Piccolo - 2 days to go

Provisioning boat. Making final repairs. Off toparty the night away.. read more...

Piccolo - Preparations

Preparations are well in hand.  The boat is all but ready and the food is scheduled to be delivered on Friday and the fruit and veg on Saturday.. read more...

Piccolo : 22 Nov 2010, First 30 hours progress

Hello World! After a good start at the pin end we are all off.  The the only commotion was a Dutch voice calling out to a German boat that 'this is supposed to be a friendly race' so we can only suppose they were invading their space...again! The days sail was with the spinnaker up and good initial progress was made. As night fell we dropped the kite and went with a poled out genoa.  The wind was a litte flukey and variable during the night although warm but with a beautiful clear moon surrounded by an enormous halo. Everyone seems to be slipping nicely into a routine and the watch system seems to be working well so far. At 10am the kite went back up and an average of 6-8 knots maintained through most of the day with an ENE wind of force 4...nice! At around 1630 we were headed and the. read more...

Piccolo - 24 November 2010, Of weather and whales

Hello World, Since our last missive on Monday evening we have progressed largely in a Southerly direction, hugging the coast of Africa and passing into the Tropics at about 4am this morning.  The wind has remained fairly light ranging from the lower end of force 5 Tuesday morning and progressively dropping to the zephyrs that have accompanied us for most of today.  Last night we maintained a steady breeze from the NE and a beautiful starry night was enjoyed, witnessing more stars than I have ever seen before, even in New Zealand.  Sorry Kiwi's, there is somewhere with less industry and therefore less polultion than you.  Satelites and shooting stars were also a distraction as was the occaisional visit from a dolphin or two. Today as the wind decreased and. read more...

Piccolo - Light winds and feeding the fishes

Hello World, What has happened since our last blog on Wednesday?  Well for yours truly the lack of meat and alcohol in my diet, coupled with a sudden influx of fresh (and not so fresh) fruit and veg has played havoc with my delicate constitution over the last couple of days culminating in me feeding the fishes over a wide arc (see what I did there?!) yesterday evening.  The purge has done me the world of good though and whatever was causing the distress appears to have been banished and I'm feeling good now.  We have just enjoyed some much needed comfort food in the form of a corn beef hash that went down very well and has filled the gaping hole left by the purge. Winds over the last two days have been light ranging from force 2 and occaisionally touching force 4. read more...