Skye Blue - Skye Blue Land Ohoy!

This blog was written in advance of our crossing the finishing line - for practical reasons the last day of sailing is a busy one. But rest assured if you are reading this: we are safe; we are well and we have made it to Rodney Bay. And after several rum punches we will most likely be '3-sheets-to-the-wind', much like Skye Blue has been over the last few weeks. Following which, we will be re-introduced back into society just as soon as we're scrubbed and the crew is made hygienic again. Well, what and adventure it's been, after leaving Las Palmas some 20 days ago. There are too many highlights to share in this post as previous entries will attest. However, suffice to say from the: excitement of the choppy waters of the early days; to the blustery winds of a southerly bearing sail; to the. read more...

Skye Blue - The Skye Blue Penultimate Countdown

Hi all, So hopefully this will be our second last post. It's been a challenging few days in many ways... -Conversation is running dry - in fact we recently had a 30 minute conversation about nail clipper design, something about a 'self-retaining-storage-compartment` to prevent loose nails landing on deck. -Our route to the finish line has been less than straight through necessity - due to lack of wind. But it did lead this writer to wonder when the lower case letter 'h' started to appear as a trail on the chart plotter, was the skipper trying to spell out the word 'help'?!? But I've been reliably informed this is more the 'mark of Zorro´ with all the tacking and gybing required - zigging and zagging our way home. -The constant anticipation of squalls bringing variable winds and rain and. read more...

Skye Blue - It's a wonderful world...

We're still at sea and heading in the right directionwith hot sunshine days, cooler nights and without too many squalls.   So far we've seen and had a few visitors to Skye Blueincluding:   Dolphins, at least 3 different types, according to theSkipper (big, medium and small!!); Shoals/flights of flying fish - one landed onMalene's lap during a gybe in the middle of the night; a 3 foot turtle happilybobbing along; golden Dorado, two caught and eaten; and Saragossa (sea)weed inbeautiful big chains and islands which must have been released by the dorado indefence of us fishing and getting our still elusive, fish pie!   At 800 miles offshore a beautiful white Egrit circled usmany times but didn't land; a single Boobie successfully dived and caught fish;several Petrel swooped. read more...

Skye Blue - reflections over land

So near, yet so far. The trades have not really been much help so far but we have picked up a nice Southerly and have been reaching through the warm Oceanic waters at almost 7 knots. The sun is shining (between the showers and squalls) and the crew are all happy to be sailing again towards St Lucia and land. Stable and unmoving land, a place where you can stand without having to hold on. Land, a place where you can sleep without fear of being rolled out of your bunk and landing on the hard floor. Land, a place where you can stand under a shower of fresh water and use more than 1.5 litres! Land, a place where you can sit at a table and eat a steak with a knife and fork. Land, a place where you can put down your cold beer or cold glass of Sauvignon, or your rum punch, or all three of them. read more...

Skye Blue - Skye Blue Christmas Cheer

Well as you will know doubt be aware the festive seasonis upon us - well it is here! The saloon on Skye Blue has taken on the guise ofSanta's grotto!   It is now  time to put such trivia as 'no wind tofinish the ARC' behind you and concentrate on more pressing issues such aswhat theme you are considering for your Christmas tree this year. You canrest in peace. All such troubles are now behind you thanks to the craftskills of the crew of Skye Blue.   After considerable coaching from the Danish contingent -well not Baldrick - the crew's well hidden craft skills were coaxed to thesurface (well somewhere near the surface in a number of cases) to produce aselection of tree decorations for your delectation and delight! (See attachedphoto) These remarkable products. read more...