Phone: +44 7795 566 277
info@sailblueplanet.com

Star Chaser’s Ships Blog - ARC2007 - Nov\Dec 2007

Day 17 - Wednesday 12 December - St Lucia here we come !

We are now quickly closing in on St Lucia. Since yesterday, our looks stay glued to the GPS to count down the number of miles left. Some of us check every hour.

Yesterday was probably the weirdest day so far. The combination of tiredness due lots of action during the night and the excitement of getting closer brought on a peculiar ambiance. Unstoppable laughing because of nothing, half the crew flying across the saloon on a wave that the helmsman didn’t see, just a touch to much heel in the heads when you are pumping out (oops), an exploded milkcarton in the cupboard. Frustrating when you learn how to be a monkey again. I thought we had found perfect balance after two weeks, but alas, no! We’ve lost count of the number of times when we saw one of the crew almost fly out of bed, fall on top of each other, trying to grab anything in order to avoid a crash.

St Lucia where are you? Our eyes keep on being drawn towards that GPS. On the other hand, we are experiencing great conditions so we do like it out here. Nice long swell and a good 25 knots out of the east has brought out the devil in more than one of us on the helm. As we speak, we are screaming down the waves at 11+knots and to cries of ’Yihaa’ and ’haahaaa’!

Today the crew has a field day with lots of excitement. We organise and clean the boat, get the fenders ready. We are eager for the land to appear. 60 miles away and we think we can see it. We could have on a sunny day, but our welcome to the Caribbean is overcast, but with exhilarating sailing. Or some funny clouds on the horizon, a slightly darker line .... is it land or just thick clouds?

Who will be the first one to spot land? Let’s get out the binoculars. I wouldn’t have expected the last miles to take so long, especially if you have squalls and someone waiting for you on land. Surprising how keen we are to arrive. Is it because we almost made it or is it because we are fed up with life at sea? I’d go for the first one, also because I am looking forward to sharing this amazing experience with others. It is time to put the lines back to the shore, step on terra firma, time to come back to reality and to discover new land: St Lucia!

Day 16 - Tuesday 11 December - Danish blues

It’s not everyday you get the chance to experience such a great start of the day as I had this morning. I'll try to put you in my place ... imagine you’re having this sweet dream of being on a bounty beach with well-tasty women serving you beautiful Caribbean-looking drinks - did I mess that sentence up? You know what I mean...

Suddenly (!) you get this Dutch skipper shouting ”we’re gonna put a reef in” so loud that the color in his face turns into blue - and you realize you’re awake.

You’re just about to scratch the sleep in your eyes before you realize that your pillow and your headphones are marinated in your sun cream. By the time you get out of your bunk, your balance is like at a late new years eve. The big waves in the sea make the boat heeled over so the next thing you know is that you’re looking like a mosquito which just got smashed while having a rest on the sidewall.

Miraculously you find your lifejacket, and you start moving over to the companion way which is 10 feet in front of you. Ten minutes later you are having some fresh air at the top and judging the situation.

It’s nearly possible to hear everybody screaming to each other because of the strong wind. Suddenly a deep voice shouts from the darkness. 'Goustaff, get that green line'! At this moment you're having problems seeing your own hand right in front of you. You don’t have any idea which direction you’re supposed to go. You take a guess to starboard, and you're right. Here comes the next challenge: which of those 6 lines are green. A kind of Russian roulette, but an unlucky version with 5 bullets instead of one. The third time you’re lucky. As soon as you grab the line, you get a slap in your face by the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean. Now you’re awake - and by the way good morning

What a great start of a day you might think, and yes it turned into a beautiful sunrise with a smooth summer breeze.

One thing you get used to on a trip like this is (not the toilet - definitely not the toilet) people onboard reminding to pull your pants up, but I’m just trying to defy gravity as Marlies gently said.

Dorothy made one of her famous soups for lunch. Sitting on the deck while the sweat from your chin drops into your hot cup of soup - everyone looks like a squall hit them. But don’t you guys worry, it’s only because the temperature is 43 degrees. And yes it seems weird that we’re having soup in that heat, but the soup is great, and it is December. I’m going for my 5th round

Camille is having a great time making her own video. She’s scouting around laughing 24/7 - I do not wanna know what’s on that tape, but it’s easy entertainment.

That’s the day I had today - can you imagine? I enjoyed every moment of it. Even though you find yourself on the sidewall while you got reminded about pulling your pants up. And I’m going to miss it whenever I leave Star Chaser.

Top 5 of things I’m gonna do as soon as we hit St. Lucia:

  • Get a shower and find out what's been living in my armpits the last several weeks
  • Fill a double-bed
  • Using lots of toilet paper
  • Stand up peeing
  • Not banging my head against everything

Day 15 - Monday 10 December - An ocean full of stories

”Marlies? Did you call me? No”. ”Deep” asleep there is a voice that whispers your name or that sings a song. The wind in the mast suddenly sounds like a soul talking to you. During the watch a sound in the background is similar to kids or men complaining, moaning. The sails flapping sound like hunters. Are people living at sea? Again those funny and mysterious things happen at night. A multitude of new sounds are created by the boat and her environment especially at night when you focus on your hearing and you are tired. There is a melody and a guardian angel that makes you fall asleep or tell you what to do in the dark. Ask your crew in the morning: ”Do you hear voices sometimes?” and they will think you turned crazy. I would say they sleep too much, they don’t have a strong hearing and imagination or I just don’t sleep enough. Last night Marlies heard it as well. Reassuring. I am not the only one.

Crazy? Imagination? Dreams? Whatever! Turn off the music on the radio and listen. Just try. The ocean plays music by itself. It has a lot of things to tell and show. Does this lonely bird that comes to visit you in the morning in this foreign and empty ”land” want to leave a message and welcome you?

Is there a meaning behind a cloud? Look at them. We saw Neptune twice, Dionysus once, a dragon, dogs, teddy bears, a couple kissing like ”Gone with the Wind”, the man holding the chin of the woman.

Look around you, the ocean is alive. The long pulsing swell just proves it. If you are a dreamer and if you know someone who disappeared at sea, you would say the ocean and sky are filled with all the souls the sea took away. I believe so. So look around and dream! There are so many stories to be told!

Day 15 - Monday 10 December - Happy Days

Today is just one of these ultimate happy days despite not being able to sleep much after my watch, I rolled out of bed with a good feeling. And things have only gotten better.

Everybody is in this exuberant mood, laughing cracking jokes, taking the mickey out of each other, with witticisms flying right and left - just heard the good news that friends of ours became today the parents to another little healthy girl (welcome Laura!), Craig is trying to sweettalk the fish onto the hook (Tasty Marlin was officially finished last night), the fresh homemade pizza for lunch was fantastic, the weather is on it’s Atlantic best: the sun is out, with some characteristic white fluffy clouds (great for letting your fantasy run wild! All kinds of things in there!) and a steady 14 knot breeze out of the east. With the headsail poled out we’re heading in a straight line for St Lucia!

It’s this moment where you are itching to be there, but having done this before, you also savour those last days away from all the hassle, the chaos, the demands of everyday life. You savour being amongst what are now friends, on this great boat, sailing along on this amazingly deep blue water. Helming is just orgasmic at the moment, with the fresh breeze pushing you forward, you surf down these long big swells, reaching 10, 11 knots. True Yihaa-sailing.

Sailing across the Atlantic. This is it. This is as good as it gets.

Happy days

Day 14 - Sunday 9 December - Woman talk

We did it! We finally did it! After several days, Bertha (our normally trustworthy but temperamentful engine) finally gave up her stubborn attitude and was persuaded to start! Youpie!

Boogie maintains it was just bound to happen as we had been doing all the right things for the last few days.

I still think she was just being jealous with 3 other girls on the crew and little Bertha (her cute little sister, our generator) getting to do all the work and the attention. She then threw a tantrum, decided not to start and just have us all fawn over her and lavish her with attention for several days. How do you mean temperamental woman, scheming b*tch is more like it! Once we had established that, Boogie went up to start her and I stayed down below. It was time for a face to face talk between women. It had to be made clear that we girls were here to stay and she’d better get used to it. If not .... - This time, she did start.

The guys will forever think it was the vigorous fuel pumping during the firing. We girls know better.

Day 14 - Sunday December 9 - Chapters in Our Lives

It is said that 6 is the optimum number of guests for a dinner party - 6 guests, carefully selected for their wit and humour and a lovely evening is sure to follow. As it happens, it appears that 6 crew is an optimum number for a long voyage as well! We are just large enough to handle our vessel, and just small enough to form a strong cohesive unit. We unite forces when the weather calls us to the challenge and when we are merely rolling wildly in the steep ocean swells, we share the stories of our lives Every one of us has a story to tell.

Captain Van Den Boogaard (Boogie): 35 and single - blond, blue eyed Dutch man, exudes energy, charm, knowledge and most importantly, strong leadership, tutoring us all in apparent wind and weather patterns. This vessel is his only child and like a mother who sleeps with one ear constantly listening, he is always alert for the slightest change. Having traded a business career and pin stripe suit for sandals and sunglasses, this is his 12th Atlantic crossing and his experience is invaluable. He literally vaults on to the deck at 3 in the morning when the wind shifts and competently calls out instructions to trim the sails and change our bearing before dropping back down to his bunk.

First mate Marlies, like Boogie, is from Holland and also exchanged a career as a business executive for a life at sea. Not only do they share the same language, they share an intuitive understanding of the ocean. Marlies has traveled the world and from St Lucia she sails on to Antarctica.

Young Gustav, from Denmark, is a story about to unfold: 6’5”, blond, blue eyed brimming with a languid sense of self confidence this young man is transforming before our eyes: from day 3 - his day to cook, when Boogie handed him an onion and carrot to peel and he took on a look, as we say in Canada, ”Like a deer caught in the headlights”. ”You want me to do WHAT with this carrot and onion?!!” Two weeks later and this young man is a chef extraordinaire and has been taught how to clean a galley (kitchen) and head (toilet) as well as to fish, helm and trim sails! His mother won’t recognize the man we will return to her next week!

Camille, our 26 year old geographer is conducting studies for her Ph D in documenting Trans-Atlantic sailing and territories in the Atlantic - she has us developing keen eye sight for birds, mammals and fish. Camille anxiously waits to be re-united with her boyfriend, Pim, an Olympic Dutch sailor who will meet her in St Lucia. Together they will return to Europe and thence on to New Zealand for the world championships in Tornado sailing.

Craig, at 39, retired this year from a long career in soccer - his twisted toes tell a story in themselves and for 20 years his feet were something of a national treasure - the Brits take their football quite seriously - his feet were not permitted to engage in any activity which might bring harm outside the football field - from a life tightly regimented by binding contracts, Craig finds himself on an open sea, literally. We spend many hours talking about life values and the bonds of that strong families create - we are the only parents on this vessel and we both miss our daughters terribly.

And finally, to me. What would possess a 54 year old woman and mother of a teenager daughter to abandon husband and daughter and travel half way around to world to step on a pitching sailing vessel and sail back to North America? Suffice to say that I love being on the sea and I can only be here because of the amazing husband and daughter I have who have the patience and understanding to tolerate my wandering ways.

And so, we find ourselves close to our destination - perhaps 4 days away and all too soon this chapter of the stories of our lives will end and we will turn the page to start the next chapter

From the Sailing Vessel Star Chaser, Crew member Dorothy

Day 13 - December 8 - Drifting in the heat

”5.3 knots here we go says Gustav!” Surrounded by those squally and thunder clouds, Star Chaser is making its way in a crushing heat.

For lunch in the sun: a delicious soup that gave a high hygrometric degree in the kitchen for those who wanted to go to a sauna. Beads of sweat were slowly drawing a path from the forehead to the side of the eyes, to the ears. Plock plock...

Crew is lounging, reading and the ones who went for a siesta got knocked out for 2 hours. The skipper Boogie and Marlies were trying to fix the engine which brought a nice hot smell of fuel and gave funny dreams to the sleepers.

Rain, shade PLEASE! The temperature is now 43 C in the sun and 35 inside the boat. Squalls are passing by but of course they are avoiding us. Or are we avoiding them? They will probably give us some lightening and fireworks again during the night to keep us awake.

Wind dropped. Star Chaser is drifting in the heat. Left-right-left-right-flap-plock-plock-flap. Her crew starts counting the days before the arrival and hope to arrive the 12th (cross the fingers) to meet family and to party at the opening ceremony in St Lucia - Camille

Day 12 - Friday December 7 - Squally days!

There are days when you realize how great and fascinating the ocean is. You wake up one morning with whales, sun and good breeze. The whales dance with the boat and follow her during an hour or more. A fin shows up at the surface then it dives and does the belly dance. Tears in your eyes. The first whale you see in your life is in the middle of the Atlantic. What more do you need?

Such simple and natural things can bring you so much joy. It feels like you are in harmony with nature. And to do so let's our feet in the water again and let’s try the water. How see-through it is! Like fresh water. Let’ have just one little sip. ”I drunk and tasted the deep middle Atlantic!”

What a great day, it feels so good out here but oh my God! What’s that? ’Just a squall’. From that word you get the squally adrenaline. Is it going to hit us? How strong? Ok here we are, it’s getting darker. Luckily it went to our right.

Ok, but there’s another one and another one. Looking around you spot them all and you get at least one bringing increasing wind and refreshing water. This one was stronger on the right and after it hit you, the black cloud and its ’tail’ of rain slowly disappear in the skyline and make you realize where you have been. Funny how it is always at the end of the day or in the evening when that happens. As if the Atlantic was making fun of you and tells himself: ”I won’t let you sleep again tonight!” Let’s put 2 reefs in and take the head sail down.

Huge cumulus-nimbus surrounded Star Chaser. For a minute it seemed it was the eye of a hurricane! The clouds seemed to be on fire due to the sunset. They looked hot and electric. ”That ain't no good”. In the morning everything was perfect and now it seems the sky is going to fall on our heads. Somehow the unknown is scary and exciting.

How is it to be in a thunderstorm? Just that word makes sailors shiver. It didn’t hit us. But even then, your regard for the ocean changes. Our floating islands are small and vulnerable but also allow us to experience such a show. After having some smaller squalls, surfing the long big swell when you shout YIHAA! because of it, and seeing this powerful relationship between sky and ocean, it feels that somehow I would have liked to experience those firework clouds.

For now I’d be glad to be safe in St Lucia!

Day 11 - Thursday December 6 - just an amazing day in paradise

Listening to Summer Holiday, Caribbean steel band version, while lunch is being made and I am back to writing some more. It’s not even been 24 hours since the last log and it seems as if so much has happened!

Started last night with a great Marlin risotto for dinner, just about in time, but only because we had an extra half hour before our watch started (another time change, boat time is now UTC -2). We’ll never admit to this of course, it has just been brilliant planning on our side as we had figured out before the skipper even told us we’d have that extra half hour!

Then into the night sailing on the gentle swell, with relatively light winds. Another night under poled out headsail: this time without folding it around the shrouds luckily enough!

Then waking up for the ’difficult’ early morning watch; 3-6am (never been a favorite of mine!) with bits of rain and a late but fantastic rise of a sliver if moon, which made our watch. It also brought up the discussion whether it’s even worth having a shower at sea! I can see you frown, but honestly! Let me explain. For the last week, Camille and I had not showered and weren’t really stinky! Admittedly, most likely because we’d made copious use of babywipes. Then, when waking up this morning for the watch, had a bit of a smell under my arms (as you do, don't look so disgusted, believe me, you would too!!) and, yuk! Smelly armpits! Which I hadn’t woken up with over the last days! And the morning after having a shower, kabam! Smelly! And guess what, Camille had the same thing! I mean, seriously, what’s the use of showering in this case? Maybe the bums on the street do have something going for them!

And finally this morning waking up to cries of ’Whales! Whales! ’ Two beautiful Minky whales were playing around the boat! Coming up for breath, diving, showing up on the other side, it was amazing (and a bit scary) seeing one of them swim towards us under water his big white belly shining through the water, swimming alongside the boat, then disappearing under the boat! Fantastic!

Well, lunch is being served and we’e moved on to ’Santa Claus is coming to town’ on the stereo. A bit surreal while sitting in bikini behind the chart table! The good thing is looking around me and seeing five other happy faces, enjoying Star Chaser, the Ocean and each other’s company. We're a happy boat!

Special greetings to Els and her class at Highfield School, who are following Craig (her dad) and our progress across the Atlantic! Well done guys, thanks for the support!

Day 10 - Wednesday 5 December - Shower day!

Truly back in the trade winds now, long rolling swell, headsail poled out (we’re going at it with the sexy carbon one!), another day in paradise! And a shower day for the girlie watch!

Although some of the crew succumbed earlier to the temptations of the shower god, Camille and I somehow kept on pushing it - first we were just too slow on Sunday, our intended shower day, then caught a fish and ran out of time as it was our turn to cook. Monday we caught the marlin and by the time the watermaker had filled the tank back up, we decided it was a bit too ’chilly’- it being only 24 degrees with the sun falling low. Then yesterday, I had my head down in the generator bay, not ideal either!

But today was the day!

Craig had a quick hair wash in the shower below, but straight after our 6-10 watch, C and I decided to go at it in bikini’s with the cockpit shower and let the sun warm us while having this much coveted shower. Needless to say our 3 male crew members miraculously found ’things to do’ on deck at that same time! Heaven! There is no comparison to the feel of a shower at sea after 10 days being out there, this new, fragrant smell, the cool feeling, the feel of wet clean hair on your back. We’re good for another 10 days!

Day 9 - Tuesday 4 December - Crossing to the other side

Big meal, the relatively ’easy’ 00-03 watch (although a very wet one this time with lots of variable winds), then just crash into your bunk and pass out. Can't even call it sleep anymore, until something wakes you up, a different roll of the boat, a different sound, the much feared flap-flap-bang-swoosh-slap of the sails caused by the inertia of a boat becalmed, so much for sleep !

It got to a point where we actually contemplated putting Big Bertha (our trustworthy, though temperament full Perkins) to work, but, acting like a true woman, having not been called upon for 9 days, she refused to show up now, so here we are, about mid-Atlantic, drifting around for a bit, heads down into the engine bay, bleeding the engine and giving her some TLC, wooing her back to life.

As we were gently bobbing around anyway, decided this would be a good time to do a bit of service on Little Bertha (our generator) so that had me heads down in the aft cabin, changing oil and checking impellers. After all was done, we actually had some wind again and continued sailing west

Mid-Atlantic!! Halfway point reached!! Party!!

Although it’'s a bit of an arbitrary point really, come to think of it this was about 38.50W we crossed, which is a calculation of differences of longs between Gran Canaria and St Lucia but looking at the log, we had already done 1550 nm and had only just over 1300nm to go, so what IS halfway? Number of days? You will not know before you get there. The point where miles traveled and miles to go is identical? Or the theoretical calculated line? Only 1 solution for this! Have a party at all of the above! We had a combined one with our marlin catch yesterday and will have another glass for the sake of it tonight!

Day 8 - Monday 3 December - Marlin Spike

And fish fiesta it was last night! Having caught the two good size dorado’s, our fantastic cooks of the day made us a meal fit for kings: big pan-fried Dorado fillets and little sauteed potatoes a la French. Mmmmm!

However, most of the fish was gone after that great feast and we had only one more meal with proper meat before we were to resort to the canned stuff and the, admittedly very tasty, Spanish sausages. Reason enough to put out the rod again I mean, last time it took us a week and 3 attempts to land the first one, so might as well start early on the next one. And one can always dream.

Nothing in our wildest dreams could have come close to what we were to catch next.

While finishing putting up our new sexy staysail, the telltale sound rang once again: thrrrrrrrrrrreeeeewwwwwwww! Nobody got too excited as it could well be just our increase in speed pulling on the line.

But no, it just kept on going! Craig immediately jumped back to the rod to stop it and try to start reeling it in, and straightaway concluded this must be a big one. Boogie joined in, and together they installed him in his by now familiar seat on the starboard edge of the aft cockpit. Even Boogie, a regular sailboat fishing aficionado and strong as a lion, was having trouble getting this one in. Time to get the fishing nappy out, a plastic sort of waist board, vital to protect the crown jewels from getting caught instead of the fish!

Reel it, wait a moment, pull back, reel it, whatever it was, it was a long way back and a long way down; tuna? a big dorado? a big marlin maybe? It had all of us looking in anticipation over the stern of the boat, Craig standing higher up behind Boogie to get a first view of whatever we were trying to reel in. By now almost half an hour had passed since we hooked it and we couldn’t really see it yet. Reel it, wait a moment, pull back, reel it, Boogie was starting to show the strain, but kept stubbornly at it.

Then, all of a sudden, a big splash in the back this is huge! It jumped out and then dove deep again wow, it looks like it might be a marlin jumping and fighting, trying to dive again from the back it was clear it was a massive fish jumping, fighting, another fifteen minutes went by before Boogie got it next to the boat, Craig standing at the ready with the gaff up a bit, hook the gaff in and there went the fishing line off the hook! oh my God!

All that was holding this enormous marlin for us now was the gaff in Craig’s hands and it was still fighting and fidgeting in an adrenaline inspired sweep, Craig hauled this big monster into the aft cockpit with him and Boogie trying to keep it down and me pouring a bottle of gin into it’s gulls normally a shot glass will do, but this one needed almost the full bottle! A bit more time, a last swing of the head (catching me on the foot with it’s long spike), another knife stroke, and that was it we had our marlin in!

We had landed a beautiful blue marlin. Majestic dorsal fin, lethal scratchy spike and a long, thick, blue body with glaring eyes - was I just imagining it, or did he even now have a bit of defiant look in those eyes?

With the guys struggling to hold it up, camera’s kept clicking and film rolling - this was something else!

6ft4in of royal blue fish lying in the aft cockpit, roughly 90 pounds of fish.

It took us another hour to clean and fillet the fish, it had kept us busy for a good part of the afternoon and it will keep us fed for a good couple of days!

That night we had fish for dinner. Not just big fillets, no, massively thick marlin steaks. With a glass of wine. We earned that. After all, the marlin had had it’s fill with all the gin!

Monday 27 November - Leaving port

Hard to leave the harbour. Excitement and also all kind of feelings crossing your mind. ’What am I doing?’ says an inward voice. ”Come on leave the pontoon and put the feet on the boat before she goes without you”. Your feet get kind of stuck on the pontoon. By stepping on the boat this day, you know that this is it. You go and you will have to deal with all kind of situations you probably haven’t experienced before. Once on the boat, another step: letting go of the rope that binds you to the land. You hold it firmly until the skipper says let it go! OK WE GO!

People were on the breakers and their applauding us and waving us off, reminded me of the times when I was the one on the breaker saying goodbye to some sailors. Now it is finally my turn.

Great start! Lots of boats and lots of swell as well. Some members of the crew can tell you about it.

Anyway I would say we have awesome conditions: wind, sun and swell. This one keeps you from sleeping sometimes as you are thrown left-right left-right and if a bigger wave hits the boat you just wake up suddenly. But who would want to sleep if during the first night of this adventure, the full moon gave some light to Star Chaser. Some boats joined the show: sailing boats and a cargo - that was not too far from us. Dolphins were also part of the night watch. After this first night I can assure you that you realize you are in the ocean and that is pretty cool. You can also feel insecure..If your watch mate goes down below for a few minutes you just realize you are steering a boat, alone, in the night in the ocean and sometimes your steering can get a bit less accurate.

We have now sun and wind after a nice sunrise. Some active clouds were surrounding us but it seems that until now we have avoided most of the showers.

Everything is fine on board.

Talk to you later and I don’t forget the ones I left ashore. - Camille

Links
In the press
Testimonials
Insurance
News
Live from onboard
  Choose Your Sailing:
Racing
Ocean/ARC
Adventure
Cruising
Corporate
 

Star Chaser Sailing Ltd - Trading as Sail Blue Planet and
Blue Planet Sailing Adventures

Phone: +44 7795 566 277
info@sailblueplanet.com