Bonobo - Thursday 18th November

72 hours to go and we are pretty well ready. A sweaty hot mornings work ondeck by engineering (Richard and Simon) largely finished the rig changesidentified after the trial sail on Tuesday and catering (Janie and Peter) arerecovering in the bar after yesterdays logistical manoeuvres planning and thebuying all the food to keep six hungry Crew fed and watered for the next threeweeks. James has been a stalwart keeping everyone in order with his 0900briefings and David just, fits in! Amazing festival atmosphere with all 250yachts dressed overall and pontoon parties are getting more riotous! if the past5 days are anything to go by with jokes and frivolous banter like a continuoustorrent then we are in for one hell of a fun voyage. . read more...

Bonobo - our first blog

Hi All   This is a test blog just to make sure we can communicate through the SatPhone. will post another before we leave on Sunday 21st November.   David. read more...

Bonobo - TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER

By day two Bonobo and Crew settled into routine at sea.Bonobo and its crew are settling into the passage well. Cruising South 60 miles off the African coast keeping a watchful eye for migrant boats. Winds light North East and sea kind to us.Simon has taken to his berth having been asked to cook his first meal at sea. All crew still alive at dawn, so probably he did all right!Begining to experience the joys of blue water cruising – pod of dolphins (50 – 100 in number) spotted mid afternoon 300 m off starboard beam hunting as a pack. Fantastic sight. Then later supper in cockpit with backdrop of a great sunset.Skipper spending a lot of time in his cabin reading – Crew hoping its not a RYA handbook.The foredeck crew have been kept busy – sorting lines lost so the Genniker , resetting the. read more...

Bonobo - DAY 1 21/11/10

What a fabulous first day! Well, at 0700 it was raining, the sky dark and foreboding, and the mood on the pontoon was that of resignation! 0730 things got a whole lot better. Danielle got the clippers out and set David up with a slick no 2 hair cut, Janie was in hair wash heaven and we all had that final and very important shower, hit the computers and said our farewells. The sky cleared, the band and clowns performed on the pontoon and the carnival atmosphere was amazing. Yachts were very busy with final preparations as were we with a last minute technical hitch! Almost last to leave we passed the crowds on the breakwater who cheered, wished us good luck, and played the bag pipe lament of ‘over the seas to ... St Lucia’ Bonobo performed like a dream, dare we say, powered through. read more...

Bonobo - DARTMOUTH - WEST AFRICAN COAST - WEDNESDAY 24 NOV/0900

Good morning all you Bonobo supporters.  We’re getting into a rhythm out here.  The weather is just fantastic, since we left Las Palmas, we have had clear blue skies and wall to wall sunshine during the day, and clear skies with a full moon at night, which has made our night navigation very easy.  Spectacular sunsets and sunrises.  We are currently sailing down the West African coast, some 38 miles off Mauritania, and approaching Senegal, on our way down to the Cape Verde Islands.  The sailing so far has been very civilised, and reasonably comfortable, covering 150 miles yesterday.  However, as predicted, we have lost the wind this morning which is slowing our progress more than we we would wish, and we suspect that our next couple of days could be slow. Previously well hidden. read more...