Logbook Sept 25th 2015
Following my Mini Transat participation in 2015 I am now publishing the logbook entries of each day – exactly one year after they were written down.
Day 7 of Leg 1, Sept 25th, 2015:
In the night we left Portugal behind us and are now heading straight to the Canary Islands.
It is interesting for me to read the logbook as I wrote quite a bit. In my memory all those events were spanning several days but looking at this it seems like a lot happened this one day.
I still remember the night because I had gone below deck for some short naps and when I returned back on deck at 11pm it was so warm that I had to lose my foulies: Finally proper Tradewind sailing!
Later I would learn how much the wind strength these days varied depending on whether you were further west or east. This time, the further west one was, the more stable winds there were. That reminds me that I need to ask some weather guru on why that was the case. Even today, looking at the weather chart I don’t get what was going on that day:
So, a day filled with weather observations but a simple sail choice: Big spinnaker. Not much else happening. Or so I thought…
00:00
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WNW 11-14 | 1-2m | 7/8 Cn | 1018.8 | N37°21.8 / W011°27.2 | Groß + Solent + Big Spi | 199 | n/a |
Comments from the logbook:
Sitting on Deck at 11pm in a longsleeve, constantly surfing down waves and leaving a white trail in the Atlantic: incredible!
03:00
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WNW 10-12 | 2.5m | 8/8 ? | 1018.0 | N37°00.0 / W011°32.2 | Groß + Solent + Big Spi | 189 | 8.6kn |
Comments from the logbook:
none
06:00
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NNW 10-12 | 1.5m | 8/8 Sc | 1018.0 | N36°36.5 / W011°41.0 | Groß + Solent + Big Spi | 199 | 7.1kn |
Comments from the logbook:
0400: Jaanus (787) called me on the VFH, sees me on the AIS. I don’t see him. He’s doing alright, says he’s sailing with the Code5 (?). We exchange positions, he’s at: N37°15.0/W11°19.6
0830: Wind dropping, barometer rising (already at 1018.6): I gybed. Now doing 140 over ground. Pretty bad but better than nothing. I wonder if this move is a massive mistake…
No VHF/AIS contact to anybody. Jaanus is probably far ahead with his proto but where are all the others?
If I do worse in today’s ranking then I bet most of the crowd is west of me.
10:30
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N 8 | 1.5m | 8/8 Cn | 1019.6(!) | n/a | Groß + Solent + Big Spi | n/a | n/a |
Comments from the logbook:
1030: Barometer still rising, Wind dropping further and turning NW it seems. Are we sailing into a high pressure ridge?
1040: Ranking shows us 27th (was 29th before). Victor overtook me though. Seems like a bit East-West-Split of the fleet. Leaders are 200nm ahead, Edouard is 160nm ahead. Amazing. Go Ed!!!
1400: very fickle winds, 4kn at times, and still some swell. Steering by hand to make the best of it. Spinsheet-Outriggers are deployed and they make a big difference: the spi is a lot more stable. Dropped the Jib.
15:00
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NNE 10-12 | 2.5m | 8/8 Sc/Cn | 1017.6 | N35°48.3 / W011°56.0 | Groß + Big Spi | 203 | 7.2kn |
Comments from the logbook:
Wind! Barometer dropping, Wind turning E.
18:00
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NNE 6-8 | 2m | 8/8 Sc/Cn | 1017.7 | N35°29.4 / W012°06.4 | Groß + Big Spi | 199 | 8.0kn |
Comments from the logbook:
1800: a black wall of clouds moves in from starboard – wondering what that brings… – Update: nothing 🙂
2000: new M10 cartridge in the fuel cell
2100: Cloud coverage disappears suddenly, Wind drops and turns. What is going on? Sailing into the High? Gybing!
21:30
| Wind | Waves | Clouds | Pressure | Position | Sails | COG | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nw 8-10 | 1-5m | 4/8 ? | 1018.3 | N35°08.8 / W012°12.3 | Groß + Big Spi | 134 | 6.0kn |
Comments from the logbook:
2130: Wind turning back, course over ground is crap!!!
2200: While I was below deck the shackle of the tackline opened, the pilot tried to handle the changing pressure and so the big spinnaker got properly wrapped around the forestay. Worst thing: it wrapped sometimes around jib halyard and forestay, sometimes managed to get in between.
Trying for 30 minutes to sort things out, balancing on the pullpit. At sunset I decide to climb the mast to solve this. The moment I arrive at the top the battery of my head torch runs out. There I am, at the top of the mast, laughing hysterically. It’s a good thing nobody can see me in this absurd situation. Luckily the reflections of the masttop-light are enought for me to detach the sail from the halyard, untangle it and drop it without breaking it.
Am back on deck after about 1 hour, hoisting the Medium spi unreefed.
2300: Wind increasing in gusts, putting a reef in the main, hoisted the solent.
24 distance: 176nm
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