The
thought of an Atlantic crossing is always in the back of the mind of all
cruising boat-men, but it is forever put off to an undefined future date.
A sailing friend, contemplating our over 60 age, said “It is now or
never”, and this convinced me to take the decision. So
we formed a group of six friends, all experienced sailors, to tackle this
new adventure. There
were many highlights of our trans-Atlantic crossing, but I found that the
most significant was the abundant animal life we encountered: flying fish,
tortoise, dolfins (one group counted fifty), whales swimming around the
boat for hours, a family of orca (killer whales) and not to mention the
ten fish we actually caught (tuna and dorado). We
found that there was in fact little time for reading, as there always
seemed to be something to do, maintenance controls, repairs, general
tidying up, navigation and weather checks, sail adjustments, shifting the
spinakker pole, as we had to tack frequently and hand steering. After ten
days out we had our main breakdown, the bolt connecting the
automatic-pilot arm to the steering mechanism snapped and being a special
bolt, we couldn’t improvise a repair, so we had to take turns in hand
steering. This further contributed to reducing our free time, as we had to
get our sleep whenever we could. When
you are down below, the boat movement is sweet and the gentle rolling of
the boat on the ocean swell and the sound of the water on the hull favours
long profound sleeping spells. But when you have waves on the beam or are
in a storm, the boat lurches like crazy and you and everything not tied
down is thrown everywhere. You get continually woken up and shifted in
your bunk, so you have to find a more stable position, spreadeagled, or
propped with cuscions. Then you get woken by a jybe or by the winches
during a sail change on deck. Then just as you are getting back to sleep
again, they come and wake you up for your turn at the watch, where you
have to struggle not to fall asleep again. This was probably my worst part
of the trip, fighting to stay awake on watch. Close
to Saint Lucia we had several severe squalls which caused a bit of
apprehension, but the boat handled them extremely well. In
calmer moments during night watches, a pleasant pass-time was star-gazing
with an amazingly bright star-studded sky which encouraged long
philosophic discussions. During the day one was just content with watching
the waves, so I would say that you could sum up an Atlantic crossing, as
being at one with Nature. The
54 DS is a magnificent boat, extremely sea-worthy and dry. On the way down
from Gibraltar to Lanzerote, we had constant 40+ knot winds and enormous
following seas, with frightening mountains of water bearing down on the
stern, but Mabi Two simply rose and let them pass underneath without
letting hardly a drop coming on board. She gave us an assuring sense of
safety and solidity and also of comfort, with her spacious cockpit, the
best I have ever seen. I highly recommend the Jeanneau 54 DS for extensive
ocean sailing. I
would also recommend doing the first ocean crossing with the ARC group, as
they are very professional at preparing you and your boat, with their
excellent seminars and safety rules and controls. You learn a lot and also
meet many other cruisers. It is also comforting to communicate with other
boats in the middle of the Atlantic. We actually encountered the other two
DS 54s twice in the Atlantic and all three arrived very close at the
finish line (Maby Two first). You also meet up afterwards cruising the
Caribbean. The
slogan at Saint Lucia is “Arriving is just the beginning” and this is
true, as sailing the Caribbean is just fantastic. The close proximity of
the islands and the constant sea breezes make it an ideal sailing ground
and we are enjoying it immensely. With my wife and daughter we went south
to Grenada and with another couple we slowly sailed north, currently in
Antigua. My wife and I are happy to continue alone, as we can easily
handle the boat by ourselves, having cruised much of the Mediterranean
together. An
ideal Cruising
Sail Boat |