Blue Water Blog: Atlantic round trip on 31 feet: bye bye Caribbean, off to the Azores
Kristina Müller
· 07.06.2019
In August 2018, Lennart Burke and Valentin "Vale" Ahlhaus, friends and Melges 24 sailors from Stralsund, set off on an Atlantic tour with an old IW-31. After adventurous first stages to France, a Crossing the Bay of Biscay against the clock , Bay strolling on the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, they have your ship for the big jump prepared. I n 18 days they finally crossed the Atlantic and three months the Sailing in the Caribbean enjoyed. After all before the start of the second big push back to Europe some surprises.
After the Atlantic round in cruising mode Lennart Burke wants to take part in the Mini-Transat 2021. On YACHT online he reports on his way there.
It really was time to set off. Where to? Europe. We wanted to be completely free to choose our destination, so we equipped ourselves for a possible non-stop journey to Germany. Knowing us, that wasn't exactly unthinkable. Specifying an exact destination was not in the spirit of our trip. So we set off and sailed until we no longer wanted to or could. A great privilege.
Here are the excerpts from our logbook:
Let's go! Friday, 26/04/2019, 5 pm (UTC-4h)
The bridge opens at 1700 LT to leave St Martin's Lagoon. At 1705 we almost crashed into the bridge, which closed at short notice due to an ambulance. We had to stop completely. Everything went smoothly, but we only came to a halt a boat's length from the bridge and Mirko was already waiting for us under sail in Marigot Bay. He was short of garlic, we were short of onions. No matter, there was no turning back. We start our Atlantic crossing together. Full of anticipation, but tired from all the work for the wide Atlantic.
Day 1 - Saturday, 27.04.2019
My first night watch begins and with it the first full day at sea. We don't have the slightest breeze in the cabin. I've been having a sauna here for 6 hours. Everything else is fine for now.0935 (UTC-4h): We've made it over the continental shelf and because of this, "Andiamo" is literally gliding over the long Atlantic waves, hard on the wind.
1520 (UTC-4h): The first night is over. It was like a dream. We couldn't have got off to a better start. Well, I didn't get much sleep, but this time it's probably due to the 30°C in the boat. Vale, however, sleeps splendidly.
Day 2 - Sunday, 28.04.2019, Etmal: 108,1 nm
I was able to sleep for almost 6 hours straight. The weather has been stable throughout and even the genoa has been up since yesterday afternoon. What a huge rag. We haven't had a genoa up since the end of December and it's been even longer since we've had it up on the wind. It seems twice as big, we don't have a big sea, but we are getting a lot of wash. Inexplicably, we have water in the boat. We draw about 40-50 litres of water every 4 hours. That should give us food for thought.
Day 3 - Monday, 29.04.2019, Etmal: 121,3 nm
Andiamo goes well over the waves, even fully loaded and hard on the wind, and I sleep really well. Nevertheless, the constant lean is exhausting. As I write this, my feet are splashing in the water. Unfortunately, there's far too much of it in the bilge.
Day 4 - Tuesday, 30.04.2019, Etmal: 111 nm
The water problem is still ongoing. A lull would come in handy to seal the leaks we've spotted, but dropping and patching is out of the question. The well-won height... Life on board is bearable with a constant lean angle, but it is very, very austere. We don't cook unnecessarily elaborate meals, and we only go to the toilet when we really need to.
The bunk is currently the best place on board.
Day 5 - Wednesday 01.05.2019, Etmal: 113 nm
We have been sailing close to the wind for 5 days now (...), but after 12 hours with wind force 6, gusting 8, we have to draw the following conclusion: Genoa untied (toe stays came loose), almost hanging in the water because the net was torn at the foot rail. Significant loss of toes. Anchor locker open and full of water. The front three six-litre drinking water carriers came loose and almost went overboard. We're still taking 20 litres of water an hour, plus 4.5 hours of re-sewing seams... Yes, we'll never leave the genoa on the foredeck again and the wind is gradually dying down. Nevertheless, "Andiamo" is mercilessly washed over.
Day 6 - Thursday 02.05.2019, Etmal: 110,2 nm
As the sun rose, the wind dropped a little and I was able to set the genoa, which I had been looking forward to all night. After setting the genoa, I realised that I could have waited a little longer. Well, now it's up and in the afternoon we took advantage of the light wind to finally go for a refreshing swim. Great, after 6 days of sweating! A few jobs are also done: engine started, genoa recovered and course set for the Azores.
7th day - Friday 03.05.2019, Etmal: 98,4s m
What a night! I was outside the whole time, tuning the engine, sails and autopilot and removing weed again and again. But in between I sat in a jumper and blanket in the cockpit, under the stars. There are sooo many of them on such clear nights. It's nice to have a view of the Milky Way and shooting stars, if only it weren't for the engine noise.
1718 (UTC-4h): Lots of cabbage! I saw one as big as a handball court. I was finally able to dry my bunk on deck after the wet days in the Passat and wanted to refuel at 1600 UTC-4h, as we had been motoring for 20 hours, which, with a consumption of about 1l/h, corresponds to a 20-litre canister. As it happens, the tank overflowed after about 7-10 litres. Strange. Isn't it? Having only used 10 litres after 20 hours?
Day 8 - Saturday 04.05.2019 Etmal: 104,7sm
A bit of tinkering here and there, such as sealing work on the foredeck.1740 UTC-4h: I refuelled again and the canister is now almost empty. That makes a consumption of around 0.5 litres per hour. We have set up a time change on board today. Every Saturday, we move the ship's time back an hour, which was a quiet day.
Day 9 - Sunday 05.05.2019, Etmal: 117,5 nm
We leave the sails up all the time as long as they don't beat too much. This always seems to add between 0.5 and 2 knots to the engine power. It is possible that this is why the diesel consumption is so low.
1820 UTC-3h: Now, after the second canister, the consumption seems to be higher, but still under 1 litre/hour.
Today I even went swimming after a cold beer. We had to stop three times to prevent "Andiamo" from drifting away in front of me, despite the flapping main, and the conclusion after the dive: absolutely no fouling, even the propeller is still shiny. Above all, a cool down like this is welcome, as it is still very warm during the day and there was no breeze when we put the genoa and jib together on the foredeck.
Day 10 - Monday 06.05.2019, Etmal: 111,4 nm
Realisation of the night: Occasionally flapping sails are even more annoying than the constant engine noise, but: We are sailing! At last the engine is off and we're making good speed, the wind is coming from astern as forecast, but a few hours too late, the genoa is now unfurled to windward and the trade wind feeling sets in. Unfortunately, the spinnaker pole was damaged once again when we took it out. It seems to be a pity that many people are lying on it. In the end, a temporary solution was found. Downwind sailing is great as always...
Day 11 - Tuesday 07.05.2019, Etmal: 125 nm
Eww, rain clouds all around us. We are getting closer and closer to the grey, rainy north. But the cool, fresh morning air does us a world of good. It was incredibly humid at night. "Andiamo" is like a stalactite cave and the barometer is slowly dropping. Tomorrow morning should be a little more uncomfortable. A light veil covers the sky.
Day 12 - Wednesday 08.05.2019, Etmal: 143,8 nm
Thunderstorms all around. I've switched to our smallest jib and tied in the second reef. Sitting outside and watching. Hope we don't get caught out.
(...) I hardly slept, just tossed from one side to the other. As soon as I woke up, the wind died down and shifted by 30 degrees. I try to avoid the thunderstorms, but the balmy, changeable winds make it almost impossible to manoeuvre. I batten down the hatches and sit it out. The electrics are switched off as a precaution. Thunderstorms pass to the left, right and in front of us. We're lucky. I now wait for it to clear up and for the wind to stabilise.
Day 13 - Thursday 09.05.2019, Etmal: 105,8 nm
I'm currently thinking a lot about our travel plans. I'm torn at the moment. My curiosity and the desire to explore are drawing me to the Azores. My ambition, on the other hand, is to sail non-stop for as long as possible. I'm just wondering whether that's the point of the trip.
1500 UTC-3h: It seems as if the doldrums haven't quite prevailed. It clears up again briefly. Now you can see the front approaching menacingly.
2056 UTC-3h: And off we go. With one gust it goes from 3 to 5 Bft. With the next to 6 Bft. Reef the main all the way through and switch to storm jib.
Day 14 - Friday 10 May 2019, Etmal: 131.1 nm
Mainsail in the 3rd reef and storm jib hoisted to windward. That should keep us safely on course up to 35 knots. We've been heading east since yesterday afternoon to escape the low coming from the north-west a little. "Andiamo" is running! The low will certainly be on our backs until tomorrow evening. Huge waves are piling up behind us. Fortunately, they don't break too strongly yet. "Andiamo" is doing a great job.
Day 15 - Saturday 11 May 2019, Etmal: 147.2 nm
0605 UTC-3h: The wind has now reached gale force. We got two crosswinds and a breaker entered the cockpit twice. The cockpit was full to the brim. It took just under two minutes until it was empty again. So far so good, but now our flexible hose, which served as a petroleum feed from the tank to the cooker, also broke. On top of all that, it broke right at the pressure point. (...).
Took the storm jib to starboard (leeward) in the early afternoon and hove to. I'm annoyed that I didn't do it earlier. Works very well. The waves aren't breaking too strongly any more.
Day 16 - Sunday 12.05.2019, Etmal: 109,8sm
Now the wind has lost a lot of its strength, but the old waves are still there and it is almost impossible to make progress under sail. We just get tossed from one side to the other or get buffeted. I've now (0828 UTC-2h) switched on the engine because we couldn't get going and today was a real Sunday. We actually just chilled, chatted and ate. Hot food! The temporary solution is holding up. We had pasta. The whole thing was then doused with Cuba, not the pasta, but the storm behind us. We packed away the storm jib and sailed with full sail before the wind. Dreamlike!
The sun warms up nicely and we dry all our clothes in the cockpit. I've also washed myself: It's cold! Still a great day.
17. day - Monday 13.05.2019, Etmal: 134,7 nm
Joa, not much to say. At lunchtime, I realise that we're now almost exactly halfway to Falmouth. It's a shame that we now have to stop in the Azores. Life is, as usual, humid and cheerful (at night), carefree, but grey and cloudy today. Now the doldrums have set in. What a pity!
Day 18 - Tuesday 14 May 2019, Etmal: 118.3 nm
Not today, of course, but after 18 days at sea we arrived in Barbados after our first Atlantic crossing. We also had almost 2000 nautical miles behind us.
Day 19 - Wednesday 15.05.2019, Etmal: 113,4 nm
Man, man, somehow I've been sleeping restlessly the last few nights. I wake up several times, startled, thinking that I'm on watch but have fallen asleep unintentionally. I immediately look at the clock, then at the course and finally realise that Vale is buzzing around. A relieving feeling, but not a nice situation and above all not a restful sleep. I am therefore very tired on my watch and try to catch up on sleep in short intervals.
Day 20 - Thursday 16.05.2019, Etmal: 120 nm
Dolphins at last! Three schools of dolphins have already come to visit. One even had a very small one with them. Unfortunately, we've been motoring for a while and it looks like we'll be motoring all the way to Horta. It's a good thing we listened to the warnings and are very well supplied. There's still plenty of diesel and we don't fish any more. There are hardly any crayfish left, but there are plenty of Portuguese galleys with poisonous blue tentacles hanging from the hook.
Day 21 - Friday 17 May 2019, Etmal: 131.7 nm
Land in sight! Engines still running. It's really cold. I'm looking forward to mobile phone reception and the countless messages. I'm really looking forward to it.
A friendly Secrurity employee shows us a berth on the quay.
We'd barely got the gin out when Jens, who had heard about our trip, came alongside in the dinghy. We chat and go to Peter Café Sport. We talk a lot and unfortunately we miss the kitchen closing time and the blues concert. Instead, there's a rock'n'roll party at the sailing club with a cold Pilsner.
This Atlantic crossing to the Azores was more unique and varied than any other trip before. We really enjoyed every hour and the sailing fever took hold of us much more strongly on this leg, and as expected, "Andiamo" and the crew were pushed harder and the conditions were much more changeable, which was very exciting.
Staying humble and coping with the wind and weather is unavoidable on such a non-stop trip across the Atlantic and was much more pronounced this time away from the trade winds. Especially after overcoming particularly difficult situations, our confidence in ourselves and in the boat was incredibly strengthened, so that we wanted to sail on and on and on. Because - at least that's how it feels - you can overcome anything, come what may. Being out there with this feeling is wonderful.
I wish I was back, but now in the Azores it's time to work, wait for a new tube and enjoy civilisation and the beautiful landscape before heading back to England. And certainly again with the intention of "sailing until we can't or don't want to anymore."
Who knows where it will take us this time, but more on that in the next blog. Andiamo!
