Freighter encounter, Nov 27

Sea Saga with a Frantic Freighter

Nov. 27, 2007

8:00 pm Atlantic Ocean Lat 26°02N Lon 21°37W

Lee the Captain of World Wide Traveler is on watch and he notices a double set of lights on our port horizon. Since these were the first sailboats we saw all day Wendy got on the VHF and hailed them to find out what has been going on with them. We get an answer back from Blue Destiny, a 65 foot boat, that they were doing pretty well except that early this morning they had blown a spinnaker, and now were sailing on a gull wing, which may mean 2 gennakers out. He gave us his position and Lee calculated that he was 35 miles away from us. Then we looked out again and saw that the 2 lights from earlier were closer and that it was a large container vessel and then confirmed it on the radar and now we know that we weren’t talking with the 2 mystery lights.

After awhile of watching the container ship, we become concerned that we are on a collision course. First we try shining a flash light on our main sail to get his attention. No Luck. He is traveling at least 10 knots, and bearing down on us fairly fast. Now we are more than a little concerned and so Wendy hailed the container ship and asked him if sees us and what are his intentions? He reply’s that he has already changed course by 20 degrees to port. However, looking at him visually and on the radar we can see that we are still on a collision course only much closer than a few minutes ago.

The Captain of the ship asks Wendy where we are from and how many are on our boat and is trying to make small talk and possibly even flirt? At the same time Lee is getting out the one million candle power light and now has asked all of us to close our eyes so that he can flash it at the ship. Again, we frantically run back to the VHF and Wendy asked him again what his intentions are and he assures us that he changed course to port but it looked to us like he changed to starboard and now is close enough for us to see his bridge. He is still trying to talk to Wendy and telling us he is from India. We all agree that maybe Lee should get on the radio and ask him to take action to avoid us and again he asserts that that is what he did. I guess he wasn’t looking out his window because our mast light must have been at eye level for him and right in front of him. Lee gives up and starts the engine, we pull in the jib and turn hard to starboard. Now the ship is so close that we can smell his curry dinner. The ship then narrowly passed in front of us, possibly as close as a long par 5, and moves away. We all feel as if we have cheated death.

For the next few minutes we are trying to figure out what might have really happened with this Indian Captain and catching our breath when at 9:21 we hear the same freighter from 7 miles away hailing another sailing vessel off his ‘starboard port’ and asking them repeatedly to give way. “Please give way, Please give me a wide berth.” We can only wonder at how close he came to that ‘port starboard’ sail boat.

We have been puzzling over the fact that he wants us, a 47 foot vessel under sail, to give way to him. Because past experiences had taught us that most ship captain’s will try to avoid us by at least 2 miles we are assuming that we have the right of way when in fact he really does. The biggest boat can always win. We wish that instead of telling us that he had changed to port that he would have simply told us to give way. The whole situation was made worse by his poor communication of telling us one thing, when in fact he may not have done anything or worse yet may have changed to starboard, thereby worsening the situation. Sebastian, a retired Swedish Navy Captain, feels that by looking at his light configuration during all of this that he really never changed course, all the while telling us that he did.

After a few more minutes one of the other sailing vessels, who had overheard the previous exchange with the second sailboat, hailed the freighter and reminded him that there are 250 boats out here in the ARC and that it would be best if the Captain were to keep a watchful eye out for all of us.

Lee is now theorizing that the Indian Captain is overwhelmed by the number of boats out here and a bit out of control. His comment is “Don’t trust a freighter in the center of a beehive.” After 40 years of sailing this was Lee’s one and only close call with a freighter and we now have a new watch rule. If a freighter comes within 3 miles of us, Lee must be awakened if necessary, to make any course changes if necessary.

Setting Sail from Las Palmas, Canary Islands

Sunday, leaving Las Palmas, going to sea

The time set to cross the start line is 1:oopm. I wake up at 7 am in order to top off the water tanks as there was a rather nasty rumor that the fresh water supply would be shut off at 8:00am, which proved not to be true, however we couldn’t take any chances. The rest of the crew got up after 8:30 and 9:00 and then we were all off and racing around doing last minutes chores to make the boat ready to go to sea. We pulled the engine off of the dingy, and stowed it and then pulled up the dingy tight to the davits. I washed down the decks, and everybody had lots to do. At 11:00 a marching band showed up and walked the docks playing for all of the boats which only increased the level of excitement. We managed to get everything done in time to leave the dock at noonish, and then we joined over 250 boats milling around in the harbor jockeying for position and waiting for the starting for the start gun.

At the start it was incredibly busy and many captains were trying to be showboats and putting up spinnakers etc. One boat next us threw up his spinnaker but was completely out of control and his boat kept weaving from side to side, while practically being knocked down by the force of the spinnaker. We barely make it across the start without incident and then we were in the open ocean and were experiencing 10 to 15 foot sea swells, with 20 knot winds. It was quite lumpy.

Mostly I did ok with only moments of queasiness. Wendy was not doing so well and has been sick since we left.

By the evening the winds increased some and Lee made the call to reef in the main and jib. Wendy executed the jib reef flawlessly. In order reef the main we had to change tacks and take care not to have an accidental jibe. It was quite a scary maneuver and the boat was bucking and rocking even more as we headed up wind. Eventually we put two reefs in main for rest of the night. By now it was dark.

I cooked a pasta dish with salad dinner and it was much appreciated even though Wendy and I had trouble getting it down. After spending an hour in kitchen I was feeling quite sick. After dinner I went to bed until awakened at midnight to start my 3 hour watch. At the time that I came on watch we were in the wind shadow of the Canaries and Wendy had brought in sails so they wouldn’t luff and we were running on the engine. But, within an hour of coming on deck, the wind picked enough that we could set the sails again and douse the engine. Lee set the sails and we turned on the autopilot , and then all I had to do was go out every 15 minutes and look around, notice where other boats were, if any, make nobody was too close to us, check the radar for those same boats and any I might have visually missed, set the timer 15 minutes and repeat.

After my watch was over I spent some time in the head looking for my contact lense case and eventually got my contacts out and made ready for bed. However, apparently I spent too much down below, and mal de mer set in. As soon as I laid down I was immediately very sick and barely made it back to bedroom to be sick. After that I finally admitted to needing to take some bonine, and did so, then had some water and crackers and eventually went back to bed for the night.

While in bed, you can hear all of the noises of the boat. Since it is very rough you can hear water crashing ferociously against hull and the boat would lurch wildly. When the boat is surfing down a wave then sometimes the sail would catch a particularly big gust, and then you might hear the crashing of the boom straining against the lines of the sails.

By the time I got up in the morning I had my sea legs and have not experienced any more sea sickness. This morning by, noon, we were all having pancakes that I made. First, Sebastian did the last night dishes in sea water, and I rinsed them in fresh water. We are all experiencing large appetites as a result of our bodies dealing with the constant motion of the boat. We are having to ration water because we have NO watermaker. The four of us have to get through as many as 3 weeks, but hopefully only two weeks, on 100 gallons of water. That means NO SHOWERS! We must be very careful not to waste even a drop of water. Drinking water was purchased but even so, we must carefully watch how much of that we go through. The rule on board is that each of must drink at least a litre of water per day in order to avoid dehydration, which can be a major health issue on a passage such as this.

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Saturday before setting sail.

After arriving about 8:30 on Thursday evening, we spent Friday doing provisioning and boat chores. Wendy had spent the previous 2 days at the grocery stores rounding up some of the various food items we might need, and then we spent 5 more hours on Friday at the stores and still we were not done. And, then of course we must find room for all this food somewhere and get it stowed. Imagine for every item whether it is a fruit or vegetable or cheese or eggs etc. having to decide how much you might need for 4 people for maybe as long as 3 weeks. It was a very time consuming and exhausting process. And, there was no margin for error, because there are certainly no 7-eleven’s in the middle of the Atlantic.

On the dock where we are moored there is much excitement and anticipation. All day long, people will stop by and visit. They are from every part of the world, and are very interesting characters, indeed. Cruising World Magazine stopped by and interviewed Lee, for an article they are doing on alternative energy and then took pictures of us around his solar panels. The dock where we are, is being used exclusively by those people on Cataraman’s. All of the monohulls are in the main harbor.

The weather here has deteriorated from its usual sunny and warm. Yesterday was quite breezy and a cold front blew through giving us several small showers in the evening, Friday. This morning it is cloudy and windy still. While talking with one of the other crew members from a neighboring boat we were told that very likely we would encounter some large seas on Sunday when we head out. Oh Joy…….

Las Palmas is a pretty large and cosmopolitan city with large department stores similar to Macy’s and a very giant grocery store. Even Ikea is here. There appears to be plenty of European money here and terrific shopping. The biggest grocery store is set up to accommodate cruisers, with delivery’s to the boat. I can’t imagine having to provision for a trip like this from Mexico or the small Carribean islands where the stores are very small and stock of any one item is limited. There are up to 1500 sailors here for the ARC, flooding the stores, trying to gear up for the passage, so it is big business for the local economy.

Today should be another busy day with more last minute boat chores and provisioning to be done. Lee will be attending a Captain’s meeting at noon where he will be briefed on procedures for starting the race, checking in on the net etc.

There are four of us on the boat. Our 4^th crew member is Sebastian. He is from Sweden, retired Navy, married with children. He has a very low key and calm manner and is in the process of getting his captain’s license. In order to get here his flight made 2 stops, one in Mallorca, and somewhere along the way his luggage was lost and has yet to be found. So, he has been living in the same clothes since Thursday and will very likely spend the afternoon shopping if his luggage is not found and delivered this morning. At seven on Saturday evening his luggage had arrived at the airport and he had to go it, twenty miles away.

That is all for now.

Leaving today

Well today is the big day and I can't say that I not just a bit nervous. Traveling is not like it used to be so one must really think ahead about how to pack what to carry aboard etc. Then if you are going to be on the ocean for at least 2 weeks you might want to bring things you ordinarily wouldn't because there won't be any 7-11's close by.

And of course, the mantra is to pack light, which may not work out since I am bringing various items to Lee and Wendy who have been living on the boat for the last 8 months. To see what adventures they have had chartering in the Meditteranean go to www.wwtraveler.com.

Since I booked this trip 9 months ago it has been a bit of a load on my mind. Every day thinking of what to bring and what not to bring, how to leave things here with bills and all, what will it be like to be out on the open sea..............

The good news is that once out there many other things that might take up space in my mind like current events, politics, the economy, my business etc. will simply fall away and out there it will be all about eat, sleep, and watch times. What a great break from thinking about things I can't control anyway.

Will check in again when in London or the Canaries.

Feel free to post comments etc here.

For those of you who want to follow along and find where we are on the passage you can go to the ARC website and find the boat named Worldwide Traveler.
http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/index.aspx Once on the web site click on right side where it says Fleet Viewer click here.

Every boat will check in with the ARC by Single Side Band Radio daily so they will be posting our positions throughout the rally.