Day 1

We spent the morning getting ready to go and pulled out around 11:45. We decided to run with dual stabilization, so we left the paravanes out when we took off. We like the idea of the smoothest ride possible.

Initially, we were in the lee of Dominica and seas were calm and pleasant. Even after leaving the lee, the ride was nice. At 1730, the seas started to pick up some, but only enough to move us from the “nice” to the “fairly good” category. It was a dark night with no moon.

Pretty much the entire ride the wind was 8 14 apparent on the aft (directly behind us), which means the usual problems with the hot air from the engine room getting blown into the downstairs cabins. It is definitely stuffy and stinky down there. Since it is calm, we have the hatches and portholes open, which helps a lot.

Day 2

Conditions were status quo until the early afternoon, when the wind picked up to 11 20 apparent. The seas followed suit and it was definitely much rockier. Had we not had dual stabilization in place, it would have probably been uncomfortable, but since we did have both, we only got to “not fun”. In good news, though, we are flying. We are averaging 6.5 knots at 1750 RPM, which is excellent speed considering the stabilizers are out (the stabilizers cost us .5 knots in speed on average).

Today has been really hot. The kind of hot where you sweat buckets just sitting still. Of course, when the seas picked up, we closed things up downstairs, so it is even hotter down there. At one point we had a short rainstorm and we had to close everything upstairs, as well. That was painful. Thank goodness it was brief! Here is a shot of the rainbow after the squall:

It was another dark night with no moon. It was overcast, so we also didn’t see any stars.

Day 3

Between midnight at 0600, a few squall rolled through that made the seas pick up some more. The squalls didn’t last long, but the seas didn’t flatten out after they passed, so it was definitely much rockier by dawn. We were getting constant 5 10 degree rolls. It doesn’t sound like much motion, but remember that is a 20 degree swing from side to side, and when it never, ever stops in the middle even for a second, the motion gets old.
But, thanks to dual stabilization, the ride is tolerable. Not only does it limit the roll (without it we’d have more severe degrees of rolling), it dampens the sharpness of the motion.

Throughout the night, we rescued 10 suicidal flying fish. This morning we were surprised to find 25 dead flying fish in the cockpit, 2 on the bow, 12 on the upper deck, and two in the shower! We have never had so many hit us before. What is going on?

Around 1330, we broke down and turned on the air conditioning. When it is hot and stuffy and rolly, we lose our appetite, have no energy, can’t sleep very well and in general feel miserable. We were feeling like total zombies. Within a few minutes of having dry, cool, fresh smelling air, we were magically cured. We were hungry, made food, perked up, had more energy, the zombie feeling was gone, and we were in good moods. It is amazing how that works. By mid-afternoon, the seas had improved a little.

We are excited to report that we saw a green flash at sunset. Those are rare! At sunset, we turned off the generator and opened everything up. The moon was just the slightest of slivers and it set shortly after dark, so it was yet another pitch black night. But, it is clear and the stars are vibrant. It is 2300 as I write this and it is unbearably hot in here, especially downstairs. The smell is back and it is hard to sleep. We are both quickly regressing to zombies.

And, onto a blog question:

Q: What spares would you recommend and what kind of a spares budget you would suggest for a similar boat?

A: While this is not an exhaustive list, here are some specifics on parts: There are many pumps aboard boats, have a replacements for as many as you can. Have replacement hoses for engines, plumbing, and steering. Have a supply of raw materials and the tools to work with them. This includes wood, rubber, resin, glues, and metal. Get a sheet of exhaust gasket material, as well as pre-cut gaskets. Get the little rubber fasteners that attach the smoke stack to the mast. Get some extra rubber washer/gaskets for the sea strainers, and spare rubber o-rings. Have extra bulbs and fuses (including the breaker switches).

Important tools: Phillips head screwdrivers (have several). There are some specialty tools, such as a shaft packing extractor, and bicycle pump (steering and fresh water accumulator tank), and small hand oil pump for changing oil on the watermaker. We found small vice grip clamps were the only easy way to adjust the wing shaft packing bolts as wrenches did not fit right in the limited space. Have tight fitting surgical type rubber gloves when dealing with oil, diesel, Lanacote, shaft packing grease, etc.

Also while not quite a boat part, have spare cameras. We have killed 5 cameras now.

Get all your spare parts before you leave. It is easiest and least expensive to obtain and load the parts on the boat before you leave. The only exception would be main engine oil, and even then it can be difficult to find 5 gallon buckets of high grade oil. It is easy to spend $3-5k on spare parts and tools.