One Man, One Boat, 4000 Miles!!!

Tropic 4 Cancer Trans Atlantic challenge is an expedition to sail single-handed 4000 miles across the Atlantic, from the western seaboard of Africa to Antigua. The route follows a defined course along the Tropic of Cancer, which is a circle of latitude running around the Earth at approximately 23 degrees north, and which marks the most northerly position at which the sun may appear directly overhead. Find Out More

Day 23 – Daily Routine!

Posted on November 25th, 2013

cabin

The time onboard Haskapa is still kept at GMT, mainly because it helps me coordinate timings with things back in the UK. But now that I’m so far west, the daily routine really revolves around sunrise and sunset.

As I’m not racing, and because for me it’s a marathon not a sprint, I tend to run the boat differently during the day and during the night! At sunrise, I first get the solar panels aligned to catch the first rays of sun in order to recharge the batteries, then normally recharge my own batteries with breakfast! I then set the boat up for the day, which normally means adding more sail area, and once I’m happy that Haskapa’s going the right way at the optimum speed, I do a morning check over the boat.

Next up is the daily updates, and I email these through and in return get the weather, an update from Liz, all your comments, and any other correspondence. I then usually spend up to an hour reading these, drafting responses, and looking at course strategy based on the weather report.

Once the ‘office work’ is complete, I normally take over steering the boat for a couple of hours to give the batteries more chance to fully recharge. Then it’s lunch and more steering!!

I normally steer for 4-6 hours per day, depending on the weather and sea state, only putting the auto helm back on to give myself a break or sort out sails. The afternoon ends with my exercise routine, and a phone call home!!

Just before sunset, I eat supper and then set the boat up for the night. This normally means reducing sail area, in particular if I’ve been sailing under spinnaker. Although this has an affect on speed, it means that there is less likelihood of me needing to totter up to the foredeck in the darkness!!

The routine for the night will basically see me checking on things every two hours or so, and involves a check of the sail trim, course, a good look around for other vessels, a check on position and a check on the AIS system – which indicates if there is any commercial shipping in the area. Then back to my pit for some more shut eye. If the weather demands, I may be up on deck for any amount of time during the night – whether it be changing sails, or steering through squalls.

I’m definitely tired, but I’m managing to avoid getting too sleep deprived – but when the wind is very light, like Saturday night’s flat calm, sleep suffers, as its impossible to set the boat up to steer itself, so I end up popping up and down from the cabin like a yo-yo!!

I’m now less that 1000 miles from Antigua, which is an important psychological barrier to get through – at the very least, there are only 3 digit numbers left to run!!! However, I’m now into the really hard period of managing expectations around arrival dates. The weather forecast is not unhelpful for the next couple of days, but there are more light patches predicted for next weekend, which may see me slow right down again tantalising close to the finish!! So I’m trying very hard to stick to the routine, and not to get excited about the arrival.

The slow pace and almost flat calm yesterday did allow me to really look at what was in the ocean around me. There is much more seaweed  here, and obvious plankton and other small organisms. Although there were a few larger items of rubbish (mainly polyprop rope/netting) some of which had been colonised by weed, there was no sign visibly, nor in the net, of any small particles of plastic.

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Today’s “thank you” goes to; John Dobson, John & Annabel O’Keeffe, Mrs J Tarrant, Latifah Alsaid, Roy McCafferty and Laura & David Wearn & Family. Thank you all so much for your very kind donations!