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Atlantic 55 'Javelin' was launched in Cape Town, South Africa in early December, 2003. Designer Chris White, along with his wife Kate, sons Bill and Robert, ages 16 and 14, and sailor extraordinaire Kirk Ward of Bermuda, departed Cape Town on December 27, bound for Brazil. After a crew change in Recife, Brazil, Chris sailed on to Trinidad with another sailing buddy, Robert Wolaver. What follows is a selection of the emails sent home to family and friends who wanted to follow our progress. Capetown to Trinidad12/31/03
Well we're 700 miles from Cape Town having quite a nice sail. Currently wing and wing with the jibs, 18-20 knots, wind behind. Seas moderating. We had a raucous start on Sunday, wind 30ish just aft of the beam. The bigger waves were 10 to 12', some surfing at 15 to 20 knots. All in a boat that had never left the harbor. It was our first sail of any kind! Duh. We could have gone back or sailed 50 miles up the coast if there was a problem but things seemed good, so we set a course for St. Helena, 1800 nautical miles away. Did 240 nm the first 24 hrs. Monday was still pretty rough. By Tuesday the large swell started to even out and the wind dropped some. Water temps were 60 deg. at Cape Town, gradually coming up but still cool, keeps the nights chilly but the pilothouse is fantastic. Been in here watching the "sailing movie". Today we all spent some time on deck as it is sunny and warmer. Wind dropping off to trade winds, I hope. Promises to get very light in the area past st helena. Kirk, our crew, just remarked "this has got to be one of the longest sea trials on record". Javelin has been very comfy, even in the rough stuff. Now at 9 to 11 knots she's just coasting along. No one has steered at all from the beginning, the autopilot has been doing such a good job of it. Now that it's warming up we'll probably start steering for fun in the cockpit. more to follow. Happy New Year! C,K,B,R, and Kirk Jan. 1, 2004
Javelin is coasting along under jibs wing and wing. Mostly 8 to 10 but occasional surfs to 14 knots. It is a great sailplan for trade wind type conditions, very very comfortable motion, little noise. The sails are very stable. The jib boom is vanged hard to the port bow locking it firmly in position. The genoa sheeted to starboard rail where it sits very nicely, seldom collapsing. We have a scrap of mainsail, down to 3rd reef, which is left over from a couple days ago when the wind and waves were much larger and the wind just aft of our port beam. The main isn't doing much but doesn't seem to hurt either. We are crossing Walvis Ridge, about 900 miles from Cape Town. This is about the half way point to St. Helena. Been an amazingly comfortable ride so far, particularly after the large swell settled down from the big storm way to our south. The NKE autopilot has been a real hit. Consumes very little power, 31 watts average over the last hour running off in 5' waves. Wheel turns about a quarter turn at most and our track is quite steady. Even in the rough stuff no one had to steer. I could still tweak it some but so far the NKE pilot and instruments get high marks- though the manuals aren't great. Electrical system has been very good so far. Port side batteries do fine under solar alone. The stb side runs the refer/freezer and needs some engine time. So far an hour a day seems enough. We have been off shore power for over a week and have only run starboard engine 8 hours. Freezer is a success. Everything is rock hard inside. Fridge is cold too. I can't yet figure out the amp/hour draw but it is very reasonable. Been eating very well. Kate has, by default, been doing most of the cooking but we will try to change that. Everyone now has their appetites back and the boat is very well stocked. What we don't have yet is fresh fish but we are trying (14.4 knots boatspeed now as I type) and hopeful that Walvis Ridge will yield something tasty today. Our daily runs have been 240, 210, 195, and 220 n. miles. We have been holding back, trying to sail conservatively. After we get to St. H and I can get up the mast to do some tuning and check out things I'll feel more comfortable about pushing a bit harder. I fired up the desalinator for the first time yesterday. A reassuring trickle of very tasty water comes out. Our tanks are filled with dock water which isn't nice to drink plain and should be diluted with rum!. Having the ability to make pure water is a novelty for me and a real plus. We will slowly replace the dock water with r.o. water and then be living the high life. Billy is in sports withdrawl so if anyone has sports news to pass along please feel free. Kirk Ward, our friend from Bermuda, has been invaluable on this adventure. Aside from helping out in a big way getting the boat ready he is one of the best sailors I've ever been on a boat with and good company besides. Without him I doubt I would have had the nerve to take a "new out of the box" boat on a 4,000 maiden voyage. Current position 26 05 S, 05 04 E CW Updated position Jan 2, 0700, 24 22S, 02 42E, 687 nm from St Helena. Javelin #3 Sun. Jan 4,04 Extra, extra, Javelin has been attacked. In the wee hours last night with only one person on watch the attack of the kamikazi flying fish began. They were bouncing off the topsides, crashing on deck, one even made it to the top of the pilot house (nearly 10' above sea level) where they flapped and jumped trying to do what fish do at night. In the morning the carnage was evident. Eleven dead, mostly in the bow nets, untold fish with headaches swimming around, and various scale patches left on the pilothouse windows and on deck. Fishing has been a bust. With the exception of some bent hooks the first or second day there has been scant action. However this morning, with a bucket of fresh flying fish we rigged a couple lines with live bait rather than the lures we've been using. I even put the rod out (we had been using handlines only). WIZZZZZZZZZZZZ, within 5 minutes the rod was screaming, line peeling off at high speed. I grabbed it and put the drag up higher and higher but the line keep peeling off. The crew was unable to slow the boat quickly as we were rigged wing and wing all snugged down with preventers. I watched the spool run dry, hanging on to the rod for dear life. When the end of the line fetched up the hook must have pulled out of the fish's mouth and it was gone. Who knows what it was but it sure was big. I never got an inch of line back, just spooled the whole reel. Encouraged, we rigged more flying fish and have pulled them all day without any hits! We have seen only one vessel of any type in the last 6 days! A very deserted stretch of water. Water temp is still a cool 67, but air getting warmer, now in the 80's. Been cloudy but when the sun peeks thru it gets hot quickly. We passed under the sun today so it is now south of us rather than north. cw 13degrees 35' South All's well with Javelin and crew. Email difficulties have prevented updates since our stop at St Helena. Which was fabulous. Nothing like being the only 5 tourists in a perfect tourist destination. People friendly and helpful, island beautiful and interesting, climate about perfect. Lots of great stories to tell about the place, but I need to keep this brief. Good thing the place is 2000 miles from anywhere or it would have been overrun long ago. We're enjoying day after day of spinnaker runs, rolling along at 8 to 11 knots. Good thing I brought along some good books! Ocean water temperature is gradually increasing, the need to wear a fleece on night watches is long past. The sky was clear last night, and Robert and I spent some time stargazing. It's fun checking out the southern horizon in the southern hemisphere, although I still haven't picked out the Southern Cross. Best to all, 1/20/04
We arrived in Brazil yesterday after a safe 10 day passage from St. Helena. Our 4,000 mile "test sail" is over. All in all a nice trip. Crew was good, boat was great, conditions nearly ideal tho the wind was pretty light for the last half of the trip. We are at the Cabanga Yacht Club in Recife. Brazil is interesting. Spent much of today in the clearing-in run around. But we had a nice dinner in the historic section of town at low cost... A few boat chores to do here. Need to get a Yanmar guy to have a look at the stb. engine which I think has a bad injector, change crew, tidy up a few loose ends and then shove off for points north, i.e. Trinidad. C 1/29/04
Well 24 hrs ago the big Westerly blow had died off to a breeze and was shifting around to the NE. We tacked over from 30 to 300 deg during the night. Morning was very civilized, patchy blue sky, light winds and a normal trade wind appearance. As we approached the equator the wind built slowly and at crossing we had a nice 12 kt breeze from the NE, full main and genoa. Bruce, the delivery skipper in Cape Town, said the wind would come back at the equator. Three miles past the line (we did see a line- it is yellow) we entered under a light squall line, wind picked up, then up some more. Swap genoa for staysail, 25 kts, reef the main, 30 kts. Furl the staysail. Seemed like an instant replay from the day before except this time we could lay our course, and it wasn't quite so intense. Anyway we had some very nice sailing, long bursts of 15 to 16 knots close reaching. Robert got some video. Now at 4 a.m. things have settled down again, 18 to 22 kts wind. Unfortunately the wind is more northerly than NE so we are low our course. I suspect it will haul around e'ward as we get deeper into the trades. Robert, asleep now, says hi to Michelle. Robert, asleep now, says hi to Michelle. position
2/1/04 20:30 hrs.
Having a nice sail today. Wind 25 kt on the stb quarter. Making a steady 10 to 11 knots, on a 320 deg course for Tobago, 390 mi away. Ride now is mostly silky smooth with an occasional thump. Waves are fair sized and at times confused (me to) . There is an 8 to 10' swell from the north which is well ahead and occasionally mixes with the current and east wind induced seas to make some lumpy going. Last 24 hr run was 265 nm. Could have been more but were staying very comfy by sailing several notches below max. A 15 kt surf just now... The Equatorial Current is a mystery, now we have it, now we don't. Have yet to see it very strong. Last night we were on the shelf so when the sun came up the water was very green, not the usual blue. Amazon water, shelf water, mixing with ocean water. Patches of different colors, with different textures. Pretty ugly looking if you had to sail to windward thru it. The great rain of two days ago ended around mid night after about 12 hours of torrential downpours. Yesterday was looking trade wind like, mostly clear, a few small showers and pretty strong NE breeze. We have a double reef in the main, genoa is rolled up to half its area. Autopilot coping very well, occasional slight rounding up yields some speed but the correction is swift. Boat has been fine. Blew up a snatch block this morning. No big deal but I had just gone to sleep after my 1 am to 6 am watch (we've been taking long watches so the other can get a good rest) and the block was on deck right above my bunk. BANG! Seen a bit of traffic the last 2 days but still pretty quiet part of ocean. Moonlight the last 2 nights has been nice, stars too- first clear skies since Recife. We're looking forward to getting in. Neptune willing we will make landfall at Scarborough, Tobago. Should be in before dark Tuesday. Love to Kate and da boys. C 2/2/04 22:00 hrs.
Well today is the day I get to really rub it in. It's been a perfect tradewind sailing day- all day. This is the Caribbean weather that I remember. 18 knots wind from ENE, mostly clear sky with a few little clouds. The air reasonably dry, temperature warm in the sun but nearly perfect "skin temperature" in the shade. The large N'ly swell is gone and that settled things down to a great degree, seas are 4-6 from the wind direction and it's very comfortable. We are currently 140 miles out of Tobago, still making nearly 10 knots, tho the wind has backed off quite a bit. Almost put the chute up but then decided to wait a bit. No real rush from here as we will arrive early morning as it is and I don't want to arrive in the dark. An hour before sunset Robert and I had our dinner on the aft deck. Our first barbeque for this leg of the trip; grilled chicken, cole slaw, and a tall rum/mango juice with ICE CUBES. Just as were finishing up the rod starts to sing- slow the boat, reel in da fish. 'nother small tuna. Oh hell- I'm really hungry for the mahi-mahi that keeps getting away... Still have enough food to make Galapagos. Freezer contains some choice items which we'll either eat in the next few days or have to give away- or else go to the Galapagos. I've had 3 "sails" in Javelin all of them near 2,000 miles. I'm ready to try some daysailing between nice anchorages. It's right around the corner! C 2/4/04
We got into Tobago yesterday morning. Sailed into King's Bay on the east end for a look then along the s. coast to Scarborough where we cleared and spent the night. As always, town seems awfully dirty and chaotic after being at sea. Everywhere Javelin goes people want to know more, they are all thinking about cats. Watching the mono's roll in this placid anchorage makes the point. The NKE log says 5900 trip miles. Feels good to stop for a bit. Had a nice grilled SA steak dinner onboard last night and 8 hours of unbroken sleep. love, c |
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