Archiv

CW50 2001

09.12.2001 - 15.12.2001

Today is Sunday, December 9, the 2. Advent, and - of course - we're still on the Atlantic.
Our position at the moment: 22° 14,10N / 025° 26,12W and apart from us there is nobody to be seen anywhere. It's 6 o'clock in the morning and almost an hour ago we changed sail since the wind got stronger constantly and simply became too much for the Genaker. So we're sailing with the foresail and even though that's still reefed we're doing 5 knots.
Slowly it's getting light, the day is braking and the weather is also clearing up a little.
A few inhabitants of the ocean are also awake already. Shortly after 7 am whales appear for the first time on port side. Unfortunately they where only visible for a second, but there were at least 8 whales to be seen.
The Second Advent and that on the open seas. We're receiving Emails from home, telling us how the Christmas baking is doing and how cold it is back there.
We've also got a few Christmas cookies on board. As far as that goes Petra and Martin brought provisions from home. So we've got stollen (fruit loaf) and cookies from Martins mom and his daughters made hazelnut-macaroons especially for their dad.
Apart from that we're going to do without the typical Christmas procedures because they actually don't really go with the surroundings.
There is one small accessorise, a pin in the shape of Father Christmas, and Petra wears that on days like today.
We do have a Christmas goose or something like that amongst our provisions, but we serve fresh fish. Today as well, since Thomas pulls a really big Atlantic Dorade into the boat this morning.

And that will also be the culinary tip for today: baked fish filet! As far as the weather goes, it's a little sad today. It's fairly cloudy and windy today, which of course brings a lot of sail changing with it. I mean, not that it's a nuisance, after all, we're here to sail, but this weather doesn't really get us anywhere. And that's why we've got a rather bad etmal today, only 84 N.M. An etmal is the distance covered in one day (24 hours). Towards the evening the clouds constantly become more and the seas grow higher. It's midnight and wind force comes up to 5 with sudden gusts of wind. We've been in this bad weather front for 8 hours now. Shortly before 3 am the first rain hits us and the GPS still shows 1999 N.M. until Antigua.

Monday morning, 6 am, and I relieve Petra from her dogwatch (from 3 am to 6 am). A little later I get a nice welcome to my "office"; dolphins appear. Well, if that's the situation, then I should actually try my angler's luck.
So off the bait goes and let's see. Not even half an hour and the line is spinning off. I can hardly yell "FISH" now, after all everyone is still asleep. So I reel in quickly, but somehow it's quite hard … fat fish. And the rod is arcing so much, I'm afraid it might brake, and I can't reel any more either. Hmmm, what do I do now?
It can't be helped, I have to kick Thomas out of his bunk. A one-hour-fight follows. Tow times we get to see the fish on the surface. Seems to be pretty big! It's starting to sound like a fairy tale, but we also loose this fish. Not only off the hook, no, the steel closure snaps again, which means that the bait is also gone. Can you believe it? Now this stupid fish is swimming through the Atlantic with our bait. Just as a reminder: since last week there's also a Dorade swimming around in the Atlantic, pierced with our super-bait!
Even if the anglers luck didn't turn up, at least we're lucky with the weather today. First with the Genaker, then with the Spinnaker (Spi) we're finally making good progress again. Under the Spi we, at times, make up to 8 knots. Today we want to use the Spi to sail through the night, but already during dinner we're getting up to 25 knots of wind, which, unfortunately, is too much for this sail. So we set the main sail and make a good 5 knots with is, which isn't too bad.
It's shortly after 2 am in the early hours of Tuesday morning when a ship shows up on the radar. It turns out to be a fairly large freighter, but she passes our stern in a safe distance of about 10 N.M.
By now the GPS shows 1899 N.M. to Antigua, which also means that we have already travelled 880 N.M.
But there will be a few more sunsets and sunrises before we see land again. Tonight we see something totally different though.
It's 4 am as suddenly, and only for a few minutes, something orange to bright red appears on the horizon behind us. This "something" actually really lights up the horizon. Its form is difficult to describe though. The show lasts for 7 minutes and then an old friend comes up, like this: (_)
That's how it lay in the sky, actually in a funny position, but by now we're already relatively close to the equator. Now that I've managed to describe how the moon rose it's also possible to describe this "something". It was like a negative to the moon, as if it had lain in it.
Well, 3 ½ hours after this appearance the sun rises and we set the Spi again and finally they've arrived, the northeastern trade winds.

While setting the Spinnaker we make a rather sad discovery. A flying fish lost his way and tried to make himself comfortable in the front net, which he unfortunately didn't survive. These flying fish are actually quite cute guys who can really fly over the water, at times really far. Talking about FISH, Martin and I each caught a Dorade today. And Martin now, unlike myself, filets his own fish. Amazing, what a man can learn on a sailing trip! The Spinnaker stays up until the evening comes, then we use the foresail again for the night. Deciding to take the Spinnaker down was the right decision one again, since the night gets a little rough again. Shortly after 2 am heavy rain showers down on us and there is no more wind. That means, bringing in the foresail and starting up the engines for an hour, then there's a little wind again and the rain stops.

By now the GPS shows another 100-progress, only 1799nm left!
It wasn't meant to be. We can only sail for another hour before the wind turns almost completely and comes straight at us. And the next rain … we don't have to wait long for that either.
Really quite uncomfortable. at times these night watches aren't that easy anyway, being all alone in the cockpit with those, several meters high waves coming up from behind, braking. Now and again that can really get to you.

Wednesday is our 11th day on the Atlantic and, as far as the weather goes, also our worst. It's already foggy in the morning, the sky stays covered in clouds the whole day and it rains again and again. At times we can sail, then we have to start the engines again. That really isn't nice! To raise everybodys spirits Petra bakes a fine cake. And to raise an angler's spirit a Dorade hangs herself onto Martins hook while he reels the line in. The watch will last a little longer today since we're in another time zone again. By now we're 3 hours behind central European daylight saving time and just before midnight we cross the 20th degree of latitude. Even though the weather isn't too good we can sail all night and do make a few miles again.

The new day, it's Thursday, also brings the desperately awaited fine weather. The thermometer already shows 28°C in the morning and we also have good wind, so, what else could you ask for?! And this it what it looks like above us: But we also have losses to report today. Bait Nr. 4 is lost. If that trend continues we'll reach the Caribbean and have no bait left. So what, then we'll just have to organise new ones. We'll also need a refill for our starboard tank. It's demanding some diesel. And the fine weather demands the Spinnaker, so we change sails. But again, that's not good for the night. The sky is getting cloudy and it looks like rain, so the foresail seems like the better choice.

Tonight is really special. It's pitch dark and looks as if it's never going to get light again. It's quite scary, but the sky is beautiful and covered with stars. Actually there shouldn't be any stars left by tomorrow, because the things going on between 11 p.m. and 1 am are not from this world.
Shooting stars, one after the other!I counted 63, and those where only the ones I could see clearly. The ones I only saw out of the corner of my eye aren't counted in.
At the changing of guard, at 3 am, the GPS still shows a distance of 1599 N.M.
We're making good progress again and have an etmal of 110.
Martin also had a strange encounter this night. Now and again there is someone else travelling here, and sometimes on a strange course. Like the sailing boat, coming from 40°, forcing Martin to move out of his way.
All in all a quite busy night, with little sleep. And in addition to all that some more rain again.
Quite unnecessary is also, that the generator isn't working any more. Won't start. That would be quite a blow, if we had to live without it. We need the generator for our machines, such as the stove, the water heater, the de-salting system and also for enough electricity for the fridge and the freezer.
So Thomas first job on Friday is to take care of the generator, which means a descend to the engine room. It takes a while, but he finds the fault. A small, well-hidden fuse blew. Replacing that one the generator works again, just like new. Jippi!
Today the sky is quite cloudy again, but it stays dry and we have enough wind to sail, and that's already satisfying. What we didn't get enough of in the last few days is sleep. It seems as if each of us could use a good portion of sleep. It seems as if everybody is a little down today and a kind of dullness seems to spread. Not even the well loved, fresher-than-fresh Dorade gets any reaction today.
Nevertheless there'll be a dogwatch again today and 2 Minutes after its beginning the GPS shows that there are only 1500 N.M. left. Then we'll have the Bergfest (summit-festival) soon!
But until then there's a lot left to be done, since thick clouds are covering the sky and they bring work: reef the sails, bring them out, reef them again, bring them out again. Oh well, the important thing is that we're going, and we are. We made an etmal of 100 again, which is quite all right. What I don't find quite all right is the swell that has been building up during the night, especially since it's almost a cross-over swell where the current is coming from the north and the wind and waves from behind which makes sure that we get rocked around quite a bit.
Today is Saturday, December 15, and today is Bergfest. We've already calculated, during whose watch the magical 1400 N.M. will be reached. It'll be Petras watch, so after midnight, and until then nothing much happens. We saw a few whales again, only for a short time, but they were there. And then there's another sailor, appearing over the horizon. And not only that, he also calls us over the radio and tells us about his problems with the rolls of the foresail and that he's heading for Martinique. Of course we can't help him with that, but still: good luck!
It's 00:34 am as Petra notes "half-term" and the position 18° 18,051 N / 037° 18,226 W in the logbook. Well, I must admit, the party (Bergfest) was rather small, actually we kind of skipped it … It really was a bad time! So we sail through the night into a beautiful new day, Sunday, the third advent.


That means the holidays are almost here and that's why we wish everybody a beautiful and happy Christmas now.

For those who still need a recipe for the holidays, here it comes:
Baked fish filets with tomatoes

Ingredients for 4 servings:
4 big, fresh, fish filets,
4 tomatoes (skinned, without pips, diced)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small cup Crème Fraiche
100g grated cheese (half Parmesan, half Emmentaler)
1 small onion (finely diced)
1 garlic clove (crushed or finely chopped and mashed)
1 tablespoon dill, chopped
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
bread crumbs
1 lemon
salt, pepper, cayenne pepper

Heat the olive oil in a pan, steam the onion in it, add the tomatoes and the garlic clove and steam them as well. Take the pan of the stove, add salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste, add the herbs, Crème Fraiche and the cheese. Add bread crumbs until you get a creamy paste.
Sprinkle lemon juice over the fish filets, then add salt and pepper. Line a pan with olive oil and put the fish into it. Generously cover the fish filets with the cream and into the oven they go. With hot air at 180°C for approx. 30 min.

Serve with roasted vegetable rice, or more classical with salt potatoes, or, or, or.
Good success and enjoy!

How our Atlantic toern continues and what the new week held for us
… next week here again:
same time, same place…
so long
and merry Christmas
wish you
Diana + Thomas
Petra + Martin