Escapado - Skippers Blog 30th November

20 years of teaching sailing and it was last night I had one of the most dream perfect nights on the helm. No stars, no pods of dolphins. Instead, a cloudy, squally sky, a brilliant full moon, waves perfectly square on to the stern and a breeze of 20kts with the symmetric flying.

What this meant was, the brilliance of the moon cast stunning dancing shadows from the thick clouds across the silvery, slippery waves. The water picked us up from astern and propelled all 40ft of us at a speed across the rolling water beneath us with the spinnaker leading the way. It felt like skiing down a mogul run on perfect powder with the swaying of trees all around as the shadows flashed by.

Alistar described it as surreal. It felt like a dream.

The crew are loving learning to helm with spinnakers at night. I love to watch them as a squall approaches, the helmsman grips the helm, hands wrap tighter around the spin sheet, the guy is manned with full attention. Everyone is in tune with the power & intensity of nature around us.

Escapado has a fantastic sail wardrobe and she is enjoying her charge under various types of canvas. My favourite as always is the symmetric spinnakers 🙂