Friday, July 18, 2008
Day 13
The sun exists! It did, anyway, for a few hours this afternoon. We were so excited after four days of fog that we all got on deck, took pictures, and put up some more sail to get cooking towards Ireland. Sam and his prodigy Captain Patrick even got some sun sights. The fog has filled in again to our dismay but is thinner than before so we are holding out hope. In the fog, we logged two consecutive 200 mile days and now have only about 500 nautical miles left in our voyage – less than a Bermuda race! Even now, as the breeze has died down, we are still cruising at almost 8 knots. Stuart mused that Barra will reject her dock lines in Ireland and insist on continuing to sail, she loves it that much. The dolphins appear to be as curious about us as we are of them and consistently swim by to check us out, putting on a show of jumping or playing with their friends in the bow wave. The most spectacular at night, we follow their phosphorescent trails as they dart off and then weave back into the pod. The best show is witnessed when the dolphins coincide with our sailing through a school of fish- it looks like the paparazzi is underwater all around us with flashes of green. Even in the daylight, we can’t get enough of the sea life. Patrick and Sam have spotted a new species of bird which we have yet to identify. This morning Stu yelled down, “You have GOT to see this!†We all ran up on deck to see hundreds of dolphins and giant tuna thrashing up the water and jumping clear out of the waves into the air off the starboard bow.With a lack of other major events, the ship has turned into quite the library. The favorite book so far is David Sedaris’ “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denimâ€, read by half the crew. The salon/living room has become an increasingly social space and we really are turning into a family. Blogging has in fact become a daily highlight with input from all involved, (the Meet the Crew section was an especially social event). We are exploring the depths of our musical selection, from sea chanteys to bluegrass, and have been pleasantly surprised on all accounts. Any Irish-sounding jigs have marked popularity the nearer we draw to the land of the leprechauns. Recent culinary adventures (adding to Barra’s festive air) include apple bread, tortilla pizzas, scrambled egg breakfasts, meat balls, and teriyaki stir-fry. Tonight we are cooking the much anticipated Linda Lasagna, and the excitement is tangible in everyone’s faces. Temperatures continue to drop and strategic layering is required for night watch in the fog. We are on to our second tub of hot chocolate, and hope the supply will hold out because it is consumed more often than water. Last night the boys declared the first movie night and watched a Clint Eastwood western. Peaking down the companionway at the three of them nestled in front of the TV it would be easy to forget they were on a boat at all instead of a friend’s couch. On the docket for tonight, The Last Waltz. As we went down to just one freezer this afternoon, the DVD player has been deemed an appropriate use of the extra amp hours.Love to all at home, and pray for more sun! Thanks for reading and keep an eye on that horizon,The Barra Crew
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Day 10
Nothin’ Like a Good Wranglin’
As we write Barra is sliding down the swell at 13.4 kts. The quiver of sails has become more numerous. With a rolled up jib, staysail and three reefs in the main we are effortlessly moving towards Ireland. Rob and Stu are collaborating on a dinner of bangers and mash along with Wranglers coarse ground smoked beef franks, "best prepared pan fried, grilled, broiled, or microwaved." Luckily on this fine yacht we have all of these options available. Sam is courageously manning the cockpit where his Grunden’s Fisherman look is accented by his beard which has almost reached the length of his eyebrows. The sun is a rare occurrence here in the mid Atlantic, so much so that when Rob was on watch he would call down the hatch to alert Captain Patrick every time it peaked through the grey fog with an effort to get a sun sight. Unfortunately, in the rare 3 minutes of sun we could not see a distinct horizon and attempts were futile.
The morning started with DeLallah French toast, which in retrospect may have actually just been cinnamon toast with syrup. Who needs the French anyway? This afternoon, too grey and wet for on-deck gallivanting to hold any real appeal, we had a sewing circle of ditty bags, pockets, and reinforced lee cloths around the salon table, accompanied by some reading and leftover mac and cheese and chili for lunch. The hack saw even got some action with the first prototype of notched bowls that prevent silverware from taking flight as the boat rolls, patent pending. Watching waves crash over the deck is especially effective with the giant windows, and the mood is heightened when Sam sends out bird calls to the shearwaters. The humble Barra crew, clad uniformly in long johns, had a few breaks for excitement, including a huge sperm whale blowing its snot into the air less than two boat-lengths away, spotted by Sam.
Weather reports, besides being the most beautiful bit of imagery to grace the computer screen (we all may put in orders for posters), continue to improve and currently call for what we have coined the "Highway To Ireland". Rob took a break from his vivid read-alouds of The Odyssey to request that you do us a favor and knock on wood that this forecasting continues.
Be sure to track our progress on www.iboattrack.com, and thanks for reading! Hello and love to all of our family and friends at home.
The Barra Crew
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.
As we write Barra is sliding down the swell at 13.4 kts. The quiver of sails has become more numerous. With a rolled up jib, staysail and three reefs in the main we are effortlessly moving towards Ireland. Rob and Stu are collaborating on a dinner of bangers and mash along with Wranglers coarse ground smoked beef franks, "best prepared pan fried, grilled, broiled, or microwaved." Luckily on this fine yacht we have all of these options available. Sam is courageously manning the cockpit where his Grunden’s Fisherman look is accented by his beard which has almost reached the length of his eyebrows. The sun is a rare occurrence here in the mid Atlantic, so much so that when Rob was on watch he would call down the hatch to alert Captain Patrick every time it peaked through the grey fog with an effort to get a sun sight. Unfortunately, in the rare 3 minutes of sun we could not see a distinct horizon and attempts were futile.
The morning started with DeLallah French toast, which in retrospect may have actually just been cinnamon toast with syrup. Who needs the French anyway? This afternoon, too grey and wet for on-deck gallivanting to hold any real appeal, we had a sewing circle of ditty bags, pockets, and reinforced lee cloths around the salon table, accompanied by some reading and leftover mac and cheese and chili for lunch. The hack saw even got some action with the first prototype of notched bowls that prevent silverware from taking flight as the boat rolls, patent pending. Watching waves crash over the deck is especially effective with the giant windows, and the mood is heightened when Sam sends out bird calls to the shearwaters. The humble Barra crew, clad uniformly in long johns, had a few breaks for excitement, including a huge sperm whale blowing its snot into the air less than two boat-lengths away, spotted by Sam.
Weather reports, besides being the most beautiful bit of imagery to grace the computer screen (we all may put in orders for posters), continue to improve and currently call for what we have coined the "Highway To Ireland". Rob took a break from his vivid read-alouds of The Odyssey to request that you do us a favor and knock on wood that this forecasting continues.
Be sure to track our progress on www.iboattrack.com, and thanks for reading! Hello and love to all of our family and friends at home.
The Barra Crew
This e-mail was delivered via satellite phone using GMN's XGate software.
Please be kind and keep your replies short.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Seamounts, Swordfish, and Spinnakers
Today July 12, is day 9 of our voyage from Bermuda to Ireland. This afternoon we crossed the half-way mark, currently 1364 nautical miles from when we left St. George's Harbor. So far, we couldn't have asked for better weather, with mostly sun and a few scattered showers. We've had 2 or 3 cloudy days so far which have given us a chance to cool down and stop madly lathering on sunscreen to avoid getting burned. The wind hasn't always been in our favor and we have done a little bit of motoring but nothing to get upset about, we have yet to use up the first half of our fuel. The watermaker is running swimmingly, and today brought the second round of showering (now if only we could figure out how to moderate the temperature down from scalding, we'd running a regular Holiday Inn out here in the Atlantic). We have left the tropical land of warm evenings and have entered a world of long johns and foul weather gear on night watch.
Yesterday we sailed over the Newfoundland Seamounts, which brought a whole variety of sea life our way, as well as some fishing boats which appeared out of the grey misty morning. At the 0800 watch change a call came through on the VHF from the fishing boat off our port beam, "Buenas Dias" the voice said. We got on the horn and said hello (El and Patrick piecing together the necessary Spanish to chat with the ship). They were from Spain and were catching Tiburon (shark), and swordfish. They gave us an update on a high pressure system to look out for, and before saying goodbye offered us some fish “para comer, para comer†– to eat. We debated and voted. Eventually (at Sam's urging) we decided to err on the side of safety and politely decline, lest they turn out to be pirates instead of the friendly fishermen they sounded like. (Note, we didn't really think they were pirates, and don't consider pirates to be a high risk on this passage.) Other excitements of the day included sperm whales (spotted by Pat) and a huge pod of dolphins. While Patrick was calibrated the compass he inadvertently awoke a sleeping sperm whale. He woke up Stuart thinking it was a worthwhile sight, but after looking out the “living room†windows Stu decided to crawl back into his cave and sleep. It was decided over dinner (turkey, peas, and rice) that the next interior decorating move could include the addition of a chandelier to the living room, per Sam's request. We have tentatively switched to a one-man watch schedule which is essentially the same as our previous two-man system except that if you are on watch and feel comfortable in your control of the boat and the safety of the situation, you can choose to let your watch mate sleep for 2 more hours. This is great because it allows for 8 hours of sleep between watches and has stepped up the personal responsibility and caution of all crewmembers.
Watch last night was the type of glorious you read about in sappy sailing novels. The sky was grey and it was misting but the seas were calm, the breeze was steady at 12 to 15 knots, and there were intermittent patches of incredible stars. We sailed with a never-ending pod of dolphins jumping and playing around the boat, visible only by the phosphorescence around their bodies and in their trails. They looked like underwater torpedoes of green light crisscrossing off our bow.
A becalmed drizzle this morning led to our first use of the DVD player, one episode of the BBC's Planet Earth over your choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate and fresh banana bread baked by Stu. This afternoon the wind has been up and down, and in an attempt to harness the breeze available we spent a full two hours rolling up the jib, dropping the main, setting the chute, setting the main, reefing the main, rolling out the jib, setting the spinnaker staysail, rolling up the jib, dropping the chute, dropping the spinnaker staysail, rolling out the jib, and finally breaking for lunch before poling out the jib on a wing. We have not fully succeeded in stabilizing the boat in our current seas but a little George Winston calmed everyone down and we're going to try out this setup for a few hours and see how it goes. The good news is the sail changes provided some excitement and exercise which was much needed given the amount of delicious food we have been eating. Linda's perfectly planned menu has treated us incredibly well. The only food given to the fish so far has been the unfrozen bread and lettuce.
Hello to everyone at home and thank you for reading!
Fair winds and following seas,
The Barra Crew
(This update has been brought to you by El)
Yesterday we sailed over the Newfoundland Seamounts, which brought a whole variety of sea life our way, as well as some fishing boats which appeared out of the grey misty morning. At the 0800 watch change a call came through on the VHF from the fishing boat off our port beam, "Buenas Dias" the voice said. We got on the horn and said hello (El and Patrick piecing together the necessary Spanish to chat with the ship). They were from Spain and were catching Tiburon (shark), and swordfish. They gave us an update on a high pressure system to look out for, and before saying goodbye offered us some fish “para comer, para comer†– to eat. We debated and voted. Eventually (at Sam's urging) we decided to err on the side of safety and politely decline, lest they turn out to be pirates instead of the friendly fishermen they sounded like. (Note, we didn't really think they were pirates, and don't consider pirates to be a high risk on this passage.) Other excitements of the day included sperm whales (spotted by Pat) and a huge pod of dolphins. While Patrick was calibrated the compass he inadvertently awoke a sleeping sperm whale. He woke up Stuart thinking it was a worthwhile sight, but after looking out the “living room†windows Stu decided to crawl back into his cave and sleep. It was decided over dinner (turkey, peas, and rice) that the next interior decorating move could include the addition of a chandelier to the living room, per Sam's request. We have tentatively switched to a one-man watch schedule which is essentially the same as our previous two-man system except that if you are on watch and feel comfortable in your control of the boat and the safety of the situation, you can choose to let your watch mate sleep for 2 more hours. This is great because it allows for 8 hours of sleep between watches and has stepped up the personal responsibility and caution of all crewmembers.
Watch last night was the type of glorious you read about in sappy sailing novels. The sky was grey and it was misting but the seas were calm, the breeze was steady at 12 to 15 knots, and there were intermittent patches of incredible stars. We sailed with a never-ending pod of dolphins jumping and playing around the boat, visible only by the phosphorescence around their bodies and in their trails. They looked like underwater torpedoes of green light crisscrossing off our bow.
A becalmed drizzle this morning led to our first use of the DVD player, one episode of the BBC's Planet Earth over your choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate and fresh banana bread baked by Stu. This afternoon the wind has been up and down, and in an attempt to harness the breeze available we spent a full two hours rolling up the jib, dropping the main, setting the chute, setting the main, reefing the main, rolling out the jib, setting the spinnaker staysail, rolling up the jib, dropping the chute, dropping the spinnaker staysail, rolling out the jib, and finally breaking for lunch before poling out the jib on a wing. We have not fully succeeded in stabilizing the boat in our current seas but a little George Winston calmed everyone down and we're going to try out this setup for a few hours and see how it goes. The good news is the sail changes provided some excitement and exercise which was much needed given the amount of delicious food we have been eating. Linda's perfectly planned menu has treated us incredibly well. The only food given to the fish so far has been the unfrozen bread and lettuce.
Hello to everyone at home and thank you for reading!
Fair winds and following seas,
The Barra Crew
(This update has been brought to you by El)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Day 6 on the Atlantic
Ahoy Barra Trackers!
I'm typing to the sound of water gurgling and swooshing by Barra's gleaming new hull! After a bit of motoring to get out of the Bermuda High, We've now been enjoying fair winds for the last 4 days. If you put this boat in first gear and take your foot off of the gas, she goes 6 Knots! We've pretty much been sailing with a double reefed main, and the jib rolled up to suit the 5-10 knot changes in wind speed that have been characteristic of the last few days. Two days ago we shook out the second reef and logged a 200 mile day sailing before a 15-18 knot breeze. The weather was spectacular, and Barra was filled with merry chatter among the crew. As Captain of the vessel I declared a "Crew Hygiene Day" and everybody showered in the cockpit in turn. Lately we've encountered a weak low pressure system that sprung up to our northeast and has tracked in front of us and is now slowly dissipating to our southeast. It has brought a wide variety of mild weather in a matter of just two days: clear skies with towering cumulonimbus clouds, a dramatic approaching cold front with thunder showers, grey skies and drizzle, low and patchy stratus clouds with sun peaking through, and now fog! Drastic decreases in water temperature have changed the climate from balmy to chilly almost instantaneously, and the swirling eddies have been a frequent topic of discussion.
Funny happenings: Rob being shut in the forepeak locker while Stuart threw buckets of water on the hatch to see if it was leaking; Sam straddling the boom to attach the main Halyard and saying "Ride em' cowboy!"; El befriending an injured Petrol that found its way on to the boat in the middle of the night, and a shark eating our first fish as Stuart was hauling it into the boat!
-Pat
I'm typing to the sound of water gurgling and swooshing by Barra's gleaming new hull! After a bit of motoring to get out of the Bermuda High, We've now been enjoying fair winds for the last 4 days. If you put this boat in first gear and take your foot off of the gas, she goes 6 Knots! We've pretty much been sailing with a double reefed main, and the jib rolled up to suit the 5-10 knot changes in wind speed that have been characteristic of the last few days. Two days ago we shook out the second reef and logged a 200 mile day sailing before a 15-18 knot breeze. The weather was spectacular, and Barra was filled with merry chatter among the crew. As Captain of the vessel I declared a "Crew Hygiene Day" and everybody showered in the cockpit in turn. Lately we've encountered a weak low pressure system that sprung up to our northeast and has tracked in front of us and is now slowly dissipating to our southeast. It has brought a wide variety of mild weather in a matter of just two days: clear skies with towering cumulonimbus clouds, a dramatic approaching cold front with thunder showers, grey skies and drizzle, low and patchy stratus clouds with sun peaking through, and now fog! Drastic decreases in water temperature have changed the climate from balmy to chilly almost instantaneously, and the swirling eddies have been a frequent topic of discussion.
Funny happenings: Rob being shut in the forepeak locker while Stuart threw buckets of water on the hatch to see if it was leaking; Sam straddling the boom to attach the main Halyard and saying "Ride em' cowboy!"; El befriending an injured Petrol that found its way on to the boat in the middle of the night, and a shark eating our first fish as Stuart was hauling it into the boat!
-Pat
Sunday, July 6, 2008
350 miles out of Bermuda
Blasting along!
We sailed very little yesterday with low winds (when sailing we had 4-5 knots of boat speed), motored through the night, and started sailing wing-on-wing this morning. We just barelly crossed in front of a squall line (jib rolled up and main single reefed) with winds sustained just down wind of the squall line around 25-30 knots. We have just now in the process of rolling out the jib as true winds have come down to 15 knots on average.
Our present course over ground is on average 70 degrees magnetic. Boat speed is around 7.4 knots and our speed over the ground is around 6.9 knots. True wind speed is currently reading 16.4 with a true angle of around 150.
Our present position is 36 degrees 18.9 N and 59 degrees 47.3 W.Just before we skirted the squall it was pretty amazing sailing this boat on auto pilot in 17 knots of breeze. The boat was pushing 10 knots coming down waves while Stu and I sat there reading our books! Amazing!
We sailed very little yesterday with low winds (when sailing we had 4-5 knots of boat speed), motored through the night, and started sailing wing-on-wing this morning. We just barelly crossed in front of a squall line (jib rolled up and main single reefed) with winds sustained just down wind of the squall line around 25-30 knots. We have just now in the process of rolling out the jib as true winds have come down to 15 knots on average.
Our present course over ground is on average 70 degrees magnetic. Boat speed is around 7.4 knots and our speed over the ground is around 6.9 knots. True wind speed is currently reading 16.4 with a true angle of around 150.
Our present position is 36 degrees 18.9 N and 59 degrees 47.3 W.Just before we skirted the squall it was pretty amazing sailing this boat on auto pilot in 17 knots of breeze. The boat was pushing 10 knots coming down waves while Stu and I sat there reading our books! Amazing!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Bermuda Departure
Sorry to be so long but we did arrive in Bermuda and actually have cleared through customs to leave for Ireland. Finally I have some time to write on the blog. We have had a wonderful stay in Bermuda including some great parties and lots of hard work to get the boat ready for the crossing. After many days working out of the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, we moved over to Dock Side where we were hauled out and able to put a fresh coat of paint on Barra's bottom before heading across. We have loaded her with food and feel she is ready for the trip. Wish us fair winds and good luck. Track us on: http://charthorizon.com/m/cz/map?vessels=Barra&history=Bermuda_-_Ireland&v_scope=recent This will give you and up-to-date position on where we are.
Thanks for following us.... The crew of Barra
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