1230Z 18DEC18, Day 1, Atlantic Crossing. We departed La Gomera in calm conditions and motored south for around an hour and half. As we moved out of the lee of the island we raised our mainsail and the wind built to just over 10kts. This meant the jib also went out, the motor went off and we have been sailing since. It has been an easy and calm start to the crossing with winds largely sitting around 15kts +/- 5kts and the seas rather comfortable. We started off on a close reach and have fallen off to a broad reach with full main and jib making a general course of 210T over ground and moving well.
Current Position: 25 54N 018 23W
24 hour progress: 150nm, 6.25kts avg SOG, approximately 2500nm to go, current weather is warm and sunny, yesterday was hazy and we lost sight of land quickly.
As the excitement to be on our way has started to fade we are looking to settle into routines. The general ease of the conditions is making it easy to start getting into our grooves.
We saw a single dolphin for awhile after we set our sails and he played off our bow and leapt out of the water off our port quarter. We have had the fishing line in, but no fish, yet. This morning around 10am a sailboat popped up next to us on AIS and visually. So we now have someone to race, though he seems to be a bit bigger than us and going slightly faster so far.
Two adults, two children and a cat sailing to see the world and learn something together.
We arrive in the Canary Islands!
1930Z 02DEC18, Day 6, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. We sailed and motored through the day. We had hoped to make the anchorage before dark, but watched the sunset over Graciosa and Lanzarote. We were safely anchored just after 1900, about an hour after sunset. It was a lovely weather day and we finished out the trip smoothly.
Passage summary: 131.5 hours, 597 nm, 4.5 kts avg SOG — a little slow, but not bad given the slog against the current to escape the Strait of Gibraltar.
We were all happy to have arrived and there was excited energy throughout the day. We had a nice dinner with a celebratory glass of wine and then everyone went off for a good night's sleep. We were happy to have completed our longest passage yet. It was relatively smooth with some minor issues we will quickly sort, and as always, continuous learning.
Day 5, Gibraltar to Canary Islands
0730Z 02DEC18, Day 5, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. We sailed all through the day yesterday with winds around 20 knots. The day was cloudy and a bit grey with a tiny bit of rain. We sailed downwind with the jib and made good progress. Overnight the winds went down to around 10 knots and we motored for a few hours. With the sea state and the low winds we were getting rolled around a bit. We really needed to be on our asymmetric sail, but it did not make a lot of sense to put it up in the middle of the night. Plus we needed to charge our batteries anyway, so on went the motor. The early morning saw some more wind and we went back to sailing with the jib.
120 hour progress: 545 nm, 4.5 kts avg SOG. We are hoping to be settled in the Canaries for the night before sunset. Around 50-70nm to go depending on where we decide to stop.
We are all in good spirits and looking forward to seeing land again. This has been our longest passage to date and we are quite happy with how it has gone. The highlight of the day was that we were finally sailing without using the engine (about 36 hours straight). The boys continue to do schoolwork, dishes and watches. Yesterday saw more rolly seas, so we weren't sure how much schoolwork they would get done, but they persevered.
Day 4, Gibraltar to Canary Islands
0730Z 01DEC18, Day 4, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. We are now consistently sailing! We turned off the engine around 1130 yesterday and have been sailing since. We are sailing downwind and were using our asymmetric until around 0300. By that time the winds were sitting around 20 knots, so in watch turnover Jon and I worked the sail change. We have switched to the heavier jib and continue to make good progress. We have gybed once and will likely gybe again today, perhaps a time or two. The seas have developed a little bit with the wind and we are getting rolled about at times, but it is still comfortable overall.
96 hour progress: 431.2 nm, 4.5 kts avg SOG. We expect to make landfall tomorrow afternoon.
Whales! Jon spotted spouts in the water and we all came out expecting to see a pod of dolphins. Instead there were 3 whales at the surface. We sailed relatively close to them and they continued to spout. They seemed to be smaller than our boat and had a very small dorsal fin. We will have to look up what type of whale they might have been when we have internet again. They did not seem to mind our passing by. One picked up its head like he wanted to get a look, but they did not come over to the boat and we sailed on.
Everyone is well and we have all settled into a bit of a rhythm. The boys continue to make progress with their school work, stand watches, and play together. We've been cooking and eating well and are all happy with the passage so far.
Day 3, Gibraltar to Canary Islands
0730Z 30NOV18, Day 3, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. Not much wind again over the past 24 hours. We were able to sail off and on through out the day. The seas are still calm and we made ok speed in low winds. We have had the motor on for 12+ hours, all through the night. The wind is forecasted to increase enough to be able to sail sometime today. There was a decent amount of boat traffic as we paralleled the Moroccan Coast, about 30nm off, for a good part of the day. There are also a few other sailboats out making the trip and we see one from time to time. Otherwise things are quiet and we are ready to sail a bit more.
72 hour progress: 319.6 nm, 4.4 kts avg SOG, passed halfway point! About 275 nm to go.
Dolphins! Our big excitement of the day was a pod of bottle nose dolphins that came to visit us for about 20 minutes. There were quite a few and they swam and surfaced a lot whistling and clicking to each other. At some point most of them swam on, but 2 stayed at our bow, practically rubbing against the boat for awhile. We all enjoyed the show and morale boost. Earlier in the day, we had put out the fishing line, but this time the fish won and snapped our line; so it seems that fish was too big, and we need some higher strength line on our hand reels along with some more lures. Current score for the trip is Zephyros: 1, Fish: 1.
Everyone is well, and watches and school work continue. Daxton is taking his DJ / watch standing duties seriously.
Day 2, Gibraltar to the Canaries
0730Z 29NOV18, Day 2, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. It has been a relatively slow but beautiful day. There has been a good deal of motoring / motor sailing. The winds were below 5kts throughout the day, which was forecasted and not a surprise. The seas have been calm with just a low, long Atlantic swell that has been very comfortable. Overnight we were able to sail from about 2200-0145 and then again from 0445 where the winds were over 5kts. We have been pleasantly surprised that Zephyros is sailing well making 3-4+ kts in 6-8 kts of wind! Generally she needs more wind to move so that shows just how calm the water currently is that we can sail (close hauled) in such light winds. The winds are forecasted to start filling in, in the next day or so, so we are hopeful that day 3 will include more sailing and less motoring/motor sailing.
48 hour progress: 214.7 nm, 4.5kts avg SOG
Fish on! The big news and excitement was that we caught our first fish underway!!! A nice sized tuna caught, ironically, right after we had just finished lunch - but we had a second lunch of tuna poke over rice anyway. The whole crew (except for the naïve cats!) was super excited and it filled up an hour or so of our otherwise uneventful day. The cats didn't touch their sushi - spoiled little buggers don't know what they are missing, but more for us then. There was also a nice fish dinner - broccoli, quinoa and seared tuna steaks - yum! And that was the end of our first tuna, it has been decided that we need a bit bigger fish next time, so fingers crossed and perhaps we will put the line back in soon. We were happy our first one was a manageable size, easy to store in the refrigerator and fed us 1.5 meals.
We continue to be in good spirits and are well rested. The boys did school work and watches as well as dishes. We've listened to music together and played games.
48 hour progress: 214.7 nm, 4.5kts avg SOG
Fish on! The big news and excitement was that we caught our first fish underway!!! A nice sized tuna caught, ironically, right after we had just finished lunch - but we had a second lunch of tuna poke over rice anyway. The whole crew (except for the naïve cats!) was super excited and it filled up an hour or so of our otherwise uneventful day. The cats didn't touch their sushi - spoiled little buggers don't know what they are missing, but more for us then. There was also a nice fish dinner - broccoli, quinoa and seared tuna steaks - yum! And that was the end of our first tuna, it has been decided that we need a bit bigger fish next time, so fingers crossed and perhaps we will put the line back in soon. We were happy our first one was a manageable size, easy to store in the refrigerator and fed us 1.5 meals.
We continue to be in good spirits and are well rested. The boys did school work and watches as well as dishes. We've listened to music together and played games.
Day 1, Gibraltar to Canary Islands
0730Z 28NOV18, Day 1, Gibraltar-Canary Islands. We departed Gibraltar 24 hours ago. Everything has been well. We motored through Gibraltar bay and then set sails along the coast of Spain. Winds were 15kts and we sailed for a bit before being set by the current so on the motor went to ensure forward progress with the sails still assisting. We made it past Tarifa and picked up speed, turned off the engine and sailed across the strait. We had good downwind sailing without the motor for about 12 hours. We even braved night time asymmetrical sailing - only to hit 20+kts of true wind and change to the jib. We moved along well until around 0230 when the wind dropped below 5 kts and the motor has been on since. Seas have been calm with a long period 1-2 meter Atlantic swell.
24 hour progress: 107.1nm, 4.5kts avg SOG
Crew is all in good spirits. The boys did school work yesterday and watches have been easy. It was good to get moving again and have a gentle reintroduction to everyone's sealegs. Poseidon got a bit sick right as we left (likely nerves) but is back to being himself already.
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