Purrr-fect - Leg Two - day 16: We have arruved in St Lucia!

After a final night of light wind which delayed our arrival by several hours, we crossed the finish line here in St Lucia at 5:31 am. We were rewarded during the night with the most spectacular full moon that lit up not only the sky but most of the eastern ocean. We ate our final dinner at sea out in the cockpit under the bright light of the full moon. It is definitely wonderful to have made the 2100 mile journey and we give thanks to God for a safe passage. Now where is the ice cream stand? image1. read more...

Purrr-fect - Leg two -day 14: Only 200 miles to go

Some of the larger and faster boats have already arrived in St Lucia so we are getting eager to see land. Late this afternoon, we hit the milestone of less than 200 miles to go. So we celebrated with rum punch and a plate of cheese and crackers. Today was a great sailing day with moderate wind pushing along in the right direction. We hope this situation lasts so the final 200 miles are pleasant. Our navigation software is now estimating our arrival sometime late Thursday after midnight. We have started to access our supplies. Water will be just right but Dave will probably make some tomorrow just so we have extra in the tanks. Normally he runs our water maker every 3 days just to make drinking water. We have been using our water tanks for showering and cooking. We will have lots of. read more...

Purrr-fect - Leg two - day 13: Spinnaker sailing

The wind was light all last night so our progress was much slower than we had hoped. So this morning we raised the spinnaker and got moving faster again. Unfortunately the wind changed often so it was necessary to make numerous sail changes. The most challenging time was just at dusk when we found ourselves in the midst of numerous squalls with lots of rain and wind shifts. We all got thoroughly soaked making some sail changes. It took until 11 pm for the squalls to pass by and the wind to become steady again. With less than 300 miles to go now, we are getting eager to arrive! image1. read more...

Purrr-fect - Leg two -day 11: the final quarter

Tonight we reached the milestone of 525 miles to go which is the last quarter of the 2100 distance. So to celebrate, we enjoyed rum punches with ice cubes and a sprinkle of nutmeg on top. It is getting warmer everyday and tonight was quite humid, so the ice cubes made a refreshing drink. Last night late, we slowed down because we had to drop the mainsail when the boat's steering acted up. We disagree about the cause of the steering malfunction but are just happy that it is resolved and working again. In any event,we have been moving well all day and so far the night is moonlit with steady winds, propelling us on a direct course for St Lucia.Provisioning for this trip has been a major focus before we left the Canary Islands,and Linda planned for 21 days. Now our nav software is showing. read more...

Purrr-fect - Leg Two - day 10: finally a beautiful sailing day

Saturday,Nov 29 turned out to be one of the most beautiful sailing days so far. The horrible swell and wind chop subsided and the boat sounded much quieter. We added a full mainsail to our double headed jibs and moved along nicely under sunny skies. The past two days had been overcast with even a few small squalls with light rain, so the sunshine today was great for charging batteries with the solar panels. Just before lunch we enjoyed another dolphin show with dolphins surfing down the swells and playing at the front of the boat. We enjoyed a fun cocktail hour playing our favorite game of Shut The Box. Paul won too many times!We even took time to shoot some photos on the front trampoline.. read more...