Moulin Rouge - Moulin Rouge is on its way

MoulinRouge set off today from Lymington for the delivery trip to Las Palmas. It won’tbe a direct voyage as Philip likes to pop into Portugal for “R&R”. It alsoallows for a crew change en-route. Moulin Rouge did the ARC in 2010 so is nonewcomer to the open ocean ... and 3 of the crew are the same for the ARC2012.. read more...

Moulin Rouge - 13 Nov - Getting ready for the off

With just a week to go the first of the crew arrive in Las Palmas this weekend. Andy and Chris first, followed by Philip. Colin and Ben arrive on Tuesday and Mark on Friday. Although a lot of provisions were put on board when Moulin Rouge was in the UK, fresh provisions are still needed along with the obligatory impulse purchases which are not uncommon in supermarkets. The temptation could be avoided if Tesco delivered to Las Palmas! The ARC organisers have arranged numerous useful seminars and presentations which will inevitably interrupt the final preparations. One presentation is about setting up your sextant ... which is highly relevant as we plan to navigate using one to confirm that the GPS is correct.There will doubtless be the obligatory social gatherings which we will be. read more...

Moulin Rouge - 15 Nov - The early arrivals

Andy, Chris and Philip are now in Gran Canaria and theboat is due for it's safety inspection between 11 and 2 today (Monday). All should go swimmingly, we hope that the inspector cannot read what thesignalling flags spell out.......... there may be trouble if they can :-S First dinner out for Andy and Chris was a rather poor McDonalds, but thechallenge of ordering food in Spanish made things interesting.   Never trust Chris when he says he is 5 minutes away in aforeign place, he is more likely 45 minutes away.  Chris has now beenbanned from Naviguessing!   Andy and Chris have managed to walk across the islandtoo - don't tell the rest of the crew, but they managed to do it at thenarrowest part - major achievement as Andy had no shoeson............ read more...

Moulin Rouge - 17 Nov - And now there are 5

As preparations continue, Ben arrived early eveningyesterday - all travel plans worked. Colin arrived just before midnight after ajourney which he described as the journey from h---. Colin appeared to be"rather irritated" and did an excellent rendition of Victor Meldrew - now beingthe first wearer of the Mr Grumpy T-shirt. Chris, Andy and Ben endured the fullstory of the events as they unfolded through regular textmessages. read more...

Moulin Rouge - 18 Nov - Crew Training

With the traumas of travel forgotten Wednesday wasspent at seminars and provisioning the yacht ... including the acquisition of afishing rod in the hope of catching dinner. This it is considerd could as anenhancement to the yacht emergency food regime.   In the evening we undertook some crew training inlate night watches, The easiest way to achieve this was to go to the crew fancydress party.. read more...