After a night in Falmouth harbour, we sailed around to Jolly Harbour stopping for lunch and a swim at Love Beach. We had two reasons to be at Jolly Harbour - Derek & Mandy were stopping there and the supermarket was there. Also, Escape had moved there and Sam and Jo were still onboard. We ended up having dinner with them on Duplicat as we stayed in the cheap seats (on a buoy). Next day Anthony and I met up with Sam and Jo and Derek and Mandy to head to the ziplines at Antigua Rainforest. A gr

Today was the end of the Christmas Caribbean Rally for us, Doppelbock, Patchouly and Escape. 4 boats left Nelson's Dockyard during the day. We were last out, helped by Bianca Rosa's crew manning the lines. Patchouly had the most fun - their anchor line was under Bianca Rosa's chain but Sam from Escape used his vast experience with the flotilla fleets to dive in and free things. The dockyard divers charge $150USD for that! After a fantastic meal at Sun-Ra, we headed to the Gallion Bar for our l

Since our arrival we've been at Nelson's Dockyard, English Harbour. It's a museum and a stunning place to be to unwind after nearly 3 weeks at sea. We made it up to Shirley Heights with Derek and Mandy and the other boat crews and had great views of Duplicat from there. Beyond the headland is Falmouth Harbour, which will be our first Caribbean anchorage when we move tomorrow. The fleet is already starting to break up, which is quite sad as we've all grown quite friendly. French Kiss were fir

We managed some flying games. Kite first And then the little quad...

A few photos from the crossing.. Bianca Rosa crossed the line just ahead of us... First fish Calms A stunning sunset with Mars visible A dorado

It all began to happen. The real world began to invade. The last night at sea started with some impressive squalls. Anthony and I had our hands full on our watches, but it calmed down for Mandy and Barry. However, in Barry's watch - we head the VHF crackle - and it was the CROSS station on Guadeloupe. Life outside in the real world! A bit later on, around 6am, we saw another boat on AIS - it was Bianca Rosa. We had a chat with Matthew via VHF and proceeded to see them on and off throughout the

Well under the 200nm to go mark, but its looking like we won't be in until late Saturday or early Sunday. We think that both Bianca Rosa and Penn Er Karreg will be in before us. PEK is overhauling us a a decent rate and I think Bianca Rosa have the right wind angle for a fast run in. We're dead downwind keeping things easy on the rudder. Lots of the crews on other boats are shooting off quite quickly. Most have to be back at the dreaded work, so are delivering the boat now and will return later

We continue at our slow pace - but we're making steady progress. Less than 350nm to go now. Its looking more like Sunday than Saturday, unless we get a bit more wind (which is forecast, but we're a bit dubious of forecasts now!) The night watch was simple - the only problem was Barry missed his alarm call to take over from Amanda! No squalls, no lightning - just light winds blowing us along and a cracking night sky again. Its somewhat overpowered by the moon which doesn't set until early mornin

We've slowed right down now we're proceeding under genoa alone. No grumbling from the rudder, so playing it safe like this is the best course of action. Thats not to say its not frustrating as hell to see our daily averages plummet. We were on for a 220nm day with the parasailor, now we're hoping for 150nm and maybe less. The rum punch will taste the same no matter when we arrive ;) Last night was bliss compared to the previous night. No squalls, steady consistent wind and no lightning. We hope

Day 16 was one of ups and downs. We were making cracking speed with the parasailor, but towards the evening we were hearing a grumble from the starboard rudder. We'd had the yard in Lanzarote change the rudder bearings on this rudder (the port having been done already) - and it worked up until now. Not sure what the problem is yet - but it looks like it relates to the bottom bearing. We'll find out more in Antigua. For now, we've slowed down to a more comfortable pace and the rudder isn't causi

People who know me will attest to my sartorial vagueness, but I've been taking quite a bit of stick from the crew on this trip due to the recent addition of a djellaba to my wardrobe. Now I maintain that its the perfect thing to wear on the boat during the day - loose, airy and keeps me out of the sun. The crew think its hilarious and keep calling me Ali Baba. I think its time for some old fashioned plank walking! The jovial mood has returned with the wind, which started to fill in after dark l

We continue to suffer from a complete lack of wind. Its supposed to be returning today, and we're eagerly awaiting its arrival. Its taking its own sweet time though! We motored slowly overnight, and each watch was rewarded with an incredible view. The sea was so calm, that the stars were reflecting off the ocean's surface. We've never seen anything like it - and to see that 1000nm from land in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was something else. Even the sunset was amazing and though we've take

Boxing day continue to be quite lively after lunch. We had plenty of squalls to deal with, lots of rain and plenty of lightning. So we were reefing, then shaking them out, then reefing again. Towards evening things started to calm down, and we were sailing nicely until about 10pm, when the wind disappeared. We drifted around in circles for a while and then put an engine on. We had plenty of battery charging to do anyway, along with making water. We motored overnight, keeping a watchful eye on

Christmas day continued on to a gorgeous evening. We were making steady progress W then SW under a fantastic sunset and warm skies. We ended up motoring for a bit (charge, water making and lack of wind), but as the wind filled in, we turned W again, then NW. As the night progressed it got bumpier until on Barry's watch (4-7am) we had 34knots of wind. There were plenty o squalls around, some of which hit us. The wind started to shift from SW through W, so we tacked and headed back S and SW towar

Day 11 continued with the upwind sailing. It was fantastic weather broken by the occasional squall - but we had good fun. As the wind died overnight, we ended up with a mix of motoring or motor-sailing. Over on our port side we could see the most vivid lightning storms - but it was some way off (and again, on the 'Agadir' scale, it was a baby!) The winds due on Boxing Day being the point of discussion. Bianca Rosa said they'd had enough beating upwind and were heading south. We also thought abo

Day 10 was frustrating - bit of sailing, bit of motoring to keep up progress. In general, not much wind which isn't great for anyone of us - but for Duplicat in particular - we're slow without a decent blow! Night watches were uneventful, and the morning brought a little more wind, albeit on the nose for the course we want. So we're tacking upwind - the very thing we wanted to avoid by chosing a later departure time for the crossing! Oh well, such is the weather. Looks like its going to be unco

Day 9 started under parasailor and ended under motor. It also included a manoverboard! We knew we were headed into some light winds - which I think will affect most of the fleet. Most have dived south, and we've gone from being the southern most boat, to being the northern most apart from Doppelbock which is still hammering away along the great-circle route. As the wind reduced, we pulled down the parasailor after 58 hours straight, and put up our gennaker which is slightly easier to deal with

We continued under parasailor - and settled down for our lovely cream tea. It was fantastic. We all know that there is a debate about jam first or cream first - we're all 'jam first' people - does that make us Devonian or Cornish? We can never remember... We think our 'butter melts' point was about right - and we were making some good westing. We opted to continue with the parasailor all night though the winds were very light. It turned out to be fine, though we gybed a couple of times to keep

Parasailoring again - we decided that today was 'gybe' day. We're now bobbing along the 20N line trying to decide what to do about the forthcoming weather, or lack of it. Its going to be a few days of frustratingly light winds we think! We made good progress once we'd gybed and got the parasailor set - and it was stable enough that we flew it all night. We had a few long surfs but mostly it was nicely controlled - just a bit noisy below with the waves crashing past. Think we're all used to it n

The day started with a rather tasty lunch. (We're counting each day as miday to miday from the start day). THe fish that we caught was incredibly taste and Amanda came up with a superb avacado salsa to go with it. Barry cooked the fish to perfection. Just wish we knew what kind it was! We want more anyway. We had the Parasailor up all afternoon, but opted to take it down overnight again as it was quite gusty. Overnight watchkeeping was simple - we've not seen another vessel since Tuesday! Its a