Distance covered in the past 24 hours 156NM We have had a pretty good day and night sailing in conditions that were blustery by day, became much calmer overnight but picked up again this morning. Peter took the opportunity to teach us the basics of Astro navigation using our sextant to take a noon sight. …
Still lively conditions, so we are sailing all the way! Slightly calmer seas today, but it is still hard to stay upright and every handhold is needed! 154 miles covered in last 24 hours. last night’s highlight was seeing an amazing shooting star in a clear and starry sky. Today Peter is threatening to teach …
The first 24 hours have been lively. 20 knot winds and seas up to 2 metres that we have been making upwind progress against. We have done well – 148 nautical miles at speeds up to 8 knots. At this rate the trip will be about 17 days, though I suspect that is optimistic! The …
This is it! The days of preparation are over, and we set sail today. After a busy day yesterday, Peter, Jon and I enjoyed a good restaurant meal with a couple of beers before an early night. Up early this morning to make the boat ship shape, and we will cast off in just a …
Best of times… worst of times! Our stay in Antigua has not gone entirely to plan, and I’m writing this whilst we are in the boatyard in Jolly harbour, when we should already be at least as far as St Barts, if not St Martin. First the good times… We reached Antigua after a lovely …
Marie Galante We have just spent three days in Marie Galante, and felt the island deserved a blog entry to itself! Marie Galante is a little island just to the South of Guadeloupe, and, like its big brother, is French. It is also an incredibly relaxed and charming spot. Our sail up to Marie Galante …
Our “rapid” trip north to get to the Leeward islands is not going quite as planned… The Caribbean climate has been harsh on Merryn and we have been discovering more and more things that we are trying to sort out before longer passages. The electronics, in particular, have taken a beating. We had already replaced …
24th January 2026: Moving up the windward island chain Read More »
Since leaving France, our lives have been hectic. We flew back to the UK for Christmas (after a brief stop in Lyon to celebrate Cate’s birthday), enjoyed Christmas with my Dad where we cooked a huge Turkey Wellington, followed by Boxing Day with the extended family to devour the leftovers. Cate visited her Mum a …
Snow arrives! What a change from last week, and from the same time last year. First came the rain (lots of it!), then the temperature fell and snow reached as low as our village at 1000m. Our first attempt to get outside for a walk ended when the road up to the Sassière lakes was …
Sitting indoors while the rain pours down outside, it is hard to believe that we had such beautiful weather for the first week of our return to the Alps. We made the most of it, with long walks every day and even an overnight trip to a mountain refuge. We started with a walk up …