Agape Day 3

Well finally!  Day three and I have enough sea legs to sit down below and do some typing.. What a send off from Las Palmas! - it was fantastic seeing so many people lining the walls of the marina and out on the water to watch.  I can safely say it is the first time I have had a Frigate as a committee boat, and being over at the start with that array of weaponry pointing along the line didn't bear thinking about.  Thankfully there were no start line incidents and we set off from the inshore end just under the bow of the Spanish Navy, and watched jealously as several boats up to windward hoisted kites of all shapes and sizes including a very smart looking ARC special edition Parasailor.  Maybe next time we'll have one of them!  The wind angle. read more...

Agape - Day 1 and 2

Gareth, Willow, Irene, Chris and Gillian all present and correct.  We have finally set sail, after a few days of preparation in Las Palmas (read:  beers in the Sailors Bar, visit to local nightclub and enormous portions of ham, egg and chips).  Delighted to hear reports that we were running in 5th place on the first day....things can only get worse!  No major incidents to report yet - today saw a failed fishing mission and quite a lot of sunbathing.  Wind is forecast to die out at bit...so fingers crossed we make it to the trade winds at some point, or one of us might be missing a flight home (sorry work!).  Watch this space for tales of baking, reading, fishing, handicrafting and the odd bit of sailing. Gillian xxx. read more...

Agape - Day 4 The Engine

That's it, we are no longer racing.  Well, not properly anyway..  This morning we hit the big wind hole and with various flight schedules to think of, decided to fire up the engine and try to find some more wind the easy way.  Today was definitely a day for dolphins though - some at sunrise, some at sunset, and a particularly showy bunch in between who performed a few leaps for us.  Photographic evidence consists of a disappearing tail but it looked very impressive!  Gillian has now had her first solo nightwatch, and the baking production line has now started with choc chip cookies and cake promised for tomorrow.  All we need now is the wind.. Gareth . read more...

Agape - Day 5 Fish, and topping up.

A fish! Today Chris caught his first fish - a tuna (we think) that was THIS big, well, big enough to feed five for lunch along with Willow's falafel anyway.  Thank you Chris!  The fishing line is now retired for the afternoon as we have to finish the last of the fresh meat tonight.   Yesterdays wildlife seems to have had some effect on my subconscious as I awoke last night ready to dive on deck and shout 'a whale, there's a whale beside the boat' before thinking a while and realising that, given I wasn't actually on deck and could only see the side of the cabin, it might just have been a particularly vivid dream.  This was followed later in the night by a very similar experience with a herd of cows.  It took about the same amount of. read more...

Agape - Day 5 Vapour trails

What a night! We spent most of the early part of the night watching dolphins in the dark - not normally very exciting but with the phosphorescence in the water they were leaving glowing vapour trails as they darted around the bow wave and the wake at the side of the boat.  Utterly delightful to watch.   Sailing wise - today has been decision time.  We have decided to give up on going South and have turned to the West.  Apparently it is not normally like this here (!) but the trade winds seem to be particularly far South this year and we are going to try and pick our way through the weather system that is currently approaching from the North West and hope that this gets us to St Lucia a bit quicker. On the sailing front, the last couple of days have been lovely - reaching all day long at. read more...