Miss Liz II - Log - Complete

Sorry for the delay!  We arrived at Rodney Bay at 02.50 on Friday morning. Our support team was there to congratulate us (Liz and Geraldine), plus the ARC and St. Lucia folks - the later with very welcome rum punch!  Not as fast a crossing as we would have liked, but we feel pretty god about it none the less.  The last day or so was spent repairing, cleaning and having fun. Let the parties commence!!. read more...

Miss Liz II - Log - Day 17 - So near yet so far.....

As I write this we are under motor with Chris on the helm about 150 miles out from St Lucia.Yesterday was a good day with solid mileage, the Parasailor working well in winds of 12 - 15 Knots and Harry keeping us on a good course. As we approached nightfall after a good day we were confident that with the winds we would make good progress over night. Over confidence is not something I would accuse any of us after this trip, but we retired (except for those on shift!) feeling pretty good.Alarms went off at 01.40 as Rob was having problems. The Parasailor had blown out in 15 Knots of wind! So Jon, Nigel and myself lowered the sail and moved on to the Jib which was giving us about 6 knots. By the 7am the wind had shifted so that we could not maintain speed and direction so we went on to the. read more...

Miss Liz II - Log - Day 16 - Nothing to report sir!

Nothing broke, nobody broke anything, no one hurt. So a good day! The wind continues to frustrate. With under 300 miles to go as I write this we have 5 - 10 knots from the East, pushing us a long at 5 - 6 Knots. Not as fast as we would like, but the destination is near...We can almost smell the cocktails!Parasailior driven by Harry continue to work well down wind and that means we are in watch mode so reasonably low stress.Chicken curry for dinner last night so Miss Liz II has an interesting fragrance today!. read more...

Miss Liz II - Log = Day 15 - Becalmed

What a different a day makes. After the storms of Sunday night, on Monday during the day the winds steadily calmed until by evening there was none at all. So the Iron sail was cranked up and we started to motor. This went on for most of the night - although about 2am we did raise the parasailor and were able to motor sail, albeit slowly. This has put us back time wise and it now looks likely that we will make landfall somewhere on Friday...Incident of the day? The self tacking Jib car has broken.Selden will be getting a call as it is only 6 months old!! Luckily we are able to rig as a normal Jib as we have cars on the coach roof for the purpose - so just a few changes in the sheets required.Dinner was based on beef, with every vegetable possible included...An interesting Chris. read more...

Miss Liz II - Log -Day 14. Thunder and Lightening, Very, Very Frighteneing..

ME! As the song goes.Yesterday went well, reasonable winds and distance. As evening approached we saw the dark clouds on the horizon and lowered the Parasailor. Engine on. In the distance lightening appeared. Now, I'm not a fan of lightening at the best of times (after being hit in Houston a few years ago), so the hairs on my neck immediately stood on end. We placed as much of our electronics as we could in the oven (protection from a lightening strike - the Faraday cage principle for anyone who wants to look it up) and motored on as now the winds were building and coming from every quarter. Then the rain came......worst yet.Jon was on shift but I went to help him out.As the wind built we motored at 2.5 Knots into the wind....realising that the parasailor needed tying down better on. read more...