-Ep 15_ Dismasted on the Atlantic Ocean.jpg

Good morning! For those who don't know me, my name is Martin and this is my Jambu Abavaria 34 holiday. I'm on my way to the Azores. The passage to the Azores is not that easy because of the conditions in the north with low pressure systems, high pressure systems, changeable winds. The first bit is okay, so I'm sailing in the trade wind. Probably most time up to the wind, which is not that easy for a week or eight days. So I already prepared my bunk in the salon. It's a leeward side, so I will sleep there for the next seven, eight days, whatever it takes. But I'm looking forward to this cruise and also looking forward to see the Azores, which I missed a couple of years ago. I was on a similar course when I sailed from Martinique back to Germany. So there was a non-stop cruise and this time I stopped on the Azores. Last time was so difficult because of the Covid situation. Two years later it's obviously a little bit easier. So yeah, I'm looking forward to see the Azores. All good. Coffee. So Jambu is cruising into the rain. So there is a large area with rain, probably some showers. So the wind was up to northeast and down to four before, but it has changed now. The wind is back. It's looking quite well, but here starboard the next rain showers are coming in. That looks very well ahead, but the weather forecast is showing some rain. So we are obviously there where the green mark is. And if we look in our direction here, it might be that we catch some further rain, but actually it doesn't look like. The sea is a little bit rough because Sahai swell, Atlantic swell, I would guess two to three meters. And that is overlapping with the actual sea, the waves created by the wind. So where are we on the chart? Let's have a look at that. So we started south on Le Marais, then I had to attack against the wind. And then yesterday had a very good course about 25 degrees because the wind was partially up to east-southeast. Today is different. So it's east and with a tendency to east-northeast. So we are just keeping on course north to north-northeast. So what I've put in my chart here is a waypoint, which is 500 nautical miles east of the Bermudas. That's what I would like to achieve. So it's 860 nautical miles to there in 18 degrees. And we have done about 310 nautical miles so far. If we get there, it depends obviously on the wind. And let's have a look at that. Currently, I'm using two weather models. One is the European one, ECMWF, and the other one is the American one, GFS, which are for the moment more or less identical. But in the future, they separate. So let's go back to ECMWF. So what we see here is the east wind 20 knots. And that's what I'm facing actually here. And let's have a look how that develops. And the different lines here, I think I've explained that in the past as different route proposals by the different forecast models. Let's have a look. East wind for the next few days, more or less stable, getting a little bit lighter, which is good. And then there might be a calmer zone. And then I stop that here. Then a low is coming in, which brings a lot of wind. Let's have a look at that. If we zoom into here, so we see 28 knots and the gusts up to 37 knots. I need to see how we'll handle that. That's how it looks. So the wind forecast is supporting the strategy, getting to my waypoint in the north. I could go a little bit more at the wind, so beating the wind a little bit more. At the moment I set the angle at 42 degrees and sometimes 40. So I'm playing a little bit between 40 and 45. I could probably set it at 35, but that would make our boat a little bit slower. And there's a current running from east to west. And if I'm too slowly, then obviously it's pushing us out of the course line. And I would choose to reduce speed. But we have a similar course. So I try to keep a good speed in the boat and go not that hard at the wind. And so far it's working. Apart from that, everything is fine. And now let's see how it goes. Jumbo has lost the mast, as we can see. It was yesterday in the evening around 9 p.m. So we were beating the wind, but not that hard. And the sails were small. We reduced them significantly. The wind was 6 before. And then something happened. We heard noise, not very loud. I could just see the wind speed, which was 35 or 38, something like that. Then in the next moment there was no wind speed displayed. And then I knew what has happened. So I lost the mast. So then I was up here and the way it looked was that it just had fallen into the water. And I tried to get the mast back on board. Because I had some lines here still connected to the top of the mast. The boom lift, for instance. And then I tried here with the winch to pull it up. But then I realized very soon that the mast was broken into two pieces. A little bit above where the radar was, or still is. So there was a mast broken. And then I decided, and that took me 45 minutes to get to that point. And then I decided to give up the mast and had my disc cutter to 20 volt. And then I cut all connections to the boat. And that took me another hour until that was done. Because it needs to be done very carefully. You need to think where to cut first and what you want to cut at the end. And then obviously with a life belt connected to the boat. So that was very time consuming obviously and risky. But everything has gone very well. That this is happening to you is not something you wish. It's not very nice. But on the other hand, it's not the end of the world. As I said, it's just material which is lost. But nobody is injured. That's important. And I will get that fixed. Obviously this morning I was reading my conditions of my insurance policy intensively. Probably more intensively than before when I signed the contract. And that looks pretty good. Obviously I have my excess charge which I have to pay. But the rest should be covered by the insurance company. But today you never know. They might argue that. But don't think that there is a separate reason for. Because I was very carefully on the truth. I knew this is very hard for the boat and for the crew. In this case just me. Beating the wind with that list. And that would have carried on probably for another 10 days. And I also know that it's very hard for the material as well. And that was the reason why I tried to sail as conservatively as possible. Those final risks are always sailing with you. Those things can happen. And this time it happened to me. I'm currently on my way to Salmatar. That is about 175 nautical miles left. So it was yesterday 220. But it took me a while to get the autopilot working. Because when I restarted the system the autopilot was not found. And I was a little bit desperate. So I tried to steer myself for 20 minutes. I would say at the end I made somehow my way to Salmatar. But not very good. Maybe later on I would have gone through the learning curve and would have been a little bit better. So I spent a lot of efforts in getting the autopilot back. And I took out Triton here from here. Because it was dark. The chart plotter down and up here was working. But no data. So I thought there might be something here in the backbone. From the chart plotter up to here. So I took the Triton out. And the NPS. And shortened the backbone. The network. But no result. So I checked further the diagnosis. And then I found out that the bus system is off. Then I tried to call Tobias Lepper from Lepper Marine. But I couldn't get him on the phone. But I could reach him via text messages. Tobias said it might be the fuse. Because the network has its own power source. 12 volt. Then I was searching for that port. And indeed it was the fuse. So then I put everything back and switched on the chart plotter. And then I went into the system. And identifying all the different sources. And it found the autopilot. Thanks God. So then I started cruising towards Samatha. I think I will arrive tomorrow in the evening. That should be doable. And then I will see if I find a company doing that in a reasonable time. It will take a lot of time. Because those things need to be ordered. And then put on a ship. And then get to the island. And then they need to do that. Probably building it up is one of the smallest issues. Yeah let's see. Still rough. Yeah but not so much wind as yesterday. So yeah I hope that this can be finished prior to the hurricane season. Because in the north here Samatha is in that area. And hopefully end of June they get it done. Fortunately at some point of time at the beginning when I bought Jumbo. I noted down the number of the boom and the number of the mass. So I have that. And that means it can be clearly identified what I had on. Yeah let's see how quick that can be done. As I said that's not the end of the world. I guess it costs some money. But I guess in a couple of months or three months everything will be fine. And then I continue cruising. And I'm looking forward to that as well. Also I'm a little bit down. But the biggest shock was actually in the morning. And then I thought about that and made a good plan. And now I'm in reasonable good moods. So let's see. I've set this aerial. Because obviously with the loss of the mass I lost my aerial on top of the mass as well. I have the radio running via this. So it's working. And also the AIS. That means I can see all the other ships. And ships can see me. Also the range is not very large. But anyway at least a little bit. Similarly to the life raft you always hope that you don't need it. But when something happens you're glad that you put it on board. I've made it. I'm now in the Marigot Bay. Nice welcome here from two German sailing yachts and Fantasie. All good. I'm very glad that I made it down here. I need a rest now and tomorrow I carry on.