Lady of Avalon - 3 DAYS TO GO

28:07.66N 15:25.65WLas Palmas18/11/10 Just a few days to go now to the off, after arriving here with Nick a week ago-Debs arrived last night ( Wed) in time for  for the fancy dress party as my Sailor girl with Cap’n Guy - hats and jackets and all. Got some pictures taken of us (they may with others get posted on the arc website) and extra free drinks for making the effort.We thought of dressing Nick up as a pirate but in the end decided he would still be able to scare a few people into giving up their valuables and money without the need for a costume  and judging by the way he looked this morning he certainly got a few shots out of some one.We all had a great evening and woke up “really ” feeling in the mood to go shopping this morning as you can imagine. read more...

Lady of Avalon - DAYBREAK AT SEA

26:33.45N 16:01.55W 100 MILES SW of CANARIES 22/11/10 Wind N/E 10 to 15knts Weather good   Managed to survived first night at sea -which is always the worst -whilstgetting used to watch system and  very strange sleep patterns Any how other than my lack of sleep Debs /Nick and “Fred”-(Federico) allhad a good night Making good progress now after a slow start and have our headsail poled outand making 6 to 6.5 knots in lightish wind   Great spectacle at the ARC start with around 250 boats all jostling forposition and we got off well but lost out to those with spinnakers who literallysailed past Got some thing back a little later when we set up our current rig but nottoo well placed at this point .We should improve our position when we get intoproper trade winds in a few. read more...

Lady of Avalon - BEAM WIND SAILING - DAY 3

24:29.57N 17:25.98W 23/11/10Wind E 4 to 5 Weather SunnyHeading 210deg Day 3 brings a change in wind direction and strength. Currently we are sailing at about 8 to 9 knots on the beam in 15 to 17 knots from the East, heading SSW.After a very quiet downwind sail yesterday afternoon, the winds eventually picked up in the evening and we sailed quite fast thru the night - on a broad reach.( Avalon certainly lifts up her skirts at around 13 to 15 Knots of wind)-Having decided to head more a little more south to try and pick up trade winds from around the Cape Verdes and avoid S/W winds forecast to the West of us today,we will unfortunately need to go thru a very light area of wind forecast on Wed /Thurs.  on that course, before getting the trade winds further south.  Things on. read more...

Lady of Avalon - NICK'S CATCH OF THE DAY -4

22:22.80N 18:40.58W24/11/10Wind ENE 5 knotsWeather SunnyHeading 225deg News of the day a 6 lb. Yellow Fin Tuna caught trolling on 100mtr line at 10.00 – Fillets for lunch! Now heading to Cape Verdes under engine as winds have died on us. Forecast shows that we may pick up favourable sailing wind to east of Verdes but then its predicted go light again, so heading direct for the islands leaving an option to go west of them , saving many miles by cutting off the corner. Heading more West to our destination is not a good option at the moment and will ensure only variable winds in the developing high. Up till now we have averaged nearly 150 miles a day , so not too bad in often light winds, and up to this morning we had no need for the engine. Debs is our best look out- with two important. read more...

Lady of Avalon - FAIR WINDS AGAIN - DAY 5

20:45.34N 20:06.46W25/11/10Wind NN/W 10kntsWeather –FineHeading 245deg Sailing at last again!Wind picked up this morning and got sailing on a fine reach at 6knots. At last pointing to our destination now and will just see what comes in the way of favourable winds.. Yesterday was a mixture of motoring and very slow sailing- all be it very pleasant drifting along at 2 to 3 knots at night and if it wasn't the fact that we still had well over 2000 miles to go , so unfortunately we had to motor at times to find wind, otherwise we would arrive around Christmas time. We fixed the watermaker so all running fine now. No bad idea as i had put us on a thimble full of water ration, to wash in  .Good job its an outdoors sport! Nearly lost a sheave on the staysail track , which would have stuffed that. read more...