Elixir - In anticipation of setting sail

The good crew of Elixir is please to report that weare now assembled and ready for action. The crew have been working hard todecide quantities / varieties of water, fuel, food and overexpensive sailing equipment and have settled on a generous supply of toiletrolls and more fresh water than you could shake a stick at, all in preparationfor a trip which can take anywhere from 15 to 25 days to complete the nearly3000 nautical miles.   Skipper Richard Merrick has led us a merry dancearound numerous car parking bays, citing every available option as to where wecould park and then settle for a space with minimal space from which hisreliable crew evacuate and soon as the wheels stop turning... albeit shortly, aswe then discover that you can't buy grub in a clothing. read more...

Elixir - Day one : 26:23.14N 16:54.1W

Having slipped our lines in Las Palmas at 11:50 onSunday 22nd we had a fantastic send off by the local people in Gran Canaria,with bands, fireworks and thousands of people lining the sea front to wave usoff, spirits were very high indeed and stormed through the start line withperfect timing.   We had a superb supper of chicken, veg and spuds toprepare us for the night ahead and as the sun slowly set into the horizon we hada spectacular view of the constellations and particularly the Milky Way. Theseas have been fairly rough but we have noticed that it is almost as warmat night as during the day. Very pleasant!   As we write this note we have been sailing foralmost 24 hours and have seen out our first night at sea with gusts in theregion of 30 knots and three reefs in the. read more...

Elixir - Day two : 24:48.82N 18:35.51W

The second day at sea has allowed us to build up a routine around watches, food and sleep and while the night watch is fairly quiet we are quite busy when sunlight permits. Yesterday we were joined by a school of dolphins which played around with the boat and they seemed very happy to see us. This somehow motivated us to get our fishing lines rigged and set so we eagerly anticipate the first catch and reserve judgement on it's size. The winds have settled now into a fairly constant North Easterly 20 knots which is perfect conditions for us but our forecast is for less wind in the North of our passage so we are working hard to get as far South as we can. Elixir continues to look after us well. read more...

Elixir - Day three : 23:09N 20:56W

On day three of our trip we are sailing in a South Westerly direction, about 200 miles off the coast of Africa. We can't turn West until we are in the best position to catch the Easterly Atlantic trade winds. These winds vary in strength and we have figured out that if we continue South West for the next two days we will catch a perfect trade wind to take us all the way to the Carribean. At least that's the plan and if it works out we will be ahead of those boats who decided to turn West too soon. We had the spinnaker up for some time yesterday and made great pace at 7 - 8 knots and with a very able Mr Button on the helm we must have been putting up a strong chase for the racing division.  Last night during watch we noticed Phospherescents in the water which glowed as the boat sailed. read more...

Elixir - Day four : 21:55N 23:12W

After another day of shadowing the African coastline our analysis of the forecast suggests we turn further West and head for the Caribean which is exactly what we've done and having covered just sh of 160 Nautical Miles yesterday we are happy that we are making fairly good pace.Throughout the course of the last 24 hours we have caught a fish and lost it, this is a sore point and has just made us more determined than ever to catch something soon.Following last nights heatlhy feed of Pork Chops and salad rounded up with some fresh coffee we dipped our toes in the ocean in a true British Style to find that it was really nice and warm but just not inviting enough to swim in, considering the waves are 3ish meters high!Just this morning we watched dozens of flying fish zip around the boat and. read more...