Kaizen - Final Blog Post

We arrived last night at 20:38 local time after 17 days, 11 hours and 39 minutes, covering 2736nm to finish first in our division and 5th amongst all cruising boats. We fulfilled our goal of arriving in time to crack open the Champagne for Captain’s birthday. And wow, did it taste good!Today, we have had some bewildered ARC sailors popping over to congratulate us expecting to find a full on professional race crew but instead finding we’re just a family. Having had our COVID tests, we expect to be released from quarantine tomorrow and cement the friendships that we made in Las Palmas and over the airwaves enroute.Our only breakage was our alternator mounting which we are pretty certain was caused by Canarias Multinautica S.L. in Tenerife when they hit it with a hammer. Although they admit. read more...

Kaizen - The finest sashimi

The wind is nothing more than a fluttering breeze today so we are motoring along at a steady 6-6.5 knots. We can see another ARC boat, Neuroseas, on the horizon. As we get closer to St Lucia, we expect to see more of our friends as the fleet begins to converge on the final destination. We’ve made good use of the calm seas by preparing some sashimi. The huge yellow fin tuna we caught last week has been frozen at -18c for over 72 hours now, enough to kill off any parasites. This is the method that the Japanese follow to ensure that their raw fish is safe. For dinner this evening, we’ll enjoy a ribeye steak and Captain has requested bacon, eggs, Cumberland sausages and black pudding for his birthday breakfast tomorrow. If all goes to plan, this will be our final night at sea.image1. read more...

Kaizen - Happy hermits

After catching the wind yesterday, we have deployed our twin headsails and are relaxing and simply taking it easy. Our course is now taking us direct to St. Lucia. I thought I was being optimistic with the amount of homeschooling I’d downloaded for the trip but actually the kids finished everything at lunchtime today. So I’ve given them the afternoon off to watch movies and play computer games. Captain and I have been catching up on sleep, reading, and we have sent off our pre arrival health declaration forms. With only an expected two nights left until we reach our destination, our thoughts are beginning to wander towards land-based activities. It’ll be strange to speak with people who are not us - we’ve been hermits for what seems like an eternity crossing the Atlantic.image1. read more...

Kaizen - Rendez-vous with the wind

This morning, we have awoken well rested and with a spiralling sense of excitement as today marks the final 500nm to go. We kick the day off with some bread making and pancake flipping.As most of the fleet are recovering from the mid Atlantic becalming and head in a straight line for St. Lucia, we decide to go off the beaten path, heading south-west at the expense of extra miles to seek the certainty of more stable and consistent wind. On the horizon, we can already see the typical trade wind cumulus clouds that mark the presence of stable airflow which will hopefully carry us all the way to St. Lucia. As we approach the bunched up clouds, surely and steadily, the wind speed elevates. Captain patiently monitors the historic one hour wind speed chart as he ponders over when to deploy our. read more...

Kaizen - Your questions answered

Ever since Captain got our satellite broadband back up and running again, I have been delighted to see so many WhatsApp messages of support and encouragement from friends and family. It seems that in this COVID environment, many of you are living very similarly to us - isolated at home with your family. Socialising only in the virtual world. The only obvious difference being that we are removed by hundreds of miles of water. So today’s blog will be used to answer your top five burning questions:1) Tanya in England asks: “At night, why don’t you just drop the anchor and all go to sleep?”Sadly, this is not possible because the sea is quite deep and we don’t carry enough chain to hook the seabed. But a lovely idea nonetheless.2) Monica in Brazil asks: “Do you feel seasick?”We’ve been. read more...