Year: 2017

The Caribbean

We have now spent the last few days anchoring in small bays around Martinique and St. Lucia, enjoying the sunset, reading books, and of course having the occasional G&T – we are now ready for the next adventures to begin.

We have visited Fort de France, which is the capital of Martinique and a French department with its own administration – fully financed and very French! Fort de France is a run-down coastal city, with just a church, a library and a Carrefour, but still worth seeing. If you go further into the center of Martinique, it turns out that the island is wealthy and has several shopping malls, if that is needed. The nature is very green and towards the North, you will see mountains and water falls.

We can recommend Grande Anse d’Arlet, Le Marin and Sainte Anne as very nice anchorages – well protected and with small towns or with a few restaurants on the beach. The water is clear and blue, and the temperature is around 26 degrees with the occasional refreshing shower coming from the mountains. All in all, a very nice and safe place to visit.

Christmas was lovely. Yes, it took a little longer to find the Christmas spirit, but when the girls arrived on the 21st and 23rd, and Marie started to decorate North Star with our mini (plastic) Christmas tree and the allowances of three “nisser”, it all helped. On the 24th, we were invited by our German neighbors on Greyhound for coffee and traditional German Christmas bread. Dietmar and Dagmar are a very friendly couple from Hamburg, which we enjoy sailing with with on and off. In the evening, we managed to pull off a traditional Danish Christmas dinner with duck and risalamande – some adjustments had to be made, but it was just as tasty as if we were home. On the 25th, we invited Lykke , HR46 from Germany, and Greyhound over for homemade gløgg and gingerbread cookies. It’s funny how important traditions become when you are far away from home, so we do our best to keep as many as possible.

Up next, we will tour the coast of Martinique and St. Lucia – but whether we go North or South yet is still to be decided. We have planned to go diving, swimming and hiking until New Year’s Eve, which we will probably celebrate in Marigot Bay, if we can find an anchoring spot.

The joy of this adventure is also the people we meet along the way. We continue to bump into people from the last few years of sailing – from the ARC+ and other events. It is very giving to belong to this community of cruisers. We meet many interesting people from around the world, all with different stories and reasons for sailing, and then it is a great source of information for just about anything – especially for tips on where to go and when you need some advice on boat reparations. We have had an unfortunate mishap with our 3-seasons old sails from Elvstrøm. The genoa is delaminating in about 20 % of the sail. We bought them just before our departure in Denmark with the intention of them lasting for 35000 nm, but unfortunately, that did not really happened. Thankfully, Elvstrøm have been very service-oriented, and we will hopefully be able to pick up a new sail  in Antigua on January 20th.

With that said, we are learning the skill of not focusing on the things that don’t work – because when you use the boat this heavily, things need continued maintenance and fixing. Therefore, we have made two lists: (1) need to fix and (2) nice to fix. But especially the Captain finds it difficult to accept the imperfections! Sadly, our Hallberg Rassy sister boat Lykke was not so fortunate, as they lost their mast crossing the Atlantic and have had a lot of trouble with their alternator and generator. They have taken a year off for a sabbatical with the family, so it is very unlucky and sad that this has happened. But their spirits are still high and we admire them for that.

Finally, as all other cruisers, we are learning that making a plan is important in order for the real world to follow us or us it, but it has also become obvious that the plan needs to be very flexible. So here is a rough outline of the plan so far:

Our daughters and Sarah (Micki’s friend) will leave us on the 3rd and 5th of January in Forth de France and then our friends Lars and Helle with their wonderful kids will join us for a few days of cruising before we go North on the 10th. We plan to go all the way to the BVIs and visit as many of the islands as possible. We will be in Antigua for a week towards the end of January, where we will pick up our new sail and our friend Henrik for two weeks of cruising. Around March, we plan on travelling in Cuba for a couple of weeks. Following Cuba, there is a slight gap in the plan until mid-May, where we will be in Clarks Court in Grenada. Here, North Star will be tucked away for six months while we travel around South America before we plan on returning to London sometime before Christmas 2018 – hopefully together with our daughters. In the beginning of January 2019, we will continue towards the ABC Islands and Columbia, and finally Panama. The only absolute certain part of this plan is that it will most definitely change! So call this an aspiration. I still admire Mahina Tiara for many things, but their ability to make a sailing plan two years out in the future and stick to it – that is beyond me.

But there you have it – life is good with plenty of activities and interesting people in beautiful surroundings.

We all wish you a peaceful New Year with many opportunities

Greetings from the North Star crew.

( Internet cannot handle pictures – so they will come soon )

 

 

 

 

After crossing the Atlantic

We arrived on the 1st of December at 1504 local time after 16 days at sea and had a fantastic reception. 20+ people were shouting and waving with flags at the pier, when we arrived. It was a great experience to feel welcomed and see all the friends we had made either in Las Palmas, in Cape Verde or on the SSB radio across the Atlantic. The welcome committee served rum punch and it kicked of a week were the lever were damaged. Plenty of parties, lots of friends and Caribbean life style.

It was good to have time to say hallo and goodbye as well as reflect over our first crossing.

3100 nm from Las Palmas and additional 950 nm from Gibraltar to Las Palmas via a few of the Canary Islands – and this since beginning of September. I did take a brief look at the pictures and no surprise that we now will enjoy a few quite days for reflections. We had all kinds of conditions from gale force to a mirror like Atlantic.  The crew were in the beginning longing for more wind and when we got it, they knew that the first half of our trip had been very comfortable.

I have made several attempts describing how it feels to cross the Atlantic, and it is very difficult to make the experience justice. So you will have to take my worth for it – go for it!

We have left St. Lucia and are now on Martinique which is very civilized with great food, clear water, and internet – and that will keep a cruiser happy for a while until the internal wanderer again seduces us out there on the oceans of the world.

I have included a number of pictures below which will give you all a feel for the beauty and day to day sea life, I hope you will enjoy them.

Live From The Field

Following a rather long night zig zagging the squalls (small weather disturbance with lots of wind and rain) in the moon light, we feel like Columbus when he first saw land after crossing the Atlantic. We are proud and exited, but also reluctant to end the journey in our small time machine, where time have been at a stand still since November 5th. Since Gran Canary we have sailed 3052 nm with a brief stop in Cape Verde and we have reached the Caribbean. The promised land for sailors, outside the hurricane season!
I am extremely proud of the crew and of North Star, both have been tested and passed with flying colors. Remember, I wrote that the goals were to have a fun and safe experience where the crew would end up being able to stand a night watch on their own. All of these is accomplished.
That we also seem to be reaching St. Lucia first in our class, without the help of our big genakker which we lost on day 3, is just icing on the cake, as we were never competing…..
At 14.09 N 60.15 W sog 5 and cog 284 deg.
Happy and proud greetings from the North Star crew

November 28th

A few days ago, we received report that a Bavaria 44, traveling independently from the ARC from the Canaries to the Caribbean, lost a man over board – only 400 nm from their destination. There were 2 people on board, a husband and wife. At the time of the incident, they were trying to recover their gennacker, which had fallen in the water, and the husband fell over board. The wife was after some delay able to raise a distress call and was subsequently rescued by a commercial vessel, but sadly the husband is still missing at sea.
Last night, we were given the coordinates for the search area, which we would pass through during the night. Therefore, we changed our watch schedule to rotate every two hours to ensure that all were alert to look for the MOB. On board North Star, the captain and crew talked through the plan of action in the event that either the MOB or the abandoned vessel were spotted. This morning we completed our track through the search area and we did spot and reported to the MCC, a piece of the spinnaker cloth in the water.
This is a tragic event, and we sincerely hope that the husband will be found. Our thoughts are with his wife, family and friends.
Position of North Star 14.18 N and 56.09 W, sog is 5.7 and cog is 278 deg.
/North Star

Status from a very comfortable crossing

Today is an exceptionally long day as we moved the ship clock from UTC-2 to UTC-4 corresponding to local time at Rodney Bay. But that is all good now that the wind is back! For the first time in weeks, North Star is surfing the 2-3 m waves in 7-8.5 knots. The Atlantic has now shown us a rougher side of herself and the crew is thrilled with the pick up in speed – less so while sleeping, as trying to position yourself in a way to minimize rolling is not always super comfortable – but hey, that’s life at sea.
One of the highlights of the day is our routine of afternoon tea/coffee, where the whole crew sits down together over something freshly baked from the oven or a healthier fruit version. Our supply of fruits and veggies has worked really well now with approx. 3 days to go. Marie will share some tips and tricks on how to store these to increase life span in a separate update. Status is that the citrus fruits are still doing well, while the toll on most of our fresh vegetables is visible. The melon count is down to 2 (from 4), after enjoying fresh melon yesterday. But scones has been voted for for today’s high-tea, which is surprisingly simple to mix together and bake while moving. So definitely something to recommend!
Today skipper has also been showered on the back of the boat. The sea water pump hooked up with a garden hose works fine. To complete the treat each shower is completed by a short shower in potable water from the water maker, a resource that skipper on other occasions watches over with the same scrutiny as battery capacity.

Windy and sunny greetings from the North Star Crew.

The trade winds arrived on the 27.11

As you have probably understood by now, it has been very smooth sailing (read: slow), as the weather gods have not blessed us with an excessive amount of wind… but during the night, the wind has finally arrived! North Star is now cruising along with 7 knots. We now have 611 nm left! We are all happy about the increase in wind, but it does make life on board inherently more difficult and your ability to balance is challenged (as well as your patience) to say the least. Every day tasks like baking bread, making a cup of coffee and chopping vegetables for dinner just takes that much longer – especially if it repeatedly ends up on the floor. Wooozaa. Another simple activity like taking a bath will also be a bit more of an adventure today compared to yesterday. All except Alex took a shower on the aft deck yesterday evening in calm seas, as she was cooking dinner, so today she will have quite the adventure of balancing the saltwater hose and shampoo in 18 knots of wind, all while not falling over board. We look forward to this entertainment 🙂
13.55 N and 50.27 W, sog 7.6 and cog 292 deg.
Lots of greeting from the North Star Crew (and the dolphins who finally came back to sail with us last night at dinner)

The 26th of November

After a few windless days we now have 8 knots from NE and we are moving at 5 knots at 280 deg on the rhum line to St.Lucia. Position is 13¤51 N and 48¤ 05 W and the temperature is + 30 degress.
It continue to be a very pleasant journey with light winds and sunshine and as said slow is good.
We expect to be arriving on the 1st or the 2de if we continue with this speed. The fleet is moving more or less with similar speeds and it is pleasant to communicate on the SSb radio.
Greetings from the North Star crew

Another day in the office!

Today we finally silenced the engine after 24 hours. Maybe not quite for the right reason, as we suddenly could smell rotten egs in the aft cabin and when we inspected the batteries, they were very warm. So we stopped the engine urgently and of course at the same time as we were passing a russian research ship with a security parameter of one nm. Only the third ship we have seen since departure!
Fortunately, nearly at the same time as this happens, the wind decided to help us again on our journey the last 870 nm.
But back to the batteries. It turned out that this time it was the start battery for the engine which was seriously overheated. Our start battery and 12 volt bank have been acting up since the Canaries and it is time for finding a longterm solution when we arrive into St.Lucia. But until then one of our many backup plans are put into action and everything now works well.
In spite of this it was another nice warm day – we got wind, two freshly baked dark bread and halfway hamburgers for dinner.
So greetings on another starry night at 13.48 N and 45.39 W with sog 5.7 and cog directly towards St. Lucia.
All well on board, greetings from the crew of North Star

Thursday 23-11

A happy crew is always important but especially when you sail long distances and one way to accomplish this, is to have plenty of celebrations. And we use every opportunity, but yesterday became celebrations day, with both a birthday and passing the halfway mark to St. Lucia. So birthday song three times and even on the SSB radio, great American breakfast and North Star was decorated with flags and flying colors. Later at high tea we were served home made Carrot cake (my mothers receipt)and then later red wine and steaks. Who said that ocean crossings has to be hardship? Thanks to the North Star crew for making this a fantastic day.
Our position here at Friday morning running on engine at 0200 local time is 13.56 N and 43.18 W, sog 6.5 and cog is 285. Wind is ESE 6 and we have 1025 to go.
Windless greetings from the crew of North Star

New skills

I feel very fortunate to celebrate my birthday on 14.02N and 40.4 W in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. After I released Alexandra of her shift at midnight I enjoyed four hours of looking at the stars in complete solitude, just reflecting on the past and on the future. Not a bad birthday present!
Today was another quiet, nearly windless day. Our patience is being tested and we start to understand the true virtue of ocean sailing. We are currently sailing wing on wing during the night with 7 knots of wind moving 3 knots – with another 1120 nm to go. You realize that you just have to go where the wind takes you. You are no longer able to control time, speed or arrival time. So you go with the flow….and we are slowly learning this long forgotten skill in our modern society. So life is good.
Greetings from the Crew of North Star.