Moondancer - Monday 16th December 15.03 (GMT - 4)

So here we areWe can almost smell the CaribbeanOnly 140 miles to go and even we had to motor we would have enough fuel.I'm sure mother nature will give us one last surprise but feeling optimistic slowly chugging towards the finish with our 1 remaining sail at a steady 7-8 knots.So to summerise - We have lost 2 sails including the main,and the lazy jacks. We have something on our prop so we have to keep the gear lever in reverse to stop it from engaging while its off. We lost all our electronics halfway across and our auto pilot but managed to fix them. 5 sail cars and 1 slug, oh and the hydro generator has just come free but is retrieved but not in use.The most important thing is we are all well and not injured and nearly there.Compared to some other boats we are very lucky.Our hearts go. read more...

Moondancer - Sunday 15 December 15.20 (GMT - 3)

--Last Tango in Paris / Last Fanta in the AtlanticDont worry Marlon Brando isn't after us with a pound of butter, it's worse, we are getting to that point in every seafarers life that he dreads the most. The last Fanta in the fridge!There is still plenty of booze aboard and I for one intend leaving the boat dry.The Jamesom's could be a problem especially after being practically dry for so long.Well to the sailing situation it was looking so good on Friday 13th then the lazy jacks gave way and we removed what was left of them. Then the great storm of Friday 13th, more like Saturday 14th came in.it was on my watch of course when I was hit by 6 squalls in 3 hours on the midnight til 3. I woke the fellas up about 2.30 and it got worse until it was just one continuous storm. The waves were. read more...

Moondancer - Friday 13th

Friday 13th, that’s not a good start.Hi to all you still following us on the blog. It seems to me that anybody with the mental stamina to continue reading this load of old rubbish day after day has all that’s required to do the ARC.Its been a few days since our last blog as we’ve been very busy trying to get the boat St Lucia in one piece. The trade winds we’ve been praying for (thanks Sue) have come and we now have a constant 20kts of wind. The downside to lots of wind is the sea state which is confused at best but we’ve been clocking steady 165 mile days.It was managements turn to prepare lunch yesterday, catering was at the helm and I was in my cabin when a big wave hits the boat. Management superman’s past my cabin into the heads wall. After a little groaning from management and. read more...

Moondancer - Monday 9th December 17.30 (GMT+1)

Fishing appendix 2 - Tales from the deepA couple of things I forgot to mention Fish based.Firstly when Maintenance catches a Dorada he has a rather clever way of preparing them. They have to be skinned rather than descaled so Maintenance holds down the slippery fella and first cuts behind the skin by the head.He then needs both hands to hold him so he peels the skin back with his teeth removing one whole side at a time. It's like watching Gollum eat his dinner.He's using quite a lot of dental floss.Flying fish! What's that all about? I mean what are they? a fish , a bird ? They should make up their mind. One of them flew on deck during my night watch and nearly caught me square on the jaw, I ducked and showed him the back door. I will make an official complaint later. And Dolphins, what. read more...

Moondancer - Monday 9th December 12.30pm (GMT+1)

The one that got away 2Just had the biggest bite of my life.It was either a Marlin or a large Wahoo.It took 300 metres of line and jumped clean out of the water 4 or 5 times until it broke our 80lb breaking strain line. It was about 6 foot long. What a rush!We've had a few like that all be it a bit smaller.When we do manage to land a fish it usually turns into the Billy Batts murder scene from "Goodfellas" on the boat and the place ends up looking like an abbattoir, but you've got to eat.Anyway we've lost most of our line now and can only go for small fry.Talking of Fish we had a very strange experience yesterday before dusk. A huge Blue Marlin followed our boat for half an hour , mesmerised by the Hydro generator which it actually attacked with its beak.It was about 6 foot long with. read more...