Merlyn III - We have arrived

The completion of our voyage arouses a mixture of emotions. Relief that wehave completed it safely; the prospect of reuniting with wives; the pleasure ofanticipation of a hot bath; the prospect of dry land. On the other hand theremust be some regret that our micro world on the boat will be ending.   Our passage time is 18 days 18 hour and 40 minutes. However, as regularvisitors to the Blog will know, this was the ARC of the becalmed and we havearound 140 engine ours to our debit. We are not overly concerned with this as ifwe had not motored we would undoubtedly have arrived several days later, to theconsternation of our spouses.   The lack of wind was hardly ideal but the variety of wind meant we triedmost combinations of sailing rig/strategies which has hopefully improved. read more...

Merlyn III - Getting closer and still rocking...

The Boat that rocks has taken on its own meaning on Merlyn lll – less musicand more motion as we ride the Atlantic rolling from side to side, as well ascontinuing to make positive forward progress to St Lucia, about 230 miles -around thirty hours away depending on the wind strength, setting us up for avery late or early morning landfall on Thurs/Friday morning. The twin boom rigis doing its job but can’t counter the waves that seem to come from twodirections at once, providing a corkscrew motion that swings the back of theboat around – anything unsecured or not on special anti-slip matting goesflying..... Excellent vegetable curry from Iain last night, used up most of the spicesand lasted till lunch today. Will miss the totally clear and amazing night sky,enjoyed a huge shooting star at. read more...

Merlyn III - Day16- The Boat that Rocked

We made contact with the wives who have now arrived in St. Lucia and are,we presume, anxiously awaiting our arrival.   We spent most of the day on  broad reach with about 20 knots of Eastby North wind, but we could not lay St. Lucia on this point of sail. However, inlate afternoon we put up our twin pole rig and are now sailing downwind straightfor St. Lucia currently maintaining 8.4 Knots. According to my chart plotter wewill arrive in approximately two days time if we keep this up. Realistically Iwould estimate we will arrive very late on Thursday or early on Friday. It isgratifying that the trade winds have finally arrived, albeit about two weekslate. While there is some swell it is not uncomfortable and we feel we are onthe last lap.   Last night’s feast was Poulet a. read more...

Merlyn III - Day 15 - Cautious optimism continues

I hardly dare to write this, but we finally seem to be getting what waspromised in the brochure! After James’s cautious optimism yesterday, we set mainand genoa at 11.30 and began  sailing again. For the rest of the day thewind seemed to steady just east of north; we slipped along very nicely at 7 to 8knots with a generally overcast sky and a few squalls which stalked us but neverseemed to arrive. During the night the wind freshened a bit and we reefed thegenoa.   This morning we had a steady north-easterly at about 18-25 knots, with abiggish foam-flecked swell running in from our starboard quarter making us rollquite hard. The sun  shone and none of the clouds lasted long. We let outthe genoa and took in enough of the main to make sure it filled. By lunchtime wewere. read more...

Merlyn III - Best To Be Optimistic

Bestto be optimistic   Wentto sleep to the sound of Billie Holiday; woke to the sound of the diesel enginepowering us through another morning of light winds.  Hopespring eternal and as our wives were preparing to take off from London, weopenly welcomed leaden skies and distant squalls urging them to get behind us.Our short term wishes were answered with stronger winds and heavy rain coming inon the beam - we creamed along at 8 knots and crossed our fingers as it wasahead of the forecast winds; the oft repeated the story of yesterday’s wind forecast moving tantalisinglyahead of us, when reviewed the following morning!Yetwe are aboard an extremely comfortable yacht that rides the waves beautifully,with good food and good company. Truly away from today's, yesterday's and. read more...