Vega Atlantic Crossing

7/16/2019 Vega Atlantic Crossing

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7O A l o n g an d r e g u l a r t r a d e sea. T o m a t o e s out to r i p e n on the l i f e ra f t . S t ro n gf o l l o w i n g w i n d s h o w s an e x t ra p lu s for the h i g h t r a n s o m of the V e g a . Weo f t e n ha d s u r f i n g at 11 - 1 2 - 1 3 k n o t s . Th e w i n d v a n e is f r o m H a s l e r / G i b b s .

Four Thousand IVIilesAboard TheAlbin Vega1040"Little IVIy I I I " .


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9 L i t t l e My III o u t s i d e M i n d e l o , " ou r " 0h a r b o u r at the C a p e V e r d e I s l a n d S a n t oA n t a o .

[1040

Across TOieAtlantic With No ProblemOwing ToSensible Yacht A CarefulPlanning.

I t ' s the night between the 20th and the 21st ofJanuary. We sailed f r o m Santa Cruz, Tenerife,i n a good, co o l , breeze f r o m north north east. Thew i n d increased and when we went down the widechannel between Gran Canaria and Tenerife thew i n d speedometer was at maximum (50 knots)f o r long periods. From mainsail w i t h a genoaf l o w n on pole we successively to ok in sail to areefed mainsail, took the mainsail completelydown, and changed the genoa to a no 2 jibthisafter breaking the pole in the dark of the nightagainst a lower shroud. The w i n d pressed thegenoa so hard that we didn't feel the pole goingo n the shroud fo r having the genoa behave i t sel fa bit better. It was too dark to see anything. Thewaves are h i g h and L i t t l e My shakes, leaps andro l l s .

When telhng of a Transatlantic passage youmust include the toughest and most dramaticepisode. I n the case of our cruisewe four whosailed L i t t l e My f r o m the Mediterranean to Barbadosthis was the f i r s t night after Tenerife.Y o u , dear reader, have to excuse us i f we say thatnone o f us were w o r r i e d . We slept calmly byturns except for the general upheaval at thetime of the pole incidenteven i f it f r o m time totime was a bit uncomfortable. In the log it'sw r i t t e n : " Changed from genoa to no 2 jib. Morepleasant riding but slower. Quite an uneventful

O Th e w h o l e c r e w fr o m a c a m e r a a l o f ta t th e m a s t h e a d .

night. Watch: Pelle, Mats, Henri, Ake. Lousyweather: cloudy, windy, high sea. A bit monotonous. Gybed the jib at 21.00".

The worst part was Viksten in the Swedish archipelago

T o sail a cruiser o f about 27 feet over theA t l a n t i c doesn't necessarily b r i n g more hardship than y o u ' l l find during a normal season in ,f o r example, Sweden. To be fr ank , the o n l ydanger we had together w i t h L i t t l e My , was avery rough and t r i ck y v i s i t to a skerry calledVi k s t en in the summer ' 7 1 . Rough seas and a tryto f i n d a lee for breakfast at this unfriendly rockby Landsort on the Swedish east coast. Tiredness,a blunder, and a sheet in the screw when we t r i edto start the engine and our cruise to the WestIndies nearly ended up before it started. W i t hL i t t l e My l y i n g on her starboard side w i t h hermast nearly hor izonta l, crashing towards theskerry pushed by the 3 feet waves. But she stoodit and we came afloat one experience richer.

N o r m a l l y both cruising in your home watersand Transatlantic passages are a bi t calmer, andthere's no doubt about i t , a boat b u i l t for cruisingaround the Swedish coast w i l l , w i t h reasonablemodifications for security, also manage biggeroceans.

W e started our Transatlantic passage in theMediterranean. L i t t l e My was transported byrailroad to Barcelona in Spain. The owner, PelleNorelius, sailed w i t h his f a m i l y to and aroundMallorca. The real passage started f r o m G i b r a l -tar i n October 1971. The first part, GibraltarTenerife, is about 800 miles.

This cruise was a pleasant surprise. Of coursewe had good confidence in each other and in theyacht. But we imagined that this w o u l d be quitea tedious and slow struggle to take L i t t l e My adistance that is comparative to StockholmHullaround Denmark. We l e f t Gibraltar the 1st ofOctober 1971 at 13.52 and reached the harbor ofSanta Cruz, Teneri fe, the 7th of October at05.00. Five days, fifteen hours a good 5 knotsaverage. The best distance over a day and anight: 166 miles.

No, we didn't lieThis is quite a good result for a cruiser of 27

feet. We had the opportunity to compare w i t hother crews on other boats in Santa Cruzandto be frank they thought we l i ed a bit.

B u t the conditioifs were the best for our A l b i nVega. We had a f o l l o w i n g or near f o l l o w i n gw i n d , mostly more than 20 but seldom morethan 30 knots. This gave a h i g h but at the same

time long and regular sea L i t t l e My surfedperiodly at 10 13 knots but was never other thand ry and comfortable. We were able to sail awayw i t h the w i n d ; a heavier displacement boat, eveni f it were bigger, w o u l d probably have moretrouble w i t h the heavy sea, been taking morewater, and been forced to reduce it' s sail areamore than we did.

W e returned to Tenerife and Litde My inJanuary. A f t e r v i c t u a l l i n g and new a n t i f o u l i n gpaintingwe put her aground alongside a wreckat h i g h water and painted her in the l i g h t f r o ma lamp duri ng the night when the water was l o wwe l e f t to see i f our fast journ ey to Tenerife was aunique one. We had about 900 miles to "go.

Where to find the Cape Verdearchipelago?

A f t e r six daysthe first night's hard weatherwas f o l l o w e d by gradually softer winds and soonwe had a nice cruise in the trades we f i g u redwe should have reached our aim. Accord ing tothe log and the p l o t t i n g f r o m our direction finderwe were supposed to be at Sao Vicente in theCape Verde archipelago and should, because ofthis, also have made a new record cruise. Theo n l y problem was; We couldn't see any island.The l o g ;

"The high and rocky Cape Verde Islands aremostly covered by a heavy smog, called the 'har-mat tan'. It is caused by the trade wirid which carriessand and dust from Africa. We were 4 miles fromthe 1800 feet high Sao Vicente before it appearedin the smog. We .sailed in to Mindelo, with thestrange pyramid rock Los Passados in the channelas our steering-point. We couldn't see the slightestthing of the 6000 feet high island Santo Antaosituated only 8 miles west of Sao Vicente".

W e had sailed 975 miles in 6 days and 15 hoursf r o m Tenerife w h i c h gives an average of a bitmore than 6 knots.

From a statistical point of view our transatlantic cruise conf irmed what we alreadythought; W i t h mosfly f o l l o w i n g winds throughthe trades L i t t l e My makes a good 6 knots. Fr omM i n d e l o on the Cape Verde to Barbados we hadthe w i n d f r o m east to north east mainly w i t h theforce about 612 knots, but a few days also3040 knots. Sailed distance 2171 miles, averagespeed 6.2 knots, the best distance over a day andnight 163 miles, average distance 149 miles. Ourtime, 14 days and 16 hours, is according to the


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Azores Gibraltar

Canary Islands /

Barbados

I Cape VerdeIslands

secretary of the Cruisi ng Club of Barbados thebest he knows of (even if a bigger boat w i t h o u tdoubt should be able to do it faster).

I t is a bit hard for us to see this cruise as anyf o r m of a record. We never had to struggle.Sometimes it was a bit inconvenient as alwayswhen you sail a small yacht in h i g h sea and can'tfind a peaceful harbour. But in general l i fe onboard was comfortable and sometimes evenluxurious, and that's the way it shall be. Our logcontains most of the explanation of why it wentl i k e this and some tips about what could havebeen better. Some excerpts:

" the dawn we caught the trade. Wind a bitto the east. The sicy cleared up, even some sunshine, a bit warmer. Put up the mainsail and poledou t the jib to port. The wind force shifts, somebig squalls give an extra push".

We sailed according to weatherstatistics

I f you are doing a holiday cruise you hsten tothe weather broadcast and sail according to it .I f you cruise l i k e we did you select your routeand time according to the weather statistics. Wechose a route across the A t l a n t i c w e l l south inthe suitable trade winds just north of the equator.There you can be quite sure of finding windsf r o m east to north east w i t h reasonable forceduring the spring; You rarely find any really hardweather in this area before the hurricane seasonstarts in June.

"Contact with the Tangier Radio. Mats orderedconnection home to Stockholm, and got itafter

just ten minutes".Y o u cannot rely on radio contact w i t h coast-stations except at the beginning and final part ofyour passage. But i f you are in an emergencysituation you perhaps don't just t h i n k of ca l l i ngyour w i f e . The most important t h i n g is tha t somebody w i l l hear you. Merchant ships listen on theMayday frequence 2182. But you should ofcourse take a ll the safety equipment w i t h youthat is needed, for example the equipment thatis required by the rules for ocean racing.

French menu" The menu of the day:

Salade Vega du chefSpagetti a la Little MyMelonCafVin: Dao 63".

Everybody can't have a "Fren ch ch e f onboard as we had. H e n r i had some experiencef r o m a Paris l u x u r y restaurant. But good f o o dand plenty of i t means a lot for comfort. It's alsoa matter of security. Hunger, tiredness, discomf o r t and disagreements on board have a closeconnection to seasickness, no enjoyment in w o r k ,negligence, misunderstanding and wrong decisions.

" Mats healthy again after a sore throat treatedwith penicillin. Ake, who has been on sleepingpills, is getting better and so are his sore ribs. Henriand Pelle shared the watch to-night. Saw amerchant ship and some blackfish".

A small drug-storenot just a first a id k i t -is something you absolutely need on board. Somuch can happen in a few days. Discuss it w i t hyour doctor, and try to teach some members ofthe crew how to handle the drugs and surgicaltools you have.

''Spinnaker up at 14.00 GMT. Mats went aloftto rig a block for the lift".

A l l repairs and maintenance jobs should bedone at once. In this case we should have riggedthe block when we where in harbour and not whenwe discovered that we needed it. There is w o r kenough to be done at sea. On a cruise of thisk i n d , you sail in one week what you normallysail during the whole season. This means a lotof repairs to be done, in shape of w o r n sails andsheets. You need spare parts and tools in allforms for repairing r i g g i ng , sails, blocks, sheetsand engine.

Spinnalter means lots of work for along-distance sailor"Spinnaker the whole night, varying w ind force

an d sea. Went fast162 miles this day. Midwayacross the Atlantic ocean. As far to Africa as toSouth America".

"The spinnaker was up all night again. Pelletook the evening watch. Busynot very muchsleep for those who were off watch. Took in thespinnaker when the wind increased afternoon.Distance: 160 miles".

"Dramatically tonight: Henri found himself atthe tiller whithou t spinnak er. The top slwckleparted, the spinnaker went ahead and was over-sailed. The only thing we saw was the windwardD-ring hanging from the pole. Took in the spinna

ker and went on with mainsail and genoa flown onpole. 5 7 knots, easy wind, steared by hand attwo hour watches. Hot day. Wet cap on helmsman,shower with bucket on fore-deck".

Spinnaker is not a suitable sail for a l o n g -distance sailor, i f y o u are not in an extreme hurry.W e did of course our best distances w i t h helpf r o m the spinnaker, although we just used i t inreasonable w i n d forces. But you have to have af a t bank account i f you want to use it for longerperiods. In the ocean swells you w i l l load thespinnaker and its sheets unbeleavably. A f t e rtw o or three accidents l i k e this we gave up. Oneor two jibs on poles w i t h or w i t h o u t mainsail ismore comfortable.

A s you see we steered by hand also whenw i t h o u t spinnaker, and the reason was that thew i n d vane didn't have the precision we wanted.This was probably because of that i t had to. w o r ka bit too hard in the bad weather days at the beg i n n i n g .Get yomself some blank forms forthe navigation"Most of the day we made astronomical navigation. Hard workbut now we have a) sunsight

b) moonsight c) meridian d) longitude. And it allfits: position 15.00 GMT N1343' V43".

Q T wo A l b i n V e g a s a n c h o r e d at A n t i g u ain the L e e w a r d I s l a n d s . D i m a G r i n u p sf r o m D e g e r f o r s , S w e d e n , is the o w n e r of" S a n d r a 11 " c r u i s i n g a r o u n d the w o r l dw h e n t h i s wa s w r i t t e n ( D e c e m b e r 1 9 7 2 ) .


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O E v e n i n g s an d n i g h t s in t r o p i c a l s e a so f f e r yo u f a n t a s t i c s a i l i n g in w a r mt e m p e r a t u r e s . W i t h b l a c k f i s h p l a y i n ga r o u n d th e y a c h t , a g o o d w i n d , f u l lm o o n , a p e r f e c t w i n d v a n e and a t h e r m o sf l a s k w i t h ho t b l a ck c o f f e e - w e l l , t h e nl i fe is a b s o l u t e l y p e r f e c t .0The w a t e r sa r o u n d S a n t a C r u z w e r e t e r r i b l y p o l l u t e db y oil. We s c r u b b e d a t h i c k l a y e r a w a yb e f o r e a n t i f o u l i n g by p u t t i n g L i t t l e Mya g r o u n d on the t i d e , l e a n i n g her a g a i n s ta w r e c k . QTo t a k e a s h o w e r by b u c k e to n th e f o r e d e c k wa s e n j o y a b l e d u r i n gt h e ho t d a y s in the t r a d e w i n d .

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Put in as much time at navigation as possibleand use all methods in combination: dead reckon i n g , radio p l o t t i n g , astronomical calculation.I t isn't as d i f f i c u l t as it sounds to navigate afterthe astronomical principlejust get a good handbook. Try to do a f o r m where all calculations aremade up for you. When this is ready you just f i l li n your results f r o m your chronometer and yoursextant. An d w i t h no more mathematics thancommon addition you can p i ck up your resultf r o m the easy tables you can find today.

I t ' s better to put in too much w o r k on thenavigation then too l i t e . This you w i l l find outwhen you reach your aimvery httle uncertaintymakes it dangerous to sail into any harbour .

So much for our sailing w i t h L i t t i e My . Justone more poin t: It isn't necessary to sail theA t l a n t i c . As far as I am concerned it was as t h r i l -l i n g to discover a l i t t l e island outside our home-harbour w i t h my l i t t l e eight year old daugther,and as hard to sail safely f r o m V i k s t e n on a bleakmorning in the summer of 1971.

Mats Fagerstrm


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A l b i n 21A t h o u g h t f u l l y e q u i p p e df a m i l y y a c h t w i t h " c r u i s e rc o m f o r t " in g a l l e y andt o i l e t r o o m . 6.3x2.3 m(2^'xT6'), 12 hp p e t r o le n g i n e , 7 l

Vega Atlantic Crossing

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