Most Men make little other use of their Speech
than to give evidence against their own Understanding
-Lord Halifax-
('Of Folly and Fools', 1750)
It's good to be back...
The Atlantic from Cape Verde to Antigua was - for me - the return to the kind of sailing and cruising that originally got me excited about buying my own yacht. I was back in the latitude of Cairns and while I admit that the weather didn't invite us to sail directly to the point, we did sail very close to it. What was the point? The point directly opposite Cairns. The water was finally back to 26 C, reaching 27 C further west. Sunscreen was finally the most comfortable thing to put on during the day, night-time rain was lovely and refreshing on the naked skin. The wind finally had a real name (tradewind), and its direction was printed in cruising guides and textbooks, not just in the latest forecast.
Gentle trades and a steady roll. Wind was often annoyingly up the ass and the roll not always so pleasant but I think it might be unreasonable to complain.
The Simrad WP32 was steering but this little wheel pilot was not designed to run a 8 ton yacht down 3m swells in 25kn of wind, even though two reefs on the main were taking some of the pressure off the rudder. Yes, I had worked it too hard and eventually, after a few moans and groans, the belt away and our little helper was out of action. The wind wane was slightly dysfunctional - it was steering a little too much. Full turns to port and starboard, as the wind blade was obviously too heavy or... something was obviously not right! I know I can fix it and get it to work. That will happen the moment the electric pilots stop working, regardless of the weather. You see, a lot of human skill arises from necessity. It's amazing what we can do when we really have to.
Anyway, now all I had to do was to flick a switch and turn on the BIG autopilot. Phoaaaa! We did have to run the engine for an hour a day for most days but hey - comfort first and we don't hand steer for comfort.
The first week was grey and windy but thanks to a strong autopilot and a couple of reefs on the main, we made good speed with little effort. I still can't complain.
MIDDLE CLASSED, MIDDLE AGED, MIDDLE OF ATLANTIC BUT..
...on a working-class boat. Cruising, even with the smallest budget, must have some standard to it. When you turn 40 (a lot earlier for women, a lot earlier) you need to have the comfort factor looked after. Roughing it up is for the 20-something backpackers. Comfort is important, because we deserve it, even if we can't afford it. We all do. If the Bible or your parents tell you that life was ment to be a struggle, they are full of shit. It was NOT ment to be a struggle. Of course, if we believe that it has to be that way, we tend to make it that way.
Aliisa doesn't have pressure water or a watermaker of even a shower. (camping shower on the deck). We have no radar and we're only 32-feet long. I'm looking for your sympathy here, just reminding that Aliisa is a modest little cruiser. Therefore we have to make luxury and take luxury from everything we can. The fridge must be running and the autopilot must do the steering. I feel I have "earned" these two main comforts after 11 years onboard Aliisa.
I've lost the plot of this story now and I'm not sure where it's leading me, if anywhere. But it's time to get in published and I will carry on...
More pizza that I can eat. Can I complain? Not really.
Annina's first ocean with me
Obviously Annina does watches whenever I ask her to do so but during our Atlantic crossing I rarely asked. Instead I upgraded my wife to the first class and become a passanger myself too, though in the economy class. Tropical north Atlantic is a one-way street with both wind and current ensuring the arrival of anything that floats into one of the the Caribbean islands. While I took over all the sailing and wathces, Annina continued her efforts in her department (§1 All 1st Class passengers must provide 1st class meals and look after me). In the meantime, Yacht Aliisa kept her side of the deal and looked after us. The passage was good, lazy, easy, almost fully automated and requiring minimum participation on our behalf. In reality, I reefed and unreefed about 25 times, poled out, poled down and jibed for about 20 times and sometimes even felt tired and frustrated with the roll and difficult wind/swell combination. But it's all good, it's all part of the deal and it was still an easy passage.
But let's get to the point. The point of the whole excercise of crossing the Atlantic from East to West. The point is to reach the Caribbean
(PS. No apologies made for the update being late. This is not a blog. I write whenever I feel like writing and if the updates are lagging behind, that's usually because I'm having too much fun. (Thank's Craig, for the observation about being waay too happy. I should really do my best to be pissed off and depressed. We could finally get some real ranting going on again.... hmmm. Try to do that under a palm tree with a rum punch in your hand...)
After the Canaries and Cape Verdes, it was a nice change to see a GREEN island. Antigua is there and I still can't complain.
