Finish line photos

Sort-out Sunday

There's plenty to be done to ready Tintin for cruising and a handover to James and Nicky, Matthew and Oliver Morrow who will be on board for the next fortnight.

Rob has serviced the engine, and Bee, Sophia and Bea inspected the extent of damage to the stingray sail. James has sorted the lazarette and got the dinghy afloat. 

Tomorrow is change-over day and we'll do a big clean before welcoming the Morrows on board.

Party up in the hills

Th ARC welcome party was held up in the hills last night, in the beautiful gardens of an old house. We enjoyed catching up with Andew and SWade, "yellowshirts" on the ARC team and dear friends of hours who sailed with us in Polynesia 6 years ago

R&R in Rodney Bay

A few pictures from the last 48 hours. We are all enjoying the chance to sleep a whole night long! And to chat to fellow sailors and hear their stories of adventures during the crossing.

We've arrived!

We sailed over the finish line in Rodney Bay at 10:30 last night.

Welcomed by our friends SWade and Andrew, some ice cold rum punch and a basket of fruit, it was wonderful to step ashore

Well done Tintin!

Land Ahoy!

50 miles off, we can see the top of a mountain! The St Lucia courtesy flag goes up, with the yellow quarantine flag, alongside burgees of Salcombe Yacht Club and the OCC

100 nautical miles to St Lucia

As the sun rises over a glassy sea, we have 100 miles to go. It's been the quietest night of the whole voyage, and probably the last. We hope to make landfall late tonight...

The wind has died completely, leaving the sea smooth and free of any ripples apart from Tintin's wake. We're motoring at a steady 6 knots with plenty of fuel still in the tank.

The night sky was stunning, lit by the brightest (almost) full moon I have ever seen. Once it set at 5am, like a big orange disc, the stars became even more dazzling. The brightest were reflected in the sea, while phosphoresence lit up the edge of Tintin's bow wave. Shooting stars of the Geminid meteor shower and lightning low on the eastern horizon. Not a squall cloud in sight.

200 miles to go!

Thoughts (by James):

00.00: 141 miles yesterday, not bad!

00.30: Will make some tea, helps pass the time until bed.

01.00: Lightning ahead as well as to the side now. That was a big one. I wonder how far away it is, probably a long way. I'm so sleepy. I wonder if walking around the cockpit will help? Maybe a biscuit too.

01.30: Bed is nice, but so hot in the cabin.

03.00ish: Sounds windy, I hope I'm not needed

04.00ish: Should I be concerned that Dad has no idea what will happen if we are hit by lightning? (Snippets of night watch conversation heard through cabin window)

07.30: So sleepy. Nice sunrise, not as good as yesterday, that was the best one so far.

08.00: I should put the fishing line out. Hopefully will catch something I can actually reel in today. 

08.30: Hungry, time for porridge. It gets so warm so early now, bimini up to give a little shade.

09.00: Maybe if I make bread now I'll be able to cook it and nap before lunch.

09.30: Probably not too hot for the bread to rise in the engine room while the engine is running, right?

10.00: Pancakes are excellent, great use of excess butter supply. Thank you mum.

10.30: "We've had second breakfast, yes, but what about third breakfast?" - engine on has it's perks, toaster is out and making excellent use of yesterdays bread.

11.00: One loaf eaten, another takes its place. It's like the circle of life but for loafs of bread, I wonder if they see it that way.

11.30: Nap seeming unlikely, but feeling okay for now, despite dismal Garmin Sleep Score®

12.00: Kindles are great, can now make a fully informed decision that forensic anthropology is very interesting but not the career choice for me.

12.30: That is a huge grey cloud over there.

12.45: I guess taking reefs in and out of the main is good exercise even if not particularly useful this time. Kinda wish it would bucket rain down on us, it's so hot so close to such heavy rain.

13.00: Lunch time! Excellent spread for 17 days in. Close to a PB for my bread I think. Mum's hummus is an excellent addition.

13.30: Quite full after less lunch than usual, 3 breakfasts may be responsible.

14.00: 2 (massive) apples per day split between us. Now 4 apples left, should work out right all being well.

14.30: A breeze! We might be able to sail for a while

15.00: Engine on again. Squalls reliably doing the opposite of what we are prepared for. (Which is now, since a few nights ago, lots of wind, resulting in the squall giving very little)

15.30: Chess Vs Sophia

16.00: I'm making a mess of this

16.30: Finally, that took much longer than it should have 

17.00: Tea time! Brownies or cake? 

17.05: Both

17.30: Looks dark back home. Looking forward to seeing everyone when we are back. Starlink is crazy.

18.00: Some of the clouds around us look huge. That book I read said if they are taller than they are wide that means stormy. Some of these are like skyscrapers. I guess explains the squalls and lightning.

18.30: Cold beer on the foredeck has got to be a highlight of the trip.

19.00: Dinner! Pleased with the suggestion of cold chicken pittas, hummus etc. even though I was no help creating it (thanks again to Mum)

19.30: Full again! Lovely dinner

20.00: Bed asap. Tidy dinner, teeth, bed.

20.30: So hot in the cabins.

21.30: So sweaty

22.30: Watch time already!? Breeze is lovely and cooling though. Sail furled away and engine on

23.00: What would my third desert island album be? (After Bach Cello Suites and Graceland), thinking possibly Les Mis

23.30: Maybe this is enough wind to sail?

00.00: It was not

Cheers everybody!

We're having some lovely gentle sailing at times. Perfect for foredeck drinks yesterday 

A squall cloud

Where you see a dark curtain between the lower edge of the cloud and the sea, you can be certain it's very wet!

Engine on. Engine off

Here's today's log, a reflection of the changeable conditions.  Plus minute by minute accounting of engine time, important for us to see if we will beat Truenorth or not. They're steadfastly ahead of us but the decision re who wins will take into account both engine hours (penalty)  and total length, in cm, of any fish caught ( bonus)... The losing crew will take the winning crew out for a meal in St Lucia

Squalls and calms

 As we approach the last few days of our trip, the weather is making us work for our mileage.  The various forecasts disagree about what we should be getting, but so far none is accurate.  It is very hot and sultry - any activity ends with me dripping in sweat.  The sails have been going up and down many times as reef in preparation for squalls that sometimes arrive and sometimes don't.

Typically, we can be ghosting along with the prevailing gentle easterlies making 4-5 knots.  They gradually fade to nothing leaving the boat slopping about going very slowly.  Genoa comes in, main centered and engine on.  Some time later a cloud appear to out south east - often very big and grey.  We watch its appraoch trying - with remarkably little success to guage its path.  We put 2 reefs in the main before the wind increases - simultaneously unrolling the genoa and turning off the engine.  We get a period of decent sailing ranging from a few minutes to several hours.  The wind gradually moves back to the east and dies - and so it repeats.

Otherwise all good on Tintin.  330 miles to St Lucia. We looking at an morning finish on Sat.

Married for a third of a century

Bridget baked us a cake to celebrate 33.3 years married!

4.03pm Monday 9th, a crew update

They say men go mad at sea
but it's day 15, and TinTins crew are the picture of sanity 

Maybe it's Jo's fresh boat bread;
who could complain when they're so well fed?

It may be 30 degrees of heat in which we bask,
but knitting a woolly hat is Sophia's afternoon task 

Bridget is blasting afternoon vibes -
better tunes across the Atlantic I challenge you to find 

James is manning the fishing rod
alas, it is only seaweed he seems to prod 

Rob is reading up on the effects of scurvy
but with three satsumas left, no need to be nervy  

Bea is tearing through her latest book
at three times the speed that Sophia took…

613 miles to go,
enough time for my poetry skills to grow?

Dawn, day 17

Bea and I are the lucky ones with the dawn watch. There's nothing quite like it.

We had a good squall-free night, and the sky looks promising 

Clear skies

Since the sting-ray blow out squall we have been treated to perfect trade wind weather, and we're tramping along under goosewing. 

No clouds are chasing us today!

We inspected the damaged sail up on the foredeck.  The repair is too big a job for the trusty old Jones sewing machine that we have on board. But we still have plenty of sails in our wardrobe and will manage without for now.

Highs and Lows of Ocean life

There's been lots going on on Tintin.  Last night, a grey cloud appeared behind as it often does.  Many have no effect, some have strong gust, some bring rain - this one blew frantically for a couple of minutes.  The big Stingray - as featured in Bridget's video yesterday had been partially furled before, but not enough.  We had a wild ride for a couple of minutes before the sail exploded.  The wind died soon after which made furling possible, and we stuffed it below. Chastened, we carried on under genoa alone until morning.

This morning, no grey clouds but a sunny 7 knots goose-winging towards St Lucia.

After lunch, we were sorting out the mess of the Stingray on the foredeck, when a whale paid us a visit.  A great sight.

Morale is v good onboard, as we start the last week of the journey.

Day in the life

08.27 Wake up too hot - lie down in cockpit instead

09.18 Engine on to charge the batteries - this means time for Starlink, water maker, and most importantly: we can use the toaster

09.48 James (aka bread boy) gets to it making our daily loaf of fresh bread

10.26-39 Sail changes on the foredeck because of lighter winds

10.42 Got far too hot so a bucket of sea water is needed over my head

10.51 Quick freshwater rinse 

11.03 Wendy (our wind pilot) is put to use, although she can be a bit temperamental so needs careful monitoring and fine tuning

11.21 Killer sodoku time

11.57 Bread is cooked! time to cool

12.13 Well earned cold beverage (Diet Coke of course)

12.15 More killer sodoku

13.03 Group advent calendar opening!

13.12 Lunch time! (salad, leftover risotto, and the best boat bread so far)

14.08 Tea

14.13 Knitting, reading and cryptic crossword in the cockpit

14.45 Watch James set up the fishing line - we offer plenty of (un)helpful advice, free of charge!

15.14 Tea

15.32 Beat dad at chess

16.08 Lose to james at chess

16.49 Knitting contd.

17.30 Spot oncoming squall. do nothing.

17.33 Beat sophia at chess

17.41 Might have caught a fish?

17.45 No fish 

17.51 Tea and fresh ginger flapjacks (thanks Mum!)

18.49 Rain finally arrives - move inside

19.12 Time for movie night: Hot Fuzz

19.23 Dinner

20.02 Hot fuzz resumes

20.26 Squall !!!! sudden reefing needed

20.37 Hot fuzz resumes take 2

21.08 Bed time

01.25 Sleep through alarm

01.29 Wake up (thanks James)

01.33 Reef stingray

02.14 Shake out reef

02.28 Tea

02.56 Dad emerges, Sophia goes to bed

03.14 Tea

03.17 Cryptic crossword 

04.09 Bed time 

What a busy day! Same again tomorrow?

Bridget

Boat Tour

The moon, Venus and Tintin

Nature is Healing

Hey stalker 

Today's headlines include a sociable easterly of 15 knots and a switch back to our trusty stingray sail (after a life of squall-or!), james' best boat bread yet thanks to a toasty engine room, and the revival of our sickly crew member so we're almost back to full strength - which will be critical to closing down the 10nm lead of our Scottish rivals, Truenorth!

The drop in the wind and breather from non-stop rockin' n rollin' has been much welcomed by the crew, and allowed the usual extra curriculars to resume - the the chess board is out, knitting and fishing clubs in action, and watch this space for a boat tour which is also due to drop tomorrow!!

Still no danger of a shower anytime soon for some crew members, so bet you're glad we're still 1074nms away..!

xoxo 

Sophia 

A good drying day

Mum, here's your brilliant washing stick in action once again

Lookouts at the bow

Secret Santa on St Nick's day

Yesterday we celebrated half way with tea, fruitcake ( put on board in Salcombe in August!) and Secret Santa 🎅 

Everyone was very happy with their gifts! 

Happy times afloat

Half way day

Today we celebrated reaching half way across: 1400 miles down and 1400 to go. It's been a day of great ocean sailing with reasonably steady winds in the mid 20s, fewer squalls than yesterday (always good), and more great progress. We're making 6-8 knots of boatspeed, and after gybing onto port tack this afternoon as the wind went round to the ENE, we have been running with the main NE swell and surfing down waves at up to 12 knots, heading directly for St Lucia.

The sea is quite lumpy today with wave heights approaching 4m, but the long wavelength of this ocean swell means that there are no breaking tops. The wind and waves are due to gradually diminish from now over the next week.

Here are James and Bridget putting in our extra pre night-sailing reef in the mainsail.

Meanwhile Sophia and Bea are cooking up a storm in the very challenging rolly galley. It's the best mushroom and leek risotto for miles around.

Halfway day

 We're 1404 nm from the north end of St Lucia, and have decreed that 1400 marks 1/2 across.  An evning of wild celebration is planned, and we'll report back tomorrow.
Christmas decorations have gone up in the saloon making a valiant attempt to make 30degs and rolling seas feel like a normal UK Christmas.  

The wind is fresh from the right direction and we're making great progress.

This video was last night as the sun was setting

Mid Atlantic Dawn

A promising start to the day 

The squall squad

Bridget and Rob were on watch this morning when we had our first rainy squall. You can see the cloud bringing rain (grey streaks down to the horizon) and gusts of fresher wind.  They pass within minutes and the sun comes back out again 

Tintin Angling Society reconvenes

Sophia gets to choose today's fishing lure and it's orange. 

Fingers crossed. Tuna would be nice

Some sad news

Yesterday the ARC fleet was informed that a man overboard had been reported by Ocean Breeze, one of the fast racing monohulls in the rally.

MRCC Norfolk helped to coordinate a search by Ocean Breeze and other yachts who were close to the area, a long way ahead and further north from where Tintin is.

Today we have been told that the search for the missing crew member Dag Eresund has been called off, although yachts diverting to assist are being encouraged to pass through the area as planned.

It's a very great sadness and out thoughts are with Dag's family, and the skipper and crew of Ocean Breeze.

A windy night

The forecast for winds of approx 30 knots overnight was spot on. Before dark we shortened sail to 3 reefs in genoa and main. We are not aiming for maximin speed, rather for a steady well balanced rig. Overnight we aim to be conservative,  in order to minimise the need for any midnight forays to the foredeck.

We flew along under incredibly bright skies and shooting stars, with the occasional  cloud. In daytime the typical trade wind clouds look just like fluffy balls of cotton wool, but in the dark they have a more ominous appearances. None of them have brought squalls of rain and stronger wind yet. 

As day broke the wind settled back to the 20s, a good wind for Tintin.

All well on board.

Good progess

One week and 1 day in. 

Rolly Monday

The photos don't show the boat rolling, but last night and today rhe wind has picked up to 20-25 knots. We're flying along over the waves in the sunshine.

Here's James doing the Heath original Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes, quite a good challenge on a moving platform.

Bridget and Sophia are on watch.

Rob and Bea are catching up on sleep