Nearly the end of 2008!

Well, hasn't this year gone quick!! We are thoroughly enjoying the Caribbean and should be spending new year in the Saints (south of Guadeloupe).
In case you haven't realised, we only update this page when we are on passage and now we are back to civilisation and internet access we will instead be updating the 'Journal' page of our main website - www.freewebs.com/jksailing
We hope to update the journal every few days with pictures as well as text, but this depends on internet access so if you don't hear from us for a few days fear not!

Day 25 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua ... LAND AHOY!

We had a great sail yesterday - we ran the engine to charge the batteries and took the opportunity for all on board to have nice hot fresh water showers! We also cleaned the boat in preparation for our arrival.
During the night we had some strong squalls - at one point we were doing 9.6knots ... we decided to slow down to save our pole (which is cobbled together!) and to ensure we arrive in daylight!
We are currently less than 2 hours away and should make landfall within a few minutes of the 25 day mark!
Looking forward to fresh meat, a swim and a cool beer!

We will update the main website soon with pictures, videos, and some thoughts on the crossing. We will also now have access to our hotmail email account again soon.

Day 24 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another good day in the trade winds on Newtsville! Good progress made and we get closer by the hour to Antigua. By noon today we should be less than 150 to go!
Yesterday Kate cut my hair - a bit risky in the big seas but I look much more respectable now! We have also started the cleaning / tidying process on board to make the boat look a little more respectable when we arrive!
We had to change the gas bottle also yesterday - we seem to use one every 2 months so carry 4 months in total which seems ok. We have over half our water left and around 1/3rd of our fuel.
Kate's brother Paul has sailed his charter boat down from the BVI's and is currently waiting in English Habour for us so it will be great to see him when we arrive!
Aiming to arrive on Sunday morning.

Day 24 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another good day in the trade winds on Newtsville! Good progress made and we get closer by the hour to Antigua. By noon today we should be less than 150 to go!
Yesterday Kate cut my hair - a bit risky in the big seas but I look much more respectable now! We have also started the cleaning / tidying process on board to make the boat look a little more respectable when we arrive!
We had to change the gas bottle also yesterday - we seem to use one every 2 months so carry 4 months in total which seems ok. We have over half our water left and around 1/3rd of our fuel.
Kate's brother Paul has sailed his charter boat down from the BVI's and is currently waiting in English Habour for us so it will be great to see him when we arrive!
Aiming to arrive on Sunday morning.

Day 23 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another day and more miles ticked off! We are hoping to be arriving at some point on Sunday provided the current winds hold up for us.
The seas were horrid yesterday - the result of several days of squalls and strong easterlies - life on board quite uncomfortable as everything moves as the boat continually rocks and rolls. Also, Kate broke a tooth whilst eating a pear drop - not painful but still not pleasant so we're off to a dentist as soon as we arrive in Antigua!
Other than that all is well on board - counting down the miles and watches til we arrive!

Day 22 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another record day yesterday - 141 miles! Today will be less however - more like 120ish miles. The wind has picked up and we now have 20 to 40 knots from the East (40 knots in the big squalls!)however the seas are also very large to match. The trouble with the winds is that you need to set the sails for the gusts so this means in the 'normal' winds the boat is going a bit slower than normal and wallowing in the waves - c'est la vie!!
We should be arriving on Monday we estimate and everyone on board is counting down the hours / miles to dry land and a warm swim!

Day 21 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Well, what a day! Firstly I would like to mention that Day 20 resulted in a record 140 mile run - go Newtsville!! Similarly today is looking like a simalar number and we should be just over 500 miles to run by noon today.
Day 21 saw the xmas decorations go up on Newtsville and xmas CD come out to play! We have tinsel all round the saloon and even some on the sprayhood on deck (although this rustles a lot in the wind and makes it sound a lot windier than it really is!). We also passed the 3/4 mark on our trip across and decided it was an opportune time to donate our 'half way hats' to Neptune as we crossed this threshold.
Confusingly we decided to change all the clocks too! We have been working in UTC (GMT) which was the time zone in the Canaries and also the time zone all our radio calls are scheduled by. However the radio calls are starting to creep back as the boats head west to make sure we are all on the radio during the day rather than at night for ease. As such we had to either move the clocks or change the watch times - surprisingly we did a bit of both! So we are now on UTC - 3 hrs (we will cross another time zone in a couple of days just before we arrive in Antigua) - but we have to translate all the radio times from UTC to 'Newtsville time' as well as the 'end of day position' time from noon to 'Newtsville time' - sound confusing ... you're not wrong!

Day 20 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Well, Kate couldn't have asked for better birthday conditions really, hot, sunny, and a nice breeze from a good direction! We have been making really good progress and with 4 hours of day 20 still left to run we have already covered 120 miles!! We have around 670 left to Antigua and everyone is getting very excited about our arrival.

Kate enjoyed all her birthday emails - thank you very much and also all the cards that were sent out to the Canaries for her via her mum, she got a 'happy birthday' recital down the SSB radio from our friends on Chilli Oyster who are nearby headed for St. Lucia with the ARC.

We've been sailing now for 48 hours without having to resort to the engine which is soooo nice, but will need to top up the batteries again today (we've been using the autopilot as the wind / wave combination hasn't been great for using the Hydrovane windvane steering system).

Day 19 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

We passed the 2000 mile mark! Yeah! Around 800 left to go, plus we've actually sailed for the last 24 hrs without needing the engine on - nice winds on the beam with good progress being made in the right direction!

Big news, today is Kate's birthday - "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Kate, Happy Birthday to you!!". Despite now officially being in her late twenties she dutifully got up to stand her midnight to 4am watch (we tried our hardest to persuade her to let someone else do it, but she is a stubborn one!). So today will be presents, cake and music to celebrate!

Got passed by an ARC boat yesterday morning - a HR54 - its taken them 2 weeks to close down the 350 mile headstart on us - not bad for a much bigger boat. They came really close which was nice, first boat we've seen for nearly a week!

Looking forward to arriving now - should be early next week with some luck.

Day 18 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

As day broke we sailed out of the low pressure system we'd been caught in for days - it was quite dramatic - behind us big banks of grey cloud billowing upwards and ahead of us blue sky and white whispy clouds! We set the sails and found the Easterly winds again and had a good sail until evening. We had a small squall just before tea time, but with the help of the radar we navigated through a narrow band of it in around 30 mins and out the other side. The wind dropped after it however and we plodded on into the dark - by midnight we were down to 1.5 knots so we started the engine. Just turned it off (08:30) which is good news as we are down to 1/3rd of a tank of fuel so trying to sail as much as possible.
Less than 1000 miles to go - around 940, so fingers crossed we should be there early next week (Tues / Wed?)

Day 17 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another day trapped by the damn low pressure system! Thats 4 or 5 days now of either no wind or headwinds! Rained on and off all day so we spent most of the day below decks getting 'cabin fever'!
Seems to be clearing now though and fingers crossed for some more Easterly trade winds to carry us the remaining 1000 miles we have to go til Antigua.

Day 16 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another frustrating day! Yesterday we managed exactly 100 miles, today will be less though! We had light winds early on and flew the cruising chute, then the winds tracked round to the SW and we started sailing close hauled. They built to a force 8 for the early part of the night and we pounded into them. They've started to swing round now and moderate - fingers crossed we're finally coming out of this low pressure band and heading back for the trade winds!!

All on board is good though - fresh scones yesterday and counting down the days til we're there (only 1120 ish to go!)

Day 15 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

A crazy day with thunder storms all afternoon and evening. Spent a long time trying to dodge the storms which had lots of thunder and lightning (not good on a yacht with a big metal mast!) and serious squalls hidden in them.

Had some technical difficulties with the emails, so please only send one or two line emails for the next week or so until resolved and don't worry if you don't get a reply straight away!

Day 14 - Puerto Mogan - Antigua

No wind! Just turned the engine off after 37 hours of motoring through doldrums! Making very slow progress now but we haven't enough fuel to motor all the way there so a line had to be drawn!

Very hot again yesterday and last night. For the last two nights whilst becalmed we've had huge thunderstorms so we haven't been able to use the radio during these to send updates.

Hoping the light E winds we now have will stay and hopefully build a little!

Day 13 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Well, here we are at 17.26N 36.45W ... for those of you without Admiralty chart 4012 in front of you that means we are half way there!! 1,430 miles down and the same to go - woohoo!

We made mid atlantic party hats yesterday and wore them today and made chocolate cake to celebtrate. Light winds yesterday that swung round from Easterly (where they've been all week) to SW! Then big black clouds appeared after dark and we had huge thunder storms, torrential rain and 40 knot head winds for 3 hours! When it went it took all wind with it and since midnight we've been motoring with not a breath of wind!

Happy Birthday to Russ for today.

Day 12 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another day of light easterly winds. We sailed with main and poled out genoa the whole day - less than 10 knots of wind, but the North Equatorial Current helped us make 108 miles making over 1300 in total - nearly half way there.
Its very, very hot here, we had the parasol up in the cockpit and were fighting for shade (unusual from 3 brown people who like sun!). Heard on the net this morning that most of our friends are leaving today / tomorrow either from the Verdes or La Gomera so will be good to speak to them whilst they are underway and see if they have any more wind than us!

Day 11 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Its been very very hot but little wind. We've covered just over 100 miles in the last 24 hours under main and poled out genoa (fixed pole holding ok thus far!). Looking like half way will be in a couple of days!

Saw dolphins last night in the dark (well heard them and then saw them) - nearly scared me to death at 4:45am!

Day 10 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

After a couple of days of good wind the wind has now died again. We had the engine on yesterday afternoon to charge the batteries and then overnight as there wasn't a breath of wind. We are now just about sailing along with the main and cruising chute up but think it is going to be a slow day!! Spinnaker pole is fixed and seems to be working well.

We saw our first ship in 4 days last night and also a large yacht that was motor sailing and got quite close to us but weren't answering their radio??!!

We have had abit of a change around of the watch systems and it seems to be working better. Roo now gets a full nights sleep and then does the majority of the watches during the day whilst Jonny and I do 4 hour watches in the dark. Before we had Roo doing a night watch and Jonny and I up for 2 hours each with him which wasn't working for us as Jonny and I weren't getting enough sleep.

Distanced traveled on Day 10 - 118 miles
Total distance traveled - 1106 miles
We should be at the half way point by mon :)

Day 9 - Puerto Mogan - Antigua

What a day! We recorded our best run to date of 130 miles, but at a price! We had been sailing with the genoa poled out to windward and full main out to leeward for around 40 hours. We were doing well and happy with the boat set-up this way. Just after tea the wind picked up a little but we were still going well, at one point touching over 7.5 knots! As I was writing the logbook after tea I decided we should pull the genoa in the for night incase it got any windier and replace it with the smaller staysail. Just as this thought was crossing my mind a huge bang and flapping sails were heard - up on deck the pole which holds the genoa out had bent neatly in two!!

The rest of the night went ok though and we still made good speeds with just the main up. Today is trying to fabricate some sort of repair to the pole using strips of metal and rivets ... I'll let you know how it goes!

Day 8 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

A better day today - 124 miles making the total to date 858. We're making up some of the ground lost out in the light winds of last week. Been sailing all day and night under main and poled out genoa and making good progress.

Had 2 decent sized flying fish land on deck - we tried using one for bait on the fishing line but it went awry somewhere! We decided that the Tuna Mackerel we threw back off Gran Canaria must have swum around telling all the other fish what our lures look like as we haven't caught anything since!

Day 7 - Puerto Mogan - Antigua

A brilliant end to week 1! We had light winds so set the main and cruising chute and ran with that from dawn to sunset. Made ok progress given the wind strengths, but it died at night. Total of 91 miles - not great, and week 1 as a total stands at 734 - we'd best hurry up soon or the '18 - 21 day' typical crossing will be more like 28 days for us!

Whilst it was light we all went swimming! Roo and Kate put harnesses on and tied 40ft ropes to themselves and jumped in - they dragged behind the boat for a while (still doing 2.5 - 3 knots!) before shampooing and then rinsing off on deck with the solar shower. When they were back on board I went for a swim (Kate wanted to go first to wake up the sharks rather than be there when they arrived!). Water was really really warm - incredible, but scary to think there was over 4km of it below you!! The really scary bit was watching how fast your boat moves away from you even at slow speeds - there is a split second where you hope the knot on your harness line is tied properly!!

We got a large flying fish on deck last night - its been cut up this morning and threaded with a hook and is currently over the side - hoping to attract some fish!

Day 6 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

The weather has started to get warmer and we are now spending the days in just shorts / swim wear! The wind was good yesterday morning, but several days of no engine meant the batteries were getting low so we started the engine at 2:30pm - we turned it off at 6:00pm and 10 mins later the wind died! Typical, we could have used the diesel to charge the batteries and motor through the light winds - such is life!

The wind stayed light all night and we mooched along at 4 knots or less. This morning it was very very hot and extremely light winds. We put the cruising chute up at 10:30am and poled it out like a spinnaker - it seems to have kept the boat speed above 3 knots which is good.

Despite the light winds we still managed a 108 mile run for day 6.

Total distance now run 643 miles (out of circa 2,800!)

Day 5 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another great days sailing - logging a 128 mile run, our best so far. Haven't had the engine on since the fishing net incident on Thursday night the wind has been so consistent. However have had to put it on this afternoon (Day 6) to charge the batteries.

Day 5 had good winds, from the ENE between 15 and 25 knots. The winds picked up a lot just after dark and we put a reef in the mainsail. Still sailing under mainsail and poled out staysail which seems well balanced and reasonable performance (we could probably gain an extra 10 - 15 miles per day using the genoa but would have to be much more alert to gusts and squalls). Kate had thunder and lightning over midnight and had the GPS and VHF in the oven again just in case. She also saw a strange boat which passed down our port side and flashed lights at us - not sure who or what it was!

The Hydrovane is proving excellent and we haven't used the autopilot at all apart from when running the engine.

We are now trying to force our way more West having got into the trade wind belt, however we are trying to keep the wind on the aft quarter rather than dead behind us for better motion and so we are either sailing WSW or WNW, so WSW it is!

Day 4 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

Another good 24hrs sailing with full main and stay sail up and the hydrovane steering. The swell has been abit larger the last 24hrs making life abit more difficult!!

Everyone is settling in well to life on board.

The SSB (long range) radio has been great. We have been talking to 4/5 different boats (some on their way to the Cape Verdes, some still in the Canaries) twice a day. It has been good to keep in touch with people and hearing their stories. There has been alot of successful fishing on other boats - but no luck on our boat yet.

Distance traveled on day 4: 119 miles
Total distanced traveled: 408 miles

Day 3 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

A good days sailing. The winds have been abit variable between force 2 and force 4 but we have been averaging about 5knots with the main and genoa up. We have been using the Hydrovane (wind vane steering) and compass so haven't had any instruments on apart from the VHF to conserve power.

The weather has been sunny during the day but still chilly at night - sailing kit has been needed.

Roo has finished his first book but is reluctant to start another yet - wouldn't want it to become a habit this book reading!!

Distance traveled on Day 3 - 110 miles (this is more like what we would be hoping to do every day - ideally we would want to be doing 120 miles a day)
Total distanced traveled - 289 miles

Day 2 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

They say bad things happen in 3's.....

After our fight at the end of day 1 with the fridge lid we decided to start the engine as there was no wind. We noticed that the batteries weren't charging properly again so Jonny had to change the alternator back to the new alternator and disconnect the charging booster ... touch wood things seem to be working properly now.

We carried on motoring into the night as there was still no wind. Just after watch change at 02.30 the engine stopped ... we had caught a huge piece of fishing net round the prop. We tried to get it with the boat hook but it was stuck. Jonny tried manually turning the prop shaft and this seemed to free it slightly and we managed to get it from round the rudder so it was all on one side of the boat ... in the end we had to give up and wait for daylight so that one of us could go into the water with a knife.

In the morning we decided that i should go over the side as Jonny had hurt his hand on the engine and had it all covered with plasters. I put my wetsuit on, put on a harness that Jonny tied some rope to to attach me to the boat and tied the knife to me .. luckily there wasn't much swell and when i got the hang of things it was quite easy to cut the net free. The water was quite warm although i got abit of a shock when i first got in as i nearly landed on a fish ... not sure who was more surprised ... Roo was very disappointed i didn't have the net handy to catch it!!

The wind is now a good 12 knots on the beam and we are making good progress with the main and genoa out. The swell isn't too bad. Hopefully this will continue for the rest of the journey??!!

For Roo's friends: i forgot to mention yesterday that the colouring set came out in the afternoon of Day 1 - there are now 2 pictures proudly displayed on the cupboard doors - one by Roo and one by me!!

Distanced traveled Day 2: 79 miles
Total distance traveled: 179 miles

Day 1 - Puerto Mogan to Antigua

In true Newtsville style we left Puerto Mogan at 10am, sailed/ motored for 45mins and then turned back!! The batteries weren't charging properly and this need to be fixed before we started crossing. Back in the marina Jonny fixed a loose wire on the alternator and we were ready to leave again at 12pm.

The winds were light initially before we got into the wind acceleration zone where we we doing 7 knots with just the main up ... we were really pleased with this til we radioed a boat behind us and they were moving quite slowly - only doing 10.5 knots - they were 3 times the length of us though!!

The wind strength died again night so we were only doing about 3/4 knots. A few ships were sighted and Jonny saw some orange parachute flares going off but got no response to his radio calls asking if anyone needed assistance??!!

Just before lunchtime we got becalmed and then had a fridge disaster .. between the 3 of us we managed to get the fridge lid wedged and couldn't get it up... luckily Jonny has managed to fix this and we still have a fridge full of food to eat.

A slow and eventful first day - hopefully the next 20ish will be better!!

Distance traveled Day 1 - 100 miles

Update Delays

After leaving Rabat on Wed we arrived in Graciosa this morning. A good sail and practice for the atlantic - lots of swell and varying wind strengths.

I have been trying to update the journal but the internet at Rabat was playing up before we left and Graciosa doesnt have wifi - there is an internet cafe that i am hoping to get to otherwise will update in Lanzarote. Have updates about our trips to Meknes, Marrakesh and the journey here.

Will try update the at sea page until we can get the journal updated.

Canaries - Day 3

Well, the winds have been good to us so far and we've had some good sailing. It got upto 25 knots last night and we were thundering along with full main and poled out staysail - was beginning to think about pulling a reef in when the winds dropped.

Not much shipping to note, but have seen a couple of other yachts headed our direction (all were much bigger which explains why they overtook us!).

Seas building quite steadily making for a rolly downhill ride!

Bound for the Canaries

We left Rabat at noon on the 15th - light winds and fairly flat batteries dictated the use of the iron headsail. Shipping was reasonably heavy and we headed 12 miles out to try and avoid some of the smaller fishing boats.

The wind picked up a little this morning and we turned the engine off at around 5am. Good sail all day, although the wind has been light - speed varying between 3.5 and 5.5 knots. We are still around 25 miles off the Moroccan coast, but bearing 225 towards Lanzarote.

A 450 mile trip - just under 300 to run as at 18:30 today (16th).

The Spanish Rias

We left La Coruna on Tuesday after a week in what we felt was a lovely city. We met an English couple (Trevor and Leslie) cruising the same way as us on the Monday night so set off with them early on Tuesday for Camarinas. There was not a breath of wind for the whole 45 miles until we were within 30 mins of the marina!

Camarinas was very nice with lots of foreign boats cruising down the coast stopping off here. The landscape was fantastic and it was our first taste of the Spanish Ria's. Unfortunately Kate ate something that disagreed with her so we spent the following day on the boat lazing around, but it was nice to be in the sunshine doing not a lot. We planned to leave after 2 nights, but the following morning the sky was as black as thunder over the notorious Cape Finisterre so we stayed put. The following morning we again black clouds but decided to set off anyway as it didn't look as bad. We left with blue sky and sunshine, no wind. We soon got a little rain, then head winds, then thunder and lightning, then beam winds upto 30 knots, then stern winds, then no wind, and then fog so thick we couldn't see Kishorn (Trevor and Leslie's boat) even though on the radar it was only 0.15 miles away! We rounded into Muros and finally saw the land when we got within 0.2 miles of the coast.

We anchored off the town in Muros which was nice, went ashore in the dinghy to explore in the evening (no where to land really and ended up on a horrid slipway covered in creepy crawlies - Kate and Leslie not impressed!). We wondered around the tiny streets and found a bar just before it started to rain - then the thunder came - the loudest thunder I have ever heard! We darted back to the boat in between rain showers, but the thunder and lightning lasted 10 hours into the early hours of the morning! The next day we had calm weather but horrid muggy clouds and whilst not cold it wasn't warm either. We went over to Kishorn in the evening for card games and drinks.

We set off early the following morning despite more fog, both determined to get back to the sunshine. No wind again, we motored round to Ria De Arosa and found a beautiful island to anchor off for lunch. We went ashore but unfortunately it was a national park and got asked for a permit or to leave! So we motored on up the Ria to the Island in the centre and anchored off the beach. White sand, blue waters, perfect. Had a BBQ tea on Kishorn last night which was amazing, and awoke this morning to more sunshine anchored off the beach!

A day of exploring today and hoping to find an internet terminal to get more info on the national park permit - the next island we hope to visit is also in the park and we need a sailing permit, anchoring permit and landing permit apparently!

Spain - finally!

After 9 days of waiting in Cork we finally saw what we thought was a decent weather window and made the dash for La Coruna in Spain. The forecast looked good but showed a few hours of poor weather on Friday.

Well, as it turned out the forecast was optimistic! We had a great sail on Thursday (we left Cork at noon after tidying the boat up) and had a good over-night sail. However, Friday dawned to strong winds and we had to tack out west to avoid being pushed into the English Channel! We saw our first gale of the crossing kick in on Friday morning and last around 20 hours during which time we had a sustained force 7-8 with force 9 gusts,as we were just crossing the biscay shelf we also had awful seas! Saturday was better and we had winds from the North and made nice progress, trying to dry out after the gales where we found a couple of leaks! However, Sunday saw the winds return. We were now in the Atlantic in over 5000 metres of water so the waves weren't short and steep, but long and big - 9 to 10 metres (we are only 11 metres long!) we had a solid force 8 for over 24 hours before the winds dropped.
We arrived at midnight on Monday but held station about 15 miles offshore for 6 hours to await daylight and arrived on Tuesday morning.

We were wet, tired and miserable - and beginning to think this offshore stuff wasn't for us! However, we were soon being congratulated by astonished locals for sailing through the worst low pressure system in Biscay this season - made us feel a little better!

We spent Tuesday drying and washing and have spent today just messing and socialising with other cruisers.

Learnt a lot crossing Biscay - and now have some repairs to make!

1) The autopilot sheared a bolt in the first gale and had to be lashed with rope
2) We found 2 leaks in the deck we need to fix (hadn't shown themselves in the last 2 years!)
3) We ripped the staysail (Small headsail) slightly
4) We broke the engine bay door

Lots to do - but the weather here is great so will re-group, repair and move on later in the week!

J

Made it out of Wales!!

Two weeks after we left Fleetwood we finally got the weather we needed (well, better weather) to leave Abersoch.

We attempted to leave on Saturday morning, but after several days of gales the sea was very rough and the wind was too tight for any of the 4 destinations we had set ourselves (Arklow, Milford Haven, Kilmore Quay, Cork). So back we came - a little embarrassing after a full send off from Abersoch including flags and hooters - but better to be safe!

Sunday was nice and we went out to watch the practice race of the GP14 World Championships (Jonny's old class) and also met up with PJ (the eldest of Kate's younger brothers) who had just come back from doing the charter season in the Caribbean with his girlfriend. A good night on Sunday with a family meal to welcome PJ home, and some beers with the GP sailors.

We awoke on Monday and had a lazy morning. J helped Alan sort the enterprise out for his forthcoming national championships (Good luck Alan and Matt!), and we packed away the dinghy which we had repaired after it suffered a puncture whilst behind the boat in gale force winds.

We finally got out to the boat and cast off the mooring at 2pm, sailed past the yacht club with much waiving and tears (from family ashore and on Newt!)and out of the bay.

The wind was tight so we motor sailed for a couple of hours before putting a tack in and heading for southwest Ireland. The wind remained tight all night between force 4 and 5 and we sailed well averaging 6 knots. Around 3am the rain came and visibility dropped to a few feet as we crossed the shipping lanes off Carnsore Point. We pressed on and caught the favourable tide to make over 10knots at one point (still close hauled) past the south east corner of Ireland.

The rest of the day was wet and misty with a large Atlantic swell which had been building during the low pressure systems of the last couple of weeks. We pounded on, not very comfortable with head winds and large seas - neither of us felt 100%, but Newt was coping very well and ploughing her way through as only a heavy boat can.

We rounded Roche's Point to enter Cork harbour at 6pm yesterday - 28 hours after leaving Abersoch. We are moored at the Royal Cork Yacht Club (the oldest yacht club in the world, established in 1720), and are having a couple of nights in the marina to wash the boat off etc before getting a mooring in the river (half the price of the marina!)whilst we wait for the weather which is looking like this weekend at the earliest.

Nice to be out of the UK and feel like we're on the way properly now (especially as we're on Euro's!)

Weather waits for no-one

After a week of fabulous weather and socialising it was back down to getting the boat sorted, so off to Pwhelli we went for a haul out to fix the rope cutter and prop shaft, scrub the bottom and get some alterations made to the sail cover.

We got back to Abersoch on Tuesday and found a forecasted force 8 on the way, so we stayed put (the new Rocna anchor didn't budge an inch after 3 days of force 7 and 8's!). We are still 'put'! We had a look round the peninsular yesterday, but heavy seas and 25 knot winds on the nose made us decide that Abersoch still held appeal. We are in the bay at present anchored off the sailing club waiting for the weather to improve to allow us over to Ireland.

Sunshine in Abersoch

Just a quick message - currently sat in Abersoch at anchor off the beach. Very hot (25 degrees - hot for the UK!) and sunny. Playing in the dinghy and swimming with family and friends.

We are off to Pwhelli tomorrow to lift out to check the prop after our issues earlier in the week and to get the sail cover modified. Subject to weather we're hoping to be off to Ireland on Tuesday.

J

An update at last ....

Sorry for the delay in getting this out - a few technical issues have been in the pipeline!

We eventually left Fleetwood on Monday and despite some horrid weather (pics to follow!) we got underway. On leaving we trapped something around the prop - it appeared to clear in the river but all the way down to Abersoch I wasn't 100% happy with the engine speed / performance. We motored all the way due to wind speed / direction. We saw lots of tall ships leaving Liverpool which made for a fun night passage around Holyhead!

We missed the tidal gate through Bardsey by 30mins so added 4 hours to the journey fighting the tide around the Llyn Peninsular.

Arrived Abersoch Tuesday early afternoon and anchored off the club. J trapped his finger in the windlass when dropping the anchor (great start!), but anchor seems really good. Had great weather for the last couple of days, sun sea and champagne with friends!

We are now in Pwhelli - we need diesel, gas and to look at the prop. I dived in the marina (nice!) to look at the prop and the rope cutter seemed a bit bent but nothing else. However later on whilst doing another job I was running the engine and heard a bang - the prop shaft had come out of the gearbox! Hmmm, a few hours and lots of blood and sweat later its now back together, think the guys at Glasson put a grub screw in that was too small.

All good now though - sat in Pwhelli marina - off back to Abersoch tomorrow for more friends and beer. We're being lifted out in Pwhelli on Monday to check the prop and give her a scrub.

Speak soon!

J&K

p.s. the alternator wasn't working 100% so didn't have enough power to send the position reports - should be back working now though!

False Start!

We arrived in Fleetwood after a crazy day on Friday - lots of goodbye's, leaving work, packing the final bits from the house, and handing the house over to the letting agents. Eventually, after some to'ing and fro'ing between Asda and boat we were picked up by Grandma and taken to the boat for the last time!

The weather looked bad for Saturday and sure enough when we awoke the force 8 forecasted was coming through. We had a load of jobs to do (seeing the local chandlers - the Yacht Shop, receiving visiting relatives, and my firm had arranged a press photographer to come along (some great pics - will post when we get to wifi) so postponed departure until Sunday.

Well, today is Sunday and we are only 50 yards closer to Australia! The wind was up again this morning but was forecasted to drop significantly. We um'ed and ar'ed a lot and decided to go (fed up of Fleetwood now). At 12:30 we motored out of the marina amongst mutterings of good luck from the harbourmaster and farewells from Dave and Barry (our neighbours in Fleetwood), and Grandma and Grandad waiving from the shore line. The wind was up but we decided to dip our toe in and try - it was fine in the river, but 35-38 knots in the main channel! We discussed it breifly whilst waves broke over the decks and decided that for a first leg (and a 24hr one at that) this was daft, so at 13:45 we re-entered Fleetwood (the lock keeper had a welcome home sign for us!!).

So we're still in Fleetwood, although our berth was taken when we returnedso we're a little further down and the berth nearest the lock gates! Fingers crossed for better weather tomorrow.

First blog from the boat via SSB

Well, now we've got the blog up and running alongside our main site I thought I had better test that it all worked ok from the boat. We're satin Fleetwood marina, 3 weeks today is our leaving date. A few jobs still left, oil change and replacing the mast head nav light bulbs with LED ones - but once again the weather is poor here, 25 knots of wind, so not ideal for heading up a mast!

Got some friends coming along soon to visit the boat and then a BBQ later (lets hope it doesn't rain!)

Anyway, fingers crossed for better weather in a few weeks time when we leave!

Jonny & Kate

Blog Whilst At Sea!

Whilst we are at sea we won't be able to access the internet, and as such can't update our main site. We can, however, send emails via our HF Radio so we have set up this site which will publish our emails for you all to see. We will try to send emails as often as possible - but if we don't post for a few days don't panic - its probably technical gremlins!

Jonny & Kate