Stef and Manon sail their Long John Silver, an Ovni 43. Now they make their third large voyage, a circumnavigation. They came from Chile and Peter meets them in the Gambier archipelago.
Manon and Stef on the Long John Silver in the Anganui bay of Ile Taravai, Iles Gembier.
Many projects have passed to make the Long John Silver a better yacht to live aboard. Let us stick to the sustainable jobs: first, the ship is completely insulated. Stef told: “This implies that the complete boarding inside had to be taken out: all the wood work, the paneling, ceiling, the bunks. And then, after the insulation was placed, all had to get in again.” Also, all window are double glazed. Where the aluminium yachts easily have the tendency to ‘drip’ here and there because of condensed are on the cold alumnium, now the Long John Silver stayed dry. Or, nearly dry.
Main source of moisture is the gas equipment in the galley. Combusted gas consists of CO2 and a lot of H2O, water, in its worst aggregation: as damp. It condenses on all cooler parts, including your cushens,your bed, everywhere. They dedided to change all galley equipment to electric.
In the next picture you see the result.
Stef in the galley on the Long John Silver, which consists of a stove with two induction burners, a microwave/oven/grill, a water cooker, and a coffee machine.
All equipment on a 12 volt battery bank
In the book Duurzaam Varen (Sustainable Sailing, sorry, only in Dutch) already is mentioned that a complete galley equipment fed by a 12 volt battery bank, is limited. The bottle neck is the inverter (the device that converts the 12 volt into the necessary 220 Volt). For safety reasons the biggest inverter can deliver 2600 Watt to your equipment. How did Stef do this?
“First, we chose devices with smaller power”, Stef answered. To sum up the maximum powers:
each induction burner is 800 Watt
the water cooker is 800 Watt
The coffee maker is 1000 Watt
The micro wave is 1500 Watt and the oven is 2000 Watt.
You could buy a two burner marine quality induction cooker with gimball, but it costs you a fortune. The fine thing of these 85 Euro burners is that you can built them in anywhere, like in your own gimball made plateau, like Stef did.
Stef and Manon pointed out: “With this inverter we can just cook with two burners and the water cooker all on full power. With the microwave on, we can even use a burner or the water cooker. Only in the rare case when the oven is on full power, the inverter would beep if we switch on another device.”
12 LFP cells
They thought of going to 24 Volt, or 48 Volt, but our battery space was limited. Manon showed a picture (here under) where you can see that the space for the 12 volt batteries is just 90 cm long.
The LFP battery bank (partually covered by the floor) is 90 cm long. The casing originally contained 3 AGM batteries, and now exactly 12 LFP cells just fit in.
Originally, 3 AGM batteriesn could fit in this battery casing, and there is not really a good place to extend the bank. “So, there was place for 12 Lithium Ferro Phosphate cells and that was it,” Stef concluded, “so technically we were limited to 12 volt and made a 3P4S configuration.”
He continues: “Compared to AGM or any other lead acid battery, LFP has no problem at all to deliver the power you need. So with a relative small battery bank, LFP can deliver the necessary power .”
Conclusion
If you want your galley changed to an electric based on a battery bank of only 12 volt, then take the Long John Silvers configuration as the text book example.
The key line technically: take small users. So, the burners, the water cooker and more. Then there is no stress that your inverter can’t delver. And use LFP batteries because they are able to deliver the big currents that you need.
The key motives: your boat stays dry after cooking. The equipment is safer than a gas equipment. Also, everything is easier to clean. When you are a long distance cruiser, it saves a lot on gas and a lot of hassling with different gas bottles and bottle connections. All together, it saves money and provide more comfort.
And last but not least: your smaller CO2 footprint gives our children a better future.
One day before the European elections, we saw the three mast bark ‘Europa’ entering the bay. She moored at the only and small quai of the Gambier Islands.
For us, Peter and Inge, the Europa has a special place in our hearts because twenty years ago we married on this ship. We sailed a day with all our friends an family, went on anchor somewhere outside the territorial waters, and our friends married us.
The 56 meter Bark Europa along the quai of Mangareva, Gambier
.In the Southern summer, the Europa sails expeditions from Ushuaia (Patagonia) to Antartica. Last March she started sailing around the world, to celebrate that Magelhaes started this circumnavigation 400 years ago. Magelhaes never made it, he died in the Philippines and from there Juan Sebastian Elcano took over. (Funny thing: Elcano and his fellows were not the first humans who have rounded the world. That was Enrique, a man who was captured in the Philippines or Molucca and brought to Spain and served Magelhaes from there, on his voyage. So when they hit Philippines, Enrique has rounded the world as the first human).
The drawing of the circumnavigation that Magelhaen and Elcano made. Essence is the passages of two capes: Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. This is what the Europa also will do. (courtesy Brown University
The drawing of the circumnavigation that Magelhaen and Elcano made. Essence is the passages of two capes: Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. This is what the Europa also will do. (courtesy Brown University).
A visit
Peter paid a visit to the Europa and talked with Tim, the Mate, and several guests. This big square rigger could make it all the way between the coral reefs up to this little quai. First, that is excellent seamanship, and second, it is beautiful for the guests.
The guests chose to cruise on this sailing ship, rather than a motor cruiser. Main reason is that they consider the sailing itself as an essential extra value. Especially the square rig is more romantic, like in the old days. Yes it goes slower, but they dont mind, or even see it as an extra value. The guests also participate in the watches and they find that a great opportunity. No experience is required for it and you can always feel safe with the professional crew on board.
A guest and a deckhand aloft, folding a sail.
.Sustainability and planning, the paradox
Talking sustainability, we all agree that it is a pity that the Europa needs diesel, but in general she is propelled by the sails. The crew and the guests like to sail, so they are set as soon as there is space to navigate under sail. So it is a sort of 80-20 figure: 80% is sailing, 20% is motoring.
The motoring could be less if the planning would be easier. But, time is money, the clients want to see more places if possible. That requires a strict planning, and so a certain minimum speed, if not by sail, then by engines. The planning is that strict, that the Europa has only 2 days time ashore here in Gambier.
I walked up the road with some guests. They were curious about the planning of Ya, about how many days the Ya would stay here.
“Planning?” I answered, “Well, we just are here and enjoy it. It is only the weather or the hurricane season that dictates the planning. We just hiked some beautiful trails here, and visited a pearl farm. And now we just made friends with people on the island so the Ya will stay a bit longer I guess. And there are such beautiful other spots around here that we want to visit.”
-”How many days you guess you would be here? 5 days? 15? 50 days?”
-”Well, it can easily become 50 days.”
One guest responds: “Wow, our stop is about 50 hours, to do the complete Gambier Island group. That is just enough time to take some good walks on the main island and drink a beer in a local tavern.”
Another guest concluded: “It is a strange paradox. On one hand, when we book, we want to see some islands, to get the maximum out of it. But on the other hand we would enjoy more of the trip if we travel slow. Then we sail more, and see more in the places. It would also be more sustainable I guess.”
I could confirm that: “Indeed. If you travel slow, it is easy to travel fossil free. And with the current technology of regeneration and electric cooking, that is even what Magelhaes or Elcano couldnot do.”
Let the things you bought be usable for many years, let them be durable and repairable. In that case: congratulations with everything you bought. Or will it soon end up in the trash, your barn or the attic?
Please be aware, the consumption of the people here on Earth becomes larger and larger. The quantity of ‘stuff’ we have is so big, it costs too many materials. Mother Earth becomes exhausted, depleted. When?
Next June 5, we people on Earth will have consumed that much, that from that date we need a second Earth if we don’t want to exhaust her. That day the overshoot takes place. (source: https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/)
We are the worst 10%
There is a consistency. The higher the income, the bigger the footprint. The 19 richest people create 10% of the footprint. The 10% richest -that is generally where we belong- make 50% of the Earths footprint.
You see it clearly on the Overshoot Day per country.
The Dutch Overshoot day was already on April 1. In the USA it was March 14. Qatar is the biggest loser (or winner,in terms of consuming).
Much happier?
Most of the impact is caused by the people with income, generally the Western people. (A little impact is caused by the growth of the The idea of buying all that stuff is that you would become happier. Well, since the Overshoot Day this year is nearly two months earlier, we consumed much more.
So compared to last year, would we be so much happier this year?
From consumentism to happiness
Or did you buy because marketing told you that you would need it? In that case, shut off the marketing machines like Whatsapp, Instagram and Google, or other commercial media. You could use Signal instead of Whatsapp, or read a book, see a movie, or, very simple see your friends.
That saves money, and you can put your money where your heart is.
So many people spend half a years income to buy the car they are happy with. Every day. ;-)
We walked along the road on Mangareva, the main island of the Gambiers. Then we saw a great tree full of big beautiful grapefruits. They belong to Lucas, a Polynesian man of this island. He saw us and invited us to pick as much as we wanted. He showed us which ones were the best and under the tree we started to chat.
Peter and Lucas (right) chatting under the grape fruit tree in the garden of Lucas
For whatever reason the subject came to the nuclear field tests on Moruroa. The French militaries started these tests in 1964. The first ones were from ships put near the island of Moruroa, and later from a balloon above it. Lucas was young then, but he remembered: “When I was about 5 years old, some french military came on the island. I remember the monings that a car with a big loudspeaker went up and down the road, ordering that all the inhabitants had to go into a shelter, it was some sort of concrete hall. We had to stay there for days.” This happened almost every time a nuclear test was about to happen.
He added: “and they said it was secret and nobody should tell anyone about it. Years later we learned it was because of some nuclear tests on an island near by.”
The impact
We asked if they noticed any changes. “Well, not directly. But later we noticed the chidren were often sick. They had go to the GP many times, as they had wounds and bruises which didnot not heal, or very slow. The doctor noted this on the ‘carenet medical’ the personal medical file of the child. But some years later the military came and they confiscated these papers, I think to hide any evidence ”
It is well known that the nucleair radiation of the first atmospheric tests were even measured in New Zealand. The distance from Moruroa is about 5000 kilometers away (compare: from Amsterdam to Abu Dhabi). After growing protests and political pressure, the French continued their tests underground.
“Sometimes they did not order to go into the shelter, but so now and then we thought there would be test going on”, Lucas continued. “As we saw a sort of extra tide going. You first could see the water receding from the beaches, the shores, then coming back. Very strange.”
The underground tests move the earth and that explains the ‘double tide’ described by Lucas.
In 1996, when the Cold War formally ended and the tests had to stop, the French military executed 193 tests.
Lucas continued his story: “ I lost my first brother when he was 26. And the second at the age of 35. They both died of cancer and they were not the only ones dying of cancer in Gambier.”
He also said: “I don’t know if it is also caused by nuclear radiation, but before we had so many sorts of fruits on the island, even lychee and mango’s. But they all disappeared. Now it is only grapefruits, bananas and cocos and that’s it.”
He concludes: “However, we told this story more often, but it is always covered up, put under the carpet.“
Wow, are these wild, crazy stories? Are there really many cancer cases here? Has it al been covered up indeed? What is true about this? We started investigating.
Three seconds of an atmospheric nuclear explosion above Mururoa
The French research
In 2020 the French INSERM (Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale) executed an investigation at the request of the Ministry of Defence. They published the report “The health consequences of nuclear tests in French Polynesia”. According to this expertise, its authors felt that they could not “make a solid conclusion” to the existence of “links between the fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests and the occurrence of radiation-induced pathologies”. And the college of experts stressed the need to “refine the estimates of doses received by the local population and by civilian and military personnel”.
But no refinement of the estimates followed, nor any other investigation.
So far the French government.
An international research
From that point, in 2020 a collaboration of groups started researching. Disclose was a group of investigating journalists. The second was Interprt, a group of (nucleair and other) scientists. They worked in collaboration with the Princeton University. This big piece of research led to the description of the impact “(..) with the help of thousands of declassified military documents, hundreds of hours of calculations and computer simulations and dozens of unpublished testimonies, this investigation demonstrates for the first time the extent of the radioactive fallout that struck the inhabitants (..).”
Just to give an idea about the impact, the first paragraph tells: “Leukemia, lymphoma, cancer of the thyroid, lung, breast, stomach … In Polynesia, the experience of French nuclear tests is written in the flesh and blood of the inhabitants. Strontium has eaten into bones, cesium has eaten away at muscles and genitals, iodine has seeped into the thyroid.”
An article of this investigation is published in The Lancet (presuming you are not a member of the Lancet, you can read the abstract here.)
Here you can read the full investigation (a French and an English version): https://moruroa-files.org/en/investigation/moruroa-files .
The book -in French only- is called “TOXIQUE, enquete sur les essais nucleaires francais en Polynesie”.
Back to Lucas’ story
The investigators were confronted with a remarkable high cancer rate in Gambier, called the ‘Cancer Cluster in Gambier Islands’. A relation with the nuclear tests? The scientists worked the dispersion models of the nuclear particles in the air and ran various simulations. Here under, you find the most probable one. It explains the high rate of cancer cases in the Gambier Islands.
This is a screenshot of the simulation of the impact of Aldebaran, the first atomic bomb, detonated on July 3, 1966 next to Moruroa. It shows in 3D the chart of the Pacific Ocean with the Moruroa atol and Gambier. The measured dose rate of 026 rem/h is a strong indication for the answer to the question about the high cancer rate in Gambier in the following years.
It looks like Lucas’ story is closer to reality then the story of the French government.
We arrived fresh and vividly after a long crossing. The timing couldnt be better; it was lunch time and we accompanied it with a fresh beer, our first since 7 weeks. Then we set the first foot on the island.
It has been a great, pleasant and remarkable sailing voyage. With the accent on sailing.
Here are the last three daily stories till the arrival. And then some sort of sailors evaluation by the captain why this trip was such a pleasure to sail.
Hard to get (3)
Day 1. Sat May 11 2024
Last days the predictions give very light winds. Sp we would be some days later. OK. The pedictions say the winds will be from the South. So we went to the South, That is really difficult in light winds. Sailing close hauled is difficult, because the wind angle becomes bad by your own speed. And, with a low speed you make much leeway. We had to navigate back and forth: to the WesSouthWest and then to the East South East, and again. Well ou can see our progress on the chart. We will be another 1 1/2 day later in Gambier; that time we spent to get 20 miles to the South on the latitude of the approach of Gambier. Meanwhile, the predictions change, because especially light winds (small difference in air pressures) are very hard to predict. Now, two of the four models predict that there will hardly be wind in our area…
Our ETA. our estimated Time of arrival? We changed that concept. We made a new abbeviation: EWA, our Estimatied Week of Arrival.
Just preparing
Day 2. Sun May 12 2024
We had good winds today. Or, call it good winds, they were very light, but from the good direction. Our average speed sofar nears the 3 knots. Still slow, but we didnot make that the last days. However, we are 35 miles from the approach point of Gambier.
Many times in the day the wind drops to practically zero. Then we don’t know wether this will it stay, or pick up after an hour or so? Or will it be windstill the whole day long? The predictions can’t tell, as the fysic forces of wind, pressure and temperature are too subtile. Sometimes we talk like we are superstitious. Like: “don’t say that the wind could drop, because then it will drop.” Or when we have a good speed, someone calculates: “We could be there in 8 hours!” then the other whispers:”don’t say that out loud, you are challenging our chances!”
We are making 2 knots know. Suppose it stays this way, we would get before Gambier early in the morning. So we prepared. Like the navigational stuff: how to approach, the light lines, the buoys, the land marks. But, don’t think that we do this because we think will be there tomorrow morning. We just prepare. Just in case of
Arrived in Gambier
Day 3. Mon May 13 2024
Early afternoon Ya arrived on the anchor place before Rikitea in Gambier. Here some numbers. * It took us 46 days, so 6 1/2 weeks, from Panama to Gambier * It is 3800 nautical miles and we made 4100.The extra 300 miles were mainly made int the windstill areas * The doldrums of about 400 miles has taken 10 days, the other 3600 miles took us 36 days. * The longest day distance was 142 miles, the shortest 13 miles, when we had to tack against very light winds. The average day distance is 90 miles.
* We have left 1 orange, 3 apples and 5 limes. This last day we ate our last piece of cabbage. * We still have food for 10 days. * We have 150 liters of water in our tanks, thanks to one time it rained, making us get about 80 liter. * We only have 38% in our battery bank since the regeneration of the motors didnot work.
Most important, we are 100% happy with the trip and the way we did it together
Preparation is the base
The key to this nice and pleasant long distance sailing, is formed by the crew. The sailing spirit, the positive attitude, the will to adapt, to learn. But that needs a solid base, and the key to that is the preparation. That is not only the ship shape, the right charts and tools. Just as important is a good preparation of the food. You see that most clearly on the vegetable and fruit. From the very buying it (choose the vegetables and fruit that do not rot easily) to transport and the storage (no brewsing.) We, and mainly Pierrot, did it so thorough and carefully, that after 6 weeks we still had a piece of white cabbage. And when we arrived, we even had some fruit left!
The apples were very hard and sour when we bought them. After 6 ½ weeks they still look remarkably fresh. The orange is directly from the Panamese farmer. So not chilled, green when we bought it, and pretty sour. But during the week they riped and we ate them all except for the one here.
The brown color on the skin didnot affect the inside yet. But it is a good sign this is the last stage. In case the rotting process had started, we use our senses: when it looks or smells or tastes not OK, it is not OK
.
The final part of the voyage
When Pierrot went on watch in the night before arrival, Peter asked him to get to a waypoint before Gambier around 7 o’clock in the morning. From there we could do the 15 miles approach to the anchor place in daylight because it is full of coral reefs, Pierrot managed to regulate the speed that well, that exactly at 7 o’clock in the morning, Ya was only 145 meters away from it! That is a true sailing skill.
We found our way between the coral reefs, and buoys of the pearl fishers nets. 4 hours later we anchored.
We were happy. After 7 weeks we drank a beer. That tasted and, not used to it anymore, we got light in hour heads. Exactly the time and the mood to make a festive photo moment.
You probably think: shouldn’t Ya be arriving somewhere around now? Well, that’s what Ya’s crew was secretly hoping for. But, between the squalls and the wind stills, it’s a good thing there’s rain and good food. Because Gambier is playing hard to get.
Fruits
Day 1. Sat May 04 2024
Fruits on board is kind of the same story as for the vegetables, except that it ends up better.
Fruits could be found in the same market in Panama as the vegetables, and for very cheap, so this was a great deal.
You already heard the sad story of our bananas that fell down during a heavy night, so we had to eat them quickly. Next to that, we had to trow away half a watermelon, a weird fruit we dont even now what it was, and here and there a piece that had turned bad. When we see fruit that starts to turn bad we cut it in pieces and put it in the fridge, this saves a few days, and after some time it can turn into alcohol, but whats better than fresh fruit with a taste of alcohol ?
What we have left for the 5th and 6th week is: some oranges, apples, limes and the most important, 2 cans of peaches in sirup. This means we are allowed to eat one fruit a day for the rest of the trip. Isn’t that beautiful !?
So close and yet so far
Day 2. Sun May 05 2024
A 2nd reefed mainsail, a staysail and no outerjib, guess how many knots of wind… about 8 knots, this was our situation 2 nights ago.
It has been more than a week now that we could see Gambier getting closer and closer, we talked about it and tried to estimate our arrival date. With our good speed we could easily do 125 miles a day and straight to Gambier, with this we would have been there in no time, but…this would be to easy.
Beginning of the week we saw on the weather reports that a big storm was getting its way to Gambier, we continued our route with caution. Day by day we could see the storm slowly disappear and be replaced by a soft wind of around 12 knots and less. Our speed decreased slowly, the day before yesterday we made 93 miles, yesterday 83 miles. We come now at our situation of 2 nights ago. Because of the soft wind, even the small waves we had would let the mainsail bang to hard, so we reefed, and because of the frequent squalls we had to constantly furl in and furl out the outerjib. This makes our arrival date only shift away further and further. We are still lucky the weather is good, we would even say great if it wouldn’t be for those squalls.
But we are not totally honest, yesterday night the wind picked up good contrary to what the predictions said and since then we have a wind of about 18 knots. Will it stay like this or will we have other surprises ?
Nevertheless, morale is always on top and the arrival date is only a vague idea that fades slowly from our heads. We will get there when time’s right.
Water
Day 3. Mon May 06 2024
Water is an issue on every ocean going yacht. You could do perhaps 30 days without food, but 3 days without water – no way. We left Panama with two tanks of 275 liter of water. This is drinking water. We use seawater for washing, rinsing, everything. Also the shower (with a little fresh water at the end). We don’t have a watermaker, because, like many devices, they have the tendency to break the moment that you really need them. We need about 3 liter per person per day to drink. So together we could theoretically do 3 months with it. But in practice we use here and there a bit and we saw that after 5 weeks we had about 150 liter left. That comes down to a bit more than 10 liter a day. Still no worries if we have a week to 10 days before we are in Gambier (and we also have two 20 liter water bags in case of emergency). This morning it was bad weather: squalls with rain. More rain. But also a chance. The Ya is designed that way, that all the water from deck ends up in the outlets in the cockpit. From there, we can close some valves and open another one, and all the water from deck will end up in the rain water tank. So we did this morning, after we cleaned the cockpit floor. It only rained 15 or 20 minutes, but we already caught about 100 liter. So we have plenty. What to do with it? We can take a very long fresh water shower?
Before the night
Day 4. Tue May 07 2024 04:13:00 GMT+0200
We have a routine to prepare for the night. We discuss it often with the dinner. If there is any chance on squalls or so, we set a second reef. We have to, because there is no moonlight these nights, so it is difficult to see them in time. In the night, we also try to sail the outerjib to lee, so not poled out to luff. Then you can furl it in quickly and easy in the wind shadow of the mainsail and staysail.
Now the practice of today. Today at 3 o’clock we noticed the wind dropped. So, at 4 o’clock we unreefed the mainsail. At 5 o’clock we ate dinner, and the number of clouds coming could suggest squalls, so that made us decide to put the reef back in. Indeed, at 6:30 a sort of squall passed us. But then, the sky was clear again and the wind dropped. Un-reefing again? No. Lucky us, half an our later the wind picked up a bit again and now we are sailing on a friendly course and speed into the dark and starry night.
Hard to get
Day 5. Wed May 08 2024
What we feared is happening The closer we get to Gambier the more the wind drops.Since this afternoon we have about 12 knots of wind wich by the way we are still very happy with. Unfortunately it is gonna drop more and more until Thursday morning, where we will have about 2 knots of wind, a rarity. It will stay like that till friday morning where wind picks up a little. But not for long, Sunday the wind will drop again, at least that’s what the weather reports say. What they also say is that we could make it to Gambier on Saturday night, but that would be if we are as fast as they predicted, if they are right about the weather, if we can follow the right route, if there are not to many squalls hitting us, if the currents don’t push us to much to the north, if… And if not, we only have Saturday night to make it up to Gambier, because it will be windstill again from Sunday.
What can we do about it ? Try to make the best decisions on what course we make, anticipate what the worst situation could be, adjust the sails as best as we can, take profit of the wind we have right now and enjoy life on board. Gambier plays hard to get.
Hard to get (2)
Day 6. Thu May 09 2024
The predictions give some windstills. We are going to sail right into it this night. We sail the Parasailor and still do 3.2 knots and we are very happy with that. Perhaps we can keep it up the whole night, we hope so. But from then we will float on a still sea. The first little wind will come next Friday morning. But it is not much, it is just to sail a little bit. These winds will come from the South and we will have to go Southwest for Gambier. With light winds, that will be impossible. We will get close to Gambier, but then again, from Sunday, there will be no wind again.
Nature dictates when we will arrive. But so far, Gambier is hard to get.
Still and busy
Day 7. Fri May 10 2024
Yesterday we hoisted the Parasailor and it proved to be a great and easy light wind sail. With only 8 knots of wind, Ya could do 4 to 4.5 knots. But this morning, around 4 o’clock, Pierrot had to admit there was too little wind even to keep the Parasailor full. Lucky Peter, in the early morning there came a tiny bit of more wind and Peter has been busy continuously, but he could keep the Ya make 2.5 knots on a Southern course for another 5 hours. But then, it really was over. The ocean water became flat. We lowered the Parasailor. Ya started floating. There is a pretty high 2.5 meter swell that makes us roll. But we hardly noticed that. Pierrot started to clean the galley, Peter did maintenance on the rigging. Suddenly it was late in the afternoon. Pierrot jumped with a back flip into the ocean. (Peter: “Do you have a diploma to swim in such deep water?”). He took a halyard and with a Tarzan scream he flew along the Ya and dived. We ate a quick meal, because we also had to write this blog.
Lots of adventure this week. Ya almost lost the outer jib in a squall and meets with an unexpected visitor. Also, energy is slowly running out. How is Ya’s crew holding? Well, ‘on ne vient pas enfiller des perles’.
Adventure and a Fixing day
Day 1. Sat Apr 27 2024
Last evening the wind decreased. Early in the night, the wind picked up a bit and Peter also heard a funny noise. The wind picked up because you could see a squall approaching in the moonlight. The noise appeared to be caused by the tack of the outerjib that was off its place. The sail worked itself more and more up to the top. Meanwhile, the squall entered and the wind got stronger. Before Peter could call Pierrot, but he already stood in the cockpit: “Need help?” Yes for sure! Pierrot took the helm and put the Ya on the best possible course. Peter went to the foredeck to lower the pole that was holding out the outerjib. First the mast side. Yes, lowered. Then the pole out of the donky dick at the mast. The strong winds helped in a sort of way to get it out, since the outerjib was slamming every now and then when the wind was too strong to keep the boat on course. Then the pole, 4 meters long has to get from the outerjib sheet. To open the lock there on 4 meters distance, there is a little line along the pole to open the lock. Peter pulled. nothing happened. The pole was still connected to that slamming outerjib. Again a pull, Peter pulled a third time and kept pulling… and the pole fell from the sheet. the tip hit the sea water but that was OK. Now the rest of the outerjib down. Pierrot made sure that the halyard was free and without twists -while steering in the meanwhile- and Peter let the outerjib go down and pulled it on deck. Bingo, job done. Need to fix this tomorrow morning. Then, Pierrot discovered in his watch a jammed block of the staysail sheet. Need to fix this tomorrow morning. Then, when Peter got up to take the morning watch, he missed his life vest. Yes, the hanger was broken and it had ended up somewhere on a couch under it. Need to be fixed this morning. Also we had to fix the twist in the Parasailors’ sock. So Peter started at 7 o’clock, Pierrot helped from when he woke up, and we have fixed all jobs at 3 in the afternoon. By the way, two of them are done that way that the chance on a next fix is very, very small. In the calm weather we did not make many miles. But, during dinner -Pierrot made a good risotto- we agreed: what the heck, it was a great fixing day.
A close visitor
Day 2. Sun Apr 28 2024
The steady weather is back. This means no squalls, a shiny sun and a nice little 12 knot wind. A perfect weather for Pierrot to fix the fishing lines. But this time with smaller baits, because we have learned our lessons of the braking fishing lines. A few seconds after the line was in the water, a shadow appeared, surfing underneath the waves. It came dangerously close to our bait. A shark? No, that can’t be true -we just fixed the lines and this bait is too small for him. After a few underwater surfs, it came to the surface to breathe: a lonely little whale (well, about 6 meters). It circled around the Ya for some times, played with the waves and from time to time came out of the water to catch breath. The whale gave a nice show, that Pierrot tried to film. Which is not easy on a boat going up and down. Did it want some company for a while? Or was it just curious by the sounds the propellers made? Nevertheless, we enjoyed its playing around, It deep dived into the sea to say a goodbye.
Our food after 2800 miles
Day 3. Mon Apr 29 2024
What do you think we eat after 2800 miles and 5 weeks on the ocean? An old sail and a shoe string? No.
Try this. Today Pierrot made a puree with milk and butter, seasoned with tamarinde, a bit of cinnamon, and pepper. He cut a chicken breast in pieces, made a mushroom sauce and put it in. This is the base. Then he chopped an union , a bit of red cabbage and garlic. You let it cook for a while. Then as late as possible a can of peas in it (including juice) You serve the puree and sauce separately.
Bon appetit!
An energy issue
Day 4. Tue Apr 30 2024
For a part of the day the sails block the sun rays on the solar panels. But we are not worried at all about the energy, because both our propellers run when we sail. They make the motors rotate and that gives us hydrogeneration to charge the batteries. So we have abundant energy when we sail. Every time we arrive after a long trip, we always have a (nearly) fully charged battery bank.
But…. In the beginning of this voyage one of our motors stopped generating. And some days ago, the other one stopped. Now we are losing energy. We could cut some usage. For example, we switched of our second plotter and that saves 20-25 Watt, so about 400-500 Watthour a day. That is one percent of our battery bank. But still we lose energy. So, yesterday we set appointments. We estimated the worst case scenario and then we can afford to lose another 1.5 percent of the battery bank each day. As soon as we loose more, we cut down the freezer. And then the fridge. And then… laptops, whatever.
But so far, we lose not more than 1 percent. So no worries, fossil free sailing stays safe.
1000 miles to Gambier
Day 5. Wed May 01 2024
This afternoon Pierrot noticed it is only 1000 miles to Gambier. Well, only… But we did already 3000, which included a track through the Doldrums. With the current friendly weather (fingers crossed it will stay this way), we will arrive beginning of the second week of May. So now and then we talk about Gambier. All we know is that the main source of income are the pearls they grow. We discuss what we could do there. For sure we want to visit such an oyster bank with pearls. Yesterday Pierrot started a shopping list. Peter started listing the jobs to do when on anchor. Pierrot questions how French it will be, and how Polynesian. Peter thinks of learning from the people there, as well as showing people how we do things fossilfree. Most Polynesians are religious, so a visit on Sunday to the Catholic church will be on the list. As Pierrot would say: On ne vient pas enfiller des perles.
Maintenance
Day 6. Thu May 02 2024
When the weather and waves are a bit easy, we do maintenance jobs. Now, the weather is easy for weeks. Every day slides by with the wind and the waves and the sun making its curve around Ya. We do jobs like polishing stainless steel, whipping lines of the sheets and halyards, repair a waterline, fix a lamp We have that much time, that with every repair we first ask how it could be made better than it was.
It is also nice to read a book, but every job that you have done, marks the day in a nice way. That is good for you. And in the meanwhile, it is good fot Ya. When we will arrive in Gambier the Ya will look better than at her departure in Panama.
Vegetables
Day 7. Fri May 03 2024
We are now exactly 5 weeks at sea and the vegetables come to an end.
Pierrot bought all the vegetables in an open market in Panama where they came straight from the farmer and were kept at ambient temperature. We can’t keep them cool on board so you must buy un-chilled vegetables to keep them as long as possible. Pierrot tried to tell the vegetables sellers in the best Spanish he could to select the freshest products possible, and even though we did our best not to bruise the vegetables, we still had some rotten tomatoes and carrots and others that we had to throw away in the first week.
During the last five weeks Pierrot selected the vegetables thoroughly. We kept the strongest ones as long as possible, and there is lef : a piece of cucumber, 1 and a half cabbage, 1 onion, 5 potatoes and a bunch of garlic.
We still have enough to survive, even for a couple of weeks. But that is just not fresh but in cans. But no worries, it will just require Pierrot to show some of his magic cooking skills.
Peter and Pierrot are halfway the Pacific now. The bad news: Pierrot twisted his ankle, the fishes disappear with the fishing gear, and Ya meets some squalls. Read on for more good and bad news!
Full and by
Day 1. Sat Apr 20 2024
Since we hit the 3 degrees south theoretically we could go in a straight line with a course of 245 degrees to Gambier. But because we are on a sailing boat we never really go straight, we do the best we can with the wind, waves, and currents. We opt for the better course so that we can take the maximum speed out of it and so that we can be the most comfortable. This is the reason that we go more to the south. We come in the east/south-eastern winds. We are at the moment sailing full and by: outher jib, stay sail, main sail and mizzen. Our average speed is about 5 knots. If the trade winds keep blowing, then we would arrive in Gambier in about 3 weeks.
Steady and stable
Day 2. Sun Apr 21 2024
This morning the wind dropped, picked up, changed in direction. Peter was busy with trimming till 11 o’clock. Then, the wind started to blow with the same speed and from the same direction. It hardly happens, but from that time till now, 6 o’clock, we didn’t touch the sheets nor the rudder, nothing. This is stable weather. After Pierrots catch of the kingfish two weeks ago, no fish bites anymore. Pierrot keeps on trying. But, since we passed the enormous industrial fishing ships with their nets of many miles long, Peter is afraid that here is no fish left anymore. Also a stable situation, but Pierrot does not give up.
Half way
Day 3. Mon Apr 22 2024
Last night we passed the 1900 miles. So we are half way to Gambier. We are three and a half weeks underway now. The first 800 miles, with the doldrums in it, were really time consuming. Sometimes we only did 30 miles a day. But now we do a daily 110 to 120 miles. So if everything goes smooth, like it should on this puddle jump, we will see our destination in about two and a half weeks from now.
Meanwhile we discussed the fossil free way of cooking, of living, and how you stand in life, in society, that sort of things. So, great discussions here on Ya, with only the trade winds blowing and an ocean of waves around us.
Pierrot sits
Day 4. Tue Apr 23 2024
Yesterday evening while trying to cool down some homemade yoghurt, Pierrot fell down the stairs and twisted his ankle badly. After cooling it down for 2 hours in seawater and wind, Peter made him a beautiful bandage, all there was left to do was rest. When Pierrot woke up for his watch, Peter had changed course to make it more confortable and made a beautiful setup to steer the boat so that Pierrot has to move as little as possible.
During the day Pierrot sits down and slackens the sheats for Peter Pierrot sits down and Peter brings him the fishinggear for him to fix it Pierrot sits down and read a book while Peter makes diner Pierrot sits down and Peter brings him his laptop Pierrot sits down and eats the pork and vegtable cury Peter made
Short, Peter has to work twice as much and Pierrot can only sit down and wait for the pain to go away.
The worst part is, All this happened for the yoghurt that turned out bad anyway
142 miles last day
Day 5. Wed Apr 24 2024
Now the wind is perfect, the waves not to high and we can put Ya on a beautiful running course of about 100-120 degrees from the wind. Last 24 hours we did 142 miles; that is nearly 6 knots. A 12 meter yacht generally makes about 120 or 125 miles per day. The hull speed (the maximum speed) of this length is about 8 knots. But Ya is only 10 meters long and has a hull speed of 7.2 knots. Since we are out of the doldrums, our daily mileage has increased. We started with 90 miles and it increased every day. Although from 110 miles a day in little steps. The nice thing of such high speed is that the hydrogeneration charges well. That is also necessary, because one of the two propellor alternators doesnot charge anymore. Combined with the unfortunate angle that we make to the sun, we don’t generate much energy. But the batterybank contains 62% the last days so we will manage it to Gambier, no worries.
The dinner. Now because of Pierrots wristed ankle, Peter is cooking. Lucky us, we ate the stew from the freezer that Pierrot made last week. So no worries, we will survive.
Good news, bad news
Day 6. Thu Apr 25 2024
With the change of watch, Pierrot told Peter: “I have some good news and some bad news” “Tell me” said Peter
“Bad news: We are at 58% on the batteries, so we lost 4% since yesterday. The good news: With the wind we have we are now charging a little and we can unreef.”
“Ok, we can handle that.”
“There is more. Good news: We have caught 2 big fishes. Bad news: the 2 fishing lines coudnt resist and broke.”
-“Is there also just good news?” -Yes there is. I gave one last try to fix the broken keyboard on my laptop, and it started working again! And, my foot is feeling much better and I can walking on it a bit already.
-“That is great. A day starting with more good news than bad news will be a good day.”
And yes indeed, it turned out that way. Especially because Pierrot’s foot is doing that well, so he is back in the galley cooking again.
Hands
Day 7. Fri Apr 26 2024
This morning we could hoist the Parasailor. Beautiful. So we took the sails down: Outerjib furled in and taken from the bowsprit back into the bag. Then, to lower the main sail we have to go upwind. Instead of using the engines, we do that by sailing so we hoist the mizzen to get the ship upwind. Then when all was down, we hoisted the Parasailor. But, something went wrong so we had to lower the sail again and we would have to fix it in the wind shadow of the main sail. So, mizzen up, then the main sail up, then the Parasailor up to fix the problem, then the Parasailor down again, then the mainsail down, then the mizzen down, then the Parasailor up again.
This afternoon the wind was a bit too strong and there were squals coming. So, we lowered the Parasailor. We hoisted the staysail, the mizzen and the mainsail again, put the outerjib on the bowsprit and hoisted that one.
So a lot of hosting and lowering this day. Ever tried it? Now, the hands of Peter are red and a bit painful, and Pierrot has a blister here and there.
What came out of Pierrots blistered cooking hands was a great Penne Bolognese.
3 degrees south, we will reach it in a couple of hours, we are finally safe. Out of the Doldrums!
It has been a long struggle against wind and currents those last days, but we stayed hopeful to get through. Good weather reports, a sound ship, our navigations skills and a dose of perseverence brought us to here. And also, thanks to all the candles you lighted!
Parasailor
Day 2. Sun Apr 14 2024
We had just a little bit of wind, and pretty steep from behind and a swell perpendicular on it. A nasty combination, with sails easily banging all the way. The solution: we hoisted the Parasailor. O what fun, just to watch, to look at. We made 5 knots with only 9-10 knots of wind. The Parasailor is a joy. It is nearly 2 times bigger than the genaker, but so much easier and safer. When the wind gets stronger, it stays on course and the sail is still easy to take down. Check Peter’s “Ode to the Parasailor” on Youtube, channel Fossil Free Around the World. It starts with: ‘Shall I compare thee with a summer’s day’…
There is more good that starts with a P and that is Pierrot. Today he made saucise avec puree et legumes.
Energy
Day 3. Mon Apr 15 2024
On our course to Gambier, we see that from 2 PM the sails block the sun on the deck solar panels. From 4 o’clock the solars on the biminitop (over the cockpit) are too much blocked to deliver. The wind is so weak, that we don’t get some relevant power out of the starboard alternator. The alternator on port side is broken. So that can become a main issue. Now we are losing about 2% or 3%of our battery capacity every day. We shut off the plotter in the cockpit. It takes only 20 Watt, but in 24 hours that will be 480 Wh. That is more than a percent of our battery capacity to be saved. Of course we have a little back up generator and some petrol. But when we wanted to do a regular maintenance on it, it did not start. Once you live fossil free, with hardly any things breaking down, you notice that these fossil engines never work when you really need them.
Unpacific
Day 4. Tue Apr 16 2024
The Pacific’s name refers to the pleasant long swell, and the friendly winds. The frequency of the swell is often more 11 or 12 seconds. While the Atlantic has a shorter swell, of about 8 or 9 seconds. That is a big difference. Togetther with the friendly winds, it made Magellan and his mates call this the Pacific Ocean.
Yesterday evening we got a thick overcast. Then the first drops started falling. This day we get rain coming in long showers. From the South East there is a high and short swell. So that is lots of motion for us when we are doing our jobs. This is quite un-pacific.
Lucky for us, this afternoon we got some more wind, and we needed that. It makes the Ya sail pleasantly, because with some speed the Ya is able to move friendlier between these waves.
Pierrot made a curry of chick peas. A recipe inspired him, but it did not work out as he wanted. Also quite unpacific.
Storm after the stills
Day 5. Wed Apr 17 2024
Yesterday evening we saw some squalls getting closer (a squal is a shower with heavy winds and rain). Indeed, one passed by. Rain and strong winds were hitting the hull hard. But it quckly passed by and again we had light winds. Did everything already pass? During the night the squalls kept on coming and going, more and more frequently. Peter decided to reef, just in between two of them. Just in time, because the next squall hit us even harder. Today the conditions stayed as in the night. We continuously thought it would get better, but before long a new one hit us. On top of that, the wind and rain haven’t made us very productive today.
Now in the evening, the time periods between the squalls get longer and longer. We wil wake up tomorrow in the calm after the storm.
Ups and downs
Day 6. Thu Apr 18 2024
With a wave height of 3 meter and a frequency of 8 to 9 seconds, one can say that we experience ups and downs. It makes the working on board not easy, especially during the squalls, whilst the motion is even tougher. The block of the waterstay (stay to hold the bowsprit down) broke. Lucky us, the outerjib on it, was furled in, so there were heavy powers on the bowsprit, so it survived. We took the outerjib down, fixed the block, and up again.
A day
Day 7. Thu Apr 18 2024 / Fri April 19 2024
The sun is back, it is the great Pacific trade wind weather again. Only our course needs to go more southerly, but we will manage that. Our rhythm is back. Peter works in his morning watch. Next to some navigation, he does jobs, like fixing the waterstay connection to the bowsprit. Or maintenance jobs. Because one maintenance job a day, keeps the repairs away. Pierrot regularly checks the storage of the veggies and the fruit. Very important. Now, three weeks from the start, we still have a melon, a bunch of apples and a bunch of oranges. After this check, he polishes the boat for some hours. In the afternoon we read a book, Peter does a nap, and Pierrot makes the dinner. About 5 o’clock we eat. Then we write this post -“what shall we tell today” is the question during our dinner time. After the meal we set sails for the night if necessary, like reefing the sails. Then Peter does the dishes. He takes the first night watch and Pierrot goes to bed for the next 6 hours, and takes the watch from midnight. This is the regular day. Like it?
