The Windless Day
Crew Feature
Mark Malitskie
Mark is a retired accountant and a dear close friend and we have sailed many miles together including the first Atlantic crossing in 2019 on my last boat Luce di Mare. Mark came to sailing late in life and loves being on the water like me. He owns his own boat called Miramar, a Beneteau 40, which is currently in Sardinia. I met Mark through Flexisail as Miramar was in that scheme. Mark helped me pick up Luce di Mare (Hallberg Rassy 412) in 2016 from Sweden and he came to see Stormbird with me in December 2021 in Antigua and was part of my decision to buy her. We have sailed oceans together, trips back from Sweden, up to Scotland, back from the Azores and extensively in the UK. He helped bring Stormbird back from the Azores and from the UK to our starting point in the Canaries. Mark is thoroughly dependable and is a great person to have on any boat with his calm demeanour and extensive skills and is a sailing instructor. If I had to pick someone as part of my crew he would be first on the list. I am so pleased that I met him all those years ago and am privileged to have him as a friend and I am very grateful to his family for allowing him to come on a fair percentage of my adventure.
Reason for Sailing the Atlantic
Mark wanted to do the Atlantic again as he loves the sense of adventure and wanted to test himself. He loves the whole experience and life at sea and he loves learning things which he does all the time (although he knows a lot!) He knows Stormbird well and feels she is a very safe boat and he enjoys sailing with me and this feeling is mutual.
Ian Watson
Ian is now retired having recently sold a shredding company. He has his own boat called Hanuman, a Dufour 45 which he keeps in Greece and he has sailed there for many years and he spends a lot of time in Greece and now has Greek citizenship. He was introduced to me by his brother Keith, who also came on Stormbird from Spain to the Canaries in 2023. Ian plays a double base in a band and has never done a long passage like this. He is fitting in well and contributing fully to the team and enjoying the experience.
Reason for Sailing the Atlantic
Ian has sailed for many years and has heard sailors talking about doing the Atlantic and he wanted to do it so when the opportunity arose he jumped at it. He wanted to improve his sailing skills and to learn from others and he is certainly learning a lot. He liked the idea of the adventure and he has never been to the Caribbean before so this was an opportunity to go and his wife will join him for a holiday in Grenada. He met me through his brother Keith and after a day on Stormbird in May 2023, he was satisfied that it was a safe boat.
Today
We sailed through the night but the wind was not strong and we were only making 5-6kts. It was a lovely day again but there were more cloud structures with a lot of small low-level clouds. There was no traffic and all you could see was the vast blue ocean which was without white horses. You could see these vast waves coming at you with 150 metres in between. The boat rose up over them and as the wave approached you lost the horizon and then as it passed under Stormbird you lost the horizon again as it disappeared at some speed into the distance.
There were no flying fish for breakfast today and Robbie made more porridge which went down well. We had a debate about flying fish and discovered that Barbados is known as the land of the flying fish. The wind died in the morning so we put on the engine to keep up our progress. The weather reports showed a wind hole catching us up and hopefully we will have wind again by the evening. We passed the day sleeping, eating and reading and lots were finishing books and dipping into the Stormbird library. I made a few emails about the parasail etc and began to look at some options.
We noticed more birdlife and more Sargasso weed. Keith made some more bread and Peter and I did some maintenance in the engine room, tightening nuts etc. It was hot sitting in the cockpit and the temperature is definitely rising. We tried to fish but were going too fast under engine. Mark cooked a delicious sweet and sour chicken dish which we ate watching a great sunset and a huge orange sky. The theme for the night was things to do before we die and it was interesting to hear what things people wanted to do.
After the washing up the wind began to come back so we put up the sails and off we were flying on a beam reach (wind at 90 degrees) and speeds in the 9 kt bracket. It was good to hear the engine off and the swish of the water down the side of the hull with the odd waddle due to the waves. It had been a windless day which we could have done about as we press forward toward our destination. We have about 7 days to go and our last 24-hour run was 165nm.