Like we did last year, we adapted this post from the daily passage updates we sent to our families and friends via email. Most of our blog posts are written in the third person because they are a collaborative effort between the two of us. (HINT: If you ever wonder who wrote what portions of our blog entries just ask yourself whether what you read was snarky or funny. If you answer yes to either of those then chances are Zack was the author.) This post is written in the first person because Jill was our designated correspondent for the voyage — and she fully embraced the opportunity to frame the narrative.
As you will see, there are common themes running through the daily updates: calm seas (most of the time), light wind and/or wind directly on our nose. This was in stark contrast to our passage last year. Last year, Che Figata served us well and we arrived safely — though a little battered — in the USVI after a very “sporty” 9 day passage. This year we were hoping for a more “typical” passage with good trade winds from the east and less confused seas. The weather gods heard us and answered our prayers. Apparently, however, they are over achievers because we experienced the other extreme this passage — mostly light winds, right on our nose, requiring us to motor or motor sail much of the way to Antigua. Though we have large fuel capacity (275 gallons!), fuel conservation became a priority. We are hoping that next year the weather gods adopt the Goldilocks principle and deliver us weather, wind and waves that are “just right.” But we are not saying that out loud! SHHHHH!
We arrived safely in Antigua on November 9 — day 11 of our passage! — and will remain in Antigua until right before Thanksgiving when we head to Chicago to spend the holiday with our children and grandchildren. After the holiday we will return to the island and plan to stay until the end of January when we hope to leave to explore the Windward Islands. Our next blog entry will likely be after we return from Chicago and have more opportunity to explore beautiful Antigua.
Without further ado, below are our daily updates. They provide a nice window into what it was like for the two of us — plus our fearless crew member Eric — to be at sea for 10+ days as we sailed (sort of) nonstop from Hampton, VA to Antigua.
Pre-Departure: October 29, 2021
Hello family and friends – Based on the weather our departure to Antigua has accelerated and we are now leaving tomorrow morning. You can read all about the “weather window” and why tomorrow is the time to leave in our latest blog entry which we published yesterday. We know that everyone included on this email eagerly awaits and reads all of our posts. (My nose is so growing right now!). At any rate, we wanted to let you all know about our departure timing. It looks like we have a very good weather window though the wind will likely be on the light side for much of our passage. While we don’t want a repeat of last year we didn’t want the other extreme either. Oh well! Regardless, we are off! We will send our brief daily updates via email like we did last year (because we know some of you do worry) and you can track our voyage by pasting this link into your browser: https://my.yb.tl/CheFigata. We transmit our location every two hours though there won’t be much to see until we leave at approx. 10 AM ET tomorrow morning. We should arrive in Antigua within 8 – 9 days of our departure so somewhere around November 7 or 8.
Bon voyage to us!
Day 1: October 30, 2021
Hello all — just a brief update today. We left the marina in Hampton at about 10:45 and are now about 26 nautical miles south of Cape Henry. The wind has been fluky and the seas a bit rough at times — nothing crazy that this intrepid crew can’t handle — but we are making good time and remain safe and in good spirits.
Of course, we have had to set some ground rules for the crew for my sanity. Zack and Eric, who apparently have an incredibly similar sense of humor (humor is a very subjective thing), are each limited to 3 jokes/puns per day and have been encouraged not to use up their allotment too early. So far they are showing great restraint! (I think they want to keep the cook happy. Smart men.).
Other than that, and a few porpoise sightings, nothing really notable to report — that’s a good thing.
More tomorrow!
Day 2: October 31
Day 2 and in the words of Long John Silver, “This is starting out to be a mighty fine voyage”. (Those who know us well will recognize the Muppet Treasure Island reference.). As reported, Day 1 — at least until later in the evening — was very uneventful. I should have know better though than to write that in an email. As our crew member Eric says, it’s bad juju. All started well after I sent the email. I prepared dinner and we enjoyed one of our favorite recipes from the NYT — avocado white bean salad with cherry tomatoes served over a bed of arugula. It was paired with a nice lukewarm cup of tap water. (This is a dry passage and we got rid of all of our ice to make room in our freezer for 9 days of frozen meals.) We had decided that I would do the 10 PM – 2 AM watch and Eric would do the 2 AM – 6 AM watch so, shortly after dinner, Eric went down to catch some zzz and Zack followed a few hours later.
It was a beautiful night – clear skies and lots of stars. The wind was coming from the southwest at about 15 – 18 mph. We were on a wonderful tack and hitting a speed over ground of up to 10 knots. That is very fast for Che Figata and we benefitted from the current push through the Gulf Stream. I was enjoying the solitude of my watch and settled in with a good book. I paid close attention to the wind because it was shifting to the west which would have it right behind us. I had to alter course several times to maintain the right wind angle on the sails though that did cause us to veer more south and less east than we were really wanted. Still, we were making tracks! I was loving it!
Then, shortly before our watch shift at 2 AM, the wind started to gust up to 22 – 24 mph which is a little much for a full genoa sail. (The genoa is our head sail.). I knew we needed to reef (or shorten) the sail but it was so close to when Eric would be heading up on deck for his watch that I decided to hold off until I had help. In the meantime, I see a 950 foot cargo ship on AIS about 20 nautical miles away with a closest point of passage to us a little too close for my comfort. We were scheduled to reach that point at about 2:30 AM. I figured we had time to monitor the situation and make adjustments after we reefed the genoa. And, of course, at that point I would go to bed — by 2 AM I was getting very sleepy.
At 2 AM I yelled down to Eric — who was sleeping on one of the settees in the saloon because it was too rocky in the forward guest cabin — to make sure he was getting up. He quickly got up to the cockpit and, just as he did, we got hit by a squall with winds gusting to 27 and some rain. Not a great time to reef the genoa. Fortunately, it was short lived and the winds died back down to about 15 which gave us an opportunity to reef. No sooner had we reefed the genoa than another squall came though — the winds were about the same speed (~27 mph) as the earlier squall but the rain was much harder. Meanwhile, the cargo ship was much closer and we quickly shifted our attention there to make sure that we were on a good trajectory to avoid a collision. Thankfully, we were! But the combination of events was quite the adrenaline rush! Great way for Eric to wake up for his watch but not the best way to settle me down for sleep so I stayed up on deck until about 2:45 AM when I felt sleepy enough again to go to bed.
Zack and Eric had largely uneventful watches (there I go again) though the wind kept shifting to the west which required us to continue to shift to the south. At some point we will need to make a course correction to reach the ideal eastern waypoint to then make our magical right turn, catching those trade winds and sailing right to Antigua.
Following our exciting overnight watches, we started our day today with coffee and steel cut oats courtesy of my beloved Instant Pot as we chit chatted about our watches and our plans for the day. Zack and Eric already had a list of repairs to make — nothing major — from the wear and tear of the boat getting tossed about by the winds and waves. We also needed to fire up the satellite to get the latest weather forecast and check on our COVID PCR test results. When we got the satellite going and were able to connect to the internet we found the latest weather forecast and our COVID test results waiting for us. And this is when our day turned into a skit from SNL. I was able to click the link, add my credentials (user name and password) and quickly retrieve my negative test results. We will need to print these for each of us and give them to the border control agents in Antigua. Zack and Eric, well, not so much. Zack had created his user name and password when we were out to dinner Thursday evening and didn’t remember his password. I asked him if he jotted it down anywhere and, of course, he hadn’t. I was able to prompt his memory by reminding him of the password requirements which included a special character. With this hint he was eventually able to log in and retrieve his negative test result and then forward it to me.
Eric had similar issues but he was not sure if he had activated his CVS mychart account and, to do so, CVS needed to email him a confirmation. Unfortunately, he was having trouble connecting to our satellite system on his iPhone and, therefor, couldn’t get into his email. After multiple attempts we agreed he should take a break and try again in a few days when our monthly data limit resets. (Satellite time is expensive time!) But that was not before Eric’s full coffee cup, which he had placed on the floor of the cockpit, fell over when we hit a good size wave (it continues to be quite rocky and rolly today!) and spilled the contents all over the teak floor. (Rule # 1 on the boat is that you secure everything!) It was just such a stereotypical morning with the organized female and absent-minded men retrieving (or not) test results. On the other hand, these are the same guys who engaged in an incredibly nuanced discussion of the weather forecast, debating about the best route to leverage the wind. While my weather routing skills have come a long way, I cannot keep up with Zack and Eric! It was like I was listening to two weather professionals. So why is it that they can’t seem to log into a digital health record????? Men are from Mars, women are from Venus! I truly felt like there had to be a camera hiding somewhere recording all if this.
It is now time for me to state the obvious. I am the one writing these daily updates so I get to control the narrative. Thankfully, it isn’t the other way around. I have a feeling both Zack and Eric would have very different perspectives on the events of the day. Eric might even have shared my OCD moment (one of many) when I accused him of adding his Gmail account to ours on my iPad (he was using my iPad in his failed efforts to retrieve his COVID test result). I told him not to do anything else with my iPad without letting me approve what he was doing first. (It was not as harsh as it sounds!) It turned out what I was seeing was earlier emails he had sent to me and Zack sharing possible routes for our passage given the weather forecast. He was quite good natured about the incident and I almost (but not quite) apologized when I acknowledged my error!
We are now about 250 nautical miles from Hampton and beyond the Gulf Stream. We’ve got some good rollers and the wind is still almost dead west (though it is starting to shift towards the south) but in the next few days the wind shift should continue and the seas are predicted to calm as the wind dies down. We may have to burn some fossil fuel to get further east to catch the trades but, as our friend Dan Valoppi always says, “Don’t let those dinosaurs die in vain. Burn that fuel when you have to.” So we will.
We just finished up dinner and are looking at the updated weather forecast. It’s time for me to wash the dishes and get ready for my 10 PM watch! More tomorrow.
Day 3: November 1
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in these update emails are mine and mine only and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of the remainder of the Che Figata crew. In fact, they vigorously disagree with many of my observations and conclusions. [I was asked to add a disclaimer after yesterday’s update. These guys have no sense of humor!]
Greetings from the crew of S/V Che Figata on day #3. Our overnight sail was much less eventful last evening. We did have one squall, just as Zack was coming off his watch at 10 PM and I was going on mine, but nothing we couldn’t handle. The big issue for the overnight sail was watching the wind direction. The forecast had the wind shifting to the north which, given our heading, would have put the wind right behind us, eventually causing us to jibe. (Translation: the genoa and mainsail shifting from a starboard tack to a port tack). You don’t want the boat to unintentionally jibe for many reasons including the fact that we had a preventer on the main sail to keep the boom from flapping back and forth in our fluky wind conditions. So my main job was to watch the wind direction, keep adjusting the auto pilot as needed in light of the same and then to wake someone up when the wind shifted to about 320 degrees so that we could tack. While I can and do make minor sail and course adjustments on my own while on watch, tacking the boat on my own is not something I am comfortable with. Fortunately for Zack and Eric, the wind didn’t make the predicted shift until about 1:40 AM so rather than waking anyone up I just waited until Eric got up for his watch at 2 AM. I stayed up to help him tack (yes, even the guys like help tacking when it’s available) and then went to sleep.
Zack did have a little excitement. When he came on watch at 6 AM one of our battens popped out of our main sail — most likely due to all the flapping the main sail was doing in our fluky wind. The batten is a long rod like piece, about 8 feet in length, that fits into sleeves sewn into the sail that work as a stiffener and helps to keep the sail shape, particularly up at the top where you want a nice roach (or curve). Fortuitously, the batten fell onto the foredeck and, unbelievably, stayed there. (Even more fortuitously, no one was out on deck because I don’t even want to think about that would have happened if that batten hit someone.) Zack was able to retrieve it and I found it on our saloon settee when I woke up this morning. The darndest things happen during a passage. That is a repair that will have to wait until we arrive in Antigua.
You would be surprised how quickly the days pass on these passages. There really isn’t much down time. Here’s my typical day:
— 10 PM – 2 AM: On watch (both guys are asleep)
— ~ 2:30 AM – 9 AM: Sleep
— 9 AM – 10 AM: Putz around (e.g., exercise, brush teeth, shower, etc.)
— 10 AM – 2 PM On watch, fire up the satellite for the latest weather forecast, make brunch for the crew (they are enjoying steel cut oats and avocado toast!) and clean up
— 2 PM – 4 PM: nap!
— 4 PM – 6 PM: dinner prep, draft daily email
— 6 PM – 8 PM: fire up the satellite for latest weather update; eat dinner; post dinner clean up
— 8 PM – 10 PM: free time; keep Zack company on his watch
— 10 PM – 2 AM: start it all over again!
The point is that between our watch schedule and my role as chief cook and bottle washer there really isn’t much time to get bored. While Zack & Eric are not sharing in galley duties, when they are not on watch they are busy fixing stuff (a passage is rough on the boat and stuff breaks), putting on new sails (e.g., our magnificent code zero for light air) and adjusting our route to better align with changing weather conditions.
That is not to say that there are not moments of downtime. Particularly on the overnight watches when you are the only one awake and it’s totally dark, there’s not much to do. Of course, star gazing is always a much enjoyed past time but that is also time I use to read (I finished my first book last night) and, based on a suggestion from Eric, compose limericks. Last night I composed 7 pretty pathetic limericks which I read to Zack and Eric over avocado toast this morning. They must have been pretty bad because Zack commented that he felt like he was in the scene from the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy where the Vogons read their poetry to their prisoners as punishment. Okay, I acknowledged that they were pretty lame but I didn’t think they quite reached the level of repulsive. Here’s a sampling so you can be the judge:
Sailing vessel Che Figata was ready
To transport her crew safe and steady
Antigua was the goal
Each crew knew their role
To arrive without getting “wetty”
The crew on sailing vessel Che Figata
Were cold and wanted to get hotta
So they sailed towards Antigua
Became fast amigas
Now life is all “Hakuna Matata”
Che Figata joined the Salty Dawg rally
Chris Parker* said leave and don’t dally
The crew heeded his advice
And did not roll the dice
Add another Caribbean sail to the tally!
*Chris Parker is the professional weather router retained by the Salty Dawg organization.
Today was an absolutely lovely day. Sunny, warm and with light winds and calm seas. (Mano, today was what you were longing for in our passage last year. Your prayers were answered a year too late.). We are putting our order in now for days like this the rest of the trip. My only concern is that as pleasant as this is — and it is truly magnificent — we are sailing at only 6.5 knots. At this rate, this will be a very long passage and I provisioned for about 11 days of fresh meals! (Of course, I do have plenty of canned and dry rations if we need to go there — just hope that is not the case.). So though the guys don’t agree with me I would vote for a few more sporty days to help propel us to Antigua.
As pleasant as today is — none of us want this day to end — it’s time for me to go below and prepare dinner. Given the calm seas it is the perfect evening for me to prepare my famous vegan Pad Thai with crisy tofu. Very difficult to prepare the crispy tofu part of the recipe in tough seas!
And, for those keeping track, we have now travelled ~ 380 nautical miles from Hampton VA. Only about 1,300 nm left to go!
Day 4: November 2
Yawn alert!
Sometimes, I write these updates for you and, other times, these updates are purely for myself — to capture a moment or a feeling. This is one of those times that the latter is true. I will apologize, in advance, for the highly technical and not very interesting update!
Last night I hit a milestone that I’m adding to my baby book! I furled and then unfurled the genny (that’s the genoa sail) on my own. No Zack or Eric needed. The wind had died before I got on my watch at 10 PM but it was from a great direction — northeast — which had us on a perfect beam reach tack (even though we were motor sailing). Based on the forecast we expected that to continue throughout my watch. Of course, at about 11 PM, the wind shifted significantly to the SE which required me to change course (unless I wanted our sail to flap all around!) and veer pretty materially from our waypoint which was set at about 132 degrees. (Translation: that means we were headed east/southeast.). I knew what I needed to do. The only way to get back on course was to furl in the genny (there was no way to fly the genny and move in the required direction) and then veer back towards the southeast.
With our new electric furler this is something I could easily do so I proceeded to bring the sail in. Unfortunately, one of the genny sheets (these are the lines that connect the sail to the winch on either side of the boat depending on your tack) got caught on our stay sail furler. I wasn’t sure how to get it unstuck without going forward on the boat and because we have a hard and fast rule that no one leaves the cockpit for any reason while on watch unless another person is up on deck I had to go down and wake up Zack. (Though this is probably obvious, the reason for the rule is that, in the unlikely event someone goes overboard on their watch, it’s advisable to have another person up on deck to witness the occurrence so they can immediately evoke the person overboard procedure. Unfortunately, there are too many stories of a crew member on a passage waking up for his/her watch only to discover that the crew member they were supposed to relieve is no where on board. At that point the missing crew member is generally not recovered.) Of course, when Zack got up into the cockpit he showed me that I simply had to loosen one of the sheets and the other would come free so no need to leave the cockpit after all. Good to know for next time! At any rate, since he was already awake I explained to Zack what the wind had done, how I had altered our course and my plan to get us back on course once the genny was in. He agreed with my adjustments and plan but felt that with the new wind direction we would be headed straight into the wind once we were back on course (and he was right) so we should bring in the main sail too. So that’s what we did and then Zack went back to sleep.
By this time it was about 11:30 PM and the wind remained very light and right on our nose for the next 90 minutes. But then, around 1 AM, the wind shifted back to the northeast and picked up speed, now about 10 – 11 knots. It was clear that it was time to let out the sails to take full advantage of the wind. Still too light to turn off the motor but letting out the sails would add to our speed and, importantly, would help us conserve fuel which is really important for this passage given the predicted wind conditions — light and from the wrong direction much of the time. (There are no gas stations in the middle of the Atlantic unless we want to make an unplanned stop in Bermuda.). Ideally, I would have first let out the main sail but I am not comfortable doing that on my own. Though Zack has done it on his own, it is best when we have two people — one to bring out the main and another person to watch and give direction on the tension of the out haul. But with our new electric furler I knew I could get out the genny on my own so I unfurled it, got it to the right shape and had us in a beautiful beam reach, adding about a knot to our speed. BTW, for those of you who do not regularly read our blog (probably most of you and no offense taken), in our entry entitled “Our final stay in Connecticut – September 5 through September 30 (subtitle: Pat pat here, Pat pat there, And a couple of brand new straws, That’s how we keep you young and fair . . . .)” we include a detailed description of our new electric furler and why it is so key. Probably TMI but if you are a sailing geek or a sailing geek wannabe you might enjoy the read.
When Eric got up deck for his watch I explained what the wind had been doing as well as my plan and suggested that we now bring out the main. The best way to do that was to bring in the genny, steer the boat into the wind and then bring out the main. Once the main was out we could reposition the boat to our desired course and unfurl the genny again. So that’s what that did under my direction. With the mission accomplished, and feeling like a true captain, I went to bed exhilarated (but now wide awake) around 2:45AM.
To be clear — what I’ve just described is not really a big deal. (Even if I provided excruciating detail that is probably not all that interesting!). I’ve been sailing about 14 years and, by now, sail adjustments — including furling and unfurling sails — should be second nature. Guilty as charged. My reality, however, is that Zack is a very proficient sailor and was perfectly happy playing with the sails as I worked. (In fact, he kind of liked it that way so he was definitely an enabler.) I was always reading and responding to work emails or even participating in conference calls. Yep, even on weekends and during our vacations. It wasn’t until we were a few years away from the target date of our 5 year plan that I realized that I had better step up, pay attention and learn to sail — not just be a good first mate. So, no, what I did last night really isn’t that remarkable in the abstract. But given how far I’ve come — to be able to adjust a sail plan and make major sail adjustments consistent with that plan on my own — I had such a great sense of accomplishment. I really am becoming a sailor!
The winds remain light and from the wrong direction today so we are motoring. The seas are incredibly calm — it would be lovely if we didn’t care how quickly we get to Antigua. We are continuing to watch the forecast and it looks like we may be able to take advantage of a wind shift if we get far enough east so that is the current plan. In the meantime, we are trying to be patient and just enjoy being out in the ocean. We spotted some whales or dolphins today — they looked too big for dolphins but a bit on the small side for whales, hence the hedging. Still, it was fun watch them as they moved gracefully up and down through the water.
That’s it for today. I am fresh up from my afternoon nap — much needed since I couldn’t fall asleep last night — and it’s time to get these guys dinner!
Day 5: November 3
Sometimes when our passage prayers are answered the weather gods overcompensate by providing an abundance of blessings. Such is the case this year when we find ourselves in the middle of the ocean with incredibly calm seas and very little wind. Certainly not enough to hoist the sails without a motor assist. Last year at this time we couldn’t stand in the boat without holding on tightly and, even then, a sudden big wave crashing against the boat would cause us to tumble, contributing to our array of bruises that we wore like badges.
This isn’t just the function of embellished memories. We looked back on our log book from last year’s trip an it was all 20+ knot winds and 8 – 12 foot seas. Today it is so calm that I made the guys scrambled eggs and toasted English Muffins for breakfast and then did some vacuuming. (Last year I was resigned that Che Figata was going to look about as clean as our son’s college frat house by the time we arrived in the USVI. And it did.). The ocean looks like glass. If we didn’t care how quickly we got to Antigua — and we had an unlimited fuel supply (we can make water but not fuel) — we’d be enjoying this time out at sea. Unfortunately, though we have large fuel capacity (enough for ~1000 miles) we don’t have enough to motor the whole way to Antigua so we continue to motor at reduced RPMs to stretch our fuel supply. Of course, while we know that the combination of a conservative fuel plan and the wind that will eventually fill in (stay positive!) will ensure that we have plenty of fuel to get to Antigua, our reduced RPMs will likely extend our trip by a few days.
A few days may not sound like a big deal, and we have plenty of food to carry us through (I made sure of that), but the crew is already starting to get a little cabin fever. (Cue the song from Muppet Treasure Island for those of you familiar. At a minimum that includes our kids and their partners because Muppet Treasure Island is part of the litmus test of whether you get to join the Hummel family.) This morning Zack started to create creatures out of the mandarin oranges that I served with breakfast. He peeled them in such a way that they looked like they had arms, legs and a little face. When he started making them dance around I knew we were in trouble. (For the record, he didn’t give them a voice so we did not have singing/dancing mandarin oranges.)
Thankfully, Eric did not join in (they usually feed on each other) though we did get in an argument over who was responsible for the entertainment on this voyage. Everyone seems to think it was someone else’s job. We have also learned that both Zack and Eric are big Monty Python fans (of course I married Zack knowing that about him) so we’ve had plenty of banter with them reciting different lines back and forth from their favorite skits — many from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Yes, in case this wasn’t already firmly established, I am a saint.) Fortunately, they did take a short break from the quips and did some “boat stuff.” It’s so calm that they had a great opportunity to walk around the boat to inspect how things look. While this entire trip has been pretty calm overall, we did have a short period of rough seas at the start so it is good to check on the tackle to make sure nothing got loose. They also checked the fuel tanks to get a more precise measurement of how much we have consumed so far. The good news is that we have 4 fuel tanks — 2 large and 2 small — and we are still on the first large tank. More importantly, and this is hot off the presses, we thought we were close to empty on that tank but it looks like we have more in there than we thought. We took bets on when we will exhaust that tank and the guesses range from early tomorrow morning to early tomorrow afternoon. Regardless of who is right, this positions us well for the rest of the trip. Eventually, we will have some wind (again, fingers crossed) and we are just past the half way point so we are in great shape!
For those curious, it is another glorious day in the Sargasso Sea. Partly cloudy and in the low 80s. We have been in T-shirts and shorts for a few days now. If only we could kick back and enjoy some of my killer G&Ts! Alas, those need to wait. Still, we are enjoying the occasional flying fish sightings and even saw what we believe is a heron today. Not sure what our friend was doing so far out at sea but he looked majestic gliding effortlessly through the air.
Just about time for dinner. Last night we had my marinara with beyond meat meatballs. Tonight we were going to have my white bean chili but we may take advantage of these flat conditions to make something from scratch and save a prepared meal for our extended trip. Such big decisions! I know you will anxiously await my report tomorrow when I will reveal our meal choice.
We do have one major concern. There is a Hylas 46, S/V Hylander, in the fleet of boats heading to Antigua. Based on the fleet tracker, we could see that we were pretty much out in front. That Hylas 46 though is now nipping at our heels. We will hardly be able to show our faces among the Salty Dawg rally participants if they pass us and beat us to Antigua. Right now we can tell from our AIS that they are traveling at a speed about a knot faster that us. The only way that is possible is if they are running their engine at a higher RPM. If that is the case they will eventually have to slow down because their fuel capacity is about 1/2 of what ours is. [Editor’s post passage note: we learned after their arrival that this is not true. They actually have capacity for 230 gallons so just about 50 gallons less than us.] Not that we are competitive or anything but we are watching them closely! More to come on that.
That’s it for now. As hopefully you can tell, we remain safe and in great spirits. Fingers crossed we can keep that up for another 5 days!
Day 6: November 4
Day 6 and I could just send a note that says “ditto.” We went as far east as we could before we did our shift to the south this morning and the wind is still light (about 10 knots) and right on our nose. No matter which way we turn the wind seems to shift in that direction. It is as if the bow of our boat has some invisible force that pulls the wind towards it. So we continue to motor sail — slowly. Most of the day we were motoring at 6 knots. Imagine traveling 1,600 miles at that speed and then adding more distance to the route by zig zagging as you try to best leverage the wind. Well, we don’t have to imagine it. That’s what we are doing. (Though we did just crank up our engine and are now moving at close to 8 knots. More on that below.) We expect to arrive in Antigua on Monday (sometime afternoon) and are really starting to looking forward to our arrival — and those G&Ts!
On a positive note, the fuel situations continues to look better and better. After Zack and Eric did their precise measurement yesterday of the amount of fuel remaining in our large tank that was in use, they have continued to monitor our fuel usage and it looks like we are using just over a gallon of fuel an hour. Running at 1,800 RPMs we are sipping fuel! Not only does that position us well for the rest of the trip — there is really no danger we will run out unless something really untowards happens (and, if that’s the case we probably have bigger problems) — but it also means that we could crank up our RPMs a notch and gain a little speed. It is actually better for the diesel engine to run at about 85% of the maximum RPMs (we’ve been running well short of that to be more fuel efficient) so it’s important that we crank up the engine to about 2,300/2,400 RPMs for at least some period of time. So that’s what we are doing now. We just switched fuel tanks (though our first large tank is still not completely empty) and plan to run at 2,300/2,400 RPMs for about an hour. We know we can do that without worry. After that, we plan to reduce down to about 2,000 RPMs — so we will go faster than the 6 knots we reached at 1,800 RPMs but not as fast as we are traveling now. As we get closer to Antigua, and we see what assist we get from the anticipated wind shift (based on the forecast discussed below), we will probably be able to go back up to the ideal RPMs and finish our voyage at a nicer clip.
In terms of the forecast, it looks like we may get a little favorable wind over the weekend (though less favorable than original predictions and still not enough to sail without a motor assist) and then it will die (almost completely) on Monday and stay very light through Wednesday. Again, we hope to arrive on Monday so that unfavorable wind speed shift won’t impact us as much as it will the slower boats that are a day or two behind us. On another positive note though, if the winds die as predicted, we will not be trying to dock in an unfamiliar marina with high winds! As many of you know, the weather gods have a very funny sense of humor and seem to bring on a squall every time we enter a marina. We got to the point where we would predict when the inclement weather would roll in based on when we planned to arrive at a dock. Docking a 56 foot, 60 ton boat without stern thrusters in light wind conditions is always a happy thing. It truly makes my heart sing! When you live on a boat and your life revolves around something you can’t control — like the weather — it’s important to focus on the bright side!
On a less positive note, that pesky Hylas 46, Hylander, passed us last evening. They are traveling about a half a knot faster than us. We are still scratching our heads. Hylander has about half our fuel capacity and even if we are being overly conservative running our engine at 1,800 RPMs, with all the motoring this trip, they have to be down to well below half of their total capacity. In addition, they made the shift south before us so the wind should be right on their nose when we take advantage of the favorable shift. Of course, they may just have a more precise sense of how far they can get motoring on their maximum fuel capacity and, therefore, are motoring at the maximum RPMs that they can and still make it all the way to Antigua. Worst case scenario, they are a sailboat so if they do run out of fuel they can wait until the wind picks up and sail on into Antigua — though, as I mentioned above, it looks like they will have to wait out a few days in the doldrums based on current predictions for Monday thru Wednesday next week. We shall see!
Last night the guys voted unanimously for white bean chili so that’s what we had. I served it with green onions, cilantro, avocado slices, sour cream and cheddar cheese. It was a big hit and they practically licked their bowls clean. Tonight I am serving a mushroom soup with spinach along with some good crusty whole grain bread. This was a new recipe from the NYT so I had never made it before. Because I had never made this recipe before, it was a bit of a gamble but the recipe made enough for me to test it along the way and, with some adjustments (mostly lots of extra garlic!), I thought it came out quite good. I’m anxious to hear what Zack & Eric think when I serve it this evening. Of course, they are a very easy to please crowd so I think if I opened up a can of soup and served it to them without sharing that it wasn’t one of my homemade creations, they would rave over the meal. In other words, there’s a low bar on this trip for food quality. Still, it’s nice to feel appreciated!
Again, if it wasn’t for the fact that we would prefer not to be out to sea indefinitely, it is another day in paradise. Today was another day of tees and shorts. We imagine most of you are not in tees and shorts at this moment! No, nobody should feel sorry for us (despite our extended passage)!
That’s a wrap for today. More tomorrow.
Day 7: November 5
Well, you got to be careful what you wish for. We were complaining about the lack of wind and, BAM!, we got wind last evening into this morning. The apparent wind hovered around 18 – 22 knots for quite some time. The problem is that it the wind remained right on our nose. You just can’t sail straight into the wind, regardless of how proficient a sailor you are. The physics simply don’t work. And, on top of that, while some boats can sail with a minimal angle off the wind (generally those with a deeper keel), Che Figata requires the wind to be at least 20 degrees off (and even that is not ideal) so minor shifts in the winds off our bow really don’t help us. Of course, the solution is to steer the boat further off the wind but that adds distance to the journey (zigzag path vs. a straight one). Given the predicted wind conditions — which are not great — we really needed to stay on a straight course as much as possible so it was a wild and bouncy night. (If only the trade winds were cooperating, we could rely on wind power vs. fuel and wouldn’t be so concerned about getting from point A to point B in as a straight a path as possible.) The wind has now died down to just under 10 knots so the seas are beginning to calm. I will definitely be taking my boat nap today! The forecast continues to predict some favorable winds on Saturday so our goal is to continue to plow through — almost head on — until we get the predicted wind shift and we can get a much needed wind assist.
Though we are feeling good overall, we continue to watch our fuel consumption. After switching to our smaller tank, running the engine on that tank at ~ 2,350 RPM for an hour and then reducing RPMs to about 2,000 until we ran that tank dry (about 20.6 hours), we don’t like the exponential impact of those 200 extra RPMs. We still have about 530 nm to go to Antigua and that assumes we travel in a straight line, which we aren’t. So we are back down to running our engine at 1,800 RPMs. (As a side note, we know that all the thrashing for the last 14 hours definitely had an impact on fuel efficiency so it wasn’t all the increased RPMs that increased our per hour consumption but given the wind forecast — which has remained incredibly consistent — we will clearly need to motor or motor sail most of the rest of the way to Antigua so better safe than sorry!)
Speaking of our close monitoring of our fuel consumptions, I mentioned yesterday that Zack and Eric had taken some precise measurements of our use of the fuel in our large tank. I thought you all might be interested to know how this pair of MacGyvers took those precise measurements. It was quite scientific really and took advantage of all the latest marine technology. Specifically, they took an old fly swatter and taped a broken wooden dowel on to it. Together, the fly swatter and dowel created a long dip stick which they dipped in the tank to see how many inches of fuel remained in the tank. Of course, the tank is not symmetrical so knowing the number of inches didn’t quite tell us the remaining capacity (details, details) but they also kept track of our engine hours so we do know the exact number of hours we ran the engine off that 94 gallon tank and, therefore, how many gallons of fuel we used per hour. Between the two methods (tracking hours and using the dip stick) we had considerable confidence in our consumption calculation — particularly because the fuel in the tank actually lasted much longer than we thought based on the homemade dip stick measurement.
On the good news front — and not that we are competitive — it looks like we are in the lead again amongst the boats in the Salty Dawg fleet heading to Antigua. We even passed that pesky Hylas 46 which we have decided shall no longer be named. You can see, based on their track, that they are beginning to worry about their fuel consumption (all kidding aside, we have been worried for them) and have decided to conserve fuel. [Editor’s post passage note: we later learned that it wasn’t concern over fuel consumption that slowed them down. It was a massive leak in one of their ports. Apparently, they had to stop sailing/motoring and do this major repair while also drying out the many compartments impacted by the water leak.] We believe that has caused them to slow way down and allowed us to overtake them. We didn’t know this until we looked at the fleet tracker this morning because they are now considerably west and downwind from us so we never even saw them on our chart plotter. At any rate, for those of you with a competitive streak — you know who you are! — you can use this link to see the position of all of the boats in the Salty Dawg rally, including Che Figata: https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/rally/2021-sdsa-caribbean-rally/ Just keep in mind that some boats are headed to the Bahamas and a few boats decided to make a pit stop in Bermuda so you need to focus on those boats that are on that SE trajectory to the Caribbean islands.
No other excitement today. No marine mammal sightings. No new conditions. We just continue to debate whether we stay the course (and consume fuel) or start veering off the the east which may allow us to sail slowly and then position us favorably for the easterly wind shift — which we are beyond eagerly anticipating — predicted for the wee hours Saturday morning.
POST BOAT NAP UPDATE: I just woke up from a luscious 90 minute nap. I was a little worried about leaving Zack and Eric together without adult supervision but they did good. They took at advantage of a wind shift and we are now sailing (ever so slowly at less than 4 knots) along our desired route. Slow and steady is the name of this passage. We are still expecting (fingers crossed) a favorable wind shift around 2 AM Saturday morning (so less than 12 hours from now). If that holds true and we can get a nice wind assist from the trades we will be well positioned for our remaining passage to Antigua even if the wind dies late Sunday and into Monday as predicted.
Day 8: November 6
Greetings on Day 8 of the windless sail (now that’s an oxymoron!) to Antigua. We never really got the predicted wind shift. It’s been pretty consistent at about 140 – 150 degrees, so almost exactly SE which, of course, is the exact direction we are sailing in. Occasionally the wind has shifted to 120 (so more to the East) but these shifts have largely been short lived. Ideally, we would be able to calculate, with precision, and then compare these two figures: (1) the reduction in fuel consumption that we would get from veering off our direct path to Antigua due to a greater wind assist less the additional fuel we would need to use due to the greater distance vs (2) the fuel consumption if we stay on the direct route (shorter distance but greater fuel consumption per hour). It reminds me of those math problems you got in high school. You know what I’m talking about “There were two sailboats motor sailing to the same destination from the same starting point. Boat #1 was taking advantage of wind by tacking, thereby reducing their fuel consumption to one gallon per hour while boat #2 took the direct, shorter, route and consumed fuel at 1.3 gallons per hour. If the trip was 1,650 nautical miles, what is the tipping point in additional miles where the reduced fuel consumption from the wind assist used by boat #1 exceeds the increase in fuel consumption (at the reduced rate) due to an increased number of miles to create a net advantage to boat #1.” Gives me a headache!
Now that you some of hate me for terrorizing you with a math equation — and I say some because I know most of you pretty well and, though I am not naming names, I know who loves math and considers these kinds of problems entertaining and those of you who probably experience a bit of PTSD just thinking about high school math (I definitely fall in that latter category) — I will switch gears to an apology and really geek out on you. I owe you all a tremendous apology because I apparently committed the worst of all sins for a sailor in my riveting, albeit very high level, description of the wind angles needed to propel a sailboat. I may have given the impression that one could sail Che Figata with wind at an angle at 20 degrees off the bow. When Zack read that paragraph he was mortified that the sailors (or physicists) among you would immediately realize that was not possible and I would be revealed as a fraud. Gasp! So lest that not happen, please accept my apology for the sloppy description of sailboat physics and allow me to provide additional color to refine my sailing tutorial. (Those of you who were bored the first time around reading about this can skip the remainder of this paragraph and go straight to the next one below — at your own risk). When I was referring to the 20 degrees, I was not referring to the point where Che Figata can sail on her own with any reasonable level of speed without a motor assist. That does not happen on Che Figata at 20 degrees. In fact, the wind angle required is closer to 40 degrees and, as you all know from reading our blog, Che Figata actually loves a beam reach which is an angle of 90 degrees. When you’ve got that wind angle combined with the right wind speed, Che Figata moves! Rather, I was referring to the point where we could motor with an assist from our main sail (without her flapping about) and maybe even put out the stay sail. 20 degrees is right on the edge for our stay sail (with a motor assist) but we’ve done it this trip and it has provided some advantage. I am sure that even this description falls short of the accuracy demanded by a true sailor but I’m kind of like the novelist who writes a history book. I hope you will forgive occasional broad brushes in exchange for the literary value of my story telling. (Too many days at sea can make you delusional). Just don’t hang on my words if you want to learn to sail! Buy Sailing for Dummies for that. (BTW, I did buy that book when I first started sailing and it is quite good!)
Right now we are down to just about 375 nautical miles remaining — that is slightly under 25% of the entire trip so we are getting close. Earlier today we crossed below the Tropics of Cancer line which means we are officially in the tropics. Yay! Ordinarily with <400 nautical miles to go I’d estimate that we’d arrive to Antigua on Monday. (Which was our original ETA.) We can cover 200 miles a day during a typical passage. Not happening this trip. Given our speed, wind conditions and the need to continue to go light on the fuel, it looks like we will arrive on Tuesday, early morning. So it will be day 11. To put that in further context, a boat like ours can usually make this trip in 8 – 9 days. I don’t know if I feel worse for us with this extended passage or you all who have to read my rather tedious updates a few days longer. As you can probably tell, writing these updates are one thing I do to pass the time. At any rate, 2 full days to go after today. Ugh!
For those curious about that pesky Hylas 46 who shall not be named, we are still in the lead but, in full disclosure, even though all of my jabs are in total jest, I am starting to feel guilty about them. (In fairness, when I started poking at them I thought we were all going to benefit from a wind shift this weekend that doesn’t seem to be happening — at least not yet). As I said previously, we have double the fuel capacity so there is no way they can make this trip without turning their engine way down or off at times. They also have less water capacity to support a crew of 5 (vs. our crew of 3). They do have a water maker but they need to run their generator to run the water maker and that takes fuel too. It is very possible that unless they carefully conserve they will run out of both water and fuel. We really hope that is not the case. The owners of that vessel, which they had built new for them, are a lovely couple who are just one year behind us in their cruising life. We wish them well and will anxiously await their arrival in Antigua!
While we did not see the significant wind shift to the East we were expecting, it is now late in the day Saturday and we are seeing some glimmers of hope. Unfortunately, after those little glimmer, the winds shifts right back to the SE. That said, the forecast we pulled up just now continues to show the wind shifting to the east this evening so we will remain hopeful that, this time, the prediction will materialize.
One a final note, to further pass the time, I composed another limerick — worst one yet but what the heck:
Hurray to the Che Figata crew
A Southern Baptist, a Protestant and a Jew
Different backgrounds they had
Diversity is not bad
And the sailing was pretty good too!
Now here’s my challenge to all of you. Submit your limericks to us. They have to have a sailing theme and at least loosely follow the limerick cadence. The crew of Che Figata will judge all entries and there will be a prize for the best submission. You will have a choice between an official Salty Dawg T-Shirt from the 2021 Caribbean rally (these are limited edition and are not available in stores) or a selection of dead flying fish from the Che Figata personal collection. (FYI, flying fish seem to like to hitched a ride with us in the dark of night and, unfortunately, it doesn’t work our so well for them.). Humor us!
That’s it for today. Keep sending those positive thoughts for some wind our way and, when you do, please be sure to specify that it should be from the east.
Day 9: November 7
Happy Sunday! I hope you all enjoyed your extra hour of sleep today! We are now on Atlantic time and there is no “falling back.” If there was a time adjustment I would have gotten the short straw and my watch would have been extended an hour. We have now been at sea for 8 days! The wind remains very light and out of the SE though it has inched over towards the east a bit. Between the angle and the wind speed (hovering at 10 knots and even less at times) we still can’t sail without engine power but as we run the engine we are definitely getting some assist from our main sail and stay sail. Good for fuel conservation. Every little shift of the wind towards the east helps!
It is Italian night on Che Figata. Yes, we have resorted to themed evenings. For dinner we are having my famous house made marinara with Beyond Meat meatballs over whole grain linguini pasta accompanied with a Caesar salad. Consistent with our theme, the sounds of Frank Sinatra will be wafting in the air as we dine. We left the red and white checkered table cloth at home and, alas, no Chianti tonight (still in the middle of that dry voyage), but we will do our best to create an authentic Italian vibe this evening. Got to keep the crew entertained! Looking for suggestions on a theme for tomorrow night — it will probably be the last night of our passage (hope springs eternal). I am leaning towards Mexican night since the two meals I have remaining on board fit that theme. The crew has a choice of my house made white bean chili with jackfruit (a fan favorite) or Amy’s enchiladas, not homemade but quite good when dressed up with avocado, sour cream, salsa and cheese! BTW, in case you are wondering what we would do if our passage lasted a few more days, I brought along plenty of canned and dry goods. We could go another two weeks (or more) with our food rations. (Of course, diesel fuel would be another story!). Fortunately, it looks like we don’t need to go there. As you can see, though this should have been an 8/9 day voyage, I planned for 11 fresh cooked dinners.
I was expecting to get some reaction to the Great Limerick Challenge! I think most of you are simply pretending that didn’t happen. Can’t say I blame you. I figure I have crossed the line to where many of you wish there was an “unsubscribe” button you could click. If there was I would ask you select the applicable reason:
— I never signed up for these emails.
— These emails are way too geeky for me. Wind angles, fuel consumption calculations, really?
— You are not funny.
— Aren’t you there yet?
— Other. Please describe
But back to the sailing . . . as hinted at above, the weather conditions really haven’t changed much. This is definitely a passage for the record books! In truth, it was very pleasant not getting tossed around (most of the time) — and the sunny 80 degree days are nice too — but ocean sailing is like dog years and those extra days with limited connectivity wear on you. (I am suffering NYT withdrawal big time!) We did have a little rough weather last evening though I blame Eric for that. My watch (10 pm – 2 am) was uneventful. The wind speed and direction remained largely constant with a slight shift to the East over my watch. That allowed me to shift our course ever so slightly to the east which is something we needed to do. And it was relatively calm though the front cabin, where Eric sleeps, does take the brunt of the impact when we head directly into the wind and waves so at one point he had to abandon the front cabin for the settee in our saloon. Still, he got a good rest. And this is how I left things — all in good order — when I headed down to sleep at 2:15 am. Not long after I fell asleep both Zack and I were awoken by a squall that brought some rain and heavy winds and those conditions persisted for a few hours. By 4:30 am I went above deck and kindly asked Eric to stop with the squalls. He apologized (appropriately so) but explained that none of his incantations were working last evening. Probably due to a poor connectivity to the sea gods. It happens in the middle of the ocean.
We are now about 230 miles from our destination so we are still on track to arrive Tuesday morning. (Again, forever the optimist!). Today I spent sometime organizing all of our entry papers (e.g., the daily health logs — yes, we had to do twice daily temperature and symptom checks, the negative COVID test results, crew list, IMO health questionnaire, boat registration, etc.) so that we are ready to pass the health inspection when they board our vessel upon arrival and, following that, clear customs. We have already placed some tonic water in the fridge and now that the freezer is less full, filled up the ice cube trays, so that we have the makings for my killer G&Ts at the ready when we arrive on Tuesday. Regardless of when that maybe, as they say, it will be noon somewhere!
I know many of you are not only tracking us but also now following the entire Salty Dawg fleet. So most of you know that we are still out in the lead among the Salty Dawg rally participants. I am sure some valuable prize awaits us — perhaps even better than what we have offered for the Great Limerick Challenge.
That’s it for today!
Day 10: November 8
And then there was wind. Finally! The weather forecast continued to predict that that the wind would kick up and shift east but we have heard that forecast so many times — and it has been wrong as many times as we have heard it — that we really had a somewhat jaundiced response. In other words, there was lots of eye rolling. But low and behold, when I was on watch, the wind did start to both kick in and shift to the east. It flirted with me for most of my watch — picking up and shifting slightly to the east only to shift back. I can’t tell you how many times I almost put out our stay sail to give the motor an assist only to have the wind die down and move back on our nose. But toward the end of my watch, around 1:30 AM, the shifts to the east we larger than the shifts back so I decided to give the stay sail a try. Once I unfurled it (with a little pat on the back) we added almost a knot to our speed and by the time Eric joined me for the changing of the guards at 2 AM the wind was very steady and it looked like we may even be able to furl in the stay sail and get out that genoa — the big guns! That never did happen (just not the right wind speed or direction) — nor did we get to the point where we could turn off the engine — but after motoring at less than 6 knots for hours (and hours and hours), kicking up our speed to over 6 knots and even into the 7+ knot range at times was much celebrated. I hesitate to even type this, but we believe we are now at the point where our estimated fuel reserves are no longer just the product of a theoretical math equation (one we calculated multiple times), but we will, in reality, make it to Antigua with some diesel fuel to spare. Pretty incredible given that we practically motored all the way to Antigua! We are still on our second large tank (we exhausted most of the fuel out of the first large tank and ran our first smaller tank dry) and still have our second smaller tank completely full.
Still no takers on the Great Limerick Challenge though I know, from personal experience, that the creative process takes time. Most of you are not sitting on a boat from 10PM – 2 AM looking for something to do. Not to put pressure on you all but Zack and I did place bets on who we think will rise to the occasion. We will not reveal our thoughts because we don’t want to affect the outcome but, just saying, there’s good money riding on this. Of course, we did hear this morning that even if the Great Limerick Challenge is a bust there is at least one reader who has started making mandarin orange puppets. Zack is such a bad influence. And I wondered why our children always play with their food??? (Notice that I did not type that in past tense.) I apologize to their partners.
We are now about 90 miles off Antigua. We think we should arrive in English Harbour — where we need to have the health inspection and clear customs — just after dawn. That’s really perfect timing. Anchoring in the dark is not advisable. If we arrived before dawn the plan was to continue to motor around until light provided we had sufficient fuel left or, if not, anchor in another, larger, nearby harbor that would be a bit easier in the dark. Fortunately, it doesn’t look like we will need to invoke those contingency plans.
Finally, S/V Che Figata remains firmly in the lead! That pesky Hylas 46 who shall not be named is further back and poses no threat. It’s not over until it’s over but being crowned the champions of the 2021 Caribbean Salty Dawg Rally is in our grasp. Just imagine how you will beam with pride when you tell your families and friends about our accomplishment. 😂. And to think you knew us when. We will try to not let this go to our heads.
Looks like my next update (think positive!) will be sent after we pass the health inspection, clear customs and are safely and securely at the dock at Nelson’s Dockyard tomorrow.
Day 11: November 9 — We arrived!!!!!
Greetings from historic Nelson’s Dockyard on Antigua. With 200 years of Royal Navy Heritage, Nelson’s Dockyard and Marina is the only continuously working Georgian era dockyard in the world. We reached the island by about 6 AM and by 7:30 AM we were anchored in English Harbour, with our yellow quarantine flag up, awaiting instruction from the authorities. We had sent them an email to let them know that we had arrived and promptly, very shortly after 8 AM, the health officials approached our boat via dinghy, handed us some additional forms to complete and cleared us to meet with the health minister’s office and, following that, customs and immigration. So we hopped in the dinghy and headed to shore. The meeting with the office of the health minister was fast. They looked at our paper work, our vaccine cards, took our temperature and pointed to the customs and immigration office. Easy peasy!
Unfortunately, customs and immigration, not so much. Only one member of the crew was allowed to go the customs and immigration office so, since I was the one that had done all the paper work (and listed myself as the “master” of the vessel), I was elected as the Che Figata representative. As I approached the lovely woman at the customs window she asked me for my clearance papers. Cue the blank stare. I had no clearance papers because the Salty Dawg organization said they worked with Antigua to successfully secure a group exception for US flagged vessels. I tried to explain that to the clerk and she began to explain that there are no exceptions and instructed me on what I should have done. Of course, her instruction couldn’t make the clearance papers appear so she eventually called her supervisor. I suggested that she let her supervisor know that we are with the Salty Dawg group. I couldn’t hear what the supervisor said but she must have been aware of the negotiated exception because she asked the clerk to ask me for the list of vessels. At first I was confused but I quickly realized that the supervisor thought I was with the organization. I had to explain that I was not with the organization — we were just one of the rally participants — so I didn’t have a list of the fleet with me though I did offer to go back to our boat and download the participant list if needed. Once she understood that I was not in charge, she said that was not necessary and agreed to process our paper work. Phew. After 10 full days at sea, I would have simply said “shoot me” if they wanted us to go back and get clearance papers! After that, the rest was simple. A quick trip to immigration down the hall, then back to customs and then to the cashier and we were cleared to move about freely ion Antigua.
We quickly motored our dinghy back to Che Figata, picked up our anchor, and headed towards Nelson’s Dockyard where we are “med moored” along a long cement walkway. There are no slips — we just dropped an anchor off our bow and backed up to the walkway which, with the help of two great dock hands, we secured with a couple of lines. We exit Che Figata off the stern of our boat which requires a bit of a leap but nothing that requires gymnastic training. I will say that it was nice to be the first ones to dock — we would not have wanted to do this with boats on either side.
But now, what you have all been waiting for . . . did we, indeed, arrive first? Yes. We got a really nice wind assist late in the day yesterday. So much so that we let out the genny and were flying (still with a motor assist) at close to 8 knots early last night through late in the evening. Because we knew that we had an early arrival today, we switched around the watch schedule so that I would be on watch from 9 PM – Midnight, Eric would take the Midnight to 3 AM shift and Zack would take the 3 AM to 6 AM shift. That would allow all of us to have had about 6 hours of sleep by the morning when we would all need to be up pretty early. At any rate, while I was on the 9 PM to Midnight shift the wind began to die and our genny was starting to flap. I could hear Zack’s voice in my head expressing concern about the genny (I am afflicted!) so, when it was clear that the wind drop wasn’t momentary, I furled the genny and then unfurled the stay sail. (Can I point out that I did this all on my own??? Eventually, I will stop being so proud of myself but, for now, I am reveling in my ability to change our sail plan on my own, furling and unfurling different sails.) We did lose about a knot of speed with the sail change but it was best for the sails and, BTW, Zack and Eric agreed. They stuck with my plan for the rest of the night. (Not that I needed their assurances but still!). The point is, with the increased wind velocity and more favorable direction, letting out the genny really secured our lead. We don’t expect to see the next Salty Dawg sailboat for another few hours and the pesky Hylas 46 who shall not be named until late tonight or tomorrow. Kudos to us!!!
As you might imagine, we are all pretty exhausted. After sending out this note we will be heading to lunch and then we start the task of cleaning the boat. She is in much better shape than after our passage last year but certainly not up to my standards. Tired our not, getting Che Figata back into her usual state of cleanliness will feel good. While I clean below deck, Zack and Eric will be spraying off Che Figata to get rid of the worst of the salt that currently covers our boat and also securing fenders to both sides of the boat to get ready for the arrival of the other Salty Dawg boats. Tomorrow we are splurging and we hired someone to do a really good clean of Che Figata’s exterior. That will include polishing the hull and the stainless. A task we usually do ourselves but these islands have been hit hard by COVID and the people who supported themselves cleaning boats are hurting so we thought why not help the local economy while giving ourselves a bit of a break in the process.
I can’t think of a more appropriate closing than to repeat one of the limericks from earlier in the trip:
Che Figata joined the Salty Dawg rally
Chris Parker* said leave and don’t dally
The crew heeded his advice
And did not roll the dice
Add another Caribbean sail to the tally!
*Chris Parker is the professional weather router retained by the Salty Dawg organization.
