Daily Logs

Layla - It's not what cards you are dealt..........

……. but the way you play your hand :-)Well what a week we have had in Las Palmas - our plans of a controlled preparation have been less than smooth !! We started off the weeks fun with a stunning win at the costume party with much fun and frolicks. This was  followed by us continuing to climb the Everest of our to do list :-) with good progress being made across engineering and provisioning. After our late rig check we decided to go for a lift out for further investigation which prompted an unexpected midnight painting party (who can resist a bit of antifouling when the opportunity arises)  The followng day an early start to complete the painting was followed by some bad news in the shape of a 2cm crack at the top of our forestay :-( Well it is a reality that a boat that is. read more...

Ariel - ariel notizie per arc

Most of the crews spend the last hours to prepare sails, check pole and to clean the keel to gain in speed. We believe in comfort and Italian gourmet... so our vegetables and fruit  storage while others "drown" the eggs in vaseline! IMG_5478 IMG_5479. read more...

Ariel - ARIEL

Dear all, We try to send something bifore the start and to try the system. read more...

Charm - To South Africa 3

This morning, when I got up and noticed Carl hand steering, I asked how Jeff (our auto-pilot) was doing and Carl said Jeff was “listless.” His health went downhill quickly and later that morning, Joe told me Jeff had seized up altogether.While Carl continued steering, Joe found our old auto-pilot motor and we began Operation Revive Jeff. Joe cracked open the steering unit and it was immediately obvious to all of us that there was an issue.One of the springs had broken but otherwise, it looked to be in fairly good condition.We thought maybe we could take the current Jeff, who was only a few months old, and, between the two, create a new, working auto-pilot. Joe and Cobin dove into the port engine compartment while Carl maintained a steady course.It quickly became obvious that Carl, whose. read more...

Life of Reilly III - blog

Life of Reilly III arrived in Las Palmas a month ago. We docked stern-to in La Muelle Deportivo and settled in. Most of the crew flew home, leaving Fred and Glenn to mind the boat. Activity on the dock was pretty slow then, so we got acquainted with our neighbours and started in to prepare the boat for crossing the Atlantic. One of our neighbours was Claude, a 75 year old French gentleman who has been living aboard his 1975 vintage boat for 19 years, most recently with his two tiny, cute, well-behaved and yappy dogs. Claude told me with tearful eyes that he had just “swallowed the anchor” and was in the process of selling his boat. Over the ensuing two weeks he laboriously unloaded the many souvenirs of his years afloat. The quantity of gear that he removed from the boat was truly. read more...

Janus - Saturday 9th

Our final day preparations. Provisions delivered on boardstowed away. Oyster Rigger team conveniently found what appears to be a 6inch crack in the mast adjacent to the first spreader in line with the mast fairing - caused a bit of concern but we were reliably informed they were 99% confident it was cosmetic.We marked the crack length and will check in Cape Verde!Janus is otherwise looking very good and the crew looking forward to the sail. 25kt NNE winds and favourable wave period 13 - 15 sec and clear skies. Low likelihood of squalls. All prepared and looking forward to the departure tomorrow!Kind regardsBob James. read more...

Charm - South Africa 2

The Indian Ocean is showing its true colors today.Actually, I guess the water color really hasn’t changed much – still that gorgeous, swimming-pool blue with a dash of cerulean.But the conditions have changed. I just finished hand steering for the past 2.5 hours.Winds are 20-25, gusting to 28 and the seas are bigger but not ridiculously so.We’ve got two reefs in the main and have changed out little Spinny for the jib.Also noteable is a 3-5 knot current, pushing us to the left when we’re trying to work our way up and to the right. The reason we’re hand steering is that our auto-pilot has been making horrible noises and, in the past five hours, went on partial strike. Joe got the system bled in Reunion because the noise had started outside of Mauritius.Unfortunately, it is still acting. read more...

Charm - To South Africa 1

The constellation Orion is rising higher in the southeast and it’s a pleasant evening on the Indian Ocean as I do my 9 pm – 12 am watch.While I have made some half-hearted attempts to learn more constellations, I have decided that I am actually quite content with the small handful that I know.I do find great comfort in Orion, who is, for me, easy to identify with his 3-star belt and heroic pose.Wherever we are in the world, he seems to eventually appear during my watch and I don’t have to understand why in order to enjoy his presence.So I will write this entry with Orion peering over my shoulder and hope he lets me know if he has anything to add. We’re having an excellent passage so far.It is a long haul across the Indian Ocean from Indonesia to Africa.While we’ve had pleasant stops. read more...

Saoirse - Saoirse Diaries -6- Extended Family

We were at our crew dinner the other night, the crew dinner already, hard to believe.Everyone was talking about the fact there are only 6 more sleeps until D Day!!It was said by all with a mixture of disbelief, that it could have rolled around so quickly, slight panic when they thought of all the jobs that still needed doing, but mostly raw excitement.The sort that you can see in the eyes.The anticipation of the adventure of our lives.That was already two days ago.As I write the countdown is now down to just 4 more sleeps.I have had a permanent low frequency ‘butterflies in my tummy’ feeling for about a week.They start to flutter ever more actively as the days pass and are prone to intense flights of fancy when I’m at a seminar or having a conversation with someone about what lies ahead. read more...

Layla - Robo Crew

Meet Robocrew.... he is half man and half machine. His fully functional head up display allows complete control of Layla using retina and voice control (Birmingham accents only) and his Ultrasound Module enables him  to find the route of spreaker cables when everyone else has failed. Robocrews nature  module allows him to spot artificial plants from living tissue and to catch  huge Tuna with only the aid of a marigold washing up glove. In development:-Surround sound AIS module is in development although at present he can only play Jasper Carrots Funky Moped. The Cooking and Galley module seems to malfunction most of the time but we hope that the new ARC+ release will be  is greatly improved in that area. If you see him please. read more...

Sweet Dream - Sunday November 3, 2019

Salazie, Hellbourg, waterfalls and cool beauty!!image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Saturday November 2, 2019

Provisions...SIM card.,, cheeseburgers on the grillimage1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Wednesday October 30, 2019

Not the best day on our WARC tour ...no wind...no sleep...no food...no engine...no sleep...asymmetrical sail up...too much wind..no food...no breaks....no wind...no food...motoring with garden hose connected to shower into radiator cap opening...water pouring through engine...out the bilge pump...we made it to the dock in La Reunion, Le Port ...Thanks to Peter of Atla and Glen of Danica for shadowing us into the marina in a big dinghy on our jury rigged cooling system! So happy to make landfall!!!! Still no food...restaurant not serving until 21:30! Not waiting...sleep...image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Friday November 1, 2019

Car. Beach. Ah....image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Thursday October 31, 2019

Happy Halloween! Great meal, fantastic band..”Holy Soul”, delicious meal, fun dancing. All might be well. Thank you Joe on Charm for lending us a water pump! Also lent us eggs before immigration arrived to stave off the crew’s morning starvation. Immigration finally checked us in at noon...then we could go buy food. Just a note for future WARCers....they lied to us...said we could bring no fresh meat, milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, ice cream, fresh veggies, or fresh fruit from Mauritius to here..so we arrived with very little to eat...then had to wait 18 hours before we were allowed to leave the boat. There is nowhere to get food here without a car...folks....bring food for the journey and for eating here...nobody even set foot on the boat to inspect,and the restaurant...while is. read more...

Arausha - attempt I

Greatings from arausha. read more...

Sweet Dream - Monday November 4, 2019

Flying!image1.. read more...

Saoirse - Saoirse Diaries - 5 - Banana bread and a shopping plan

The Saoirse DiariesBanana bread and a shopping planWe are checked in now, with number 345, and are through our safety check. Did you hear that sigh of relief? So you might say thunder birds are go. The full final week’s programme kicks off today. We have a couple of seminars on the agenda this morning and our crew dinner in the evening. In between we hope to fit in a big shop! We had actually hoped to do the shop yesterday but the festivities over the last week, culminating on Saturday night with another family BBQ on the pontoon and a lively singalong until the wee small hours, (naturally fuelled by not inconsiderable amounts of alcohol ) took it’s toll. Instead of dragging ourselves half dead around the supermarket unable to think straight we felt a better use of the day would be to. read more...

Saoirse - Saoirse Diaries -4-plunge, soak and repeat

So boat life, at least how we live it, does not call for much style or glamour in the wardrobe department.I have one tiny shelf to call my own which means I pretty much wear the same thing everyday.Wolf rotates 4-5 T-shirts and a couple of pairs of shorts.Despite this we appear to have a never ending bag of dirty laundry.Hmmmmm where on earth could that come from?Óisin, now 18 months is at the age where he will not eat anything unless he can feed himself.He also of course screams bloody murder if you try to put a bib on him.As a result, at the end of every meal there is usually more all over him and the cockpit floor than went into his mouth.He is stripped down, washed down and his clothes thrown in a bucket of warm water to soak.That continues in a sort of dress and repeat cycle. read more...

Saoirse - Saoirse Diaries-3-let the games begin

The SaoirseDiaries Let the games beginTomorrow, or rather today should I say, (it’s 1.30am as I type), the ARC+ office opens for official registration. Man am I psyched. I can’t honestly believe it, it’s all still so surreal. Just think I said to Wolf today, in 4-5 weeks we will be in the Caribbean, and we will have sailed there ourselves.To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t matter how often I say that it never really computes! We are sailing across the Atlantic baby, a dream I have had with me since ever I can remember growing up by the sea and around boats and spending every Summer on the water and down in the Yacht Club. It’s happening, and to make it infinitely cooler than I ever could have dreamt it myself, I am doing it with my little family. My Wolf and our two Wolf cubs. What an. read more...

Layla - Preparation for the ARC+

I am sure that this is something that all the skippers have found a challenge - reading the ARC Handbook fills your head full of ideas, must do's and nice to haves. Turning that into a set of actionable plans that are going to be done over a period of months is not easy. In our case it resulted in a rather large set of scribblings that turned into a spreadsheet of plans, rotas and to do's. Given that our Skipper Malcolm (who keeps most things in his head) and Martin (our IT technophobe) are doing most of the sailing and engineering prep work on Layla it is somewhat amazing that the progress when checked is always good. As is usual however as fast as we checked things off new things were added and as it stands there are 285 items on the to do list with a good 90% complete. We. read more...