In another world
15:00UTC 13/08/07 34’53.4N 015’41.8W Normal life seems a very long way behind right now. The weather continues to be benign, as the northerly breeze has ebbed away to a gentle force 2 and we have slowed to around 4 knots. The sea is very calm, extraordinarily blue and now 22.5’C – a swim beckons sometime […]
Doing well but bandwidth limited!
08:30UTC 11/07/08 39’07.6N 013’17.9W We’ve had another fast 24 hours, covering 148 miles from 9am to 9am. Now over half way there and well settled into the routine. So settled that even before breakfast we’ve sat around chatting about religion (stimulus – the God Delusion), why people watch Big Brother (stimulus – wonder who got […]
My, how the time passes
16:00UTC 10/8/07 40’42.8N 12’50.4W We are well and truly in the tradewinds now. A steady northerly wind speeds us south towards the Canaries. We have hoisted a classic downwind rig – two headsails and no main – and haven’t had to adjust sail since we put them up 24 hours ago. Before that, the mainsail […]
Not horrendous, honest.
16:30UTC 09/08/07 43’04.4N 11’50.4W I think I might have worried some people with my description of the ‘rhythmic rolling’, as there have been two comments of ‘sounds horrendous, hope you’re OK’. Well we’re fine and it’s not at all horrendous – life goes on quite well despite the fact the the floor doesn’t stay still […]
It’s morning in the big brother boat
09:20UTC 09/08/07 43’43.3N 11.15.2W and the shipmates are just stirring. Guy is on deck, watching for ships, of which there have been none all night. However, Guy is a ‘ship magnet’ and soon enough a small container ship appears on the horizon heading right for us. She alters course 6 miles out and saves us […]
Rhythmic Roll
15:30UTC 08/08/07 44’35.9N 009’24.14W Another beautiful day in the fearsome Bay of Biscay – we are very lucky. We are also very wobbly, we are running almost dead downwind in fairly light breeze, a force 3 from the NNE. What that means is that the wind is right behind the boat, and we have a […]
“Should I read a chapter then snooze, or snooze then read….”
16:50 UTC 07/08/07 45’58.8N 007’38.8W Decisions decisions. Owen was struggling with this and other difficult choices today, and it’s been a good day like that for all of us. The wind has strengthened a little, but is now generally behind us and we are broad reaching at top speed in a nice long swell that, […]
Lumpy Bumpy
16:40UTC 06/08/07 48’16.9N 6’13.2W Well the wind came round for us all right. At about 7pm, just during happy hour the southwesterly breeze died away and after a few minutes a new breeze came in from the northwest and stayed there, building through the night to 25 knots. Perfect for us in terms of direction, […]
Settling in
13:40UTC 05/08/07 50’13.3N 4’31.9W We’re on our way. We motored out of Plymouth in gorgeous sunshine, and have been sailing for four hours now, with a very gentle breeze helping us to get used to life aboard. The forecast promises force 6-7 later, which will be fine but a bit more lively, so it’s good […]
Departure
06:00UTC 05/08/07 50’21.7N 004’07.8W Here we are in Plymouth, preparing breakfast before leaving for Tenerife. Just a couple of hundred yards away are the Mayflower Steps, where the pilgrims departed and where we picked up our crew yesterday. Round the corner is Plymouth Hoe, where Drake finished his game of bowls before leaving to fight […]