My northern Europe pictures and some videos from April thru November 2016, including the painting of Dauntless in the spring and a few of my side trips to Galicia and Veneto, Italy.
Most galleries are in chronological order. The date time group is also embedded in the file name. Please forgive all the redundancy. It’s always easier to take too many pictures than not enough, though it makes sorting after the fact a real PIA.
Also, should you see anything and have a specific question, please feel free to email me.
Kadey Krogen Rendezvous 2017
Richard on Dauntless
Dauntless has come so far
Dauntless’ Second Atlantic Passage
Four Legs from Europe to the Caribbean
Leg 1 Rota Spain to Rabat, Morocco, via Gibraltar to fuel up
250 nm
50 hours total
Leg 2 Rabat Morocco to Las Palmas, the Canaries (unexpected stop)
600 nm
4 days, 1 hr., 35 min
Avg speed 6.1 knots
Leg 3 Las Palmas to Heiro, the western most island in the Canaries, Fuel top-up
172 nm
31 hours and 45 min
5.5 knots
The last & biggest leg, the only one that mattered, the Canaries to Martinique
460 hours, (19 days, 4 hours)
2582 nm
7 knots
The “Oh, BTW, you still have 2000 miles to go” leg, Martinique to Panama Canal and Mexico
460 hours, (19 days, 4 hours)
2582 nm
7 knots
Same strong easterly trade winds; same large, mixed seas
Avg roll +13°/-09° ext 22°/-10°
Overall Winds & Seas
Conditions are Very Different than the North Atlantic
Trade winds prevent turning back
Constant wind speeds of 20 to 35 knots
Direction varied over 90° from NE to SE
3 wave sets produced large 25° roll every 8 to 10 minutes for 3 weeks
NE & SE wave sets, smaller, longer period
wave heights predominate 10 to 15 feet at 8 seconds
3 different wave sets produced large 25° roll every 8 to 10 minutes for 3 weeks
First week very disconcerting to have stern fall to stbd so suddenly every periodically
Since leaving North Africa, until the Panama Canal, more than 5,000 nm and more than 60 days underway, all but two of those days required the paravane stabilizers.
Entering the Pacific and turning northwest from Panama City, in the first four days we had no need of stabilization. They call it the Pacific for a reason.
Crises In the mid-Atlantic
Fuel Loss
What Happened
Possible Solutions
What I did
What I now think I should have done (hint: Much Ado About Nothing)
Hydraulic Hose for Rudder failure
What Happened
I was screwing around
Possible Solutions
What I did
First fix did not work
Spares, spares and more spares (but not the right fitting)
What I now think I should have done
Overall Summary of My Second Atlantic Passage
Considerably harder than I had expected
I’m still organizing the data, but the big take-away, is that the fuel consumption for the last two years has been about 1.5 gal/ hr. or a little above 4nm/gal
Average cost has run between $75 to $133 per day when I’m on the boat. Even during the most recent passage, cost was $104 per day, with fuel being $80 a day.
Leaving Horta, Azores for Ireland, Monday, 18 August 2014
The first day of the last leg of our Atlantic Passage. For the first time, I’m totally alone. I had wanted to find a crewmate for this portion of the voyage, but it was not to be. Also, it’s impossible to replace Julie, not because we’re married, but because our decision making process produces optimum results every time. Julie and I had met a sailor in Flores, who was crossing the entire Atlantic by himself going to the Med. So, I thought I just needed to manage my time and I’d be fine.
I got a later than anticipated start, as I has to fuel the starboard tank with 1224 liters, (323 gallons) of diesel. We had arrived in Horta with 125 gallons remaining in the port tank, so I’d be leaving with 447 gallons (1700 liters) and expected to arrive at Castletownbare, Ireland with about 80 gallons. Why I waited until the last day to fuel and why I did not put some fuel in the port tank are questions that are best left for the next life. But I will say that often times, decisions that seem questionable up front, after the fact, become apparent, even if I could not explain it at the time.
I took the short walk to our favorite café, Café Volga, to have my last meia de leite. Twenty minutes later, At the little vegetable market, I bought a bunch of tasty tomatoes (which would turn out to be my main dish the next 5 days, in large part because I’d bought nothing else!) and while walking the mile back to the fuel dock, I realized I no longer had my passport.
I quickened my step, hoping, I had left it back on the boat, but actually knowing that I hadn’t. As I got back to Dauntless, in my haste to look for my passport, with grocery bags in each hand, I entered the boat through the pilot house, then came rushing down the stairs and swung left into the galley.
My first step from the stairs to the floor was almost my last.
I had left the engine room hatch wide open, leaving a big square hole, in which I stepped.
Being is such a hurry almost cost me dearly, but at the same time saved my lucky ass.
As I came flying down the stairs, I didn’t notice anything amiss until I took that first step onto thin air. Luckily, I was moving so fast my momentum carried me across the opening and my chest hit the side of the galley counter, allowing me to get my arms up (each laden with grocery bag) and onto the galley counter. With each forearm on top of the counter, I held myself up and I was able to keep myself from falling the five feet into the engine room.
As I extricated myself and realized that I was not hurt at all, not even banging my shin bone which seems to be a weekly occurrence, I realized how lucky I’d been. Even the eggs I’d just bought had survived.
Now if only my passport would show up. I looked through the boat for my passport, but no luck and went to go tell customs that I didn’t have it. They said no problem, I could check out without it, but I asked if he could call the police in the happenstance that it had been found and turned in.
A few minutes later, he gave me the thumbs up and 45 minutes later the police were nice enough to bring it to me.
So, less than an hour after two incidents which could have turned out very differently, Dauntless gave one long blast as we left the dock (I didn’t want them to forget the first Kadey Krogen they had seen in years so soon) and we headed north for the last part of our Atlantic Passage at 11:08.
My course was northeast, there were scattered clouds and light winds from the northwest; all in all a beautiful day. I didn’t put the Scopolamine patch on until after I left. It usually takes quite a few hours to take effect, so the only reason I think I delayed was I keep on thinking I shouldn’t need it. I did.
Well, it’s probably stress and fatigue, but on this trip I needed virtually all the time. So within a couple hours of leaving I felt sea sick. When I fell sea sick, I almost never vomit, I just feel queasy and listless. And now feeling this way, I knew it would stay with me until I had some sleep, even with the patch.
Good weather, light winds, boat had a little rocking motion of about 10° in each direction.
Two items of technology, allowed me to feel I could safely do this portion of the passage alone:
Our new AIS transceiver, which meant that I could see other boats, but more importantly they could see Dauntless. Ever since I installed the AIS transceiver just before leaving Rhode Island, no ship has ever came within three miles of Dauntless, and usually it’s at least five miles. In the past, before AIS, on virtually every open ocean portion we did, Dauntless always had at least one ship that was on a collision or near collision course until I changed course.
I think that with having AIS, big ships now see us automatically and alter course just to not have to bother worrying about it. It seemed my having AIS made their lives much easier, and this is safer as the result.
The second item is the Raymarine radar and its use of the alarm function. After only a year and half of use, I had finally figured out how to make my radar proximity alarm work and be effective. In the past, I didn’t use it because all I got were false alarms. Finally I realized that by greatly reducing the gain (on automatic mode, it sets the gain at 45 out of 100), I set it at 06, and making the inner circle around the boat, a mile from the boat, anything substantial would have to go through this ring and thus set off the alarm. I never needed it, because of the AIS as mentioned above, but in the first days, I did test it and even at the lowest gain setting of 1, it would still see a ship at 4 to 5 miles. No more false alarms.
It allowed me to sleep more soundly, though in the course of the night, I’d still wake up maybe a half dozen times. But I knew I had to have at least 6 hours of sleep during the 12 hours of darkness, even if it was three 2 hour periods.
My mid-afternoon, I was finally passing the island of Ina De Sao Jorge. Winds had continued from the NW all day, putting the winds and sea right on my port beam, with winds at 10 knots, producing 2-3’ waves and Dauntless with the paravanes out and the birds in the water was rolling about 10° max to one side.
As darkness descended I got the pilot house ready for night, changing the displays and lowering the brightness, checking the engine gauges once more, 172° water temp, oil pressure and voltage. Course & speed, weather and sea conditions, all noted in the log and lastly, an engine room check, in which I go sit on the spreader in front of the engine, look at the Racors, the fan belt, use the flash light to check anything unusual near the back of the engine, oil and fuel filters not leaking, etc. Just sit there and soak up the sounds and smells, till my brain sees that everything is normal. Even with all the noise, it’s actually peaceful. The Ford Lehman SP135 has a steady drone that I have only heard before in jet engines, in that it is so steady, not even the slightest change of pitch or sound, unless the throttle is changed. I can’t even begin to describe how reassuring it is.
My alarms set, nothing on the radar for miles and miles, I know I’ll wake in a hour or two, do a little check and hopefully, go back to sleep.
As I lay on the pilot house bench, cozy in my quilt, looking out at the darkness, I think of the day’s events and as the gentle roll rocks me to sleep, I hope I haven’t used all my luck on my first day.
I just had two of the worst things happen this morning for the entire trip.
After getting fuel, I went to store to get a few provisions, tomatoes, cheese, sausage and more white wine.
I figure that was enough for 7days.
After the market, I’m walking back to boat and I realize my passport is not in my back pocket. Right away, I realize it probably came out when I pulled my phone out.
Ok. But I hoped I left it on boat.
I get to boat, enter thru the pilot house, take a quick look for my passport on helm, no luck, come bounding down the stairs, with grocery bag in each hand, sunglasses on, turn left for galley and guess what I don’t see?
I’d left the engine room hatch open, while fueling and I step onto air.
My whole life passes before me, well not really, just the last second.
Luckily my momentum allowed me get my arms and elbows above galley counter.
So no damage done.
I’m thanking everyone for that and figure I’ll find my passport now.
No luck.
So I’m ready to retrace my last stops, but I ask customs to call police first, while I return to boat and look one more.
I’m now waiting for the police to bring it. Someone found it on the street.
If rather be lucky than smart.
But I do love the Azores and Horta.
Wonderful food, people and drink.
And that’s all that matters.
I’m off to Ireland shortly, knowing all goes well that ends well.
A Day by Day Summary Cape Cod to Flores, the Azores, 2230 nm, 20 July to 05 Aug 2014
20 July, 06:00, we left with the tide, as had a few hours on the Narragansett River, then Buzzards Bay to the Cape Cod Canal and across the Bay, anchoring at 21:00 that night. 91 nm,
21 July, anchored in Provincetown Harbor. Very foggy, had to top up the tanks and repair VHF antennas, none of my VHF radios was working! Discovered that I had connected two antenna cables to each other, and one old Loran cable to the PH VHF, let the Shenanigans begin.
22 Jul, NO GO, Water maker not making water, changed fuel polish filter and one primary engine fuel filter. The shenanigans continue as it takes me hours to figure out I have water maker valve set to Clean, thus no water. We finally leave as fog breaks at 12:00 noon. An hour later, the one and only boat we talk to the entire trip asks if I have seen any whales, I tell him we’re headed to the Azores. He doesn’t get that answer very often. Yes, all the radios now work.
23 July, A strong S to SW winds 15 to 20 knots all night has kept us from turning more east (as many of you have noted). The great circle route does pass just south of Nova Scotia, so with the winds pushing us that way, we take it as an omen to stop. We pull into Shelburne, NS at 14:35 on the 24th. We refuel, three times I say gallons and they give me liters. Luckily, I’m not a 767. That night, when paying we realize the mistake and top up the next morning. Yes, that counts as a shenanigan.
25 July, Underway again, hopefully next stop, the Azores. Keep rpms between 1500 & 1600 for the next 5 days. The sight tubes on the tanks do not come into play until the tanks are about 1/3 down, therefore I will not have an accurate read until then. Southwest swell only 1-2 ft., light westerly winds all day and night. Water maker auxiliary pump stops working, and the water maker was not working since it lost it prime. I work on pump, pulling it out and finally just bypassing the pressure switch. All is working OK. With the light winds, we were trying to get as far south as possible, knowing the SW winds would return.
26 July, No change in weather (wx) or course, at 9:00, the water maker was stops working again. No power at all. Thought it was the relay, change relay, no change. Discover it is the tube fuse had toasted itself. I put a spade fuse in, but the wires were too small and it cooks itself within minutes. Luckily, I’m feeling all the wires as this is going on, and no other wires got even warm. I decide to go without the fuse. Never had another problem (but it doesn’t stop you from worrying about it!) and it was just now in writing this, that I remembered I was supposed to get new fuse.
27 July, Broken clouds all day with rain showers and thunderstorm, changed course to 135°, Southeast, speed is changing from 4.2 to 7.8 knots, we are clearly in the Gulf Stream eddies. We go all evening close to 8 knots. This is the first day; we did not have some minor mechanical problem to deal with!
28 July, rain showers and Thunderstorms all day, winds getting stronger, south or SW 15 to 25, at 9:00 turned off all electronics for about an hour as we passed thru one line of cells, by 10:30 we were past that and all was normal again, the winds are strong from the south, so the paravanes are really working. At 11:30, we hear a noise that sounds like a pistol hot. Not having a pistol on board, we were worried. I look to see that the 3/8” bolt for the mast cleat for the starboard paravane has sheared off. Quickly, neutral, to get pressure off of mast and I go up to fly bridge as boat is rolling around. I re tie up-down line, which transfers force from paravanes to mast, and make a hitch around mast and tie it off at the boom. This turns out to be really effective and in a few days, I retied the other cleat too. Oh, I forgot that wasn’t my first solution; my first solution was to tie it on another cleat that was on the mast. As I watched it bend that cleat as we got underway, I decided that I needed a new solution.
29 July, at 2:45 upon our watch change, I decided it was a good time to add to quarts of oil to the running engine. After much ado, it was a non-event. Much messier in a car. Scattered clouds, SW winds at 10 to 15 continue. 1080 miles to go 😮
30 July, Sct clouds, winds still SW but less than 10 kts, no whitecaps!, we stopped at noon to pull in paravanes (they slow us up about ½ knot). Took this opputunity to take a swim. The water was so blue. Also took this relatively calm period to tighten the paravane stays and the mast stays. We spent the next 30 hours without the paravanes. This was the only time all trip without them.
31 July, nice weather continues. I tell Julie that this is what I had hoped for for the entire trip. By 18:00, the southerly swell causes us to put the paravanes back out. We had also gotten an easterly wind on our bow. This was causing a pitch that coupled with the roll was becoming unpleasant, so the birds went out and the ride became ok, though still pitching.
1 Aug, another nice day, light easterly winds continue, so the ride wasn’t that smooth, but OK. Later on in the afternoon, I do what I told everyone I wouldn’t. I stopped the engine. I wanted to check the new fan belt tension, I also changed the other fuel filter and added ½ qt. oil. (I was proud of my 2 qt. guess the day before). Fan belt was fine. Before stopping the engine, I did start the Gen. why, who knows, maybe the start battery would be dead.
2 Aug, our 4th day of nice weather, Julie took a swim too. Winds are SSW at 10, so paravanes are needed. But still nice, Saw dolphins. This nice weather really helped our morale, we were more than half way and also we had stopped having a problem a day.
3 Aug, we’re making good time, 160 miles in last 24 hours. We also saw out whales today, but winds are out of NE causing again that pitch and roll.
4 Aug, Thunderstorms in the early morning, I change course to avoid them and get further south. A few hours later, we return to our easterly course, as the winds have picked up since noon. They are now up to 20 kts and the seas are building to about 6 ft., though we have kept it behind us, off the rear quarter. For the next 48 hours this would be our challenge.
Our roll has increased, winds continue 240 at 15 kts gusting to 25, and we’re rolling 15° in each direction with the paravanes. That’s not normal. We are watching the birds in the water and they are doing this little circular motion, the port bird is running next to the hull of the boat, while the Stbd bird is running three feet outside the pole. Very strange behavior. We’ve had these smaller birds on since Rhode Island, and thought we saw no difference.
At 16:00, we stop, to reposition the angle of the poles, thinking, it will help. We have a strange evening. The port pole occasionally jumps vertical, which makes us stop the boat, so it falls out again. Finally, at 23:00 I try to go to sleep. It’s hard to sleep, for the first time all voyage, and sure enough in an hour I hear the pole go vertical again, but I figure Julie can handle it and she does. An hour later, the same thing. The boat is also rolling a lot, like 15 to one side, 20 to the other, that a delta of 35°, that’s like pre-paravane numbers.
The third time it happens, I figure I better get up, as Julie has had enough practice with the shenanigans. I first try to change the AP, the boat does clearly not like some combination of something, so I do the easiest thing first. No change.
Finally at 02:00, 05 Aug, we pulled the old bird out of the lazerette and changed the port bird. Now remember, we were hesitate to do this because the boat is rolling like a.. And trying to retrieve a 40 lb. object can be dangerous.
As soon as we get underway, I see the port bird is now tracking straight AND the Starboard bird which had been coming out of the waves sideway, since it was also doing a circular thing, is now tracking straight. At 3:00 Julie goes to a well-earned bed and we power along with strong SW winds now up to 25 knots.
But I know we’ll be at Flores within 15 hours, in fact, we can see the cap cloud over the island, the boat is going well and we still have 9” of fuel in each tank (about 160 gal). At noon, we decide not to wait for port, but to change the stud bird also, the seas have continued to build and are above 6 ft. and the roll is delta 20°
At 17:30 we sight the lighthouse, of Porto do Albarnaz. While we have seen the islands on the radar for the entire day, that doesn’t count.
It was nice to see land, especially after the last hard 48 hours. But it wasn’t over.
Because of the large waves from the SW, we were not able to turn more southerly, so we had to keep a course that put us north of Flores, even though we were heading to the southern tip. I hoped that once in the lee of the island, NE of Flores, we could turn south and the wind and waves would be smaller. They were, but not at first, we had an hour after we turned on=f now going into these 8 ft. waves, being slowed to like 3 knots. It was at this point that we had a strange thing happen. We got hit by a float?? It came flying across the bow, hit the pilot house window and bounced off into the dark ocean.
3 miles, one whole hour later, we were in the lee of the island and the waves were less than half.
We anchored in 35’ water outside the Porto das Lajes, 39° 22.897’N, 31° 09.991W at 22:00
Now that you hopefully have a better understanding of following seas, let’s define a few more terms and procedures.
If I say the winds are westerly, that means they are from the west. Generally I speak of wind direction in relation to the direction we are trying to go. So, for example, when we left Cape Cod, the Azores and Europe were to our east, so we wanted to set a course to the east, therefore westerly winds would have been good, as they would have produced a following sea and all would be happy. As it was, many of you already remarked, that we did not go east, as the winds were actually quite strong from the southwest forcing us to take a more northeasterly course.
This morning, the winds in Horta are howling, that is faster than strong, but not quite a gale!
I use knots to measure speed, as a knot = 1 nautical mile per hour, a nautical mile (nm) is about 1.12 statute miles. We still use nautical miles because it turns out there are exactly 60 nm in one degree of latitude and since 1° of latitude equals 60 minutes, one minute of latitude = one nautical mile. It makes looking at charts and estimating time very easy.
So the Bost scale of winds:
Light and variable, less than 5 knots (6 mph) and from any direction. They are light enough, the direction doesn’t matter.
Light winds, 5 to 10 kts
Moderate winds 12 to 16
Strong, 18 to 25
Howling 25 to 35, (so today the winds are blowing 15 to 20, with gusts 37)
Gale 38 to 45
Storm faster than that.
Directions. In general, directions like easterly, means in relation to a real map, so USA is west, Europe is east and South America is south. On a boat, there is one other direction we look at, the apparent direction. The boat doesn’t know which way it faces, it just knows that the winds are on its nose (bow), that’s 0°, coming at a right angle to the boat, is on our beam, the starboard (right) beam is 90°, the port beam, (left) is 270° All of these directions are relative to the boat. On the diagram I drew I added two more directions, the right and left rear quarters. Basically, I try to keep the winds between 135° and 225°, and the more near 180°, the better.
a wind diagram in relation to the boat
How the Boat handles in Winds and Waves
In calm weather and flat seas, I would normal run Dauntless at 1600 rpm, which would produce a speed of 6.2 knots and consume 1.5 gal of diesel per hour or 4.13 nm/gal. Now how does this change with wind and waves?
If at the same 1600 rpm, if I was running into a 10 to 12 knots on the bow, or they are at 0°, dauntless would probably slow to about 5 knots, as this wind would probably produce waves of about 2-3 feet and we would start to pitch up and down (all wave heights mentioned are an estimate and an average, if the waves are 2 ft., there will be some 1 ft. waves, some 3 ft. waves and an occasional 4 ft. wave. Think of it as a bell curve with the average being in the highest point of the curve, but there are extremes on both sides).
If this same wind were on the beam, our speed would stay the same, we would not slow down, but we would roll and 15° to each side. This is without the paravanes. It would be uncomfortable. And as you can see, a 10 to 15 knot wind is really normal, so the paravanes were really important.
From the stern, this same wind would add a few tenths speed and the ride would be ideal. That’s how we got the saying, “May You Have Fair Winds and Following Seas” I smile even writing it.
Now, if the wind is blowing 20 knots for any length of time and the seas have had the time to build, those winds would produce 5 to 8 ft. waves. Going into them, our speed would be reduced to half, if they were on our beam, with paravanes, our roll would be one third of what it would be without, so about 10 to 15° with, without almost 40° (yes, I have done that, no, I won’t do it again. I never felt unsafe, but it’s miserable). Larry Polster of Krogen told me he has had his 42’ roll as far as the cap rails. I’ve never got that far (that I know of), probably only a foot below.
So the lesson here is that as the winds increase above 15 knots, it really limits ones course. Therefore, when we left Cape Cod, while we wanted to head east, as the winds keep getting stronger and stronger from the southwest, it made os take an ever more northerly course and essentially pushed us to Nova Scotia.
So again, I am always trying to keep the winds in the rear of the boat. We spent days and days just trying to get further south, but the winds and the waves they produced were not allowing it.
We only had two nice weather days. I had been hoping that most of the trip would be under the influence of the Bermuda and Azores high pressure areas, giving us light winds, sun and very small seas, less than a foot.
But alas, it was not to be.
Also dauntless’ normal speed of 6 knots is about a third to a quarter of the speed of a low pressure system across the ocean, So even as one storm passes, the next one will catch up to us in a few days.
One of the reasons we only saw whales and turtles once, was that it takes calm seas to notice a turtle floating near you or to see a whale surface. We only had two days without white caps and those were the days we say the whales and turtles. The first few days Julie and I wanted to see whales so badly, we were imagining them everywhere, but it was only the waves tops.
Our passage from Nova Scotia started out perfectly, with northwesterly winds (meaning they are from the NW and since we were going southeast, they were directly behind us, the so called “following sea”), almost pushing us. Perfect for Dauntless as she handles waves from behind very well.
Before our purchase of Dauntless, my research had indicated that the Kadey Krogen as a function of hull design, was not only one of the most effieeincet boats out there, but also, probably for the same reasons, it handled a following sea very well. Meaning, as a wave lifts the boat from behind, the Krogen hull continues to keep the boat on track, whereas boats that do not handle a following seas well, the boat will slew sideways and try to roll down the face of the wave on her beam.
Julie and I tested this the first time out on the boat. It was the second day after closing and we felt it was time for a trip. Now, not knowing anything about Florida, or Stuart, where we were, we fired her up, and headed down the river and out the inlet. Wind was blowing onshore, producing big ass waves. But then what did we know? We had bought a boat to go around the world and if it couldn’t get out of this inlet, better to realize our mistake sooner rather than later.
We certainly were not afraid, curious is a better word. So we are heading east out of the inlet, into 6’ to 8 foot waves on our bow. Shout period waves, plain annoying. Julie and I are in the pilot house, holding on for dear life as the boat goes flying up and then down (pitching), with a little roll (maybe 15°). We’re doing fine, when we hear this large crash from down below. We had not secured the door to the fridge, so our wine and club soda bottles had come crashing out and were rolling around the salon floor along with the two chairs and couch.
Only one club soda bottle had broken, so we felt that was the best of omens. After about 20 minutes of this pitching and rolling and with no more adventures, we felt it was time to turn around. Now, I did know enough that I did not want to get hit by a wave on our beam, so much like skiing, when one turns on top of a mogul, I used power and our big rudder to get us turned without too much drama. (I’ve certainly rolled more since).
And as we put the winds and seas behind us, it was like the 8 ft. waves disappeared. Dauntless was transformed form this bucking bronco to the old grey mare. The combination of our speed going in the direction of the waves and her hull form, made the waves almost disappear.
Right then and there, we knew we had made the right decision.
This surprised us. Having been in the Bahamas this winter, when the water as not so deep, it was so blue, like you are looking at a swimming pool. But the deeper parts, like “Tongue of the Ocean” where the water is over 5,000 feet deep, the water is a dark navy blue color.
So, one of the first things Julie and I noticed a day out of Nova Scotia, was how blue the water was. Not navy blue, but a lighter shade. It took us more than a day to get off the continental shelf where the water goes from a few hundred feet deep to over 10,000 feet.
Mid-Atlantic Blue Ocean
By day three, we were in very deep water, over 14,000 feet deep, yet the water was so blue, not dark, like you could almost see the bottom. It called to us like the Sirens of the ancient world. Many times, I felt like jumping in, the only thing stopping me, the knowledge that on the open ocean, simple acts beget tragedies.
Finally, the sun came out and we had two nice days, winds less than 10 knots, 1 to 2’ waves, really nice motoring weather. So we stopped the boat to take a swim. Left the engine running, but not in gear obviously, and tied a 40’ line to the stern, just in case of who knows what. Now, we of course did not both go in the water at the same time, we didn’t even take off our clothes at the same time, in fact, Julie waited until the next day. But as I jumped in the ocean, I could not but feel great. The water was so blue under the boat, almost sky blue, and surprisingly, so salty. It tasted much saltier than before. Julie confirmed that also when she took her swim the following day.
We did see wildlife. Not as much as along the coast though. We only saw dolphins a few times, but one group was really large, more than 30. They swam with us for only a few minutes, whereas in the past, I’ve had dolphins spend 30 to 50 minutes with us. We also had a pair of birds hitch a ride. Happily, both flew off under their own power after a much needed rest the following day.
A Mid Atlantic Turtle
A few days from the Azores, we sighted what we initially thought was a float, but it turned out to be a turtle, just floating on the surface. Then an hour later, another turtle. We also had our only whale sighting, a couple of Humpbacks, maybe q quarter mile south.
Maybe the birds even helped themselves to the flying fish we would find on deck each morning. Sometimes we can see their impact 5’ or 6’ above the deck level on the salon wall or windows. They are also pretty small, just a few inches long. The flying fish we encountered in the Bahamas were much larger, but then so were the waves that night.
And just before Flores, we had a half dozen squid ranging in size from two to six inches long, on deck. I’m guessing the squid got there thru the deck scuppers as the boat rolls in the waves. The only problem was that sometimes I did not find them for a day, in which case we really did start to smell like a trawler.
I’m sorry I have not been as communicative as I would like for a number of reasons, including:
Limited Wi-Fi, or better yet, unlimited Wi-Fi, but it’s not connected to the Internet, and have only found one place where it is. So what email writing I have done is written on my cell phone, which is not conducive to this blog (I’m not swyping three pages worth)
Every day, I seem to have an hour project that takes me 10 hours to complete
After being in Horta for a week, I finally got all the small things done and the boat is ready to go
Being ready to go, I don’t want to write, I want to go, so I end up writing things like “Disappointment” which has nothing to do with this trip so I’ve decided to save it for a later date.
I’m waiting for the weather to leave. It will be 7 days to Ireland and I want the first three or four to be good, which means light winds and seas.
At this time, I am thinking of a Monday, late morning departure, as I would like to give the seas a day to calm down.
Stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing this voyage and our adventures.
.OK, Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the time has finally come to get this show on the road
Dauntless is loaded, (I wish I was) and most stuff is put away, well, at least on the outside of the boat.
After more than 5 years of dreaming, hoping, wishing, planning, reading and even some arithmetic, the time has finally come to shove off.
In about 4 hours, Sunday, 20 July 2014, Dauntless, with Julie and I will depart our home away from home in Providence, Rhode Island and set our sights on the Portuguese islands of the Azores.
But before we can even go east, we must travel down the Narragansett River, then northeast through Buzzards Bay, to pass through the Cape Cod Canal in midafternoon when we will have favorable currents.
From then, we’ll see how we feel, whether to anchor one last time in North America at the tip of Cape Cod or to turn right and head east.
While our route is somewhat dependent on weather and seas, we are planning on the great circle route (course 082° T) from Cape Cod to the Azores as it takes one southeast of Nova Scotia, east along 42°N then east-southeast.
Our planned route
1900 nm, it will take 13 days, maybe 12 with the following seas we hope to have, we will pretty much be riding over the top of the Bermuda/Azores High.
We now have a Delorme InReach Satellite Phone. It will only do texts, but it does allow two way communications all the way across the ocean. You can follow our route with updates every 10 minutes and/or contact us by going to the website https://share.delorme.com/Dauntless
Once on the above page, on the left column, you click on my name, which allows you to select the other buttons above, Locate, Message, and Center. So Locate pings the phone, basically updating the map. Message allows you to send us a text message and Center, does just that, it re-centers the map.
I’ll pretty much have the InReach on until I get to winter quarters, probably in Ireland, probably at the end of September.
After 5 years of planning, reading, thinking, asking, listening and worrying, we are just days away from leaving
Thanks to Parks and the cat, at Hopkins-Carter, I got a great deal on a whole bunch of stuff, including a Digital Yacht Class B AIS Transponder, which just went live minutes ago. http://www.hopkins-carter.com/
The computer is from Island Time PC and everything is running though that, including Wifi extender. Call Bob, he is great and always ready to help, even when I’m doing something stupid. http://islandtimepc.com/
I should have done it months ago, but it is what it is. Now, I must figure out how to get Coastal Explorer to see my Maretron Network. The rest of the programming, I figure I can learn during the next few weeks. I should be somewhat adept by the time I get to the Azores. Luckily, you don’t need much navigation to cross the Atlantic, just ask Columbus.
I will take pictures and document all the changes, hopefully in the next few days, before we leave, (though is you have been paying attention, I’ve been promising that for months).
Also, stay tuned, as I will also be giving you the Delorme Earthmate link for Dauntless. Then you can ping and even text me.
Gotta Go. Much left to do, like getting new compass to talk to ComNav and where is that Alternator and why does it have so many wires on the back?? I knew I should have taken a picture of it BEFORE I disconnected everything. EEK
Dauntless at Sea 