Author Archives: Eric

Upwind sailing still which starts to be very boring, but at least we are moving even if not at the speed we would like to. Water maker is playing up so water rationed and to be used only for cooking … Continue reading →

Still going upwind. Another challenge in this conditions is to keep the seasickness at bay. We passed the equator tonight, another land mark in this trip, and celebrated with a wee dram, but no ceremony.

Wind still coming up with 8 knots boat speed average. Going due south until we pass the corner of Brazil. Only helming required on deck as the sails are set which make the watches quite long and boring. This allows … Continue reading →

At last steady wind all day. The bad news is that we had Singapore on our beam in the morning and by evening they had overtaken us, not to be seen again.

We had some wind today, allowing an average of 5 knots and helping to extract ourselves from the Doldrums, not an easy task. We also had some visitors last night: a couple of birds landing on the boat for a … Continue reading →

The day started as the calmest so far with no wind and glassy seas but tonight we have a breeze and are moving at a mind blowing speed of 3 knots. Hopefully the end of the frustrating Doldrums.

Still going nowhere in anger, we did 54 miles in 24hrs which we normally do in 6 hrs. At least last night we had a squall that allowed me to have a shower. I now need another squall to do … Continue reading →

Still in the Doldrums and not moving at all. So little actually that some of us went for a swim, which without fresh water to rinse will probably mean seawater sores. 42degC in the sun, 35degC in the shade, 37degC … Continue reading →

I am in mother watch today which is a nightmare in this heat and with the squalls coming in and out the boat goes from flat to 45 deg in seconds throwing the pans all over the galley.

We are now in the Doldrums with its squalls. There was a massive one last night that blew off our spinnaker as it went from 5 knots to 25 knots in 20 seconds. We had to retrieve the spinnaker from … Continue reading →