Location: 7° 59 N, 48° 29 W
Tuesday 12:00, 06.13.2006

The Schooner Maggie B’s noon position on June 13 was 7° 59N, 48° 29W. We have gone 824 NM since Barbados and currently Cayenne is WSW at 300 NM, the mouth of the Amazon SSW at 450 and Natal 1140 NM to go. The wind is 080-090 at 12-15 and we are headed 135-140 at 5.5 knots. We have a full jib, full fore and two reefs in the main.

First the good news. Yesterday evening, Max our resident dingy racer/sailor experimented sailing the Maggie B with a fixed helm. We were sailing close hauled at 6.5 knots in 18-23 knots true wind in a 5-8′ swell with mixed waves. The Maggie B, without autopilot or anyone at the help, kept herself about 38-40 degrees off the relative wind, with a variation of only 5-6 degrees for two hours.

But then…. At about 10:30 on the moonlit night, I came on deck where Max had the watch. We were rather bounding along under full sail and she was seeming a bit over pressed. Literally just as Max said “Do you think I’m driving her too hard?” the block at the top of the main throat halyard let go with a bang and down came the sail. All hands on deck had it sorted out in a jiffy and we proceeded at five knots and a bit off the wind with fore sail and reefed jib - reefed for balance.

On inspection of the failure, the upper block was a hefty looking Lewmar 80 “three wheeler” but with a pathetic spindle to connect it to the shackle. While small to begin with, the spindle had been bored out and further compromised by the hole to allow for the shackle pin. It is surprising that the trivial remaining amount of metal could hold up the block, let alone anything attached to it, let alone a main sail. Our other blocks appear all to be Lewmar 80 HD, which have a much heavier spindle.

Going up the mast this morning with the new halyard and spare (heavier!) block was a challenge. Still blowing @20 with moderate confused sea. We set her on course paralleling the rollers, but it still was a beating by a big guy (Neptune?). My inner arms and thighs are black and blue. I am snacking on Industrial Strength Ibuprofen.

When I was up there I though of my hero Ellen MacArthur getting similarly (much, much more) thrashed in the Southern Ocean, and knew that I could do it. But I did also think of Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” as my basic motor functions were getting thrashed out of me.

But now the sails are back up and we are bowling along to Natal and. . . .

All is well.

The Word from Commander’s Weather Corporation, sent 06.13.2006

I thought that it might be interesting for readers to see what sort of guidance we are getting on weather routing. I got permission from Chris Wasserback over at Commander’s Weather to post this to our site.

Summary €” wind diminishes in the next 12 hrs, and then will be quite light for an extended time thru the weekend!

1) Fairly strong high pressure (1031 mb) is situated well north into the central Atlantic with ridge axis extending to south of Bermuda
2) This high/ridge to the north is responsible for the brisk/strong tradewind regime over the region.
a) Winds mainly 20+ knots north of 10N, but lighter to the S and SE
3) Satellite imagery shows lots of cloudiness with scattered showers in the region in association with a trough or tropical wave near 10N and 40W
4) This wave weakens, but troughiness of lower pressure to the north will keep winds on the lighter side over the next couple days.
a) Will continue to be some clouds and possible some showers or maybe minor squall or two
b) Wnds will be mainly <12 knots
c) Wind direction mainly from E, but will vary from NE to SE
5) Will be a stronger wave devloping in the Cape Verdes over next coupledays and heads W thru the weekend.
a) not sure of development, but this will keep the trades on lighter side thru the weekend
6) Aso with the lighter trades, the SE flow along the Brazilian coast will be lighter, but still think you could run into 20 kts

Routing €” with the lighter winds, would get more east and head for 5n/40w to 2n/35w and then to 1S/34w before heading S-SW to Natal. With this route, you will be in better position to approach Natal with the stronger SE winds.

Wind forecast
Wind directions are TRUE, wind speed in KTS, and time is UTC

Wed, Jun 14
00: 040-060/16-22
06: 050-080/18-10
12: 050-080/7-12 near 7 15n/46 40w
18: 070-110/5-10 or less at times
Weather: Variable clouds with potential for a couple showers
Seas down to 5-7 ft, less wind wave chop with NE swell

Thu, Jun 15
00: 060-100/5-10 or less
06: 080-110/6-12
12: 090-120/5-10 or less near 6 10n/43 30w
18: 040-070/5-10
Weather: Variable clouds with potential for a few showers, maybe squall or two
Seas: down to 4-6 ft, mainly NE to E-NE swell

Fri, Jun 16
00: 050-070/6-12
06: 060-080/8-13
12: 030-060/6-12 near 05 10n/40 30w
18: bcmg light/variable
Weather: continued variably cloudy with a few showers possible
Seas: 4-6 ft, E-NE swell

Sat, Jun 17
00: Light/variable or light S-SE <5
12: 150-180/6-11 near 03 40n/38w
Weather: Variable clouds with a few scattered showers, maybe a squall or two
Seas down to 3-5 ft, E swell

Sun, Jun 18
00: 100-140/5-10
12: 070-110/6-12 near 2 00n/35w
Weather: Partly to variably cloudy, threat of an isolated shower or squall
Seas 3-5 ft, E swell

Mon, Jun 19
00: 070-100/8-14
12: 100-130/8-14 near 0 30s/34w
Weather: partly to variably cloudy, maybe a passing shower
Seas 4-6 ft, E-NE swell