Pure Joy - Pure Joy - ARC Day10

Ooooooooh we’re half way there, Oh Oh, living on a prayer!Today felt busy. We had the sails up and down a fair bit as we needed to repair the Wingaker - one of the seams seemed to be giving way. PJ caught another fish - a beautiful tuna! Aaaaaaand, we crossed the half way mark! We celebrated with a dance party complete with glow sticks and screaming Bon Jovi at top volume.. read more...

Pure Joy - Pure Joy - ARC Days 8-9

We saw whales!! Martin spotted them, a pod circling quite close on our starboard side. It was a brief but majestic sighting and injected a bit of excitement into our day!We’ve been picking up speed, mostly around 7-8knots but upwards of 10 at times. It feels good to have moved on for the 4-5 we were doing for several days.The sea state remains relatively calm, with some swell that the boat is handling beautifully. We seem to surf the waves, which is a true delight.Marissa and Martin continue to study the sextant, Martin the patient teacher and Marissa the determined student.PJ is tracking every relevant stat with regards to our speed, progress and also our resources - water, power, fuel.We are inching ever closer to the Halfway mark!!!Elliot is still resisting school work but he’s. read more...

Pure Joy - ARC Days 5-7

Day 5 of our Atlantic Crossing coincided with Thanksgiving!  We had planned ahead to have a proper Turkey Day feast (albeit with sliced turkey breast and chicken drumsticks).  We made several traditional sides including Joy's family favourite: Orange Death (sweet potato and carrot puree with LOTS of butter and creme fraiche.)  We had calm seas for the whole day, perfect for spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  The Poole Family turkey hats came out and the After Eight game was played! (Put an After Eight on your forehead and it's a race to see who can get it into their mouth the fastest - without using your hands!) It turns out that this is trickier in warmer climates as the chocolate can melt to your face, making progress very difficult!  It was PJ's first. read more...

Pure Joy - Pure Joy - ARC Days 3 & 4

On day 3 we saw fairly rough seas, with 3-4 meter swells.  We laid low most of the day and then the wind slowed in the afternoon and we had our first dolphin sightings!    Martin made a delicious chicken curry and he and Marissa managed a game of Yatzee in the evening, but the rest of us called it quits quite early.  The wind died completely overnight. Today we had no wind and flat seas, we motored all day.  We saw more dolphins, played with the drone (almost didn't get it back - ha!) and caught our first fish!  Elliot caught up on some schoolwork today and had a video chat with Remy, a friend he made on another boat.   David made broiled shrimp for dinner, which was a real treat!  Starting to get our gameplan together for. read more...

Pure Joy - ARC Day 2

Another calm day, which we’re grateful for as we settle into our routines.Elliot was feeling a bit seasick at times but bounced back with a ginger biscuit!We caught and LOST 2 (maybe 3?) fish today.They seemed like big ones so the lures are working! Now just to get one of them all the way in!Martin made a lovely steak and potatoes dinner and we played two games this evening: Cat Taco Goat Cheese Pizza and Soundiculous.Everyone had a good laugh with this, especially Elliot. We tried out just about every sail today, and have settled on the spinnaker for the night.Managing to pick up some decent speed with it tonight.Cloud cover tonight so no stars. However, when you look behind the boat you can see glowy bits in the water from the luminescence.image0image1image2image3image4. read more...