Ahead of us was now the actual Transatlantic crossing, some 2700 nautical miles.
There was one change to the crew we had from Gibraltar; Karsten, an anesthetist from Munich and veteran PasoDoble ally, replaced Andreas the orthopedic doctor, hence our medical well-being continued to be guaranteed. Furthermore, Karsten arrived with 30 kilos of extra luggage, which was our Sea-Doc case and loads of extra medical supplies to complete our on-board medical safety kit. Besides probably on-the-go-open-heart surgery– we are pretty well set up now. Oh – what’s missing is Botox ……, which is on the order list.
Before we could set off we had to sort out the one thing most important to an ocean passage – the weather forecast. Weather and especially wind is what determines most actions on the high sea. So far we had a steady and reliable supply of weather info via the internet, usually 7 days ahead but that was obviously not good enough for a crossing of 20 or more days – and there was no internet for us out there. The options were access via HF radio and as a back up download of files via our satellite phone. We installed our HF radio before departing Barcelona but the system needed some more fine-tuning. Christian holds an amateur HF radio license and via his high frequency mates we got hold of Fred, the Las Palmas HF station holder. With Fred on our side we worked frantically until past midnight the day before we left [what’s new ….] and the test runs looked promising and all appeared to work well. As it turned out receiving weather forecasts via the HF radio didn’t work. As a back up we arranged to receive weather updates sent to our satellite phone by our sailing friends from the yacht Tuvalu, but the data transfer software didn’t work either. Luckily the HF radio community supplied us with updates regularly during the daily radio chat rounds. Moral of this story: the more electronics the more ….. fun you have.
Our spirits were high and on the afternoon of November 25 when we threw off our lines. After bunkering water and food sufficient for a month [including the obligatory leg of Jamon Serrano on the bone] and refilling our tanks to the brim with low-tax diesel at the marina gas station we headed off with an ominous looking sky overhead and a really stirred up sea around us.
The first night was pitch black and very much comparable to the feeling of being inside a washing machine, getting tossed around quite badly. After a few more days we settled again into a routine of watch, relax, eat and sleep. During the following week the wind was steady around 20 kn and generally from an easterly direction, following the expected trade wind pattern around this time of the year. We took a course heading southwest past the island of Hierro, making sure to keep a safe distance not to interfere with the under water volcanic activities currently registered there. Normally the course to take is more southerly towards the Cap Verde islands, but because the wind was favourable for a more westerly direction we decided to ‘cut short’ and take a more direct route. This worked out well for another week before we were finally ‘becalmed’, something to be expected.
After preparing a selection of different bait Karsten took over the responsibility of trawling the line behind the boat. It didn’t take long and we caught our first mahi mahi, and what a stunner it was. As a guess it was 6-8 kg and it provided us with 3 splendid meals.
After the first catch was eaten up we threw the line out again and soon the next mahi mahi was reeled in. A routine of jobs was established when the ratchet sound of the reel being pulled out by a fish was heard …. run for the bucket with the tools, one pulls the line low so the fish couldn’t jump, one operating the reel, one ready with the big gaff hook to snatch the fish out of the water once it was close to the boat. Once we had it safely on the hook we gave it a good drink of rum to anesthetize it and finish it off in a ‘nice’ way. Then one jumped into the machine room to get the chopping board out and set up on the back steps [another great advantage of a cat]. Our skilled knife handlers did the filleting expertly.
This of course happened in all sorts of different moments, like while shaving or having a shower …… but fishing couldn’t wait and the sound of the running reel needed immediate attention. All ended up in wonderful meals. In total we caught 5 mahi mahi, a spanish mackerel and a bluefin tuna.
The days stared to melt into each other. Had we not kept a ship’s log we surely could have lost track of days or dates. After the week of relatively slack winds we asked ourselves if it wouldn’t have been better to go further south, but the weather updates we received daily via HF radio indicated that we could expect stronger easterly winds again on our course. Sure enough they arrived soon after and the sea state changed again to the much more uncomfortable washing machine feeling. The 4-5m swell coming steady from the northeast was interspersed with choppy 1-2m waves on the surface coming from wherever the wind was blowing. The waves coming from behind belted against the bridge of PasoDoble; there was not much we could do about, but endure it. At least we didn’t yaw around like one would on a mono hull.
We entertained ourselves with reading, sleeping, boat related jobs of course, attending to business via the sat phone and more fishing; and we all met over our daily lunches and dinners. On December 1 we celebrated Karsten’s 50th birthday with a surprise party at 2 am when his watch started.
Wind and waves permitting we also had our regular swims behind the boat – quite an experience in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with a depth of some 5000m beneath you. No fear of hitting your head when jumping off the bow chair.
Nature presented itself with abundance. Apart from superb night skies allowing guided stargazing with the support of the iPhone app ‘planetarium’ we had the opportunity to follow the facets of an almost complete moon cycle. We were also treated to numerous splendid sunrises and sunsets and had various visits from exited shoals of dolphins, jumping over each other to be first at the bow of the boat. Such a joyful spectacle one can never tire of. One other very special experience was the visit of 2 minke whales. At first they kept a safe distance to the boat. After a while they dared to come closer and then stayed with us for hours, toying around the boat, swimming right next to it just under the surface of the water, then turning their white under bellies up which the water turned into an amazing turquoise colour. We felt privileged by their presence. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get satisfactory pictures to show. It will remain in our memories, though. Of course we also marked our halfway point and celebrated with a special Gin Tonic [repeated at various times].
About 250 nm from Barbados we got the first sign of land. 2 swallows circled the boat and finally landed on our trawling line, then one flew right into the saloon and settled on the window seal. Obviously lost and very weary from the effort we tried to feed them, but no luck. One of them died of exhaustion soon after. The other stayed with us overnight, flew away in the morning, only to return a little while later. At the end of the day we also sadly passed it over to the sea. I guess this is the cycle of life.
The wind kept to the general direction of east with more or less strength, sometimes up to 35kn, keeping us moving forward at a steady pace. We had the chance to try out all the different downwind sail configuration including the gennaker, set right in front of the bow like a blister which worked really well.
Towards the last few days and within a distance of 200nm from our destination the weather forecast was again for ‘trade wind disturbances’, meaning not the expected easterlies, but sometimes from the south, then northwest and then nothing at all. Being so close to the end and so far not having used the engines much at all we decided to motor assist a bit. The water was now as calm as an inland lake and we had a steadily changing mix of sun and down pours. The boat needed a wash down anyway, so we didn’t mind. By now we had arrived in the tropics with ambient temperatures of around 30 deg. and water temperatures were up at a very pleasant 27 deg.
Our last night was again rough sea and close hauled sailing and at dawn the Caribbean presented itself not very hospitable. This changed as we got closer and the clouds lifted.
We attached our mooring lines to the dock at Port St. Charles in the north of Barbados on Saturday morning, December 17 at 0834h local time, ready for customs and immigration clearance. The initial plan was to go straight to the capitol Bridgetown, but the wind was not favourable to go around the southern tip. The next day we cruised down the east coast and anchored in Carlisle Bay.
Somehow we expected to see more signs of civilization, but during the entire passage we saw only 4 other boats passing in the far distance and had VHF radio contact with one other yacht headed for Antigua. Evidently there are still wide and empty spaces on this planet …..
For the record, the total distance covered was 2702nm. It took 22 days and our highest daily mileage was 154nm, the average speed was 5.2kn and our max speed was 12.2kn, clocked by Karsten on the helm sometime in the middle of a night with force 7 winds.
After a breakfast of freshly cooked pancakes we were ready for the rum punches and to experience the Caribbean sailing paradise and culture.
