The Unintentional Mariner

Ever since we left La Ciotat, I had been wondering at what point of a blue water voyage did one stop using makeup, moisturiser and all the other girlie trappings of civilisation. Well, I found out. It’s when the wind hits 50 knots; the swell is around 12 meters; you are 100 miles closer to… Continue reading You’re No Gentleman, Gert

19th August So its 1645 in the afternoon and we are cruising through some of the smoothest waters we’ve seen so far.  We’re 130 nautical miles from St Pierre, the sky is a duck egg blue traced with delicate high cirrus and sweeping mares tails of stratus.  The sun is shining and sea birds are… Continue reading What a Difference a Day Makes …

16th August 36 degrees 39 minutes N; 053 degrees 02 minutes W Err yes whoops of course we aren’t travelling EAST to get away from the cyclone; we are going WEST and have been for the last 24 hours at least. The cyclone has tracked pretty fast up the coast of the States and is… Continue reading Only 600 Miles to go…

15th August. 35 degrees, 31 minutes, 36 seconds N; 49 degrees, 37 minutes, 1 second W Yesterday evening I was privileged to see what I think is one of the most spectacularly beautiful sights in the world; literally a 360 degree sunset The sea was completely calm; a silk carpet to the perfect horizon all… Continue reading One Perfect Day

14th  August 32 35N, 047 08W. I thought there was supposed to be a solar eclipse today in this part of the world.  I must have got it wrong; if not it sure hasn’t happened yet and it’s two in the afternoon.  Perhaps I’m being impatient.  Perhaps I just got it wrong.  Incredible how we… Continue reading Blink and We’ll Miss It

12th August 27 35N, 044 04 W I suddenly realised that it might be interesting for people to see where we actually are!  So feed those coordindates into Google and you should have a good idea of where we were at the time of writing anyway.  It’s a lot of blue!  And no ships or… Continue reading Oh I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside

11th August 25 50N, 41 24W By turns the most exhilarating and the most deadly boring of all the time at sea; the watch determines your whole day.  If you’re on first, as I’ve now been twice, you do 10 – 1 which can be cut shorter by the fact that the others don’t go to bed straight away… Continue reading Their Lives In My Totally Not Manicured (sob sob) Hands.

10th August 22 16N 035 08W Today is Thursday!  Tomorrow we will have been a full week at sea.  Woke up at 630 and went on deck to be told that we had changed course 20 degrees – we have gone as far south as we will go and are finally heading NORTH!  Our router has informed us… Continue reading Northward Ho!

8th August 23 03N, 025 16W Hard to believe that it’s been four days since we set off.  In some ways it seems like yesterday; in others years ago.  We are starting to get into the rhythm of the days at sea; on watch; sleep and wake and cook and eat …. Read in the middle; do some… Continue reading South Till’ The Butter Melts

4th August 26 47N, 016 20W First night at sea and already everything is different.  For one, we have a bit of wind and in a nice direction so from cruising for a while on one engine doing around 9 knots we tacked and are now doing around 9 with no engines at all.  Yup;… Continue reading Hasta la Vista Baby.