Gertha 4 - Oeiras

38.40 N : 9.19W   The weather has moved to warm, blue skies and wind from the north.Gertha buzzed down the coast rounding a headland with max speed of 14.4kn , in the words of that silly cook program sailing does not get better than this.Today is the first day that we are not trying to catch up with the delayed start, Gerrty has had a clean and polish and we have a wifi that works.The world cruising team laid on a meal last night complete with plastic plates, I checked whether they needed to be returned for cleaning; the answer cannot placed in the public domain. We look foward to the final meal in Lagos may be we will have paper plates.All is good with our world and hope all is good with everyone out there.S. read more...

Gertha 4 - no wind

The rally is on its way, all boats, except two, rushed out at first light.The two left in Bayona are waiting for the wind to come and go before setting off, as the other option was motor fast to beat the wind before it comes on strong.Gertha is waiting as she fails to go under engine with any speed. Murphy is also waiting as lusts after a challenge of sailing against Gerty.It is now 11 am and wind is slowly arriving , looks like a late afternoon departure with some over night. The guys from world cruising have apologised for may be not being on hand to take our lines if we arrive in the small hours; but with the excellent help they always give they can be let off for this.Simon  . read more...

Gertha 4 - Bayona

42.07N 8.50W The last two days of Biscay were great fun, Gertha was in romp mode, the last few hours were light but the donkey was never used. We are pleased to be the fastest Hanse 370.The guys from World Cruising continue to excel in their managment of the event, it is hard to think what they could do to improve anything.Brian contiues to have problems with a high wind passage, Trevor is remaining on his diet and looks good for it.S  . read more...

Gertha 4 - Day One !!

Well, after the drama’s of the previous few days, I’d like to tell you that the day dawned warm and sunny. We set off on our little “jaunt” in shorts, T shirts and sporting rather attractive sunglasses. The truth however is rather disappointing. The Rally start has been postponed for the minute, due to a series of Low pressure systems heading down the Channel, and in particular a rather nasty one which looks like it’ll be making an appearance sometime on Thursday (ish) out in Biscay.So, as things stand we’re still holed up in Plymouth, but trying to find gaps in the weather to see if we perhaps hop across to Northern France and waiting for it all to blow through over there... We are however managing some rather complex passage planning and have decided. read more...