January 2nd we left the dock, topped up fuel tanks and cleared out. The plan was to head to an anchorage 9 miles down the coast, have swims and spend the night. We did enjoy swims and an hour in the anchorage before Todd noted the wind sensor suddenly wasn’t working. This useful piece of equipment keeps track of wind speed which is our main tool for sail selection and reefing. The Beaufort Scale is another option, but when you’re sleep deprived and making decisions in the middle of the night, you want cold hard numbers.
After checking that the Chandlery back in Las Palmas had a replacement, Todd was able to ask Xavier, a fellow cruiser to swing by the store before closing and pick it up for us. We returned to Las Palmas and anchored out for the night, then Todd buzzed over to meet Xavier and pick up the new wind sensor (Thanks!) The next morning Todd was up the rig by 8am when it was light, and switched out the sensors. It turned out the bearing on the anemometer had failed.
January 3rd we left Las Palmas again, and had a motor sail for 3 hours until we got into the breeze after clearing the island…and that was the last land we saw until January 22nd. It was a nice send off with Dolphins playing on the bows and in the waves around us, and the moon that night was almost full.
The passage was all downwind. Weather was checked 2 x a day and although the predicted models frequently suggested a more Northern or Southern route to stay in the wind or avoid bigger swell, our WSW rhumb line course worked out just fine!
Day 3 we shredded our small kite so sail selection became easier. It took 4 hrs to get poor old “007” untangled from the head stay and Port spreader, socked, and doused. After that we alternated with reefed main and the big blue asymmetrical kite during daylight hours when wind speed was under 18 knots, just the jib ( full or reefed), the Code zero when wind was lighter, and wing on wing with the jib and Code 0.
Comfort wise, the first 3 days were kinda rock and rolly, but nothing that interfered with meal prep. We found that going downwind was a lot more work for the autopilot. Surfing down a swell doing 18.5 knots did increase the pucker factor, as the boat corkscrewed down the waves alternating between an accidental gybe and a flame out. Exciting stuff!
The passage rhythm was soon established and the days and nights flew by. We started fishing after the first week when we’d made some room in the freezer. There were 6-7 little (8 ish) pound Dorado that we had fun landing and releasing, plus a small tuna. The 3 big Dorado we processed and froze. Much was enjoyed sautéed, poached, fried, and curried, throughout the trip, and after!
About half way through the passage we started seeing clumps of Sargassum, which is a type of brownish gold Seaweed with small air bladders. It was a real pain for snagging on the fishing lures, and we were kept very busy clearing the lines every few minutes.
We thought the trip would have been quicker, but realized soon that it wasn’t worth breaking gear and tiring crew with middle of the night sail changes. In the end it took 19 days, we shredding our small kite, and had some chafe on the Jib foot and Code 0 halyard. There was also a temperamental solenoid in the guest head, which was a bit of a pain for Colin and Kim but they took it in stride!
It feels good to have the passage behind us, and we are looking forward to being in “cruising mode” now that we are in Martinique and officially in the Caribbean!
