7 sailing days

Due to the lack of a high speed internet connections needed for big slideshow uploads here you find a makeshift without many pictures. With our time share we are strictly aiming at 10% sailing and 90% country and people discovery but strangely most questions of friends are about the sailing life. So please find below a kind of diary of a typical trip lasting several days. This log book extract for a 5 days trip is meant to let you know how our board live is alike when we are offshore for several days. We do not want to bore you with ever repeating sail constellations, position and course details etc. as in so many deadly boring books and have omitted the really navigational details.

DAY LOG So./Mo., 20./21. Apr. 2009:
1100 UTC: Tears and horn noise at our departure in San Sebastián, La Gomera.
1415 UTC: Finally reached trade wind zone, NE 5 Bft, after ugly turbulences in Gomera´s wind shadow.
1700 UTC: Calm and chaotic swell, typical LORBAS weather
1700 UTC: Surveillance airplane following us 20 nm south of Teneriffe.
1900 UTC: Trades are back. Thomas on night watch.
2200 UTC: Calm again, drifting w/o sails, awful rolling.
2230 UTC: Decision not to stopover at El Hierro, the only Canary island we have not visited now.
2300 UTC: Trades back, constantly 4-5 Bft, no gusts. Claudia on night watch.
0000 UTC: 5 kn only with genoa in 1st reef
0003 UTC: Thomas on dog watch, milky way clearly visible with details, wow!
0007 UTC: Claudia on wtach
1100 UTC: Thomas on watch, full genoa, 5.8 - 6.4 kn, started fishing
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BOARD LIVE AND NAVIGATION, So./Mo., 20./21. Apr. 2009:
Not one single ship seen at night. Only the ferry from El Hierro to Teneriffe far behind us. Only one VHF call. Quiet since. Too short night for Thomas before departure. So slightly seasick at 1st hours, but bearable and under control. Claudia more seasick because we were a too long time in Gomera and are not used to downwind rolling anymore. Every now and then some dolphins hunting around LORBAS leaving fluorescend traces behind at night. Terrific trade wind sailing since this morning. We believe the calms yesterday were trade wind distortions of the high Canary islands. Hopefully this continues because today is the first day of the transatlantic crossing (with Cabo Verde stopover). The more south we come, the less wind force is expected. So ETA should be taken with allowance.
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OBSERVATIONS:
- NAVTEX working fine again. Concerns about malfunction in San Sebastián only due to noise and cliff coverage.
- New wind generator brings more than we need at 5 Bft, even downwind, noise bearable, pleasing noise spektrum. Fridge can run 100 %. Batteries full and shunts are burning surplus energy.
- New windvane arrangement works great. Finally we can sleep in a free cockpit without the steering line hassle.
- New LED navi lights are no drain and we do not have any energy concerns anymore.
- Canary current seems to help in low wind times.
- Not many birds this far out
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LOG DATA, Mo., 21. Apr. 1200 UTC:
- ETA: 24. Apr. 2100 UTC (estimated time of arrival under current conditions)
- LAT/LON: 26.28 N / 17.49 W (position coordinates)
- SOG: 5,8 - 6.2 kn (speed over ground)
- COG: 200 (course over ground)
- Trip LOG: 105 nm - 195 km (distance made good since last departure)
- Day LOG: 105 nm - 195 km (24 h distance made good, usually 1200 UTC - 1200 UTC)
- Total LOG: 3650 nm - 6760 km (distance made since leaving Germany)
- DTG: 650 nm - 1200 km (distance to go to destination)
- TTG: 4d 8h (TTG time to go to destination)
- WIND: 5 Bft NE, terrific NE trade winds
- WAVES: 3 m long, smooth and regular, white breaking tips everywhere
- VISIBILITY: Very good
- SKY: Clear blue, Thomas burnt his flush deck
- MOON RISE: 0339 UTC, thin line only, new moon soon
- SUN RISE: 0643 UTC
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BOARD LIVE AND NAVIGATION, So./Mo., 21./22. Apr. 2009:
Winds strengthened, a bit too strong to be comfortable. Rough seas make it difficult for Claudia to recover.
Found intervall timer. Now we can not forget the round view anymore. We seem to be very unfit as we suffer both from the downwind rolling. Hopefully we can do more sports on Cabo Verde. Claudia did a great job before departure in stocking up and preventing everything from slamming around. So we can sleep quite calm, if at all.
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OBSERVATIONS Mo./Tu., 21./22. Apr. 2009:
- Some big seagulls (?) showing their artistics above high waves.
- Nights still wet from condensation, no indication of southern latitudes
- Only 1 bigship tonight. 20 minutes round view intervall proven as maximum. To be shortened with worse sight conditions.
- Around 5 VHF calls recognised during night and day, but ships behind horizon.
- No success in fishing yet
- Seasickness gone. We both are quite fit again. Much sleep has helped a lot.
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DAY LOG Mo./Tu., 21./22. Apr. 2009:
1100 UTC: Claudia still seasick, 1 x Vomex
1500 UTC: 1st warm meal on this trip
1630 uTC: Genoa Reef 1, 5.5 kn, COG 205
1700 UTC: 6 Bft., steeper waves, can almost keep direct course
1900 UTC: Claudia on night watch
2200 UTC: Thomas on night watch, but too tired from day watch
2300 UTC: Claudia on night watch
0200 UTC: Thomas on nigth watch, extremely tired after 1 x Vomex, Why are we doing this?
0215 UTC: 1/4 of the distance behind us, time does not fly
0230 UTC: Visibility moderate
0430 UTC: 30 nm XTE (deviation from direct course to portside), tomorrow morning we need to tack a leg to starboard
0445 UTC. Northbound bigship passing on portside. CPA 3.7 nm on radar.
0500 UTC: Claudia on last night watch
1100 UTC: Wind 6 Bft., 4 - 5 m, great sailing, but still rough
1115 UTC: Starboard (downwind) tack leg because we go too close to african coast.
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LOG DATA, Tu., 21. Apr. 2009, 1200 UTC:
- ETA: 25. Apr. 0200 UTC (estimated time of arrival under current conditions)
- LAT/LON: 24.30 N / 18.23 W (position coordinates)
- SOG: 6.2 - 6.8 kn (speed over ground), 7.8 kn peak in waves
- COG: 230 (course over ground)
- Trip LOG: 225 nm - 420 km (distance sailed since last departure)
- Day LOG: 125 nm - 230 km (24 h distance sailed, usually 1200 UTC - 1200 UTC)
- Total LOG: 3775 nm - 6990 km (distance sailed since leaving Germany)
- DTG: 650 nm - 1200 km (distance to go to destination)
- TTG: 3d 15h (TTG time to go to destination for current SOG)
- WIND: 5 - 6 Bft NNE, sometimes 6, terrific NE trade winds
- WAVES: 4 - 5 m, increasing, long, smooth and regular
- VISIBILITY: Very good
- SKY: Clear, few clouds sometimes
- WATER TEMP: 19 DEGC
- AIR TEMP: 20 DEGC
- MOON RISE: 0411 UTC, thin line only, new moon tomorrow
- SUN RISE: 0644 UTC
- SUN SET: 1937 UTC
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BOARD LIVE AND NAVIGATION, So./Mo., 21./22. Apr. 2009:
Difficult job of peeling potatoes and carots for lunch in high swell. They jumped all over the place. Heavy life raft takes cockpit foot space during night. Need to think of better fixture on deck. Probably waves splashing on deck made fixture kine wet and tgherefore a bit elongated. Thomas can survive night blues only with his iPod. Still perfect trade winds, Wind direction exactly on Cabo Verde. Continuing downwind tacking 25 degrees each side.
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OBSERVATIONS Mo./Tu., 21./22. Apr. 2009:
1300 UTC: Drifter buoy seen 30 m away. Silver cylinder with round top and antenna. Looked like it could hurt a plastic boat.
2220 UTC: Whisteling in VHF, but nobody seen. No echoes in 16 nm radar circle.
2330 UTC: Very fast fluorescend traces around boat. Are there others than dolphins doing such things?
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DAY LOG Mo./Tu., 21./22. Apr. 2009:
1400 uTC: Genoa Reef 1, 5.5 kn, COG 235
1930 UTC: Night watch Thomas
2030 UTC: Wind decreasing to 4, waves still 3 - 4 m but less steep, sky 80 % covered, this will be a dark night because of new moon.
2100 UTC: 1/3 of total distance made now.
2215 UTC: Life Raft is sliding over deck. Rail net prevents it from falling over board. Taken into cockpit to fix it again during daylight.
2230 UTC: Crossing original route Gomera to Sal while tacking to starboard. Portside tack leg tommorow after 50 nm (XTE 30 nm).
0030 UTC: Night watch Claudia
0300 UTC: Dog watch Thomas
0515 UTC: Fast fluorescent traces around boat
0600 UTC: XTE 17.5 nm, tack to portside in 5 h
1050 UTC: 2 Bigships arranging their passing via VHF, so there must be a route aound 20 nm away
1115 UTC: XTE 35 nm, going on portside tacking leg, COG 190
1120 UTC: Passing Montana Submarina del Tropico (only 1000 depth instead of 4000), nothing tropical seen yet
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LOG DATA, Tu., 21. Apr. 2009, 1200 UTC:
- ETA: 26. Apr. 0800 UTC (estimated time of arrival under current conditions)
- LAT/LON: 23.25 N / 20.25 W (position coordinates)
- SOG: 4.5 = 8.5 km/h (speed over ground)
- COG: 195 (course over ground)
- Trip LOG: 353 nm = 655 km (distance sailed since last departure)
- Day LOG: 128 nm = 237 km (24 h distance sailed, usually 1200 UTC - 1200 UTC)
- Total LOG: 3903 nm = 7230 km (distance sailed since leaving Germany)
- DTG: 430 nm = 800 km (distance to go to destination)
- TTG: 3d 20h (TTG time to go to destination for current SOG)
- WIND: 3 Bft NNE, trade winds weaker
- WAVES: 1.5 - 2 m, pleasant
- VISIBILITY: moderate
- SKY: 95 % cloud coverage
- WATER TEMP: 20 DEGC
- AIR TEMP: 21 DEGC
- MOON RISE: 0451 UTC, new moon today, pitch black night.
- SUN RISE: 0652 UTC
- SUN SET: 1943 UTC
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BOARD LIVE AND NAVIGATION, We./Th., 22./23. Apr. 2009:
- Life raft attached to fixture again. We do not eat so much, different to what we expected. Still perfect trade winds, Wind direction exactly on Cabo Verde. Continuing downwind tacking 25 degrees each side. ITCZ seems to move north at eastern end (african coast). Potential impact on our tactics from Cabo Verde to Brazil. i. e. more western course before equator crossing to prevent reaching calms too early. First time we could read w/o seasickness, what a difference! Longer night watches possible now. Thomas under deck reading at night with round view every 15 minutes. 1/2 of the distance made good today. We opened a Piccolo! ETA later because of less wind for the next days

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OBSERVATIONS, We./Th., 22./23. Apr. 2009:
- Some VHF calls heard but nobody seen, mostly chinese bigships (fishers?)
- No success in fishing yet
- We have a shy visitor hitchhiking. Will it survive?
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DAY LOG, We./Th., 22./23. Apr. 2009:
1400 uTC: Genoa 100%
1530 UTC: High swell again, but very smooth, wind ripple small
1545 UTC: 1st NAVTEX message received from Cabo Verde (identificator “U”), fishing boat adrift since 20. April, i.e. 2 days, last position between Fogo and Brava
1600 UTC: We can hold direct course now w/o downwind tacking
1900 UTC: Only 4 kn with 100 % genoa, max. 3 Bft., clouds 90 %, Claudia on 1st night watch.
2100 UTC: Thomas on night watch.
2300 UTC: Only 3.5 kn anymore
0200 UTC: Claudia on night watch until 0700
0800 UTC: Only 3 Bft. as expected from grib files, meaning less than 4 kn average only.
0830 UTC: Sea smooth. 1.5 m waves only.
1100 UTC: Young grey dove is hitchhiking. Sits on rail under boom first, then next to roll furl near genoa. It has good luck with our solid rail.
1130 UTC: Swell is only 1 - 2 m anymore due to decreasing wind since hours. Great if wind comes up for a while.
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LOG DATA, Th., 23. Apr. 2009, 1200 UTC:
- ETA: 27. Apr. 1100 UTC (estimated time of arrival under current conditions)
- LAT/LON: 21.44 N / 20.45 W (position coordinates)
- SOG: 3.5 = 6 km/h (speed over ground)
- COG: 195 (course over ground)
- Trip LOG: 458 nm = 850 km (distance sailed since last departure)
- Day LOG: 105 nm = 195 km (24 h distance sailed, usually 1200 UTC - 1200 UTC)
- Total LOG: 4008 nm = 7420 km (distance sailed since leaving Germany)
- DTG: 322 nm = 800 km (distance to go to destination)
- TTG: 3d 6h (time to go to destination for current SOG)
- WIND: 3 Bft NNE, trade winds weaker
- WAVES: 1.5 m, pleasant
- VISIBILITY: moderate
- SKY: 90 % cloud coverage
- WATER TEMP: 20 DEGC
- AIR TEMP: 20 DEGC
- MOON RISE: 0529 UTC, new moon today, pitch black night.
- SUN RISE: 0656 UTC
- SUN SET: 1945 UTC
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BOARD LIVE AND NAVIGATION, We./Th., 23./24. Apr. 2009:
- Appetite back. Now cooking every day. Our hitchhiking dove is very shy. Does not want to be approached. Flying circles around LORBAS when we attempt to take pictures, but comes back to rest again. Closest approach to Africa mainland today. Peninsula de Cap Blanc, Mauretania is 400 km away. Bad luck for dove, next land is 400 km away. We try to feed with roll crumbs. Doesn´t it need drinking water? Trade winds decreasing to 2 Bft., Wind direction still exactly on Cabo Verde. Continuing downwind tacking 25 degrees each side. Day 5 now offshore and we have a bit more than 50% of the way, unfortunately the wind does exactly as forecasted, be low as 2 - 3 Bft :-(  If the wind continues to stay calm around only 2 - 3 Bft we will need another 10 days to Cabo Verde. 1100 UTC: XTE 27 nm, we continue starboard tack until portside tack is last leg to destination, probably tomorrow at same time. There is more wind forecasted closer to african coast. We just see the better result of our navigation now.
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OBSERVATIONS, Th./Fr., 23./24. Apr. 2009:
- Many VHF calls at night, mostly russian and chinese
- Radio discipline lacking, even music on CH 16
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DAY LOG, Th./Fr., 23./24. Apr. 2009:
1600 UTC: Dove still on taxi ride
1800 UTC: Deutsche Welle on shortwave
1900 UTC: Thomas on night watch
2040 UTC: Crossing original direct route and are tacking to portside now.
2215 UTC: Claudia hears dove´s footsteps on deck
0000 UTC: Flat sea, 3 Bft. SOG 4.5 kn, COG 180, pleasant sailing with 100 % genoa
0030 UTC: Finished Fritz W. Up de Graff - “Head Hunters of the Amazon - Seven Years of Exploration and Adventure” from 1923 - Recommended? No. Although Travel Literature Classic.
0100 uTC: Claudia on night watch, 21°02.58 N, 20°52.23 W
0400 UTC: Thomas on night watch
0700 UTC: Dove is gone. If it is clever it will take a northbound bigship. Is faster and has more probably it´s direction. We do not see them but there is much chat on VHF.
1100 UTC: Wind is back. 3 - 4 Bft is enough to give us 5 kn, COG 195
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LOG DATA, Th., 24. Apr. 2009, 1200 UTC:
- ETA: 26. Apr. 0800 UTC (estimated time of arrival under current conditions)
- LAT/LON: 20°.15.17 N / 20°.53.24 W (position coordinates)
- SOG: 5.2 = 9.6 km/h (speed over ground)
- COG: 195 (course over ground)
- Total LOG: 4100 nm = 7590 km (distance sailed since leaving Germany)
- Day LOG: 92 nm = 170 km (24 h distance sailed, usually 1200 UTC - 1200 UTC)
- Trip LOG: 550 nm = 1020 km (distance sailed since last departure)
- DTG: 232 nm = 430 km (distance to go to destination, bee-line)
- TTG: 1d 20h (time to go to destination for current SOG, bee-line)
- WIND: 3 - 4 Bft NNE,
- WAVES: 2 m, boat hitting period 7 sec, smooth and pleasant
- VISIBILITY: moderate
- SKY: 100 % cloud coverage, not bad to avoid some sun
- WATER TEMP: 20 DEGC
- AIR TEMP: 21 DEGC
- MOON RISE: 0610 UTC
- MOON SET: 1922 UTC
- SUN RISE: 0658 UTC
- SUN SET: 1944 UTC
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BOARD LIVE AND NAVIGATION, We./Th., 23./24. Apr. 2009:
We are very much looking forward to several Capverdian islands, but will need a day of much sleep first. The many ships on VHF give some feeling of safety in case of a problem. Great trade wind sailing! The best trip of our whole journey yet. Whatever happens now, this can not be topped anymore yet. We are back to east on starbord side since 0800 UTC. Can hardly wait to arrive. Every calming down is frustrating. If everything stays as it is, we will arrive tomorrow evening. Another frustration because we would have to slow down then if we do not want to arrive in the dark.
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OBSERVATIONS, Fr./Sa., 24./25. Apr. 2009:
- Many VHF calls at night
- Not one single ship seen yet since the one several days ago.
- 1st time we see dolphins producing an underwater flash light symphony! Up to 3 m wide extremely bright areas. Is it when they catch a fish?
- VHF discipline is uncredibly bad. Music, “Motherfu…”, “Son of a b…”, and more obscene things between bigship radios.
- Claudia is excited about swarms of flying fishes
- Temperatures remarkably higher now. NE trades coming from west africa now.
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DAY LOG, Fr./Sa., 24./25. Apr. 2009:
2030 UTC: Weather forecast in spanish on VHF CH 22 from Canaries. What a distance!
1900 UTC: Night wtach Thomas
2300 UTC: Dolphins hunting around LORBAS, one is jumping high.
0100 UTC: Night watch Claudia
0200 UTC: 5 kn, steep short wind waves. TTG < 2 days now, if wind continues.
0500 UTC: Night watch Thomas until 0800 UTC
0930 UTC: Claudia sees first flying fishes
1100 UTC: 4.5 kn, 140 nm to go, ETA tomorrow 2200 UTC
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LOG DATA, Sa., 25. Apr. 2009, 1200 UTC:
- ETA: 26. Apr. 2100 UTC (estimated time of arrival under current conditions)
- LAT/LON: 18°43.83N / 21°28.84 W (position coordinates)
- SOG: 5 kn = 9.5 km/h (speed over ground)
- BRG: 217° (bearing, bee-line course)
- COG: 235° (course over ground)
- Trip LOG: 655 nm = 1215 km (distance sailed since last departure)
- Day LOG: 105 nm = 195 km (24 h distance sailed, usually 1200 UTC - 1200 UTC)
- Total LOG: 4205 nm = 7790 km (distance sailed since leaving Germany)
- DTG: 145 nm = 270 km (distance to go to destination)
- TTG: 1d 9h (time to go to destination for current SOG)
- WIND: 3 - 4 Bft NNE
- WAVES: 1.5 m, fresh wind waves, not smooth, awful rolling
- VISIBILITY: good
- SKY: 70 % cloud coverage
- WATER TEMP: 20 DEGC
- AIR TEMP: 21 DEGC
- MOON RISE: 0529 UTC
- SUN RISE: 0656 UTC
- SUN SET: 1945 UTC
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