Sail with New Freebooters

Extreme Catamaran – first bad weather for Micromegas 5

admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:23:12 +0000

They shouldn’t have sent that SMS congratulating themselves on having delayed the start of their voyage until the really good weather. They’d been fishing, sunbathing and slipping along under full main and genaker for nearly two weeks. They had caught so many green dolphinfish that they were drying the surplus for later. Then, during the night of 15-16 January the weather changed. Around sunset, of course.

dolphinfish peppersteak

They handed the genaker and reefed both main and foresail right down before retiring, each to his own hull, and battening down for the 13 hour night, popping up every half hour or so to make sure all was well. Since the rain was hammering down, they had to close the hatches. Max lay down in the ‘hardware store’ – the port hull, with all the multimedia gear – and Emmanuel occupied the ‘living room’.

In the very early hours, Emmanuel was wakened by hammering on the hatch cover of his hull. He open it to find Max on hands and knees (the only way to move around this tiny craft in rough weather) with a cable between his teeth.

“I’ve had enough of this. Let’s boot up your laptop and get on to the net.”

They normally post updates to their blog via their Iridium phone during daylight hours, but they spent the next hour writing – with difficulty because of the movement. By the time they had finished, the wind had died down and the moon was shining again.

Extreme Catamaran Sailing – Micromegas 5 Back in the Old Routine

admin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:17:11 +0000

Shooting the sun

Not all extreme catamaran sailing is about speed – whether it’s Groupama seeking ocean speed records or I-Shares Cup and America’s Cup lightweights tearing around in relatively smooth water.

The Berque twins are old hands at taking on the Atlantic in a variety of craft less than 5 metres long, in extremely minimalist conditions. At the age of 61 (62 on 10 january 2012) they are off again, in the catamaran Micromegas 5.

This time, they are using modern technology to film and to communicate, but on a tight financial and energy budget. They have an Iridium satellite phone – which they used to transmit the two photos you see here – and digital camcorders and cameras. They have solar chargers so that they can film, edit and upload – but they live on gofio (a Canaries staple rather like couscous ground into a flour), canned sardines, raw fish and very hot sauces made from red peppers, and they use kerosene lanterns. Their water supply is in litre plastic bottles.

Supper straight from the sea. Ready to eat.

They have now been at sea since 05 Jan 2012, and their SMS messages have been about naked sunbathing, moonlit nights, fresh fish, a 2.5 metre shark, and covering an average daily distance of 100 miles. It sounds as if the sardines are still in their cans.

I wonder what the other extreme catamaran sailing crews would think.

Micromegas 5 Has Left la Gomera

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:22:07 +0000

At 13:00 today 5 Jan 2011, after a series of delays, Micromegas 5 left the Canary Island of la Gomera, heading for Barbados.

The sky was cloudless, the water 28°C, the wind very light and on the nose. If that doesn’t change, they’ll probably still be able to see the island at dawn tomorrow, since Puerto San Sebastian is on the northeast side.

I’ll be posting daily updates here, but why not join the party of well-wishers on the open Facebook group MICROMEGAS? You can also follow my Tweets with hashtag #micromegas.

Micromegas 5 Sets Sail for Barbados

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 20:10:51 +0000

After a couple of delays for last-minute celebrations with the wonderful folk on the Canary Island of Gomera, Emmanuel and Maximilien Bergque cast Micromegas 5 off from the dock in the middle of the afternoon of Wednesday 4 January 2012, heading for Barbados. Before they left, they shot a couple of short video clips. Maybe tomorrow I’ll work out how to copy them and show them here.

Suffice to say that the twins are fit and enthusiastic, and Micromegas 5 is down to her designed fully loaded waterline, weighing in at over a ton.

OOPS. A bit premature. I’m told they’ll leave tomorrow morning, which makes more sense than taking off with only an hour or two of daylight left.

Micromegas sets off across the Atlantic tomorrow

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:11:08 +0000

Max and Man were invited to a New Year party, so they very wisely put off their departure until 2 Jan. But they met a Scottish couple at the party, so they deferred their departure until tomorrow. (Have you ever celebrated hogmanay in the Outer Isles? If so, you will understand).

As soon as I receive an SMS telling me they really have left, I’ll tell you. And I hope to receive daily fixes so that I can track them on Google Maps.

View Micromegas 5 crosses the Atlantic in a larger map