8 year old Sophia Jeffries will be taking ‘Ed the Iguana’ across the Atlantic on board Sirius after her winning entry revealing the story of how he lost his tail was voted the best. 'Ed the Iguana' is very well travelled, having made the ARC Atlantic crossing many times before, sailing on different boats each year after children entered the story competition. Ed is looking forward to sailing with Sophia and her family on the trip across to Saint Lucia and hopefully Sophia will post some pictures of his experience.
Aussie Bound: The Jeffries family originally chose the name Sirius for their Tayana 55, as it is the brightest star in Canis Major. Later, they found out that this was the name of the flagship boat that took the early settlers to Australia. As Sophia, her younger brother Cameron (6), Mum Karen and Dad Andrew are emigrating to Port Stephens in Australia via the ARC, this is a very fitting name.
After buying the boat in the Far East they then worked and lived in the UK before departing from Portsmouth exactly 225 years after the original Sirius set sail for Aussie. The family will sail with a number of friends after the ARC before enjoying their new life down under and expect to arrive by Christmas 2013!