Sapodilla Bay, Turks and Caicos Islands. The anchor was in two meters of water and Solitude was not rolling at all. We had made it from Panama to Turks and Caicos Islands, leg 3 in the journey towards Spain. Once in Dominica, a very green, lush island in the Caribbean, I met another Danish sailboat. Onboard were a couple, Jan and Lene with their two daughters. Jan and Lene had been sailing around the seven seas for years and years and had been living on their own sailboat for a long time. Lene taught me how to bake bread and to this day I still use the recipe. Jan showed me various sailing tips and tricks. They helped me out in many ways without being smart asses about it but because, I think, they could see a young dumb skipper who bought a sailboat without knowing anything about sailing. Among many other things Jan once said, after a long ocean crossing, the best was to get to an anchorage that didn't move or roll the boat. And here we were at a not moving anchorage in Sapodilla Bay. Jan was absolutely right, again, this was the best feeling. The dinghy was put in the water with the outboard engine on and we were ready for land.
The following days we walked, hitchhiked, cruised around these islands which don't really stick out as special from any other Caribbean Islands and then again. Since it is an American holiday destination all prices are above average. A beer in a cheap bar, $5. A can of tomatoes, $3. On the north coast of the island a huge bay lies. It is called Grace Bay. Along the white sand beach high rise hotels are build and without the right bracelet, you are kicked out by friendly security guards. Before we came to the islands I had read the beach was voted one of the most beautiful beached in the world. When I stood on the beach, I was not really sure I was standing in the right sand. In my short life I have seen many beaches and didn't recognize this one as one of the most beautiful ones in the world. I took a deep breath, looked closer and more open minded but could still not really see the beauty in this beach. What advertisement can do is amazing!
Being expensive and pretty average as a Caribbean island I must say, the people who live here are very friendly, more than I have experienced on other islands in this region of the world.
The days went by with long treks, shopping for parts for the boat and diving with Caribbean reef sharks on the underwater wall just outside the turquoise water we had entered a few days ago. We went with a local dive operation, it was too far to go with Solitude to the dive sight.
Slow Hands...
One day a classic motor yacht anchored 200 meters from us. It was about 100 feet long, creamy white colour and on the stern was the name, "Blue Guitar". I thought to my self, this could only be a famous musician. Onboard Solitude I could get a WiFi signal and connect to the world wide web. A few clicks and "Blue Guitar" was indeed owned by a famous musician also known as, "Slow Hands", Eric Clapton. In the binoculars I could see people move around the boat but no "Slow Hands". One day they got into the dinghy, same size as three of my dinghies put together, and there he was, Eric Clapton. A few days later when we pulled up the anchor one morning to sail over to a marina and away from the now rolly anchorage, he was sitting on deck. As we sailed by he waved to us, it is not everyday that Eric Clapton waves to you but then again, he is just another boat owner and waving to be polite, is what boat owners do to each other.
If you stay longer than 7 days in Turks and Caicos Islands with a sailboat, you have to pay $300 for a cruising permit. Exactly what a cruising permit is, I never understood but when you cut it to the bone the money just goes to the annually Christmas diner for the working force at customs & immigration. This following Christmas dinner we had no desire to support. On the 7th day we checked out of the country. In South Side Marina we got water and diesel for $1200, it had been expensive to get to these islands from Panama, we had used a lot of diesel through the areas with no wind in the Caribbean Sea.
Bermuda was suppose to be our next destination where I would meet up with my girlfriend for a week but after a lot of thinking, I decided to go straight to the Azores to save money, but that meant I would not see my girlfriend for another six weeks.
Since we had checked out of the country we had to move from our anchorage in front of the marina. Customs had already called the marina and asked what that sailboat was doing anchored outside the marina. Next morning we motored out through corals and shallow sand patches to the deeper 3 meters water, raised the sails and sailed towards Cockburn Habour, a small village on South Caicos. Wind, current and nature was not in our favour, once again, we could see we would not make it in daylight to Cockburn Habour but it was beautiful to sail in the complete turquoise water all day. And now we had sea charts... or we borrowed a guidebook from another sailboat, took photos of it and put them on my laptop. The sun was getting closer to the horizon and we decided to anchor by Big Ambergris Island for the night and then push on the following day. It was a flat anchorage and we got a good night of sleep.
The anchor was on the bottom by Salt Cay, a small island south of Grand Turk which should be more local, not many tourist came visit here. We just had dolphins on the bow before we came to the anchorage. We have been so lucky to see dolphins many times before but these ones, Spinner Dolphins, were swimming very close together in front of the boat. This behavior have I not seen before...
When I hooked up the WiFi antenna to the laptop I could get online. While Thomas and Kenneth went to explore the island, I was talking to my girlfriend over Skype. After an hour I picked up the two explores who came back with only disappointing news, there was a reason why no tourist came visit. A few locals were hanging out in the small habour and that was about it. It seemed there were more donkeys on the island than homosapians. No reason to hang out here. Anchor up and we sailed the seven miles north to South Dock on Grand Turk through shallow reefs where it helped to hold your breath and sail over them, at times. The sea charts on my laptop would had helped us navigate this area but for reasons unknown, my laptop refused to work.
Grand Turk
A few other sailboats had put down their anchor in the crystal clear turquoise water. In the dinghy we stopped by another sailboat and asked a young girl where we could put our dinghy. We dragged the dinghy onto a small beach in a fenced industrial area that seemed save and where the girl had said it was ok. In a small house with the gate out of the fenced are, we were stopped by a rather large, not saying fat, woman who asked where we came from and if we had checked in with immigration and customs... A few thoughts went through my mind and then I said no. Might as well play this one safe.
20 minutes went by until immigration and customs arrived. They were not uniformed since it was Sunday. I told them a story that we were on our way to Bermuda when I got a phone call from Europe telling us, for personal reasons, we had to come straight to the Azores. That's why we had checked out of Turks and Caicos Islands. All this just to avoid to pay $300 to their Christmas diner or as they said, cruising permit. They bought the story so we only had to pay $50 Dollars for checking in and another $15 because it was Sunday. Our plan worked, we were now legal in the country and went to the nearby airport to eat at the restaurant the rather large lady at the check point had pointed out. If you ever want to know where the nearest restaurant is located, never ask a skinny individual.
With stomachs full of burgers and fries we were back on Solitude who had started to roll at the anchorage. So much for a good nights sleep.
Dinghy back on the little beach, a friendly hello to another security guard at the small house in the fenced area and we walked towards Cockburn Town. It took around 2 hours from South Dock to reach the very small town where again everyone was really friendly. Old buildings with a small oneway street lead us into the centre. We checked out the anchorage in front of the town which was flat and decided to move Solitude to this spot. Closer to town and not rolling. Thomas stayed in town cruising around with a local dude from Haiti who showed him around town. Kenneth and I sailed around the southwestern tip of Grand Turk and put down the anchor right in front of Cockburn Town. I wonder if it was a sailor back in the days, who had a unpleasant experience with a female individual, who gave this town its name.....?
By the pier Thomas was waiting for us. Back at Solitude I had to dive down with full Scuba equipment to secure the anchor on the rocky bottom. In 6 meters of water I found a small sand patch where I could, with difficulties, put the anchor down in the sand. On deck Thomas put out more chain so we were secured to stay in the same spot and not drift out into the blue during the night.
The following days we rented bikes and cycled around the island, chilled out getting our minds ready for the 2500 nautical miles across two thirds of the Atlantic Ocean to the Azores, drank beer at the Sand Bar and one night quizzed with Team Organized Confusion and got second out of 10 or so teams, with help from Pete from England and other guys. The final preparations for the big crossing were made. Meat was bought and other highly over priced provisions were dinghyed out to Solitude. Slowly the unavoidable came closer and closer, the day where we would leave and not see land for another three to four weeks but we were looking forward to this journey or maybe we were looking forward to changes. On the last day a Norwegian sailboat anchored right next to us and we had a few beers with the two fellows in their mid thirties, at the Sand Bar. They were going to Bermuda and later in June onward to the Azores.
Atlantic Ocean
Next day, May 4th 2012, the day we began our 2500 miles journey, we had lunch at the local restaurant with the Norwegians. Thomas wandered off to take one last freshwater shower. It must have been very important to him since he, with my knowledge, did not complain about the $20 he had to pay for it. Besides the humming noise from the outboard engine, it was silent in the dinghy towards Solitude when we left the pier in Cockburn Town and steady ground under the feet. In high spirit we pulled the dinghy on deck and the outboard on the railing aft. 12.15 pm we sat sails and the western coast of Grand Turk glide by in the 20 knots winds pushing Solitude north. The Norwegian sailboat was following us but after a few hours we lost visual contact and didn't hear more over the VHF radio as the daylight were slowly dimmed and Grand Turk swallowed by the horizon. It would take some time before we would see land again.
When I first thought about it, three to four weeks at sea with out seeing any land, was nothing, but when you sit on day ten, still with no land in sight, still ten or twenty days to go, it start to be something. It starts to be a mind game. It is you versus your brain. Its all in your head. You have to keep your self occupied in the day time by reading books, writing on the computer, fixing up various stuff on the boat and when you are bored of that, you have to find out other things to do. Since we were three onboard Solitude for this crossing, we got two hours on watch, four hours of sleep. When night falls we would have two, two hours shifts where you are looking around every fifteen minutes for lights from other boats on the horizon. You check if the sails are in a good position, if the autopilot can steer - in heavy weather it cuts off sometimes - if everything is in order. When you are not checking these things, you sit and do nothing, you have to find a way to occupy your brain. On my watches I was listening to my iPod while I was working out doing pushups and exercises with a rubber band. It kept me fairly sane during the nights.
The actual sailing part is not rough at all. In few words I can describe this: it is fucking boring!
In the beginning of the journey we had good winds sending us northwest. It wouldn't take a geographic genius to figure out the Azores is not in this direction from Grand Turk, but that was the way the wind was pushing us. Then the wind died for about 5 days and we had to motor a bit but still save diesel for later. Sometimes the sails would flab for hours and hours in the silent day while we were taken north by the Gulf Current. As we were drifting in the current one evening, we turned off the engine, left the main sail up and went below to watch a movie. It was a weird feeling after the movie to go up into the cockpit and realize we were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean under a star filled sky. We sailed on with the engine and the main sail to stabilize the ship while the ocean was a sleep. The huge swells rolling under us like the ocean was breathing. It was so flat that the stars reflected in the water.
400 miles from Bermuda we finally got wind sailing around 6 knots north.
A low pressure system came over us when the darkness took over and we just had dinner. It was gusting around 35 knots, I was hand steering and it was a bit difficult to steer the boat in the high winds and 2 meters waves. Thomas and Kenneth were about to go to bed when a gust in the sails forced Solitude starboard. I was counter steering with all the rudder to port. All of a sudden a bang was heard like a gun was fired and I lost all steering! The wheel just turned around with no rudder movement. I yelled into the belly of Solitude, "ALL HANDS ON DECK!". Kenneth flew out of the toilet with his shorts around his ankle, Thomas with no pants on, both on deck with in seconds.
I don't know what was worse, the broken steering or Thomas trying to get the small storm sail down only wearing his underwear. Kenneth and Thomas did a great job securing the sail on deck while I was checking what was wrong. With the autopilot we could still steer Solitude so the rudder was not broken off. Kenneth took steering on the autopilot constantly pushing the buttons to steer us down wind. The main sail was still up and the wind was still gusting around 35 knots now going to 40 knots. Why does this type of shit always happen when its dark?!?!
Below the cockpit, in the engine room I could see the reason why we had no steering, the chain which sits on a small wheel connected to the steering wheel had broken a link. I manage to hammer the broken link out and put the chain back together but now the chain was shorter. The steering quadroon had to come off the rudder connection so we had to take down the main sail and just drift with the weather system and the 2 meter waves, until I had fixed it. Taking down the main sail with out going into the wind is never very good but we had no option, it was too dangerous to turn Solitude into the waves with only the autopilot to steer the boat. Thomas was at the winch to take the main sail mid ship and Kenneth and I were at the mast to pull down the sail. At the count of three we manage to do so only breaking a wire holding up the boom, nothing major. Since we were left drifting with an angry mother earth, Solitude was rolling violently in the waves. Constantly the tools were flying on the floor. The rudder was turning from side to side, I could barely hold it in one position with a huge wrench. When a wave took the rudder I had to be careful where to put my feet or hands not to get hit by any moving parts. It was frustrating, sort of like you want to tie your shoes inside a closet while an idiot is moving the closet from one side to the other in a 45° angle and another idiot is taking away your tools. It was that feeling....
I got the wires off the steering quadroon, adjusted them so the steering wheel could be steered both starboard and port at the same degrees, put everything back together and checked it again if I had done it right. After a few more adjustments we finally got it right. When I think back, the operation only took about one and a half hour but in real time, it took 5 hours to fix this broken chain on the steering wheel. Everything was now working good again and we raised the main sail again and sailed through the night, tired but in good spirits since we had been fixing a major problem. One of the worst things that can happen on a sailboat is losing the ability to steer. The next 24 hours we got hit by two other storms with wind gusting around 40 knots, rain and cold wind. And we still had twenty days to the Azores! We got beaten in this 24 hours.
The following days we had uneventful days. Got sleep, read books, got sleep, read books. The sun came up, the sun went down, the stars came out, the stars went away. The wind was fairly good and for the first time in a week we were going in the right direction. We passed Bermuda only 160 miles to the south of the island leaving the infamous Bermuda Triangle where the only odd thing I experienced was Thomas taking down a sail only wearing his underwear.
Dolphins were playing at the bow now and then for about ten minutes at a time. For 5 days on end, we didn't see another ship, dolphins, whales, jelly fish or anything else but blue water and seagrass. We really felt alone in the world. Then one day the boredom was broken when a freighter came within a few miles of us. I called it on the VHF radio and after a while a rough Russian accent man replied, "Who are calling us?!" I pointed out again our position and asked if he had any weather reports for the coming days on this latitude. When he finally got back with the weather info, he said it would be around 20 knots winds but he didn't know from which direction. Thank you very much for maybe the most useless weather report I have ever received! He was going to Egypt and asked us where we were heading and what speed we were doing. When I told him we were going to the Azores with 4,5 knots at the moment he replied, still in thick Russian accent English, "maybe next year!" leaving a laughter in the small VHF speaker. Thanks for pointing out we still had a fucking long way to go....
Some more days followed with no ships or anything else going on. Then a tanker appeared on the horizon and I was on the VHF again to get a weather report. He didn't reply but another sailboat, S/Y Lillis did. We could not see S/Y Lillis but the gentleman onboard was very helpful and was also going to the Azores. Then another ship came cruising by, two ships and contact with another sailboat in one day! I was exhausted in the afternoon when I sat with my Sneakers and Coca Cola trying to get some sugar in after all this excitement.
Another day we had dolphins on the bow. Later a herd of sperm-whales we followed for fifteen minutes and later the same day, dolphins again. One whale we followed was swimming less than 10 meters away from Solitude. All of a sudden it dove to 3 meters, we could see the white shadow of this 6 meters mammal and followed it as it came closer and closer and then it swam under Solitude. Everyone onboard were holding their breath for a second before breaking out in loud laughter. It swam right under us and disappeared into the deep!!! I couldn't help thinking about the Moby Dick story...
Very exciting but then three days with absolutely nothing! Crossing the Atlantic Ocean is a great adventure when its over. While you are in it, it does not seem so great! There are way too far between stuff that happens.
When we had less than 700 miles to go the wind died completely again after we had been sailing with out the engine running for 8 days. Thomas sat on watch trying to steer Solitude in the missing wind, doing about 2 nautical miles in 2 hours. No speed record but a recored in patience. We started the engine, took the main sail mid ship and motor sailed through the night. When we had been sailing with sails only for 8 days, it is very noisy when the engine is running on Solitude. For the next 50 hours we had no wind. The Atlantic Ocean was like a mirror, the stars reflected in the water at night, only huge swells came in from the north but still leaving the water with no ripples. I was in the cockpit in the afternoon reading yet another book when one page was pushed up and I could feel a little bit of wind on my neck. Normal it is irritating when the pages in the book you are reading are not staying in the same place but here it was, a sign. Slowly the wind came back. In the night around 2.30, when it was my watch, I put out the main sail so it matched the wind coming from behind us and turned off the engine. A deafening silence came over Solitude. I didn't even want to listen to punkrock on my iPod, I just wanted to enjoy the quietness as we glided through the water with 3 knots. It was fantastic to feel we were under sail once again. When the daylight came the wind was from behind and there was a lot more of it. We pulled out the genoa and put the whisker pole on to keep the sail out. For the next days we were sailing "butterfly", with each sail out to each side of the ship.
Storm
Azores got closer and closer, we could see it on the GPS that was checked a million times. The last miles on a long journey, are the worst ones, they go slow. The wind shifted to a beam reach, coming from 90° on the ship. Sailing with one sail to each side is a bit stressful, the boat is constantly rolling around in the waves and not staying in one position, so it was such a relief with the wind shift and the Azores was only 140 nautical miles away. All day we were enjoying the fast, non stressful sailing in the sun. The wind was a bit cold but it felt nice to be almost over with the journey.
I went to bed and left Kenneth by the wheel. A couple of hours later I could hear Thomas taking over from Kenneth and all of a sudden the wind picked up. I could feel Solitude was moving very fast through the water. When I looked at the GPS, we were sailing 8-10 knots, which is very fast on this boat and I asked Thomas if he was ok. The wind got stronger and stronger reaching 40 knots. I stayed with Thomas in the cockpit while he was struggling at the wheel. The waves build up to around 3 meters with foam on the top and we were flying through the night with only the reefed mainsail up. This was going on for a couple of hours where we took turns in steering the boat. Solitude was not easy to steer in the now 4 meters waves, you had to really hold on to the steering wheel not to cause the boom going from one side to the other. It could result in a lost rigging and a broken mast in these high winds.
4 in the morning I went below to check the GPS once again. Thomas was steering in the violent winds and waves. All of a sudden I heard a big bang coming from the deck and I knew the boom had gone from one side to the other. It was so loud and when I popped my head into the cockpit, I was really surprised that the rigging and mast were still standing. Kenneth was called up, we had to turn the boat into the 5 meters waves now with the engine running and get the main sail down, this was too dangerous to keep going with the main sail up.
Safety harness on I went up to the mast. The wind was hauling like I had never heard it before. Everyone was in position to get the mainsail down, Thomas steered the boat into the angry weather, I could feel a wall of water hitting my back as I tied lines and got ready to get the sail down. On the count of three Kenneth pulled his lines, I loosened the hailer and the sail came crashing down with me pulling it at the same time. I have been in more difficult situations but I can't really remember when. With one hand pulling the sail down and the other holding on while waves were washing over the deck, I manage to secure the sail on the boom. We had done it, everyone did a great job. Now the waves were at least 5 meters, the wind was constantly blowing 50 knots and we were concentrating on steering Solitude down the waves with the wind coming from behind. Kenneth who had been trying to sleep during the night, took over at the wheel while Thomas and I caught up on some sleep. As I gave Kenneth the wheel, a couple of dolphins were playing in the waves less than ten meters away from the boat. We smiled, it was beautiful and weird at the same time to see them play in the waves.
My sleep only lasted an hour, Kenneth was knocking on the aft cabin where I was passed out. Quickly I came up, the waves were still around 5 meters but the wind was now so violent. Kenneth said, he did not feel safe enough to steer the boat so I took over. All three of us sad in the wet, windy and cold cockpit, we had to ride this storm through together. The engine was running at low RPMs as we were speeding down waves. In turns we steered the boat, went below to make hot water for coffee, noodles and tea.
The horizon behind us went more and more black on the white foaming ocean, it was a sharp contrast and no good news. Suddenly it hit us, the blackness was rain and more wind. I had taking off the bimini windows to make sure the wind could come through. The dinghy was secure with ropes on the deck - as always while sailing long distances - but it kept lifting up to stretch the lines to a full extent. The wind left long white stretches of foam on the water making it look like fingers from a demon trying to grab us. We were going to fast, the demon couldn't reach us. I was at the wheel, the horizontal rain was hurting my bare hands as it slammed through our little cold world in the cockpit. There was so much wind, the 5 meters waves were pushed down leaving the ocean bare flat. I was trying to steer Solitude so the wind was coming from behind and I could see we had no change to make it to Faial, our destination in the Azores with this wind. If this continued we would end up in Iceland!
The wind and rain kept going making the visibility very poor for about 30 minutes. Finally it stopped raining and more lucky than winning the lottery, the wind changed to west. Iceland would have been nice to visit but at this moment we would really like to see the Azores. Then the wind changed to northwest, an indication that the low pressure system was leaving us. The waves were still very big but the wind had come down to around 40 knots which on regular bases is a lot, but nothing like we just had gone through. We pulled out the genoa the size of a hanker-chief and turned off the engine. The sun came out for a bit but we couldn't get anything dry, we were still soaked to the bone. It had been the most violent and aggresive weather system I had ever been in.
LAND AHOY
In turn we slept as the sun broke fully out and we could dry our clothes. Faial in the Azores was not far away now but not until 15 miles away could we see the island. We had made it! ... or not quit yet, we still had 4 hours of sailing to Horta and the waves were still around 3 meters but it seemed like nothing after what we had just been through. The sun went to the horizon sending a beautiful light to the island of Faial. I would have taken a photo of this but my camera, after around 12.000 photos, had given up. Thanks to Kenneth for letting me borrow some of his photos for this story....
On the north coast of Faial we were sheltered from the waves and we cruised towards Horta with yet another couple of dolphins on the bow in the black water in the star filled night. A few miles from Horta on the eastern coast of Faial, the wind all of a sudden picked up again. We were going with the engine only and I was steering in the now black night. A white stripe of foam was forming less than 50 meters ahead of the boat and I could see the waves coming closer. I yelled, "HOLD ON!" as Solitude was lifted up almost vertical and slammed down behind the wave. I didn't understand it, where the hell did this wave come from??? We were less than a mile from our destination and then this wave.... hadn't we had enough?!?! I put the engine to full RPMs and tried to make shelter before another wave would come and get us.
The light of Horta Marina was very welcoming, we couldn't figure out where to dock so put down the anchor inside the break wall. We had made it, crossed two thirds of the Atlantic Ocean. Now I had only the last third of the journey to do, Azores to Spain before I could say, I have now crossed a full ocean!
The facts and numbers:
Start / finish:
4th May 2012 / 30th May 2012
Nautical Miles covered:
2867,9
Days and hours:
26 Days, 7 hours (631 hours)
Average speed:
4,545 knots
Highest miles in 24 hours:
141 nm (day 26)
Lowest miles in 24 hours:
72,2 nm (day 9)
Average miles 24 hours:
109,08 nm
Diesel consumption:
568 liters / 142 hours
Engine used of total time:
22,5%
Longest engine use:
50 hours (day 19 - no wind)
Longest run with no engine:
8 days, 10 hours
Storms:
5
Most wind:
50 - 55 knots
Longest storm:
12 hours
Shortest storm:
27 minutes
Highest waves:
5 meters
Number of dolphins:
37
Number of whales:
17 (sperm whales & pilot whales)
