Bandido - Log day 17

Hi everyone,We have made very good speed through the night as the wind picked up just about dinner time, we took the chute down just after Nigel's great chicken curry dinner and have been using normal sails, our speed has been between 8 - 9 kts although our VMG is about a knot and a half below this as we do not have a spinnaker pole to sail down wind, so we are going from reach to reach. Our distance to go is 1183 nm about a week to go I think?Our first loaf of bread was baked last night by me and this morning Gus cooked us all a bacon sandwich which went down Great.We are trying our hand at fishing again today as we are not using the cruising chute so can stop if we hook a fish, will let you know how we get on.Happy sailingBryan. read more...

Bandido - Log day 16

Hi everyone, We reached the half-way point last night, all is well aboard Bandido, we have had some great sailing with the cruising chute over the last few days, yesterday we went through the tail end of a cold front so we dropped the cruising chute and used normal sails, it was very overcast and humid, the wind had picked up a little and the cross seas were a bit uncomfortable for a while, but the seas soon settled out so it was time for the cruising chute again, we are certainly getting well drilled in using the chute. We tried our hand at fishing again yesterday, we had two takes both mahi-mahi but only small and they both dropped back into the sea as they were about to be landed. We are getting a little low of fish in the freezer so need to stock up soon to keep Gus going on the BBQ. read more...

Bandido - Log day 11

Hi everyone, Day 11 from leaving Las Palmas, great sailing for the last 24 hours, we have had as steady Easterly to East North East wind force 5 and averaging 7.5kts although our course has been further south to get below 20 deg N so our VMG has not been so good. We caught our 2nd fish this morning a mahimahi (dolphin fish) about 5 kg much to the delight of Gus in reeling it in! that will see us good for 2 meals, Gus is already getting the BBQ ready. There should be a picture of the crew on the web site now? in the hope it is we are from left to right Nigel, Alex, Gus, Bryan, Roger and Edwin. this was our thanks giving dinner in port before leaving for the 2nd time. Happy sailing Bryan . read more...

Bandido - Log day 10

Hi everyone,We got our first 20kt wind from ENE today (Tuesday 29th), and been cruising between 8-9kts since first light, We are currently heading down to 20 deg North and 30 deg West in the hope of getting sustained trade winds for the rest of the crossing, We have been monitoring the rest of the fleet ahead of us to see what they are doing and what speeds they are averaging, it looks like we are making a little ground up on a few yacht ahead of us but think they are too far ahead of us to join them in arriving into St Lucia.All is well aboard, Bandido is in great shape and enjoying the stronger winds, the crew are all in good spirit and settling into a comfortable routine with some very nice meals coming out of the galley, which includestews, pork chops with mash potatoes veg and. read more...

Bandido - On our way

It is now 24 hours since we left Gran Canaries following repairs to our steering gear, the sea trials went well (A great thank you to the Oyster team for their quick response and efforts), we are now on our way to St Lucia, We had light winds for the first 6 hours leaving Gran canaries as being in the wind shadow of the island, then the steady trade wind from ENE started to build and we were sailing again, what a great feeling, we have had 20kts of wind all through the night which has helped us catch up a little time I think, our average speed being just over 7 kts.We tried our hand at fishing again yesterday but no luck after about 8 hours, Gus then brought in the lure for the night only to find we forgot to take the protective plastic collar off the hook! no excuses for today!!Alex. read more...