Practical Boat Owner - July 2018

CRUISING

no resemblance to the picture before us.
A maze of multi-coloured lights masked
the markers and container ships anchored
in what seemed a random sprawl across
the approach. As always, it all became
clear as we got closer and the lights
untangled themselves from the backdrop
of hotels and bars.
With permission granted over the VHF to
enter the harbour, we motored very slowly
to the anchorage next to the marina, and
before long we were sleeping soundly
with another long passage in the logbook.

A visit from the family
It was 11 October and the countdown had
begun. We’d finally made the start line of
the ARC and had 25 days in which to get
Twenty Twenty ready and to mentally
prepare ourselves for what was to come.
A four-day visit from our daughter Sasha
and Dan gave us a chance to unwind.
With the arrival of the ARC team it was all
systems go. With seminars to attend,
rigging inspections, SSB radio and the sat
phone still not working the pressure was
building. We had a list of things to buy,
and a safety check; it was stressful.
On top of that were the social gatherings
and a chance to meet other ARC crews.
Listening to the experiences, adventures
and occasional disaster story showed
how lucky we had been.
We opted to do the ARC+ as we wanted
to visit Mindelo, Cape Verde, whereas the
ARC sails directly to St Lucia. At the last
minute we got the communications
working, leaving only the provisioning of
fresh food to be done. The morning of the
5 November 2017 arrived and finally we
were ready to go.
This was not a race for us so we avoided
the mayhem of the start line with boats vying
for prime position. Only at the 10-minute
warning did we slip our berth to head out.
As we exited the marina to cheering and
hooters, shouts of ‘Twenty Twenty’ from the
excited ARC crews and spectators brought
a big smile to our faces. We were off,
heading south towards Mindelo, wind in
our sails and butterflies in our stomachs.
Heeding warnings of the acceleration

zones, we headed east to miss the worst

of the winds. As the fleet began to spread

out, each boat took a slightly different

bearing. My first task was to tag as many

of the ARC+ boats on our AIS as

possible. Second was to drop the fishing

lines overboard. Catching our food would

extend our supplies and fish was our

favourite meal.

Fishing for dinner

Luck was in as we landed a tuna only an

hour into the trip. We may not be a fast

boat but we had proved our credentials

when it came to fishing, and shared the

benefit of our experience with quite a few

of the other crews.

As we headed south-east the winds

increased as expected. Waves came from

all directions and the stern skewed

sideways. Our autopilot whirred as it

turned the wheel from side to side

keeping us on course. Jan and I had a

strange watch system – or so we had

been told by other crews. I was happy to

stay awake until the early hours of the

morning; Jan preferred early shifts. Our

watch system started just after our meal

around 8pm. I slept until midnight then

stayed on watch until 6am before sleeping

for another 3 hours. It worked well for us.

Autopilot issues

I’d been on watch for an hour as I entered

our position into the log. Two waves

collided, just missing us, but the resulting

wash sent the stern crashing into the

following wave. The autopilot began to

crunch as the wheel stopped moving. I

jumped up to the helm, swinging the

wheel around to bring us back on course.

I tried to re-engage but the sound made

me cringe. In control in total darkness, I

began navigating by the chartplotter and

wind instruments.

The green predictor line on the plotter

swayed from side to side as the red

heading line veered off in another

direction. My head spun as I continually

corrected our course. Moving the wheel in

the same direction gave the illusion of

Enjoying a day sail with Sasha and Dan

RIGHT Ready for the ARC+off

Last-minute repair jobs in Las Palmas

Netting the tuna caught on a line