Pre-Crossing
Lying in bed, the air is crisp, the sky is just beginning to brighten, the children are asleep, you can hear their gentle dreamy breaths, and John and I are lying awake running through the lists. We have multiple lists. An Interior Boat list, a Rigging list, a Deck list, a Grocery list, a Nice To Have list, a When, Oh When, Will We Be Finished With The Admin list, etc. Sometimes, it feels like we will never get everything done. Sometimes I just want to say, this is enough, we're staying here and we'll deal with sorting the boat out later. Sometimes we both question why we are doing this.
We have been cruising for 4 months now.
When I look back on our voyage I break it up into large sections or legs. While
we generally did not complete one of these sections in one go they were our
focal point, the major destination we were heading for and a place we would
then evaluate how we were doing and what we would be doing next. In September
we made our way across the Bay of Biscay. Our next goal was to get around Cape
Finesterre. Then we set our sights on Gibraltar. After Gibraltar it was the
Canaries and now it is time to make our next big journey, it is time to get
across the Atlantic.
So, how are we? How are we feeling about
this trip? Where are we going?
Besides feeling overwhelmed with lists, we are fine. We have had a wonderful time
in Tenerife, Alberto and Celia made us very welcome here and we have really
enjoyed exploring this lovely place. We are well rested, well fed (perhaps too well) and we seem
to have all we need to cross. We even have little presents tucked away for the
kids to open when we reach half way. We have opted to take two more crew with
us. David Quinlan, an Irish man who is on his way to Canada and my Dad, Robert
Little. It is wonderful to have my Dad making this journey with us, very
special, we will have three generations of Little’s on the boat, not many
people can say they have crossed the Atlantic in that kind of company.
Now, how are we feeling about this trip?
Well, I am nervous, it is a long way to go, and while we are stopping in Cape
Verde it is still at least 5 days at sea before we get to Mendelo, and then at
least another 14 days until we reach the Lesser Antilles. But it is not the time at sea that makes
me nervous, it is the possibility of bad weather and the fact that once you are
out of sight of land that is it. You are on your own and we have three small
people on board that we are entirely responsible for and who did not make the
crazy decision to be living on a boat crossing the Atlantic. However, while I
am nervous I am also very excited. We are off on an amazing adventure, one that
John and I have talked about for many years. One that I hope will live up to my
expectations of good winds, sunny skies and calm seas. I am looking forward to
my night watches free from all light pollution, and seeing the vast starry
sky. I am looking forward to being out
away from cities and cars and internet, being away from it all and sharing this
away time with my family. It is a huge privileged to be able to explore the
oceans of our Earth and I plan to enjoy every minute of it.
Finally, where are we going? Our sail plan
is to leave Santa Cruz Marina, Tenerife on January 1st. Then head
south to Cape Verde to the city of Mendelo on Isla Sao Nicholas. We will then
take on more water, if we can, and fresh produce. We will probably spend 2-3
days there. Then we will set off for Antigua, Falmouth Harbour.
In all we will be travelling 2000 KNMs. May
the weather be fair and the seas be calm, and everyone maintain a good sense of
humour.
The
Crossing
31 December 2014
New Year’s Eve 2014. All there is left to
do is put the tarp over the dinghy, put the girls’ scooters away and take the
sail covers off and we are ready to go. Goodbye Tenerife, hello Atlantic
Crossing.
January 1, 2014
Morning. Happy New Year! And we are off!
Outside, we are cruising along. A fabulous
sail.
Inside the kids and I take refuge in the
playpen. Unfortunately, only a few hours out to sea, even though everyone took
seasickness tablets, everyone is feeling a bit ill. Dad and Ruth are feeling
the worst. Adam has been sick, which we find very worrying, but it should pass
by tonight. We’ll all have our sea legs then.
January 2, 2014
We continue to make good progress, but the
motion continues to be rather uncomfortable and the wind is very high. David is
still smiling though.
January 3, 2014
During the night a dust storm moved in. We
are sailing with the main with 2 reefs in and a reefed genoa. The winds are
quite high and the swell is quite steep and uncomfortable. Thankfully the kids
have stopped suffering from seasickness so we are playing with the iPads, watching
movies and colouring though the motion is really uncomfortable so it is hard to
do any of this easily. Dad is still feeling a bit rough, but I think the worst
of it is over. The best cure for seasickness is sleep and a bit of food.
We wake up to a dust storm and big swell.
Not such a smooth sail now. It is not all
that comfortable.
January 4, 2014
Morning watch change. We are still in a
dust storm courtesy of the Sahara, and the seas continue to be uncomfortable,
but as you can see we are still smiling.
Dad at the helm. He took all the pictures
on our trip so this is one of the few to prove that he was actually there. He
has certainly gotten his sea legs now.
Today the kids and I played in the playpen
again, and once we altered course we were able to watch a movie with popcorn in the afternoon. It is not great
conditions for the kids to be out and up on deck.
January 5, 2015
It’s still dusty!
Adam is asleep and no one is feeling
seasick so we’re going to try some school.
We put up the a-symetric spinnacker today,
and unfortunately the head blew out almost as soon as this picture was taken. A
real drag, as we were hoping to use it for a lot of the crossing. Oh well,
c’est la vie.
Lucy is still up to her favourite game,
swinging on the pole in the galley.
We kept track of the location of Dark Horse
on an old Atlantic Crossing planning chart. We took note of the lat and long
each mid day. Still dusty, still uncomfortable and still a very long way to go.
January 6, 2015
Even though the seas were not all that
comfortable, Adam still is able to make sleep in his cot look so peaceful and
safe.
January 7, 2015
Time for some more school.
We read in two books describing the
Atlantic crossing about the glorious sun, the flying fish you’d find landing on
your deck, and the warmth. We have at least gotten a flying fish, even if it is
a very small one.
January 8, 2015
Bad weather persists and John braves the
wind and rain to keep watch over the rig.
January 9, 2015
Our glorious weather continues. Though we
did see a quick glimpse of the sun today and had a wonderful spirit lifting
meal of pork, satay sauce, boat sprouted sprouts and rice. Thank you Chef John!
January 10, 2015
We marked our half way point today. Weather
is still grey but it is getting warmer and we even had a bit of sun for a few
hours. We marked the day with our first showers since we left and some presents
for the girls and a beer each, luxury!
January 11, 2015
Still chilly, but we decided to try to fly our
twin headsails. We were traveling straight down wind and since we blew the top
out of our spinnaker this was the next best option.
Unfortunately the sails
were not happy like that for all that long, the second sail was rubbing against
the top of the genoa furler and there was a risk of us damaging the sail so it
came down and we went back to our usual sail configuration of a poled out genoa
and our main. We were making good time though, doing 8.5-10 Knts at times.
January 12, 2015
It’s baking day! Scones and banana bread
made by Lucy and Ruth. What a great pick-me up! We opted for some creative
mixing positions.
January 13, 2015
Autopilot giving me grief today, John to
the rescue.
January 14, 2015
Rough day for everyone so no pictures.
Think we are all a bit fed up and ready to get there. Still a long way to go
though. The kids are amazing. They have not complained about the crossing at
all. We are so very lucky to have such amazing and tolerant children.
January
15, 2015
Sun coming up and David coming off watch.
Still cool at nights, but atleast it looks like it will be sunny today and
hopefully warm.
The girls got out some of their dress-up
clothes today, and we did a lot of colouring and drawing.
Adam had a turn at
the helm, though he was not pleased when the autopilot would not do what he
told it too.
Ruth and Lucy also made an appearance on deck to play, which is a
first for almost the whole trip. So the weather must be getting better.
January 16, 2015
Wind has dropped almost completely through
the night, no more wind, but the sun is out and it is very warm. We have just
over 300 KNM to go. We are all ready to be there. What I am looking forward to
most is a shower! Haven’t had one since our half way party and the tanks are
pretty low now, hopefully we have enough in the tanks to get us to Antigua, if
not we will be breaking out the emergency supplies.
With warmer weather and no wind Adam was
out on deck exploring a lot more.
The girls and I pass the time reading and making paper dolls and things. We haven’t done school properly in about a month so I think we are all craving a bit more intellectual stimulation.
January 17, 2015
Another beautiful sunny day, without any
wind. Dad and David posing at the helm just to prove that it has gotten warmer.
Sunset was just gorgeous.
January 18, 2015
John is a tad bit exasperated with the lack
of wind. We tried to put up more sail just to get us going a bit more, but it
didn’t really do much, we just watched the sails flap around. So the engine
went on again. At least it means we have hot water for the dishes.
We had a visit from the Easter bunny this
morning and she has decided to stay. She delivers chocolate coins and 70% Dark
Chocolate to the crew in the evenings. The trick s you need to find the
chocolate in your cabin before it melts.
Adam started to develop a heat rash today
so a bucket bath in sea water was in order. All three of them in their own bucket.
January 19, 2015
We awoke to see land this morning. We are
going to get to Antigua today! We are still under engine but we are all ready
to be there and end this part of our adventure. Oh, shower here I come! I think
John is most looking forward to a full nights sleep. The girls made a list of
things they wanted to do when we got there, at the top of which was eat ice
cream. Finding other kids to play with was the next most important. Hopefully
there will be kids around.
We had a house martin join the crew at dusk
last night. It was pretty exhausted and just stayed tucked up in the man mast
sheets. This morning it seems to have gained back some of its strength and is
moving around the boat a bit more.
About 4 hours out of Falmouth Harbour a
small pod of dolphins joined us for a bit. They were the first cetaceans we
have seen on our trip across which we found to be a bit odd after having had
them with us so much on the European side.
We made it.
We tided up to the Antigua
Yacht Club Marina dock. It was a bit scary coming in. There were soooooooo many
super yachts and quite a narrow channel for us to come in through. With no bow thruster turning around and going
into a pontoon stern too is quite challenging. Needless to say we held our breaths as John
manoeuvred Dark Horse in and Dad, David and I stood poised with our fenders. We
weren’t worried about hurting Dark Horse, it was more the millions of dollar of
damage we could cause to the very beautiful classic yacht next to us. We were
certainly ready for a drink once we were snuggly tied up, but first
registration in the office, water in the tanks, and showers. Then a rum punch
and a quick chat to Mom and an email to Maureen. Exhaustion was setting
in. Bed could come none too soon.
January 20, 2015
We have decided to stay in this marina for
today and go over to English Harbour tomorrow. This one is just too expensive
especially since we don’t see what services they are providing us except a
pontoon to tie up too. At least when we stayed in Marina Rubicon in Lanzarote
it was expensive but there was a swimming pool for us and the kids decent
shower facilities, and power and water for the boat at no extra charge. There
is none of that here. They are definitely not interested in little boats like
us, they are here for the super yachts, but enough of the negativity on wards
and upwards.
Today is also the day we say goodbye to Dad
and David. Dad was up and out looking for a place for Mom and him to stay in
when she arrives tomorrow. Thankfully he found a great little place just a 10
minute walk away where he will stay tonight. David is off to the hostel and
then eventually on his way to Canada. It will be weird not to have a full boat
anymore. The Atlantic crossing journey is certainly coming to a close.
January 21, 2015
We are up early and moving the boat to
English Harbour, Nelson’s Dockyard Marina, by 8:30AM. Dad is on board to give
us a hand.
The best part about Nelson’s Dockyard
Marina is the grass! We are still stern to on the pontoon but the boats around
us are a bit more normal, though there are certainly a few super yachts here as
well. Gloria is our favourite at the moment. And Nomad, a boat we saw in Grand
Canaria is here too. It is kind of nice to run into the same boats as we make
our journey.
Dad and the girls are off to the airport
this afternoon to pick up Mom. Can’t wait to see her. It will be so nice to be
able to share all of this with her.
Mom arrives. The girls apparently have not
stopped talking to her since they got in the taxi. I think they may be a little bit excited.
The weather is perfect so we were able to
end our day at the beach.
January 22 to February
Mom and Dad stayed in Antigua for 2 weeks.
We spent a lot of time at the beach, saw the super yachts participate in the Antigua Super Yacht Race and made a tour of the island by car too.
It was really nice to be able to relax, to stop moving, or rushing, or thinking
about what we need to do to the boat. John and I, and I think my Dad, found the
Atlantic crossing exhausting, far harder than we thought it would be, or
perhaps not what we thought it would be. While it is an enormous privilege to
be exploring our great oceans it is also a huge responsibility to take your
young family across it. There is nothing like being in the middle of the ocean
to make you realise just how small you and your boat are. I am very grateful to
have made the crossing safe and sound with my family and crew. I am sure I will
be reflecting on the journey for years to come, but for now it is time to say
goodbye to my parents and for our little family to start cruising the
Caribbean. Next stop Barbuda!
