Seren Wen - Day 4

Friday 30thYesterday we may have spoken a bit too soon. After sending through yesterday’s log we frantically got our things together, closed all the hatches, and stowed the last few things away. We went to put the bathing platform up in order to attach the tender but guess what?! The other hydraulic system that controls the bathing platform also decided to break down! Jon Crouch came back to rescue us once more and 6 hours later we had fixed the problem. We decided to get a few hours’ sleep and then head off at first light the next day.So, we were all up at 5.30 this morning and raring to go! But then at around 6.30am, the fridge decided it didn’t want to work anymore! Luckily we have a fridge out in the cockpit and we weren’t going to waste any more time. The essentials went in the. read more...

Seren Wen - Day 3

Its 13.30 hrs and after a morning of waiting and hoping, the pipes reattached, oil arrived and added, test done and the sounds of sails furling in and out was music to ours ears! After a cold and rainy morning in Las Palmas the sun has come out to add to our optimism. So, St Lucia  here we come!! Thanks to all who have sent us good wishes and supprotive comments. At last you should see us moving on all those purcahsed apps!!. read more...

Seren Wen - Day 2

Its a good job that we know a good man in Las Palmas, Jon Crouch has saved the day and worked really hard all day to solve the problem. It seems we have 2 hydraulic pipes that have chaffed as they pass through the bulkhead and had holes in them, leaking out all our oil! This was a disaster waiting to happen and although were so sad to return we feel very lucky that this didn't happen half way across. Its a bit crackers, but some of  us ( well, Liz)"talk" to Seren Wen and think she showed us her problem early to keep us safe!New replacement pipe and fittings are being made as we blog and we have high hopes of being away by tomorrow lunch time after a bit of extra provisioning as we keep eating into the stock!!The Marina seems so empty without all the ARC boats and. read more...

Seren Wen - Day 1

We were full of excitement, trepidation and happy anticipation as we left the Marina bobbing about amongst 100's of ARC boats, waving to our friends! With winds up to 30 knots and high crashing waves our adventure (and a bit of sea-sickness) had begun and we played "Pirates of the Caribbean"  loudly. Motor off, Main and Genoa up and we headed south.But, just over an hour of racing and we had to make the decision to turn around as we lost the hydraulics for the furling. We tried with manual winches but the process was too slow and is really only to be used in emergencies! So its now 6.00 pm and we are back looking at the Wall! The engineer is coming early tomorrow and hopefully the news will be it can be fixed and we can get back in the rally.. read more...

Seren Wen - Final Preparations

Seren Wen have loaded up with food and drink, scrubbed the decks, stowed everything away and are almost ready to depart on Sunday! A few of the crew are getting a bit nervous, but mostly we can't wait to just get going! Only a day and half left to go!. read more...