27 NOVEMBER 2019 11.30 l 13.30 UTC 14.30 Italy
Position 15 ° 35 ′ NORTH 041 ° 40 ′ WEST
EAST NORTH EAST WIND 17-20 KNOTS, ALISEO REGIME, clear sky with the classic small white cottony clouds typical of the trade winds area
Ariel with Gennaker on starboard tack and spinnaker genoa always on starboard tack, (The power of the spinnaker pole) broken from 283 to 290 because it is veering slightly east, in direct orthodromia for S. Lucia, which is now 1119 miles. Miles traveled by Mindelo: 970
MID-ATLANTIC LEFT AFT
We didn’t choose it, but it is as if we were sailing in a constant wind bubble, which weakened only two days ago, to go down to 10-12 knots, so much so that in order not to lose too much speed we put Nello, the SPi red and white of 200 square meters; but then the wind came back, strangely, because the grib models give it a dizzying decline, other boats that we hear at the SSB link every morning are further north, further west or south, or even far back, that is towards the east, have winds much lighter than ours. The wind is our real engine, and we keep the gennaker, the Jenny on shore, even if at its limit (20 knots) because not so much the speed, practically similar with white sails, (we do 0.5 knots more) than on mainsail and genoa, but Ariel is arranged as if on a track, there is no dancing at all,and manages to maintain a very stable course. Life on board therefore assumes connotations of absolute comfort. Then another advantage that in the gaps of wind, when it drops to 13-14 we do not lose speed, and the bow remains high and powerful. We risk a little in the gusts at 22 knots, in the sense that it has a lot of pressure, and suffers a little, but the game is valid because in the reinforcements gliding on the majestic wave we easily reach 10 knots. This is the main reason for our advantage over our competitors and I can say that the whole crew is starting to enter the race. We see the possibility of finishing first for real. In these cases, however, never rest on your laurels and make Ariel run, always, taking advantage of every slight variation of the wind. The study of gribs and synoptics (with the new upgrade to the ssb radio reception system with WInlink,obtained with the GMDSS license and from Amateur Radio) allows me to download in addition to the gribs with the wind arrows, also the synoptics of the area in which we are, essential to make us our meteorotta, which we then compare with the router at home and with the forecasts of the race committee. Our router tells us to go south, under the 14th parallel, but the catmaran ZAn that is over there, this morning reported 12 nodes of real. So since the last word is up to us who are here, and not in front of a desk screen, we decided this morning not to jibe, to go straight ahead to the orthromic for Santa Lucia, then tomorrow is another day.fundamental to make us our meteorotta, which we then compare with the router at home and with the forecasts of the race committee. Our router tells us to go south, under the 14th parallel, but the catmaran ZAn that is over there, this morning reported 12 nodes of real. So since the last word is up to us who are here, and not in front of a desk screen, we decided this morning not to jibe, to go straight ahead to the orthromic for Santa Lucia, then tomorrow is another day.fundamental to make us our meteorotta, which we then compare with the router at home and with the forecasts of the race committee. Our router tells us to go south, under the 14th parallel, but the catmaran ZAn that is over there, this morning reported 12 nodes of real. So since the last word is up to us who are here, and not in front of a desk screen, we decided this morning not to jibe, to go straight ahead to the orthromic for Santa Lucia, then tomorrow is another day.and not in front of a screen of a desk, we decided this morning not to jibe, to go straight ahead to the orthromic to Santa Lucia, then tomorrow is another day.and not in front of a screen of a desk, we decided this morning not to jibe, to go straight ahead to the orthromic to Santa Lucia, then tomorrow is another day.
This year on Ariel we have made substantial changes to ensure greater safety and comfort on board, with an eye also to eco-sustainability. The desalinator, for example, has been equipped with a UV lamp to sterilize the water produced, which has been examined and is pure, not too acidic, and low in mineral content, therefore without the need to add basifying agents or other minerals. This has resulted in the fact that we no longer load tons of pet bottles to be eliminated on arrival, but we have chosen bottles from a Spanish company, the Solan de cabras, rigid, reusable, with the right height for our fridge and with screw caps robust and reliable for thousands of reuses. We obviously have a supply in the bilge equal to the needs in case of breakage of the watermaker, but in fact we always use 12 bottles,since we desalt 200 liters every other day.
Another gem that has determined the turning point is the bread machine, therefore we have not embarked the usual packages of panbauletto, or other bakery products, but only flour of various types and kinds in order to allow us to make bread q alternate days or daily if necessary, baking from wholemeal modified with cereals, to white bread such as baguette, up to sweet bread with raisins for breakfast in the morning.
The third big news is the refrigerator for fresh, designed by myself and built by friends of Blue Refitting and Antonio Matarrazzo from Punta Ala; a winning choice.We can still have the salad, courgettes, carrots and tomatoes just taken from the gardener, 7 days after departure. Even bananas, which if left outdoors ripen all together, keeping them at 10 ° (this is the temperature of the cool), ripen when you want. So this year a big step forward in the management of the galley and related garbage: a bag pressed every 3 days. while the aluminum of the cans is stowed in a separate locker and will be unloaded for reuse.
In the same way as we take care of the galley and the planet, we take care of running fast and sailing safely, therefore Ariel has her new Spinnaker, symmetrical, classic, very open at the top, to catch a clean wind without turbulence, and with 10 knots of real, he made us run at 7 knots, to go up to 11 knots in reinforcements at 20 knots, but beyond its limit. For safety, we have a grab bag dedicated to communication with a second personal Epirb (PLB1), a satellite with respect to load, a GMDSS VHF with lithium battery dedicated only to the raft, and an AIS-SART (search and rescue transmitter), a particular device that once turned on allows those looking for you on a raft (which is not easy to see in the middle of the ocean by a merchant that comes to pick you up) to see it as an equal,that is, enlarged and with a meter position. During the ARC safety check on departure from Las Palmas we received compliments for the completeness and above all for the fire prevention systems, which have 3 systems in Ariel that are not excluded but complete: automatic nitrogen fire extinguishers, armed fire extinguisher ready to ‘use of CO2, which works by firing a “cold flame at – 270 °” and the classic powder extinguishers, mandatory equipment and considered sufficient by the maritime authorities, but not for me, since any use of a powder extinguisher would destroy yes the flames, but everything that invests. Therefore last resort, not unique. This philosophy was highly appreciated by the judges, taken photos and will likely require an update to fleets in future editions. Safety first.During the ARC safety check on departure from Las Palmas we received compliments for the completeness and above all for the fire prevention systems, which have 3 systems in Ariel that are not excluded but complete: automatic nitrogen fire extinguishers, armed fire extinguisher ready to ‘use of CO2, which works by firing a “cold flame at – 270 °” and the classic powder extinguishers, mandatory equipment and considered sufficient by the maritime authorities, but not for me, since any use of a powder extinguisher would destroy yes the flames, but everything that invests. Therefore last resort, not unique. This philosophy was highly appreciated by the judges, taken photos and will likely require an update to fleets in future editions. Safety first.During the ARC safety check on departure from Las Palmas we received compliments for the completeness and above all for the fire prevention systems, which have 3 systems in Ariel that are not excluded but complete: automatic nitrogen fire extinguishers, armed fire extinguisher ready to ‘use of CO2, which works by firing a “cold flame at – 270 °” and the classic powder extinguishers, mandatory equipment and considered sufficient by the maritime authorities, but not for me, since any use of a powder extinguisher would destroy yes the flames, but everything that invests. Therefore last resort, not unique. This philosophy was highly appreciated by the judges, taken photos and will likely require an update to fleets in future editions. Safety first.
Let’s not talk about communications: the SSB radio has been perfected, now that I am a radio amateur I can use it at will, and we have telephone contacts every day with CAMillo of the Swan 44 and with the ARC fleet, while sending emails makes use of two lines of mail, the classic historical one with sail mail and now the new one with winlink, practically free, free and above all aimed at the possibility, as I said, to download light attachments (weather synoptics, cyclones and hurricane maps, etc.). The satellite fleet has been increased, with two Iridiums, one of which is respectable and a new INmarsat Fleet ONe, with its own dedicated antenna for voice and data; the inmarsat telephone is fixed, always on for any eventuality by those who follow us at home, and allows through a private WI FI network, i.e. only the captain,to send or download photos or to browse the internet if necessary, always for safety, or for reasons of urgency. The only limit is the costs, although limited from 2019 by INmarsat, have gone from prohibitive to very high. But I see that with adequate filters, not letting him (the computer) do it but managing it “by hand”, communication has adequate costs. In fact, we promised our friend the journalist Beppe Minnello, who landed with his legs, but left his heart here, to send him some photos to be published in the online press; he called us on the fixed inmarsat this morning, worried because he had no news (journalists are a bit like that, always in search of the latest news or image), in reality he asked for contact with Matilde, our daughter, who keeps the ranks of our adventures with the site and with Beppe.
So today we dedicated a good hour of the morning to fitness, opening the gym on the stern, and with elastic and free body we produced a series of photos that we will send for the website and for the newspaper.
oh, a smell of fresh bread is rising which is a pleasure! 6 minutes and the loaf will be on the table; today mixed salad like any midday meal…. everything is fine, even if the hand and heart of our Ceci is missing, so in this crossing, to give meaning to the gourmet let’s say normal, we also rely on the words of the Japanese doctor Yoshinori Nagumo “THE MAGIC POWER OF FASTING”, whose reading however I recommend regardless of the ocean!
See you tomorrow with interesting news on sleep-wake rhythm management
Paolo and Ariel’s team
