White Satin - Reflections on an Atlantic crossing

Rodney Bay 0 miles to go!!As some of you know I did my first Atlantic crossing on a yacht called Northern Child, I was one of 10 paying crew and I was pretty new to sailing.It was a fantastic adventure and, to be honest, a one off as far as I was concerned. I remember returning home to find that Caroline, one of my colleagues at Dega my old company, had plastered our work kitchen walls with all the daily blogs. I was really touched and came away with a tear in my eye.I never dreamt that, 10 years on, I would be doing this voyage in our own boat, it is a very different experience but one we will all savour for a long time. Although as Vicki said I did promise to bring her back here, so maybe the plan was actually hatched then.It all worked because every one of the crew worked so hard to. read more...

White Satin - Land Ahoy !

5 am -3020 miles sailed, 20 to goIt is 5 am and we have the first glimmer of dawn in the East, and far moreexcitingly we have the first hint of land to the West.Two glows of lightcan be made out - the one to the left of our bow is St Lucia, the other tothe right is the island of Martinique. So in a couple of hours we shouldpass between the two islands, then turn left for a few miles down the eastcoast of St Lucia to the finish line at the marina in Rodney Bay.The Atlantic has given us a last wild night, and we are still tossing aroundin big waves - once we round the corner we willbe in the lee of the islandand all will calm down which will be very welcome. Late yesterdayafternoon for the first time this voyage a wave broke over the back of theboat andsent quite a bit of water into the. read more...

White Satin - Christmas pud and a star in the East

2880 miles sailed, 150 to goWhite Satin is continuing to barrel along towards St Lucia with on-boardlife made very challenging by the motion.We move carefully around eachother in a kind of slow motionballet holding on for dear life as the boat lurches from one side to theother.When you go to fillthe kettle, after turning the tap on you need to swaythe kettle from left to right and back again along with the motion of theboat, in an effort to actually get most of the waterinto it and not just spray it liberally around the sink. Trying to sleepover recent nights has been like being in a large washing machine on adelicate cycle - last night it was more like heavily soiled cottons!Yesterday was David's 60th birthday and although it had originally beenexpected that we would be in St Lucia by. read more...

White Satin - The stars

Saturday 10 December2743 miles sailed, 289 to goAll the stars are coming out tonight, they're lighting up the sky tonight. For you; for you.Our night watch sees a clear, ink-black sky spattered with the light of a hundred billion stars. No moon to dilute their presence. No glow from the towns and cities on land a thousand miles distant. I should recognise some of this scene - Polaris; Betelgeuse, the Andromeda galaxy. Yet I struggle to name any but The Plough - where is this great bear of which it plays its part? The sky is too full, crowded with so many vaguely guessable shapes I don't know where to start. The Ancients had a lifetime of such nights to let their imaginations wander, inventing characters to remember and link and make sense of it all. I am content just with its majesty.The. read more...

White Satin - Nearly there

2574 miles sailed 453 miles to goHere is yet another attempt to depict daily life on White Satin.We are looking at the very strong possibility of a Monday arrival, although I am trying not to tempt fate here.On our very first entry in this blog, we queried where David will be for hisbirthday.Well, we now know the answer to that and are doing all we can to make it special for him - although being at sea is a pretty memorable way of marking the occasion and proves that there is still life in the old dog yet.Anyhow, more of that tomorrow.When David returned from his first ARC in 2006, he took some East Caribbean dollars out of his pocket and said that he wasn't going to change them back into pounds, St Lucia was so beautiful that we must return.It may have taken us 10 years to do so but we. read more...