Monday 30th - Another quiet day!

Skip decided at 3am that a sail change was required so a moonlit drop of the genoa and hoist of the parasailor was performed. 5.30am saw the main sail being lowered as we seek for the ultimate sail plan......and everyone said this would be simple downwind sailing!!

8.30am martin prepared scrambled eggs with hot bread, jam, and coffee for the majority of the crew who were awake. Top Job. Then to the commissioning of the washing machine...no simple task. Take six blokes,one new washing machine, one french instruction manual and one spanish bottle of Ariel and what do you get? A challenge. Solved easily of course...about two hours later.

Then all hands on deck for the lowering of the parasailor as the spinnaker pole was to be moved over to the port side. A small tear was noted on the wing of the parasailor so the needle and thread came into action before a succesful re-hoisting. Bread, cheese, ham and pickles for lunch and just as the ring-pulls on the ice cold beers were clicked back the fishing line started to run. It does have this knack of taking off just as we sit down to eat. Anyway, I was given the honour and succesfully landed a 4/5 lbs Dorado to add to the young wahoo fish caught after dinner the previous night. Phil has certainly mastered the art of Atlantic fishing as our boat total for succesfully landed fish reaches 5.

Everyones spirits remain high as we continue to make good progress in the race. Still 2nd in our class and just about holding on to the top 20 overall which is certainly exceeding our expectations. Fingers crossed we can keep it up. Rob is in great form and regularily climbs the saloon steps to enjoy a cigar in the cockpit. He has taken to holding up his marker board with 'FWA' printed in large initials accompanied by a broad grin and a thumbs up. We know the 'A' stands for 'awesome' but remain unsure about the preceding letters. We think it best left this way.

Another spectacular sunset ends the day with the smell of my good lady wifes preprepared sweet and sour pork wafting up from the galley. It will soon be time for the night shifts to begin and the now heavily suntanned crew members will await the next performance enhancing instruction from our ever competitive skipper. Its a tough life!

Love to all back home

Andy

Days 6 and 7 - Sat/Sunday

The weekend started well with another Dorado which Skipper managed to land - another excellent fresh fish dinner. Since it was Saturday the boys needed a sports fix so it was 2003 world cup final again. England won in extra time (again!). Skipper washed the floor around their feet.

Getting into the rhythm of the sea now and everyone very comfortable (not hard in these temperatures). Highlight was Sunday after lunch when we calculated that at 1600 gmt we were half way. Celebrated with some rank sherry and then downed sails for a mid ocean swim. Mad (and not brilliant for competitiveness)! Proof in picture. Had to go in first with a mask to do a shark check before they'd go in!

Going well with a few 200 milers under our belts. Sunday midday after the swim we decided to have a chilled 24 hours so just main and Genoa tonight. We'll crank up again tomorrow.

Thanks to all for great comments on the blog; please keep it up as they give us a boost.

This entry by Skip (one shift in bed and the other up in the cockpit).

Friday 27th November - Day 5

"Turned out nice again" as Phil says. Blue skies and seas and as we are now at 20 degrees latitude the sea temp is 25 and air around 28 at a guess.
Our first fish landed after hooking and losing 5. This time we dropped the spinnaker specially to slow the boat down which enabled Phil (Sac fishing) to land it - a small dolphin fish. Filleted and cooked to perfection by Martin for our evening meal - a special moment.
As expected our conservative approach last night meant we lost out a little to Luna, the class leader, but held out against most of the rest and Jasmine well back now. I wonder if they might have problems. Need to watch Baghira, another Beneteau 57 who are only 50 miles behind us and South of us. Almost all others (including Luna) are North of us - Back in business now though cruising at 9 knots into the moonlit night.
Hope all are well at home - thanks for your comments on our blog (Thea, Nick, John, David, Sue).
This post by Skip.

Thursday 25th November - Day 4

Made 204 miles today against the odds; best run of our division (Cruising B) with lots of excitement - actually make that too much! At about 0800 (during the shift change) the cruising chute parted from the snuffing bag at the mast head, and was under the boat and shredded in about 6 seconds - not enough time to release the sheet unfortunately. Had been flying it for 24 hours and it was giving us an edge (at least for 20 of the 24 hours). We were averaging 10 knots for most of the daylight hours. We then trashed 2 hours sorting ourselves out (including going in the opposite direction for about half an hour trying to get the chute (spinnaker) out from under the keel.
Wind now dropped to about 14 knots from behind, classic downwind trades giving us about 6 to 7 knolts currently. Hope the competition are getting similar!Over 2 days since we saw another boat and no chit-chat on the VHF - but the Atlantic is still in its beautiful mood - 3m rollers from the stern and the sea and sky a deep blue. One more fish hooked today but got away as we got it near the boat (again). Sighted many flying fish, a tern (Arctic, but a long way South?) and some sort of petrel.
Have looked at weather and route options and now going in search of stiffer breeze.
(This posting by Robert).

Wednesday 25th November - Day 3 - Missed opportunities

Following yesterdays success in re establishing the spinacre halyard and shackle all be it 1 meter lower than preferred last night was uneventful -a couple of container ships passed by and we contemplated sail changes at the 4.00am watch change over that we needed to get us back onto the track we have chosen and faster sailing conditions. It has to be said that the nights so far have given us clear sky and a consequent magnificant stary vista - we are sure in a big big place!!!


The sail changes where stalled until daylight (for us 9.00am) they took 1.5hrs, quite physical but rewarded us with further 2 kts speed improvement - we are now back to average 9>10kts and just under half wind speed, we have peaked at 16kts surfing down 3m waves.

Post sail changes day became the story of the "one we did not know had landed" and the "biggest one that got away". We happily repatriated a 4cm flying fish - goodness knows how it got on board must have been a maiden flight!!! perhaps then only to be consumed by the "monster" that attached its self to our "pink Octopus" fishing lure . As i type the boys are now into a few more fish and who know it could be shushi later.


We are now settling into some routine, we are almost a quarter of the way across, in the trade winds and bobbing 4000m above the Cape Verde Abyssal Plain below. The Ocean is 24 degrees and the air temp is in the 30ies during the day and not much cooler at night (shirts are off girls!!!). Temp set to rise as proceed further on into the ARC.


On the food front things proceeding well - Pork Chops in Cider with mash last night. Mrs Taylor's beef bourgignon for mains with fresh mango for pud is tonight menu - (it was excellent thanks Mrd T).

Sad news is that the white wine boxes we bought in Las Palmas turn out in fact to be white Sherry!!!! yuck and 6 of our lemon stock have been lost to mold but the rest of our provisions appear fine and dandy.

With some of the wear and tear we have experienced we have been finding out how to create an "Alton Towers" theme park on a 57. Rides so far include: climb the mast, Straddle the boom & spinacre pole. Next is sitting on the wing of the Parasailer,. If you have any ideas please send a comment, best one wins a signed photo of the ride and a tin of soup coz we have 78 to get through.

Anyway we are all well and enjoying the adventure. Keep you all posted love to all.

This blog by Martin

Tuesday 24th - second full day

Reasonable speed through the night with standard sail plan but auto helm tripping out regularly leading to some hairy moments (including a broach at 3am!). No damage fortunately. We believe we have moved up the fleet having managed a 200 mile day. Glorious day today with 15 to 20 knot winds and deep blue sea and sky. Bit like the UK at present?

Skip managed to get to the top of the mast today to fix the spinnaker mast head fitting so we will be back in business with downwind sails tomorow.

Fished all day and - wait for it - didn't catch anything. Got all the fancy kit though so still confident for the next few days.

Sad to hear Auliana II's fate so fingers crossed for the rest of the fleet.

Love to all from this motley bunch - we plan to have the sat phone on from 1200 to 1300 UK time - Nicky has the number.

Thanks Gilbert for your interest and comments. Nice nautical photo Claire!

Jasmina

The first 24 hours

Wow, what a first day. The start was quite a spectacle. Light winds but plenty of colour on this downwind start. Reasonable start (if over the line a minimum 3 hour penalty!) and stayed west through the acceleration zone. Paid off as lay 18th overall (out of 220) after first 23 hours. And third in our class. Have a bet on with Jasmine, another Beneteau 57 to fund the beers in St Lucia. We went further but they sailed smarter and have 1 mile less to go to the finish!!

Paid a price though. Carried the Parasailor all night and shredded one of the guys, ripped the spinnaker head fitting out of the mast and wore through the Genoa UV protective layer in parts. Oh well, never was one for patience and the long game! Went up the mast to try to fix the spinnaker head but bottled out after the 3/4 point - 3 meter swell and 23 knot wind was a little lively. Ellen Macarthur has balls of steel and that's official! Will try again tomorrow.

Rob going strong, Phil's big fishing day tomorrow (no pressure), Steve trying to fix the damage from our first day, Andy, gone to bed with FHM, Marty still the life and soul as usual.

We expect to suffer tomorrow with no downwind sail but we'll be back. Bedtime now - although sleep with goose wing rig at 9 knots and 3 metre sea not easy.

(This entry by Skip)

The Last Supper

Dinner at "Pier 19" with a little too much wine. Rob decided to stay at the boat and load more waypoints into the chart plotter - anorak!
We think we've done everything and start is in 2 and a half hours time so let's hope so. Love to all friends and family back home. We'll try to update with video footage of the start which should be quite a spectacle.
Vito - note the shirts!
(This entry by Skip - again - ably dictated by Marty)

Preparations in Las Palmas

It's now Friday mid-day having arrived mid-day Wednesday. Thought 2 days should do it followed by chilling on the beach - still doing chores though!
Phil has some serious fishing kit with big ambitions (again!); Steve is sensibly fixing things; Martin has returned to the supermarket for the third time this morning but no-one knows why; Andy decided we wouldn't smoke but has just started the second box (of 20); Rob is practising spotting squalls with the radar - not a cloud in the sky though; Stuart (me) is writing this blog in the Sailor's bar just ordering the second pint.

Provisioning worked reasonably well but about 5 boxes missing - 3 of the team gone in search. Problem is they're not sure what is missing and what we've got (so well packed away in the boat we kind find it) - we need the girls!

Looks like we should be ready by the leaving party this evening leaving Saturday to watch England stuff the Kiwis - fat chance!
Love to all back home.
(This entry by Skip)

Delivery Trip Stage 2 - Lagos to Las Palmas

Stage 2 of the delivery was carried out by :-

Stuart Chambers - Colossal show of eating 2 main courses!

Steve Atkinson - A tragic attempt at working the camera!

Ben Atkinson - Kicked the stow away bird over the side...he remains defiant!

Ollie Chambers - Threw the boat hook in dart like fashion straight over the side!

Picture says it all! Setting off from Lagos we expected wind and a solid sailing start to the trip. However, 1 tactical chunder and 3 night shifts later we motored through a swell with not a hint of breeze. Skipper Stu made various attempts to coax power from the sails, notably a lengthy 10 minute spell with the spinnaker pole and jib in 4 kts of wind...dire straits!

From nudist beaches to aggressive beach football we tried it all.

ARC to follow...

(This entry was by Ollie)

Delivery Trip Stage 1 - Plymouth to Lagos

Jasmina was delivered in two stages by two different crews. This is stage 1 delivered by:-

Stuart Chambers - Admiral (Tweaker and Faffer)

Brian Gale - Bosun (Sex/tant expert)

Steve Taylor - Ancient Mariner (aka spinnaker Steve)

Jane Taylor - Galley Queen and Deck Fluff (de facto Admiral)

Ken Lacey - Cabin Boy (Grinder and G&T phenomenon).

As you can see above, crossing Biscay in October is not for the faint hearted! Went via Brest and Baiona and trip was 1001 miles exactly. Took 36 hours to recover from the session in Baiona (Ken's Gin and tonics) and rounding Cabo da San Vicente at sunset was a delight. Had a furry passenger for a while (little migrating finch) but came a cropper at night sleeping in the genoa sheets during a gybe. You know who you are!

On the right is the full team.

Stage 2 to follow.

(This entry is by SJC)

The Start of ARC 2009 for Jasmina

It's Armistice Day and one week before the team flies off to Las Palmas to prepare for the start of our Atlantic crossing on Sunday 22nd November. Here's a photo of the team standing on the star attraction, Jasmina.




They are (left to right) :-



Philip Taylor (Ancient Mariner)

Andy Peck (First Mate)

Steve Atkinson (Cabin Boy)

Martin Lawrence (Bosun)

Stuart Chambers (Skip)

Rob Shaw (Nav)



Next posting will be a little about getting Jasmina from Plymouth to the start in Gran Canaria.

(This entry is by Skip).