The Grey Day

Crew Feature

Robbie Harris

Robbie has had an interesting life and has done many things, mainly in construction of either buildings or boats. I met Robbie on my Day Skipper course in 2011 and we have been friends ever since, although we are quite different. He has sailed on a number of boats with me although not in the last few years. Robbie charters a boat in Greece each year and recently contacted Mark and I as he wanted to do more sailing. He is dependable and willing to get stuck in and contributes well. He came on board Stormbird in June 2023 for a day and when a space came up for then Atlantic he took it.

Reason for Sailing the Atlantic

Robbie lovers travelling and adventure and so the Atlantic was a challenge he wanted to take on. He wanted to test himself and ensure he could fit in and contribute to the passage. He has also never been to the Caribbean and his wife will join him and they will have a holiday in Barbados. 

Nick Hine (Skipper)

The website which my daughters helped create has a lot of information already. However I learned to sail with my grandfather Jim on his sailboat called Treize which he kept in Dartmouth where I was a frequent visitor as a boy. His boat was a 1936 Harrison Butler Z4 tonne 21 foot 6 and made out of wood. It was there that one day as a boy I was stopped by a man who asked to be rowed to his boat in the centre of the river. I did as he asked and then he showed me around his boat and he told me he was about to sail around the world. His boat was British Steel 111 and his name was Chay Blythe. This is where the seed of sailing around the world was planted and it has remained dormant until a few years ago. I sailed in my teens and throughout my life but more seriously from 2011 when I took my Day Skipper. I rented a boat as part of Flexisail and then bought a boat called Samphire with a friend Mark Bartin (Barty- hi Barty if you are reading). Then in 2016 I bought a Hallberg Rassy 412 called Luce di Mare (light of the sea). In that boat I sailed back from Sweden, down the French coast, over the Atlantic in 2019 and then up to Scotland and back and extensively in UK waters. I bought Stormbird in 2022 and sailed it back from the Azores where she has had a refit for this trip.

Reason for the Atlantic

I need to get across to get to the Caribbean and onwards for my trip!! Having done it once I felt we could do it independently with a good crew which we have.  This experience is different and I will let you know my thoughts when we have finished.

Today

We had to motor on and off in the night due to the strength of the wind and even when we were sailing there was quite a roll. It is odd at night as it is quite dark and you can hear the roar of the sea but cannot see it. Surprisingly we had quite a bit of rain which helped rinse the deck and this is the first time we have seen rain since leaving the UK. It was a sort of drizzle and indicative of a front. We did see a flying fish come flying over the side and land on the deck whilst we were sitting in the cockpit. Clearly it was not his lucky day as we were the only boat for miles, some 62 foot long and it happens to hit us in this vast ocean!

The day started as grey and bleak and the sea looked dull and grey as well rather than its usual blue. The wind was now quite consistent and when Robbie and I came on watch we shook out the reefs (the sails had been reduced in the night for safety and comfort) and we were soon sailing at a good speed 7-8 kts. The weather reports gave us two options either to go North or South and we decided on the southerly route. We had bacon and eggs for breakfast which gets us all going in the morning.

I had decided to order another Parasail as it is such a versatile sail and I will need something like that on my circumnavigation. Starlink (Musk’s satellite system) enables me mid Atlantic to use email and WIFI and to make WhatsApp calls. There will be an 8–10-week production time so hopefully it can be delivered to me in Panama. I will see if the Red Baron can be repaired in Barbados.

By lunchtime the sun had come out and we were visited for about 30 minutes by a pod of dolphins who were swimming in our bow wave and jumping a bit in and out of the water. These are such magical creatures and lift everyone’s spirits and make you laugh and appreciate being alive. Other than the dolphins we have seen no other life today except flying fish and lots of Sargasso weed. Mark decided to make some more chocolate brownies and he loves being in the galley and making things and we are lucky he does as we eat well on Stormbird.     

At 12.00 noon we went back another hour in time on board so it was getting dark by 5.30-6.00pm. As it would be difficult to make the new course we decided to keep sailing the best course we could as we had wind. Ian made a delicious vegetable one tin disk which was great and this was followed by a chocolate brownie. We settled down for the night with about 1,069nmiles to go.

Distance travelled in the last. 24 hours 171 nm.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day.