Valent

While Valent is making progress towards the Azores, Suzy, Lucy and Sophie have returned safely to the UK and are currently staying with Suzy’s sister Alex in Bookham. Luckily we brought some of the warm weather back with us, at least for the first few days. We will be going to the Lake District to stay with Will’s parents next week, before returning south for half term week. We’re adjusting to life back in the UK and are looking forward to catching up with friends and family over the next few weeks, before we move back onboard Valent for a couple of months once she has returned to England.

Valent is back at sea and on her way home to the UK. The crew of Alex, Noah & Sean joined in Antigua over the first few days of May and spent a few days acclimatising to the heat and humidity of Jolly Harbour. Suzy, Lucy & Sophie moved off Valent on Sunday 5 May. After a farewell visit to Shirley Heights for the Sunday night party we were ready for departure on Monday 6 May. We delayed our departure until after lunch to ensure that we would arrive in Fort Louis, St Martin during daylight hours. Not only did we have a good shakedown sail, but within 2 hours of putting the fishing rod out we had a lovely 4kg Black Fin Tuna on board. Tuna steaks for dinner, Tuna Tartare for lunch and a bit left in the freezer.

An enjoyable (though occasionally bumpy) sail saw us arrive outside Fort Louis on the French side, around 7am where we anchored for a few hours before proceeding into the marina. The plan was then to fully stock the boat with fresh produce, make sure that the water and fuel tanks were full and everything as ready as possible for the off. There were only 2 problems with this plan, 1. Wednesday became a day of torrential rain, and 2. Thursday turned out to be a public holiday on the Dutch side which naturally a lot of the French businesses copied.

St Martin is a small and beautiful island at the northern end of the Leeward Islands. The island is divided across the middle, the French have the North and the Dutch have the South. An amusing story (with no historical evidence whatsoever to support it) is that the French and Dutch were so civilised that they decided to divide the island without a fight. Instead a Frenchman with a bottle of wine set off from one side, and a Dutchman with a flask of gin from the other side. Where they met became the boundary, and so the story goes the French got slightly more because the gin was stronger than the wine. In 2017 the island was badly damaged by hurricane Irma, some of the damage still being very visible. The marina is overlooked by the remains of Fort Louis which is approached by a colourful path and affords a a lovely view over the bay & marina.

On the way across from Antigua we had finished doing some inspections and found that the clew of the main sail was badly frayed. Another job to get fixed. We also decided that given the light winds forecast for the crossing we should ensure that the bottom of the boat was as clean as possible. After a few phone calls we found a sailmaker on the Dutch side who could repair our sail before Friday, and a diver who was available Friday morning. Over the next few days we packed, cleaned and shopped. Having exhausted the nearer supermarkets Alex and I took a taxi to the large Carrefour over in Philipsburg (the Dutch capital) and filled 2 trolleys with Fruit & Veg. A few hours later, all was stowed, the fridge stuffed full and we were ready. There was still time to go up the mast and do a final check before a last crew meal out and Saturday morning departure.

We spent a few hours on Saturday morning alternating between anchoring, fuel dock and final preparations. The fenders needed tying under the dinghy which then needed lashing down. The Watt&Sea generator and Hydrovane needed setting up and the lazarette locker needed to be repacked now that we had finished with ropes. Finally after a cup of tea and slice of freshly baked cake we were ready to depart just after midday. We also decided to immediately do our first hour change moving to UTC-3 which will leave us with 3 more hour changes before the Azores.

Farewell to St Martin and land. Only 2,178 miles to the Azores and our next landfall.

We have had an enjoyable first 24 hours, mainly sailing but with a few hours of motoring when the wind got light. During the night we were treated to a distant lightening show, and as day broke the clouds were visible on the horizon and the radar picked up a severe squall around 8 miles away. On with the engine, alter course 30 degrees, Genoa away and Main half furled we did our best to avoid the worst of it whilst also going in the correct direction. The plan was successful with no rain and only a short period of wind in the mid 20kt range. We are now back to sailing around 5.5kts, heading North of the direct course seeking the stronger and more consistent winds towards the Azores.

The ominous squall and thunderstorm. Very glad to avoid it.

With her crew now arrived and ready to depart, Valent set sail from Jolly Harbour Antigua this afternoon, Monday 6th May, on the start of her Atlantic crossing. Left to right beside Will in the photo below are Sean, Noah and Alex.

The plan is to go initially north to Saint Martin as a short first sail, to complete provisioning there over a few days, and then to sail direct to the Azores, although with a possibility of going via Bermuda if weather conditions dictate. From the Azores the route goes direct to the UK, aiming for Plymouth, although as always with sailing, plans are subject to change!

To follow Valent’s progress at sea, you can look at our blog page “How to Follow us at Sea”, and choose the first link, which is the Yellow Brick tracker. (The other two links only work when Valent is close to land and therefore will not work across the Atlantic). There will also be blog updates from Valent as their journey progresses.

Saint Barts is a very chichi and very French island, full of designer shops and superyachts – very different to laid-back Saint Kitts and Nevis! Planes fly low over your head to reach the landing strip a short distance across the other side of the island.

We anchored outside the main town, Gustavia, which was Swedish owned for nearly a century from 1784. The three crowns from the Swedish coat of arms are in Saint Barts’ coat of arms, and the street names are still shown in both French and Swedish.

After exploring Gustavia we moved along the coast and took a mooring buoy in Colombier, a much quieter bay in Saint Barts’ nature reserve, with clear water and sea turtles everywhere. Anchoring is restricted to preserve the sea grass for the turtles to feed on. The girls wasted no time in leaping off the side of the boat into the water, one of their favourite pastimes on our trip!

We hiked up to the Colombier viewpoint, from where we could see Valent below and the island of Saint Martin in the distance.

Our friends on fellow ARC/ARC+ boats Epiphany and Gian were also in the same bay, which provided a good opportunity for a get-together on Valent.

Little did we realise that this would be the last time we would see both boats in the Caribbean, as they were both due to head north to Saint Martin, where they would join the ARC Europe rally back across the Atlantic starting on 11th May. Our plan was to go south to Antigua instead to pick up our new crew for our own Atlantic crossing.

We had intended to stay in Saint Barts for at least another day, but as so often with sailing, our plans changed as we reviewed the weather forecast for going south. The wind was due to strengthen and turn in the wrong direction on Tuesday 30th April when we had originally planned to travel, so instead on the Monday we headed back to Gustavia to check out, and then set off on the 75 mile journey to Antigua at 5.30 pm for an overnight passage.

Almost immediately on leaving Saint Barts we were hit with 20+ knots of wind across the boat, an unsettled sea state and large waves crashing over the bow, making the cockpit a damp place to sit. With the boat heeled over and rolling uncomfortably, both girls chose to go to bed at 6.30 pm and three out of four of us decided against dinner. The wind and the motion calmed down overnight, but it was a reminder of how even in the Caribbean the weather can turn against you with no warning.

So we are now safely back in Jolly Harbour, Antigua, in the marina this time, which makes a nice change from the boatyard. The new crew has arrived: Alex, Noah and Sean, and Lucy, Sophie and I (Suzy) will soon fly back to the UK, to be reunited with Will and the crew there in around a month. We are sad to be finishing our Caribbean adventure, and leaving behind all the wonderful people we have met and spent time with, particularly family boats Saltair and Epiphany. We will still live on Valent in the UK for a couple of months over the summer and explore the UK south coast though, so there’s still time for more adventures!

We’ll write another blog entry when Valent is ready to set off from Antigua, including a reminder of how to follow their progress while they are at sea.

While we are out at sea, a few thoughts on a subject dear to my heart – how we use renewable energy on a sailing boat.

The sails are of course the main way to harness renewable energy on a boat – the power of the wind is sufficient to transport you great distances without the need for an engine (you just need the engine for manoeuvring at the start and end of the trip). We have a mainsail, headsail (genoa) and staysail which when all in use can propel the boat through the water at speeds of over 8 knots in the right wind conditions.

The power of the wind can also be used to steer the boat, using the hydrovane (the red device in the picture below). You set this on the desired course and its rudder will steer according to the angle of the wind, removing the need for a person to steer the boat by hand, or to use the autohelm, which runs using the ship’s batteries.

Next on to electricity generation. The white device with the propeller next to the hydrovane is the Watt&Sea hydrogenerator. As Valent moves through the water the propeller on the Watt&Sea turns creating electricity. This can generate around 300W if we are sailing around 6 knots. The electricity goes through a controller and is fed into the ships batteries. To set it running while underway you do need to lean over the stern of the boat in a dangerous fashion to insert the pin, so it is advisable to set it in motion before you set off.

We also have flexible solar panels on top of our bimini (the blue cover over our cockpit), which continue generating electricity even on hazy days. On a sunny day the 2 x 200W solar panels generate approximately 1 kW of power per day, enough electricity to keep the fridge and freezer running. Again this energy goes through a converter and into the batteries.

Talking of batteries, Valent has 3 x 280Amp Hour Lithium batteries. These in conjunction with a 3KW inverter can provide enough electricity on board for all normal living, though it is not a good idea to use the electric kettle, toaster and microwave as these are all heavy consumers of electricity and the batteries become quickly depleted.

There are many other ways in which you can use renewable energy on a sailing boat. Some boats have a small wind-powered electricity generator, and many boats now have electric motors for their dinghies, which are charged through the sailing boat’s batteries. Although they don’t have as much horsepower as a petrol engine, they still have sufficient range to cover most local dinghy trips.

When away from a marina and therefore not connected to shore power, we need to use our ship’s batteries for all our power requirements, including running the boiler to make hot water, lighting, powering the Remoska electric cooker in the galley, running our watermaker which converts sea water into drinkable water, and running Starlink. (Our oven and stove top run on gas). Although our solar panels and the wave-powered hydrogenerator will partly charge the ship’s batteries, they aren’t sufficient to cover all this, so to charge the batteries further we use the engine or the generator, both of which require petrol or diesel. So our boat is still a long way from reaching Net Zero, but we are significantly greener and more self-sufficient than we would be if we were at home.