Ali Johnston crosses the Atlantic aboard 'Bon Vivant' a 46' Halberg Rassy, with skipper Jean-Jaques Vasseur and James Byrne

Friday, 19/11/04

Leave Lanzarote 1500hrs to sail to Las Palmas, wind F4, reaching along at 7 knots, sunny, no swell - this is good. Wind drops after 1 hour - typical! Motor sailed through the night, my first night watch on my own. Lots of fast ferries, shooting stars and 'phantoms' on the radar makes 4 hours vanish like 15 minutes. Few dolphins. What majestic creatures. Arrive Puerto de la Lux Sat.at 0800. Marina full with 200 ARC boats. Spent the day getting some final stores, water, pick up spares etc. Generator stops about 1500, 2 anxious hours till James finds a dodgy fuse.

Sunday, 21/11/04

1100hrs motor out to watch the start of the ARC 2004, drinking champagne in the sunshine! This truly is the "Bon Vivant"! So many boats, some very special, inc. "Leopard of London", "Sojana", 3 Volvo 60’s, 2 Challenge yachts and an assortment of every craft imaginable, some of which I wouldn’t cross the Irish Sea in, never mind the Atlantic!

Return to shore to top up water and drop off Carol, Jean-Jaques' wife. Weather forecast light, looks like we may be motor sailing for the first few days, With the possibility we may have to top up on fuel at Cape Verde, only 800 miles SSW(ish), and the only filling station 'till Barbados………I hope it’s open 24hrs! Set off for Barbados at 1830 UTC.!!!!! The beginning of our adventure. No wind...motor sailed through the night but making good speed on low revs, wind fills early a.m., morning brings us a good F4 from the NE, full sail, goose winged at 7 knots, no engine. We can't believe the wind, we must have passed half the ARC boats during the night, the radar was lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree.

I’m on the 0000 to 0400 watch, the stars are amazing, no dolphins, less shooting stars, 5 days to the full moon, it’s so beautiful and peaceful.

Monday, 22/11/04 wind NE 4-5. swell 1m.

Another glorious day, still averaging 7 knots, passing ARC boats all the time. James' course to find wind is obviously v. good. Have fishing line out, maybe tuna for tea. All is quiet. The boat is handling well, swell slightly abaft the port quarter, a little roll from time to time but lovely. Eating very well, freezer full of gourmet food! Wind steadily increasing.

Tuesday, 23/11/04 0000hrs Wind NE 4-6 Swell 2m.

It's getting more interesting now. Swell is making us lurch violently from time to time, severe danger of spilling my coffee! Saw max. of 10.4 knots and some 3.5m waves breaking on the transom. Very happy to be here, my confidence in the boat is increasing all the time, although it's still strange sitting here on my own. Thinking very seriously about reefing, when the gusts and waves coincide we take off on some mighty surfs!!!

Life is good on board. We all get on well, Jean-Jaques is a gentleman. It is my pleasure to have been invited aboard "Bon Vivant".

Had my first astro-nav lessons from James today, will continue tomorrow. James is fantastic on a boat, very knowledgeable in all aspects, inc. cooking, which is very important (he’s a much better cook than me..) Got a little apprehensive a few times tonight in case we broke something. The 'aul goosewing setup loads up a lot, the spinny pole is too long and losing it would be devastating to our speed! We don’t have a spare. I'm going to bed now, unlikely I’ll get much sleep. Being the youngest, (and according to James the fittest) I have the dubious pleasure of sleeping in the forepeak, which has no lee cloths...

1130 hrs.. I was right. Little sleep. On watch again at 1200. Jean-Jaques has just informed me that we averaged 7.89 knots last night. Brilliant speed. The miles are disappearing quickly, I hope this breeze stays. A squid landed on the deck last night, and something took our fishing tackle, trace and all... We’re having Monkfish and rice with French beans tonight, Parma ham and melon to start of course. This IS sailing in style!!!!!!

1940 hrs 365 nautical miles in 48 hours. Not bad. Better get a wee kip, 0000 comes quickly even if you can't sleep.

Wednesday 24/11/04. 0318hrs wind 10 knots sea slight.

Very quiet so far this watch, no ships in sight. Speed down to 6.5-7 knots, still good. Got some reasonable sleep, Jean-Jaques didn't wake me till 0100hrs, which was nice... I've got a sort of heat rash/sunburn on my hands, have to remember to wear more sunblock. James and I rigged a mark II bite indicator for the fishing line, round a winch with a bit of duck tape that will break allowing the winch to ratchet, letting us know if we have a bite! Passed the 400 mile mark at 0309hrs. that’s an average of 7.09knots. great start to the voyage. I celebrated this milestone with a cup of tea with honey and lemon, and 2 digestive biscuits. Extravagant in the extreme, what? Forgot to mention that on Monday p.m. on my watch, I spotted an old water tank or boiler, cylindrical, about 1.5m dia. and 2 or 3m long, right on our bow. Quick dive to the helm and dodge round it. Phew! A very heart-in-mouth-shitmeself-oh-my–good-christ moment. Missed it by 2 metres...It may not have damaged the hull if we hit it, but it was too close for comfort. What was I doing at that time? A checklist for the life raft and grab bag. Double double checked it after that... Bed time now at last, after a ciggy and a coffee. Better wake James.

Thursday 25/11/04. 0030 hrs wind N.E. 10knots sea slight-1m. 21°21’N 21°39’W

Another glorious day, we are now in the tropics. It's much warmer, and sea temp is up to 25°C, perfect for a wee swim, but I’ll wait till Barbados. The bite indicator works well, we got three hits today, unfortunately one was a plank of wood and the other two got away, but you’ve never seen 3 grown men move so fast at the sound of a winch spinning! Fishing system upgraded again today...that took an hour...

Had a couple of ARC boats cross our track today, very keen to share our weather info and have a wee chat. They are as good at fishing as us! One of these boats was a Swan 53’, we told him we left Las Palmas after him - 7 hours in fact - and he was very surprised at our passing him in a 46 footer...later a 70-80' Spanish boat, "Chrystal", that had crossed our stern two days earlier, appeared behind us. They were "Amazed" at our speed..They had a weather router in Barcelona..But we had our secret weapon, James!

We gybed today! 500 odd miles on the same gybe! If this wind stays we might not gybe again till Barbados! Although in this light air, the spinny goes up first thing tomorrow. Life is tough...

I'm so happy. This is so enjoyable. Hope the feeling stays, could change as fast as the weather, which is my only concern at the moment, and concern is too strong a word! It's amazing how small your world becomes when you’re 4 days out in a vast ocean.

Friday 26/11/04. 1205hrs wind 14knots NE sea slight-0.5m Distance 781Nm

Hoisted the spinny 0900hrs. Gassing along at 7-8 knots. Much more comfortable than the goose wing setup, and faster too...It's the first time J-J has seen his spinny, and apparently only the third time it’s been hoisted since the boat was new in 1996!

Everyone making an effort to us less power and water, we’ve been using the genny and watermaker too much. This is a power hungry boat, every toy possible is aboard. Life still good aboard. Everyone in good spirits and getting on well. Only saw one boat yesterday, Once again he couldn't believe we caught and passed him. Irish J24 racers decimate the ARC fleet!!!

Last nights watch was busy, flew the kite all night, surfing up to 10 knots, average about 7.5ish. Spent 4 hours steering the boat in an oscillating and shifty breeze using the course correction knob on the auto-pilot. It's incredible. Steering 20 tonnes of boat with the spinny up, with something the size of the volume control on my stereo!

This boat loves the spinnaker, very stable, even in 24 knot gusts it hardly rounds up at all. Saw my first flying fish today, they’re so cool, shoals of them leap out of the water, gliding about 8 inches above the water for up to 100 meters! Very cool. They look like a flock of starlings, then they disappear. Also saw a whale, well the spurt of water as it drew breath. It was about 100m away. Close enough, thanks. Don’t want one of those monsters scratching it's barnacles on our hull! Soon time to gybe, that will be 2 in 5 days. Cruising is hard work...

Saturday 27/11/05. 1253hrs. Wind E 12kn. Sea 1m. Distance 960Nm

Lovely evening yesterday, had a good sleep in the afternoon, woke up singing, so I grabbed me guitar. The 3 of us sat singing and chatting. Broke my first string of the trip. Such a beautiful evening, the moon rose on our stern and we were screaming along at 8 knots, up to 9.5 on the waves. Dinner-Bed-0015 back on watch. Broad reaching at 8-10 knots, kite still up. We didn't gybe, slight change of course, plotter says 2000Nm to go, so we're nearly a third of the way there. If we average 6.5 knots, e.t.a. is 8th Dec.

Was woken this am by an animated James. Himself and J-J dropped the kite to check halyard and sheets, the guy was worn through about 75%, just about to break! Halyard in good condition though. We’ve been flying the kite for 48 hours, more than most cruising boats do in a few years...

J-J caught a fish today, a yellow fin Tuna, it’s only about 40cms long, but we’re going to fry it up for lunch. Good job we’re not relying on our fishing skills for food, 1 fish in 6 days isn’t great... A flying fish landed on deck today. Strange looking fish, about 25cm long, the wings are about ¾ the length of it's body and it has a large eye, about 20mm dia.

Last night I experienced one of the moments I had really been looking forward to - Dolphins on the bow! It was fantastic! On my own 0230hrs, 900 miles from the Canaries, sailing at 8-10 knots, full moon with a massive, bright, white halo, and Dolphins riding the bow wave! I will cherish that moment of child-like giddy happiness for the rest of my days.

Spending this watch reading the electronic systems manuals, might as well learn something on this trip. Sea temp. now 27°C, air temp f***ing hot! Have to stay in the shade of the spray hood. Don't want to use the bimini, can’t see the windex. Oh man! The sun is making me silly...

Sunday 28/11/04. 1620hrs Wind 10-15 knots Sea 0.5m Distance 1148Nm

So... Over a thousand miles. Only another 1600 or so to go! Yesterday was quiet. Wind died after lunch, so we motor-sailed through the night, still making 6.5-7 knots on very low revs. Kite up again this morning. Another scorcher. Wow it's hot. Everyone is a little drained but still very happy.

James and I swapped watches this a.m. so I'm now on 0400-0800. It's nice as I can get to see the sunrise and I'm not on watch during the hottest part of the day. Although it's still bloody hot now, we gybed at lunchtime (way-hey, 2 gybes in 7 days!) and now there is practically no shade on deck.

Haven't seen another boat in 3 days. Not even on radar! No energy to learn anything today, no sextant, no manuals, too hot to tie a new knot! It’s fantastic! James and J-J saw a whale today, about ¼ mile away, once again close enough. Loads of flying fish, they are so cool. Very few birds, only saw one today. Didn’t manage to get her phone no...

No fish today. Pity 'cause we enjoyed yesterdays soo much. We want more. Have just changed the bait for the sake of changing it. James is preparing dinner - Lyonnaise potatoes with salami, garlic, onion and parmesan cheese. Mmmmmmmm can’t wait!

Didn’t bring enough beer, only 5 cans left (out of 12). Je suis un muppet!

Wind's getting a bit soft just now and swinging around a lot. That means I'm going to have to alter course constantly. It's just work, work, work. Why does this always happen on my watch? For the previous 4 hours we didn't alter course once! Oh well, just more practice at twiddling knobs... We'll be half way by early Tuesday at this rate. Pretty good.

Tue 30/11/04. 0615hrs Wind 15 knots Sea slight Distance 1385Nm

I caught a lovely fish yesterday am. It was a Dorado. I say "was" 'cause it's already eaten! James (once again) cooked up a storm, roast Dorado in garlic, onions, white wine and butter with boiled spuds - we had it just before dark with a lovely glass of white. Delicious. You just can't beat fresh fish. Hot again yesterday, but not as bad as Sunday. The new breeze keeps us a bit cooler.

Played a fair bit of guitar yesterday, feeling pretty inspired. Remembered loads of stuff I haven't played in years. Took out me little book of knots today. It's really good, learned some useful knots, and some useless ones. Thanks Emma Finegan for suggesting I bring it.

Flying fish all the time. When they're flying they are escaping a predator, so we agitate the fishing line in the hope of attracting the attention of another Tuna or Dorado. Dorado (aka mahi-mahi or dolphin fish) is delicious, white meat, with just a hint of sweetness, melts in the mouth, mmmmm. All this talk of food is making me hungry. To the Galley!

We will be half way at about 0800. Looking forward to a nice sunrise, followed closely by a bacon, egg and fried potato brekkie to celebrate the halfway point. Maybe if I put loads of nutella on some bread and shine a torch at it, would it turn into a chocolate cake? Need more sleep...

Wed 1/12/04 0500hrs Wind 15-20 knots Sea 1-1.5 m Distance 1554 Nm

December already. It will soon be xmas!

We had another grand day yesterday, good breeze, boatspeed 7.5-8.5 knots all day. When I prised myself from the cocoon of kit bags and a guitar that is my bunk, my fellow travellers pointed out a pink spinny on the horizon behind us, it was an Oyster 53'. We had a race on!

Within an hour the breeze was 18-20 knots and they doused their spinny. We of course kept ours flying, and in a few hours had left him for dead. Out of sight. Oyster 53' indeed! Fruity 53' if ye ask me... Boat still going well. We had been making 200-300L of water per day, far too much, considering we have been keeping use to a minimum. Today we closed the seacock to the desalinator, consumption down to 100L including using the washing machine! It appears there is an auto valve in the watermaker that wasn't closing after use, thus letting all the water we just made flow back into the Atlantic. Very inefficient use of energy. Should have checked more thoroughly earlier.

Reached half way this am. 1450Nm ish.

Landed another dorado today. A fairly big fish, about 60 cm long, must have been 5+ kgs. J-J gutted it, chopped it into steaks, and chef de cuisine, James, fried them up. Garlic, spuds, French beans and the obligatory verre du vin blanc completed the meal. Delicious! I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again... James is a rockstar!

We now have enough fish for 2 meals a day for 3 days. Dorado chowder maybe...

Had to douse the spinny at 0000hrs, 26 knot gusts at night are just too much, although the boat handles it well, only rounding up quite gently. No notion of broachin'. Good boat. I love it. Still averaging 7-7.5 knots with the goose wing set-up though. Rolls a lot more, not so comfy as broad reaching with the spinny. The sailing has been excellent so far, as has the crew. We're pushing hard, we want a Mount Gay and orange in Barbados!

Fri 3/12/04 Wind 10 knots Sea 0.5m Distance 1862Nm

Quite a soft day today, only averaging 5-6 knots. Under normal circumstances that's o.k., but we've got a thousand miles to go, and we're all starting to want to be in Barbados. No-one is pissed off, I just feel we all fancy a cold one and a change of scenery. J-J has been a bit sick yesterday and today. He ate some peanuts that reacted badly with him. He said he forgot he shouldn't eat them! I was a little worried, nut allergies can be pretty serious, and I've no idea of an effective treatment, or even if there is anything we can do at all. He slept all Thursday, day and night, but at least he has been able to drink loads of water. No food for 48 hours. Poor J-J. He feels so bad for not being able to do his watches and our assurances it is o.k. help little. He wasn't letting us down at all. If you’re sick, you're sick. Priority rest; drink water; eat and get better! Difficult in an uncomfortable, rolly, down wind swell. He's on the mend now though. Weather is less stable now, some squalls by night. Trying to avoid them as the winds can be up to 40 knots in an instant. Radar is brilliant, shows the squalls 24Nm away! Yesterday's forecast brought the slightly un-nerving news of a tropical storm 800Nm north of us and heading south. It's called Otto. Go away please Otto! We don't like your kind round here! If we keep up our 6.5 knot average, we might beat it to Barbados, but these storms are v. unpredictable. The water temperature here is 29°C, perfect for turning a tropical storm into a hurricane. Deep lows rolling over the North Atlantic aren't helping either. News today it is weakening slightly, but has increased its speed south. We still have enough diesel to motor at least 750Nm, so we can safely run away if necessary. Barbados and the Windward Islands getting thunderstorms, hopefully they will have rained themselves out by the time we get there. The air feels very heavy, you can feel the amount of energy stored in the clouds here, bursting to unleash their pent-up energy in a spectacular thunderstorm! Not tonight please, weather...

Sun, 5/12/2004 Wind 20 knots Sea 1m Distance 2189Nm

Yesterday, Sat, was a busy day, lots of squalls and 30+ Knot gusts. Reaching along at 8-10 knots. Meself and James out in the rain of course. Glad I brought my spray top. Squalls cleared about 1800hrs, sun came out and we hoisted the spinny just before sunset. And what a beautiful sunset! Clear skies above, 15-20 knots of wind and broad reaching at 8-10 knots. Brilliant sailing. The cloud from the earlier squalls gave a wonderful texture to the western sky, lit up in superb shades of orange, pink and red!
,br> J-J is back to good health. He was eating well today and is in good form. Sitting on my own at the moment, squalls everywhere. The spinny blew the guy at 0330hrs, the sound of the pole smacking the forestay sounded like a bomb in my cabin. Not a pleasant way to waken. Took us about 45 mins to take it down and re-pack. It was badly wrapped around the forestay and the sock wouldn’t work. Hard work. That's a big mutha of a kite for two people to take down in winds gusting 25knots. In the dark. Glad we're not racing!

F***ing squalls. They're everywhere! The radar screen looks like a satellite photo of a tropical storm. Big splurges swirling round our central position. Maybe we ARE in the middle of a tropical storm! IS THAT THE BEST YE CAN DO, WEATHER? Oops, forgot - don't taunt the weather! Anyway, they're a pain in the ass. Here comes one now...wow..big gusts, gonna have to reef. Very close to wanting to be home. Had enough sailing. If these squalls continue it will be a long 4 or 5 days to Barbados. Well, at least it’s only 4 or 5....

Monday 6/12/04 0513hrs Wind NE 20 knots Sea 1-2m Distance 2345Nm

Way-hay!!!! Only 600Nm to go!!!! Sounds like so little now, two weeks ago 600Nm was 6 times longer than my longest single trip... Another eventful day, went to bed at 0845, woke at 1200 and within 5 mins the big 'chute was going up again. Somehow in last nights bleary-eyed chaos, we managed to pack the kite in pretty good order, it hoisted and filled without drama, no twists! Cruising along at 7.5-9 knots in 20 knots of wind - beautiful sailing under blue skies with a favourable wind direction. Once again happy to be here. Had a cup of coffee (my last as we’ve just run out), a yoghurt and went back to bed. I had practically no sleep last night. Very bumpy and noisy in the fore-peak. Woke up at 1500 hrs to find James and J-J working on the watermaker. It had burst a pipe. James spent 2½ hours cutting a stainless steel fitting with a blunt hacksaw, in the hottest part of the day, and just as he was finished and about to effect the repair...Ploop! Over the side it goes! Man, talk about pissed off, though he kept his composure well! So no more fresh water showers, no more washing machine, and of course there aren't any squalls tonight so we can't wash in the rain...it all happens at sea..

We still have 300L of water in the tank, 30L bottled drinking water and 60L emergency bottled water, plenty for drinking and cooking. Happy I brought my "poor mans shower"...Baby wipes! We decided to drop the spinny at 2000 Hrs in case it got windier during the night, it was still gusting 23 knots, more drama: The snuffer wouldn’t budge. Jammed solid. I had been expecting this to happen at some stage, as my limited experience with snuffers was that they are brilliantly simple when they work, and a bloody serious inconvenience when they (often) don’t. So traditional J24 style takedown under the boom, in 23knots, with 3 people. Interesting, but we got it down quickly, without "prawning". Man we’re good! (ha-ha). It's perfect weather now, no squalls, 20 knots, stars. Superb!

Wednesday 8/11/04. 1630hrs Wind 20-32 knots Sea 2-3m Distance 2774Nm

Just under 130Nm to go! Sounds incredible...this time tomorrow... The past 2 days have been very tiring, big swells and 35 knot gusts constantly, not just in squalls. Sleep nearly impossible, the boat is pitching and rolling violently all the time. We are well reefed but sailing dead down wind. Everyone knackered, but spirits remain high nonetheless. We can taste the good food and wine and beer and champagne that awaits us in Bridgetown. I’ve just drunk my last beer, it was de-licious! I’d love another. And another. Then go to bed in a bed that doesn’t move... You know, I don’t think I’ve thought of anything for about 10 days. Just sailin', sleepin' & eatin'. Before we left I imagined lazy afternoons reading, learning astro-nav, working on the boat. Nope. Eat-sleep-sail-eat-sleep-sail. Play guitar every other day, and even that’s too difficult in this swell. I’m finding it hard to write, have to wait for the boat to settle. Which it never does. We fly home on Sat. evening. Now that the end is so close I just want to be there. We have 2 days in Barbados to tidy up the boat and do some repairs. I know they'll disappear v. quickly. A part of me wants to stay for a week, but more of me wants to get home. It’s been a great voyage. Well worth doing, and I’ve learnt loads about a different type of sailing. An ocean passage.

Thursday 9/12/2004. Barbados! 3010Nm travelled from Lanzarote, Via Las Palmas.

We arrived in Bridgetown at 1100hrs approx. Only one other yacht in the harbour, half a dozen cruise ships tho'. And where is the other yacht from? Westport, Co. Mayo! Half way across the world and the first people we meet are Irishmen. Cool. Clear customs, wash boat, replenish fresh water, buy drink, fags, chocolate and coffee, anchor up in Carlisle bay (or Carl-easel bay as J-J calls it), and crack a beer... Mmmmm It’s great to be here. I think I could maybe stay a wee while all right! Spend 2 days tidying, fixing and eating. Great seafood and jerk chicken. Meet people and chat. It's nice after a month with the same faces, no offence, guys, but girls are prettier to look at! I mean, talk to! So just a 10 hour flight to London, short hop to Dublin, and home. Took an awful lot longer to get here... Seems a shame not to stay a while. About 2 months ago, I was sitting quietly watching a boring Grand Prix, and Emma Finegan said "Ali, how would you like to sail across the Atlantic?"

"Sounds interesting" says I. And that's how my adventure started. Now I'm a trans-Atlantic sailor. One of tens of thousands who have made this trip, but there are 6 billion souls on this earth, and precious few will have the opportunity to follow in our little footsteps, How blessed and privileged I am to have been given, (and taken), this chance. How lucky I am to have had such wonderful travelling companions. True gentlemen are hard to find these days, and I'm certainly not one, but J-J and James certainly are. Thank-you both, so much. And thanks to my friends and family who told me to "go for it"

Fair winds my friends!

Ali.

P.S. Anyone for the Pacific?