Johanem - McHanem blog wednesday 22 May

Hello family, friends, camp followers and other readersWe have been at sea for almost exactly one week and have covered over 1000 miles with about 825 to go to Horta. All is well on board but we have strong southerly winds which make the boat fairly frisky down below. On the up side we are howling along at 9/10 knots with heavily reefed white sails. The record run over a 3 hour watch is 25 miles with a top speed of 10.3 knots achieved by Stan but competition remains fierce with several days to go. Harry the hydrovane is having to work pretty hard but still manages to steer better than most of the motley over a period of timeOn board activities have settled down into the usual relaxed pattern. The wine appreciation club meets every evening, albeit briefly, to sample the delights of the. read more...

Johanem - Johanem Blog Tuesday 21st May 2013

Day 7... and less than a thousand miles to go! Life on board has settled down into a comfortable routine: Beer at midday, G+T at 5.30pm and a glass of red with dinner. Followed by a wee dram on watch. But its not all home comforts... we have all been getting used to life at a 45 degree angle to the world and it is notable how cold it has got over recent days - the duvets are now all being used and the Cuppa Soup mountain that we started with is now a mere hillock. We have had a few rain showers too so the Scottish contingent are beginning to feel at home. Unfortunately, early this morning the winds died and we have had to do a bit of motoring but this did give us a chance this morning to stop for a swim (all part of our race technique...) Gus, Gavin (AKA Stan) and Peter duly jumped in. read more...

Johanem - Johanem blog 20 May 2013

Day 6So we all ignored the skipper with his instruction to only pack light weight clothing and thank goodness we did. Even Graham, Stan and Gus - the hardy Scots are finding it a wee bit cold at 3 am !!C watch has now been upgraded from The Pink Bottle Watch (Gus & Pete) to the Wet Pink Bottle Watch due to the fact that its only rained on their watch ! However they were rewarded with a bit of dolphin watching and a marvelous bacon and fried egg sandwich cooked by our very own Capitano. Thank's skip. Talking of the skipper, his array of jokes still keep coming to the merriment of all, although Ian tends to go into a bit of a comma when he starts. Talking of Ian, due to the rain, he has now managed to turn his cabin into a Chinese laundry, I hope this situation will change before night. read more...

Johanem - Johanem (McHanem) blog 19 May

How many miles to Horta ? The Johanem team's Northern route strategy remains intact and we are optimistic of success. The question is what of the Azores high. After beating North we have now turned for The Azores and are knocking out the miles with 3 days of good sailing flat out. We have now been at sea for 5 days and it feels like we are on a roller coaster that never stops - great fun. During the night Watch B (Stan and Ian) had a close encounter of the oil tanker kind, with the Am Express making a close pass and the night watch team having to take evasive action surfing down the bow wave of the 700' vessel- or so we were told anyway. Then about an hour later they were visited by Mrs Dolphin and her 2 wanes. Onboard there have been some minor genset issues which has led to a rather. read more...

Johanem - Johanem blog Saturday 18th May

Day four. After a great fun start at Bermuda on Wednesday, the Johanem team are getting it together. The watches are working well all be it very tiring even after four days. We do three hours on and six off, the time fairly flys past. Day two we had to do a bit of engine work as things were very quiet on the wind front, we headed north and Graham provided us with diner, a skipjack tuna, very tasty!! Friday and Saturday have proved more exciting on the sailing front with winds gusting 30knts and waves to match, a great deal of sail adjusting but we are almost far enough north for a run to Horta. The skipper had us sing on deck after super, once we had done one or two of his favourites we introduced him to the highland songs, he surprised us and knew a good number of Scottish songs, so the. read more...