Northern Child Passage Log

Northern Child - Antigua Azores UK - Daily Log # 5 - 16th May 2012

Position: 26'02.8"N 055'18.5"W
Distance Run from Start: 798NM
Distance Made Good: 627NM
Last 24 Hour Run: 162NM
Wind: E 14 Knots

Good evening all from Northern Child! Life is good on the high seas today and I am pleased to report that our sick crew member woke up this morning as hale and hearty as can be, if ravenously hungry. Food and water with hydration salts has stayed down and he is danger of being put back in the watch system! So as you can imagine the mood on board today has been very good. Especially as the weather has been fantastic yet again with a beautiful and warm shining sun, flat sea, good wind, decent boat speed and the tunes playing.

Last night saw more squalls come through (is this starting to sound familiar?) with rain threatening and gusty wind on their approach.  Luckily we haven't had any nasty ones come through as yet which I am fairly pleased about! There is a long way to go yet though with just over 1500NM to our waypoint outside of Horta, on the island of Faial in the Azores.

This morning was a chilly start to the day as the sun came up but by lunch time, Chris was topping up his tan and debating what to make for lunch. We settled on noodles with a nice hot baguette and butter, of which I believe our recently recovered crew member ate 2 portions!

This afternoon bought with it easy sailing with schools of flying fish cruising into the distance, as yet we haven't had to peel any off the deck but I have promised the crew that that is one of the joys of an Atlantic crossing, as well as the many types of wild life that it is possible to see out here.
The wind is looking to clock around to the North North East later on tonight/tomorrow morning so a tack (yes you heard me!) may be in order later on. We shall see how life pans out.

So I hope you sleep well in your nice warm, and more importantly, still beds tonight, and make the most of those flushing toilets, and spare a though for your loved ones out here in the rapidly increasing cold, heeled over at 25' gradually getting one leg shorter than the other.

So I am going to leave you with the quote of the night last night, which was one of mine,  "oh look here is that wind veer that we were expecting, oh, hang on, nope, it was just me driving like a ...."

All our love,
Matt, Chris, Tom, Anthony, Vladimir and Dimitrii

Northern Child - Antigua Azores UK - Daily Log # 4 - 15th May 2012

Position: 23'52.1"N 056'24.4"W
Distance Run from Start: 636NM
Distance Made Good: 497NM
Last 24 Hour Run: 168NM
Wind E 15 Knots

A very good evening to you all from Northern Child! Life is pretty rosy aboard today, lovely sunshine and a slight sea enabled us to maintain a good boat speed for the day, with very few waves coming over the bow and only a slight heel to the boat. The only black mark against the day is
that we still have a last crew member who is feeling rough, though he managed to keep some water and a bit of food down today which is a good sign. I am sure with a little more sleep he will be alive and kicking ready to take on the Atlantic with us!

Last night saw quite a few squalls come through, which thankfully weren't that wet but reasonably windy before and underneath them which got the excitement levels up somewhat! The sunrise was as good as ever and issued forth into a glorious day's sailing.

We had a big bowl of tuna mayo with sliced tomato sandwiches courtesy of yours truly:), which were either very nice or the crew wanted to keep the skipper happy by pretending! I didn't think they were too bad at all! The afternoon saw most of the crew on deck lounging in the sun, debating as to who's turn to drive it was, the arguments got settled amicably though so all is well. 

This evening Chris cooked us a lovely pasta dish with a cheese sauce with tomatoes, peppers and onions, completed with a good handful of grated cheese on top. Yum!

Tonight the wind looks to keep steady in the E and at around 15 knots is enabling us to maintain a nice and fast 8-8.5 knots, unfortunately there is almost a knot of current against us so our speed over the ground is still only 7. Very respectable all the same though!

As skipper predicted jackets and oilskin bottoms are being donned for watches tonight, the crew found it hard to believe a couple of days ago when night sailing in shorts and t-shirt!

All aboard Northern Child wish you a very pleasant night and we shall speak to you tomorrow.
Matt, Chris, Anthony, Tom, Vladimir and Dimitrii

PS Thanks to you all for your messages! They bought many a smile to our faces.

Northern Child - Antigua Azores UK - Daily Log # 3 - 14th May 2012

Position: 21'45.1"N 058'05.5"W
Distance Run from Start: 468NM
Distance Made Good: 346NM
Last 24 Hour Run: 187NM
Wind: ENE 14 Knots

Good Evening from all aboard Northern Child! We have had a lovely sail since the last update, last night proved to be a brilliant night in the end with a bright moon and only a few clouds in the sky with high boat speeds and reasonably calm sea.

The dawn brought with it more lovely sailing conditions and the crew are firmly settled into the watch system with ship board life becoming easier all the time.

The sun was shining and barely a cloud in the sky most of the morning, at the end of which we were treated to hot dogs by Anthony. The afternoon bought with it more turbulent weather, we saw the first proper Atlantic squall of the trip with torrential rain and a few strong gusts of wind. Luckily we had reefed down before it arrived so the boat was well set up, as well as crew with oilies seeing the light of day for the first time on the trip. Once the centre of the squall was over us with the rain lashing down, the wind dropped right off and became cyclonic for a time, with about 45 minutes of it not really knowing what to do, the wind finally settled back into it's forecast direction of ENE, and has us plodding along again at a respectable 7.5 knots.

Tonight looks to bring more squalls our way so the crew are eagerly anticipating the excitement which that can bring, and have been well set up for it by a lovely meal of bangers and mash courtesy of the first mate, Chris.

Bye for now, Matt, Chris, Anthony, Tom, Vladimir and Dimitri.

Northern Child - Antigua Azores UK - Daily Log # 2 - 13th May 2012

Position: 19'45.5"N 059'04.7"W
Distance Run from Start: 255NM
Distance Made Good: 255NM
Last 24 Hour Run: 204NM
Wind; E 14 Knots

Hello to everybody from Northern Child!

We have had a fantastic day sailing today with a decreased sea state and a little lighter winds. Most of the crew have fully recovered from their ordeal yesterday and have glided nicely into the watch system, with the daily routine of cleaning the heads in the morning, making lunch and dinner as well as sailing the boat towards the Azores.

Over night last night there was some good sailing, however one of the spare diesel jerry cans in the lazarette which is a locker on deck at the back of the boat, leaked so we had a lot of diesel in the bilges, worst of all, most under the skippers bed! So that took a while to clean up, thankfully that was the only problem of the night and the rest was all plain sailing!

Today the sailing has been equally good, if a little drier on deck, the sun has been out and we treated ourselves to some pizza and a nice can of soda. As evening fell we had a delicious Spaghetti bolognaise lovingly pre-prepared by Lucy, and tenderly reheated by myself, the 8 portion meal disappeared within an instant as we tucked heartily into our meal.

The sunset was a nice spectacle as always, but the night has bought with it some isolated thundery squalls which we are keeping a keen eye out for to windward.  So with that in mind it's back on deck I go, looking forward to telling you all about our adventure tomorrow.

SO it's bye from Matt, Chris, Tom, Anthony, Vladimir and Dimitri!   :)

Northern Child - Antigua Azores UK - Daily Log # 1 - 12th May 2012

Position: 17'32.1"N 061'08.6"W
Distance run from Start: 49NM
Distance made good: 49NM
Wind: E 20 knots
Sea: Moderate

So a big hello from the crew of Northern Child for the 2012 Transatlantic trip. There are 6 of us on board, myself, Matt the skipper, Chris the first mate, and Anthony, Tom, Vladimir and Dimitri
the keen crew.

We left the dock this morning after having been parked alongside for the night in Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua where the crew had a very merry time eating fine food and drinking cold beers, but, today, the real work has finally begun!

The wind isn't exactly ideal for us today and is forecast to stay the same for the next couple of days. So the boat is heeling over a lot and life isn't the most comfortable for us.

We spent the afternoon enjoying some good sailing with waves coming over the bow, but alas, the conditions have got the better of some crew and 3 out of 4 have been seasick. We all have our fingers crossed that everybody will recover by tomorrow and start really enjoying the great,
if a little uncomfortable sailing.

We started out watch system at 1500. I have decided to a rolling watch system of 3 hours on deck followed by a blissful 4 1/2 hours off to get some well deserved rest.  You may wonder how this watch system works. Well you do the 1st half of your watch with one crew member and the 2nd half of your watch with a different crew member.  The benefits of this watch system are that there is always 2 crew on deck and that you have someone new and wide awake to chat to every 90 minutes.

The first night is a very dark night with no moon up as yet, and a thick layer of cloud blocking out the amazing skyskape of stars that is afforded to us by good old mother nature.  So the sails are set, the sun is down, and we are hurtling towards the Azores at a fine rate of knots.

Wish us a safe passage and you will be hearing from me tomorrow.

Night!