In Fine Company - TransAtlantic Leg One

Our lovely crew on the first evening out of Tanger, a cold sunset enjoyed on the bow.  It is still relatively calm.  We are motorsailing upwind contrary to all forecasts.

This was a unique passage for Peter and I in many ways.  First, our darling daughter, Emily, was joining us.  She was the first of our family to passage with us and we were excited for her to experience this part of our current lifestyle.

At the helm, Em is practising to take over from the captain ....and reading her novel.

Emily brought two of her childhood sailing buddies from SLYC, Georgia and Rebecca, who she had learned to sail with, raced with, taught with, coached with and partied with over at least a decade of summers.  The last ten years, though, they have only seen each other a few times a year at best.  This was an intensive re-immersion.

Rebecca and Georgia still smiling and looking relaxed after their first night on watch

Five crew on Milly while on passage was also new.  We have had four with two couples on each hull but five meant one in the little berth in the port bow, five for two heads (one being in the bow which meant levitating while eliminating in big seas), and lots of food and stuff around.  We all did remarkably well in small quarters really limited to the hulls, salon and cockpit.  The bow was wet and uncomfortable in the conditions we experienced so was off-limits except for dolphin watching, a sunset sit and a big swell view one day.  Five also meant the huge luxury of sleep.  We each did two and a half hour watches once a night!  Peter and I do two, three and a half hour watches each when we passage on our own.  We arrived in Lanzarote wet and salty but ready to explore without crashing for a day or two.

It was probably the coldest passage Peter and I have done.  It is recommended that boats leave Europe for the Canaries in September, latest October, because the fall/winter low pressure systems rolling over the North Atlantic bring stronger and less predictable winds, very large swell and frigid temperatures.  We left Tanger on November 13th, a little late and, hence, cold and cloudy with swell over four meters.  We were happy to be heading south to warmer climes.

Although it was the first leg of our TransAtlantic, we were only about ten NM off the Moroccan coast.  This brought with it a few extra concerns that is not usual on an offshore passage:  lots of shipping traffic, always intimidating, especially for those new to night watch and in four meter swell even the huge tankers were lost from sight unless we were on a swell peak.  Fishing drift nets marked at best by teeny, weeny black flags and at worst by a small buoy were another concern.  In flat water these are relatively easy to see and avoid but in four meter swell with white caps almost impossible.  We made a point to sail outside the 100m depth contour as a precaution but not a guarantee.  Getting a net off our prop or rudder in four meter sea would be a nightmare we wanted to avoid.  Along with nets came fishing boats, rarely on AIS and with strange lights that made it tough to tell what direction they were travelling especially when they disappeared when we were in a trough only to bounce back into view for a second when we rode a peak.  Taking an accurate bearing was almost impossible.

Finally, we had never sailed for more than 60 hours with such tiny reefed sails.  From Tanger for the first 14 hours or so we were headed upwind, motor sailing and at one point included our larger head sail, the screecher, until the wind picked up enough to make it unwise.  For the rest of the passage we had genoa only, most often to it's second reef, sometimes even more so it looked like a handkerchief on the bow.  And we still travelled at 6-8 knots mainly because of the enormous swell we were surfing down.

Arrived in Lanzarote after a 96 hour rollicking sail.  Celebrating early with Spritzes.  At least it looks like OJ.

Patience was require for the last sixteen hours or so.  We wanted to cruise down the coast of Lanzarote in daylight so we could view the island but we were due to arrive at port in the middle of the night.  We chose to go as slowly as possible with our tiny reefed sail, doing S-curves along the rum line.  Lanzarote is one of the only coasts we have been on that is more intriguing and stunning from land than from sea so our delayed arrival was not really necessary but did show the girls how frustrating it can be to arrive at night to an unknown harbour and have to dally around until daylight as Peter and I have done so many times before.

The captain and crew, cleaned up and ready to explore Lanzarote.  A few more adventures to come.  

All in all, the passage was active and lively.  The girls were fantastic.  On night watch, they gently called us occasionally for assistance which we insisted on, of course.  Through the day, they were keen and game to change sails, pull lines, navigate, take the helm, do the dishes, cook, tidy up, and ask questions.  We loved having them along and are hoping for more adventures in their company!  We miss you!!

November 13-17, 2019.