Milla of Falmouth - Milla: Progress Report 13- Mindelo / St Lucia Part 5

Hi allMonday: Apologies for the delay in sending the final installment. Life hasbeen quite busy fixing the boat.The last day of the passage was quite eventful. We hit three qualls, (twoat night), which usually start with 25-30 knot winds, buckets of rain andthen are followed by a period of absolutely no wind or very confusedbreeze. So all in all quite frustrating, the culmination of which was thatthe wind died completely so after sailing 2000 miles we had to motor thelast three hours to get into Rodney Bay in St. Lucia arriving about 02.30on Tuesday morning.After that, the merriment started again with lots of rum punch, sleep,followed by boat fixing which seems to have taken for ever. The finaltally was two chafed halyards, broken car and batten on the main, threesmall holes in the code. read more...

Milla of Falmouth - Milla: Progress Report 12 - Mindelo / St Lucia Part 4

Hi allSunday. The fun has not stopped. The winds are still 18-20 knots and weare romping along at a respectable 7-8-9 knots. Once again the curse ofthe night has cast its spell. Around 0200 this morning, as we were rollingdown big waves surfing nicely, the autopilot decided to disengage and stopdoing its thing. As a consequence for the rest of the night we decided tohand steer until day light when it would be easier to establish what theproblem was. When daylight did arrive, and after exploration in the sternlocker, it transpired that the pin which links the two autopilot rams tothe rudder quadrant has sheered. Another job for the the 'to do' list.So for the remaining 300 miles, we will be hand steering. It is not allbad. The seas are very confused at the moment and the winds are. read more...

Milla of Falmouth - Milla: Progress Report 11 - Mindelo / St Lucia Part 3

Hi allFridayThankfully, last night was a calmer one with a steady 14-16 knots, whichwas just enough to make the zero fly and a good night's sleep was had byall.The moon appears much later now and is on the wane, but when it does,it turns the sea into a silver landscape - very pretty if you like thatsort of thing and also being up at 0300.For a number of days there has been a foul smell emerging from the headnext to the galley. In an attempt to rectify the problem, the wc has beencleaned four times, but to no avail. Solutions to resolve this dilemmaonce we have arrived in St Lucia, have already been devised involvingdosing the holding tank with disinfectant and more loo scrubbing.Any way the good news is, upon further inspection and a desperate attemptto determine the source of the odour,. read more...

Milla of Falmouth - Milla: Progress Report 11- Mindelo / St Lucia Part 3

Hi allThursday: Yesterday was an eventful day for a number of reasons. First andforemost we were half way - yippee!!! The day was celebrated with cleansheets, fresh water showers on the transom, and banana cake. What more canyou ask for. However the evening was not as delightful as the day.Around 18.00, the tack line on the code zero chafed through butthankfully, the furling line, which was wrapped round a bow cleat, heldthe sail in place until a new tack line could be fitted. Then around 22.00hours the topping lift chafed through at the top of the mast and whilst inthe process of trying to replace it with the mail halyard, the breezedecided to back quickly which resulted in the boat track being pulledquickly to windward and an alarming increase in speed and noise. Once thezero gets. read more...

Milla of Falmouth - Milla: Progress Report 9 - Mindelo / St Lucia Part 1

Hi allThursday: Back on the road again. The Cape Verde islands are truly beautiful, but it is good to get going once more. Over the last couple of days in the marina, you could feel the tension slowly rising, with people rushing round trying to fix the things they didn't know they needed, had broken, and now needed repairing and endless queues at the fuel dock to replace burnt supplies. Crew members could be found sitting on the pontoons frantically scrubbing soil covered vegetables bought at the local outside market prior to neatly stowing them on board in string baskets hung off the stern solar panel gantries.Once the vegetable/ fruit packing was completed the overall effect was very attractive and looked like a cross between Carmen Miranda and a harvest festival.This state of. read more...