deck. Mariette adjusts the program based on the height of the waves so it’s achievable whatever the weather conditions are! For lunch Inge made a lovely stew of canned, great (!) meat, carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, with rice.

We eat very healthy and super delicious on board. After 15 days on sea we still have fresh vegetables and fruits. Inge and Mariette have thought through very well which vegies and fruits to eat when. With 15 eggs, 10 oranges, some tomatoes, 2 coleslaws, 1 zucchini, a big bunch of lemons (for all that fish) we can continue our trip for at least 1 week and still have high-standard dishes. As you might already know, our favourite dish is the Mahi Mahi fish curry of Daan and Mariette. But also Inge continues to make culinary surprises for us!

To extend our great sunny comfortable afternoon we put back our time again with 1 hour. Now we have a time difference of 4 hours with the Netherlands. Before we arrive in Saint Lucia we will do it again. We had a long relaxing day, and a cosy (gezellige) gathering (borrel) in the sunset. We could see the sun set in the sea and for a long time after we’ve watched the colourful clouds above it and the changing sky. Beautiful. To quote Inge: the time feels endless here on the ocean. On the other hand, time flies by so quickly. It’s incredible we are already 15 days on sea! We expect to arrive Wednesday night in Saint Lucia, so just 2 more days…

Day distance of today is 200 miles. Only 460 miles to go, which is like going from Amsterdam to Berlin.

Log day 16 – Catch me if you can

December 8, 2015 – Today we have been caught by several squalls. The day started very cloudy again and when we saw 1 or 2 squalls approaching us we quickly jumped into our bathing suits and grabbed the bottles of shampoo. Nothing better than to start your day with a natural rain shower! (With a bit of help of the water hose…)

It’s again very warm and humid today. Because of that we all took it easy. Mariette and I watched a movie yesterday night and today, also that is possible on board.

And then we heard the fishing line rolling out… Our first reactions were ‘oh oh here we go again’ – slightly less enthusiastic than the first times catching fish. Daan’s goal to catch so much fish that all of us would have enough of it has been achieved! The last Mahi Mahi piece we actually threw overboard because we all had enough…

This time was different though. We all became quiet when the line was almost completely pulled in and we still didn’t see the fish jumping like all last times. We knew it would be a big one… It swam very deep and even went under the boat. Since day 1 we had an order outstanding with Daan to make us some fresh tuna. And today was the big day!! What a great surprise when Daan pulled a HUGE tuna from the water! After some brave actions of Daan, Gerard and Herman the tuna gave up and we could measure it and take some nice pictures of this beauty. A length of 1.20 meter (!!) and we estimate 20 to 25 kilo’s in weight. Incredible…

For dinner we had sashimi with soya sauce and wasabi, and grilled tuna steak. What a kick!!

Log day 17 – Final countdown

December 9, 2015 – The last day of our Atlantic Ocean crossing…! It started a bit tough after a night of many clouds, extreme heat, strong rains and weird wind shifts. When my night shift started I joined Herman in what was a totally grey world with no sight around us and only strong rain. The bad part of these squalls is the waves and the rock and rolling inside the boat where people are trying to sleep. The good part is that they only take 15 to 20 minutes.

Today there were no more squalls and the sky brightened up. It was still very very hot and we’ve been sitting in the shade all day. Herman and Gerard had put the parasailor up which made us go smoothly more and more towards Saint Lucia. Only 130 miles to go……..!

We’ve seen many birds today and also 3 other ships! It becomes cosy here at sea ;) Clear signs that we are approaching land. It’s the topic of the day to estimate at what time we will arrive at Saint Lucia. We expect to arrive around 4AM. We managed to overtake 1 other boat in our group, so now we are on position number 10. In a few days from now we will hear the final results as some factors like hours of motor and ship size will need to be taken into account. Anyways, what matters to us most is that we have had an amazing journey together and that we are almost there to put a nice, cold rum punch to our lips – even at 4AM!

Besides talking and dreaming of Saint Lucia we have cooked some nice dishes again. For lunch we had grilled pieces of Daan’s ‘tiger tuna’ with some delicious pasta. For dinner we usually keep it light and we ate bread and toasts with different toppings. It was the best bread Inge has baked so far (we didn’t expect it could be even better!). And as a dessert Mariette had some freshly baked brownies for us. 

And now we go into the last night of our Atlantic Ocean crossing…! So far the sky is clear and the stars shine bright. We hope it stays like this so that we can catch some sleep and wake up early early morning to see the land of Saint Lucia in sight and to cross the finish line with all crew on board and enter the harbour of Rodney Bay.

We’re almost there!

Log day 18 – Arrived!

December 10, 2015 – It’s 5.20PM, we need to get ready for the night. Is the top light on? Are the flash lights outside? And the life vests in the cabin? Whose watch is it? Have the dishes been done and are all loose things tightened up? Who makes tea and coffee? Mariette, did you already prepare the Snack Bag?

That’s how it went the last 17 days and nights… Right now at 5.20PM I’m sitting in the cockpit – the boat is not moving (!!) – with the laptop on my lap and a drink and a snack on my left and when I look around I don’t see just waves and sky, but I see lots of ships lying in the harbour and many people walking by or chitchatting in their cockpits or doing some maintenance activities on their ship.

We have arrived at Saint Lucia!!

Yesterday we started the night shift according to our normal routines, but it was of course not a normal night. It was the last night of our Atlantic Crossing! With only 80 miles left to Saint Lucia we were all so eager to see land for real. Therefore we improvised our night shifts instead of following the schedule. Herman and Gerard stayed up almost all night to maintain a good course to Rodney Bay. At some point Herman took a nap in his cabin and Gerard made a bed under the stars while Mariette was night watching. The first time we heard another ship calling the ARC finish line through the VHF phone Inge and Nicoline woke up and jumped outside to see if we could see land already. (Where we almost tripped over Gerard who was taking his nap on the floor of the cockpit!) We could see 4 to 5 green or red lights around us, more boats were approaching the finish line! We’ve also seen 1 cruise ship of 300 meters. Exciting how busy it was at sea! From around 12AM we could see the first lights of land – yes, we had land in sight! We could see both Martinique and Saint Lucia.

At 4.30AM all crew was up on deck because we just crossed the top of Saint Lucia and we were approaching the finish line. 2 miles before Pigeon Island Herman phoned the ARC Finish Line. They had already spotted us, together with the 3 other boats that were just before and after us and finishing around the same time. The wind was increasing when we crossed the top of the island and dark clouds were approaching so we lowered the jib and continued with reefed mainsail. It was a bit rainy, just like at the start of the ARC. Then we saw the orange flashing light that indicated the starboard side of the finish line. Just before we entered the finishing area a photographer in a dinghy came to our boat and took some pictures of us. And then, at 05:50:49 we crossed the ARC Finish Line! We made it!

The daylight came through when we lowered the mainsail and motored into the harbour. How normal to motor into a harbour again, we almost forgot we were for 18 days on open sea. But when we nicely docked our boat and put the first steps on the pontoon we were all exhilarated because it did feel a little bit weird! Not sure if it was the rum punch we drank or the sea legs that needed to get used to land! So there we were, drinking the rum punch and seeing other people and many other ships, something we had been looking forward to for the past few days. Difficult to describe that feeling, but for sure we were all happy we made it safe to Saint Lucia and so pleased with the things we have experienced.

Today and the coming days we will explore the beautiful, tropical Saint Lucia and Shiva will be undergoing some maintenance here and there. We will still post some pictures but this is our last ARC blog in writing. Herman and Inge will continue their sailing adventure for the coming months and are posting their updates on www.syshiva.blogspot.com. Thank you for following us and for your nice reactions!!