We really do love this!

..  there's obviously somenthing wrong with me ... when I decided to do the ARC again this year ,considering we were only 4 crew on board  I promised myself that I would stay away from the northern route, which is the shorest, and follow the squarerigged path, going south until as they say 'the butter melts' . But if the weather keep changing like this the butter will never melt! Here I am again on the tough northern route beating again the wind and waves, same day as last year ,with thank goodness the  conditions are  better, at least there is a bit of sunshine . The difference is that even the organiser World Cruising , probably for the first time in the ARC Rally history had suggested that the northern route was the right one to take. Only my friend Alberto is nearly, around 20 miles ahead of us. We we not aiming to really race but of course in the end everyone on board is trying their best .The excitement of ocean sailing gets to you every time ... wow we just caught a fish  the first one ,even at this speed ... we all happy ...Vale

Hi my name is Carla and I'm a crew member of Milanto, and I'm very proud to be on board. when Valerio the skipper invited me to join the race I was so happy because I imagined a smooth sailing downwind towards the warm of the Caribbean following the southern course, and yes of course I thought of racing but also of enjoying the cruising. I was so convinced of this idea that I  did not even bring  my winter sailing gear with me, lucky for me  I found in Las Palmas a sport shop so invested in new boots and a waterproof top ......  because we ARE in the middle of north course beating for more than 4 days now against the wind and the waves but more then happy to be here.

The competitive racing spirit  that is inside Valerio and me is stronger then I thought. in fact after a wrong decision at the beginning of race which made us loose one one night in a  NO WIND zone it was hard on us but we were repaid out by seeing  so many of dolphins leaping around us.  Valerio had to decide to go and chase the wind, even if that meant staying north -one advantage is that it is shorter- to try and reach, and even beat, the rest of the fleet. It does not means that we are not enjoying the race but on the contrary we having a great experience,  feeling  the Atlantic Ocean in all its aspects. Today we caught also a nice mahi mahi so tomorrow we will have  a great  fish dinner .Today homemade lasagna is on the menu , then we have the rest of the day  to enjoy.

Latest info at   29 Nov    00:00    : 23° 37.63 N, 027° 53.17 W

distance to go 1958 NM  sailed so far 757 NM    speed   8.1 knots     last 24 hours   172 NM  estimated arrival 09 Dec 02:24
 

Day 4 Nov 27 th

Thanks for the likes and comments so far!

Milanto is doing well but the wind is 180 degree reversed from a Trade wind so annoying to say the least! Still they are out there in a good position in Racing B. For those more au fait than me you might have already discovered all the tools that Yellowbrick give you as option. Well, I only did today so now I have latitude and longitude and if you hover over a boat you are given wind speed and direction too which shows in the PredictWind bar. Another site of interest could be http://passageweather.com/ where you can track a weeks weather  or go to http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/arc_2013_eventweather.aspx for some detailed news.

Day 4

Night of day 3 quite eventful with strong winds and high seas requiring two reefs in mainsail but progress was good both distance and direction.

Wind 25 knots at times.Rest of day was over cast and squally. We caught a big one just as dinner was about to be served. 30 knots of wind and heavy rain for about 20 mins. In addition we were now heading in the wrong direction and it looked like we might be in for another rough night so we stayed reefed down but it did not materialise and by morning the skies were clear and we were becalmed.

Karl and Nick on the 3am to 7am watch had a night fright, we were keeping an eye on a yacht on our port beam right on the horizon. When when we next looked there was an orange glow where the yacht had been it looked like a fire ! Then the glow turned into two spots of strong light that were like the eyes of a sea monster. We were stone cold sober but the beast  appeared to rush towards us across the sea with its menancing eyes and evil grin. Nick was convinced it was a high speed craft on a fast collision course with us and was about to start the engine and wake the skipper. Both had raised heart rates and adreneline pumping when we realised that it was the crescent moon rising in the west. Phew we had almost woken the skipper to alert him of the rising moon !

Guess this was an optical illusion, as the two extreme corners of the crescent moon appeared through the cloud and got larger it really looked as though an object was rushing towards us at extreme speed. Funny what tricks the mind can play.

On top of the oven problem we have managed to wrap the fishing line around the prop when executing a 360 degree turn due to sailing into a hole. This and the oven will get attention tomorrow when we expect to be becalmed for most of the day.

Weird weather we are having, no sign of trade winds and expecting strong head winds from the West on Sat & Sunday. Its an adventure so all good :-)   

Speed: 4.5 knots @ 224.89°   

Position at: 27 Nov 2013 16:00 UTC

Lat/Lon: 25° 33.43 N, 022° 57.80 W

DTF: 2258.7 NM

2nd in Racing B