Position 019:17.741N  027:34.071W

Transatlantic Trade Wind Living

Good morning. This is the 6^th mate (for a change) blogging from the good ship Ula in sunny and 27 deg. Warm latitude 19 degrees north. As I write we are in the grip of the trade winds, roaring along at 6-7 knots under spinnaker and poled out genoa.

It occurred to me that the Ula fan club might like to hear what life is like aboard now that the crew is fully settled into its daily routines. 

Ocean sailing is very different to sailing along the coast and a new experience for 3 of the crew including the 6^th mate. The boat has to be sailed continuously for about 20 days or 2900 sea miles before we reach our destination if St Lucia in the Carribean.  The are no opportunities for stopping to take a rest or for re-provisioning en route. Every imaginable item required for crew safety, sustenance, comfort and entertainment has to be carried on board.  John and Jackie have a superbly fitted out and very capable and comfortable yacht which is a pleasure to be aboard.  Ula has a fridge, freezer, watermaker, generator and hi-fi etc. We are all eating very well – a big thanks to Jackie here - and all feeling good, now having found our sea legs after the first few days.

Quite different from life ashore, the daily routine on an oceangoing yacht revolves entirely around watches, or shifts. On Ula we are organized into two teams: Jackie, Adrian and Andrew (the Bat watch) and John, Andy and Howard (the Alpha watch). One team is always responsible for sailing the boat while the other gets some R&R. The day is split into 3 night time watches of 4 hours each and 2 daytime watches of 6 hours. The whole crew gets together only over lunch and dinner.

The first night time watch starts at 8pm. Apart from navigation lights, the boat has to be kept almost completely dark through the night to preserve night vision of the active watch (the might be other yachts , or more likely, squalls to spot and avoid).  Activities while on watch include steering the boat, sail changes, navigation checks. Night time watches are a great opportunity for star gazing and it is warm in the cockpit.  Everyone has their own ‘off watch’ activities for personal entertainment like reading, fishing, sudoku etc.

Well, finally, now that I have well exceeded my allotted blog length I come to crew awards:

Andrew – ‘trainers which walk’ (they have walked from his cabin – admittedly with a bit of help from Jackie – to a new permanent location under the sprayhood)

Adrian – ‘persistence in adversity’ after a frustrating time loosing most of his fishing lures he finally landed us a very tasty lunch – keep trying Adrian

John – ‘GRIB master’ – our skipper is diligently downloading satellite weather maps (GRIB files) daily and so far has used these successfully to plot a good course away from unsettled wind patterns.