Fish & Beautiful Skyscapes

Rainbow after a squall

Ryan Hughes with the catch of the day - Mahi Mahi

Full Moon over the Atlantic

Rui Guedes from Horta - Faial, our resident Marine Biologist and Master Fisherman with a "Wahoo"

Finish Line Photos



Rounding Pigeon Island to the Finish

 

 

 

 

What a crew!

 

 

 

 

1/4 mile from the Finish

 

 

 

 

 

The Columbus Hat!

Maravilha crossed the finish line on Thursday, December 11, 2014 at 06:24:44 completing the 2800 mile passage in 16 days, 23 hours, 24 minutes, and 44 seconds. We were the 63rd boat to finish out of 192 boats in the fleet. Today is Sunday,  December 14, 2014, and at present 36 boats are still at sea. Our actual finish position within our division will not be determined until all boats are in and corrected time calculations are completed. All is well on board....no significant breakage. Some damage to the spinnaker pole and some other very minor items but all in all not bad.

 

I will be posting more pictures in the next few days from onboard during the trip ..... so check back in!

 

Maravilha in St Lucia

A Happy Crew in St Lucia

Done...Pronto...Finito...No Mas...Sayonara!

We have arrived....Thursday, December 11, 2014, 06:24:44 am, after 16 days, 23 hours, 24 minutes, and 44 seconds of sailing across the Atlantic from Gran Canaria to St Lucia, Maravilha slipped around Pigeon Island and crossed the finish line in Rodney Bay. A very happy moment for the crew.

We were greeted at the dock by ARC staff who took our lines and handed us rum punches and a welcome basket from St Lucia....Wow...what a feeling!

Then came some champagne and a visit by Mom & Dad who arrived in St Lucia last Sunday.

Only a few minor chores this morning and then some well deserved R&R....and ofcourse that cheese burger and ice cold beer. Tomorrow morning we will tackle our to do list and get Maravilha back in top shape.

Stay tuned as over the next few days I will be posting pictures of the crossing.

We hope you've enjoyed following along as much as we enjoyed sharing this adventure with you.

Until tomorrow.

vcp

Day 16, December 10, 2014

Position   14 31.6N    59 07.4W

Distance to go:   109 miles

All is well and the end is near. Our expected arrival time is around daybreak tomorrow. The wind has held, albeit, on the lighter side but still enough to keep boat speed in the 6 kt range. It is very hot…oppressively hot…with the wind from astern there is little cooling efect from the breeze on deck. Any shadey spot has become prime real estate on deck. We have begun some pre-arrival chores such as completing individual as well as vessel customs declarations; health declarations, etc.. Also completed a minor chafe repair to the mainsail at  the lower spreader. Once we round the northern tip of St Lucia, the last few miles will be upwind. In preparation for that we have also removed the staysail and the inner forestay to make tacking upwind more efficient. This afternoon we will be doing some housekeeping to get the interior spruced up for arrival. Basically we are keeping busy so we're not watching the clock tick down. Tonight we will set our watches back one more hour to St Lucia time (1 hour ahead of EST).

Dinner last night was roasted chicken with spanish rice….very nice!

We presently have three boats in sight.

Looking forward to a nice juicey bacon cheese burger with a tall cold beer for lunch tomorrow!

Until tomorrow

vcp

Day 15, December 9, 2014

Position    15 08.1N     56 19.3W

Distance to go:  276 miles

All is well. A bit slow going yesterday. Lost the wind from late morning to early evening with wind speed dropping to 6 kts from astern (East). Not a lot of forward movement in those conditions. That pretty much ended our fantasy of a Wednesday arrival. The wind came back up late last night and has remained in the 13 - 16 kt range. Although it has backed to ESE we have not yet seen the forecasted ENE which should remain for the next few days. I do hope the shift happens as we have positioned ourselves south of the rhumb line in anticipation of the NE shift giving us a better -faster sailing angle to approach the finish.

The weather is quite nice…clear skies…sunny…80 degrees. No new fish to report, however, much heavier bird activity as we approach land. The seabird book is out as we do our best to indentify the species we are looking at. It is interesting to note that the birds seem as interested in us as we are in them. They approach and will do several laps overhead around the boat as if curiously assessing "what is this?", as we sit below looking up at them asking the same question…curious creatures we are.

Started working on a "to do" list of repairs/maintenance projects to complete once we arrive. Thankfully it is a short and rather simple list.

Last night for dinner was "Yahoo Beans" and brown bread from a can. Now you're probably asking what are "Yahoo Beans"? So…I'll tell you...

When my daughter, Victoria and Mia were much younger and Maria was working at the hospital I often found myself making a mid day snack for the girls and I on Sunday afternoons. So the three of us would go into the kitchen and pull down a couple of cans of B&M Baked beans and then procede to jazz them up a bit. We start by sauteeing diced onions;green peppers; and garlic. Add to that some diced chourico and hot dogs. Once that’s all browned add in the beans….then add a splash of ketsup; dijon mustard; molasses; honey; worcestershire sauce; and minces dried ancho chili peppers (just a pinch -potent stuff)….hence the "Yahoo".

There you have it…Baked beans with a kick. They were never quite the same twice as often ingredients were substituded but generally this is it. The girls loved the spontanaity of this cooking adventure as did I.

I believe the crew enjoyed it as the bowls were wiped clean…very nice!

So for the next 36 to 48 hours we will vigilantly continue the useless and non-productive exercise of watching the remaining miles count down on the GPS screen. I don't know why we do it but it happens everytime …. maybe by watching…the miles tick away faster?

Until tomorrow

vcp

Day 14, December 8, 2014

Position  15 44.8N     54 10.2W

Distance to go:   405 miles

All is well. Interesting day yesterday as we dealt with heavy squall activity all afternoon. We had been advised that once we cross longitude 52 30 that this was likely, and so it was. Unlike other isolated squall activity we've encountered along the way, this was a well organized large system with no hope of being able to slip between squalls. Within 3 minutes the wind went from 12 kts SE to 27 kts NE. The sky turned dark gray as though it was dusk but it was only 1:30PM. Then came the rain…Oh the rain! It was the hardest and longest period of rainfall I've ever seen. The force of the rainfall was such that it had a flattening effect on the seas turning the ocean surface into a marble looking surface. The splash of the rain on the ocean surface created a low lying mist which was whisked away in sheets by the wind. In hindsight, a rather spectacular display of nature. However at the present time we weren’t so impressed. Unlike other less organized squalls which we've encountered which last 20 minutes or so, this one went on for one hour and forty-five minutes with lighter rain lasting for another hour after that. Fortunately, the wind never became excessive and we stayed in control by dropping the mainsail and pressing on with a reduced jib. After that, the rest of the night was beautiful. The wind returned to the SE 13 -15 kts and behind us we enjoyed the view of a bright rainbow arching across a golden colored sky.

Sailing was good through out the night with good speed maintained. At present the wind remains from the SE and the spinnaker is flying. We expect one more windshift later tonight to the NE where it is forecasted to remain for the next few days.

Dinner last night ws roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and brown gravey…very nice.

While we can't see them there are four boats near us showing up on our instruments (AIS). As we approach the island over the next two days I expect more boats be converging on the destination now only a couple of days away.

Until tomorrow

vcp

Day 13, December 7, 2014

Position   16 16.6N     51 43.6W

Distance to go:  550 miles

All is well. Nice run over the las 24 hours, we covered 184 miles. The wind remains with us at about 15kts from the SE. It has been cloudy with frequent showers. Thunder and lightening is around but off to our north.

So…we continue to make good progress towards St Lucia. Arrival day still looks like Wednesday/Thursday, although recent progress has made Wednesday a bit more possible. Today is week two of the mustache contest so it is a mandatory shave day. I would say Ryan still holds a slim lead with Rui in second, I a close third, and Brad a distant fourth.

Caught another Mahi - Mahi this morning (80cm).

High-lite of the day was a visit from two Mink Whales approximately 15 feet in length, greenish/gray in color. They surfaced behind us and then played in our bow wake for five minutes or so. They spouted and exposed their dorsal fins several times and rolled to show us the white of their bellies. Its as if they know they are entertaining us…magnificant!

Dinner last night was spaghetti and meatballs with marinara sauce…very nice

Until tomorrow

vcp