Mike's Blog

A Wet but Happy Mike - 07 01 09

The Doldrums have been pretty kind to me so far; my passage south has been nice and fast, which has been fantastic. But now it seems as though they've had enough. The change in the weather started at around four in the afternoon, when the first few big fellas decided to join me on my way.

Three squalls hit, one after the other, with gaps of about twenty minutes between them. They pummelled Totallymoney.com with rain and wind and then span the wind direction all the way round to the south. A not very happy and very wet Mike took three reefs in and ditched the staysail until finally, we were making slightly more relaxed progress.

There were ropes all over the cockpit in a huge mess and the gennaker was still up in the rig, swinging about merrily.

‘Oh well, could be worse!’ I told myself. Around an hour later the wind dropped back off to twenty knots and I needed the Solent up to keep on moving at a reasonable pace.

Right now, as I write this, I'm being hunted by a seriously mean squall. It's around eight miles wide, and is bearing down pretty fast. If there's one thing I don't like when I'm sailing it's lightning. And this squall is full of it! Huge orange and white flashes lighting up the whole night sky for split seconds at a time.

Sailing in this area really keeps you on your toes, that's for sure. No boredom in Mikeville, just full-on soakings at the moment. Unless I get held up I'm pretty sure I'll be at the equator within two days and out of here.

Sunsets and Salty Decks - 05 01 09

I've just been perched outside on top of the coachroof watching the sun set and disappear over the horizon. I simply sat there for around about an hour, taking everything in. The way Totallymoney.com was moving through the water so gracefully without any resistance, the way the sun was setting behind all the clouds and lighting up the sky, the way there was a small wisp of bright pink cloud just above the boat as if it were there especially for us.

I was sat outside earlier today, around noon, on my beanbag in the shade reading a book and listening to music. I stopped reading and stared out to sea and watched Totallymoney.com glide effortlessly along, almost as if she really knew exactly where she was going. After what felt like no time at all, I checked my watch and was amazed to see that ten minutes had flown by without me even noticing. It’s incredible how you can just lose yourself in something so beautiful.

I arrived at my all-important line up point for the Doldrums this morning and gybed south pretty soon after. I'm now going to stay pretty much on this gybe the whole way down to the Equator by which point I will be getting south-easterlies.

I have to admit I'm looking forward to seeing a few rain clouds as Totallymoney.com really needs a good clean of all the salt that has built up and there's even still some Saharan sand on her from sailing so close to Africa!

I don't seem to be able to find any suncream on the boat! Something I remember us getting but where did it go? Who knows…Up until now I've been able to gradually acclimatise to the heat but it's really getting scorching now, so I have to stay in the shade even more. Oh well, no one around to see the tan anyway.

Feelin’ hot, hot, hot… - 04 01 09

I’ve been thinking about everyone back home tucked inside with their heaters on full blast to compensate for the cold. See, I could really do with something like that now… Just more in the form of an air conditioning unit!

It's become like an oven inside Totallymoney.com with no ventilation apart from my small entry door and a tiny twelve-volt fan. I'm sure that I could boil an egg on the black surfaces on the deck!

Today I've carried on with a couple more small jobs. For example, I’ve charged the emergency Iridium satellite phone, which is kept in the grab bag.

As I drop more and more south the wind is gradually decreasing. This is because I'm getting pretty close to the Doldrums. This is the area between the steady winds of the northern hemisphere and the steady winds of the southern hemisphere.

In the Doldrums, the wind varies a great deal and you can find yourself in the lee of clouds with dead air whilst with more active clouds you can instantly find yourself in forty knots of wind! You have to be ready to reef very quickly, that's for sure.

I've now gybed onto a south-westerly course aiming to reach the longitude of 28 30W and then I will gybe back. The more west we get then the better our route through the doldrums will be. They're not looking fantastic at the moment, which is why we are going pretty far out west. But they could be a lot worse, which is nice to know.

I think of the old stories of how some people have gotten stuck in the doldrums for weeks on end and can't imagine having to be stuck in this heat for so long! I'll be working very closely with my weather router Mike B as we pass through this area.

Flying Fish and a Q&A - 04 01 09

This morning I cleared the Cape Verde islands with relative ease and found six flying fish on the deck! I'm sure I heard a couple hit the deck last night and flap about but waited until today to pick them off and throw them back in the sea. Quite a few people cook and eat them but I'm not really a fan of the idea, as I've never done it before.

This afternoon I had my first real bucket-over-the-head shower! It was freezing cold for a few seconds but, oh so refreshing. I've got some shampoo that works with salt water, which is surprisingly effective. It's frustrating though as it's so hot here I’m a sweaty mess within an hour or so later. Oh well I can't complain, I'll really be missing this lovely warm weather when I get into the south...

I've been umm-ing and ahh-ing all day whether to put up the genneker, my largest furling foresail. At times Totallymoney.com feels like she's a tiny bit underpowered but for the most part she feels just right and happy. I've now got a following sea, so that's also adding to my umm-ing and ahh-ing! I eventually decided against it, as I don't want to race the boat. That's the main difference between the Vendee Globe sailors and I. They’re racing and pushing their boats one hundred per cent all the time. I'm simply pushing mine at ninety per cent and I'm quite happy with that. The speed’s still high and I should suffer far less breakages.

I've rarely seen the speedo drop below ten knots over that last couple of days and Totallymoney.com just sits on an almost steady plane of eleven knots with regular surfs reaching up to the high teens. To wipe out now wouldn't be very nice, I can tell you.

Looking much further ahead to the ever-changing doldrums I've now lined myself up with our rough entry point, although this will most likely change in the next couple of days. At the moment they aren't looking great to the east of where I am but to the west they're still looking good.

I had every single bit of electronics but the pilot off today to see if there was some way that there was some interference that was effecting the autopilot. But no, it still finds a few glitches, interestingly. My mood on the boat is being lifted higher and higher everyday as I sail swiftly south, and as I slot more and more into the swing of things.

Once again, thank you all for your messages of support and your questions, some of which I’ve answered below. Keep them coming!
Q: I have a question about sand storms off the Sahara. Are you experiencing blowing sand on the boat or are you too far off the coast?
Curtis
A: Whilst sailing within 50miles of the Sahara, Totallymoney.com was definitely becoming pretty dirty at times from the Saharan sand. Even now there’s still some dirtier patches on the boat. For example the satellite dome has a layer of the type of muck you get on cars; the kind where you can wipe your finger along and pick up a fine layer of dirt.

Q: For my own information I know the overall single-handed, unassisted sail has been changed to single-handed. Could you not complete the sail back to Gran Canaria and still meet the requirements, or have you just decided to change your goal? Anyway we all wish you the best and will follow your adventure every day. Good luck.

Comment by Lance S
A: Many people have asked why I don't just sail back to Gran Canaria and still get the non-stop unassisted record. The reason is that for me the trip is about getting around the whole world. I left from Portsmouth and will finish in Portsmouth. Only when I get there will I personally feel like I've finally finished. And also, hey what's so bad about possibly stopping in one or two amazing places. However, if I am able to go all the way round without stopping, I will pop into Gran Canaria to claim the non-stop unassisted record on my way back to Portsmouth. The most important thing is that I can stop if I need to.

Q: The idea of sailing single-handed is bad enough but to occupy your time making apple pancakes is mind blowing!!! Do you try to toss them or just cheat and turn them??!!!
A: Let's just say I "try" to toss them!

Q: Why sail east around the world rather than west?
A: Sure, you can sail either way it's true. The big difference is where you have to sail and what course you take for each direction. This is basically decided by all the weather systems around the world. If you sail east and choose to go deep into the Southern Ocean then you sail under the high pressure systems and use all the low pressure systems that come along to your advantage to push you along. If you sailed west through the Southern Ocean you would either go right up above Australia and above the high pressure systems or you would sail very deep south and be upwind for almost the whole southern ocean. It's notably much quicker to sail east around the world if you head into the southern ocean.

Q: Hi Mike,
Freddie (6), asks 'how rough is the sea, and have you seen any more dolphins. I think one is called Ella. How hot is it by Africa, and have you seen any African people sailing by?'
Cheers,
Sally, Dan, Freddie and Toby.
P.S Dan asks, can you see Africa?
Comment by Sally Barter

A: The sea at the moment is pretty flat with around a 2m swell. This because I am sailing in the trade winds and everything is pretty stable in this part of the world. It's pretty hot with temperatures defiantly in the high 20's, possibly even the low 30's. I don’t have a thermometer to hand, so I'm not to sure. I've also been too far away from Africa to see it. Although I can definitely feel it, as some of the sand is being blown out to sea and leaving some dirt on the boat. And as for dolphins, I’ve literally seen hundreds of them.

Handyman - 02 01 09

As time goes by everything’s bedding in, Totallymoney’s feeling much more relaxed and I'm now definitely getting back into the swing of things (again).

I passed through the Cape Verde Islands this afternoon and am now heading southwest to my waypoint which will mark my rough entry line into the doldrums.

I’ve managed to get another pretty good nights sleep as well. It's amazing, the sea is so flat the AIS is picking up ships from 200miles away telling me their heading, speed, call-sign, co-ordinates etc. It makes sailing much easier as I don't have to worry so much about running into ships!

I've done a few odd jobs about the boat today as during my thorough daily inspection I found a couple of problems that needed my attention. The very small cleat which adjusts the leech lines had come away from the foot of the Genoa, so out came my needle and thread. The only problem was that it was right on the bow and the bow was plunging underwater quite regularly!

So, despite the fierce sun, I threw on my bottom oilies and my boots and wandered up to the bow, hooked myself on with my harness and, just as I expected, within a minute or so my bottom half was soaked through!

Once I had finished this I set about creating a system to hold back the hatch door and am still working on one of the extra protective rope covers on the mainsheet that has come loose. So overall, it's been a handyman kind of day, I would say. I always find it extremely satisfying to see these jobs done well.

Back to the dreaded autopilot! It is still holding the course without me having to physically correct it. I am keeping a log of the movements, which will be sent to NKE for their assessment. After all, if worse comes to worse and all goes to pot I will stop in Cape Town - before I plunge into the heart of the Southern Ocean.

Onwards and Southwards - 01 01 09

Sod it I'm off! The pilot may not be perfect but it does seem to be steering the boat in the direction I want, so that's good enough for me. We seem to have cured the problem, which involved resetting it. Now it just blips a wrong reading and then manages to sort its self out. I am keeping a log, which I will send to NKE to see if they can think of a solution. I am also considering all the solutions that have been offered up on the comments - Thanks everyone!

It's really great to be clear of the shipping lanes to the west of Africa as I can now sleep a lot more. I've made fairly good progress southwest today travelling at an average speed of ten knots although I’ve regularly been surfing at fourteen or fifteen knots. The sun's been out again, although this time on the wrong side of the sails so the Totallymoney.com has been mainly in the shade all day. This is nice though as it doesn’t get too hot inside the boat.

I was really tired this afternoon so I grabbed a lovely Totallymoney.com siesta, two hours sleep in thirty minute periods and I felt ever so much more refreshed for it.

At the moment I’m heading right for the middle of the Cape Verdes. I'll make the call tomorrow around midnight whether to pass to the west of them of or pass through the middle. It all depends on the wind angle that the trades decide to send me. Looking at the routing much further ahead the doldrums are looking pretty good at the moment to the west of 24W so let’s hope that keeps up!

Happy New Year! - 01 01 09

After such a busy day yesterday I got the chance to rest this morning, sit in the sun and take some time out. At around 10am I put up one of my spinnakers, furled away the Genoa and tidied up. This brought the boat speed up by two knots, which was very welcome.

Nothing much to report on during the day but as the sun set I took the spinnaker down, and put the Genoa up as the winds are forecasted to increase very early in the morning.

But then it happened again...

Yes, the autopilot!

It didn't cut out this time but on one of the outside display panels some of the displays were fluctuating. For example, the true wind direction at the moment is thirty degrees and this is displayed correctly most of the time but then, for a brief second it jumps to around eighty degrees and then back again. This causes Totalyymoney.com to swerve massively and almost gybe as she came back, trying to auto-correct. Also the speed readout is at eight knots but then suddenly jumps to thirteen with no sign of an increase in surf or actual boat speed at all.

Needless to say, this takes incredibly frustrating to a whole new level. To have spent four weeks testing and fixing this one item and for it not to be working perfectly is really beyond belief. Not a great New Year’s Eve to be honest. Let's hope the New Year brings a new solution with it!

Busy? Who, me? - 31 12 08

There have been so many ships around in the last 24hours that keeping a very good lookout has been absolutely vital. I passed within 100m of a fishing boat last night - due to its dazzling lights I had no idea in which direction or at what speed it was going!

As daylight cracked the horizon I finally thought I had a chance to rest, but just as I packed up the wind picked up by eight knots, bringing the speed up to twenty knots. It was immediately obvious that even with one ballast tank full there was just too much wind for the sailset that I had up - full main and Genoa. We were very close reaching and the boat was holding it just, but uncomfortably so.

I furled away the Genoa and took out the Solent, tidied everything up and finally got my head down. At that moment, the wind suddenly picked up by another seven knots! This was too much for the sails I had up so I went up on deck and put the reef in, tidied up the cockpit again. Head on the pillow and, the timer set, I was out like a light.

Two minutes later I was awake. The wind had dropped back down to 21knots. The boat wasn't happy underpowered and as I hadn't really slept I decided to shake out the reef I had taken in a few minutes before. This done, that done, head back on the pillow.

And five minutes later I woke to a measly six knots of wind! With the ballast tank full the boat was struggling a bit as there was not enough wind to counteract the ballast.

You guessed it. Up I got, dumped some of the ballast, furled away the Solent, unfurled the Genoa, tidied up and threw myself at the bunk!

And this time I got a fantastic thirty minutes of sleep. Hurrah! To celebrate, I cooked up myself some breakfast and then took a look at the routing for the day ahead.

It was then that I heard the most worrying noise any sailor can hear: water sloshing about inside the boat.

I immediately scooted round and discovered that the area where the batteries were stored was two-thirds underwater and also that the forepeak (the area near the bow used for storage) had taken on loads of water.

All sorts of thoughts came into my head – could I have sprung a leak? Was there a growing crack? Was one of the forward compartments filling? Something wrong with the ballast?"

I immediately called dad to ask him to talk to the shore team to try and come up with some possibilities...

I then grabbed a bucket, bailer and sponge and rushed to clear out the area around the batteries. I could afford to have wet sails but I couldn't afford to lose my batteries. This done, I then searched around the boat again looking for signs of how it all got in and discovered that the forward starboard ballast tank was full. This was odd because I hadn't filled it in the first place.

I had a thorough look around and realised that something had been knocked onto the bailer and had pushed it in the water. This causes water to run up the ballast system and if none of the other tanks are being filled or emptied, the water goes straight into the forward ballast tank. Once the tank had filled, water started spilling out into the boat via an access hatch on the top of the tank.

I set to work pumping out the ballast and, once that was done, I began the long process of bailing out all the water that had collected in the forepeak. I began this wearing my normal casual trousers and t-shirt. Bad idea as I was immediately drenched. I then threw on my dry-suit, jumped back into the forepeak and began shifting the water out bucketful by bucketful. I literally shifted around a tonne of water!

I took a ten-minute break to grab some curry for lunch and whilst the kettle was boiling I looked over the side of Totallymoney.com and - whoa, what a sight! At least one hundred dolphins decided to join me for lunch! I think I must have disturbed their lunch by sailing over a huge school of sardines or some other delicacy…

They were grouped in three packs and there were so many of them that at times it was hard to pick out individual dolphins as all I could see were foam and fins.  One of the packs played follow-the-leader with me – wherever I turned they followed, great fun.

The bailing was eventually done by 6.30pm, and by the time I had sorted everything out and tidied up all my gear and changed back into some normal clothes it was 8pm and time for a very welcome dinner. And on that note, I’ll end this blog here, as it’s probably the longest you’ve ever read!

I’m off! I’m off! I’m off! - 29 12 08

I've now been sailing for well over 24hours and the pilot has been working perfectly, thank goodness. I've just been getting back into the swing of things, so have been taking it fairly easy – and not exactly by choice as the wind spent much of the night blowing at a lousy 0.01 knots! This lack of wind meant that I could only sleep for brief periods as the autopilot can't steer when the wind is so slack. But at about 7am I finally found a decent blow and headed southeast, towards the African coast.

Now I’m following the coast at a distance of about 40-50 miles to make the most of the south-easterly winds brought by a small ridge of high pressure sitting on the African coast. I’m trying to avoid the annoying south westerlies further out to sea. Having said that, the latest weather reports are telling me that I’m going to get a bit of a battering thanks to some 30knot winds from, yes, you’ve guessed it, the southwest – the exact direction I don't want. I’m trying to remain as far over to the east as possible to avoid them.

Anyway, enough of the technical stuff, today's been great and this morning I made the most of the gentle wind to cook up some apple pancakes. After a few miserable failures, I eventually got the hang of it and managed to cook up a few perfectly delicious numbers! Practice makes perfect and I'm sure I'll become an expert in due course.

During my stay in Las Palmas, Fiona (my sister) and I stuck up around fifty or so photos inside the cabin making it feel a lot more homely and colourful. Whenever I catch sight of them lots of good memories come pouring in - it really puts a big smile on my face.

Now I’m back at sea, I’m looking forward to receiving all your comments, emails, jokes, suggestions and messages – they really make my day, so keep them coming!

Day 13 - Leaving Las Palmas - 28 12 08

Finally! Today I checked out of the nice cheap hotel I’ve been staying in, wandered down to Totallymoney.com in the blistering sunshine and sailed out of Las Palmas!

As I left the marina, people shouted good luck and waved – some even tooted their fog-horns. This proved to be the easiest goodbye so far! It’s so good to be on the water again. After I made it out of the port, I hoisted the sails close to where around thirty small sailboats were racing. Next, I passed several tankers all at anchor and slowly made my way down the southeast side of the island.

Just after this, I found myself trapped in a wind-hole.  There was nothing I could do but take down the fore sail as it was just flapping about and wait patiently until I finally managed to drift out of it. A breeze of twelve knots eventually rescued me. It's not from a great direction so I will be tacking for the next few days until I find some reaching or downwind conditions.

At the moment I'm tacking out to the African coast in search of the wind. There’s a ridge of high pressure coming, which means I’ll have another calm period in the next day or so.

It's so wonderful to be sailing again and I just can't wait to get into the swing of things – particularly to sort out my napping sleep pattern. The first few days at sea are always the worst – the lack of sleep leaves me feeling drained all the time but I know I just need to keep pushing on, knowing that I’ll soon acclimatise and that things are going to get better and better.

I'm smiling, it’s warm and Totallymoney.com is sailing well. After all the technical troubles I’ve had, this is a thumbs up moment if I ever there was one!