HI! it has been 22 days of non-stop sailing action. Most of the sailing action is rocking from side to side causing a little bit of stress or humor if you laugh at what happens. By funny I mean watching Cary or myself chase stuff around the cabin or cockpit as we get tossed around, it can be a real challenge especially when its a kitchen knife. Its funny out here in the middle of the ocean watching dolphins swim by, falling stars, crazy schools of flying fish running into the side of boat, and squalls because I am so bored. I joke with Cary and ask him to change the dam channel as I look out over the ocean. All you can see to the end of the horizon is many shades of blues with white clouds. In the last week we have seen two ships. Luckily the weather has been outstanding and we just sail along at 6.3kts. Based on my outlook schedule for landfall we are still on track for a mid-day landfall on January 9, 2015 but who knows what will happen in the next 19 days. I guess the hardest problem we have to deal with is our limited supply of LPG “propane” so making snacks is out of the question. Not to add to the problem but all our popcorn went bad so we had to toss even that into the ocean. Also all the snacks we did bring are now all gone except for a few, mostly jerky that I bought and you can only eat so much of that. Some snacks we could eat but in the event that we run out of propane we will have those items to eat because you don’t have to cook them. So for snacks we make a extra cup of rice when we make dinner or couscous. I just add some kind of sauce and bam you have a really bad snack but its better then chewing on you thumb. But all in all it is amazing to look at the chart and see how far we have come. We have sailed 3,329 nautical miles as of this afternoon and only 2614 nautical miles to go. I haven’t had to run the engine except to dodge a ship at night that was asleep at the helm so we are getting great gas mileage. Right now I am at 1/2 gallon per 3,329 nautical miles not bad, i should sell green credits to big companies. Our fresh water is holding up and we are looking good there too. Anyway I am looking forward to watching for some reindeer flying by here in a day or so. That should be a great sight to see, I will let you know that minute I do. Well I guess I will go back to doing pushups, pull ups, sit ups, and I may read another novel too.

Current Position: 02:33UTC, 2deg 16.1min S, 27deg 44.9min W, SOG 5.9kts, COG333deg, WS 10kts, Swell <1 meter, 1013MB, DS2600 NM, Sunny & Hot!

Marry Christmas Everybody,

Jacques

12/20/14
The weather has been very nice and is now becoming more organized. We do get low flying clouds that add a few extra knots of wind and makes flying the spinnaker a bit exciting. We have flown the spinnaker for about 48 hours and early this morning we had to change it up with a head sail. Looking forward at the weather it looks like we may have wind to cross the doldrums hopefully and then the wind picks up to 20 plus knots in the northern hemisphere. That extra bit of wind should push us quickly up to the BVI. Systems on Dragonsbane seem to be holding together for now other then chaffing through head sail sheets but I guess that happens when you sail 24/7. Currently making contact with another ship off our starboard. The ship is not transmitting a AIS signal so extra care will be given to this vessel until we are clear of her, always a fun game at night.

Current Position: 22:09utc, 5deg 51.6min S, 23deg 19.1min W, SOG 7kts, COG 314deg-M, WS 12.5kts, Swell<1m, cloudy sky, 1014MB, DR-2852nm

Thanks,

Jacques & Cary

Not such a bad day today as we make our way I produced 30 gallons of fresh water with the water maker. I also topped up the batteries and charged our laptops too. Its funny when you complete the above taskes its like having fresh laundry folded and put away. BUt the sad news is last night around 2am our headsail halyard snapped at the mast head and the jib sail fell into the ocean. We had to struggle to get the sail back on deck and then used our secondary jib halyard to raise it back up. Looks like I will be climbing up the mast when we get a calm day to fish the halyard back through the mast, fun stuff. I also did a look ahead based on our current average speed of 6 kts. We should arrive in the BVI in 24 days 8 hours, fingers crossed.

Current position: 17:04utc, 11deg 52.9min S, 15deg 08.1min W, SOG 5.8kts, COG 335deg-m, Swell <2meters, WS 12kts, DR 3,456NM,1014MB

Thanks,

Jacques

Its been two years of liven on the edge of a dream, reality, and the dark salty sea. Instead of a slug crawling across a razor I am on Dragonsbane rocking and rolling along its salty sharpened edge. For months on end I have sailed through squalls, and storms that foam with roaring shrill . Whistle winds that sound more like a freight train then butterfly wings. Blood filled with adrenaline for days till my stomach aches. Sailing on this tight rope, holding together and repairing my Dragonsbane I only hope to make to the next port.

I have Thirty Five Thousand nautical miles to go! I dream of fare winds, star nights, and sunny days to put my mind at ease. But as I write the clouds are dark, my jib sheets groan, my heart quickens, and the sea roars. For tonight I go into the dark night that shrouds my sight. With only hope to see me through to the sight of day I go with fear and fright to accompany my night.

After hours of icy dark night a light is cast through the shadows. The sun rises and shows the sight of angry sea around me. I am not afraid anymore, for I made it through another night on the salty razor. God give me strength and courage for next 35 nights as I live the dream!

Thank you,

Jacques S.

Current Position: 19:05utc, 13deg 06.8min S, 13deg 13.4min W, SOG 6.7kts, COG 329deg-M, WS 15kts, Swell <2m, 1015MB, ALL IS WELL On BOARD!

At 00:02 hours we made contact with a west bound ship traveling at 15kts that was overtaking us. I was awaken by Cary to point this fact out to me. I haled the ship VHF 16 indicated on our AIS as “AURORA BULKER” listed as a cargo ship, destination SOuth America. I did make contact via VHF but the night watch could not speak English. We were on a collision course and by this time I could see the bridge windows and noticed that the bridge lights were on, on the inside of the viewing deck for night watch. Its a well known fact that you cant see out a window at night when you have your bright lights on inside. So sense the ship would not deviate its course I decided to drop sail and turn the motor on and run in a perpendicular direction. I based this decision on the fact that both the white, red, and and now the green running lights were both coming into view meaning that the ship was coming right at us. No sooner did I do this when the ship passed right off our stern by 5 boat length or so. I used the Chart plotter to find our distance. I can not believe in the middle of the south Atlantic ocean we almost got run over by a commercial ship because they did not give a rip about what was around them. Sometimes I hate stupid people. But all is well on board.

Current Position: 19:25utc, 14deg 31.2min S, 11deg 3.3min W, SOG 7.6kts, COG 343deg-M, WS 12kts

Thanks,

Jacques

Well it has been a interesting few days to say least. So far we have not seen another ship, boat, or anything for 6 days. It has been overcast which makes energy a bit tricky but we survive. So far I have had to repair the spinnaker pole by drilling, re-taping screws and re-installing the female socket end after it got ripped out in a squall. Repaired the snap shackle for the head stay after a squall stretched the steel clasp apart. like always I had to repair three sheet after the spinnaker pole cat paw ate them after running for 48 hours each. But the real ball buster was that our 9 KG tank LP propane connected to the solenoid leaked out our LP gas Now we have one 5 KG tank for the next 30 days. I guess coffee is out! I find it funny because the LP solenoid is supposed to stop leak not make them what a POS!!!!!!! FIXED NOW!

But on a high note we are under 4000 nautical miles to go. Hope I can keep this machine running till we get to the BVI lol!

Living out in the blue dessert,

Jacques & Cary

FYI SSB radio station transmition are very hard to get and so few blogs will be seen, just getting weather gribs is a full time job.

Current Postion: 18:58UTC, 15deg 58.8min S, 09deg 01.0min W, SOG 6.8kts, COG 330deg-M, ws 15kts, swell <1M, 1017MB, DR3,946NM

The weather has been steady blowing out of the south east at 10 to 15 knots. We have been switching between a spinnaker and double head sail combo. I have been keeping real busy with repairs due to chaffing of sheets and spinnaker rips. So far I have had to sew 5 panels back together because the stitching just let go. I have had 4 sheets chaff right through during the night. Really good news is that we crossed over into the western hemisphere, glad to be back!

Current position: 19:21utc 19deg 32.7min S, 05deg 27.7min W, COG 318deg-m, SOG 7kts, WS 12kts, Swell <1m, DR4177NM, 1019MB

Thank You,

Jacques & Cary

Survived another birthday at sea and looking for to dry land someday. For now we are making our shifts and feel like we can go forever. The weather is nice but a bit overcast. Made about 7 sail changes/configurations and now running with the spinnaker. All is well on board. Should be passing St. Helena in 7 days.

Current Position: 08:48utc, 23deg 7.5min S, 2deg 36.7min E, COG 319deg-m, SOG 6.5kts, WS 14kts, Swell <1m , Cloudy, 1017MB, DR4744nm

The wind and waves are beginning to steady and hold at a 20 to 25 knot average and the swells match the wind speed. We are making good speed at 7 kts and only had to make one sail change today.

CUrrent Position: UTC18:18, 28deg 45.1min S, 10deg 03.0min E, SOG 7.1kts, COG 326deg, WS 20 to 25kts, swell <2 meters, 1021MB, Cloudy overcast

Thanks,

Jacques & Cary

It was a wet evening taking in the odd white capped wave into the cockpit every hour. BUt at last around mid morning the wind dropped down to the mid 20kts and sometime we see high teen wind speed. The good news is that at the winds current angle we are making a easy 7.5kts average, so we are ripping off the mileage now. All is well.

Thanks,

Jacques

Current Position: UTC 18:19, 30deg 21.1min S, 12deg 29.5min E, SOG 7.8kts, COG 322deg-M, 1018MB, WS 20 to 25kts, Swell <2meters, Clear skies