Imagine tossing a chicken carcass into a cage of hungry wolves, I think that’s a good idea of what feeding time looks like on a lot of offshore racers and delivery boats. As cook, on a sea going racer, you need not worry about comparisons to the finer restaurants in town. The ingredients for success are simple; two large deep pots, garlic and onions, a little planning, and variety, and watch your fingers at feeding time.
The ARC Racing Division doesn’t get much tighter than the battle between veterans Scarlet Oyster and Captain Blind. Both yachts finished early this morning off Pigeon Island in St. Lucia within an hour of each other. That wouldn’t be so remarkable, except for the fact that they’d be dueling for thousands of miles previously.
Mia and Andy will be heading to St. Lucia on Sunday for the finish of the ARC. But the first boat's have already gotten there! Sailing the 3,000+ mile route from the Canaries to St. Lucia in just over 8 days, Leopard of Finland smashed the course record by more than 2 days. Here's the official story from St. Lucia.
Chris Museler's excellent documentary on the double-handed New York-Barcelona Race came out today on the New York Times. "You're the first to get the link," says Chris. What follows is the complete documentary that Chris filmed and helped produced. It was the first time someone had documented a double-handed race as such. Hear Chris talk about the experience on the podcast by clicking here. Thanks to the NY Times for letting us run this.
Kamau Kwabena interviews a sailing legend at the Annapolis Sailboat Show. Yves sailed non-stop (almost) and solo around the Great Capes in his Alberg 30 Jean-du-Sud, filming the iconic Around the World With Jean-du-Sud movie in the process, a classic sailing film. Hear Yves talk about his Cape Horn wind vane invention in this short interview.
We're back in Marstrand, but we're supposed to be in Stockholm! Isbjorn made landfall here in July after crossing the North Sea from Shetland. Anyhow, my dad and some sailing friends from the Chesapeake, Tom & Darlene, joined us here in Marstrand for what was supposed to be a fun delivery/cruise around the bottom of Sweden and up into the Baltic and to Stockholm, where our next trip with crew would begin. That plan got scuttled almost immediately - on our second day on the boat, we had a gnarly beat against a strong southerly wind and a wickedly short, steep chop...
*SOUND ON FOR SOME BAGPIPES!* #Isbjornsailing & crew have been having a BLAST exploring Scotland for the past week! We put together a short highlight reel of some of our favorite spots, including sailing around Ardnamurchan, the western-most point in the UK, hiking in the Cuillin Hills & watching seals in Loch Scavaig! Andy recorded the music live at the Old Inn on the Isle of Skye during a late-night session with local musicians & lots of whisky!
'The downwind run from the Azores to Scotland'. Not at all as we expected, this trip has been the one that we thought we would encounter the most weather of the year and we had prepared their crew for it. In Ponta Delgada the day before departure the long-term weather forecast looked to good to be true. We started of with an evening and night of motoring but pretty quickly the wind picked up from behind and we sailed downwind most of the way. Due to some light wind and that we were head of schedule we decided on a quick stop in the Aren Islands just of Galway Bay in Ireland.
Part Two of Isbjorn crew 'Mac's' trans-Atlantic blog, part of his round-the-world by land and sea journey. "The strongest winds we saw peaked at 44 knots, with 34 knots sustained over several hours, which are really strong, creating 15 to 18 foot swells. That is classified as a gale. It was a big weather system on a small boat in the middle of the night, and I enjoyed the adrenaline-charged thrill of being at the helm on night-watch during part of this. It was a “Lieutenant Dan” storm, if you remember Forrest Gump. As reported previously- an ocean is a damned awesome thing, y’all."
The following is an excerpt of our crewmember Kevin 'Mac' McMahan's travel blog, hardtravelin.net. "I walked out of my Texas ranch on May 1 with my pack on my back, hitch-hiked to the train station, rode the Amtrak to New York City, hopped a cruise ship to Bermuda and here I am on Isbjorn, ready to sail across the Atlantic with y'all."
Mia at the helm during the heavier weather! Boat and crew did just great!
Dolphins occasionally streak by the boat and we kill the steaming light, letting the darkness settle. The ocean is itself black under the black night sky, and the dolphins GLOW. No exaggeration. The phosphorescence is so thick in these parts that anything that stirs up the water leaves a fluorescent trail...
Andy, Mia, and the crew expierience dying wind but are determined to not start the engine. Whales show up less than 100 yards from the boat and new friends are made over the VHF. All the while Mia is making delicious dinners to keep the crew well fed! Check out the latest update as Isbjorn crosses the Atlantic Ocean from Bermuda to the Azores.
Low, grey clouds overhead. They're moving off to our right, carried by the chilly northerly wind. A few hints of blue sky are visible to the north. Thane & Brenda are on watch. It's dry outside, but cool. They're in fully foulies, gloves & wool hats. The wind has a bite to it, especially without the warming sun overhead. It's a proper North Atlantic day today.
The start of a bigger adventure! Many times this year, we have started our trip in the BVI but every time we have come back after exploring the southern parts of the Caribbean. This time we left the BVI knowing we won't be back from may years! Back in the Caribbean on 2019, but maybe not the BVI, a bit hard to wrap our heads around since this been our 'base' for a while!
I think this quote captures the beauty of sailing offshore (- Liz):
"I can't decide which way to look. To the east the sky is ablaze with a new, clear dawn, the sun's rays piercing the heavens through some fluffy clouds over the horizon. In the west, the moon follows Jupiter, sinks lower and turns a blood red before dipping beneath the horizon." - Andy Schell
