Author Archive
Tuesday September 28th
Position 36′ 08″N 005′ 21″ W
Docked at Queens Quay Marina Gibraltar Days run: 128 miles (13 hours)
Weather: Breezy with usual cloud overhead from “The Rock”
News:
It is truly amazing how it seems which ever direction you approach the straits of Gibraltar from the wind is always on the nose. This time was no exception as the wind steadily built to 35kts out of the East as Timoneer closed in on the straits. We tried to gain a bit of lee off the West coast of Spain but were turned back out into the traffic lanes by the Spanish navy who were doing missile testing along the coast. Fortunately there was not enough fetch to make it really rough and Timoneer arrived at Gibraltar port at 01:00 anchoring out among the commercial ships for the evening. At 10:00 we departed the anchorage for the Cespa fueling barge and loaded 10 tons of fuel aboard, enough to get us to Palma and back for the Big Boat Cup. Everything went smoothly and by 12:30 we were tied up in Queens Quay Marina.
John
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Monday September 27th
Position 36′ 23″N 007′ 24″ W
Course: 107′ T Speed: 10.6Kts Days run: 297 miles
Wind: Direction 070’T Speed 15 Kts
Weather: Warm and Sunny
News:
Lena went to town with our catch from Sunday evening and it became Big Eye Monday onboard Timoneer. We had sushi for lunch and then followed it up with seared tuna steaks for dinner, both meals were met with rave reviews from all. The weather cooperated with lightening breeze which allowed everyone to do projects and get the boat in ship shape fashion. In general it was a really nice evening to be out on the water with the moon almost full and the phosphorescence glowing in the wake. The early AM watches were uneventful with light breeze and occasional patches of fog.
John
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Sunday September 26th
Position 40′ 08″N 009′ 57″ W
Course: 177′ T Speed: 12.5 Kts Days run: 302 miles
Wind: Direction 070’T Speed 16 Kts
Weather: Clear and Sunny
News:
The breeze continued to build Saturday afternoon to 30 kts as we approached Cabo Finisterre on the North coast of Spain. The best news of the day was that at 18:00 we caught two 15lb big eye tuna, fortunately they weren’t any bigger as we had a hard enough time trying to stop the boat in 32kts of breeze, reel them in and gaff them. They are the first fish that we have caught in a while so there was quite a bit of excitement and patting on the back. Jeff and Bevan cleaned them and Lena formulated a plan to have sushi for lunch tomorrow. After the North Sea the 30+ wind range seems to be our usual operating procedure, so we shortened sail during the night as the wind gusted to 48kts and everyone was glad to have it at our backs for a change. By Sunday morning the breeze had moderated and we were partially in the lee of the Spanish/Portuguese coast sailing at 12kts with a comfortable ride.
John
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Saturday September 25th
Position 44′ 31″N 008′ 41″ W
Course: 197′ T Speed: 12 Kts Days run: 293 miles
Wind: Direction 070’T Speed 23 Kts
Weather: Partly cloudy
News:
Timoneer continued its journey out of the English channel and through what seemed like never ending ship traffic as headed for the North West coast of France. Early in the afternoon Friday we entered the Quessant Traffic Separation Scheme and came around to the course of 197’T which is a straight line across the Bay of Biscay to Cabo Finisterre. The breeze was moderate throughout the evening and slowly went from the North West quadrant to the North East. We saw a large pod of dolphins passing by on the starboard side but haven’t had any luck with the fishing yet. Everyone on board is well.
John
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Friday September 24th
Position 48′ 58″N 005′ 42″ W
Course: 239′ T Speed: 12.2 Kts Days run: 216 miles (18 hours, 40 mins)
Wind: Direction 000’T Speed 14 Kts
Weather: Clear and Sunny
News:
Timoneer departed Royal Clarence marina in Gosport England at 17:20 bound for Gibraltar. Our early evening departure was timed perfectly with a cold front that was passing over the area providing more favorable conditions. Early in the late afternoon the wind changed from a strong Westerly to a more favorable North North West direction. As the sun was setting we motored out of the Solent into the still lumpy left over swell which eventually moderated during the evening. This was replaced by the following sea we currently have and is allowing us to make good speed on our South Westerly course to Gibraltar. Time to get the fishing lines out and see if we can get any action.
John
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Saturday September 18th
Position 50′ 48″N 001′ 07″ W
Docked Royal Clarence Marina, Gosport Days run: 198
Wind: Direction 220’T Speed 25 Kts
Weather: Overcast and showers
News:
The closer Timoneer approached to the straits of Dover the more the tide started to affect the sea state. For the early afternoon the tide was with us bringing our speed over the ground up to 6 kts. But the ride was uncomfortable as the wind against tide scenario made the waves short and steep. By 18:00 the tide had gone against us but this actually helped as the waves dropped a bit and we could motor full speed with out pounding. By midnight we were through the straits and a favorable tide even helped push us along at 13-14kts. At 04:05 on Mikes watch our course had changed enough to the West North West that he could roll out some sail, and as he rolled out the partial staysail in 25kts there was a loud bang. I was sleeping in the salon to be close to the pilot house and I actually heard it go. The boys had the lights on as I reached the pilot house and you could see the majority of the staysail over the leeward rail. My first thought was that it was probably the webbing at the head we had hand sewed back on coming from Iceland. We quickly pulled it out of the sea and eased the halyard pulling down what was left on the foil section. Near the horizontal joiner at the head it had ripped from the leach to the second panel back from the luff and then vertically down to the tack. We dragged the sail down the leeward deck and piled it up in the aft seating area and lashed it down for the evening. We finally arrived at the Royal Clarence Marina in Gosport at 11:35 on Saturday morning completing what could have been a 4-1/2 day trip in 6 days and 3 hours, with an overall speed of 8.4 knots. As you would imagine everyone is glad to be on dry land for a couple of days until we start the next leg to Gibraltar.
John
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Friday September 17th
Position 52′ 29″N 002′ 13″ E
Course: 191′ T Speed: 11 Kts Days run: 174 miles
Wind: Direction 210′ T Speed 32 Kts
Weather: Rain
News
Thursday afternoon the wind abated to 12kts as the barometer rose to its high of 1027milibars. Timoneer was making 10-11 kts for most of the afternoon but by 21:00 the wind was straight ahead at 25kts. There were some long faces from the crew as the boat speed started to fall as we motor sailed into the building swell. By midnight we were down to 7kts and by today at 07:00 we bottomed out at 3.9 kts of boat speed and had to basically tack our way upwind to make any headway at all. I had hoped to get close to the Eastern shore of England to get some lee but the wind stayed more out of the south than predicted. So we just had to grin and bear it and be happy with 4-5kts for the rest of the day.
John
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Thursday September 16th
Position 54′ 52″N 005′ 03″ E
Course: 198′ T Speed: 11 Kts Days run: 180 miles
Wind: Direction 211’T Speed 18 Kts
Weather: Overcast and rain
News
The breeze continued to build yesterday afternoon and the barometer rose more than a millibar an hour showing how close together the isobars were. The weather info said we should expect 35kts which is manageable but by 14:00 yesterday it was blowing sustained 45-50 kts and gusting to 55 kts. We slowed the boat down and put extra straps over the tender and tightened up the existing ones as by now we were taking big waves over the bow. We tried to keep some speed on and continue moving forward as the waves built but that proved a futile effort. We would go over one wave and through the next and it was only a matter of time before something would break. So we slowed the boat to 3-4 knots with the engine running to power up the front of the wave faces at a slight angle. There was enough pressure from the “micro” main and staysail to press the boat into the back side of the waves as they passed and about all you could do was hang on. The North Sea waves built amazingly fast and would have been 20 footers by that time, so at the bottom of the trough you were looking at a forty foot face. Occasionally the waves would break right top but by random luck this rarely happened when we were making our way up the face. Although when it did happen they would go right over the house and we would have a foot of water at the wheelhouse back door. We couldn’t bear off to much as we still wanted to keep clear of the Jutland Banks as I was worried the shallower water would intensify the waves. After another 12 hours of 3-4 knots in the big breeze we were able to bear off a bit and by midnight there was 30-35kts, which by now was termed “light” by the crew. The weather forecast indicated the wind was going to back to the South West (on the nose again). While the weather was moderately cooperative we needed to start making our way South. The crew pushed to keep the speed up and it slowly climbed to 11kts by noon to cover as much ground as possible before the new breeze filled in.
John
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Wednesday September 15th
Position 57′ 25″N 07′ 38″ E
Course: 198′ T Speed: 11 Kts Days run: 254 miles
Wind: Direction 254’T Speed 40-45 Kts
Weather: Overcast and windy
News
After all that beating up wind the crew have been enjoying the off the wind work and the smooth ride throughout the evening. At about 20:30 we had a pretty good squall that blasted through with lots of rain. We put a third reef in the main and switched from genoa to staysail as one gust reached 52kts and it started to sleet. At 01:00 Timoneer passed the Northern end of Denmark and the port of Skagen where we made a short stop when we entered the Baltic a month ago. Our course from there is almost due West and the breeze was still southerly as we entered the Skagerrak. We opted to motor sail west as the weather indicated the breeze was going to fill in from the North West. The idea was to have a little room off the shallow banks on the North West corner of Denmark and be able to bear off when the new breeze filled in. The barometer continued to drop throughout the morning and at about 05:00 bottomed out at 994 milibars, so we knew we were in for a bit of trouble. At 07:00 the breeze was blowing 12kts by noon it was blowing 40-45 kts, we added the third reef in the main and 2nd reef in the staysail.
John
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Tuesday September 14th
Position 55′ 52″N 12′ 43″ E
Course: 004′ T Speed: 11 Kts Days run: 222 miles
Wind: Direction 200’T Speed 23 Kts
Weather: Raining and overcast
News
Monday afternoon we spent slugging it out trying to get some southerly direction in. We changed our heading a bit to try and gain a little lee of the island of Oland. This worked out fairly well and we skirted the coast a mile off and the boat speed climbed back up to a respectable 9-10 knots. That lasted until we reached the Southern end of the island at 18:00 and our course turned more southwest and we were pounding into it again. We entered the traffic separation scheme there and were on the highway out of the Baltic, all though we were definitely in the slow lane at the moment. The speed averaged about 8 knots over the 24hour period and we finally we made it around the Southern tip of Sweden and headed North entering the channel off Copenhagen at 11:00.
John
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