Daily Logs

Southern Princess - We is here! Panama Canal 09:23N 79:55W

At 03:48.48 on 300108 we passed the finishing line which was between the entrance port & starboard lights to the Panama Canal. Not an easy place to finish, particularly as the wind had dropped off and we were ghosting along under main and poled genoa and avoiding supertankers which were exiting the canal. Bloody hell it was like Pitt Street!  There are 7 yachts finished in front of us and we were made welcome even at that hour of the morning. The Shelter Bay Marina was a bit hard to get into in the dark and Chris saved the day with the search light, gifted to us a few years back by the O'Sullivans, when he picked up a rather substantial piece of real estate I was blithely steering into as I could not see it! Alls well and we a tucked up in a very nice marina. From here we get. read more...

Kealoha 8 - First monohull home to Panama!

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Kasuje - Daily Log Thursday 31st January

Hi from Skipper Rodders, I thought today that I might try to re-enact for you a little incident that happened in the night. Shall we call it: ''WHEN THE S**T HITS THE FAN'' Blissfully ignorant, the skipper is soundly tucked up in his aft cot, deep into an erotic dream of silk sheets and crimson lingerie, when a sweet mouse like voice disturbs the dream.(Why is it you are always woken before the good bit) ''Daddieee?................  Dadieee?'' A moan , a grunt and general snorting from the skipper. ''Yes, sweetheart what is it?'' ''I think we might be going a little fast?'' ''OK , darling I,ll be up in a moment'' ''No.... Dadieee................... I think you should come now!'' There seems to be strange noises emanating from the bowels of Kasuje and I'm clubbed on the head by a flying. read more...

Kasuje - Kasuje yatch 42 daily log 29th January

Hello again from Guy, Thanks for the updates, they are really appreciated: Should be an exciting game with the team that Brian Ashton has picked for Saturday!  So what have we been up to? We were slightly becalmed yesterday early afternoon, wow it's hot with no wind. The new team hair cuts have really come into their own in this weather but we can't get Suzy to join in. Using the latest Computation Fluid Dynamic predictions downloaded from maxsea (i.e. weather forecasts) and after a swift calculation we deduced that diesel power was best to move us slightly further from the Columbian Coast to find the wind. 3 hours later we found about 20 knots of wind and gave our trusty diesel powered friend a break and set off on a tack that lasted 12 hours. To ensure optimal crew performance several. read more...

Lady Kay - Skippers angling lamet.

The weather over the last few days has been typical trade wind conditions with white fluffy clouds and plenty of blue sky and sunshine. The wind speed has been 20-25 knots from the east which has created one or two interesting larger swells. There have been a number of suicidal flying fish on board. We are all feeling slimmer and fitter after all the fish and healthy food we are eating. Latest catch today 6lb black fin tuna. Brings our total to one wahoo and 4 Tuna. The skipper lost his best lure by an enormous fish. It was agreed by all best not to catch it as it was thrashing around on the surface. You can imagine the one that go away stories!! Latest prediction we will be in Panama tomorrow lunchtime.. read more...

Whitbread - Yacht Whitbread, Log day 7 - Oh you meant that Panama Canal!

We've suddenly realised that the World ARC is heading for the other Panama Canal further up the coast. We had made great progress to the smaller canal that is much less commercial in the south that not many boats know about. Oh well we'll carry on sailing to meet the rest of the rally and its looking like we might be in tonight with 80 miles to run. Hopefully the pubs are still open as we are in much need of some cold beers.We are also in need of some fresh milk. Nobody onboard really enjoys the UHT milk and so we are contemplating getting a cow in Panama. A grass deck will look much nicer than a teak one, will be nice underfoot and we could even get a small putting green set up.There must be some sort of Shetland Pony equivalent to a cow, a mini-cow, that could easily be hoisted onboard. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE Log Day 8 - Bread but not much meat

Breadmaking deemed a success, meat not so good, but we eat up the miles just the same. It's odd what food lasts and what doesn't.  And it does not depend on comodity, either.  When we crossed on the ARC, our tomatoes looked over ripe and unlikely to last, but after we had been in the Caribbean for a week, I found one in hiding and in perfect condition.  And bananas are a poor bet too, though this time ours are just starting to ripen.  We've been most disappointed in our carrots, our fresh meat - a lot of which we have had to ditch, our long-life milk, which goes off almost as soon as you open the tetrapack (thanks a bunch Messrs Rausing).  But the onions, tomatoes, garlic and potatoes have soldiered on gallantly, being slaughter to order when required.  Another big disappointment was the. read more...

Ideal - DAY 9 - FLYING FISH

Despite fishing for days for Tuna, Steve's favorite fish, all Deb comes up with is a flying fish!She is not impressed with the size!1 Day to go to Panama Canal, all looking forward to getting there and going through.IMGP2745IMGP2722. read more...

Graptolite - Graptolite - Back on the Road Again

12:46.48N 071:03.76WWhen all the major wiring and switches inside a boat turns into a nest ofsmoking, dripping black and red snakes, surely a skipper can be forgiven forthinking that it's all over. To those I sent text messages to, saying justthat, well, I might have been a bit pessimistic.After three days of rewiring by Clifford Rosa and his electrical men we gotthe welcome sound of engine and generator back. Not all is perfect and thereare some circuits still fried but we had enough to put to sea about 22:30UTC Tuesday and we are now going at flank speed to get to Panama while thereare still WARC boats still around to be rafted up with.What was the problem with the wiring? The electricians had found that a bigcable coming out of the generator had got heat and vibration damaged. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - Quasar V log 29th January 2008

Tuesday 29th JanuaryTO DRINK OR NOT TO DRINK THAT IS THE QUESTIONNothing much to report today so far. A quiet night first with the Twistle and then with the engine on for several hours. The wind is back this morning and afternoon and we are making just under 7 knots...occasionally 8 knots. At noon we are at 12 12 N and 73 50W - still lagging behind but loving the sail and beautiful weather.Readers will no doubt be aware that Quasar is a dry ship. As we are now into our sixth day at sea Bob and I have filed an application for Judicial Review of this decision. My submission (Lori's) is based on a theory supported by a learned colleague at the University of Exeter and I am currently making enquiries as to his availability to give evidence should the presiding Judges require his attendance. read more...

Cleone - CLEONE Log Day 7 - Which and Whether the Weather

Wind from West of South and Carelessness leads to Hatch Disaster (well, not quite, but an expensive mistake nonetheless). Well, I left you yesterday with the plain sails set (that's the white ones for you at home) bar the Mizzen, and our progress getting slower.  So, unhappy by this, Elizabeth suggested the spinnaker, which I'd planned not to use with such a small crew.  But the cloudless sky promised little in the way of surprises, and so it proved.  Up went the kite without a hitch (spooky), even the dreaded sock peeled away quite smoothly, probably thanks to the rings that Rosie sewed into it during the winter.  Back to the cockpit for some trim and grind, and leaving the steering to the autopilot, we gradually settled down to a reach, surging to 6 knots in not much more than 10 knots. read more...

Southern Princess - Tuesday January 29th 10:10N 78:34W

Wasn't really sure what I was going to talk about today and then as will happen at sea some things happened.  You will recall a few days ago I was bleating about the leather bound halyard letting go and dumping one of our twin headsails over the side!  Well! The wind was so light this morning, we decided to give the MPS a run (that's the yellow sail in the picture below) and we put it up on the brand new halyard purchased in Las Palmas prior to the Atlantic crossing. This is the first time it has really been under any pressure and you guessed it, just while Chris & I were hauling a fish over the stern, the halyard let go and dumped the beautiful yellow sail into the drink. Talk about a vascular workout hauling it back in board. We now have nothing forward of the mast on which to haul. read more...

Whitbread - Whitbread log day 6 'Whit-bread'

Als Crazy Dutch Bastard, vernoemd naar een personage uit een speelfilm, ben ik aan de beurt om dit log te schrijven. En omdat ik, voor zover ik weet, de enige Nederlander in deze World ARC vloot ben' is mij toch uitdrukkelijk verzocht vooral in het Nederlands te schrijven. Ik doe dat natuurlijk graag om alle Nederlandstaligen op deze wereld die de Engelse taal niet machtig zijn, ten dienste te zijn. Gisteren had onze Schipper Jeff het opeens bedacht om brood te moeten bakken. Onze verse producten, niet in de laatste plaats door mijn wanstaltig inkoopbeleid ter voorbereiding op deze tocht, zijn op en wij hebben in ons streven, "ik dacht dat we deden wie het laatste zou aankomen" niet voldoende etenswaar aan boord genomen. Volgens Jeff zou het niet moeilijk zijn een brood te bakken, want. read more...

Andante of Mersey - Blog3 Life on board

Well here goes, like Keith this is my first blog and I will tell you how it really is.   After 3 weeks of hell crossing the Atlantic before Xmas, I was assured that this leg from St Lucia Panama was to be a doddle, possibly calling in at idyllic Caribbean islands en route.  Ha Ha 5 days from St Lucia and another 5 to go and no sign of any islands.  Here we go again, crash bang wallop, rocking and rolling the days and nights away, accumulating new bruises daily.  Having said all that the weather is warm with either to much or to little wind, the long night watches are warm and moonlit with many stars. Flying fish by the hundred,(one actually landed in the cockpit last night and hit Ron on the head)  Pods of dolphins swim by the boat even at night.  I wonder when they sleep ?Life on board. read more...

Lady Kay - Last two days on Lady Kay

We are sailing through cloudless skies. Yesterday there was very little wind and now we have a strong wind as we head along the Colombian coast towards Panama. Shiping has become moe frequent and we have seen the Colombian coast. We were surrounded by a huge pod of dolphins. At first a mother and a baby with one other. Then they were joined by a large pod of about twenty dolphins. We have had two particularly good sunsets with green flashes! We hope to be in Panama in two days time ready to cross the canal.Michael, Jackie, Kerry, Hilton and Carrie. read more...

Ideal - Day 6 - What a lovely day! Dolphins as well

Hi every bodyNo taps left running, no gas stove left on, repaired Parasailor doing well, water maker fine, the list goes on. Sun is shining again, no more squalls, does it get any better than this!The weather yesterday was the best sailing weather we have had so far ,we had the para sail up for 3 days in a perfect sea, even saw some dolphins. The wind blew up last night though so we took the para sail down and are still maintaining a good speed on thew Genoa and we should be there the day after tomorrow. We are all looking forward to seeing the Panama canal it will be a great experience to sail down it, I wonder how big the ships around us will be, there has been some pretty big ones going past. They think we will be rafted 2 or 3 boats together so I am sure we will get to know those. read more...

Kasuje - Daily Log Tuesday 29th January.

Hi all,Many thanks for your emails please keep them coming, they certainly help to while away the lonely dog watches and help us keep in touch with reality!!We are doing well on our passage to Colon , as usual there is always to much or to little wind and at the moment we have the later, however after three hours spent trimming, setting ,re-trimming, re-setting, every rope, pole ,shackle and bit of string we can find we are now etching out every last morsel of speed that Kasuje can muster.However we are really enjoying this peaceful passage and are all very well. That is apart from my hands that now sport not only a rope burn but three sutures personally inserted after slipping whilst drilling out a particularly awkward screw!! ( I hope Danny at Triplar does not read this because even. read more...

Kasuje - Daily Log Monday 28th Jan

Here we are 9 days into our trip and currently on a four day passage to Colon (aptly named as the arse end of The Panama Canal) Its just after 7pm here and the boys are currently filleting a 28lbs Dorrado (Bill you would so proud - although there is an awful lot more waste than if you had been filleting!) Dad and Guy jointly managed to catch this wopper after much grunting and sweating.catching DorradoThe sun is finally setting over Aruba although we are not making a stop here after all and are heading straight to Colon instead.  We left Bonnaire this morning after all having a fantastic nights sleep; well needed by the boys; i on the other hand am fully slept and feeling fantastic. Bonnaire is amazing and well worth a visit for anyone who loves diving or snorkelling. The seas are as. read more...

Asolare - Log Day 4 and 5

st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }So many times people ask crews on long sea passages “don’t you get bored!” The vision clearly is that once you have set the autopilot all you do is eat, take watch and sleep!Comments like “I hope you have lots and lots of books to read” amplify this notion.Nothing could be further from the truth as you are running your own tiny Principality, concerned with waste disposal and management, water making and monitoring, electrical generation and power management, laundry and ironing sheets and clothes, cleaning decks, cabin and galley (Nautical term for Kitchen), food store monitoring of fresh fruit and vegetables, turning over eggs daily, catching fish, filleting and barbequing, baking bread daily, monitoring deep frozen stocks and. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - log 26th January 2008

Monday 28th JanuaryI FEEL HIGH AS A KITE RIGHT NOWAs at dawn on Monday morning and after 4 nights at sea we still have 583 nm to go to the entrance to the Panama Canal (about half way). Its been a quiet night with light winds with the average SOG (speed over the ground) around 5.5. Malcy wanted to put the engine on, but fortunately was dissuaded. We can always do that later in the trip and make a good average speed motor sailing, but I think the kite will be out of its bag before too long!Sue has been researching songs for the Quasar choir (Lori, JB, Lindsey and myself) to practice and what better one to start with than yesterday's headline!WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLDI see trees of green, red roses tooI see them bloom for me and youAnd I think to myself, what a wonderful worldI see skies of. read more...

Storyteller - Day 6, Faster now

After another beautiful moonlit night with enoughwind to keep us moving comfortably, dawn brought up to 30 kts of wind and wehave been tramping along at 8 to 9kts. Bruce tells us that this will continueuntill we get to Panama. We are currently about 35 miles offthe coast ofColumbia and we will be happy to stay that far away as there have been numerousreports of piracy in the area. There were 8 dead flying fish on the deck thismorning.   We have now established a daily routine: breakfastat 8, then 2 small cans of beer at 12 . Sometimes a bottle of white withlunch at about 1.30. Last night we had mojitos at 6.00 followed by a poetryreading by each of  us. Last night I did "The Man from Ironbark" Then it isdinner with a glass of red. Are we having a good time? Yes!. read more...

Whitbread - log day 5 - where are all the crew?

Only day 5 and already we seem to be loosing crew.Sam a.k.a. Simon seems to have taken the not catching any fish a little bad. A late tactical decision to enter the mind of a fish may have backfired and we fear we have lost him to the big blue.Having said that the last of our fresh meat was eaten last night - in a ceremony not disimilar to how I imagine the last supper to have been - and now we feel we should of been more supportive of Sam's idea.Jeff had been keeping a PSP hidden untill it was discovered by Lyall late yesterday afternoon. Book club has since been cancelled and all the John Grisham novells have been thrown overboard. Lyall was last seen slipping away into the bow locker with the psp and battery pack 12 hours ago. We hope the batteries die before the air runs out.Nills. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - Where did that come from?

st1\:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#default#ieooui) } @page Section1 {size: 612.0pt 792.0pt; margin: 72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; } P.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } LI.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } DIV.MsoNormal { FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman" } A:link { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlink { COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } A:visited { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline } SPAN.EmailStyle17 { COLOR: windowtext; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-style-type: personal-compose } DIV.Section1 { page: Section1 }Yesterday afternoon continued on our way at. read more...

Cleone - Log Day 6 - Fickle Winds

Muscles develop further as crew learn how to use all the sails. And the reason is the wind, the lack of it and its fickle nature.  Yesterday was a great day for sun-bathing, today is better.  But if you're a sailor, that's not necessarily good!  And as for the weather fore-casters, who predict these magnificent sailing breezes for us, what can I say?  Yesterday afternoon we were blazing away at 7 knots, and by supper time we were ghosting along in almost a flat calm.  Tempting as it was, we resisted the lure of the Yanmar, got out our lightest sail, the Ghoster, and found that even poled out in place of the Genoa it would not work.  So we tried it as a Spinnaker and success!  Initially it gave us 3.5 knots, and as the breeze built to nearly 10 knots, our pace shot up to 5.  All went well. read more...

Southern Princess - Monday 28th January 11:22N 75:50W

Just as we had finished a quite exhausting day after the SAR operation and looking forward to a quiet night one of the genoas went over the side in the early evening. We had some problems with the bale (a ring on the mast to hold the halyards in the required position) chewing through the halyard to the new genoa on the code zero furling gear when crossing the Atlantic.  Part of the repairs in St Lucia was to reinforce the halyard by wrapping it in heavy leather where it passed through the bale. This halyard, wrapped in the heavy leather lasted just 600nm before the bale chewed through it as well. Right through the leather and then through the cover and the inner core of a 14mm nonstretch braided line.  So sure that we had solved the problem in St Lucia, I had taken the safety halyard off. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Day 5/6

The weather today was very hot and calm which was just as well as we got the main sail jammed (the nightmares of in mast furling) so after removing the battens some which are 16 mts long, we managed to get the sail down on deck, we repaired the rip which had been the cause of the trouble. We hoisted her back up and are now making our way down the Columbian coast to Panama. Besides the thousands of flying fish, we had a big school of Dolphins come to play with us including babies. Lot's of joyful jumping and cavorting around our bow. They always bring such joy with them. I'm sitting alone on deck writing this, no clouds around,a bright moon on it's way, and millions of stars. Magic moments perfect. Sounds ideal, but 4 hours later I am back on deck struggling with 38 knots too much sail. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - log Sunday 27th January

Sunday 27th JanuaryOH WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLDJB writes: And wasn't Louis Armstrong right when he sang those lovely lyrics, for when I woke up this morning we were presented with all the ingredients for a perfect sail: a blue sky, a few puffs of fair weather cumulus clouds drifting, a gentle 12 knots of wind breezing over the port quarter and 3-4 gannets circling the boat in search of some breakfast which certainly looked to involve one or two of the flying fish given the look of abject terror in their eyes as they skimmed the surface of the sea to evade the predatory jaws of the gannets..unfortunately some poor fish didn't quite escape and Greta the gannet, having dived in swift and precise fashion, emerged from the sea victorious and is now sitting a boat's length away from me tucking in. read more...

Graptolite - Fire in the Hole

12:31.22N 070:02.56WIt turns out that our power failure of yesterday was the result of an electrical fire and there are melted wires everywhere. It might take a while to get somebody in to fix it up.There are worse places to be stuck than Aruba at Carnival time. The boat will soon become uninhabitable without power or water so if news dries up for a while it is because I've not been able to charge up my laptop or phone.M. read more...

Jus'Do It 3 - 3 Flying Fish - 3 Direct hits!!!

Finally reached our waypoint at 3.30 pm and set on our new course, gibing at approximately 5pm and heading straight for the canal entrance on a course of 246 degrees. Wind picked up throughout the night to allow us to make up for lighter winds during yesterday afternoon and averaged 10 knots for 8 hours throughout the night.  It was an eventful night and started around 2230 when annie was rudely awoken from her doze with a yelp and expletive from scott as he was hit on the foot by a large flying fish which once found was soon returned safely to water. Around an hour later a repeat incident however this time it was his left cheek which got hit and once again annie was woken with some choice language! Later Annie narrowly missed a hit in the face when she got up to get the biscuits. read more...

Lady Kay - Sunday 27th Lady Kay

Wonderful 36 hours sailing in perfect tradewind conditions with everyone in relax mode. We have had the gennaker up all morning and the crew have been on special alert looking for the poor fishermen who were lost in this area yesterday. The SAR plane has been flying a search pattern a couple of miles to the north west. The fishing continues to be good with wahoo and tuna on the menu in various guises. The skipper has decreed a curry (fish of course) and lager night as we have just about reached the half way point of this leg. Strictly one can of lager each. The large stem of bananas hanging under the bimini is ripening well and provide the watch with instant snacks in the cockpit. I am cooking tonight so if nothing is heard from us again you all know why. We have just had the first. read more...

Storyteller - Day 4 - Australia Day

Sailing conditions during the night were varied with some rain, a frustrating period of calm which we motored through, then beautiful moonlight with an 18k   breeze and smooth sea - glorious sailing conditions! Tony's tuna was, and still is delicious. Last night we had sashimi followed by tuna steak pan fried in Olive oil with garlic and oregano...the Terry Moran way. For lunch today it will be poisson cru, and we still have enough tuna left for two more meals. Bruce's forecasts are suggesting we should have good sailing conditions all the way to Panama. John. read more...

Southern Princess - Sunday January 27th. 12:34N 72:53W

What an Australia Day that was! Instead of sitting in Clive Park with all our mates having a good old Aussie BBQ, we were combing the Caribbean Sea looking for three poor fisherman who had abandoned their fishing boat at 04:30. Tillymint saved one thank goodness.The ship's log notes in part; Intercepted radio communication between Curacao Coast Guard Aircraft 001& Tillymint (one of the yachts in our rally) concerning MOB situation. Last known position of MOB was 13:27N 70:24W at 04:30. Tillymint has apparently picked up 1 person and 3 remain in the water 1 in a white (later changed to blue) vest the others naked. The CG thinks the MOB are from the fishing boat  'Vegas' out of St. Lucia. The MOB location is approximately 14nm to the NW of our position and after contacting the CG. read more...

Whitbread - log day 4. wet and wild.

ahhhh the big blue!another day on the ocean, but still no fish .... we must be more vigilant in thinking like fish. even the birds are finding it hard circling high but never diving in for the kill. the dolphins seem hungry and disinterested in us no no jumping or playing around the bow. where are all the fish?meanwhile Nils has been getting wet and wild with the loreal in the squalls and Wolfi is on a mission to beat the baby at the rubix cube, 1 min 23seconds you tube record ( i'll be honest the baby is laughing). jeff is recording his new cover version of 'king of the road' (out in september), ben is asleep after a hydrotherapy massage and trip to the osteopath , caz is making a gourmet 5 course lunch, ( looking forward to the lobster soup), lylo is on the running machine listening to. read more...

Kasuje - Sunday 27th Daily Log

The Kids are Back!!Great news after the customary 48 - 72 hrs aboard feeling grumpy,tired and nauseas, suddenly, bang, wallop you feel better, full of life and raring to go and what a wonderful day we have had. We made the islands of Los Roques at first light anchored in 4 metres of perfect turquoise water, on soft sand, cooked and demolished a Saturday morning full English fry from sausage to beans and set off to explore this stunning group of islands. A divers paradise and after successfully refilling our air tank, set off back to the yacht for an afternoon of aquatic fun. Once below thousands of fish came into view, huge starfish,limpet fish attached to our hull and so many coral animals you did not know where to look!! Stunning, beautiful,breathtaking.  DSCF0099 Guy and Steve playing. read more...

Cleone - Log Day 5 - Sails

If I was a Sloop, I'd only have one mast and a maximum of 3 sails set at any one time.  Because I am a Ketch I can set as many as 5.Yesterday afternoon, we set the Mizzen Staysail, and it has been giving us an extra knot of speed ever since.  I'd been fretting for some time.  Our Rhumb-Line course puts the wind almost directly behind us, which is not only uncomfortably and rolly, but also rather slow.  So although we've had the Genoa polled-out, we've been zig-zagging down the line, between two imaginary lines drawn at 5 degrees either side of our Rhumb-Line course.  And since the weather has been unsettled with plenty of squall activity, I have been hesitant about letting out too many reefs, and hesitant about using anything but our plain sails.  But yesterday's was a lovely morning. read more...

BlueFlyer - Day 4, sunny

Hi all, Day 4 and we are now about 60 miles off the coast of Colombia. Light winds, 10-12 kts still from the East but due to go ENE and increase to 13-15 kts later.Very warm, no clouds and very sunny. We are too lazy to change the rig to jib & main and go reaching, so only doing 5 kts SOG at the moment. But we keep saying its not a race! All is well on board, although I would have happily thrown the entire Raymarine set up into the sea last night, no VHF, no SeaTalk and no plotters which keep flaring when turned down at night. I suspect a fault in the PCB in the SeaTalk box. I hope that I can get it sorted in Colon or Panama City. Otherwise I might just return the whole lot and fit B&G instead. The new poles for the jibs are working really well. We only pull the control ropes. read more...

Gray Lady - Gigi at the Main Sheet..

.....it happen again !! They told me to take care of the main sheet during a Gibe and I got tangled again.I will keep practicing ,but caching flying fish is well I really dominate .Gigi Gigi. read more...

Quasar V of Lleyn - log 26th January 08

Saturday 26th JanuaryALMOST!Last night I reshaped the Quasar mission statement that Sue Pelling wanted for Yachting World and left out the fun and frivolity bit which JB had written, which was a bit girly as it was supposed to come from 3 old chaps whose idea of a mission once upon a time in the days of Quasar 1 (1972-76) was more like 'birds and booze!'Its still far from being polished enough, but hey my old employers threw about £10k in management consultant fees and involved every single manager in the company for 2 days to produce their mission statement - what a waste of time and money that was!However last night Lori inspired by a sight of us in Quasar sweaters in Ireland 34 years ago has written:From Quasar 1 to Quasar VWe built the dream, which now shapes our livesA history. read more...

Graptolite - Abuse of Power

12:31.22N 070:02.56W Saturday 26th Jan 08What an interesting day we've had. The morning was uneventful but just as we sat down for a lunch of some Jamaican jerked chicken off the barbie, all the boat's 12v power died. This was not the usual batteries, which were good, but maybe something to do with a short in the isolator switch. Colin is an electrician by trade and we gave it our best shot but failed to fix it while bouncing around hove-to. This was somewhat serious in that we had no way to start the main engine, no way to start the generator, no navigation instruments and charts (more about this later), no radio comms, no autopilot, no radar, no depth sounder. We were thrown well back to the 19th Century in terms of sailing capabilities and we didn't even have the old salt who says. read more...

Kealoha 8 - Saturday off Columbia - Jens B'day ..celebrate in style ..with speed

Last night bought some  more great sailing  on K8 ,up to 14 knots boat speed as we surfed a 30 knt squall, alas an early morning jibe did result in some slightly burnt fingers (Nick will be wearing gloves in future when sweating the main !! ) and an odd temporary limp following some simple muscular damage ..  Dawn , bought  worrying and confused news of Tilley Mints ( Oy 82) involvement in the rescue of some St Lucian fisherman – alas the search continues  - they weren’t  wearing life jackets . – we are all at the mercy of the sea , and out thoughts are with the families of the missing fisherman  As we are now  sailing off the coast of Columbia , we have had the “new “kite up for a little , but prudence had us take it off when wind reached 20 knts , most importantly we are . read more...

Southern Princess - Saturday 26th Australia Day 13:26N 70:36W

I forgot in the excitement of starting off for Panama to introduce our crew for the next couple of months. Chris & Faith Mortimer we met while sailing in Sicily about 3 years ago and they have since curtailed their sailing activities and have settled in Cyprus. We have been in email contact since last we saw then in Marmaris, Turkey during 2006 and they volunteered to come as far as the Galapagos with us. They have their own Naiad 49 and are very experienced sailors with many miles of ocean passages under their keel. Yesterday afternoon was a bit of fun! A series of lines squalls formed quite a large front and blew around 25 knots right up our backside and SP just loved it. Averaging over 9 knots for a good while and topped out at 12.9 knots at one stage. The log states: 12:00. read more...

Graptolite - Nae Haggis

12:54.61N 067:19.10W at 26 Jan 2008 00:00 UTCWe took a look at the busted spinnaker pole this morning and concluded that a shorter but probably useable pole can be cobbled together from the bits. It needs bigger pop-rivets than I have on board to do a good job but it canwait until Panama.Burns Night tonight. We have nae chieftain'o'the puddin race in the stores nor neeps and tatties but we could be having a wee dram of something later if the squalls stay away.We are only 24 hours from Aruba.. Only one day away from....M. read more...

Ideal - DAY 3 - WHAT A DIFFERNCE A DAY MAKES! 24 LITTLE HOURS!

You can almost hear our skipper singing it, can't you and very nice it is out here too. The sun is shining and the wave height is only 1 metre. The Parasailor has been up for 24 hrs now and is doing well, the wind is constant and not too strong so all is well in the 'IDEAL' world .We are slowly catching up with the slower boats in the fleet as you can see on the Google Earth link.Last night the weather was also wonderful with almost a full moon and hardly any clouds with lots of stars, 15 knots of wind and doing between 6 to 7 knots over the ground, so every one had a good nights sleep [in turn of course ] but its amazing how you can look at the clock and think, oh great another hour in bed when you have only been in bed for a couple of hours. Always said 8 hrs sleep at once was to. read more...

Asolare - Log Day 3

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Jus'Do It 3 - Day 3 - Hot Hot Hot

Well folks after the excitement of the last 24 hours I am afraid it has been a disappointing 24 hours as there has been very little action! Sue is now coming up top for very short periods of fresh air more frequently but still struggling credit it to her she is putting a very brave face on it!  Wind speeds 15-20 knots throughout the night with good progress being made and a 24 hour run similar to yesterday of 204 miles despite the spinnaker catastrophe! The weather now is lighter winds and boiling hot as we all struggle to keep cool hopefully the wind should start to pick up and bring in the last half of the journey! At some point this morning we could just make out an aeroplane flying on the horizon but appeared to be very low in the sky we later heard some chat regarding. read more...

Lady Kay - Log Day 4- what beautiful weather!

Caught a lovely skipjack tuna yesterday and had sashimi and seared fillet for supper. Weather greatly improved today - clear blue skies and steady 15 knots. Caught large wahoo today, froze most and having a seafood medley of tuna and wahoo tonight. Rectified problem with SSB radio and now transmitting as well as receiving. Jackie, Michael, Hilton, Carrie and Kerry fromLady Kay. read more...

Andante of Mersey - Log 2

My first blog - should have been compiled yesterday but things rarely go according to plan.  Anyway today the weather is beautiful, with a following wind and blue skies, warm by day and night. Yesterday was dull with, occassionally, torrential rain.Ron is reading and Dave, as usual, when he sees the sun has just pegged out another load of dhobi, Bob is on the computor and Ann cursing in the galley.  I'm just lounging around.No other yachts in sight but a large bulk carrier has just politely altered heading and is now passing our stern. I hope the Captain noticed our friendly waves.We haven't fished as yet as there has been no need as we have eaten Ann's three prepared meals on the first three evenings and today it will be Dave's speciality - roast leg of lamb and roast potatoes.Everyone. read more...

Cleone - Log Day 4 - Reef and Gybe

Elizabeth was compaining that she was not familiar with reefing and gybing Cleone; she is now! Yesterday's run was nothing but hard work, even given that we are in the Caribbean.  Although the forecast gave no sign of it, we were beset by squalls followed by periods of lighter wind all day.  There was intermittent rain, and never did the wind stay in a constant direction for more than a few minutes.  Reef in, reef out, gybe onto port tack, gybe back to starboard we hardly had time to slip out for a quick lunch-time pint.  However, during a short break, it was down to the Peat Spade (for a change) where the smoked salmon and cream cheese on brown bread made a fantastic lunch, together with a few pints of Tetleys (I wish, though the bit about the smoked salmon is true, Ed).  But as a. read more...

Blue Flyer Day 3

RobFirst try at fishing today.  Hope we have some luck.  JR is resident expert and has set a lure for Dorado.  He expects to catch at sunset in the last round-up as the fish are rushing to their equivalent of the pub on their way home to the pub.  I'll have to explain to him that he will only catch old fashioned males or testostrone filled young female business fish with these tactics. We're less than 100 miles from our turning poin where we head more southerly past Colombia.  Due to more severe weather near the coast we've been advised to stay 60 miles off the land by Bruce the wether router.  Hugh picked up on him from two Aussie boats Storyteller and Southern Princess both Beneteau 57's. We're well up with the fleet but we loose a bit by keepiong north but we don't want to go any. read more...

Talulah Ruby II - Day 3

Sometimes it doesn't rain it just pours. Thursday night was wet and squally. Friday morning gray wet and squally, with big waves. Brian caught sight of a upturned dinghy close to the boat, it had been this way for sometime as it had lots of growth underneath. By the time we had furled the sails turned round we also managed to hook a baracuda,breaking the traveler in an accidental gybe, what with hundreds of tiny balls rolling around on deck, reeling in the barracuda andrunning into a big squall we managed to loose sight of the dinghy in the poor visibility and big waves. All of us thought how difficult it would be to see a man overboard in these conditions, but the drill was usefull and a good lesson learned. We have now managed to jury rig the boom by tying the sheets on the back of the. read more...

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