Susan Ann II - log day 21 - finish line in sight!

It looks like we have actually made it. We sailed across our first ocean and I couldn’t be more proud.I’m currently on watch with 90 minutes to our waypoint at the northern point of St Lucia where we will call into ARC control and announce we are 2 miles out from the finish line.The rest of the guys are all asleep but I’ll wake them in an hour or so.We’ve had a great day but with winds as light as 6 knots we dropped the sails and started a motor.Unfortunately we will be crossing the finish line under engine but considering we still have most of the fuel we left with I am quite happy to be entering an unfamiliar bay with the sails packed away.We stopped this afternoon to sort out our failed prop - it still had the 3rd Genoa sheet wrapped around it and I didn’t want to arrive with a half. read more...

Susan Ann II - log day 20 - ‘bit of a crap day’

With St Lucia approaching fast now, it’s time I got some of the ‘not very nice jobs’ done so I can relax and enjoy a rum punch or 7 when we get there.Part of living on a boat means that everything on that boat is our responsibility to keep in good working order and that includes the toilets - unfortunately.So today is toilet unblocking day.We have 3 heads and the one in our master cabin was in need of some TLC.It seems that the pipes get blocked over time due to flushing with salt water, despite regularly flushing with fresh water.But, as I didn’t know what the source of the problem was I began at the toilet end and started taking things apart.After a relatively easy job dismantling and cleaning the macerator at the base of the toilet (considering 3m seas and our head is forward) I put. read more...

Susan Ann II - log day 19 - Our first squal!

Well, our first 2 squalls actually.Which of course hit us at the same time and of course at night! We’d been praying for more wind so we can’t really complain but I draw the line when our radar tracks a squall 3 miles from us that’s doing 60 knots.Conditions have got gradually worse today and we saw dark clouds so we reefed to reef 1 before dinner and nightfall but as soon as the guys had gone to bed, squalls started popping up on the radar.I wasn’t even sure if our radar was working properly as we haven’t seen a thing until now but a display full of yellow blobs heading our way at 60 knots says it was.Time to wake the crew and put in reef 2.We don’t need the whole crew to reef but they’d only just gone to bed and it does make life easier.We all know our roles so it’s best to have all. read more...

Susan Ann II - log day 18 - its a hard life!

It’s safe to say that with these light winds, everyone on board is as chilled as it’s possible to be.Once in the trade winds, sailing to the Caribbean seems to be about pointing the boat in the right direction and then being patient.We made it to the trade winds 2 weeks ago today and haven’t seen over 16 knots of wind since.With this being directly from behind and us averaging 6 knots speed over ground this means we only have 10 knots of wind blowing over the boat which makes for a very peaceful and tranquil place to be indeed.The front of the boat is one of the best places to be (this is debated as there are many) because it’s nice and quiet, the lightest of breezes passes over you from astern and there is plenty of space for all of us to catch some rays together.Are the bean bags our. read more...

Susan Ann II - log day 17 - our biggest yet!

OMG!Mahi Mahi, Dolphin fish or Dorado, whatever you want to call it, this is a big one!We don’t have scales onboard unfortunately but this male is definitely our biggest catch yet.We filleted him, diced half and had Filipino style sashimi for lunch and then we are currently making the other half into spicy breaded goujons to have with cous cous.With so much fish we are trying to come up with different recipes and keep it interesting each day.I actually think we spend more time fishing and cooking than we do sailing.I do love our auto pilot!I wonder what tomorrow will bring.Love from The Daley Adventure. Xxximage1. read more...