An Atlantic passage

It was a huge relief on the 21st of November to cast off from the Canary islands and begin the 3000 mile journey across the Atlantic . We were tired from months of preparations and last minute challenges, and could not wait to unplug for the three-week journey ahead. The atmosphere in Las Palmas was very festive and the fleet of 165 yachts received a memorable send off.

Our quiet desire to race friends on similar boats was dampened as soon as we lined ourselves up for the start line. A fuse blew when we attempted to deploy the headsail and we found ourselves bobbing along until we could work out the fault. By the time it was unfurled, we were at the back of 130 yachts. A humorous reminder that we chose to sail over oceans precisely to unlearn rushing!

For most of three days, the entire fleet crawled along with light winds straight on the nose. Motoring became unavoidable until the conditions improved. We were blessed to have friends on yacht Blake as sailing companions for a couple of days. They took a series of great photos of Dragonfly under sail.

After a very calm first week reading books in the sunshine, fishing lines out, the wind picked up significantly and sea state became pretty rough. These conditions set in for the rest of the crossing . We poled out the head sail for downwind sailing as it became too windy for the kite.

Overall, the wind was reasonably tame on our tracks, averaging in the high 20’s with gusts in the 30’s. There were frequent squalls, mostly at night, which fortunately we could anticipate with the radar.. Three to five meter swells in mixed directions were on the forecast for the rest of the journey, we were going to be rocked around a fair bit. Along the way, we reached our all-time speed record of 15.4 knots surfing down a steep wave! 

Tiredness set in noticeably after ten days. We became more disciplined about resting during the day, reduced night watches from three down to two hours, alternating between Tama, Simon and I. This worked really well, although we started fading again on day 15. I am not sure how we would have coped without Tama taking shifts. Hats off to all the double-handled crew who made this journey with children on board, it is a real feat of endurance!

After a few rough days, we eased into the unpredictable motion and found equilibrium between sailing performance and peace of mind. We re-opened our books, resumed playing numerous card games, and Tama became unstoppable in the galley, baking all sorts of fabulous things. Often twice a day!

In lieu of schooling we practiced patience and kindness, entertained great topics in the cockpit and learnt to complete usually simple daily tasks with acrobatic prowess. Lee seemed perfectly unfazed by the erratic motion and he went about his day, dinosaurs and dragons at his side, and watching way too many movies! Luca and Naomi, both affected by motion sickness, soldiered on and slept it off in between the social highlights of the day.

Time passed surprisingly quickly. We connected with the outside world once a day via satellite email, which provided great family entertainment as one day would otherwise merge into the next.

We discovered absolutely spectacular night skies the way our ancestors would have witnessed them. It was too rough to exit the cockpit and appreciate the full celestial display but Matariki (the Pleiades cluster) was always first to jump out, brighter than ever and watching over us.

As we progressed further south and west, the temperature became more tropical every day. We adjusted our clocks by a couple of hours, twice during the trip as the sun would seemingly rise later and later (my favourite dawn watch according to our clocks would otherwise end before sunrise!). We didn’t see a single boat within twenty four miles of us on the radar for many days on end. It’s a big ocean!!  

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We arrived one minute before midnight on the 9th of December, after 19 days at sea. Having ripped three sails and broken two spinnaker poles (one smashed into the other while under load) but we were all in one piece and stoked to see land again. It was a very heartwarming welcome in Rodney Bay marina from fellow sailors.

The stories shared on the dockside were fascinating.. the relentless weather (strong trade winds and an unusual swell coming from the North) had lead to great difficulties for many crew (extreme fatigue, serious breakages, ripped sails), some heroic feats and some tragedies too. One man lost his life. Two yachts had to be abandoned mid ocean.

Following a catastrophic steering failure, the crew of 5 adults on Charlotte Jane II were rescued out of their life raft by our friends Rod and Jane, their two crew and three children on board Magic Dragon. Twelve days at sea, nine adults and three children (incl. 4 yr old twins!!!) on a 55 ft monohull. They were on strict water rations due to a broken watermaker, in tropical heat, and one of the heads (toilet) out of order! These guys with their wicked sense of humour and giant hearts arrived bubbling with laughter and with an extraordinary story to tell.

A month after making landfall we are yet to “land” into new beginnings. The passage itself was in fact not the biggest challenge, but only the culmination of a very intense year, full of magics and chaos.

We celebrated the end of 2021 on a secluded beach in the company of a great multicultural bunch. Water Dogs from Canada, Magic Dragon from the UK, Sylvia from Belgium, Blake from Hawaii and Kithara from Germany. 16 kids, 13 grown ups.

A couple of nights before Christmas, at dusk, our generator caught on fire. Within minutes, we had assistance from nearby friends helping out on every front. Once again we were very humbled by the support we have in this nomadic community and considered how incredibly lucky we were that it didn’t happen a few days earlier at sea.

We are still in St Lucia enjoying some quiet time at anchor and waiting on new generator parts. We are left to count our blessings and envision the next chapters of the journey with a wide open heart.

An immense thank you to my brother Augustin for creating a series of beautiful maps of Dragonfly tracks which are now uploaded on our site. https://sailingdragonfly.wordpress.com/map-tracks/