Xplorer of Hamble - Just 300 miles to go!

96Normal 0 false false falseEN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}We are into the last two days of our voyage. The miles have really begun to rattle down. That’s in part due to fact that for the last three days we’ve been properly into the trade winds and we’ve had some great sailing with 15 to 25 knots from the. read more...

Xplorer of Hamble - THEY SAID THAT THERE'D BE SQUALLS!

96Normal 0 false false falseEN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}We are now over two thirds of the way – just 900 miles to go. We will have a bottle of Champagne tonight to celebrate. With current wind, we should get to St Lucia on Saturday, but you never know.The sailing has hotted up in the last 36 hours. We. read more...

Xplorer of Hamble - Xplorer - Half Way Across

Today we are going to celebrate being half way to St Lucia – just over 1400 miles to go. After 2 or 3 days of fairly rubbish wind and too much motoring we’ve now picked up a good easterly which is pushing on at a steady rate. We are back to the unending broad reach and enjoying it. We have another bit of weather instability to get through tonight which might bring light wind again and a brief period of rain or showers but its generally looking more hopeful for the next few days. We are down to about 14 degrees north and still heading a bit further south before we finally make our turn towards St Lucia. We are into a good routine on board at this point but we have had a discussion about the least enjoyable bits of an ocean crossing. The front runners are - removing inadvertently defrosted. read more...

Xplorer of Hamble - Xplorer - Sailing Update

Xplorer – Sailing Update I have now decided to take back control of the laptop from Tin Tin and write a sailing update rather than hear more abusive tales about his shipmates. He has been keel-hauled for insubordination and is now fixed firmly in the saloon with heavy duty Velcro!We are now about 250 miles west of the Cape Verde islands. We seem to have been about this distance from Cape Verde for a long time. Having headed south we turned west about 250 miles north of these islands and have been on a never ending arc around the west side. We are now almost 1000 miles from Las Palmas and just over a third of the way across.The first week has been characterised by cloudy skies, rain on and off, and variable winds. Most days the weather has resembled a summer day in the English Channel.. read more...

Xplorer of Hamble - The Xplorers - About My Shipmates

Hello! Tin Tin the Bear here again. I thought on this blog I’d introduce you to my shipmates, the four ‘Xplorers’ which I’m forced to share my boat with on this voyage across the Atlantic. You can tell a lot about people by what they read.  First up we have Peter ‘have you seen my glasses’ Bamford. Despite bringing at least five pairs of reading glasses on the boat he can never find them. Peter likes to think he is in charge of this ship….little does he know that Val is sending messages via a remote sewn in my paws which directly controls the autopilot. Peter lives in the Bamford Suite, a luxurious cabin in the front of the boat which he shares with the emergency food, rotting vegetables, kitchen roll and the spare saloon carpet, which is on board just in case Moneypenny Warren goes. read more...