Westward to Brazil

It took all three guys on deck and me at the helm to make

a sail change. As you can see, we were heeling a bit!

We would soon be back in the Americas! Throughout the world, we have been asked “where are you from” and we have replied: America. As we were approaching Brazil, it occurred to us that we need to say: The USA! Why? Because there are a lot of Americas. North American, Central America and South America. All the people of Brazil are Americans, too.

Since the crossing from St. Helena to Salvador, Brazil was 1900 nm, we had plenty of time to discuss this issue. We also discussed the various reactions to our Presidential election campaign and results. We have seen numerous political cartoons depicting other countries’ view of the USA. Frequently, we were asked whether Trump will survive four years or if the USA is going to collapse. It has been very apparent that the rest of the world has been caught up in the media – real or false news! We have been out of the fray out here.

John was our tactician and kept us in the lead the whole way.

Dennis had decided we were going to sail all the way so the guys spent a lot of time making changes to the sail plan. The options were: 1) main and genoa, 2) main and light air gennaker, 3) any of those alone, 4) medium duty gennaker alone, 5) main and medium duty gennaker, or 6) main, genoa AND the medium duty gennaker!

Medium duty asymmetrical

The last one was the winning combination. Trust me; they tried them all – and more than once each as the wind demanded diligence to keep Trillium moving toward the finish line in Salvador, Brazil. For two days, the wind was quite light as in 6-10 knots. S/V Trillium is a solidly built blue-water boat intended to give a safe comfortable ride in the big waves. The downside is that she is heavy and needs strong winds to make her fly.

Poling out the genoa to fly with the main.

The best days were when the wind was in the 12-25 range. Now we are sailing!                                                                          

Fortunately, the rest of the passage was made in those conditions. With clear skies and sunshine, strong steady winds and a great crew, we had the best sail of the whole circumnavigation! The South Atlantic crossing was the longest leg and topped them all! No seasickness; no medication. WOO HOO!

We sailed for six days and six nights with the main and genoa fully deployed plus the medium duty gennaker! Talk about a beautiful sail plan. And probably not one suggested in the Hallberg-Rassy Owner’s Manual either. We got what we were after: First Across the Line Honors AND First Place Overall for the Monohull Division! Hurrah! What a way to finish the last of the five oceans.

Our light air asymmetrical

We had a lot of support from the shore all around the world. Friends were reporting our YB Tracker position and positions of other boats coming behind us. We were getting all kinds of encouraging emails, including screen shots of positions. Thanks, everyone! It was fun to have your enthusiasm cheering for us. I normally am not into the racing thing, but this time I was actually clenching my teeth causing my jaw to ache. It looked like we stood a chance of winning this leg of the rally, but we knew there were two really fast racing boats coming up behind us.

Of course, having two experienced racers on our boat kept the energy level high. Dennis had turned the navigation and weather duties over to John, who was really into it. He brought his “equipment” to get up to date information and GRIB files. And his family sent midnight updates from the tracker. John and Colt race in the Port Huron to Mackinaw and Chicago to Mackinaw races on the Great Lakes annually on Colt’s boat, Weather Edge. They have been on the winners podium nine out of eleven of the races! Did we pick a great crew or what!

Oh, I forgot to mention that just before we left St. Helena, the freezer decided to quit working. We had just recharged the coolant in Cape Town. There was no one in St. Helena to look at it so we were looking at a 12-16 day passage without it. That meant I was throwing meat and other frozen food overboard after the first few days at sea. I lost about $300 worth of meat, but the worst part was all the time I had spent preparing it so it would make it easier in the galley. Delta. Alpha. Mike. November!

John caught this one. They are giving it a shot of rum to kill it.

Fortunately, my Captain is a good fisherman, too! He caught two huge Mahi-mahi with two more getting away as there was one on each line both times. Something really big took a lure again. We probably didn’t want to see that one up close anyway! Then he caught what we think was a young either blue fin or yellow fin tuna that weighed 20 pounds. By the end of the passage, I just wanted some good Brazilian beef. I could hardly wait for those famous Brazilian restaurant meals.

Here we are flying all our sails across the South Atlantic Ocean

 

And as the first boat across the Finish Line in Salvador, Brazil.