Archives by: Jessica Ford

Day 13- Lazy Day The sun came out and the crew took the opportunity to relax and dry out their kit. The wind was a gentle 10 knots, yet despite that we were managing a good 5.5 knots. By evening, the wind was behind us and we sailed the night on a dead run, goose- winged. It made for a very smooth ride and most of us slept better than we had since leaving Rio Read more

Day 12- Panic Mechanic The day started with a firm resolve to mend the autohelm. Ash and Joey stripped off to their shorts and committed themselves to hang with their bums in the air for the next 2 hours in the aft berth where the autohelm is fitted. The rest of the crew handed them a steady flow of pliers, spanners, socket wrenches and anything that would possibly substitute as a steel bracket. With the rush of success, Joey and Ash cleaned off with ... Read more

Day 11- Due South The rain continued to envelope us and full foul weather gear became essential. Even wearing our foulies left us feeling wet inside them. Those on watch braved the chill, while the rest of the crew were forced to sit out the rain down below. The challenge of being such a large crew in close confines tested us but, again, consideration and humor pervaded. It was impossible to heat up and food in the galley as it made the humidity in ... Read more

Day 8-Wash Day First task of the day was to fix the heads , which Uwe and Sean set about doing with great commitment, while the rest of the crew rapidly exited to the fresh air of the cockpit and foredeck. With that success behind us, we were inspired to do our laundry which had accumulated in a hot soggy mess. Pat strung out washing lines between the solar panels and before long JML Rotary Scout looked like a Vietnamese trawler. Ash baked us ... Read more

Day 7- Good Sailing Day 7 was a record breaking day with respect to our mileage. We sailed on a beam reach for much of the day in choppy conditions and in the 24 hour period recorded 172nm. Unfortunately this was slightly overshadowed by the realization in the late afternoon that the outlet pipe in the heads had come off the fitting and spilled contents and we were so despondent that all we could do was to put up an “out of order” ... Read more

Day 6 - Team work The morning greeted us with gentle wind and a 1m swell, so we hove-to and put lines off the back and jumped in. Nothing can explain how fantastic it is to look down into 4500m of blue ocean depths. 3 dorado swam past us to observe our antics and then passed on their way. We used the opportunity of the hove-to to fix a few minor issues on deck including the torn spray dodger, which we vitally need ... Read more

Day 5 - Settling in We woke up to a 16 knot wind and a brilliant blue sea with a 1m swell. No one seemed to have much of the seasickness that had haunted us the day before. Ash, Freddie, Sean and Uwe took a welcome salty dip off the back and the smell of Elizabeth Anne’s baby shampoo was a delight to Jane, who vowed that she too would venture out for a shower off the sugar scoop. The shift watches were going ... Read more

Day 4 - Big Seas During the night , the wind and swell picked up  dramatically. Sunrise welcomed us to winds gusting up to 28 knots with 3 metre swells. We reefed in to third reef and adjusted the genoa. The GRIB files were studied and it was decided that although we had initially wanted to go as south as possible in the early days, we would have to readjust our course and head up a bit ,as Peter reminded us that ... Read more

Day 3 - The poo hits the fan We made sail for the sheltered bay of Lopez Mendez and anchored in about 5m of sandy bottom. We were soon snorkeling and diving among the granite boulders with rays turtles and angelfish. The surface of the warm water was a clear layer of tannin tinted water from the run-off from the rain forest, but below that the water was crystal clear. Ash and Freddie went to climb coconut palms and brought back 4 good ... Read more

Day 2 - Tropical paradise We sailed into Ile Grande last night and realized that we were in a little piece of paradise. The bay was sheltered and offered safe anchorage and it wasn’t long before we were preparing sushi from the days catch. We woke early and sorted out a few boat repairs and made several swims to and from the beach to collect burgers for breakfast from the local café. We established that we had not filled the spare fresh water canisters, ... Read more