NORTHERN CHILD DAILY LOGS

TRANSATLANTIC ANTIGUA TO THE UK 2007

Crew: JULIAN, KATHY, SUE, CLAIRE, TED, EDD, DOUGLAS, 
CHRIS, GEOFF, DAVEY, HANS and AEGIDIUS

Northern Child Transat Log Number 1 - 9th May 2007

One hour to go before the off. Northern Child and her crew sit expectantly in berth A2 in Simpson Bay Marina, St Martin , waiting for the bridge to open to exit the lagoon for the open sea.

Our destination - Horta, Faiel, the Azores ; a rhumb line distance of 2,200 miles and considerably more by the route the winds will force us to take. The planning and preparation is now all complete and we are left facing the challenge that we have all signed on to do. Considerably outside the comfort zone of most of the crew on board, a little shiver of anticipation can be felt running through the boat. The ocean will find our weaknesses and in a couple of weeks we will know whether we have met the challenge well. This log gives you a chance to follow our journey and I hope that you will find it addictive!

We have Sue in the galley cooking, Kathy as deckhand and myself, Julian, as skipper and log writer.

The wind has been very favourable since we left and now this morning our time, it has come down a little and the sea has flattened out. The first night on passage is always hard work as the environment is so alien to the new crew. Sleep patterns have to change to accommodate the new routines of working throughout the night. We work a shift pattern of two six hour watches, or time periods, during the day and then three four hour watches at night. This means that the watches rotate n a 24 hour basis, and so one night each one watch does one night watch and the next it does two watches. For the first couple of days this is tiring but as the crew get used to it, we find it a pretty good system.    

We are having a good first day's run towards Horta, averaging 7 knots towards the famous Peter's Bar above the harbour! The winds and seas are favourable and Sue has couscous salad and fresh baked ciabatas in the oven for lunch. It's a cloudy day out here on the broad reaches of the Atlantic ocean which at least means there is no sunburn, it is 30 degrees Celsius at the chart table and we are hammering our way to windward in the right direction. That's it for today, Julian, Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 2 - 11th May 2007
Position: 20.48N 58.54W
Speed: 7kts at 075 degrees magnetic
Distance to go: 1908 miles to Horta

It has been a very quiet 24 hours on board Northern Child. The sea is a deep inky blue, the sky clear to the horizon, but dotted with little puffy cumulus clouds. Winds have been constant at 15 - 20 knots out of the east south east, allowing us to follow our direct course towards Horta. All pretty positive really.

Crew members who were ill on the first day have now recovered and a routine of eating, watch and sleeping has imposed itself on the whole crew. Sailing the boat to windward as we have been doing for the last two days isn't easy - we are heeling over at 20 degrees, and every wave that comes through is throwing us around like a hobby horse at a fair! It is hot as well, currently 29 celsius at 0900 on the chart table.

The watch on deck this morning from 0600 to 1200 local has been Edd, Claire, Davey and Chris. Edd joined Northern Child before Antigua sailing week and immediately made a great contribution to sailing the boat, on the basis of which I asked him to be a watch leader back to the UK . Blessed with good humour and commonsense Edd has proved to be a popular choice. Claire works for Coke and does the ultimate girlie job - she buys things. Claire possesses a great quality - listening to Davey's stories! Davey is from Belfast and amazingly enough (to all those who know him as well!) is a respectable barrister! Matched only by Tom on the crew for story telling I deliberately put them on opposite watches.... Chris is the quiet member of Team America , carefully weighing things up before commenting, he uses his brain where most of the NC crew jump in without thinking too much - or is that just the skipper?!

As Edd came down the hatch from his watch just now, I asked him what happened this morning on his watch - 'all we did was tidy up a line! We didn't need to trim, to change sails, nothing. Just a steady 15 knots from the south east and 7 knots of ground speed towards Horta. It has been sunny and hot.' Okey dokey, that will have been nice progress then!

A nice quote from Hans to his watchleader Tom when he just woke up: 'Still heeling too much, I can't change my clothes!' In view of this I have declared that lunch is taken without the boat moving - we shall heave to for 20 minutes and let people have a short rest from the motion. This will mean that for a short period of time we are heading towards Africa , but its all part of the master plan. Just don't ask what the master plan is yet!

Our 24 hour run, indeed since we left St Martin , has been excellent as we have averaged 7 knots over the ground towards Horta. During the last 24 hours we have sailed 166 miles towards our destination and some 298 from the western tip of St Martin . Current strategy is that we are keeping as close to a straight line towards our destination as possible, until inspiration hits me! We are expecting to run into the Azores High which will give us lighter winds tomorrow, when Plan B will come into being.... Until tomorrow, when I will reveal Plan B (after having thought of it..) Julian - Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 3, 12th May 2007

Position: 22.23N 56.38W
Speed: 6.5 knots at 065 degrees magnetic.
Distance to go: 1,743 miles to Horta.

We have to start the log yet again with that blue sky, puffy cumulus, inky blue, flat sea stuff again because that is what it has been all morning! Winds have just dipped down a touch and veered more behind us which is what we have been expecting, so although the speed has come down a little in the last hour, we aren't suffering too much, if fact we aren't suffering at all! It's 31 degrees at the chart table and considerably more than that on deck, with most of the on - watch (Tom's) hiding under the shade of the bimini at the back end of the boat. 

If you received yesterday's log where we described Edd, you may be interested to know that Edd is 21 and Tom is 19. We also have Kathy at 22 and Doug at 18 - and what a credit they all are to the younger generation: it actually fills me with some hope for the future of the country. If only more of the youth of today were filled with their drive, intelligence and commonsense. Enough about the youngsters - I will have to try to stop them reading these logs until we arrive ashore somewhere!

Hans is the senior crew member on board and hails from Switzerland , has sailed with NC many times before both on regattas and ocean passages and is firmly at home on board. Hans is incredibly generous and always arrives with a bagful of Swiss chocolate for us all - lots of it! Goeff is from Northern Ireland and a competent yachtsman and boat owner - he makes up for the rest of the crew by being relatively calm and contemplative! Doug at 18 has just left Eton and is taking a break before going to Bristol to study Russian and Italian. 

We were lucky enough to be visited by a large whale this morning - off on the horizon a bit, so it wasn't possible to get a positive ID on the animal, but it was the source of great excitement and at least some of the crew have now actually seen a whale on passage! Right about the same time we had two ships passing close by; the first bound for New York and the closer one bound for Cristobel and the Panama Canal . Reminds me of a trip I did on a Swan called Trinity from San Francisco to St Thomas via the Canal many years ago. Of course in those days the Zone, as the immediate area surrounding the Canal was called, was American controlled and what an adventure we had in a little fibreglass yacht surrounded by huge panamax container ships. The canal has now reverted to Panama and I haven't been through since.

As the winds have moderated, the crew are able to engage in more normal pastimes such as fishing. Doug, Geoff and Tom are currently in the aft cockpit trying to untangle the fishing line, the result of a huge fish (shark they claim) that got away with the lure (fishy tales!) Still, sorting out the line should keep them clear of trouble for a while and they are even managing to laugh through their minimal progress!

As I finish this we have sailed 165 miles towards Horta in the last 24 hours. The wind outlook looks light but favourable and we expect to slow down a bit over the next few days. But what a great start we have had to this passage: the winds couldn't have been better for us. A plus, Julian, Northern Child 

Northern Child Transat Log Number 4, 13th May 2007
Position: 24.16N 54.41W
Speed: 7.0 knots at 055 degrees magnetic
Distance to go: 1587 miles to Horta.

No, no, no, no, no. No. I absolutely refuse to start the log yet again with all that blue sea and sky stuff yet again. Let me just check outside the hatch - it might have changed. Hmmm, it's blue sky, flat sea again! Only 0600 in the morning, it's 28 degrees at the chart table and we have just had a watch change - Edd's going on deck and Tom's down for some sleep so everyone is around.

Dawn came early this morning, before 0500, and a good sign that we are making progress to the east. We will alter our watches by an hour, maybe tomorrow, so that we keep sunset and sunrise at roughly the right time. I always look forward to changing time zones on passage because it is a good psychological boost - the distances are so vast that a positive action like that is good for morale. We have travelled roughly a quarter of the distance to Horta so far, all under sail and at good speed so we are pretty pleased.

The wind continued to veer (move clockwise) around behind us during yesterday afternoon and drop in velocity, so we were able to hoist our blue and white asymmetric spinnaker and ease off our course. One of the goals of the watch on deck is to try and always keep the boat at optimum speed for the conditions and the asymmetric spinnaker is just perfect for winds coming in over the beam, or side, of the boat. Problems with spinnakers always seem to happen at night, so we changed back from the spinnaker to our biggest number 1 genoa just before dark. There was the possibility of losing the wind overnight, in which case we would have had to motor north to get back into the pressure gradient, however this wasn't needed and we held a light, constant breeze all night and sailed 75 nautical miles in the dark 12 hours of the night - fine progress that ensured good rest for the off watch crew.

With the new dawn came the asymmetric spinnaker and with an increase in wind to 15 knots we were off at 8 knots over the ground again. If we can just make another 70 miles to the north over the next 24 hours without losing the wind, then I think we can get into the new breeze caused by a low coming out of the States and squeezing against the Azores high pressure system. For the whole of the route weather wise we are dominated by this big area of high pressure that drifts around the Azores and dictates the weather over most of this part of the Atlantic - if you are having a nice summer in the UK it is because the Azores high has moved north of the islands.

On board and sailing back with us to the Hamble we have the permanent crew of Kathy and Sue, along with myself. Kathy joined Northern Child as a deck hand in Cascais in August and has been on board ever since. She can currently be found sanding down a panel in the saloon at 0700 in the cool of the morning, so that we can revarnish it later on with at least 7 coats of varnish! Sue joined us at the end of December and is the full time cook on board. Cooking for large numbers of crew at sea isn't always easy - if the temperature at the chart table is 30 degrees, then you can bet it is substantially more in the galley; we are all putting on weight! 

What does the watch on deck get up to? Edd's watch of Claire, Davey and Chris are currently on watch from 0600 until 1200. The first unenviable task that the watch on deck pulls is... the washing up - someone has to do it! Flying a spinnaker takes two of the four people on watch; the first, Claire, is looking at the corner of the sail and trimming - calling orders to the second, Edd, who is winding the big 77 winch with a handle. A third member of the team, Chris, is driving and the fourth is doing everything else that nobody else can do because they all are busy. It gives a chance for everyone to get a bit vocal and enthusiastic about their boat speed! The watch members rotate every 30 minutes - remember also that it is also well over 30 degrees on deck. This watch will then be able to relax from 1200 to 1800 before coming on for the first evening watch.

In the previous 24 hours we have covered 156 miles under sail towards Horta, a total of 619 miles from the corner of St Martin . Weather for the next 24 hours looks promising: although light we should make reasonable progress towards the new wind and the miles to go are falling at a satisfactory rate. A plus – Julian - Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 5, 14th May 2007
Position: 26.07N 52.12W
Speed: 8.0 knots at 072 degrees magnetic
Distance to Horta: 1410 miles to Horta

As it is Monday I presume that lots of our log readers will be back at their desks starting the working week, having commuted to work. Well, if so, spare a thought for us. This morning at 0600 Tom's watch had to drag on a tee shirt and make it the 10 or so paces up on deck to the cockpit from their bunks! You will, however, be glad to know that overnight the skies had been cloudy with the approaching fronts coming out of the USA , so at least you don't have to read that blue sea/skies thing yet again. Ooops, sorry, just been on deck and there is intermittent cloud, but basically it's hot and sunny again.

We had an interesting dinner time last night. Still flying the blue and white asymmetric spinnaker, the wind had got up to 18 knots true and come forward onto the beam just about the time that Sue served a chicken curry, and very good it was too! The night was pitch dark and cloudy, and in order to eat dinner we had turned on our deck lights which illuminate the boat from half way up the mast. We were all eating curry, boat surging away in the pool of light from the deck lights, the spinnaker right on the edge, and nothing visible around us - awesome! Needless to say, immediately we had finished with dinner, we got the kite (spinnaker) down, and unfurled the no.1 genoa in its place. The speed dropped only a little but the boat felt much more under control for the night, and by 0600 we had covered 88 miles towards Horta, our best 12 hour run yet.

I have just had a very interesting conversation with Hans and Tom on deck about Tintin and Snowy, or as the continentals would have it, Tintin et Milou. Tom was recounting the 'billions of blasted blue blistering bilge barnacles and a thundering typhoon' curse from Captain Haddock and Hans was happy to recount how he had grown up with Tintin as a child, getting the comic each week with one sheet of the current Tintin story in it. Hans then explained that each of the books therefore had 52 episodes or pages in it, and thus at Christmas you were able to get the book. Fantastic. I just hope the crew don't call me Captain Haddock!

The weather in the short to medium term has been occupying a great deal of my time as there is, for this route, quite a complex problem ahead of us. We have come slightly north of the intended track and managed to slot ourselves back into a band of wind ahead of a low coming out of the United States . This should give us constant speed in the right direction for at least two days, before another high slides in from the west behind us. We are likely to come to a halt for a day or so as this high drifts over the top of us and then the high will intensify over the Azores giving us headwinds for the last 1,000 miles into the Islands . It is likely that we will have to come up with another cunning plan when we run out of wind on Wednesday or Thursday to try and see if we can place ourselves in a slightly more favourable position for the headwinds - we will keep you posted!

As I complete this log, we have just covered 177 miles towards Horta in the last 24 hours, our best days run yet; total distance sailed so far now stands at 796 nautical miles in 4 and 3/4 days. The winds are set fair for a day or two and all is well on board. A plus, Julian

Northern Child Transat Log Number 6 at 1400GMT, 15th May 2007
Position: 27.03N 49.05W
Speed: 8.0 knots at 105 degrees magnetic
Distance to Horta: 1240 miles

What a difference a day makes! Now it's your turn to laugh at us, not that we're not, because we're doing lots of laughing - it's just that it is blowing 25 knots true, getting a wee bit bumpy and intermittently chucking it down with rain!

I might have mentioned yesterday that a front was coming at us out of the United States - well this is it! A low pressure system looks pretty much the same whether it is in the UK or the middle of the Atlantic , so you will have no difficulty imagining what it is like. I am hoping that it passes through today, but if it does it will leave quite an interesting weather pattern behind - when I say interesting, I normally mean challenging or difficult!

Yesterday afternoon passed pleasantly enough with fast, dry reaching conditions using our biggest genoa and a full mainsail, Edd was getting extremely excited about trying to beat 10 knots over the ground - he managed 9.9 twice and ever since has been really motivated to beat the 10!

We put our watches forward an hour at lunchtime in order to make sense of dawn and dusk. Just before dark the weather looked a bit more threatening and the whole crew spent an hour on deck working with the sails to get ready for the night. We put a reef in the main and rove the second reefing line - in other words we reduced the size of the mainsail and further prepared the sail to make it even smaller. If the winds go up, we reduce the size of the sails, and vice versa, to keep the boat going at her optimum speed. We also took down our big number 1 genoa and put up instead our smaller, tougher number 3 - sounds easy, but folding big sails on deck as the boat is sailing along at 8 or 9 knots isn't a stroll in the park. Luckily all this was accomplished just in time because the winds shot up and it lashed down with rain soon afterwards!

During all these travails, life on board goes on as normal and Sue keeps on cooking away in the galley. No one has lost their appetite so big meals are the order of the day, whatever the conditions. Luckily Sue never really feels seasick, so she is the perfect cook on board. Edd's watch are the lucky ones this morning with the full English breakfast, and despite the conditions they were all still keen! The smells coming out of the galley are very tempting. Meanwhile Kathy is involved in a new sport called extreme varnishing - sanding and varnishing at 25 degrees of heel providing her with a challenging work environment!

On deck recently with the watch and Edd driving for 30 minutes; he was determined to keep dry having shed his oilies. Tempted by the thought of Edd wanting to stay dry I was relaxing on the bridge deck and trusting all was well until the change of driver when Claire took over. I had been warned that she was a pretty mean driver but chose to be an optimist, but sure enough within five minutes she ploughed into the back of a big square wave and soaked us all! Claire claims it wasn't on purpose, but I'm not sure that we believe her!

Despite the change in conditions out here, we have made another good run towards Horta, having covered some 186 nautical miles in the last 24 hours. We should cross the 1,000 miles sailed mark sometime tonight and then tomorrow we should hit the half - way mark, great. We now have 1,240 miles to run and all's fine - everyone's still smiling! A bientot, Julian, Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 7 at 1500GMT, 16th May 2007
Position: 27.30N 46.22W
Speed: 6.0 knots at 090 degrees magnetic.
Distance to go: 1,110 miles to Horta.

We had a pleasant afternoon sailing along under full sail, and were heading slightly more to the east than previously to try and see if we can make our way over to an area of more favourable wind for the 17th of May. By midnight, however, the wind had all but disappeared and we found ourselves sailing at around about 3 knots in the wrong direction. So it was down with the sails and on with the motor - we weren't unhappy because we have passed the 1,000 mile mark from St Martin and it has all been under sail. Apart from diesel for our generator, we have used no fuel for motoring, so still have a good deal left in reserve to deal with any problems we may encounter.

Just before morning watch change, the watch on deck of Edd, Chris, Claire and Davey were visited by about half a dozen spotted dolphins leaping in and out of our bow wave. This has been our first visit by dolphins on the trip, but if the weather is nice on our run in to Horta we may be lucky to spot more whales and dolphins as this is an area renowned for them.  

We have spent all this morning motoring slowly in the direction of Horta waiting for the wind to appear. Not much has changed in the last 12 hours, the wind has stayed light and it is nice and sunny. Most of the crew have taken the opportunity of showering and doing some laundry and the guardrails on deck have become drying lines. Having been going so fast for so many days, it is a bit of a shock to suddenly slow down.

If we are reading our forecasts correctly we should be making our way over to a more favourable wind pattern in 12 - 18 hours time, when hopefully we shall be able to start sailing again towards Horta. We have sailed and motored 136 miles over the last 24 hours, and have made 132 miles actually towards Horta. Sue has a great smelling loaf of bread in the oven and we are just about to stop the engine and go for a mid journey swim! We have completed 1,120 miles from St Martin and have 1,110 miles still to go, so distance wise we are celebrating half way! A bientot, Julian Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 8 at 1500GMT, 17th May 2007
Position: 28.28N 43.43W
Speed: 8.0 knots at 090 degrees magnetic
Distance to go: 967 miles to Horta.

We have had an interesting 24 hours of complete change - just to keep us on our toes!

Sue had cooked up a fantastic evening meal for us and announced the menu to Tom who was sitting down at the main table in the saloon: Tandoori beef and vegetable curry with rice, and pineapple upside down sponge pudding with custard - bosch goes Tom! It's his favourite word for something that is great, truly amazing, spot on - at least that is how I think it translates! For those able to eat, dinner was superb and some, no names Kathy and Tom, even managed seconds or thirds of the pudding! A great start to a tiring night.

Of course the rain and squally weather has to always happen at night, and so it did! Luckily the winds never got above 25 knots during the night, but there was a huge amount of rain which managed to drench both watches! We reduced sail down to two reefs, about half the mainsail, and a tiny amount of headsail - we couldn't have been more conservative. We might regret the lack of progress we made last night later on in the headwinds, but it made for an easier night!

With dawn this morning came the sun again, popping over the horizon and indicating a lovely day for us. The wind has indeed gone round to the south east and so we are laying a lovely course again towards Horta at 8 knots, bouncing along in a deep blue sea with white crests breaking on the waves once every now and again. These conditions should last for a couple more days, but unfortunately the high pressure looks set over the Azores, and so we will get winds on the nose the closer we get to the Islands . Hmm, not sure that it will be all that fun! But at least the front has gone away - perhaps it will come and annoy you next! Conditions are and have been extremely favourable for our trip so far, but there is no denying that a lot of hard work goes into the passage from all of the crew. Simply living on the ocean isn't easy, but as Chris well pointed out, we are actually crossing an ocean, a big ocean!

We have also passed a huge milestone at 0800 hours local this morning: 1,000 miles to go to Horta. That's more like it - at least it's downhill all the way from now on! Mind you, 1,000 miles is a 1,000 miles. How does the expression go? 'Nothing worth doing is easy.'

The winds are still a respectful 18 - 20 knots just forward of the beam and progress is once again back on schedule. We now have 967 miles to run and are making 8 knots in the right direction - lovely! A bientot, Julian

Northern Child Transat Log Number 9 at 1500GMT, 18th May 2007
Position: 30.17N 41.25W
Speed: 7.5 knots
Course to windward
Distance to go: 803 miles to Horta

A massive bang as we smash into another wave, a huge whoosh of water as it covers the boat and then runs off back down into the sea again. All repeated, time after time after time. I am at the chart table on the upwind side of the boat and as I look out of the main cabin windows on the other side, I am looking down into the deep blue ocean, seeing the water pouring off the decks and the waves rushing past.

It's all good though as we are thundering away at between 7 and 8 knots through the lively ocean as close to the wind as we can get. Our course towards Horta is suffering a bit as we are unable to hold as close to the rhumb, or straight, line as we would wish.

I have just been on deck chatting with the guys on watch: Tom (Ted), Douglas , Hans and Geoff, and what a great team they are. Tom is driving away at eight knots quite happily with a big smile on his face in 20 knots of breeze, quite large seas crashing all over the place. They ask about the forecast for tomorrow and I answer 'more of the same'. Douglas replies 'great, bring it on! What more can we ask for? These youngsters are just great, what amazing positive attitudes they have, and that is precisely what we need out here. It looks like it will be a bit of a fight into Horta from here, but with people like that on board, not only are we going to make it in in style, but also with our humour intact. What a lift these youngsters give us. Brilliant!

Life on board isn't easy for any of us at the moment - the boat heeling over at more than 20 degrees and leaping around like a bucking bronco. In order to get from one place to another down below you have to be a bit of an acrobat! Cooking, showering, sleeping are all made more difficult. Writing this log isn't easy as you have to stay on the seat, first problem, then hold the keyboard as the boat is being thrown around and finally have to try and type, which I am hopeless at anyway. Somehow my ramblings become a log which then gets sent by the satphone back to my wife, Magali (the boss!), at home who then sends them out. 

What does the permanent crew do on board on passage? Good question! Normally we would only have myself as skipper and a cook/mate.  This crossing we are lucky enough to have three permanent crew, myself, Sue cooking and Kathy as mate. I spend a lot of each day on the chart table doing the logs, requesting, receiving and analysing weather, and navigating and weather routing for the boat. I also spend a lot of each day on basic maintenance keeping all the systems going. Kathy acts as mate, and is on deck helping out the watches when needed. She also occupies herself with various maintenance tasks and has special improvement tasks to accomplish en route.

This passage we are doing some caulking on the teak decks when conditions allow and some fairly major revarnishing down below. An interesting job when the motion is as it is! Sue is usually found in the galley or in her bunk!

She keeps us all well fed and also gets to use the sauna in the galley every day for free...

The food she produces is pretty excellent and really revolves around the fact that we have an excellent freezer on board and that we are able to pull out and defrost fresh meat every day. Sue is often to be found tending to fresh bread and produces some of the most delicious lunchtime breads imaginable.

There is a certain amount of debate going on on deck at the moment as to whether we should reduce sail from our current setup of two reefs in the mainsail and a full number three. There is no doubt that we could make it a more comfortable ride for ourselves, but of course the penalty for comfort will be reduced speed and therefore we will take longer to arrive in Peter's Bar! The wind is constantly changing in both direction and strength and so the watch have to trim, to put in and take out reefs and to change the size of the genoa. Still, it keeps them from causing trouble and helps pass the watch hours!

As I finish this log, I note that we have some 803 miles in a straight line still to go to Horta, it is alternately raining and sunny, Davey's sunburn is healing, the wind is up and we are all fine on board. In the last 24 hours we have covered 164 miles towards Horta. A plus, Julian, Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 10 at 1500GMT, 19th May 2007
Position: 31.53N 39.44W
Speed: 6.0 knots
Course: south-east but tacking
Distance to go: 674 miles to Horta

The last 24 hours have been hot and sunny, very pleasant sailing conditions. Claire has just called down from on deck and let us know that they have managed to keep the deck dry for the last two hours!

Unfortunately, (there seems to always be one at the moment!) our progress hasn't been quick as we are beating into headwinds which are blowing right out of the Azores towards us! Having received the forecast this morning, I am not sure that this situation is going to change very much in the next few days either!

We have had to put in a tack this morning, in other words to point the boat across the wind and to sail as close as possible to it on the other side, and are now sailing at 6.5 knots in the wrong direction towards the Canaries! Most of the miles we do on this tack don't diminish our mileage towards the Azores however, and we will put in another tack fairly soon. The best thing that could happen to us at the moment is that the high pressure to the west of the Azores starts moving, which would result in us having an angle on the wind.

We have to tack our way towards the Azores anyway, but this mornings' tack was to try and bleed the watermaker of air. Every day we run the watermaker which converts the salt water of the ocean to fresh water by reverse osmosis. We make approximately 30 litres an hour which we dump into the main water tanks and gives us fresh water for showering etc. The watermaker is located on the right hand side of the boat and because we have been on the starboard (right) tack with the wind coming in over the starboard side for so many days, the inlet for the water supply to the watermaker has often been out of the water. This had caused the watermaker to malfunction yesterday, and so by changing tack we were able to get the watermaker up and running again.

It never rains but it pours - the generator decided to start sounding a little bit fed up with life at the same time, so we serviced the unit and it is now much happier with life! During a long offshore passage the management of power and water is quite a complex business and takes up quite a lot of my time. It is made much more complicated by the fact that we are beating and heeling over at probably 30 degrees, so all the fuel and water in the different tanks are harder to pump out. All part of the fun!

It is the second weekend we have now been at sea and the routine with the watches is firmly established. As the weather is pretty hard for life below decks, that seems to revolve around eating and sleeping; on deck is a different matter, as although conditions are hard, it is warm and sunny, with occasional clouds, so pretty good conditions to be out in. Tough, but then sailing on an ocean often is, and at least the crew are experiencing conditions that they wouldn't have experienced otherwise.

Our run of the last 24 hours sounds low at 130, but in fact we have made some good easterly ground during this time. We are about to put in another tack at the next change of watch and we should see an improvement in our mileage tomorrow. There is no doubt it is hard out here, gusting 30 knots at the moment, but the whole crew is bearing up well and it is important that we dig deep and stay positive. Conditions will improve and that beer is still waiting at Peter's Bar, Horta! A bientot, Julian, Northern Child 

Northern Child Transat Log Number 11 at 1500GMT, 20th May 2007

Position: 33.49N 38.41W
Speed: 6.5 knots, course north east and tacking
Distance to go: 564 miles to Horta

Tom (Ted)

We have at least been sailing, but progress towards Horta has not been inspirational! The wind has really been annoying from the start to the finish of this last run.... It has been between about 20 and 25 knots true right on the nose overnight, and as we are sailing upwind at 6 or 7 knots we have been feeling an apparent wind of about 25 to 30 knots on the nose - lovely! Combine that with being way out in the middle of the ocean where the seas build quickly under the influence of the wind and you can imagine that at times progress has been frustrating! Luckily, in the last hour the wind has moderated, the sun has come out and all is well again in the world of Northern Child!

In order to make any progress towards Horta we have to do what is called tacking - essentially zigzagging across the wind which is coming from where we want to go! Although we might report in these logs that we have 560 miles to run to Horta, that doesn't take into account how many extra miles we have to put in tacking. But neither does the miles run each day ring true either - we are measuring the actual decrease in miles towards our destination, rather than the miles sailed. For instance, we have probably sailed 150 miles in the last 24 hours to record our 110 miles 'made good' towards Horta, so the actual sailing has been really great. I tried to photograph Geoff on the helm yesterday, unfortunately the sun went in, but he was absolutely loving every minute of it.

The crew on board are fine though, pulling together well. Sleep can be difficult off watch, but the food, the sailing, the craic make it all worthwhile. Edd, Claire, Davey and Chris of the American watch had dolphins again with the dawn this morning and a huge flying fish ended his days in the scuppers. There were various plans to utilise the fish for waking the new watch, which were quickly vetoed by the skipper - Edd claims they wouldn't have really done it, but the thought of smelly dead fish in the cabin would have been too much - yuck!   

I have just had a chatty Claire go past from the aft shower, feeling, and looking (!) like a different woman! The watermaker has been behaving itself again and being able to take a shower is a really great boost to morale. It's not an easy thing to accomplish however, as the boat is still heeling over and bouncing around, and you have to be a contortionist to stay upright! Any trip to the heads can be pretty demanding! She is now on the helm driving in calm blue seas under a sunny sky with all the clouds dispersed away to the south - 'helming's gorgeous', Claire, mid Atlantic . 

We have now tacked onto starboard tack again and this is the better tack that takes us closer to our destination, so is much favoured! We are moving our watches forward again today, and will be one hour closer to your time. Hans has had an excellent half hour on the helm, hitting great speed in a great direction - perfect! He is now telling the combined watches on deck his joke about the Duchess....

It seems to be fresh pizza for lunch and the smells from the oven are pretty amazing. The sun is out in a mainly clear sky with a rising barometer and 15 knots of wind - much more pleasurable. The barometer means that we are heading towards the centre of the high pressure which could be good news - as you approach the centre, the winds and seas should in theory start to moderate - something that we would welcome! We have another 565 miles to go to Horta and all things being equal we should arrive sometime round about Thursday into Horta. If you want to search on the net for our destination, it is the port of Horta , on the island of Faial in the Azores Islands . Our real destination, however, is Peter's Bar and Café in Horta which I am sure would be thrown up on a search! A bientot, Julian Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 12 at 1500GMT, 21st May 2007
Position: 36.06N 37.35W
Speed: 7.0 knots, course north east
Distance to go: 453 miles to Horta

Ha, ha. Finally, another cunning plan. But in this case as Claire well pointed out hopefully it is a Blackadder cunning plan, rather than a Baldrick cunning plan! Apologies if you have never seen Blackadder. Anyway, the point is that plan B has been formulated, approved by the committee (of one, the skipper!) and put into action!

I have just heard Chris on deck comment that there is no need for sunglasses anymore. True; bizarrely we have been heading into the high pressure for days now, the barometer has been steadily rising and in theory we shouldn't have so much cloud. But hey, who's complaining? We are sailing along hard on the wind at 7 knots in 17 knots of true wind so life isn't so bad. 

Sue has just done us a fantastic breakfast of eggy bread and bacon with the galley heeling over at 30 degrees and Davey and Claire are in the galley washing it up - Claire is having an attack of the giggles as she is drying because Davey, wearing his cap at a rakish angle, seems to be getting wetter in the galley doing the washing up than on deck in the spray! Hang on, Claire really is laughing so much she seems to be in pain. In the same watch  Edd is on deck driving - every time he takes the wheel the wind goes back up and he is able to sail much higher: he claims skill, the rest claim he's just lucky. The final member of the watch is Chris, a great sailor and a fine addition to the crew. A pretty cool dude, he hails from New Jersey and keeps his Etap 28 in Dillons Creek . Chris seems to have a brain the size of a planet and is currently playing with the sextant and reducing sunsights for fun..... From Claire: Did we have a destination - I thought we were just travelling hopefully!

Ah, the sun is back out, much nicer. Anyone for a cup of tea? Thanks Sue, great breakfast. Kathy is sanding down a panel in the saloon - her project of varnishing is coming along really well, except that we keep on finding new areas for her - like painting the Forth road bridge. Tom's (Ted) watch of Hans, Douglas and Geoff are all absolutely knackered and fast asleep in their respective bunks. They had two night watches on deck last night between 1800 and 2200hours and then again between 0200 and 0600hours, so we won't be seeing them until roundabout lunchtime when they come on watch again at midday.

This morning Tom's watch passed the 500 miles to Horta mark at about 0500 - a good point to have reached in our battle to Horta. We have sailed 145 miles in the last 24 hours and made good 111 miles - steady progress up wind. We have 453 miles left to run to get to Horta and lots more adventures await us on route. All is well on board and we will catch you again tomorrow. A bientot, Julian , Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 13 at 1400GMT, 22nd May 2007
Position: 37.23N 35.36W
Speed: 6.0 knots
Course: north east
Distance to go: 338 miles to Horta

The clarity of the water was absolutely amazing and we were overawed by the sheer size and proximity of the whale. We only saw the head and the first part of the back, but it was absolutely immense - certainly bigger than Northern Child, and we are 15 metres long. Its' partner was feeding some 200 metres away and we were able to stay around them for about 5 minutes before they disappeared.

We set off again in the direction of Horta and within about 10 minutes the cry of whale brought us to a stop once again. This time there was a pod of pretty big whales swimming straight across our bow from east to west - again so close that we had to back up to avoid them! These whales are big, and big means heavy so we do not want to have a collision with them! Everyone by now had had a good sighting of them and there was loads of enthusiasm for looking for more! We did indeed see some more although further away from us on the horizon.

The next creature to be spotted was a large turtle lazing on the surface, and then we had a visit by a pod of little dolphins playing around in the waves on our port hand side. One of the girls on deck was heard to say that the only way to make the day more perfect would be if Johnny Depp boarded us in his Pirates' costume!

That's the log for today; still motoring although the wind feels like it is starting to come back again and hopefully by this evening we will be able to set off again under sail. Meanwhile, the crew are taking advantage of the calm weather and showering and washing clothes. We are happy and on course for Horta. A Bientot, Julian, Northern Child

Northern Child Transat Log Number 14 at 1400GMT, 23rd May 2007
Position: 37.38N 32.57W
Speed: 6.0 knots
Course: east
Distance to go: 212 miles to Horta

Even I have to admit that this weather isn't quite what the doctor ordered, or indeed what it said on the forecasts! I am having real problems just staying in the chart table seat this morning, let alone typing! Davey was heard to comment that if this is the Azores High, can we please have something else!

So what has happened to our cunning plan over the last 24 hours?! Well, it has worked pretty well except for one part of it! But let's start at the beginning, where we left you yesterday afternoon. Mostly sunshine, warm, light winds and calm seas. We had just finished our ocean wildlife safari and things couldn't have been better - although motoring we could almost taste those beers in Peter's bar!

Just as we finished dinner the wind came back, right on cue. Right direction and right strength and off we zoomed, straight for Horta and we were now certain of arriving Thursday afternoon. After all, we have been beating for nearly 10 days now and surely we deserved a break. Poseidon must surely be in on our cunning plan, giving us a helping hand towards Horta.

But no, Poseidon is obviously taking a sabbatical, maybe he is on a course to learn how to be nice to tired mariners! Anyway, after an hour or so of good progress the wind headed us and decided to blow directly at us from Horta again! Constant wind is good, wind that blows and dies is annoying and all night it did exactly that, forcing the watch on deck to continually reef and unreef the main. In the course of doing so each time, there is huge amounts of banging and crashing and water flinging everywhere, so of course everyone down below wakes up again!

During the course of the nights' entertainment, the newly christened circle watch of Edd, Chris, Claire and Davey managed to accidentally tack the boat six times in four hours! Once the head of the boat is through the wind, there is then no option but to complete a full circle before coming back onto our original course. This manoeuvre is of course accompanied by ' huge amounts of banging and crashing and water flinging everywhere, so of course everyone down below wakes up again!' where have we heard that before?!

During all this the wind has steadily climbed until now we are at 25 knots apparent, two reefs back in the main and we are bashing away to windward in full cloud cover again - oh well, at least we are getting there! Life down below goes on as normal and I thought you might like the pictures of Hans getting into his bunk with the boat heeled over 25 degrees and rising and falling in the waves! You have to laugh..... Sue is trying to make a cup of tea in the galley, which is now situated about 6 feet directly above me and the chart table. Kathy has been putting a coat of varnish on in the corridor, whilst trying not to fall across the saloon again. Geoff is snoring away in his bunk down in the aft cabin - life goes on! 

So the part of the cunning plan that we don't have? Why, nice weather of course! We are now 9/10ths of the way to Horta and the feeling on board in the watches is still extremely positive. Individuals are making a great effort to ensure that the team works, and we are looking forward to going out in Horta and celebrating our completion of this passage as a group of friends, what more could we wish? Still a little way to go, and an ETA of Friday morning is now looking the most likely. A bientot, Julian

Northern Child Transat Log Number 15 at 1400GMT, 24th May 2007
Position: 37.56N 30.16W
Speed: 6.0 knots
Course: east
Distance to go: 85 miles to Horta

Still beating! A bientot, Julian NC. No, just a little joke, my friends, here is today's log!