Aglaia - The Wind Gods

The wind gods have been toying with us all night, offering a little breeze and then making that breeze take us off in the wrong direction.Boat speeds have been averaging 5 knots over night with only about 2-3 knots of speed taking us closer to St Lucia.Spinnaker poles have been up and down, genoa and staysail set in every conceivable setup to keep us moving though the calm night.This morning has dawned to be clear and sunny but once again with light winds coming from directly behind us, we have poled out the genoa and are making best speed directly towards St Lucia, currently about a 5.5 knot average.This means that we are now around 40 hours from arrival if maintain similar speeds for the rest of the run and with the forecast for a slight increase in wind maybe we will arrive a few. read more...

Aglaia - What a difference a day makes

What a difference a day makes, this time yesterday we were motoring through the last squalls of the night listening the remains of the torn yankee on the furler flapping in the 40 knot horizontal rain.Yesterday once everything was tidy and sorted the wind decided to fill in with a steady 12-14 knots through the day allowing us to set the genoa once again and average around 7.5 knots direct on course for St Lucia.As darkness started to fall and we all tucked in to a hearty freshly prepared curry (chef likes his curries hot which added to the sweating brows) we all braced for another night of squalls looking at the darkening clouds starting to mass around us.As the night passed by we had no more than a few drops of rain, consistant but light winds kept us moving along on course over a calm. read more...

Aglaia - Suprises from the Atlantic

Just when you think you know what to expect from the weather each night the infinite possibilities of the Atlantic surprise you.All of the weather information suggested we would have lightish wind, rolling swell and struggle to make the direct course to St Lucia we are hoping for.When darkness finally fell yesterday we were doing around 7 knots about 10 degree North of course which looked like solid if not stunning progress.Within half an hour a dark cloud started to form behind which rapidly caught us giving the boat and crew on deck a real tropical wash down and dropped the boat speed down into the mid 5 knots.Then the moon came out from behind the big dark cloud, the winds filled in to 18 knots and we started a fast 10 plus knot surf directly on course.Everyone helming through the. read more...

Aglaia - perfect full moon lit sail

After a perfect full moon lit sail across and calm ocean with following seas and a clear stary sky the morning has brought constant 15 knots of wind powering our main sail less home across the sea at a very comfortable 7-8 knots.Sunbathing, chilling out on deck with a good book and listening to Lars's ipod chill out session on the deck speakers is making for a very relaxed and happy crew.Lunch today in the heat of the sun is being kept light by our chef by beginning with smoked salmon, cream cheese and muze bouche followed by Mediterraneanvegatables, serrano ham and local canarian cheese galettes de ble.Once again I don't know as skipper what i've been thinking all these year of sailing without a professional chef aboard.Forecast is looking good for us to make the final gybe onto a. read more...

Aglaia - Dave the Autopilot

Good afternoon everyone, today whilst everyone is working hard or sound asleep between watches I thought I would introduce myself, I'm Dave, Aglaia's autopilot.Now, I've been feeling a little under appreciated over the first half of the crossing, working tirelessly to keep the boat on course and being dismissed as soon as the helming conditions look 'fun'.Yesterday I decided enough was enough and it was time everyone aboard realized just how much work I really do.Starting yesterday afternoon I went on full time strike, first result was regular visitor coming to see me in the lazertte at the back of the boat, all my connections were cleaned, setting checked, temperature taken, all in all I started feeling a bit of love so put in an hours work as a thank you.Talking with Berg the plotter. read more...