Blue Beyond - All hands on deck!

Well we had a very gracefull departure from the Marina in Gran Canaria , to squeeze almost 240 boats out all in one piece was a bit of excellent manuovering by all . We decided to stay away from the start line to avoid colliding with anyone only to be rounded up by the port police ( again, Blue Beyond had a reputation of engaging police attention!) and sent back towards the fleet. We were all very excited and nervous as well , this is a big voyage .By 2 pm and with the sails all nicely trimmed and the pole out my 4 boys tucked into a hearty lunch of thick ham, cheese and salad sandwiches , I need them to start eating as we have the whole of the Canarian export load of fruit and veg on board , at the moment the smell of lemons and fruit is lovely but what happens when it starts to go. read more...

Blue Beyond - A killer fish!

Another quiet night on the ocean , still no wind , but it does make for a very comfortable passage so far, our fish supper tasted wonderfull , we are now not sure whether it was Mahi Mahi as I thought they were silver and this fish was definately green , but richard did an excellent fresh herb and tomato sauce and with new potatoes and a homemade victoria sponge with jam and whipped cream , everyone was well fed and content .Because of the flat seas and light airs we then brought the computor up on deck and we all watched Startsky and Hutch , with a bowl of sweets and we all had a thoroughly good evening , but for some reason through the night we all struggled a bit with our watches , either too much food and too little excercise or not enough to do , We were all treated through  the. read more...

Blue Beyond - What day is it?

We can work out the date , we are on a strict shift rota so we can definately work out the time , but there has been heated discussion as to the day !! to solve this I have made a sign which I will put up each day so there can be no more confusion on board . We have had a good night ,with an average of about 7 kts which is quite good as we still had light winds, we had the company of four other yachts , but as dawn approached they disapeared ,as the afternoon progressed the winds have at last increased and we can see the outline of some squalls on the horizon, by suppertime there was a definite rock and roll and we resorted to bowls instead of plates and for the first time ate below , today the boys had , fruit and nuts as an apetiser then they had pork chops in a cream , garlic and herb. read more...

Blue Beyond - off on holiday!

Rather a large mishap in the night as our lower shrouds snapped! these are main parts of the rigging that keep the mast upright, we were now in serious danger of dismasting! Everybody leapt into action and within half an hour they had erected some rope rigging to support the mast/ Of course it was dark windy and the boat was thrashing around , typical we now have the trade winds we wanted . Ray looked very fetching in his underpants and lifejacket! and I packed our grab bag, the boys just don't understand that frilly knickers, make up and a change of shoes are essentials! At dawn the boys re-checked and restrengthened the rigging but it would be very unwise to continue another 2000  miles like this so we are off on holiday to the Cape Verde islands for repairs, how lucky are we? Sun sea. read more...

Blue Beyond - off on holiday!

Rather a large mishap in the night as our lower shrouds snapped! these are main parts of the rigging that keep the mast upright , we were now in serious danger of dismasting! everybody leapt into action and within half an hour they had erected some rope rigging to support the mast , of course it was dark windy and the boat was thrashing around , typical we now have the trade winds we wanted . Ray looked very fetching in his underpants and lifejacket ! and I packed our grab bag , the boys just don.t understand that frilly knickers, make up and a change of shoes are essentials! At dawn the boys re-checked and restrengthened the rigging but it would be very unwise to continue another 2000  miles like this so we are off on holiday to the cape verdes islands for repairs, how lucky are we. read more...