The orange colour is due to the scattering of light by the atmosphere when the moon is near the horizon

In today’s blog, the crew of Challenger 4 are greeted to an Orange Moon rising over the nighttime horizon, and Mate Kirstie discovers salt water in the bilges. Where is it coming from?

Mate Kirstie’s Blog

We are now at the end of our second full day at sea.  After the busy chaos of Ocean prep at the marina it is great to have thrown off the bow lines and headed out into the big blue.  Heading south to escape slack winds and make for the consistency of the trade winds the temperature has steadily been rising.  Shorts and a light jacket see us through night watches and a manageable temperature is enjoyed through the daylight hours.

Orange Moon Rising

Everyone is getting into the rhythm of ocean sailing and relaxing into their own routines and rituals.  We have been blessed with mainly clear skies, a special treat during night watches where stars busily twinkle overhead in the dusting that is the Milky Way.  This evening the huge supermoon rose at 2200, casting its orange, blood moon glow over the stars and hiding all but the brightest.  The moon will continue to wane until we are left with deeply dark skies for the majority of the crossing.  Those that stay onboard to Antigua will experience the supermoon of the year, it being closer to the earth than normal and appearing to be 30% larger.  There is also the promise of a meteor shower with 80-100 shooting stars per hour!

“It’s Great Being The Mate!”

It’s always a surprise when you are about to go off watch at midnight to find a puddle of water on the floor and a steady flow seeping out from the generator hatch!
Braced, Ricky and Kirstie opened said hatch to investigate and were promptly very wet!
Genny off, water taste tested (it’s great being the mate!), the leak was soon found to be the saltwater inlet pipe.  A few tool boxes later the problem was solved and the process of pumping out the new jacuzzi in the bilges began.  Some vegetables had a little wash, but all in all, we are happy to regain a mostly dry boat!!

It’s all fun and games at sea!
The temperature has really heated up today and we are doing a great course in good winds under poled out Yankee 1.

Still diving south, ever hunting for the trades .

The Rude Awakening – Mark & Bev’s Blog

After another beautiful starlit extravaganza on night watch, with more shooting stars and galaxies to wonder at, Bev had a very rude awakening shortly after midnight. Kirstie, realising that she was paddling in the aft cabin, raised Ricky to investigate the ingress of water. It seemed that there was water coming from the generator saltwater inlet. (The generator is housed right next to Bev’s bunk). When the door to the generator housing was opened to investigate, Bev was awoken from a deep sleep with the full force of the water! The fault was quickly located (a broken jubilee clip), Bev put a towel on her head and quickly returned to her deep slumber…Zzzzzz.

On our sunrise watch were treated to our first visit from a dolphin. Hopefully the first of many before our arrival in Rodney Bay.

The Motherwatch

Motherwatch began with hectic food preparation, as we decided it was time the crew were fed more fibre and vitamins! Copious amounts of fruit and vegetables have been prepared for lunch and dinner so that we can all take a short break from the carbs (Ricky’s potatoes!). A huge fruit salad being hastily prepared as the papaya was definitely getting past its’ best.

It seems that today is also washing day for many. A bright display of smalls of all sizes and brands are currently flapping in the 20-knot trade winds from Challenger’s guardrails.

One Hand For You, One Hand For The Boat

We are now feeling the effect of sailing downwind on an Atlantic swell. Moving around down below is a little more difficult and planning handholds ahead is essential. The odd crash of crockery in the galley lockers is testament to our increasing movement. We’re making great progress and by midday today we shall have covered 340 nautical miles towards that first rum punch in the Caribbean (not that we’re obsessed with the thought of a welcoming glass of rum!

Right….galley team to action stations. There’s a hungry crew to feed!

Challenger 4 is trying to stay in the green belt of good wind and avoid sailing into the blue doldrums

Skipper Ricky’s Log

Time : 12:00 GMT

Position : 24 39.3 N 018 51.7 W

Position : 170Nm West of El Arub

Destination : St Lucia

DTF : 2460

24 Hour Run : 179

COG 240, SOG 7.0

Fuel : 3 full, 1 in use

Water : 3 full, 1 in use, Will start draining 2x tanks today for showers.

Gas : 3 full, 1 in use, 1 Empty

Notes and comments :

Chicken Thai curry last night, Messy eggs this morning, tapas lunch and sausage and mash this evening. All happy on board.  A glimmer of a green flash seen last night, the Milky Way and a huge waning, orange supermoon moon rising behind the helm.

Good gybe yesterday afternoon run by Bruce. We are now sailing directly for St Lucia but will probably gybe back again today to get more South in for the better winds later this week. Polled out Yankee 1, Full Main on a preventer. Helming is pretty respectable with just a slight wobble on change of helm and a couple who are still getting the hang of it. Sea state has subsided a bit. Very little wildlife after our early sighting of a whale blow and a few flying fish.

Just gybed back to a Port Gybe with the wind shift which happened as predicted at midday. New compass course 245…

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Posted by: First Class Sailing