We will find an excuse......!

Sequentia
Wed 6 Dec 2017 06:41
......why we so far caught no fish, and more importantly why our standing on the leaderboard has been dropping over the last week!

But before evolving around those subjects I can confirm we are still alive, healthy (apart from Adi having some minor stomach issues which most likely was caused by Ben's exotic cooking), still friends, smile (espescially when the genaker is safely up or down, even if it's been in the water) and Sequentia seems to be happy.

That said, I have to introduce "Jenny". Jenny Genaker has got a very distinct personality. She is very responsible, she will do what you tell her to do, she is beautiful, very delicate and requires your attention all the time. In other words hard maintenance. She doesn't like to get up early, so therefore sometimes with the wrong foot out of bed first. She doesn't like to go to bed and she doesn't mind a swim in the sea. If she she's not been looked after or doesn't get her will, she will nicely furl around the forestay and stay there until we have calmed down. Over the last week we know who's the boss.

The other one I will introduce is Mr. Wayne, Wayne the wind vane. We can thank our friend Alfredo from Raymarine in Las Palma for introducing him to us. And we happily took him onboard. Wayne is our pilot (when we are too busy to do it ourselves). He is very good friends with the "Wind Gods" and will optimize and adjust our course continuously in order to take best advantage of the wind. He doesn't like little wind and in comparison to Jenny, he likes to be left alone and is very low maintenance.

It seems Jenny, Wayne and Sequentia get on very well together and we are confident they will take us safely to St.Lucia.

Now, let's talk about fishing! From what we hear around us, everyone gets fish. Even the swedes! So, obviously it's got something to do with our equipment and not us. Where does the equipment come from....? A fishing shop in the Marina in Las Palmas. So we have been tricked or the person who sold the stuff is actually a "safe the fish" enthusiast. Or a combination of both. We should never have given the guy "free hands" to pick and choose. Actually the equipment looks cheap, the line is only designed for 24kg, which of course is not strong enough for the kind of fish we are looking for. This was proven when the line snapped after I had brought out my favorite "lur" which I always catch Tuna with in Greece. Snapp......gone! No fish. And it was most likely big. We are back to basic and we will not give up!

Then our standing on the leaderboard! We have moved down from a high at no. 47 to 72 last night! Yes, we all are a bit competitive (some more than others). As mentioned in the last blog we were prepared for a setback. But maybe not that long lasting and it seems never ending. We know why.....! Excuse number one; when we realized winds further south were continuously stronger than in the north, we should have moved south and not waited this long. After entering the trade winds, it's all down wind. We knew that, but we were confident Jenny would be strong enough and do those extra miles by gybing down the course at high speed. Excuse two; not strong enough winds. Sequentia is a heavy boat and will sail fast when it reaches its hull speed. This has only happened from time to time. Jenny wants 17 knots or more to give the boat its maximum "hull speed". Most of the time we have had 12-17 knots. So those with spinnakers and poled out headsail and main have been doing very well as they have sailed direct on destination. To our frustration this has been witnessed as we have been crossing them on our gibes down the course. Excuse three; being only three of us, we have decided to put Jenny to bed before sun set and replace it with our Code 0. A very suitable sail for the night as its bigger than a Genoa and very quick and easy to furl in if we hit a rain storm. But it's less capable of sailing down wind and therefore requires longer distance with less speed. Those having bigger crews may choose to keep spinnakers up all night. Weather has been very suitable for this, especially given the full moon which has made the Atlantic almost look like a huge field filled with snow. S/Y Mischief, who passed us yesterday and which is in our group, just popped up on the chart plotter behind us. We have overtaken her during the night. Weather forecast is looking favorable for us and Sequentia is now well positioned for the next 3-4 days. This is all we need for a turnaround! I have a good feeling.

Talking about Jenny, she was a bit troublesome yesterday afternoon and she had an argument with the halyard, which seems to have got some damage. This means another mast climb. Winds are picking up over the next few days, so need to make sure all halyards, sheets etc. are fit for fight.

We are well into the 3rd week and we are looking more and more on our ETA into St.Lucia which seems to be sometime during the 10th, but not unlikely to be the 9th if all the right factors match. Ben claims he has read 14 books. Not sure we believe him as it's on a kindle, so no hard proof! Adi, is on his second and I have only managed to finish section 1 out of 5 on the theoretical Padi diving course which I am taking when I arrive in St.Lucia. In other words time flies!

Yesterday we started to see a lot of sea weed in the sea, which is normal and a sign that we are on our right way and approaching destination. We have enjoyed a fantastic moon over the last week, but we have not seen or gone through any "squalls" or rain storms which we were warned about. But we have still some days left.

Sun is rising, my shift is coming to and end. Jenny will be ready, Adi and Ben will get their coffee and we are fit for fight again. All going well we will be in St.Lucia in 3-4 days.

Photos to follow!