The Log

The latest updates from Yacht Irie

Latest - David And Sally April 6th   April 10th April 7th   April 11th April 8th   April 12th April 9th   April 13th Neville And Eileen January 16th   January 23th January 17th   January 24th January 18th   January 25th January 19th   January 26th January 20th   January 27th January 21st   January 28th January 22nd Sarah and Katherine January 5th   January 11th January 6th   January 12th January 7th   January 13th January 8th   January 14th January 9th   January 15th January 10th   January 16th Heading South December 30th December 31st January 1st January 2nd January 3rd January 4th Life in the Caribbean December 29th   December 24th December 28th   December 23rd December 27th   December 16th December 26th   December 15th cont. December 25th

December 14th and 15th - The Final Miles December 14th and 15th Next stop St Lucia December 13th   December 8th December 12th   December 7th December 11th   December 6th December 10th At sea at last! December 5th   November 30th December 4th   November 29th December 3rd   November 28th December 2nd   November 27th December 1st   November 26th cont. Lanzarote to Gran Canaria and the Big Off! November 26th        November 20th November 25th        November 19th November 24th        November 18th November 23rd        November 17th November 22nd       November 16th November 21st        November 1st-15th From Falmouth to Lanzarote September June

April 13th David and Sally

We had a very early start, just after 5.00 a.m., with just enough time for some last minute packing, a quick breakfast and fond farewells. The skipper zipped us down the lagoon in the dinghy to the airport to catch the 8.00 a.m. flight back to Antigua. A real 'first' to arrive at an airport by boat! The flight was a little late but the airport was very clean and modern - not quite what we expected. We waved as we flew over Irie and banked south east for Antigua. We hung around the airport for an hour waiting for the Virgin counter to open then took a cab into St. Johns and had lunch in Hemmingway's as recommended. Last minute shopping and sightseeing and we made it comfortably for the 4.55 p.m. flight home to the UK. We had a fantastic week lots of rest and relaxation; mixed with sun, sea and sand; rum punch and exotic views (excluding the toga!); as well as fun conversation and companionable silences (thanks to Jack Reacher and Joanna Trollope et al.) Irie is highly recommended as a holiday destination wherever she is anchored but the Caribbean was special!

April 12th David and Sally

We ate breakfast in St. Martin, Simpson Bay where we were welcomed by a huge sea turtle. We had to wait until 11.30 for the bridge to open to let us into the Lagoon to anchor. St. Martin is a complete contrast to Antigua resembling a Costa Brava resort more than an island paradise. The Lagoon was crowded and the peace regularly shattered by the departures from the airport. A tired crew had a leisurely lunch and then set out to recce. the shore (after sussing out the airport.) The girls found a boutique and the boys a bar with little trouble and to the satisfaction of all. Back to the boat for showers and changing for dinner and back ashore to a restaurant on the waterside. We enjoyed a good meal although completely American in character (no rats!) and not particularly Caribbean in ambiance. Peppermint tea before bed.
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April 11th David and Sally

We sailed out of Falmouth after refuelling gas and water; the only rain of the week, a brief cooling shower. Set off round the coast heading for St Martins. Encountered the drama of an approaching yacht dismasting and an hour standing by in case we were needed to assist, thankfully no one was hurt and we were not needed. We stopped for lunch and a dip, followed by showers and preparations for the forthcoming night sail. Curried beans for supper and watched the sunset with the green flash! The 3 hour watches started with Dave and Jan, Sally and Skipper David pairing up later. Not much wind so motor assisted but a good crossing. We saw four cruise liners lit up like small towns, a couple of steamers and some sailing boats, but little else all night. A starry night with the Southern Cross, identified a beautiful crescent moon and a still and peaceful sunrise before going down for breakfast. A lot of eating went on by one watch team (no names but Sally and David found the evidence when they came on duty!) and sleeping was also reported by Jan on the same watch.
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April 10th David and Sally

We paddled to a deserted beach, sat in the warm water with fishes around our toes before sailing back to Falmouth for the by now essential fridge repairs. The Captain was suffering from localised chapping and sported a rather fetching toga to relieve his discomfort but not that of the crew! The crew wore sarongs to keep him company! A brisk sail round to English Harbour for fuel and water (aborted) and back to Falmouth to meet the fridge man and sorting the customs and immigration paperwork before leaving Antigua. The evening was a chance to meet up with sailing chums for drinks. The bruising on the crew was noted and advice such as daily citrus fruit was given, although probably using less water in the shower and taking care when moving from canoe to boat would help. Later a meal with Gillian and Alan from Kumari was memorable both for the conversation and the 'rat'.!
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April 9th David and Sally

After swimming and snorkelling in the morning we sailed round the coast to Nonsuch Bay to the East. On the way we waved to Eric Clapton but it did not look as if he was at home. The bay was beautiful; the colours were amazing just like the pictures in a tourist guide book with a reef protecting us from the crashing waves of the Atlantic. The boys went off snorkelling on the reef and a long swim around Bird Island. A new cocktail was trialled and after one sip was changed from a short to a long drink by the addition of a large amount of tonic! Supper was under the stars and an evening of stargazing and discussion on geo-stationary satellites.
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April 8th David and Sally

The girls had a lazy day on the boat. The boys went off to the Cricket, England v Australia, a very Caribbean affair including queuing for the queue to queue for the taxi! The cricket was good if the wrong result. We drank lots of water, coke and beer plus a couple of hamburgers (David had special fun with the mayonnaise). Timed departure to perfection and made it back to Falmouth in time to catch another taxi to Shirley's Heights for the sunset, rum and reggae. This is an iconic site with stunning views and a tremendous Caribbean atmosphere. We ate and bopped with the crowd including Monty Panasar's 'Mum and Dad'. Peppermint tea before bed.)
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April 7th David and Sally

We had an early dip and spent time reading and relaxing followed by lunch and a visit to English Harbour and Nelson's Dockyard. It was not difficult to imagine life in Nelson's time when looking at the beautiful buildings which are all still in use. The museum provided a fascinating insight into life in a Georgian dockyard although there was no mention of restrictions on showers, (rum and the lash in plentiful supply.. Skipper)! Time was also found to book tickets for the cricket. After a relaxing drink in the Admiral's Inn we returned to the boat for another swim where Dave and David snorkelled out to the reef. After the regulation 'sundowner' the sound of the Reggae on the beach drew us ashore to eat at the little bar. The 'grumpy old man' then returned and spelt out the need for more effective systems in the world of education! (Please note despite the request for newspapers visitors should consider the likely effect and consequential impact on the mood of the Skipper!)
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April 6th David and Sally

Unfortunately the computer was deluged with water in early March, wiping out the subsequent log, and curtailing its production for a couple of months. An old backup was delivered by the family, but minus a power pack. Thus it was early April when the pen started to drip once more.................

David and Sally Harvey arrived on Good Friday for a week on the boat and the power pack for the laptop. Their reward was to be tasked with completing a week's log - here are the results (well they are teachers!)

Flew in to Antigua to be met by a steel band and rum punch at the airport - a promising start! Easily found a taxi and headed south. Arrived Antigua Yacht Club, Falmouth to be met on the dockside and taken off to join Irie anchored in the bay. A welcome Rum punch later we began to feel at home. Our first swim to the beach and dip in the sea, then a walk along the shore. We showered in less than an eggcup of water, as instructed by the Skipper, followed by supper on the boat and an early night for those suffering from the travelling.
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28th January Neville and Eileen

Bags packed, we have a salad and a couple of beers with some other boaters in the Scuttlebut and then board Paul's taxi for the 1 ½ hour twisty trip to the international airport at Vieux Fort on the southern tip of the island. Despite forthcoming strikes, BA 's on time and the air con's right up to maximum to pay me back for leaving my fleece in the van.
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27th January Neville and Eileen

Take the dinghy down the lagoon to a convenient spot by the mall for final present shopping and a bit of provisioning. In the evening we make a return visit to JJ Moon to compare boats and inspect their water-maker. It seems a good idea, especially with all the swimming, showering and guests - it should go some way towards alleviating the feeling of paranoia as the water pump buzzes relentlessly. Afterwards, it's back in the dinghy and a 10 minute trip to the Charthouse restaurant for ribs and fish respectively - a final St Lucian meal before the flight to England.
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26th January Neville and Eileen

Elvis turns up at 9, accompanied by Gibson. Both were raised in nearby fishing villages and say they regularly dive to 60 feet without air - fortunately we only draw 5'8". Unsurprisingly they won't dive in the murk of the marina, so we move the boat out to the clear water of the bay, the two guys don snorkels and fins and spend the next hour diving, scrubbing and spouting as they freshen Irie's bottom. Back in the berth Roger appears with a refurbished motor and vanishes into the locker while the divers warm up with a shower and coffee before setting to on the steelwork and topsides. In another hour, Roger reappears, fingers are crossed, relays are turned on, switch pressed and the windlass clanks back into life. By the end of the day the boat sparkles - just as well as we're visited by Mags and Barry from another Contest, the 43 foot JJ Moon and just in time for a sundowner - tough stuff this boating.
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25th January Neville and Eileen

A string of eager guys come past the boat with offers of help with cleaning etc, but Elvis is first and has the best quote so gets the jobs of hull polishing, stainless cleaning and also says he'll dive and clean the hull which is by now starting to look a bit green and barnacled. He'll start tomorrow at 9. In the meantime, the bush telegraph brings Roger, who's sure he can fix the windlass, and in minutes all that can be seen emerging from the anchor locker are a dark pair of feet and shins. An hour and two Cokes later, he emerges brandishing the silent motor with its dead brushes and worn out armature and vanishes with it to some unspecified motor doctor. We carry on sorting the boat out, and then a Southerly called Moondance, manoeuvres into the berth opposite, bearing Chris, Sally and Maddy who, it turns out live in North Wooton and know the Medlicotts - spooky! At 5.30, a sundowner's called for and we're joined by Moondance, and by Peter and Clare from Lady Sara who have been desperately waiting for new sails so they can move north to meet relatives in a few days I Antigua.
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24th January Neville and Eileen

As nobody seems to know the time of high tide, half the night is spent trying to work it out both with the sounder and by measuring the height of the pontoon. Looks like it's around 7 which will suit fine so we edge out between the marks and Jan vanishes below as it registers about 20 centimetres under the keel. Still we're out and the weather is perfect - the breeze has veered to the southeast and dropped significantly, the sun rises and we motor the length of St Vincent in calm water and little breeze. The scenery is vivid, and the clouds round the peak of the Soufriere volcano part occasionally to reveal glimpses of the rugged tip. The wind fills in and the sea's lumpier once clear of the island, but it's a sparkling day and we sail under the genoa towards the twin peaks of the Pitons on St Lucia. Half way across there's a call on the radio from Warren on Zulane - they're heading south and had worked out that we might be on the way north. In fact the boats passed only about a mile apart, though they are roaring downwind at 8 knots. We head on upwind and luck's on Irie's side as we carry a fair tide most of the way to Rodney Bay, backing finally into an excellent berth on the open side of the marina - even better, Nigel from Nano's there to give us a hand with our lines, and he and Ronnaug join us for a welcome sundowner.
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23rd January Neville and Eileen

Today we're fortunate to have Leroy with us as our guide to Kingstown, the capital of St Vincent. First call is Young Island, a very pleasant exclusive resort on a private 36 acre island owned by the Prime Minister, who also has a house there. Then we head on to Fort Charlotte perched 700' up on the western side of town, and with panoramic views of the capital and the Grenadines. There are loads of old canons and the women's prison, currently with twelve inmates A small hut perched on a corner of the fort turns out to be St Vincent Signal station. We've heard him giving navigation warnings over the air and he's delighted to meet someone who's been listening to him and claims to have heard Irie on air - a nice local touch. From here we tour Kingstown that clearly displays its colonial past in the style of its domestic and commercial buildings, and in the Roman (decorated) and Anglican (austere) cathedrals facing it out in the heart of the town. Leroy hosts lunch at a restaurant called the Golden Apple that he jointly owns. He has an impressive graphics business, irons in may fires, and is constantly stopping to do 'a bit of business' as we meet people round the town. We wind up at the beautiful botanical gardens brimming with exotic plants and flowers and are the joined again by Jasmine for a final cocktail back on the boat. Here Leroy rings a couple of friends to try and sort out the time of high tide to expedite our departure I the morning, but the information seems very hard to come by. Anyway, it's been a great day and another facet of these sultry islands.
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22nd January Neville and Eileen

Today we're fortunate to have Leroy with us as our guide to Kingstown, the capital of St Vincent. First call is Young Island, a very pleasant exclusive resort on a private 36 acre island owned by the Prime Minister, who also has a house there. Then we head on to Fort Charlotte perched 700' up on the western side of town, and with panoramic views of the capital and the Grenadines. There are loads of old canons and the women's prison, currently with twelve inmates A small hut perched on a corner of the fort turns out to be St Vincent Signal station. We've heard him giving navigation warnings over the air and he's delighted to meet someone who's been listening to him and claims to have heard Irie on air - a nice local touch. From here we tour Kingstown that clearly displays its colonial past in the style of its domestic and commercial buildings, and in the Roman (decorated) and Anglican (austere) cathedrals facing it out in the heart of the town. Leroy hosts lunch at a restaurant called the Golden Apple that he jointly owns. He has an impressive graphics business, irons in may fires, and is constantly stopping to do 'a bit of business' as we meet people round the town. We wind up at the beautiful botanical gardens brimming with exotic plants and flowers and are the joined again by Jasmine for a final cocktail back on the boat. Here Leroy rings a couple of friends to try and sort out the time of high tide to expedite our departure I the morning, but the information seems very hard to come by. Anyway, it's been a great day and another facet of these sultry islands.
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21st January Neville and Eileen

Back into Port Elisabeth for a final trundle round, visits to the bank, clearing out and a good coffee at the Gingerbread Hotel. We release Kamakasi's buoy, and motor round the Devil's table reef before hugging the shore line northwards to avoid the worst of the swell. Once off the top of the island, we meet the liquid mountains prophesied by the pilot, but Irie shrugs her shoulder and takes them on the chin, though without the spray-hood up, we ship the o ccasional cooling soaker. After 1 ½ hours the sea flattens, and we reach the calm of Blue Lagoon at the southern end of St Vincent. We plan to stay in the marina tonight to ease logistics, and after we announce our arrival on the VHF one of the Sunsail guys dinghys out and takes us in through the narrow southern channel as there's insufficient water in the normal western entrance. Blue Lagoon is a bit like coming home as we've chartered from here a couple of times in the past. Neville and Eileen are soon installed in the hotel, and we await the arrival of Jasmine, a local lady who studied at Bristol with Eileen. In due course Jasmine arrives with husband Leroy, a Kingstown businessmen, and we entertain them to an evening drink on the boat. Neville carries a hand wallet with day to day essentials. Leroy comments on this, says how useful it is and from his wallet proceeds to produce his 'piece' - good to know we're in safe hands and never mind the statistics. Dinner has a local feel at the Xscape restaurant owned by one of Leroy's friends, and we have a great evening. Neville and Eileen have to leave early in the morning for flights home via St Lucia, so we bid them a late evening farewell. They've been great company, manfully put up with all the privations on the boat, and seem to have really enjoyed a rather different look at the Grenadines - excellent.
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20th January Neville and Eileen

As it's Sunday we have a slow start, but a great sail towards Bequia with Eileen at t he helm. En route we sail trough the narrow channel between Petit Nevis and Ile de Quatre, before heading past Moonhole and rounding back past West Cay for the haul up to Admiralty Bay. In deference to the windlass, we decide to pick up a mooring, and as if by telepathy, 'Kamakasi' arrives and leads us to the head of the bay before helping thread our line through the ring on the buoy. We're next to a large ketch called QS Atlantic that must be at least 100' long, and has some form of generator or cooling that grumbles and splashes noisily night and day - at least when we're on the boat, our carbon footprint is fairly benign. After some exercise in the kayak, we walk to the lookout and fort for a great view of the bay. On the way back it belts rain, necessitating a diversion to Mrs Harris's Bar. There's a pool table, a number of youths, and Mrs Harris, a widow of around 70 who talks somewhat wistfully about her husband, slow trade, and 'not too much trouble' from the boys on Friday nights - it's a little sad. In between the showers we dash to Frangipani for a final Bequia rum before repairing to the boat for a chickpea special, and a few competitive rounds of German whist - washing up abandoned for the night.
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19th January Neville and Eileen

A peaceful day in Mustique, encompassing snorkelling, walking swimming and a little retail therapy in the high class boutiques. A photostat version of today's Times appears, and jointly we solve one crossword clue, an anagram revealing 'motte and bailey'. Neville dives to recover a glass that had somehow found its way over the side, and the day rounds off in Basils.
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18th January Neville and Eileen

Early morning excitement as the Mayreau steamer arrived. Large, rusted and extremely dented, it steamed in at a rate of knots, dropping its anchor just beside us for a drag turn before reversing to the dock. The seamanship was superb, but the proximity and the dents pretty alarming. After breakfast we headed for Mustique passing Canouan to port. This island is already dominated by a large resort with a golf course and casino, and the small airport is being enlarged by dint of demolishing a medium sized hill so that it can take jets from the US - great. It's sheltered under the lee of Canouan, and the east going tide gives a push to the boat speed, but with the downside, that once clear of the island there are some pretty steep seas for half an hour or so. Steadily the sea settles down, and after 3 hours, the calm of the Mustique is a welcome relief. There are moorings aplenty, so sweating the anchor isn't necessary and we're soon ashore in Basils bar (one of Newsweeks top 10 bars in the world and often frequented by Jagger M et al) for a late lunch. We then trundle round the manicured lanes and fields of Mustique, peering up gated drives and over tall hedges and fences before stopping at Endeavour Bay, and the Cotton House beach bar for a soft drink, it's all rather unreal, especially there are small tortoises marching purposefully all over the place. The island is run by a sort of cooperative of the villa owners called the Mustique Company, and it does provide employment for 2000 St Vincentians alone. There is a hospital and an impressive little school provided by the company, but as, allegedly, no locals are allowed to be born on the island, this philanthropy seems somewhat of a sham. Back at the anchorage, Mirabella has arrived, dwarfing everything around. The sun goes down and so do several Heatwaves (gin, Campari, pineapple, lime and plenty of ice) before the chauffeured buggy runs us up to the Cotton House for dinner. This is a fine meal in discreetly opulent colonial surroundings - excellent.
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17th January Neville and Eileen

Another beautiful morning. Took the dinghy to the beach and walked through a marshy salt pan to the Cut. On the way a three foot, bright green iguana took his time ambling away, and then turned to watch us before lazily disappearing into the undergrowth. As we emerged onto the far beach, two or three tripper boats from Union and a cruise ship in Mayreau disgorged their cargo of generally old and mostly pink tourists. For two hours it was bedlam and then they vanished just as quickly, summoned by bells for lunch. Cutting back to the windward side of the island gave a great opportunity for more snorkelling - this is one of the best easy sites we've found. As Neville and Eileen were with us for only a week, we pressed on to Mayreau in the afternoon. Walking by the church we met Cynthia, a charming, tiny, seventy something who was raising money for an operation by selling jewellery. She was due to go to St Vincent the following week for the op., and we wished her all the very best. One of the tiny shops in the village had vegetables and a bottle of rum so supplies were topped up. Tonight we had a couple of sundowners in a newish bar with a commanding view of the sunset and Union. Between us we had combinations of Mayreau Specials, Hurricanes, Between the Sheets and simple Rum Punches. On the way back to the boat and the rest of the tuna, fireflies appeared once more and in the ensuing excitement, the bottle of rum had a terminal collision with the road - easy come easy go!
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16th January Neville and Eileen

Caught early by the boat boys, we purchase a very fresh tuna from some different boat boys - our skills seem to be honing as a little bluffing secures a much better price than last time. There seems to be a clear hierarchy, as the fishermen appear and pass the fish to the boat guys who in turn take the money and dismember the tuna for us. Unfortunately their knife's blunt so we lend them one and also have a stab at sharpening theirs - this secures goodwill, but no further discount. After breakfast we walk as far round the island as possible, and then retrace our steps for a coffee in the bar. A little curiosity secures a trip of the island in one of the home made Mini Moke hybrids. PSV is expensive, but very simple - no pools or television, just 22 stone cabins with elevated views or beachside frontage, and total peace and calm on a desert island. It's a great concept and still in the hands of one of the two American ex airmen who started it in the 50's. There are 7 Golden Labradors resident, and the only downsides are the strongly doggy aroma from the animals draped round the office, and the smug picture of A. Blair PM who dropped for a game of tennis and lunch a couple of years ago - is there no escape? It was forecast to be wet today, but the weather's idyllic, so the anchor's ground up by hand, and we set off for Mayreau, but with another stop in Petit Martinique for water and ice. The plan is to stop in Saline Bay, but the anchored boats are rolling well, so it's decided to take advantage of the weather and head on round to Tobago Cays. The choice is good, as the weather is perfect for swimming, snorkelling, and taking in the idyllic surroundings. Later, on the beach, the lowering sun is saluted with glasses, containing a heady mix of dark rum, pineapple juice, lime juice and ice - a perfect prelude to seared tuna and salad, and the quietest night at anchor yet.
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16th January Sarah and Katherine

Up early and we take Skipper's water taxi ashore to avoid a soaking in the chop. It's brightly coloured typical local form of fishing boat but with a 120 horse Yamaha perched on the back. Thus we carve through the anchored boats at 20 knots or more, waving to a surprised Nano on the way. Then, once more, it's the ¼ mile walk past the goats to the tiny airstrip for the ritual immigration and customs routine, before the flight to Grenada. Nearly a problem again, as the girls were grilled for clearing out of Cariacou on the 11th, but not into Union until the 12th - where was the missing day? A few blank looks seemed to solve the issue and we soon watched Neville and Eileen's tiny plane drop over the hill and skim the palms by the runway. Then it's time to bid farewell to the Sarah and Katherine. They've been great company and a real tonic - fun, enthusiasm and excellent cocktails. The new arrivals have impressively light bags and changeover represents good news for us in the form of fresh laundry and clean sheets. Provisions are bought from the excellent but extremely expensive French deli, but incredibly there seems to have been a run on rum and all the supermarkets are cleaned out 'till tomorrow's boat! Back on board, the anchor's hauled up and course laid once more for PSV where dinner's been booked on the island. This takes an hour or so in glorious weather, a suitable spot to anchor is selected and - the windlass packs up. There's no immediate solution, so Neville sets the hook manually and the circuitry is checked out, proving that power is reaching the motor, so it looks like a burn out job. Ah well, another B.O.A.T. moment - Bring Out Another Thousand. Anyway the chaps set off for a snorkel on the reef, and then a sunset Dark and Stormy precedes best outfits and a damp trip ashore for dinner. This is excellent, good food and service and a price to match.
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15th January Sarah and Katherine

Off to Union Island, where the girls did the local shops - that took all of an hour, while we topped up on provisions and left a huge pile of rather suspect laundry for treatment at Ericas. They then lazed the rest of their last day in the sun, before fixing a final special cocktail and creating a great last meal aboard.
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14th January Sarah and Katherine

It was still grey early on, but by breakfast the sun had emerged and revealed Tobago Cays in all its gory. This is an iconic anchorage. It's open upwind to the east, but the foam topped might of the Atlantic swell is broken and calmed by the great horseshoe reef. The rushing seas roar constantly on the coral, but all behind is calm; a sparkling light blue lagoon flanked by three tiny, uninhabited islands with bright green tops and shining coral sand. Just off one of the islands is a large patch of sea grass in about two metres of water. Here we swam for twenty minutes or so in crystal clear water with four or five Hawksbill turtles. They're really beautifully marked with very defined patterned carapaces, and also totally un-phased by swimmers, concentrating on grazing on the grass and surfacing every five minutes for a couple of gulps of air. In the late afternoon we head back to Mayreau for a special boat cocktail of Bacardi, grapefruit, Grenadine and loads of ice, We then walk up to Robert's Bar for dinner cooked by chef who then leads some of the lads in a personal drumming session.
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13th January Sarah and Katherine

For the first time in a month, the day was grey and punctuated by frequent, relentless downpours. We set off for Tobago Cays and anchored up in the early afternoon. The rain eased, and occasional breaks in the cloud encouraged swimming and snorkelling. The coral heads here are varied and intricate, and populated by a myriad of different colourful fish - also a large ray that caused minor panic and some rapid finning for the beach. On the way back to the boat we hailed Kumari, and were joined by Alan and Gillian for a drink ad a yarn about our various experiences. Oh well, tuna steak for dinner again - such is the monotony of life at sea.
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12th January Sarah and Katherine

Fuelled and watered at Petit Martinique which is technically back in Grenada but has a hammerhead pontoon that is much more convenient and accommodating than Union. Here we bought a large yellow fin tuna from the boat boys who turned it into 8 large steaks on the spot. Fro here it's a quick trip to Union to clear in and then on to Mayreau and Saline Bay. Here the girls celebrated the Grenadines with a White Russian cocktail over lunch, followed by swimming, snorkelling and the beach. After an early evening walk to the top of the island, we stopped on the way down for refreshment at Robert Righteous' bar, and gained invite to the Regatta fundraising street party in the evening. In theory this raises money for the racing the double ended sailboats the locals campaigned by locals at events through the islands from Bequia down to Grenada - in practice it's also a great excuse for a party and a jump up. On the walk back down to the beach, the bushes flashed and sparkled with the lights of excited fireflies - Pirates - Tinkerbell lives! Back on the boat, the tuna steaks were graced with garlic and ginger, and then lightly and deliciously grilled for dinner. A couple of the girls' cocktails set the mood for the evening and we proceeded back up the Island to find the Regatta party warming up. It was very friendly though rather male dominated and there was a great deal of dancing, good music and flowing beers. Eventually Sarah and Katherine allowed themselves to be prised away from the locals and we hit the boat around 1 am - great fun.
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11th January Sarah and Katherine

This morning we set off early for Sandy Island, a beautiful sliver of sand a mile offshore with great snorkelling. Despite extreme protection, the new crew members are now a vivid shade of red and boldly stamped with the outlines of yesterdays swimwear. From here it's a short hop to Hillsborough to check out. The efficient and smartly pressed immigration guy pointed out that according to her passport, Katherine should have left Grenada on the 8th of Jan. She pleaded ignorance, thus obtaining the required multiplicity of rubber stamps, joining Sarah as official crew, and narrowly avoiding a life sentence on Cariacou (NB - must try to fall foul of authority here). The next few islands have few facilities, so a little shopping was required and for some reason, this time there was plenty of fresh veg. and fruit. Entering a café for lunch we ran into David and Bren from the Contest Association who, it turns out, are chartering here for a couple of weeks. It was a visit to their Contest 40 that set us on a path to Irie - small world. From here we sailed up to the most southerly of the Grenadines, Petit St Vincent, known only as PSV. It's not possible to clear in here, so technically we were illegal immigrants for a night. It's a very small island and a very exclusive resort, so everybody except the skipper donned frocks (Why was I left out? Ed) and consumed several cocktails - very expensive, very exclusive and very, very excellent.
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10th January Sarah and Katherine

Today, Sarah and Katherine travelled to Hillsborough to forage food for dinner. There was a rumour of a local market, but by the time they got there, there wasn't a fresh vegetable in sight. Still a rendezvous at the Hard Wood Bar and a swim on Paradise Beach leavened the disappointment. Once back at Tyrell, we were joined for drinks by Allan and Ellena from Perthamina, a Hallberg 42. This was then followed by a delicious homemade pizza on the boat.
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9th January Sarah and Katherine

What a scorcher!! After a grey start the sunshine beamed down in time for Katherine and Sarah to scuba dive off the reef. George the German led the course (extremely hairy and with very scant swimmers). The instruction was good, visibility excellent, fish plentiful and the local driver of the dive boat, tall very dark and handsome and named Kennith. After dinner ashore in the Twilight restaurant the girls had a quick drink next door at Club Indigo with the very same Kennith and a couple of chums.
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8th January Sarah and Katherine

Prickly Bay to Tyrrell Bay, Cariacou. Up early to nab pole position on the pontoon, we fuel and water Irie before heading north at 9.30. The forecast was good, the wind had dropped and veered to the south, so the motion was only lumpy for a couple of hours off the top of Grenada. Having successfully run the gauntlet of Kick 'Em Jenny, the anchor plunged into the waters of Tyrrell at around 3.30, in time for a swim and a recce of the dive shop. The girls opened the cocktail bar at 5.30 with a fresh recipe (Ships orders) and an early bedtime followed shortly after dinner and a piratical game of Down the Pan.
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7th January Sarah and Katherine

Today the four of us take a snails pace island tour. Unfortunately most places of interest are shut on Sunday, so the driver fills the time by driving at 15/20 miles an hour. Still the scenery is magnificent, and we grind up to a rainforest waterfall where right on cue the rain tips down once we're two minutes from the van. Then the road twists on up to some 3000 feet and the Grand Etang bottomless crater-lake that feds all of the major streams on the island. Here is more evidence of the hurricane. Tall rain forest hardwoods have been thrashed to matchsticks and numerous buildings remain open to the sky. There are bananas aplenty, but the main crop was nutmeg, also destroyed and new plants take ten years to mature. The tour ends with a stunning vista across St Georges from one of the elevated gun batteries, and then it's pizza in the marina restaurant, and early to bed.
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6th January Sarah and Katherine

This morning we seem to have been overrun with pirates - a legacy of the girls' New Years Eve festivities. Anyway, the onslaught was beaten off, the captain reinstated, and the crew set off for St Georges again. Further exploration reinforces the historical and local interest. There's a great market full of local vegetable and intertwined cobbled streets climbing steeply round the fort. The water's edge will make a wonderful waterside leisure area if and when the economy and tourism steadily recover. After lunch the beach beckons. Grande Anse is a 3 mile arc of sand to the south of the town, so S & K feel it their duty to commence the browning process, interspersed with cooling dips, and thence back to Prickly Bay for highly charged cocktails on the boat as the sun descends This is followed by a fine dinner prepared by the girls.
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5th January Sarah and Katherine

Today to the capital, St Georges. The choice is simple - there's a taxi at 50 EC, or an extra 10 minutes in the rub a dub (tying up by a bar), 3 minutes walk and a 3EC bus trip, so no contest. The main harbour is stunning, with a long deep arm called the Careenage surrounded by old colonial commercial and government buildings, and a second shallow lagoon for small craft. The city surrounds the water on a succession of steep hills, and has an impressive but dilapidated fort commanding the harbour entrance. The damage from Hurricane Ivan two years ago is still widely visible. Most of the houses have been recently re-roofed, some have been abandoned and the tree main churches are still roofless and open to the elements. It's very sad. The mission here takes us to Island Water World to buy an inflatable 2-man kayak for fitness and fun and to complement the existing single seater, plus a visit to Foodland to re-provision and top up on drinking water. At 4 we hit the airport to await Sarah and Katherine and around 7, an hour and a half late, we greeted two very pale but excited travellers, both with amazingly little luggage. Back at the marina, Friday night is music night, so once installed on the boat, it was back ashore for an appropriate initiation - rum and reggae.
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4th January Heading South

Tyrrell Bay to Prickly Bay, Grenada. Yet another fresh breeze, and the sail to Grenada took us generally south. The pilot warns of an active underwater volcano, called Kick 'Em Jenny a couple of miles off the rhumb line. It's erupted a number of times over the last forty years and has thrown water and debris 1000' in the air - so there's an exclusion zone around it, though half the boats seem to sail over the top. We sail past Diamond Rock, between the Sisters and west of London Bridge, a small island with a huge square hole in it. In four hours or so, we're under the lee of Grenada which shields us from the breeze and requires the iron sail. The island is very beautiful, and if anything greener and more lush than St Vincent. We pass St Georges, and round up to the East past Saline point on the southernmost tip, the GPS just ticking from 12 degrees to 11.95N, as far south as we will go this trip. From here it's a half hour push upwind past True Blue Bay to the shelter of Prickly Bay. Here we anchored, swam and checked out the Prickly Bay Marina and Bar (Small, informal and friendly). John and Sally then sailed in necessitating a sundowner aboard - another fine day.
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3rd January Heading South

Today's strategy calls for a walk to tackle the Christmas excesses. Tying the dinghy up alongside by the boatyard, we meet John and Sally fro the Jeanneau Belle Luette who have kept their boat out here for a couple of years and dispense much useful local advice. The shoreline is attractive and fairly unspoilt, though there are the initial signs of a new marina under construction. The locals are courteous and the goats numerous as we walk along the well kept road. The walk is punctuated with the drivers of local buses touting for business - anywhere to Hillsborough for three EC but still give a cheery wave and greeting when the offer's declined. The road meanders through a little village where there are a plethora of little bars, more goats and a charming little infants' school seething with immaculately uniformed tots. It's now fairly hot, but over the hill, the road drops down close to a stunning palm-lined beach. It's called Paradise Beach, something of an understatement given the shining sand, azure sea, sandy atolls and the blue-distant jagged peaks of Union balancing the perspective. It's also deserted except for the little Hard Wood Bar discreetly placed in the shade of the trees - all perfectly placed for a cooling drink and swim. The onward trek to the town becomes hot and wearing, but it's good exercise, and a great way to see the island. Hillsborough bears out yesterday's promise and in fact the whole island has the air of a pleasant community going about its business and totally unspoiled by tourism and the harsh commercial world. Refreshed, fit and ready for anything... we opt to take a bus for the five miles back - well at 3 EC it would be churlish to refuse.
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2nd January Heading South

Today we cleared out of St Vincent and the Grenadines. This meant a five-minute walk to the airport, and twenty minutes like a pinball, bouncing between the various arms of customs and immigration - still it's all good fun and involves much stamping of passports and numerous sheets of carbon paper. We then picked up Sarah and Katherine's return tickets from the travel agent which is appropriately placed at the end of the runway so that as the planes approach mean they pass about 100 feet overhead. From here it's another hour's sail to Cariacou northernmost of the islands in the Grenada group where we anchored close off the beach at the main town of Hillsborough. Another clearing in ritual, a quick look round the town that has a pleasant, low-key air, and then it's three miles south to the more sheltered Tyrrell Bay. This is fairly crowded, so we tour round before picking a spot in reasonable space. It's a pretty bay lined with rolling hills and dotted with houses, but the north in the swell means it's a little rolly - though that's soon cured by judicious use of the stern anchor.
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1st January Heading South

Mayreau to Union Island. It was blowing hard when we left in the morning, but it's only a five mile run to Union, and there's a fair amount of shelter, so we made rapid progress off the wind, rounding up into the shelter of the reef just before lunch. The pilot says close the reef as shallow as you dare and then put the hook down - this worked a treat, and we lay in about 4 metres with 30 knots of cooling breeze whistling through the anchorage. It's very protected, but the sharp chop means a soaking every time in the dinghy.
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31st December Heading South

New Year's Eve - We talk to the family early, and spend a very pleasant day on the beach and walking round Mayreau. We had been persuaded by Robert Righteous and de Youths Bar and Restaurant to join in his New Year Party for a certain fee, well David was persuaded after a couple of beers at lunchtime. He's very 'Rasta', owns a bar near the top of Mayreau and promised food, drums, thumping music and fireworks. It would have been a good do but by the time we returned to the boat for the afternoon our enthusiasm was waning, partly because of the climb back up, partly because of leaving the boat on New Year's Eve and partly because the idea of a moonlit dinner a deux seemed like a good idea! It was then that within a very short space of time that 10 Italian catamarans arrived and rafted up along the shore and the partying started. They toasted in the New Year at midnight Italian time and then again 5 hours later at local time. (We did UTC with the intention of celebrating locally but had fallen asleep by then...) Anyway it was a good evening with a magic view to the west of the open sea and to the left the jagged, volcanic silhouette.
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30th December Heading South

Off around 08.30 for the 25 mile sail to Mayreau and the Tobago Cays. It's initially calm as we sail down past the Moonhole commune and then round the western end of the island and head south west. As the sea opens up, the swell builds to 6 / 8 feet and the wind is at the top end of 5, gusting a good 6. Still the sun's shining, we're averaging 7 knots and should be in by lunchtime. Mustique is away upwind to the east, and Canouan steadily hauls on the port beam, so that after 3 hours or so we're in its lee, the sea settles down and it's an easy sail for the last hour to Mayreau. The place is littered with reefs, but our route is very clear, and the change in the water colour gives a great visual on what's underneath - dark blue is deep, lighter blue is shallow, pale washed blue is very shallow over sand, and blue with a brown undertone is aground on a reef! The Cays look very busy, and Saltwhistle is full, so we sail past to Saline Bay (because of the salt pond), anchoring off a long sandy beach. Mayrea's another favourite place, a population of around 300, and very understated even when the occasional cruise liner anchors off for the day.
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29th December Life in the Caribbean

We had planned to go south today, but the weather is wet, and the strong winds should ease on Saturday, so we take on fuel and water courtesy of the Daffodil tender and take a last look round Bequia - but we will be back.
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28th December Life in the Caribbean

Another very pleasant day in Bequia, with a little more walking ashore.
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27th December Life in the Caribbean

This morning a large shoal of fish swam round the boat for nearly half an hour. There must have been a couple of hundred, looking similar to a trumpet or pipe fish - tube like and 2 feet or so long, but with a longer sharp nose - quite a remarkable sight. Daffodil boat services delivered ice and collected laundry which was returned later the same day smelling far sweeter - what a treata. Meanwhile we ventured ashore to buy ingredients for recipes in our Caribbean Cocktails book. Feel duty bound to try these ourselves before inflicting them on friends and family. Had a wander round the village which is awakening after Christmas holiday and in the afternoon took an hour's island tour with Angus. Bequia used to be an important whaling station - it's on the migration route of the humpback whale. The tradition is still kept up, with 25 foot sailing boats chasing 40 foot whales with hand harpoons. There are mixed feelings about all this, though many years not a single whale is caught.
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26th December Life in the Caribbean

Snorkelling off Devil's table today, where we last snorkelled with Geoff and Val and did a PADI diving course four years ago - is it possible. The wind is still pretty fresh, especially in the occasional rain squalls, and the anchor almost invisible, buried in sand. We said farewell for the time-being to Osprey who are heading south, Grenada bound to drop off the crew for flights home. By chance in a bar (another bar-?) we met James from Apparition - the boat that had propositioned Cherry in mid Atlantic. Their plans will probably mean we'll cross at some point so we'll keep in touch on another radio net - there's a great network of contacts building up. Finally a sun-downer with Nano and a great travelogue covering where they sail in Norway and the start of their trip south round Scotland - so many places, so much to do, so little time - oh well, must be time for a small siesta.
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25th December Life in the Caribbean

Christmas in Bequia - can't think which is better - a crisp, frosty walk down by the river bank followed by the full works, or stretched out on the beach for lunch eating duck sandwiches and Christmas pudding followed by a cooling swim - choice is a wonderful thing! Caught up with Warren and Vicky in Zulane on our 13.30 informal SSB radio net. They and their Contest are in Martinique and we exchanged news and Christmas greetings. Fell in with Osprey in the evening for a restaurant turkey dinner complete with crackers, hats, jokes and charades Then repaired to a bar for a nightcap with appropriate music courtesy of a rock gospel band - here it works. The keyboard player turned out to have studied in Exeter in the seventies - small world.
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24th December Life in the Caribbean

Christmas Eve in the sun - usual stuff; swimming, snorkelling and then downed a couple of beers in the Frangipani at lunchtime with Osprey (Ashley and Sue, plus crew David and daughter Tory) who arrived the previous evening. While I was at the bar, Jan engaged in conversation with Soldier. He runs an eponymous water taxi, and offered us fruit, ice, fish, lobster and even cooking utensils! Joined Osprey for supper in the Porthole for a buffet of traditional fare followed by more traditional fare in the form of a steel band back at Frangipani.
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23rd December Life in the Caribbean

Not a bad night, though the wind does tend to whistle over the hill and down through the anchorage - the 'Bequia Blast' as the pilot has it. A couple of gaps opened up nearer town, so we moved up a few hundred metres. Checking the anchor here is a treat - diving from the boat into cool, clear, blue water with perfect visibility to the sandy bottom. The anchor is well set in sand, and we are well clear of other boats so pump up the new inflatable kayak and swim / paddle to the grainy coral-sand of the beach. - idyllic. There are a large number of Arc boats here, and mid morning, we're joined by Nano for a cup of coffee. There is a huge Norwegian contingent here, with their main celebrations on Christmas Eve and recovery Christmas Day. There's to be a reception at a sort of unofficial Norwegian embassy and then a massive BBQ on the beach for close to a hundred - singed meat washed down by loads of 'glog'. There's a distinct Christmassy feel with some boats lit from top to toe with coloured lights (where do they get the power?). We hung our tinsel and baubles very tastefully and then as we charged the batteries lit our not so tasteful revolving Christmas tree, eliciting cheery seasonal comments from passing tenders.
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22nd December Life in the Caribbean

Today there's a trip of 75 miles and an aim to arrive and pick a spot to anchor in daylight, so it's up at 2.30 am for a 3.00 o'clock start. Leaving the berth is tricky as the tide is low and the prop's kicking the wrong way. A few bursts on the bow-thruster do the trick and then we nudge down the lagoon cut, heading for the port and starboard marks ahead, with frequent glances at the red flashing leading marks behind. Once into the bay the breeze freshens considerably, and we turn south along the dark silhouette of the coastline. There are a couple of other yachts in the distance, a couple of coasters, and a puzzling set of lights that initially might be a fishing boat, but turn out to be a large four masted cruise ship, just under a couple of staysails edging towards the Pitons for sunrise and breakfast. At daybreak we're heading towards the end of the island and a sharp swell raised by the 25 knot easterly trade-winds. After several hours, we close the tip of St Vincent and its volcanic mountain, Soufriere. This last erupted in 1979, and it all seems very possible again as the wind starts to howl down in 30 knot gusts from the 3000 foot peak. In another hour we're well under the lee of the island, the wind veers and dies away, and we cruise down this green and ruggedly mountainous island. Around midday we open up Kingstown followed by Young Island and then it's familiar territory for the last 10 miles to Bequia (pronounced Bekway or similar). This is a beautiful green island some 6 miles long. Port Elizabeth is at the top of Admiralty Bay, and we round the Devil's Table reef heading for a safe spot to anchor just off the gleaming white beach. This is a wondrous place, and to me it's almost more emotional and significant than the end of the ARC. Four years ago, sitting here on a charter boat it seemed an impossible dream that we'd make it in our own craft, but here we are, and there's a sense of completeness as the anchor sets deep into the sand.
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16th - 21st December Life in the Caribbean

This week seems to have merged into a blur of sunshine, boat sorting, partying, welcoming new finishers, and sharing experiences with other crews. We had a tip off that a boat called Tomahawk was owned by a Somerset couple, spotted their crew Tee-shirts and found out that they are Richard Bond and his wife who live in Ashcott in a house that adjoined the garden of our first bungalow, moving in 31 years ago just before we left for Glastonbury - small world. Tomahawk is a 1938 ketch and was deservedly voted the prettiest boat in the fleet. Kumari arrived late one evening, also Stella Maris and Paul with Intemperance, doggedly sailing all the way despite gear problems. We spent half a day cycling in the rain forest - that was a real tonic, just like a Sunday afternoon tootle round the lanes, with the addition of exotic flora and fauna and not at all strenuous. By contrast, the best party of the lot took place at the home of Didier Cuthbert, the Rodney Bay Marina manager. For some reason best known to him and his wife, he undertook to let hundreds of people have the run of his house and waterside garden. It all started at seven and was still going at five, though we retired around one. There was enough free rum and beer to raise the lagoon a metre or so, an excellent swaying steel band, nubile fire eating limbo dancers, and a smooth soul combo. The Arc run great parties, but this trumped everthing. The pontoons were muted the next morning, but a swim from the beach freshened life considerably. On Wednesday, Hugh and Cherry flew home for Christmas. We were sad to see them go, they had been excellent companions for the trip, and we could not have done it without them. By now, the attractions of marina life were starting to pall, but we stayed until Thursday for the final ARC 2006 event, the prize giving ceremony. This was a mix of prizes, awards and thanks ranging from serious to humorous but suffered slightly in that the quick boats had finished a fortnight before and as many had moved on by now, they were poorly represented. However it was a celebration of achievement, an opportunity for thanks for all the friendship and hospitality we had enjoyed, and the culmination was a very moving and emotional speech from Nick of Flying Start, recipients of the Spirit of the ARC award. The ARC event has been really excellent value. It has provided the initial catalyst for many who would otherwise never have attempted this trip. It has been informative, supportive, fun, and very, very well organised For once we dodged the complimentary rum punches and slipped away as soon as was decent - tomorrow we start on phase two - firstly south, and then back north through the Caribbean Islands.
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15th December cont Life in the Caribbean

Well the rum punch was just a start, swiftly followed by a bottle of Champagne washed down by a bottle of cheap Cava, and the whole cemented by a disgracefully large cooked breakfast as the sun rose over Rodney Bay. Half an hour behind us, Ocean Wanderer arrived and backed into the next berth, providing fresh stimulus to the celebrations. There was an air of tired elation, and maybe a tinge of anticlimax - it was done, over, we'd arrived, the boat had stopped leaping around, no-one was on watch, cups and glasses stayed where they were set down and visits to the heads no longer required wedging and bracing. There were excited calls to family and friends, and then we lounged around, taking in the heat of the sun until it was too hot to bear, when other priorities asserted themselves. Hot showers with unlimited water, immigration and customs formalities, marina fees, water and power, a stab at sorting the boat out, and time to check on which boats are in and when our other friends were due. Suddenly the day had gone. There was an ARC party out on Pigeon Island, or the weekly 'Jump up' street party at Gros Islet village, but we were all totally drained, almost dead to the world as we crashed out on the boat. Sleep was sudden but fitful; the lack of motion was strange, it was hot, with little breeze and occasional heavy showers that caused a rush to close the hatches as a deluge poured onto sleeping forms.
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14th and 15th December The Final Miles

Dawn brings a fine morning with a steady breeze. The boats behind are really suffering from lack of wind. At this rate we should be able to sail into the evening, and arrive in the early hours of Friday. How quickly life can change. A couple of large clouds with heavy rain looked threatening, and after trying to dodge them for half an hour, we decided to douse the spinnaker. That went generally pretty well, but when trying to set the main afterwards we had a jam in the roller furling. With a little persuasion, this came out OK, but the sail luff looked slack, and on tightening the halyard, there was an ominous click fro above, followed by the tinkling rattle of a dozen ball-bearings and bits of casting raining down from high in the mast. It sounded pretty terminal, so rather than risk another major jam, the main was carefully re-furled and progress restarted with the genoa and engine. For a while, spirits descended in a similar fashion to the balls from above. We're in easy reach of St Lucia and can motor there in twelve hours or so, but having sailed all this way with no problems, it's pretty galling to have a failure like this, raising all sorts of questions about the possible solution. Quick inspection of the manual indicates that though the problem is in a fairly small fitting, it could well involve removing the mast to sort, raising all sorts of questions about the schedule beyond our immediate goal. For a short while, this was possibly the lowest point of the trip, compounded by a high level of tiredness. Irie rolled on through the afternoon and evening, The motor went on and off a few times - balancing the competitive urge to reduce engine hours, with the wish to roll away out here for as short a time as possible. Steadily, excitement overcame the problems and concerns. We're heading for the northern most point on the island, and Rodney Bay is then only a few miles down the western side. A couple of large ships to dodge, the lights of aircraft, another ARC boat radioing ahead to the finish - all giving tangible signs of civilisation ahead . Then, some 40 miles out, twin pools of orange light emerged in the sky marking the positions of St Lucia and also Martinique a little to the north. Two thirty am on Friday and around seven miles off the island's northern tip, we log into 'ARC Finish' on the VHF: 'Good morning, nice to hear from you and please call us again with two miles to go'. Little by little, individual lights stand out from the looming dark silhouette of an island, and we creep along the short northern shore, making for the Cap that marks the turning point south. Martinique fills in some twenty miles to the north, and a cruise ship sails eastward down the channel in a blaze of light. Finally, we turn south, call up the finish again and make for Pigeon Island. 'Irie, Irie, ARC finish - is that you I can see rounding Pigeon Island?' Yes it certainly is. The lights of Rodney Bay mask and confuse in the dark, but three flashes from the committee boat pinpoint the line, and we finally ghost over, sailing upwind towards the east just under genoa in a very gentle breeze. There's a blinding flash from the photographer in a rib alongside, a blast on a horn from the guys on the line and then 'Welcome to St Lucia - you've finished'. Finished - what a final word. It's a very emotional moment. Eighteen days, nineteen hours and thirty-one minutes of wind and waves - two thousand eight hundred miles, nearly five thousand miles from Plymouth, a year of planning, lists and detail, problems and uncertainties - Finished. Still, we're here, we've made it and it's a moment for congratulations and just a few tears. Half a mile ahead the channel lights are winking at us. Red to starboard, green to port - 'Red, right returning' - the colours are the opposite way round to home, and a timely reminder that there's a final short lap and a boat to berth in the dark. We talk to ARC berthing and then creep towards and through the narrow cut that leads to the lagoon and the marina. We're given a berth on C dock, the tide is low and there's very little depth as we edge towards the pontoon. A turn to starboard, a nudge on the motor and she's in, the lines gratefully handed to the ARC and marina team. Even at five in the morning, the welcome is stunning. Congratulations, a basket of fruit, some paperwork and, most important of all RUM PUNCH - we're in the Caribbean!
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13th December Next stop St Lucia

All hands up at 7.30 to fly the kite again and take advantage of the light breeze. Listening to the net this morning, it's clear that we've been very fortunate to keep a little ahead of a zone with no wind, just a few hundred miles behind. A number of boats had rolled for hours in the swell, and some had resorted to motoring all day - very frustrating. Less than 300 miles to go now, and activity is starting to focus on the arrival. We have plenty of water in hand, so the regime is relaxed, and much needed washing of various items takes place. There'll need to be a huge sort out in St Lucia as this rugged nomad of the sea (the boat that is) is transformed into the svelte Caribbean gin palace needed to meet the needs of the string of international jetsetters who'll descend on us throughout the spring. Meanwhile the boat tramps purposefully on through the swell with a capable and unconcerned air. Just as well, as news comes in of another dismasting and also a boat with a suspect rig. Two am again, another beautiful night and with only 150 miles to go, this should be the last full night at sea. The night air is pleasantly cool and the moon has yet to rise. There's no light pollution out here, and looking up, the sky is alive with a sparkling tracery of stars, streaked every few seconds with the flashes of dying meteors. Orion's belt hangs suspended directly above, the Milky Way describes a huge arc of infinite depth and these millions of single points of light dust the sea and the clouds with a silver luminescence. This is a very special time.
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12th December Next stop St Lucia

Another average day really - put the spinnaker back up, and then more sun, sea and sky. The water intake is rising, and today's main efforts involve dodging dehydration and sunburn, and finding somewhere cool to sleep. Last night we passed the 500 miles to go mark, and today it's well under 400. These are nautical miles, just less than 2000 yards long, so a little over 10% more than a statute mile. There was great excitement a couple of hours before dusk. The reel on the fishing rod spun a couple of times and then flew out with a searing buzz of the brake. Hugh leapt into action and started to control the run of the line, but still the load on the rod was enormous, bending it in almost in half. Slowing the boat was the priority, but the spinnaker was drawing well and the boat making 5/6 knots, so it was a problem. Motoring astern took the speed down to a couple of knots, but each time the boat slewed across the wind and had to be recovered by releasing her forward again. This proved too much for the 50lb line which parted to the accompaniment of loud imprecations from the fisherman. Oh well, another lure gone, Irie - nil, fish - 5. Still the evening tincture was accompanied by a beautiful sunset, so disappointment subsided with the sun, amid much speculation as to the leviathan like potential of the one that got away. Three am, more showers so spinnaker down again.
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11th December Next stop St Lucia

This is more like it - there's a long, gentle swell with a breeze of 15 knots and a blue, blue sky broken by a few puffy clouds. Diary of average crewperson: Got up early, had good (healthy) breakfast of cereal, fruit, yoghourt and coffee. I/2 hour of strenuous effort putting up spinnaker. Read book 1/2 hour, watched sea 1 hour, had tea and biscuits, dozed in sun 1hour. Had lunch - potato and corned beef hash covered with melted cheese plus mixed veg. salad. Dozed in sun 1 hour, rather hot so threw buckets of salt water over other crew on afterdeck. Watched fishing line 2 hours, had fruit drinks and cake, read book half an hour, watched sunset with drink (one!) and Pringles 1hour, had supper - fruit and cheese and chocolate -so to bed. Calorie intake: 5250, calories used: 250, cigarettes: 0, alcohol units: 1, sex: oh well. This idyll is rather disrupted at 3 am. The breeze has freshened to 20 knots, and there's a large black cloud upwind, confirmed as a squall on the radar, and there are others scattered around. The drill for dropping the kite in the dark has been well rehearsed and thought through. It takes half an hour or so and works exactly to plan though the wind gusts to 30 knots during the process - much credit due to Hugh's foredeck skills and experience. It is quite a handful though, and it's easy to see why there have been numerous problems with spinnaker wraps and damage over the trip. Back under main and poled out genoa, there's a quick tea in the cockpit and a chat about how it all went. Then back to bed leaving the solitary watch-keeper in the cockpit, alone again in the moonlight with the glow of the instruments and the easy surging roll of the boat.
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10th December Next stop St Lucia

The wind has eased today, and with it the sea state. It's very tropical now, strong sun aloft and pretty warm below where only a couple of high level hatches can be open when the conditions allow. It has been a relentless few days, but nothing compared to that on other boats. Man overboard, dismasting, lost rudders, rigging failures, dead batteries and engines, plus numerous medical problems are taking an increasing toll on the Arc boats and other seafarers. At least the communications networks mean that someone is available to standby with spare parts, assistance or advice - the air waves are buzzing. We've got a rigging creak, but despite close scrutiny and much speculation, can't track it down to anything specific. Hugh has boundless energy, and is rarely without a screwdriver or a pot of grease in has hand, tending to the boat's mechanical needs. At present it looks like we should make St Lucia sometime on Friday - the ladies are counting the hours to a shower and press button loos - not to mention rum punch and pina coladas. No fish today, but we have now all seen a whale. An hour or so before dusk, it surfaced and blew a couple of boat lengths to starboard. For the next 40 minutes, it cruised around us in a leisurely fashion, usually just visible beneath the surface, blowing occasionally, and often swimming alongside or just under the boat, displaying its white underside. Perhaps it was trying to get some reaction from our large wing-keel appendage, but no luck so it eventually cruised off. It was about 20 / 25 feet long with a well set back fin, and general opinion from the pictures made it to be a Minke, but it might have been the more usual Pilot species
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8th December Next stop St Lucia

Not a great night for sleep and the cumulative effect of ten days in a tumble drier is really starting to tell. Another week to go seems a long time and friends and family seem a very long way away, so today feels generally a bit low. Still there are little milestones - we've just passed the 1000 miles to go point, which means the GPS repeater in the cockpit, which can count only to 999, is now steadily ticking down, and then this evening we passed 45 degrees west so it's time to put the clocks back anther hour. Today also proved a red letter day for Cherry who's scored a hot date. Many of the boats are fitted with long range high frequency tranceivers - sort of ham radio stuff. This means it's possible to communicate over hundreds and even thousands of miles rather than the twenty or so with the usual VHF. There's a daily communication net when any emergencies, technical or medical issues are discussed, and weather and positions shared. The fleet is now fairly spread and as our kit works better than some, Cherry was involved in relaying a number of transmissions. At the end of the net, a boat called up '184' (our number),'This is184' said Cherry. '184, we're an all male crew with 4 horny blokes, we love the sound of your voice which is driving us wild, and what are you doing for dinner tonight' - the rest of the transmissions are unprintable, and probably actionable under the Radio and Telecommunications Act.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILLIE!!

Well Millie, we celebrated your birthday with lunch in style: Fillets of steak in pepper sauce (the last of the fresh meat which was vacuum packed and has lasted incredibly well in the cool-box), accompanied by freshly made coleslaw and newly baked bread. This was followed by a birthday cake with two candles, a couple of tinctures and a round of Happy Birthday! Hope you had a great day, love and a big hug from Grandma and Grandpa.

The never ending swell and rolling got to all of us through the afternoon, so at dusk we decided to reach north under the genoa. The sail change happened just as a large rain squall came through, causing some excitement. The night was generally more comfortable, but the diversion probably cost some 20 miles – still who’s counting.
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7th December Next stop St Lucia

Back on watch in the early hours the motion is still pretty uncomfortable. The weather today has been stunning, clear blue skies and not a squall in sight, though the wind remains brisk with a large sea running. Eleven days in and the fresh food is still holding up. We've no freezer, and only a small cool box, but lunch today consisted of three types of fresh cheese, shavings of air-dried Iberian ham, and a salad of avocado, apple, orange, tomato and shredded cabbage - so no problem with scurvy as yet. By contrast, Hugh's been getting steak and kidney pie withdrawal symptoms so for dinner, Cherry made one - just like that! The provisions were all divided into weeks, and we're still largely on week one, at this rate week could probably survive for 6 months.
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6th December Next stop St Lucia

Passed the notional halfway mark at around 4am this morning, so the GPS distance to St Lucia is now less than that to Las Palmas - it seems quite a milestone and good reason for celebration later in the day. It's been a relatively uncomfortable night, with strongly freshening winds of over 25 knots, and a big sea. There is also a forecast of heavy squalls. Just to bring it all home again, there is amid morning Pan Pan (urgency) call. Another ARC yacht called Y Not has lost its steering and is calling for assistance. On checking the position Y Not proves to be some 15 miles towards the south west, so we call him and agree to close and standby. Practically, there is little we can do other than offer moral support. As we turn south, a severe squall drives in fro the north. We shorten sail, the wind gusts to over 35 knots and then the rain arrives in a blindingharsh horizontal line - at least it's fairly warm. In half an hour it's al over, the sun reappears and we rush down the waves to our rendezvous. Y Not soon has some control with delicate balancing of sails, and starts to head away fro us at 3 knots or so - catching her up will now take rather longer. Through the day we monitor other calls of assistance and advice, and also progress on the yacht as they build a jury rudder from floorboards and a spinnaker pole. An added element of interest is that she's a sister Contest, though rather larger at 48 feet - hope it's not endemic! By the evening Y Not's under way again with the addition of some additional water transferred from another yacht - their trip to St Lucia will probably last 10 days longer than planned. Chat on the radio revealed that the transfer included Cava and some dodgy videos so it's not al bad. At dusk we split our own bottle of half way bubbles, and dined on smoked salmon, asparagus and a fine selection of cheeses and chocolate. Now on watch at 1 am, it's fairly peaceful with a lighter breeze, but still a large swell. The cabins at each end of the boat are untenable in this motion so there are three noisily comatose bodies in the saloon, two occupying the sea berths and one on a made up bed under the table. Sleep is at a premium at sea with broken shifts and disturbance from noise and motion, but it sounds like this lot are getting their fair share at the moment.
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5th December - Out in the Atlantic

Grey this morning though appreciably warmer. The breeze is fresh and there are dense rain squalls up-wind. These need watching, as they track at an angle to the general wind, and can double the wind force in minutes. Great excitement at noon as we celebrate our best run to date - 167 miles on the ground track to St Lucia and tomorrow we should be half way! By lunch the showers have gone through and the sun is back, though still with 20 - 25 knots of wind. Post lunch saw an exercise class on the aft deck - lengths of rubber, strange postures plus peanut butter and honey (surrogate weights!) exciting stuff fin the strong breeze and big sea. Tonight it's still clear, and a huge full moon has just risen from the tossing silhouette of the sea to grace and light supper in the cockpit. Another round of sleeping and watching till the dawn breaks again tomorrow.
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4th December - Out in the Atlantic

Just after daybreak today, Jan saw a whale. She heard it blowing and turned to see a huge black shape as long as the boat, and only 20 metres or so away. It then slowly dived just in time to avoid being seen by the rest of the crew piling up from below. The deck has also been scattered with flying fish during the day. Unfortunately they fail to survive the experience, but it has give the opportunity to see their wings at close quarters - beautiful membranes of skin and bone that fan out in arc from the silvery, large-eyed body. The rest of the day blurs into the routine of meals, e-mails and position reporting. Mundane tasks turn into prodigious feats of endurance when the floor and walls of you house are leaping up and down and sometimes rolling through an arc of 40 degrees. The culmination of the day was during Happy Hour in the rapidly darkening twilight, as a flapping, flying fish crash-landed in Jan's lap in the cockpit - We nearly had our first man overboard.
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3rd December - Out in the Atlantic

Sunday and a week in, so loads of reasons for celebration!! Firstly, we're now at 30 degrees west, so another time-zone has been reached (one hour =15 degrees) and the Ship's time has been put back another hour. Secondly we're over a third of the way in distance - 926 nautical miles run from Las Palmas and 1788 to go and thirdly - well why not! The day started with a major cooked breakfast, there just might be a small tincture with lunch, and the plan is for a full Sunday roast tonight - just maybe with tinned meat, or even the two mackerel-sized flying fish stranded on deck this morning. The night was pretty rough with steep sharp seas driving from astern in the moonlight. They make a roaring noise on the way in, the stern lifts and then the roar turns to a rush as Irie slices down the front face - great fun, but noisy and uncomfortable for the sleepers below. Harsh reality has just checked in with an 'All Ships' call to advise of a dismasting ahead. It's a large ARC yacht - fortunately no casualties, but a timely reminder for another check of all the gear as Irie continues west at hull speed 7.5 knots with 3 rolls in the big genoa and a small reef in the main.
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2nd December - Out in the Atlantic

(Possibly Saturday - hard to tell now) We made great progress trough the rest of Friday, but looking upwind as evening closed it was decided to take the spinnaker down. It was up for 30 hrs continuous giving us a great day's run from 1200 Thursday to 1200 Friday. After a crew meeting it was reluctantly agreed to snuff it at 18:00 as the forecast for the next 24 hrs was SE 20/25 knots. This proved a good call - by the early hours, it was blowing hard with a growing swell - the trade winds have really set in and Irie is charging down the waves at 7to 7.5 knots. The wear on running gear is frightening with sheets & guys needing repositioning daily. Cherry on first night watch was alerted on the VHF by an ARC boat about 3 miles away, that they had seen a yacht between us with no navigation lights on. The outcome is that it looks like our brand new LED bulb isn't as bright as it should be - something to watch. (Jan stood the next night watch and evidence of heavy consumption of digestive biscuits was noted by the monkey on the cockpit gratings in the morning) Through the day the weather has been fantastic - building seas with increasing white tops and a very hot sun. Great delight this morning to see shoals of flying fish. They're disturbed by the approaching boat, and dart into the air, thirty or forty at a time then gliding and swooping upwind for 100 to 150 metres. By the evening the swell has grown to 8-10 feet and the wind is gusting 25 knots - time to shorten sail and settle down for the night.
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1st December - Out in the Atlantic

Having toyed with the different sail plan we are now back cruising along behind the parasail making a steady 6knts in perfect conditions, long may they last! The second genoa is safely back in its bag below decks. The effort involved in trying to fold a huge sail on the foredeck of a rolling yacht is not to be recommended, so it will mostly likely remain there! Anyway the 'yellow peril' is towing us steadily SW in search of the trade winds that will carry us to St Lucia.

The alternative log from: Foredeck Monkey (Hugh)

(This section of the log will be closely monitored - Skipper)

Despite rumours to the contrary the 10 days pre departure passed in a blur of frantic .activity and alcoholic haze. After a dry run, resulting in a destroyed impellor in seawater pump in the engine, to sea we finally managed to fly the Parasailor. The crew decided that this weapon was not to be deployed at the start. The big day finally arrived we motored out of the marina at las Palmas along with around 300 other boats The Parasailor was mysteriously deployed and we crossed the start line 5mins after the gun well amongst the fleet doing a respectable 6 knots ! Fishing has so far proved a total loss ( with the score so far fish 2 Irie 0.) The crew have only broken one spinnaker sheet block, which exploded at dawn today ! Well the rest of the log is fairly accurate so I won't quibble over any of the details other than to say we are a happy ship with a bunch of miserable old sods on her. Further gems of interest will follow soon from the Foredeck.
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30th November - Out in the Atlantic

We welcomed a school of dolphins who entertained us for 15 mins or so, swooping around the bow, but still no whales and despite our best efforts, still no fish. We felt we couldn't count the miniscule flying fish and baby squid that deposited themselves on the deck overnight. Anyway what we've lacked from the sea we've more than made up for in the galley with fresh baked bread and Cherry's homemade banana cake. We sat in the cockpit yesterday afternoon sipping tea and eating tiffin whilst Cherry and Jan knitted. Quite surreal!
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29th November - Out in the Atlantic

Woke up to blue skies, warmth and beautiful seas, still no dolphins or whales, though some nearby boats have seen both, but we are watching! We decided to have a quieter day and hoisted twin headsails and set them goosewinged. Had a lovely lunch out in the cockpit with an azure sea and pink clouds. Must catch some fish! It looks as if there may be a small low developing to the northwest, which could give westerly winds so we'll keep an eye on it. Great to receive e-mails out here, both direct to the ship, and via the 'contact us' on the website
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28th November - Out in the Atlantic

Proved itself to be a very grey day with winds from the NE of 10-25 knots the parasail showing its true colours. In the evening we decided to lower this and chose to sail by genoa alone, even with this sail alone speeds reached 7 knots on occasion and we spent a fairly comfortable night. We have settled into a routine and are all getting on very well despite some hairy moments!!
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27th November - Out in the Atlantic

Not a bad night - a little rolly in as the swell developed away from the shelter of the islands, so we made more west than planned to increase the comfort. Spent the day refining the spinnaker handling, and checking the various bits of gear on the boat. The Hydrovane self-steering has earned its keep, handling the boat on various points of sail and reducing power consumption though the course keeping can be a little wayward.
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26th November - Continued - Out in the Atlantic

The sun shone, the breeze was in exactly the right place from the North East, and very little sea was running as we ran down the east coast of Gran Canaria. The biggest boat in the racing division is over 80 feet long, and there were also a couple of Maxi racers of similar size. This lot were hull down on the horizon almost as soon as we started, so the fleet started to spread out very early. The mountains of the Canaries create wind acceleration zones towards the south. These can be very fierce, with wind speed increasing from 15 knots to sometimes 40 in the space of a few hundred yards. In fact the wind did wind up, but peaked at around 20 knots - enough to make handling 140 square metres on Parasail quite interesting as we shortened down for the night. The breeze through the night eventually dropped as we headed to our first waypoint - 20N 30W, some 850 miles away. The strategy says sail southwest till the butter melts and then turn right.
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26th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Last minute stowing of gear, taking down all the flags food storage etc.. Some of us were very quiet and some showing nervous activity!! Lots of scurrying up and down pontoons, final sending of emails, few phone calls to family and finally Irie left the dock 11.05am The sight of 234 boats plus all the spectator boats leaving the marina for the start line was quite a sight. The harbour walls lined with people shouting well wishes - very moving - a lot of tooting of foghorns. We finally went across the start line with the Parasailor hoisted - no mean feat!! Great feeling as we went powering off.
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25th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

OH DEAR! The day before and you can certainly tell! The whole marina is buzzing with nervous activity, David and Jan went off to the skippers briefing and Hugh and Cherry doing some last minute jobs. David took us all out to a lovely restaurant called La Marinera right overlooking the beach, we had a lovely meal and returned to the midnight fireworks display.
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24th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

We took the car first thing in the morning and went to the market for buy all the fruit and veg, where are we going to put it all? David took the car back and we proceeded to wash all the citrus fruit , dry it and put it away, (52 Oranges, 12 limes, 24 lemons and 20 mandarins) plus 20 semi ripe bananas 20 very green bananas, one melon 50 kiwis, potatoes, 35 tomatoes and 20 un ripe tomatoes, 6 red peppers, 6 lettuce, 4 avocados, 4 cucumbers, onions, pears it goes on and on and on!!!!!!!!! Had nice meal on board, all slightly pooped!
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23rd November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Went to Sea Safety demonstrations at the end of the pier with testing flares etc. Went for some more provisions! And continued with jobs and packing, still had the car and used it well for ferrying back and forth for buying equipment etc.
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22nd November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Hired a car and Hugh and David took off to get the gas bottles filled up. Jan and Cherry went to a seminar on Route and Weather with Chris Tibbs. Bought some prawns and had a great lunch in the cockpit. Continued with jobs, (will they end?), a certain amount of nervous activity now on all the boats and only 4 days to go.
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21st November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

More seminars on Communications and Downwind Sailing, An endless list of jobs on boat, another cocktail party hosted by Parasailor Thomas and then out for a very pleasant meal in the older part of Las Palmas near the cathedral.
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20th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Jan and Cherry went back to the supermarket to buy a load more things i.e. dried foods, packets, tins, boxes. Arrived back and proceeded to take all the cardboard packaging off (so as to discourage cockroaches), don't know how we fitted it all in but we did and there's still room for more! Hugh up and down the mast like a yo-yo doing reeving new lies and blocks and generally sorting things out he loves so much it was nearly decided to maroo hi up there: also thank goodness for electric winches, he's no lightweight.! Yet another refreshing swim and and then a noisy inner dance at the Vardero Yacht Club - great fun
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19th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

All participants met at the ARC car park for a flag raising ceremony- some 27 nationalities are represented in the rally. We all dressed up in our Irie shirts and took the Cornish flag along to wave about! The procession followed a band and marched down to the end of the marina where bedlam ensued in a hugely amusing dinghy race, with people dressed in the most amazing outfits throwing flour bombs and getting very wet.
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18th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Continued with cleaning, sorting, mending, taping things up, shopping, Hugh went up the mast to check on some fittings. Thomas from Parasailor arrived and we took the boat out to try out our huge new spinnaker. He gave us some very valuable tips and it was a very useful exercise. We all went for swim and attended a cocktail party in the evening at the rather smooth Real Club Nautico.
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17th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Jan and Cherry went to supermarket were we shopped and shopped. The water, milk and all the fruit juices were delivered to the dock due to the enormous quantities and we then proceeded to put all this away but also arranging the food into weeks one, two three and four (no-one to touch any of it until we leave!!) We then decided to take the boat out to do some man overboard routines, so after refuelling the we went out and realised we had a problem with the engine. Hugh and Jan worked on the engine while David and Cherry sailed the boat in the harbour, they found out that the impeller had completely destroyed itself, so another unexpected problem to sort. David and Hugh are constantly doing lots of little but very necessary jobs to the boat - is the list getting longer - while fitting in more seminars on sextants and things, and another ARC welcome party. We're all pretty familia with the typical Canarian tapas by now.
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16th November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

We all had a ships briefing with David going through various items on the boat and also working out watch system. We all had a lovely swim in the open air pool, and then between usall attended various seminars on Provisioning, Management of Emergencies, Rigging and Weather Patterns in the Atlantic- plenty to digest.
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November - Gran Canaria and the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Having arrived back in Lanzarote last Thursday (it's difficult to a believe week's gone by already) we had an exciting day negotiating the marina dock and travel lift in a force seven so as wash off the boat's bottom. We then waited for the weather to abate before setting sail for Gran Canaria. The wind was blowing east and hard from the Sahara, bringing with it fine red sand that blocked the sun and turned Irie from a smart navy and white boat to a dull shade of brick. Despite several washes, a 100 mile passage between the islands and heavy rain (yes rain), much of the desert is still with us! Anyway every cloud has a silver lining and while waiting for the wind to abate we spent an enjoyable day with Hank from Stella Maris who drove us around the island ostensibly in search of camping gas (unsuccessful) and lunch (successful). We had a fine and very reasonable repast overlooking a tiny harbour at the top of the island, where a couple of old gentlemen dozed on the sun under long lines of drying fish pegged out in the sun. We left Lanzarote on the evening of the 12th of November and sailed overnight in company with Kumari and Stella Maris, also being overhauled by the Norwegian Nano, then arriving in Las Palmas late on Monday morning. The marina was very busy, with many ARC boats already in place, and reversing into the berth with a strong crosswind presented a good test of skills. Once tied up we rapidly discovered a number of old friends on the dock and managed a couple of relaxing drinks in good time for the first of many welcome parties later in the evening. The next day or so were spent on safety stuff while waiting for Hugh and Cherry, old friends from Cornwall and very experienced sailors who were to complete Irie's crew. On the morning of the 15 November IRIE had her safety inspection and passed, another hurdle over and a great relief.
We (Hugh and Cherry) arrived at approximately 8.30 in the evening after a breakneck speedy ride in taxi! We left home at 9.00 am bound for Newquay airport. Lots of mixed feelings after saying goodbye to Granny, Tom, Tamsin, Morwenna and friends - two months on a boat with the Hardings!!! Are we mad? Great to finally be here and lovely to see David and Jan, Jan had a lovely meal waiting which we instantly devoured with copious amounts of wine and fell in to bed.
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September - South to the Canaries

Back on the boat on the 10th of September, it was time to prepare for the trip to the Canaries. We'd had a problem with a water tank and the rig, but Blue-Water Marine at Lagos had expertly sorted these out and after re-provisioning and filling with fuel and water, Irie was ready to go. We were joined for this leg by Gary Morse, a friend from Cornwall, and slipped our lines mid morning on the 13th of September. We should have had the benefit of the northerly trade winds to drive us south, but the wind was south westerly and freshening. For the next twenty-four hours Irie tramped upwind into a sharp chop before the weak trough passed through, the wind veered to the north and the sun emerged. From now on we had real trade wind sailing, goose-winged with a fresh wind behind and a great long lumpy swell. Irie was in her element, rising as the swells approached from behind, and then rushing off down the front face. Two days later the mountains of Lanzarote broke the horizon, we sailed down the coast to the southern tip and rounded up into Playa Blanca and Marina Rubicon in the dark at 9.00 pm. We sorted the boat out for a couple of days and then hired a car for a trip round the island. Although rather barren and devoid of vegetation, the mountainous, volcanic landscape is very beautiful and surprisingly colourful; black lava ash contrasted with rocks burnt from yellow through to pink and dark ochre. A short two weeks after arriving in Lagos, we were back on a plane for home to see the family and arrange things before the big trip across the Atlantic.
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June - Out of Falmouth bound for Spain and Portugal

Sailing from a wet cold Falmouth in mid June now seems a very long time ago. Last minute preparations on the boat seemed never ending, and with departure planned for the small hours of Wednesday 17th, the last major item, a huge smart new spinnaker, arrived by courier on Tuesday afternoon. By the evening, the forecasted front had moved off Ireland and a near gale was blowing from the southwest as a 'last supper' was consumed on board. A couple of hours apprehensive sleep, up at 1.00 am, and Irie slipped her mooring in the Truro River at 2.30. The wind had veered to the northwest as predicted, but it was a very lumpy, uncomfortable passage past the Lizard and across the Channel to pass well outside Ushant. Within 24 hours, the wind had died, and despite its fearsome reputation, most of the passage across Biscay saw us motoring on an oily calm surface, warmed by sun and with the company of literally hundreds of dolphins. At times they were so thick round the boat that the depth alarm was constantly on the go. The track took us southwest outside the shipping lanes before crossing back towards Cape Finisterre and a night landfall on the Spanish Galician coast. Finally after three and a half days at sea we tied up at midday on Saturday in the marina at Portosin in the Ria de Muros, a beautiful sandy fiord on the northwestern tip of Spain. Irie spent three weeks in this part of Galicia where the weather was wonderful and the food, country and people very charming. It's a great holiday area for the locals aiming to escape the summer heat of central Spain, so it's long on lunches and siestas, and short on tourists from other countries. Here we anchored off islands and beaches, ranged through beautiful towns with little streets and granite walled houses and soaked up the culture and history in the cities of Vigo and Bayona. Suddenly the pressure of deadlines reappeared, and we set off south down the Portuguese coast, picking up Bob and Liz in Leixoes to help on the trip to Lagos. Portugal is very different to Spain. It's a smaller feeling country with a very different language, different appearance in the people and a change in architecture. The Portuguese coastline can be fairly hostile, with relatively few ports and big sea. However, the fine settled weather continued, so little wind and more motoring. We stopped for a day each in Porto and Lisbon, both great cities with the vital ingredients of hills, rivers and interesting buildings. On the 24th of July after five days travelling south, we rounded Cape St Vincent, an iconic imposing headland that really feels like the corner of Europe. Here the wind blew hard, force six to seven but with sun and a sparkling blue sea. Twenty miles later Irie turned into the port of Lagos, the boats resting place for six or so weeks while we flew home.
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