Northern Child Passage Log

ARC 2010 - 10th December 2010 - 89nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-4

Day 19 Run towards St Lucia - 209nm

Menu for the day

Lunch - Hot Baguettes with a choice of Ham, Cheese & Tomato
Dinner - Cumberland & Pork & Herb Sausages with Mashed Potato

Happy Hour - Beer or Ernest & Julio Cabinet Shiraz or Namaqua Dry White

My first comment today has to be my apology for a delayed final log. I had written the final log almost ready to send, with the exception of the finish time and a conclusion and saved it in drafts ready to send. The inevitable party on arrival, 400 unread emails and headache the following day took away some focus on the daily log. Thank you to Basil and Janet, Nick’s parents for their kind reminder.

Well even with the wind reducing for the last 24hrs, we have still managed 209nm towards St Lucia!! That means, in our last 5 days at sea, we have averaged 210nm which is, quite simply, staggering. It has been a very welcome end to this ARC as the first 10 days were such slow progress. On this final day at sea, the crew were all in a surreal mood. Happy, jokey, sometimes a little silly - mainly the Dutchies ;-) - but also in some way I sense a kind of realisation in them that their adventure is almost at an end; and an adventure it has been. Dolphin encounters, fishing stories, light, moderate & heavy winds. Sun, rain, full moon, no moon. Calm seas, 4m swells, plenty of laughter. 0 - 16.8 knots of boat speed. Sun burn, sun tans. Lovely food, happy hour, midnight treats.

Today has been a very relaxed day, the wind slightly lighter and therefore a little bit easier to steer and with land seemingly only a stones' throw away, everyone has visibly ‘changed gear’. As we got closer to St Lucia and Pigeon Point at the North of the Island, we saw 2 yachts to our North. 1 within 2-3nm was flying what looked like an asymmetric spinnaker, enabled by his closer course to the wind. They slipped passed us towards the finish but thankfully they were a much faster yacht and should have been much further ahead anyway. We rounded Pigeon Point, after radioing the ARC finish line and Judy took the helm to sail us across the line. Northern Child, with her crew crossed the line at 2045hrs on Friday 10th December.

Even today, with Space Rockets and Satelites, iPhones and Xboxes, it is still possible to feel the emotions, the ups and downs, the sadness and the joy, that those truly intrepid explorers before us must have felt crossing the Atlantic. And whilst we do have Satphones and Weather routing software, water-makers and generators and much, much more comfortable boats, the fundamental feeling of achievement, the bonding of people and the memories are certainly just as real.

So for this final time, farewell to so many of you who have supported the crew of Northern Child and thank you for your emails of support and good wishes. nothernchild@zap-email.com will now be switched off (until our next crossing in May), so if you would like to contact us, you can do so on christian@northernchild.com.
To our fabulous crew I won’t say goodbye, I’ll simply say, thank you.

Our best wishes

Christian & Lucy

ARC 2010 - 9th December 2010 - 295nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-3

Day 18 Run towards St Lucia - 220nm

Menu for the day

Lunch - Egg Fried Basmati with Crab
Dinner - Beef Bourguignon followed by Yoghurt

Happy Hour - Beer or Ernest & Julio Cabinet Shiraz

WOW WOW WEE WUH!!! Two hundered & twenty miles, TWO HUNDRED & TWENTY MILES........... What an amazing daily run - these guys are all helming so well. The best ever daily run we have had is 221nm, which was down the coast of Africa with 30 knots and Big Atlantic swell, so this 220nm is truly EPIC. Add to that, yet another speed record from Christian of
16.8 knots and I can only say one thing...........WEEEEEEEELY WONKAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

The Rock and Roll at night doesn't matter anymore, not when we are sailing so fast towards St Lucia. Early this morning the wind shifted to the North, which meant that with our poled out headsail we were heading a little too far South. So with the wind down at a steady 20 knots, we prepared and then hoisted the asymmetric spinnaker. I took the helm and within moment of the spinnaker being up we were off, tearing across the Ocean with tremendous consistent speed. We sailed a course of 305 degrees to make a more Northerly course towards our Rhumb line. It was spectacular sailing but very testing on the helm. I had to use all my years of racing dinghies on the edge to keep Northern Child in check and for just over an hour we just surfed waves and smiled
- well the crew did, I was too busy concentrating to smile. With the wind back up to a steady 25 knots and a fairly large sea condition I decided it would be prudent to drop the spinnaker and 2 sail reach.
Some of the other boats we have been tracking lost a lot of miles on us in the last 2 days and I suspect it was because they tried using the spinnaker in these conditions and didn't drop them while the going was good.

Since the spinnaker came down at 1000hrs we have been sailing well under the 2 white sails with the occasional VERY large wave. The first to hit us 'landed' on the quarter soaking the people on deck and cascading in through the head hatch in front of the mast. Fortunately all the bunks remained dry and the water was easy to clear up. The second wave came in from the same direction and the helm lost control, sending Northern Child spinning up 40-50 degrees. With crashes and bangs of pots flying about in cupboards and anything not properly stowed darting across the yacht to the leeward side. That was a good wake-up call and a reminder that nothing is entirely predictable on the sea.

Today has been really beautiful - good wind and a wonderful deep blue sky meeting the Ocean at the horizon. So close now, the mind starts to reflect on what is still, even today, an amazing achievement that few people are lucky enough to experience. I always find that near to the end of a passage, I replay the journey in my mind. This one has had 3 distinct parts to me; the journey South to the Cape Verdes looking for Trade Winds, the few frustrating days at latitudes South of St Lucia with light and shifty winds, and of course, the last week of just the most amazing sailing. There is a certain harshness when at sea, even in comfortable boats, but then when you have the finish in your sights, all that just evaporates and you start to feel a great sense of achievement
- just like anything in life worth doing - there is always hard work on the way to great results.

Our last crew profile tonight is the Dutchy watch leader, Erik van der Dussen. Brother of Taco, Erik is 45 and lives in Breda, Holland. Erik is a Management Consult in media innovations back at home and is currently working on a few projects. Erik has been sailing for about 25 years in a mixture of dinghies and yachts. This is Erik's second ARC, having competed in 2007. Erik was keen to do the ARC again as in 2007 he had a bad experience with several issues on the yacht he was on including bad weather routing and provisioning. Erik has really enjoyed this crossing with Northern Child and the crew aboard, which he appreciates fully following his previous experience. In addition to sailing, Erik plays field hockey and enjoys keeping fit running and road biking. Eric's motto is "life is too short for drinking bad wine!"

At dinner this evening we again went through our daily ritual of talking about 24hr run, miles to go, ETA and how we have done against the other yachts we are tracking. Again we have made distance on all the other yachts we track which is a great way to finish.

On our last full night at sea, with only 200nm to go, the Atlantic somehow seems smaller tonight. This crew, who have been excellent in their approach to each other, being at sea and keeping positive even in the hard times will sleep well tonight; dreaming of our arrival tomorrow and the familiar faces that await them, the air-conditioned hotel rooms and I dare say, a few too many Rum punches.

So for the last time on this ARC 2010, good night and we will tell you all what time we arrive tomorrow.

Best regards

Christian, Lucy & crew.

ARC 2010 - 8th December 2010 - 515nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-3

Day 17 Run towards St Lucia - 214nm

Menu for the day

Lunch - Pasta Carbonara
Dinner - Pork & Mushroom in Cider Sauce with Mashed Potato & Garden Peas followed by homemade Dundee Cake

Happy Hour - Beer or White Zinfandel with Halumi Bites

A night full of Rock & Roll - great sailing conditions, but not the most conducive for great sleep. We did however maintain the superb speeds of the last 3 days, with the GPS mostly reading 9's and above. In fact, yet another record 24hr run with 214nm towards St Lucia. We are also doing more miles than all the other boats we are tracking. There is no doubt that 20-25 knots really is where Northern Child proves herself, with great speed and a comfortable ride - relative to other boats of the similar size. The 4 day average is now 200 miles which is incredible over 4 days. The conditions haven't really changed either which tells me that the crew are getting better on the helm, steering straighter and faster towards St Lucia. We are currently steering a course of 290 degrees which has us pointed slightly South of St Lucia. The Magnetic Variation right now is 17 degrees. Charts show North as True or Geographic North. A compass can only point to Magnetic North, so the difference between the two is called Variation. In the English Channel from East to West the Variation is only 1 to 3 degrees so most sailors can almost ignore this when passage planning. 17 degrees Variation is enough that if you left the Solent via the needles for Cherbourg, you would miss the peninsula completely and end up in the Channel Islands!!

Another 'Willy Wonker' today from our Dutchies who claim back the speed record, Andy was in the lead for the Blue Caps with 16.1 knots, but Rollover-DJ achieved an impressive 16.3 knots today!! At surfing speeds of 12 knots plus, this 22 ton yacht really does feel incredible. I heard Mark on deck this morning saying "this really does feel like a freight train", and he is right. Never in your life can you imagine how fast 14mph can feel, until you are at the helm of an Ocean going yacht with 3-4m waves building up behind you and then picking the yacht up, sending it cascading down the face of the wave straight towards the next one ahead. I shot some video today which I will add to the website for anyone interested to look at; it is amazing to be stood on the bow as it rises up, high above the wave, 4ft, 5ft, 8ft and then down again with the whole bow occasionally disappearing into the wave below with water rushing across the foredeck. It is by virtue of Northern Childs classic low volume, narrow bow and stern that we are able to ride these Ocean waves in comfort and safety. Unlike so many modern yacht designs with wide voluminous transoms which lift as the wave passes under the stern, reducing rudder steerage and burying a straight stem bow into the wave ahead causing change of course for the un-weary.

Our crew profile today is Judy from St Lawrence Bay in Essex. Judy is a keen sailor, having sailed Shearwater Catamarans for 45 years from Stone SC in Essex. In addition to her dinghy sailing, Judy has also sailed with the Ocean Youth Club and Challenger Yachts having covered almost 10,000nm including competing in the ARC in 2008. Judy would describe herself as predominantly having had a career in Horticulture, however she also has electronics experience, having spent 4 years building Marine radios for companies such as Marconi and Kelvin Hughes.
Following the brief spell making radios, Judy spent 28 years as a Green-keeper at Maldon Golf Club in Essex which she loved. It is clear when you meet Judy that she is an outdoor person and enjoys her self employed work as an Agricultural Contractor for Sarah Greens Organics.
Judy's love of nature extends to bird-watching which has been clear as she has spent many hours twitching and educating us on this passage.
Judy is extending her stay in St Lucia until 19th December when she will fly home and says hello to her family and friends who are following the logs.

We had another small sail repair to do today when the tack strop on the number 1 genoa ripped. The solution was to drill a hole through the reinforced part of the sail and tie it with dyneema (rope that is stronger than steel) back to the furling drum on the bow. DJ and I did this repair whilst surfing along between 9 and 14 knots, with the occasional wall of water washing across the foredeck which made for some fun!!

Another very bubbly chatty happy hour for the crew, sharing stories and tales. It is clear that everyone is now excited about making landfall in 2 days time. Our best guess now for arrival is late Friday evening, which means we will have achieved the objective of getting all our crew to St Lucia in time for their flights which is great news.

It is 1950hrs, dark outside, but with a small slither of the new moon lighting our way and right now at 13 degrees 14 minutes North, 53 degrees 50 minutes West, we have precisely 420nm left to run.

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.

ARC 2010 - 7th December 2010 - 729nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-3

Day 16 Run towards St Lucia - 208nm

Menu for the day

Lunch - Chefs Potato Salad with Tuna, Egg & Mixed Vegetables
Dinner - Spaghetti Bolognese followed by Lime Torte

Happy Hour - Beer or Ernest & Julio Cabernet Sauvignon

Another great morning with plenty of wind and BIG waves. Early on during the morning there was a solid 3m swell with the occasional rogue 4m wave rolling on by. The Dutchies had a consistent 25 knots and the occasional gust in the high 20's. I was very close to putting a reef in when the wind moderated and the sea calmed down a little, leaving us with 20-25 knots from the ENE and some very exciting sailing.

Yesterdays speed records were smashed not once, not twice, but three times today with regular calls of 'Willy Wonker' from the Dutchies.
Even the Blue Caps started chanting 'Willy Wonker' on the odd occasion of high speed surfing. The first man to 'ride the mountain' today and surpass yesterdays 14.4 knots was Dutch Christian with 15.8 knots. Big smiles and loud 'WW' calls followed. Then about 2 hours later, recent on to the wheel, Andy steering on his own, let out a huge 'Woohooooooo!
- 16.1 knots'. There was no doubt in my mind that we'd hit 16 as even below, you could feel the whole boat just take off with an amazing noise of water rushing past the hull. Following Andy, Jerome was working hard during the afternoon to try and top the 16.1 knots and came exceedingly close with 15.9 knots. During the day today I have been sat at the chart table on numerous occasions watching the GPS speed constantly over
9 knots and then regularly hitting 10 and 11. Amazing progress.

Whilst this kind of sailing is exceedingly exciting, it does require incredible concentration and at times quite a lot of physical strength to keep the boat tracking in a straight line and in control. This hard work and concentration was rewarded with our best 24hr run towards St Lucia of 208nm, meaning in the last 3 days we have sailed 589nm - a terrific run. To put that in perspective, in the first 7 days of the passage we only logged 613nm towards St Lucia!!

We haven't used a spinnaker at all today as the speeds have been at the top end for Northern Child and it is safer to sail with poled out headsail as we can furl it away quickly if the wind builds. Also, the wind angle has been such that we would have needed the symmetric kite and with the repaired tears we now have I think it has been too windy to risk hoisting it. We are maintaining a course slightly South of the Rhumb line, in order to leave ourselves with a slightly hotter angle (closer to the wind) for the last 100 miles or so, with a view to hoisting the asymmetric for a real blast past Barbados and into St Lucia. On a personal level, I am so delighted that the last 2 days have been such tremendous Atlantic sailing. I was starting to fear that crew would not see the beauty and excitement of proper trade wind sailing, but they sure have now.

Talking about spinnakers, this morning, Mark and I pulled the symmetric kite out of the bag to wool it ready for its next hoist. As we were running the tapes (feeding each edge up to ensure no twists) to the crew on deck, I became aware of a quite pungent smell. A couple of minutes later, Mark and I discovered a dead flying fish wrapped up in the spinnaker! It must have been just the most amazing timing for the fish to fly out of the water at the exact moment we were dropping the spinnaker and then stuffing it into the bag. DJ (the Sushi chef) asked who ate the fish - I'm glad to say no one!!

We did our 3rd and final clock change today before arriving in St Lucia and so it was dark just after 1800hrs. I sat up with the Dutchies who were on watch after dinner to make sure they were comfortable with the conditions under full sail as the waves have increased again this evening. They all spent 10 minutes or so on the helm in rotation and were all excellent sailing the boat in the waves. We agreed to stay under full sail, but that they would call me on deck if the conditions became uncomfortable or the wind blew a steady 25 knots for more than 15 minutes. Our strategy for reducing sail, is first to furl away 50% of the genoas and then to put a reef in the mainsail, before letting some genoa back out.

A truly magnificent 3 days sailing. It has been hard for me to get my hands on the wheel, but I have a few times today and absolutely loved it each and every minute. With only another 4 nights at sea, the passage is now flashing by. Whilst we are all enjoying ourselves and Lucy is now able to cook confidently with no need for any 'rationing', so we are being spoilt with tasty dinners and desserts, I think we are all ready for that sight of landfall and a taste of what St Lucia has to offer.

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.

ARC 2010 - 6th December 2010 - 937nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-2

 

Day 15 Run towards St Lucia - 201nm

 

Menu for the day

Lunch - Hot Dogs with Homemade Waldorf Salad (with the elusive Walnuts)

Dinner - Chicken, Bacon & Mushroom Pie, with New Potatoes, Carrots & Peas, followed by Pancakes

Happy Hour - Pink Champagne

A MUCH nicer start to the day today. No generator or watermaker issues and the wind is still blowing firmly at 20 knots from the ENE. During the night Lucy and I helped the crew pole out early on and then remove the pole later when the wind swung further to the North giving us more of a reach. We are seeing boats each day and night now which all adds to the feeling that we are getting there. To this point it  doesn't seem that we have been over-taken (by anyone we could see anyway). I feel that there could be quite a few of us fairly close at the finish which would be great - a little drag race to the line!

The sunrise this morning was quite beautiful, with pale yellow rising above the horizon, followed by pale and then a deep blue sky. Just after first light, Lucy and I helped the crew hoist the asymmetric spinnaker and watched the speed jump. Consistently above 9 knots, with the occasional burst over 12 and our best so far, 14.4knots with Taco on the helm. As the speed reads 14.4 on the masthead display, a cry of "Willy Wonker" from the Dutchies. What that means, I am not quite sure, neither I think are they, but it seems to amuse them greatly, with laughs and cheers afterwards!! In 6 hours today we clocked up 54nm with the spinnaker up. It made taking it down for me very difficult. As a racer I would leave it up 24x7, but without a race crew, the sensible thing to do is to use white sails at night. It is also much more relaxing, there being little need to trim sails and only the need to concentrate on steering the boat.

Once more our 24hr run was excellent today, in fact our first over 200 miles to target with 201nm. Once Northern Child is doing 200 mile days towards target, we are really getting there quickly. The wind is only due to build over the next 3 days, so hopefully we can maintain that pace and maybe even improve on it slightly. Our ETA is looking much more encouraging - I won't say exactly when yet, but will come back to that in a couple of days. Our original competition - with a £10 entry - to guess the nearest ETA from the crew was won by Nick with his guess of Friday PM. However, due to the very slow crossing this year and Nick's great sportsmanship, we have given everyone the chance to guess again. With the new times hidden away in my filofax, someone stands to win £100 when we arrive which will be a nice little bonus. Usually on arrival, the marina staff, together with some of the locals are waiting on the dock with a wheel barrow filled with beer and Rum Cocktails. Most of the crew are stumbling about and speaking 'Double Dutch' - pardon the pun - about 30 minutes after arriving.

Of course arriving after almost 3 weeks at sea, there are quite a number of things that need to be done. Check-in (immigration authorities), washing of bedding, towels and clothes, garbage disposal, a thorough cleaning down below and a good fresh water hosing of the whole boat on deck to remove the salt. Ropes, full of salt and baked in the sun, become so rigid they can actually stand straight on end! Then over the next couple of days, Lucy and I will review the jobs list and work out what equipment we need to buy before heading on up the Leeward Islands.

Our crew profile today is Mark from Brentwood. Mark is 49 and a police officer serving in East London. Mark has been a policeman for 29 years, having previously worked in Central London and as part of the Mounted branch on horseback. Mark has only been sailing for about the past 3 years and has done quite a lot of chartering and flotilla holidays in that time, but wanted to move up to something more challenging. After the first few nights, Mark was wondering what on earth he'd done, but has settled into the passage and life at sea extremely well. Mark is married to Carolyn and they have 2 children, Christopher 18 and Grace 16 plus their German Pointer Eva.

The family (minus Eva) will be waiting for Mark when we arrive in St Lucia in a few days. The family will stay in St Lucia for 10 days to relax and Mark is looking forward to some clean clothes and a shower without the need for bracing.

 After taking the spinnaker down, we sat on deck with our Pink Cava, some lovely Spanish chorizo and chatted away, before having dinner and then at the request of the Ducthies, some pancakes for dessert. Yet another beautiful red sky emerges from the blue and then again total darkness but for the bright stars. Tonight we saw the first of the new moon which as I sit here now thinking means that by the time Lucy and I sail up the Island chain in a week, we will have some great moonlight to light our way.

Boat speed is still up at 9 knots and our progress remains solid towards St Lucia. The Dutchies have just gone off watch and are all asleep, while the 'blue hats' are on deck enjoying the exciting conditions.

Night night.......

 

Best regards

 

Christian, Lucy and crew.

ARC 2010 - 5th December 2010 - 1138nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-2

Day 14 Run towards St Lucia - 180nm

Menu for the day
Lunch - Wahoo Bouillabaisse (Fish Soup)
Dinner - Seafood Tagliatelle followed by Banoffee Pie

Happy Hour - White Zinfandel or Beer with Chrorizo Pate on Toastlets

Today started with mixed emotions. Firstly a big plus that the wind now seems firmly set fair and we have been making excellent progress in the last 24 hrs. Indeed, 180nm towards St Lucia is the first proper days run towards our target since we left Gran Canaria - about time huh?
However, in our bid to push on with the engine (and in reality against my better judgement) we have run the tanks so low that we ended up getting air into the generator. Not a highly complex operation to sort out, but very time consuming. We had to transfer the remaining fuel from the main tank to the generator, then bleed the generator and for good measure change the generator filter also. 2 hard hours while rolling around in the heat at sea. However, we of course prevailed and got the generator running again, which left us with the 2nd of the mornings challenges - the watermaker needed re-priming. This job is considerably easier than the generator, but another half an hour in the heat with the boat rolling and Lucy and I had both properly lost our sense of humour.

Alas, all done, lunch in one's belly and some cool breeze on deck and life is fine once more. Now we have the wind, we seem to be catching the boats ahead of us and leaving in our wake those behind us. Although to be honest, at this stage our hearts and minds are only thinking about crew meeting their loved ones and arriving in time for their flights.
In the wee hours of tomorrow morning, we will pass the 1000nm to go.
This will be a very significant milestone, and as such, we will celebrate in the evening with some Pink Champagne. As a Skipper, I do not drink at all when we are at sea, which doesn't bother me at all usually, but I will be very envious of an ice cold Pink Bubbly in the heat - yum!

The day has been very relaxed. Sailing along consistently at above 8 knots, with a nice Ocean swell and the occasional very large rolling wave. 11 knots is still our best speed, but I suspect we will beat this by 2 or 3 knots as the wind increases and the sea builds in the next few days. We have had our 2nd clock change now, so we have 1 more to do before St Lucia and then one when we arrive to be on Caribbean time.

We have ceased fishing right now as our speeds are right on the upper end of fishing speed, but more importantly if we were to catch a fish at this speed we really would have to slow the boat down and that would seem a great crime having spent so much time waiting for the wind. In any case, we are having Sea Food Tagliatelle which will include the lovely Wahoo caught yesterday. I forget to mention yesterday that the Wahoo, even though it was dead, managed to slice my finger open while I was removing the hook. Their teeth really are razor sharp. I was reminded of this today when another boat on the radio net mentioned that they had caught a 1.2m Wahoo this morning and after they had killed it, the fish had slid across the deck of the yacht and hit the owners foot, slicing a whole in his foot. So a lesson to all; be careful as Ocean fish mostly have sharp teeth!!

Our crew profile today is Edo from Breda in Holland. Edo is 47 and graduated from Law School, but moved into the glazing business almost 25 years ago. Edo has successfully built up his business and has 12 people working for him finishing and installing the products. Edo had a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37 which he sailed with his family around the Dutch Estuaries for many years. Edo's wife, Jacqueline is in St Lucia right now, waiting for Edo to arrive and they will then head on to Martinique for another week to do some more exploring. This will be the first holiday Edo & Jacqueline have had on their own in 15 years, so Edo is very excited about it indeed.

We have just seen a boat in the distance behind us, flying what seems to be a blue spinnaker. I think I know which boat it is and it has caught is since lunchtime, although we overtook them through the night last night. They will provide us with some entertainment and inspiration to sail faster over the next few days.

One of our crew, Nick Tellwright has been writing a blog about his first Atlantic Crossing and asked if I would mention it in my log, so that his friends can read it if they wish. Please just remember that only the nice bits about us are true!!! You can find Nick's log at:
www.myfirstatlanticcrossing.blogspot.com .

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.

(Apologies to followers of this blog for this late posting - the editor was trapped in Lanzarote Airport for many hours by the Spanish air traffic controllers strike! - Richard)

ARC 2010 - 4th December 2010 - 1318nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-1

Day 13 Run towards St Lucia - 134nm

Menu for the day
Lunch - Ham & Mushroom/Pepperoni Pizzas
Dinner - Homemade Lasagne
Happy Hour - Dark & Stormy

I don't know if I dare say it, but....... WOOHOOOOO!!!!

I think we might have found something resembling a Trade Wind. Yes, it's ENE and 15knots plus, and you can forget the wonderful, orgasmic, amazing sail we had the other day - THIS is it!! Yes, boat speed 8-9 knots, occasionally 10 knots and our best today 11.6 knots - just BEA-yutiful.

Today really has been a wonderful day. We finally reached the half waypoint after almost 13 days at sea. Half way based on the Rhumb line route which is 2700nm, so 1350nm to go. We have sailed 1850nm to get here so 500nm out of our way!! However, the good news is that providing we keep trade winds the rest of the way, the last part should only take another 7-8 days. More importantly, it should give everyone the chance to taste some proper Atlantic Trade Wind Sailing which really is fabulous.

Half way on a long passage is a good mental milestone. Knowing that every mile we do is on the home run, the miles really seem to disappear quickly. It's a mental thing, but it really does feel that way. Normally, at this stage the crew are elated, the feeling that we are on the home run and the end is in sight. We get closer to St Lucia, the mileage soon under a thousand and before you know it, we are only one more night to go. It's strange, but after all that time at sea, it's then that many people feel a little sad at the thought that their Atlantic Crossing is almost over. Having said that, after 2-3 weeks at sea, the thought of loved ones and creature comforts is just fine.
To top off the day, we had caught a beautiful Wahoo today. It was about 80cm and I'm glad to say that Wahoo is one of my favourite fish. Very nice white meat which our resident Sashimi chef Dirk turned into some wonderful entrees and filleted ready for another fish dish tomorrow. You can see the Wahoo in the picture (minus a head), caught earlier today.

As the day drew to a close, we sailed into a dramatic sunset, slightly ominous looking, with a hint of red breaking through the cloud. I decided we would leave the Spinnaker flying and perhaps take it down during the night depending on the conditions. At about 2030, we had several large squalls all around us and I decided to take the Spi down as we had plenty of wind to 2 sail reach at speed. In addition it meant that we could get it away dry which is always nice. We did a very fast drop and replaced it with full number 1 genoa and were soon sailing along at 8 knots again.

It is 2100hrs now and we have 1250nm left to go to St Lucia. The wind is blowing 16 knots from the NE and finally I feel as though we are on the fast track to the Caribbean, and another great season in the sunshine and clear blue waters. :-)

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.

ARC 2010 - 3rd December 2010 - 1452nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-1

Day 12 Run towards St Lucia - 103nm

Menu for the day

Lunch - Ham & Tomato Baguettes
Dinner - Thai Pork Curry with Noodles
Happy Hour - Namaqua South African Dry White Wine or White Zinfandel with Cheese & Chive Potato Chips

Well I think it's fair to say that last night was one of the most testing nights at sea aboard Northern Child. I was called on deck 7 times during the night, for; 1 ripped spinnaker, 2 gybes, 2 tacks, 1 pole out and 1 engine on!! The wind was changing thick and fast, ranging from 1 to 23 knots and WSW round to ENE. More the kind of conditions you would expect from coastal sailing with land effects, certainly not usual for Ocean sailing. The rip in the spinnaker was very un lucky with it catching on the pull pit, although the result was once again easy to mend with our spinnaker repair tape. The Fyfes kite as I like to call it (Blue and Yellow like the Fyfes Banana logo) is looking a little like a patchwork quilt at the foot, but a sail maker will soon sort that out once we reach St Lucia.

Now ordinarily, as all of us sailors know, there is nothing you can do about the wind, it is what it is. However, the poor Dutchies were really distraught drifting along in the darkness, seeing their arrival in St Lucia slip back further still. It's also hard for me as the Skipper, wanting so desperately for the wind to pick up to get them there quickly, but we all just have to be patient. The crew are generally very keen to motor in these light winds, but I have to be careful with our remaining fuel. We had a quick boat meeting this evening as the crew were keen to understand exactly what our motoring strategy is and the rationale behind when and how much motoring we can do. We even opened up the main tank and measured the contents with the dip stick to ensure the fuel gauge was accurate. As I had said to the crew, it measures slightly low so we have about 125 litres. A further 50 litres in the generator tank and 40 litres in the Gerry cans, so we can afford to burn about another 100 litres motoring. Our engine is supposed to use about 4 litres per hour at 2500rpm, although I think it is more like 5 litres per hour. That effectively gives us an absolute maximum of another 20 hours motoring, to ensure we have enough fuel for the generator and to motor into Rodney Bay.

The elusive trade winds should be here within the next 24 hours and so tonight with the wind blowing 2 knots from the WNW, we are motoring, taking a chance on the forecast that this should be the last motoring we have to do before we get there. We are all hoping and praying that we finally find the trades tomorrow, for some great sailing, some good daily runs and to get everyone into St Lucia in time for their flights. So tonight, before you go to sleep, say a little prayer to the wind Gods for us!!

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.

ARC 2010 - 2nd December 2010 -1555nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-1

Day 11 Run towards St Lucia - 138nm

Menu for the day
Lunch - Spanish Omlette
Dinner - Fish Pie with Mushy Peas followed by Homemade Peach Melba
Happy Hour - Namaqua South African Dry White Wine or Beer with Green Olives

Life is a Rollercoaster, just gotta ride it............... Indeed, the wind is definitely trying our patience. Every time we think our lolloping around is at an end, we find some more. However, on the plus side, we are very definitely not alone. On the net call today many of the boats described their wallowing about, sails flapping and flopping.

We heard of boat speeds as low as 1 knot and as high as 9 knots. That's not very surprising though as the boats we are tracking are spread as far as 250 miles. If you were sailing in the Solent off Cowes in 2 knots of wind and heard that in Cornwall (250 miles away) it was blowing 25 knots, you wouldn't be very surprised would you! In fact the spread of the fleet is enormous. Windhorse, the aluminium motor yacht I mentioned earlier in the passage is already in St Lucia. The beautiful Swan 80 Berenice is 850nm ahead of us and some boats are still in the Cape Verde Islands, 650nm behind.....

The morning started slow but with definite progress on a reach with 2 sails and 8 knots of wind. It then became very painful for a while dropping to 2 knots of wind and then raining heavily for about half an hour - the first proper rain we have had. Then, as if Thor himself had decided it was time we had a proper ride, within 30 seconds, 2 knots was 20 knots and we were racing along at 8-9 knots. You could leave the

rain, the heat, the cold, whatever was thrown at us - all that mattered was an hour of unadulterated, orgasmic, pure pleasure. Sailing along at good speed, a little overpowered, fighting the wheel occasionally, with BIG smiles all round.

Of course, this didn't last long and within a couple of hours, we had the spinnaker up and we were all browning (burning) in the sun struggling to make the boat achieve more than 3 knots. There was a dip in morale in the Dutchy watch, so I knew it was time for some serious sail trimming. Taco gave me the helm and I got Christian and Eric working hard on the spinnaker trim. Boat speed back up to 5 knots and morale restored. Northern Child really is an amazing yacht, even now after 30,000 miles aboard her, she still amazes me from time to time. 23 tonnes of yacht (home to Lucy and I), with all of the people and kit she is carrying, probably another 3 tonnes and in only 6-8 knots of wind, we are able to make 5 knots 30 degrees off a dead run - pure quality!
Today's star is Taco who is 50 and from Breda in Holland. Taco has been sailing since he was a student on all sorts of dinghies and yachts and has his own Hanse 371 which he sails regularly with his brother and friends year round. Taco is a Solicitor and Managing Partner of the Law Firm he works at in Breda. His friend Edo, used to be a Lawyer and together with the other Dutchies revels in teasing Taco. A couple of days ago he asked, " If you are stuck in a lift with Mussolini, Stalin and a Solicitor and you have a gun with 2 bullets, what would you do?". "Not sure!!". "Shoot the Solicitor twice to be sure"...... As a result we regularly joke about liability, subpoenas and summoning which keeps us amused. This trip for Taco is an excellent way to forget about work, although now he is really missing his wife and 2 children. They will be waiting on the dockside in St Lucia, so it is a great incentive to keep the speed up. We are all trying really hard, honestly Anna-Marie & Bruno!!

The distance to go is now starting to diminish noticeably each day with almost all our miles towards target. 1500 miles to us doesn't seem that much anymore - we've already done more than that so to us, it's just a Sunday afternoon stroll in the park to St Lucia, errr almost!! We continue to be spoilt by Lucy with the delights from her Galley and this evening she organised a game "If this person was a .... what would they be?". It's a fun game where you describe people using objects, animals, cars etc. So tonight we learnt that Mark was Dark Blue, a Harley Davidson, Well built Ski Chalet, Panther, Love Song and Radar!!!! What do you think Caz? (Marks wife).
This evening, the wind has unexpectedly picked up (a little later than was scheduled) and it is a very welcome surprise. Actually, we haven't had any visitors in the last couple of days. The Dolphins have been absent and we have caught no more fish. We ALMOST caught another fish today, but it jumped off the hook about 75 feet behind the boat. The problem is that when you are sailing at 7 knots reeling a fish in is very difficult. You should slow the boat to 1-2 knots, but can you imagine I would let that happen at this stage??

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.

ARC 2010 - 1st December 2010 - 1693nm to go to St Lucia

Time zone - GMT-1

Day 10 Run towards St Lucia - 131nm

Menu for the day

Lunch - Hot Dogs in Hot Baguettes with CaramalisedOnions and French Mustard
Dinner - Homemade Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Noodles,followed by homemade mince pies & cream
Happy Hour - Rose or Beer with Tortillas and Salsa

A pinch and a punch for the 1st of the month. And no returns. Happy to report no more motoring has been necessary and the wind has been blowing pretty close to Easterly all day, ranging from 14-19knots. It has been. Sublime. A little taste of what Ocean sailing is really about. Good mileage building conditions and hopefully lots more to come. Saloon temperature up to 33 degrees centigrade today, a contrast to what we here is a very chilly snap at home right now. We'd happily trade 5 of our degrees of warmth for 5 of your cold right now, but isn't that life - we're never quite satisfied!  Apparently early this morning we 'almost' caught a huge fish. The line allegedly went off at Mach 3 with the reel clutch screaming and then the line broke. I did point out to the perpetrators that the rod, reel and line was capable of catching a small whale so the line snapping was more than likely human error - and it was my expensive super duper lure. After I finished sulking for a few seconds it was time to get the spinnaker up again. That is always a wonderful site and great seeing the boat speed improve.

Shortly after the hoist, we spotted a yacht ahead of us this morning on the horizon and have spent all day catching them up. We have probably caught up about 7nm, although they are now a mile or so off to our Port side. It looks as though they are running a spinnaker through the night whereas we have just taken ours down and poled out the headsails again. It will be interesting to see how we fair against them through the night. Having gybed just before dinner we are now heading towards them and so should pass fairly close by in the night - ready to hoist the Spinnaker first thing and then take them broadside with cannons blazing..........

We have made a lot more ground in the last 24 hours with the other boats we have been tracking. Our course tonight is currently 260 degrees so heading a little further South again. The wind is due to back to the NE in about 48hrs and then we will gybe back, hopefully for the last time, and then power in some moderate to strong trade winds all the way to St Lucia. The Dutchies are still praying for a fast finish in the hope they will see their wives, sweethearts and children for at least a day before they have to fly home on the 11th. We're all working hard to make that happen.

To really top off an already very nice day, the wind has just picked up and we are now reaching along at 7-8 knots. Maybe just maybe we might be in for that Atlantic trade wind sailing very soon!!!

Best regards

Christian, Lucy and crew.