Daily Logs

Walkabout - Day 17 - Holy Hydrovane said Skipsy - It's a Blooming Miracle!

S8:42.4 W130:58.0The miles to go are gradually coming down - less than 500NM to go now.We have just clicked through 12000NM since leaving the UK.Interestingly, Tom has done 5000NM of these miles with us since joining Walkabout in February - that is some big miles for someone new to sailing!And earns Tom a new tattoo - a swallow - which is the traditional sailors tattoo to mark every 5000NM sailed.I think it would look nice on his neck - just above the collar line.Others may have a different view….!!Yesterday was a bit frustrating - all the weather indicated that the wind would be filling in and we would be making reasonable speed under sail.There were many false dawns to the arrival of the wind, and a bit of Hokey Cokey with the sails and engine as we tried to make reasonable. read more...

Walkabout - Day 16 - Motoring on a flat Pacific Ocean

S8:26 W128:33The last 24 hours has seen Walkabout change from a sailing boat to a motorboat! With flat calm seas comes very little or no wind at all. It was in the forecast and so expected and the prediction actually arrived when they said it would! As we move to single figures on the wind front, we can sail with lighter sails either our Blue Water Runner or G1 but when the true wind drops below 8 knots coming from dead behind on a regular basis, its time to start up the engine. We certainly wont be able to motor the remaining distance but we can motor through a low wind patch to where we can pick up more wind and sail the rest of the way to Hiva Oa. The forecast is telling us that the wind will pick up from later today (we hope) and will increase to 20+ knots for a few days driving us. read more...

Walkabout - Day 15 - Hot Hot Hot

S08:15 W126:19By around 8am yesterday we we already sweating up on deck. Due to the lower winds we don’t get any breeze on the boat at all. With no clouds in the sky the sun was beating down, we are all very grateful for the Bimini keeping the sun off of us. We managed to make some good progress with the BWR (Blue Water Runner, a sail for dead downwind) in the morning even with the light winds (around 7-9 knots). But at around midday we were bobbing around a bit to much for our liking. The engine went on and we had to get used to the low drone of 2000 revs again. Throughout the day we kept an eye on the wind, but as soon as the wind would pick up again and we would talk about sailing, sure enough the wind would drop back to the point it wouldn’t be worth it. Because of the low wind the. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog- Back to life...back to reality

So I left the lads facing into the ‘big jump’ across to French Polynesia, and I can honestly say I never wanted more than to just go with them. I flew to Guayaquil, in Ecuador, on to Madrid and back to a (remarkably dry and warm) Dublin. But sadly I my adventure had to conclude in Galapagos. It’s funny coming back everyone asks ‘how was it?’, ‘it must have been the trip of a lifetime?’, and the only honest answer is – yes it absolutely was! It really was everything I could have imagined and more.Galapagos was spectacular. From about 150 miles out, it was a breath-taking blur of sea-life - sailing through pods of pilot whales, to enormous sperm/Brydes whales, to playful dolphins at the bow. Red-footed boobies hitching a ride on the boat, to swimming through shoal after shoal of fish,. read more...

Walkabout - Day 14 - It's WAHOO kind of day

S7:29 W121:31Not quite sure what happened but the rod and line went back in the water yesterday!Since leaving St Lucia on this epic journey, it has become a bit of a tradition that fish only bite when we have multiple things going on! No sooner had we made a sail change to the G1 to increase our boat speed for the last few hours of daylight, dinner was being prepped down in the galley, when we all heard the fishing reel whistle notifying us that we have something on the hook! We all quickly made our way to the cockpit, Andrew picks up the rod and begins to reel it in, Tom and I furl the G1 to slow the boat down and give Andrew the best possible chance of reeling our catch in, we also turned slightly to windward to de-power the mainsail and so at 4 knots boat speed Tom takes over the rod. read more...

Walkabout - Day 13 - The wind playing tricks

S 07:03 W118:57As I came up to take over from Andrew on my night shift Andrew told me that once again the wind had made a 40 degree wind shift and was now at 130 degrees, we were no longer on a heading to Hiva Oa, more like Hawaii!! This has happened the past 2 night as well. We have made our sail plan and gone into the night happily and it has lasted well, until the early hours where the wind decides that it is going to take us on its own course. In some cases this hasn’t been to bad but other times it has been a pain and only increases our overall miles sailed. Andrew decided at 5am that we needed to take the BWR down and put the main up (with 1 reef in) and pull the Genoa out. This was great for me and Andrew as we were already awake. Not so good for Traci who was fast asleep. We soon. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama blog - Pacific Blues

Here we are, 11 days out of Puerto Ayora in the Galapagos, having passed the halfway point on Friday evening, and about 1,280 nm to go as I write this early on Sunday morning Ship’s time. The Tradewinds are proving fickle, with lots of blue areas, areas of light or no wind, spreading over our path westwards and our routing software seemingly unable to find a sensible route through, so we are trying to thread the needle to stay in the bands of wind.To do this the big blue butterfly is our sail of choice as it can pull us along at about 50% of the wind speed. Unfortunately the wind angles are such that it keeps dragging us North towards the blue areas on the map. Blue attracting blue???The strategy has therefore become run northwards under blue at night and in the morning change to the. read more...

Walkabout - Day 12 - Over Half Way Day

S7:08 W116:27By most methods of assessment we passed through halfway yesterday.We celebrated the crossing of the halfway line of longitude with a beer and at tube of Pringles at about 1100 (Walkabout Time).We all agreed that the beer was nice, tasted a bit strange after 12 days on the wagon.But resisted the urge to have another just to check whether the first was ok. Shortly after crossing this nebulous line we were joined by a big pod of dolphins around the boat and off the bow.They seemed to think this milestone was worth celebrating too.One dimension where we are probably not over halfway is time.It took us just under 10 days to get to the halfway line of longitude at an average speed of 6.8 knots.The last couple of days have seem much lighter winds, and the days ahead look lighter. read more...

Walkabout - Day 11 - Sunrises on Walkabout

S7:32 W114:13One of the best moments of each day is being up in the cockpit as the darkness gradually lifts with a fresh coffee in hand as the light in the sky slowly builds and eventually the sun appears casting its rays across the ocean and sets you up for a new day.Another 24 hours on Walkabout and the blue water runner has been pulling us along ever closer to Hiva Oa. We’ve had steady winds of 9-13 knots with the occasional minor squall and higher winds but overall its been a pretty relaxed day. The seas are calmer with half a meter of swell, we’ve seen a few birds flying around in the distance but not much in the way of sea life or fishing for that matter! The rod and line went back out yesterday after a few changes to lures and traces but nothing is biting at the moment and it. read more...

Walkabout - Relaxing days at sea

S7:46 W111:57Having now completed a full week at sea we are well and truly in full swing of life onboard. The last few days have been very slow and relaxed. Lots of catching up on sleep, reading, eating and playing music. We had one fishing line out yesterday but bringing it in the evening found that it had no lure on it. The metal clip to the wire trace had ripped in two. Something big must have had a go at it. We had a great days sailing with the blue water runner up from about 11 in the morning after our morning sail change. We ended up leaving the sail up overnight due to hours of low windspeed and no squalls in sight. We just had to be checking the radar regularly to ensure no squalls had built in the distance and would catch us out. The boat sits flat on the water and the sailing. read more...

Walkabout - Day 9 - Flying Fish and Flying Boobies

S8:02 W109:25The last 24 hours have been a bit of a mixed bag weather wise.Early yesterday was bright with stable winds 14-18 knots from the ESE.The solar was charging the batteries and the sailing was pretty straight forward - port tack, 1 reef in the main and full Genoa.The Hydrovane had all the steering under control.The cloud cover increased by lunchtime, and soon there were the signs of rain and squalls around us.A short while later we had a call on the VHF from Into The Mystic, who were about 4 miles away from us, to say that they had just been hit by a big one, with the wind jumping from 14 to 26 knots in an instant, accompanied by torrential rain - And it was heading our way.The radar told the same story - big squall and we were right in it’s track.We got ourselves sorted with. read more...

Walkabout - Day 8 - 1000 nautical miles DONE!

S7:31 W106:28A wonderful feeling on board Walkabout today as we passed the 1000nm milestone since leaving Galapagos and we are roughly a third of the way to Hiva Oa!We also clocked up our biggest 24 hour run of this trip so far - 181nm.Its been another cloudy day with little sun, a few sail changes but mainly goose-winging downwind or wing-on-wing sailing which means we have the Genoa poled out on our port side and the mainsail is on our starboard side and the wind is almost directly behind us.Its been a little rolly at times and therefore we move around the boat ‘one hand for us and one hand for the boat’ making simple things like making lunch or even going to the toilet challenging! But that hasn’t stopped us eating well and enjoying the Mahi Mahi we caught the previous day. We feasted. read more...

Walkabout - Day 7 - Fishing ban

S7:22 W103:34It was a sad day due to my fishing license having been revoked by Head chef.We have now made it out of the doldrums so are well in towards the trade winds now. The weather isn’t very settled and is still very squally and wet at times. We are hoping that this will come to an end soon and be more settled in a few days. Although the boats ahead have reported no improvement. But here's to hoping.Monday started off well with the sun finally coming out. We hadn’t seen the sun much in the last few days due to still being caught up in the cloud from the squalls. The wind was steady and we spent most of the day on the Hydrovane. There were a couple of sail changes to break the day up, we hoisted the blue water runner and flew that until the wind picked up and was overpowered. So that. read more...

Walkabout - Day 6 - A Quarter of the way to Hiva Oa!

S6:55 W101:00We have made steady progress over the last 24 hours, heading in the right direction towards Hiva Oa.This morning we went through the one quarter distance milestone!! WHOOHOOThe wind is fairly stable from ESE at between 14-20 knots.There have been a couple of sail set ups over the last 24 hours as we try to optimise speed and direction.The Blue Water Runner went up yesterday lunchtime, which worked quite well, but the wind angle meant that it prevented us heading any further south.So we reverted to main and Genoa overnight.That started with 1 reef in the main, until 2300 when the wind built to 20knots and the desire for a more comfortable night meant we put the 3rd reef in.As I write, the decision needs to be made for our set up for the day - BWR could fit the bill.One. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Rangiroa

Wow … we have loved this Atoll. When we arrived we had a day of continuous rain and cloud but from there on, aside from passing tropical showers, the sun was shining, the sky was true blue and the sea a myriad of greens, aquamarine, turquoise and a deep blue. I joined up with Fiona from S/Y Matilda and we did 2 dives through the pass … drifting through the coral with the current we saw shoals of barracuda, a hammerhead, a massive Napoleon Wrasse, glorious reef fish and dolphins ‘holding hands’ - completely magical. We found Relais de Josephine … a small local bar and restaurant looking out over the pass where we could watch sharks and dolphins whilst having coffee or cocktails - my favourite place. We biked our way around the atoll and discovered ‘Pearly’ - a little hut owned by a. read more...

Walkabout - Walkabout has left The Galapagos xxx

Hi everyone and especially to mum who I know is avidly reading these mails and a quick hello to you to say that all is well and I love you xxAlso a special hello to Ingaborg our neighbour in Noss who has just had a hip operation today, we are thinking of you and wishing you a speedy recovery xxA quick update as we set off from Santa Cruz, Galapagos today at 1330, half an hour later than planned due immigration checks all boats have to go through. Thankfully they weren’t as rigorous as the arrival checks and we were boarded by 5 officials to ensure we weren’t smuggling any iguanas or penguins! ;)We have over 3000nm to our next destination of Hiva Oa in French Polynesia. This should take us between 20 and 24 days - depending on the wind…We are currently moving through the fleet of boats. read more...

Walkabout - Motoring through the doldrums with 2.4 knots of wind

S2:02 W91:36Good morning on Day 1 of our passage to Hiva Oa - 0540 local timeWalkabout’s first night shift is almost over and so we begin life at sea once again only this time its a little longer than usual. Over 3000 nautical miles to a new destination and exploring. The early morning shift of 0500-0800 is a busy one! At first light the fishing lines go out to catch the early morning fishies which is apparently one of the best times to fish, not so lucky for us so far though. We have two lines, one rod and the other a hand-line with a small piece of bungie acting as a tell-tale if we have anything on the line. Both have been deployed and so we wait to see what today brings.No fish were caught last night so during our evening SSB radio call with the other boats we enjoyed spaghetti. read more...

Walkabout - Rain Rain Rain

S5:22 W95:53Friday 14th was our 3rd day at sea. The day was started by a rude awakening at 6:15 to reef the sails as the wind had picked up and a squall coming in. We assumed it would be a temporary measure. 12 hours later we were just about at the stage where we could come up and not get wet through from the rain pouring in. There was lots of thunder and lightening action throughout the day. It was a strange day where I could mostly relate it to summers in Cornwall which were wet and windy camping, hiding under canvas for shelter. The day was filled with too much wind then not enough so motoring was the only option. The sea state was sloppy and due to our angle that we were sailing across it was not very comfortable. At this stage we had managed to sail much more than we thought we were. read more...

Walkabout - The fish are biting

S6:23 W98:30Day 4 was a grand fishing day!We have two new crew onboard as of yesterday, first to be introduced is ‘Fish Whisperer Tom’ and the second is ‘Boat Whisperer Andrew’. Walkabout is making good progress with a little over 600nm behind us. We have been flying the Mainsail and Genoa in various degrees of reef as we turned for our destination this morning at 0700 with Hiva Oa dead ahead. After a day or so of cloud it feels like we are leaving the squalls and rain behind and patchy blue skies are all around.The sea state is calmer if still a little lumpy and the roll and swell of the waves is now fully on our aft port quarter (back left side of the boat).We have just spotted a small pod of dolphins off the port side only 10m from the boat heading our way! The best welcome to the. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama into the South Pacific tradewinds

We are in a steady flow of 13 kt south easterly now after a strenuous day putting up and down our genneker and putting in and shaking out reefs in the main.The final set of squalls lasted most of the afternoon and seemed to act as a barrier to boats heading south with confusing changes in wind direction and strength. Continuing to head south of the rhumbline to stay in the breeze and likely to do that for another few days. Not entirely dissimilar to the Atlantic crossing but a good bit warmer and it is easier, if not a great sight, to strip down in rain showers rather than gearing up.There is a demand to see Polly’s Mahi Mahi but mine isn’t good enough as it doesn’t show how big it is... we will post a better one from Heno shortly.We ate fillets of it last night with mash and green. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama Galapagos end blog

We have just left Puerto Ayora on a glorious day in a glorious breeze and even if it all goes away, it is a fantastic start to the leg to the Marquesas.We didn’t win any prizes on the last leg, although our cheeky photo from the equator crossing certainly got the most laughs, Latitude Lads maybe ?? Tours are the order of the day in Galapagos as 80% of their income is from that and although our time was compressed, the lads fully participated.The highlight for most of the crew was the diving we did up at Seymour/Mosquera where we felt privileged to be in the water with the fish and turtles and of course some sleepy and not so sleepy sharks. It was not so much the enjoyment from spotting different things as the joy of being with them, in their environment, observing their normal activities. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - The passage from Ua Pou, Marquesas to Ahe, Tuamotu

We are here! First passage for just the two of us and we are alive, still friends and the boat is in one piece. We had fairly light winds, a few small squalls (the wind and rain appear very rapidly) when the sails generally need to be reefed in so the boat is not battered by the sudden big gusts, and lots of big skies, perfect sunsets and a full moon to guide us through the nights. With 3 hours on and 3 hours off, most of the time is taken either sailing or sleeping. We’ve generally caught up on sleep in time to have a meal together at 6pm and then on we go for another night. My sailing confidence has definitely improved over the months … I’m happy taking the sails in and out by myself; dealing with boats that come too close; managing squalls and keeping the sails filled …. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Nuka Hiva

I forgot to mention the welcome committee as we sailed into Nuka Hiva - a pod of dolphins showing us the way swimming and jumping on our bow … what a treat!Chris and I had a jobs day after Janie and Patrick left - provisioning, cleaning, laundry and generally getting ready for the next leg of the journey. We decided to stay a couple more days in the Marquesas - the islands are unique and we wanted to make the most of them. We sailed around to Daniel’s Bay - only 5 miles west from our anchorage … another beautiful and secluded bay with towering lush green mountains - it could be a fantasy island. Any moment, I am expecting to see creatures from Lord of the Rings! I joined up with some of the fleet to do a 10k hike up to a dry waterfall - simply beautiful landscape although I was bitten a. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Ua Pou

What a name for an island and what an island! Nicknamed by travellers ‘the Cathedral Island’, as we approached, it was easy to see why. Amazing geology - at least 12 spires in basalt rock emerging from the volcanic mountainous land. We all sat spell bound as we got closer and closer to the land. Our anchorage was a little rolly (aren’t they all??) but in our excitement, we didn’t care. We anchored at 4pm and by 4.30pm we were in the tender and off to hike up the hill to a large crucifix to see the sun going down behind the stunning pinnacles. The view was definitely worth the 40 minute hike up and we were rewarded with a cheeky beer at a perfectly placed guesthouse on the way down. The next morning we had a trip into the village - I was super keen to find the culture centre. read more...

Jadamama - Jadamama Blog 30th March towards Galapagos

The Return of the JadamamaIt has been a frustrating, though enjoyable, week spent in Panama City carrying out repairs to our starship. Our ardent followers will be aware that about 12 hours out of Las Perlas on our voyage to the Galapagos we heard some loud noises coming from the main halyard/#1 reef/jib sheet turning block on the starboard side deck as we put in a reef.Close inspection indicated that the fibreglass supporting the blocks had cracked and was at risk of giving way altogether, leaving us in a serious but not dangerous situation. After discussion with Key Yachting our only alternative was to return to Panama City for repairs, this against the wind and current we had up to now been enjoying in our favour!After a lot of banging and crashing into waves and motor sailing under. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Tahuata

A lovely relaxed sail across the 10 miles from Hiva Oa to Tahuata through the Bordelaise Channel. We spied coconut tree fringed beaches - beautiful white sand - very different to the black volcanic sand on the island we had just left. We sauntered along the coast line until we found a bay we could have to ourselves and weighed anchor. The joy of a calm anchorage, clear blue water and the possibility of a swim to the beach to explore. This is what I call a holiday and I resolved to do no jobs and simply enjoy the moment!Snorkelling was fabulous - so much to see and all so close to the boat. A wander along the empty beach and a lovely lie in the sun listening to my audio book. Heaven. Apéros, large G&T’s and a beautiful sunset … perfect. We planned to move to Ua Pou Island the. read more...

Walkabout - Panama Canal Transit

N8:54.8 W79:31.6 This is a bucket list item, as well as marking some pretty significant geographical significance. We have done the Atlantic just about as far as possible as you can go from East to West - quite a milestone.  And the obvious next milestone of getting to a new ocean - The Pacific! The Panama Canal does tend to act as a ‘Non return valve’ for sailors - most people only go through from East to West.  Once in the Pacific, us European sailors need to be prepared for an increasing sense of remoteness.  The provisioning and maintenance facilities reduce significantly, the milages get a lot bigger, and the prospect of jumping on a flight home are also much reduced.  That won’t be stopping us flying from Tahiti to get to Jamie and Lauralei’s. read more...

Mistral of Portsmouth - Mavi Mai (welcome) Hiva Oa!

OMG … we are actually here! Huge excitement as the sun rose on Wednesday morning (my watch) and the land emerged in the dawn. A sight for sore eyes. Janie on deck to share the joy; both of us snapping away - how many sun rise photos is too many??We dropped anchor at 0950 to much applause from fellow arc sailors already there and immediately popped the champagne … an epic journey … the longest passage we will ever do. Definitely worth celebrating! We were all tired but somehow it was like Christmas Day … so excited and lots to do in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the beautiful remote island  of Hiva Oa. First things first though - we had to check in, customs and immigration. There is always a very long list of jobs that need doing fast - we will only have 2 or 3 days on this. read more...

Walkabout - San Blas - end of Leg 2

9.31.1N 78.38.9W1100 3rd March 2023A time to relax ...Not quite sure where time is going at the moment!!Everything seems to be happening in a bit of a rush and San Blas was a welcome relief with a little time to relax and enjoy these wonderful islands.The San Blas are a stunning multitude of small palm tree islands with white sand, surrounded by coral reefs and home to the Guna Indians. Our first stop was Coco Bandero island where we anchored alongside Casamara, Mary Doll, Into the Mystic and Berlinetta who are all in the ARC Pacific. As soon as we anchored up and swam on the anchor to ensure it was dug in as the islands are very exposed to weather, we met up on the beach with friends and set about organising a game of beach cricket the following day which was not competitive at all!!. read more...