Spirit of Isis - Atlantic Adventure 2009

Bacon butties fresh coffee and no sign of other boats,

2009-11-17T01:03:00.001Z

super days sailing with good winds and progress av around 10knots. The sun has shone intensley most of the time but a couple of rain showers one heavy,

Another fish a Makie~makie dorado found its way onto our line and lunch menu. Note the Isis fishing method -having first hooked our fish when it is 65ft from the boat a crew mnember runs the length to the bow and reels the last bit from there. Fish on board is then quickly dispatched by Richard the fish killer and his apprentice Ollie. Works a treat.

Its now 0730GMT and only 80 miles to go. Land fever has gripped the crew
as we rocket into a very black night at 13kt.

We congratulate richard on becoming a grandad today and we look forward to arriving in sunny barbados in the early hours of tomorrow morning. 66.7 miles left as of midnight isis out

International Blog Day

2009-11-16T15:34:00.000Z

Zondag:

Nou we zijn er bijna na 8 dagen op zee, nog maar 300 zeemijlen te gaan (2 dagen). De schatting is dat we dinsdag in de loop van de dag aankomen in Bridgetown voor douane formaliteiten en dan gelijk een paar kilometer doorvaren en anker uit in Carlisle Bay.

Vanochtend Minerva weer waargenomen, als de wind zo blijft hebben een ligt tactisch voordeel, we zijn namelijk iets meer noordelijk. Er is nu duidelijk meer spanning aan boord gezien de mogelijkheid nog steeds bestaat dat we deze race kunnen winnen ondanks alle gebreken. Grapjes over Crisis ipv Isis en OnWreck ipv Ondeck doen dan ook de ronde. Mochten we als eerste aankomen dan zal de overwinning extra zoet zijn.

Al het verse eten is al een paar dagen op behalve een paar dozijn eieren die we voor de laatste dag bewaren zodat Sarah een Spaanse omelet kan bakken. Er is ook nog steeds hoop dat we weer een tonijntje vangen, we hadden gisteren weer een aan de haak maar helaas ontkwam die.
Groeten aan iedereen.

Frans en Sarah.

International day on the blog today. Quiet Sunday so far. We have not woolled the spinnaker for at least 48 hours which is great as we are actually running out of wool. The spinnaker is 100' long and 30' wide at the bottom so imagine 6 sweaty bodies wrestling with that inside the boat (about the size of a family caravan) in 40 degrees heat sorting it and folding it then tying the wool on all pretty, put it up - see more holes, down again and repeat as many times as necessary you get the picture. (Lucy and Sue I know you have done this in the Solent so you will fully understand the extent of our fun fun fun). S

Bonjour!
Les jours ont file, a la vitesse de 10-15kn de moyenne. Ces derniers jours ont intenses en termes de reparation diverses, notamment le spinnaker qui s'est dechire. J'ai eu l'honneur de le recoudre, French Couture comme ils disent.

L'ambiance est excellente a bord, nous avons fait une fete pour le 'midway'. c'est a dire la moitie de la traverse: chapeaux, chansons, gateau au chocolat J'ai meme eu la nationalite Britannique temporaire au cours d'une ceremonie preparee par mes coquipiers.

Le soleil nous laisse peu de repit, a cogne dure. Les quarts de nuit sont les plus agreables heureusement, et la journee, on se refugie a l'ombre du spi avec un bouquin (j'en suis a mon 5eme en 10 jours).

Il nous reste 300 miles, donc a peu pres 2 jours avant de jeter l'ancre a Carlisle Bay.
Je vous embrasse tous, a bientot.

Laurent

Queridas Familias Brasileiras,

Estamos quase chegando em Barbados e temos tido dias otimos em alto mar Esperamos hoje por um peixinho fresco pois agora so temos comida enlatada!!!!

Estamos bem e contando os dias para chegar ao Brasil!
Acreditamos que terca feira cedo estaremos em terra

Beijos estrelados do Atlantico a todos!!!!

Amamos vcs! Pri e Ique

Distance to go: 300nm

Saturday

2009-11-14T20:12:00.001Z

Friday 13th turned out to be good luck for us as for the first time this trip we have had 24 hours with no breakages!

Quiet day with lots of sleeping, reading, showers and washing clothes going on. Isis's guard rails look like a chinese laundry.

Laurent has taken his 'honary englishman ' award to heart and is making 3 cues of tea every 10 mins. Rory has graciously accepted his 'perfect housewife' award saying we can do all the housework at weekends and bring him breakfast in bed. His special necklace was made of teabags, rubber gloves and Sandra's bottle of TCP so he has antiseptic to hand 24/7.

We have now understood why Frans has the nickname 'Autohelm' as the rest of us occasionally get a go. There is a long queue through the cockpit in the blazing sun for the helm Énot!!

Sarah lost her washing from the guardrail overnight and is comforted only that perhaps Willie is now wearing her skirt and the specially modified vented teashirt.

Thanks Jeff and Sandra for your good wishes. We are thinking of you and so sorry you can't be here to chivvy us along.

Latest report on wandering Willie suggest he is cavorting with a pod of killer whales and making eyes at a young female called Wanda.

Isis (sewn up mainsail, patched spiny, cobbled together pole, broken deck ring, sprung blocks, bodged clew, busted loo) is still charging for the finish singing our anthem

Isis I am
Isis I be
Minerva is a banking ship
Juno is a bag of É(potatoes)
Diana is the one to watch
But Isis is the one for me
Distance to go: 509nm

12/11/2009:

2009-11-12T22:07:00.001Z

Thursday - Another eventful 24 hours on Isis.

-Last night a 'D' ring snapped-not helpful as it was holding the spinnaker sheet. Quick rejigging saved the kite.

-A small bonito stumbled onto the fishing line at dusk and was quickly converted to sushi

-This morning at about 8.30 we passed the halfway point, too early for celebrations and so the party was scheduled for this afternoon. Richard has been busy with prep aided by his creative and artist directors Sarah and Pri. Amazing what you can make with cheerios, sweets and tin foil. A special garlic necklace has been made for Laurant.

-Still no sign of Willie following his disappearance off the stern. Worryingly he was tied on by the professionals. Let's hope someone finds him and brings him to Barbados

-the clew of the main has been mended and the generator is working now

-Rory was evicted from the galley so the girls could make the party lunch of more fillet steak and Fron Haul potato salad. He came back on his knees and so we let him in as the sink was blocked and he could mend it from that position

- At 5.00pm the jinx struck again as the block holding the spinnaker sheet parted and our spiny went into a major wrap. After 60 mins of battling it, Ollie at the top of the mast and the rest fighting the beast it was tamed and down the hatch. Much to our relief there were only a few tears, only spinnaker has been patched and is back at the masthead.

Helming at Night

Rushing across the starlit ocean
The white ghost hangs in front of us
Barely visable
Twisting and swirling, seeking to escape
The wind, now on one shoulder
Ducks behind me
Intent on disturbing the set of the sails
Waves roll majestically unseen from astern
The contrive a sneak attack from port
Sense and balance these and Isis flies
Rushing across the starlit ocean

Distance to go: 917nm

Thanks for all your messages - keep them coming!

11/11/2009

2009-11-12T22:01:00.001Z

Switched to poled-out no 3 genoa and staysail overnight to preserve our remaining spinnaker, reasonable winds saw us make good progress but the early light showed that Minerva had not followed suit as they said and had retained their spinnaker,closing to a couple of miles off our port quarter. In the half-light we changed sails and rehoisted the spinnaker, a quick effective job from the crew.

Then came the next problem, the clew of our mainsail was shredding and looks beyond repair so we are now having to sail with a reef in the main, nobody best pleased!.

The wind increased during the morning enabling us to make 10 kts on average in 18/19 kts of breeze. 864 miles have slipped under our keel at 11.30 today, closing in on the halfway point.

Very hot today, the frying of crepes for lunch making it even more so! Everyone trying not to melt and find a bit of shade, other than the poor helm who is exposed to the full glare for their hour on the helm. In the afternoon is gets better as the sun moves behind the sails.

All the crew hope Josh is getting on well in his new job, how are the 7am starts going? bit like getting up for your watch in the early hours!

Very empty sea out here, we've only seen the lights of one ship in the distance (other than our fleet) since we left Mindelo.

Lots of flying fish around, particularly at night, one just missed Chris's head whilst on the helm, another flew directly through the open porthole and into Pri's bunk (at least thats what the on-watch crew told her!) and another hit Laurent in the back on the neck. They cant be all that stupid though as the canny creatures all hide when Steve gets his camera out to film them - to date - Flying Fish 1 Steve 0

HOT NEWS FLASH

It has been a distressing 24 hours as Willie the Whale has gone missing.. Before we go into full mourning we will be searching the whole boat, he was last seen hanging around the back of the boat in his normal position, tethered next to smokers corner on the stern, recriminations for the lack of 'Whale overboard drill' fly! We are imagining Peter Scott announcing the finding of new species of plastic whale in the Atlantic - front page news in the Cape Town Echo. Mind you if you are going to lose a whale, mid Atlantic is probably the best place. Jokes based around 'free Willie' are now flying, Sarah has retreated from the inane male banter!

At least we know where we are, noon sextant sight was spot on and is being used to re-calibrate our GPS (probably end up in Alaska!)

Distance to go: 1133 nm

Chris and Bunzo

Much excitement

2009-11-10T19:56:00.001Z

With the sighting of a boat at 22.15 off the stern last night.This led to disappointment as the boat was the motley Minerva hot on our tail - copying Isis as usual.

The spinnaker pole repairs have been holding up with after sawing it in two and skewering it with the jokey pole, nice teak wedges, gaffer tape and huge jubilee clips. Not pretty but effective so far - keep everything crossed for us at home.

Attempts to pull away from Minerva were shattered at 2am when the lightweight spinnaker suffered a huge tear. With 'all men' on deck (sleep on girlies - Pri and me) the medium weight was hoisted as replacement in record time with the now well trained 200kg uphill team of Frans and Richard.

Slumming it today with best Brazilian fillet steak (absolutely no fatty lumps) sandwiches for lunch expertly cooked by our Brazilian, Pri, of course.

Hope you are keeping well Dad, best wishes to all families and friends, Sarah. x

Willie (our whale) has been a bit flat and depressed since we left Mindelo. With 11 on board he can't have his own bunk. However, he has perked up and taken up position on the stern and is looking like his normal pumped up self. Rory

We suffered a major loss with one of the heads now out of order. Oli and I spent 2 hours trying to clear blockages. In the end we had to remove the offending pipe. Some very novel Dynorod techniques used including pressure hose (fire), bilge pump forced pressure, stantion wire rod being pushed and pulled! Hey ho, just another running repair.

Oli on the hunt for new pipe, no chandlers in sight.

Just had a big fish on rod and managed to loose him, line and lure all in one go.

Wind has freshened a little and moving at 10 knots plus. First 3 days we have averaged 220 per day.

Much reading today and some rain respite from sweltering sun. Am only 7 days away from being a Grandad, can't wait for the SMS. Bonzo

Hi everyone at kirby fleetham, hope you're all looking forward to the Christmas holidays and enjoying the cold weather, still nice and hot here, nearlly half way across beautiful clear water and great sailing.

Hi Badger hope all is well good trip so far talk to u soon x

Greetings Kate and Don hope you are both well, having a great time looking forward to getting to sunny Barbados, take care talk to u soon x

Distance to go: 1329nm

Isis Monday

2009-11-09T21:59:00.001Z

Somewhat fluckey winds overnight kept us alert on the helm. Challenged with keeping the boat going at good speed but not wrapping the spinnaker around the forestay!

Without Sandra's direction and Jeff's posture demonstrations the yoga classes are not developing as fast, even so, the crew daily perform "Salute to the sun" on the foredeck at morning watch change. Rory's alternative, foredeck sailbag relaxation classes are growing in popularity.

Throughout the morning the winds have remained light and Isis making around 8kts on average.

At noon, maintenance gang "2" swung into action to improve repairs to the broken pole. After 2 hours, a lot of banging, sawing and yards of gaffer tape the work was complete. The pole now has a very attractive kink in it but at least it is in place and 2 foot longer than before to allow proper sail trim.

Richard has just disclosed he was a Maharishi in a previous life and has been persuaded to lead the yoga classes. He assures us that his "crouching goat" is a sight never forgotten.

Distance to go: 1500 miles

2009-11-09T08:35:00.001Z

Last night on Isis was ?champagne sailing? with clear skies, good wind and the spinnaker up. Top speed of 20 knots was achieved by Luis at about 3:30am. By 6am Isis had sailed 180nm from Cape Verde.

Then everything changed!

A rip half way up the mainsail appeared. This needed urgent attention, which required the sail to be partially lowered. Not an easy feat in 20+ knot winds with a kite flying. At this point the spinnaker pole hit the forestay and shattered!

The next 6 hours were spent with 2 maintenance teams doing repairs. One team sewed the sail and the second team repaired the pole.

By 12:30pm all the work was done, lunch had been eaten and Isis was on her way again and had registered 248nm in the first 24 hours.

Due to all the activity Willy?s daily swim was delayed which caused complaints, especially as he felt the 10knot speed was too slow for a killer whale.

Repairs under a blazing sun just another spiffing day in paradise!

Reflective and happy on deck evening now sorted.

What a great run the last 24 hours have been, we suspect in light airs it will be more frustrating and sail tuning very pertinent. Sea state = Slight, although not without big wave surprises as we screw our way forward downwind.

Yoga class suspended today due to repairs, the upward facing dog was on watch!

Bunzo.
Badger!

Steve thanks us for all the film footage we have given him today.

Saturday 7th November

2009-11-09T08:31:00.001Z

aboard the good ship Isis. On time 1200 start and first race win yet again to Isis. Glad to be back at sea and transat race has started. We are advised of a 10-14 day crossing, wind is nor?easterly and looking good for a few days.

Grinding the winces again is sweet relief from all the beer and good living of the past 5 days. New yoga sessions on this leg as our spiritual head (Sandra) is no longer with us. We already miss Jeff and Sandra and wish them well on their return to England.

The new crew members are settling in well and Willy reports they are ?OK?.

Blog Stardate Sat 31st Oct aboard the good ship Isis.

2009-10-31T15:26:00.001Z

Another beau night of clear skies, moonlight and 20kn wind. Jeff set surfing record of 16 kn now equalled by Simon (who was just lucky). As day progresses this now stands at 18kn. Richard has spent hours at the wheel trying to beat it but to no avail.

Several death wish flying fish have jumped on deck. too small for Sushi.

Isis Yoga class now in full swing organised by Sandra, she has 2 converts in Richard and Jeff, day starts with 'sun salutes' ' willie the whale has been invited but cocking his snout in the air at this time !! New poses are constantly being devised inc Death by flying fish.

Rest of crew falling over laughing and amazed at Zen and the art of sailing.

Very hot but great wind and swell, managed to dip boom in the water as well as kite hauling down in the night.

Rory (houswife cook and head of all things acounting) despite rope burns to fingers he soldiers on, Still under spiritual training by Richard.

Caught some fish this morning, from sea to freezer in 20 mins. Not sure of make or model of fish, bit like a golden carp !

Crew now talking about landfall and what wines with lobster etc, ETA and sun loungers, dangerous stuff with another 30 hrs to go !!

Shame Verde Isles all closed on a Sunday.

Yoga going well, have found posing around greatly benefits the sun tan.

Bunzo.

Isis Marches on

2009-10-30T23:41:00.000Z

Spinnaker has been up since 10.30am yesterday, after a few days sailing in somewhat fluky winds,
the crew prepared for a night 'chasing the white ghost' across the Ocean.

It was the first time many of the crew had sailed with a spinnaker at night, it was also the first time we had gybed it, successfully, only helped by the Moonlight.

The winds increased and steadied overnight and by the early morning watch, we were flying along at 10kt plus, the top speed seen down a wave reaching 14kt

Another gybe at 9.15am today sets us on good course for Cape Verde. Isis is flying!

Afternoon has been 'more of the same'. Good winds, sun and fabulous sailing.
Jeff and Sandra started preparing lunch, so all those 'off watch' are dozing peacefully.

Isis has also started a Yoga class run by Sandra and her assistants, Jeff and Richard. Sandra calls the crew up on deck at sunrise to start, and hopefully the class will expand once the benefits have been realised by the other crew members.

--- International Section---

OI Maes brasileiras....estamos bem, daqui a dois dias estaremos chegando em Cabo Verde....muito sol, vento e um otimo tempo...beijos, amamos vcs, Pri e Ique

Apres avoir decime toute la reserve de the en 4 jours, plus 5kg de Twix et de Mars , ecoute de facon surrealiste les chansons des Monthy Pythons au milieu de l'Ocean, les choses serieuses commencent enfin avec 20kt de vent arriere, houle de 3m et un spi gigantesque.

En bref, equipiers tres sympas, je dirai 'eclectique' dans leur personnalite, morale au beau fixe et experience unique sur ce bateau a l'interieur spartiate et vraiment dessine pouur la course.
Je vous laisse, je suis de corvee de patates (et oui), ce soir 'chicken a la Royale', impatient de voir ce que c'est. A+ Laurent

Miles to go: 445 nm

Hi Everyone we are all well and happy

2009-10-29T17:49:00.001Z

it has been another night of clear skies and calm seas. The moon set at about 4am this morning which was spectaular. The early morning brought us more wind and at 10 20 am the medium kite was raised. No more engine- thank goodness.

Wild life has been restricted to 3 turtles and Ollie's shirtless chest - the turtles were worth looking at; still no birds to talk to when you are alone on deck.

The kite is pulling us nicely, flat boat so lunch alfesco. It was good to say goodbye to the Tenerife coastline and its shoreline lights. Hello open seas again. 9 finger Pri has regained her 10th finger just in time to cook us all bananas with sugar in the oven, yum yum - the cure was regular application of chocolate and cigarettes.

Rory has been very active in the kitchen and has Richard in culinary training - in return Rory has been getting spiritual training. We are spending the night shift singing and quoting, "The life of Brian", ha ha.

We have it on the boat's PA this afternoon, "Always look on the bright side of life". We are still in the lead with 650 remaining to Cape Verde, but we are still looking over our shoulder for the other boats.

Love to all at home

From the Good Ship Isis

2009-10-29T08:17:00.001Z

Stardate Wed 28th Yes we all survived Jeff and Rory's great dinner pork in the ocean (a play on drop in the ocean). Having sailed through the night under a beautiful stary sky.

Beautiful sunny start to the day. Motoring from 0800 not enough wind. Breakfast was toasted ham and cheese sandwiches made by 9 fingers Pri, finget guard off later in the day, still looks Very sore.

It's shower day, afer 2 days of hot sun some people are starting to wiff a little, mentioning no names.

0900 sighted Tenerife on port bow, now have some SMS messages thanks for comms.
Rory

First catch off the stern since Monday, 'Tuna Tim', too small to eat so returned to the deep, didn't feel so good about fishing exploits after a visit by a pod of dolphins, this is their space and they are so graceful. Perhaps they came to investigate our blow up willie the inflatable whale we are towing.

SMS messages very welcome, keep them coming please. Have been trying to wind up the sextant even in sight of land, sure sign we are not getting enough sailing action !!!! Yet !!!

Still a long way to go but being lead boat tastes sweet.

Bunzo.

Some crew missed breakfast due to hard sailing though the night but at least they avoided the washing up !!

The showers are performing like a 5 star hotel you dont want to get out, most refreshing untill water runs out at moment it means change over valves - all lathered up not a pretty sight at any time of day.

Jeff & Sandra

Greetings from good ship Isis

2009-10-27T20:35:00.001Z

The wind increased slightly in the early hours of this morning allowing us to hoist the no 1 genoa. We had a great few hours of sailing.

The sunrise looked beautiful as the wind slowly decreased forcing us to use the donkey as we were slowly drifting towards Africa!

The morning and early afternoon has been spent plugging on southwards towards the canaries in the big ocean rolling swell coming in from the west.

Large amounts of water 50 to 100 metres apart roll in and sweep gently under the boat. On the top we can see the sails of the other two boats BEHIND US!

We have now seen two turtles eliganteley swim past rudeley disturbed by our good friend Willy the Whale taking a swim, He looked very pleased with himself while
ollie cleaned of the glow in the dark paint that had been sprayed on him during the duration of the night for us to keep an eye on him.

Sandras salad lunch dissapeared quickly and a unlucky fish was hooked just after, the tuna was too big to feed the crew so was luckly for him thrown back.

The crew are all now relaxing on the deck with the snmooth rolling waves and hot sun whilst jeff and rory prepare dinner - Pork, Mash, Green Beans plus many other intresting items,

If you receive another blog on wednesday assume it was a succesful and healthy meal.

The loud rumbling continues through the night, Crew Ondeck are trying to work out if its the engine or the skippers snoring!

U2 and Jimmy Hendricks have now been put on to fade out the rumble.

During our time in Madeira and taking the local children out sailing we are pleased to announce we still hold the title for the international water balloon fight, the children had a great time pestering the other boats while Crew Simon and Ollie were trying to work out who was more childish, the children or our so called mature guests!

We all hope you're having a delightful time in sunny England while we sit ondeck throughout the night in shorts and shirts gazing up at the satellites and shooting stars (tough old life)

Thats all from Isis for now Willy the Whale out.

Hello from Isis

2009-10-27T12:05:00.001Z

Many thanks to the Mayor of Funchal and the club Navale for their hospitality and support during our 5 day visit.

Stargate Monday 26th and departed Madeira. A short race outside Funchal was spectacularly won by Isis - well done Ollie and Willie the Whale.

The leg to Cape Verde has started with light winds and motoring.

Diner was Fajitas and avocado pear followed by Ollie's home made chocolate cake with apple.

All is well on Isis as the rest of the fleet are behind us.

Richard and Willie.

Many thanks Rich, Sarah and YW for your messages and good wishes. See you all soon, Lots of love Sandra and Jeff.

p.s it is hard work but great fun, learning lots.

Hi everyone at Kirby Fleetham School, I hope you are all working hard. We are on our way now to Cape Verde Islands. Plenty of Dolphin and Whale photos to follow. Ollie.

Hello from Isis

2009-10-06T10:21:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the lack of blogging from Isis - they have some problems sending them through. Everyone is just fine and send their best wishes to all back home.

We'll keep you up to date with any developments!