Gauntlet of Tamar - All finished and found rum punch is quite strong

Hi allJust to let you all know that we finished at 0130 Caribbean time (0530 Uk time) despite the best efforts of our tracker which malfunctioned. Thanks to Charles Hunter-Pease for checking with arc rally control that we were ok! I’ll buy you a drink if we meet at some time. Hugo will of course give a more comprehensive analysis tomorrow but right now he’s a little diddled. Thanks allAndy. read more...

Gauntlet of Tamar - The final day - possibly!!

So here we are at the near end of our voyage of 2800 nautical miles and 18 days at sea (I think) Its been a really great experience for all on board and for me particularly it has been something that I have wanted to do with this boat and friends for many years. There have of course been trials and tribulations along the way but all on board have given their best efforts at all times with only minor cajoling from me at times!! The shift pattern for the watch leads has been difficult as it always is with broken sleep and constantly changing watch times severely disrupting the normal sleeping pattern of all. There was only one minor slip up with confusion over times when Nick arrived for his shift 3 hours early at 3am! I think the four of them had a little midnight party. Its always. read more...

Gauntlet of Tamar - Gauntlet - Day 16 and 350 miles to go

After so many days and miles 350 does not sound like a great deal but there is still some way to go. The recent sailing has been fantastic with good wind and beautiful weather, although last night the combination of large swell and gusts of up to 27 knots placed extra demands on the weary night watchmen, who navigated their course with aplomb. Stef took the speed record for the night, surfing down a perfectly timed breaking wave at a face-melting 13 knots. It's becoming hard not to think about the arrival in St Lucia. The delicious (and near infinite) supply of cold beer, rum punch, cigarettes (only of interest for a few of us)and of course meals that do not slide off your lap if you don't hold them fast. There are increasing reminders now that land is not as far away. More boats have. read more...

Gauntlet of Tamar - Day 15 - free for all on the stores declared by quarter master

Hi allIts been a while since I've written the blog in favour of each of the crew having their turn. The last couple of days have seen some exceptional sailing conditions with winds of around 20kn, the swell height today has somewhat increased with a wave height of maybe 5 metres at its peak earlier today, the wavelength was shorter than previously experienced which has led to some spectacular surfing down the face of these waves as they pass, our top speed today was 11.7kn, not bad for a 25 year old boat. I also realised today that this year I've done more miles in the boat than in my car, that's a lot of hours when your average speed is 6kn! The crew are pulling together really well and the daily routines required to keep us going have become second nature, the rig checks have proved. read more...

Gauntlet of Tamar - Gauntlet - Day 13 - Lucky & Sun

Saturday December 8th, Day 13, approx 800NM to go. Life on board is both settling down and picking up with new challenges and experiences mixed in with old routines. The day started with some slow wakeup's and disoriented sleepy crew as usual. Tom became the crew member of the day with a great catch during his daily rig checks, by noticing a shackle for the Jib that had come undone and was precariously doing it's job, almost at the end of it's thread (it's now been seized by Master Rigger N Martin). Later with the wind dying off we got a little excited and decided to put the spinnaker up, giving Nick and Stef a bit of a scorching job in the heat keeping it flying, despite low winds and big(ish) swells. We have a new found respect for the Racing Fleet and their almost constant spinnaker. read more...