Its a Dogs Life!

Well, yesterday we did not get far.  At 9:15am this morning we were at 17’39.96′ N, 42’12.451’W.
We made up some ground in stronger winds during the night.  The GPS puts us 1096nm before we site land.

Just dumb luck, as most things in life are.
The weather forecasted more steady north easterly winds to push us south westerly.  Instead the winds died, only making a feeble attempt at a south easterly wind.  We folded the head sails over each other on the starboard (right) side and attempted to sail south with the wind on the stern quarter.  The winds finally freshened and turned back to north easterly just before midnight.

I should warn anyone doing this crossing to have ‘back up’ running rigging.  We used up most of our ‘spare’ lines for forward and stern preventers in setting up the ‘poor man’s’ twin headsail arrangement.  Last night, when doing our usual inspection of rigging, we found that one of the blocks had been wearing on the furling line. We did not have a replacement line of the right diameter free.  So instead we have stolen the base line for the cruising shot for now.  We also replaced the damaged block.  You can not have enough spares of those either.

I asked my Uncle Steve to look into my ‘special status’ as a dog crossing the Atlantic in a personal sail boat.  I thought ‘lots if people cross the Atlantic in there own boat, look at how many subscribe to the ARC, but how many dogs do it?’
What he came up with but the whole Atlantic crossing thing back into perspective.

Here is what he sent me:

Its seems that taking a dog across the Atlantic is far more common place than not.
Other transatlantic records.
In 1969, Briton John Fairfax became the first person to row across the Atlantic single-handed.
In 1952, Frenchman Alain Bombard made the first crossing in a rubber dingy
In 1988, another Frenchman, Remy Bricka, took 64 days to “ski” across the Atlantic on polyester floats.
Guy Delage also holds the record for the first transatlantic crossing in a microlight, in 1991.
In August, three North American “artists” accompanied by their three dogs successfully sailed across the Atlantic in a 50ft boat constructed entirely from junk.
On Tuesday, British windsurfer Jason Gilbert completed a 2,200-mile, three-man journey from Newfoundland to Dorset. “The first thing I want to do now is go for a pint,” he said.

First thing I will want to do is go for a run…..then the pub!

SOA Day 12

We were at 18’11.869’N, 40’08.719’W at 9:45am this morning.
The GPS says I will no longer fall about when I poo in just over 1217 nm.

Of the two human companions, the optimist says we will see land in 8 days, the realist predicts 9.
Still not bad.  This means we are over half way across the POND.

The first few days are always the worst.  Just letting your body adjust to the constant movement and adapting your daily routine and sleeping schedule.  Now it is just ‘same old rolly, rolly’.

Remarkably the waves often feel worse when the winds die down.  With out the stabilizing effect of the boats forward movement, she rotates about and gets hit by the waves at a variety of angles. With out the wind in the sails they flap about and often ‘SNAP!’ back into position when the wind catches them backed.  So it is better when we have a consistent wind.  We chose to cross this time of year because the trade winds are meant to be consistent, and they have been really.

Because we have a near constant NE wind we do little to adjust the sails.  They are just set in position and we turn the boats heading a little as the winds shifts around.  It does mean that wear on any warps is always in the same spot, so have to check all the lines everyday for any evidence of wear or stretch.  We had pre-set up the twin head sail arrangement, so we knew where the lines would come through the fair leads and touch each other and the rigging.  We whipped on plumbing and water pipe hoses in these areas to avoid excessive wear, and they are working a treat.

I forgot to tell you about our first flying fish the other night.  It was three am.  The humans had just changed watch and it was pitch black before the moon had risen.  All of a sudden something hits the floor in the cockpit and starts thrashing about.  Both me and the human on watch jumped out of the cockpit in fright.  When a flashlight was brought to the scene we found a 1-2 pound long silver flying fish thrashing around in the bottom of the cockpit.  He had very large eyes that seemed to fill the whole head region and stiff long pectoral fins that held out a thin membrane that served as wings in flight.  Of course we set him back into the sea.  We have seen loads since and it is quite remarkable how far they shot through the air the plunge into a distant wave face.  It is funny how the first one to board our boat should do so precisely into the cockpit.

Weather looks to remain good for the next few days.
So, no worries mate!

SOA Day 11

We were at 18’40.719′ N, 37’29.704′ W at 9 am this morning.
The GPS tells me I can pee like an adult dog in just over 1371 nm.

We are in a little pool of sun shine this morning surrounded by rain clouds.  What the day holds, we do not know.
Hoping to try and make our first bread, but we will see.
Like everything at sea, it all depends on the weather.

SOA Day 10

19’28.875’N
34’53.489’W
The GPS says I have just over 1524 nm to go before I get to lift my leg to pee.

It is a bit ‘demeaning’ as a male dog to be forced to squat.  The human’s will tell you I was a bit of a ‘late bloomer’, but since then I am proud leg lifter.  With these rolling conditions I am forced to revert back to my ‘juvenile’ stance for stability.  Don’t ask what I look like trying to have a poo.

Yesterday was a good day for sailing.  A bit too fast for fishing.  The lurers kept skipping out of the water and one of the humans is still recovering from two big fish fights.  So sun bathing and book reading were the main agenda.  The last of the fresh lettuce with lunch and tuna infused Singapore noodles with a bit of Sherlock Homes for dinner.

The night stayed clear and we had a great view of the stars.

This morning is clear and bright too.  The wind has eased, and soon will the waves a bit.  Looks like a good day for fishing.  Any thing to avoid looking for the deck leak!

SOA Day 9

We’ll ‘good day’ land lovers.

Hope you are sitting comfortably in your homes as we are being rolled about at sea.
We were at 19’54.647’N, 32’05.555’W at 9am this morning.  The GPS puts us 1684 nm until we see land.

It was a drizzly day yesterday.  The winds died down and we were just rolling about on the waves doing 2-4 knots all day.
The human’s decided to get some inside jobs done.
First they bailed out the bilge.  They think a deck fitting, probably a deck drain, is loose and leaking slowly.
As they have been sloshing a lot of buckets of water onto the deck to clean up after me and all the fish blood.  Some of it is sneaking inside through the walls somewhere.  The boat is so tightly packed and the waves so rolly….I will keep you informed if they get a chance to dig it all out and find the leak.
In the mean time the bilge pump, that has been repaired 20x, had to be replaced finally.  The human’s had been smart enough to pick up a replacement that would fit in Las Palmas, just in case this happened.

Note: to other boaters.
If you can, bring a spare EVERYTHING.  If you don’t need it someone else will.

Once that was done they proceeded to use their 12V vacuum packer to seal up all the fish meat for the freezer.  We had some of the blue fin tuna at lunch ….and it was the best Tuna in the world.  Friends are already asking us to save some for them.  Not a problem as it was a 13 pound fish, and we got ‘just a few’ pounds of steaks off of it.  Every tried to clean a 15 pound solid muscled fish.  It is like dealing with a giant log!

The weather cleared by late afternoon and we got in a bit more fishing.  But we lost all three fish we got on, and one was another big one.  You just get those days sometimes.

The winds picked up in the evening and, as you can see from our position, we were able to make up the ground we lost in the light airs.  It did make it a very rolly night.  The person on night watch with me had to make sure they did not doze off or a sudden big wave would throw the two us to the cockpit floor.  And I do not appreciate being used as a landing cushion.

Today looks like a beautiful sunny day.  The weather is meant to be stable over the next few days, so we should make good progress and have a chance to enjoy ourselves. We are keeping a keener eye on the weather now that we have heard that three smaller boats, including Limbo, have left the Cape Verdes and are now making the crossing with us.  Lochmarin has left a day later to help ‘sheppard’ them along with weather updates and daily SSB contact.  We wish them a lovely passage.  You can follow them if you wish through the links on our blog page.

For me now…fried breakfast!

SOA Day 8 Click on image for larger picture.