Tillymint - ARC Day 1- the first sunset

Where to start? Well first of all it is rather overwhemlming to be back at the helm of Tilly Mint's blog, we last spoke as I signed off on our approach to Lagos on the Algarve at the end of August, Since then the blog was brought to you by my brother-in-law, Sam on the leg to Lanzorote and then more recently by your very own Skipper, Alex. Then on Friday evening, after 2 flights and 3 hours spent grazing the business class lounge buffet in Madrid, the wife and children rocked up at Tilly Mint with just 36 hours to go til the start of our Atlantic crossing. We have had such a very short time to acclimatise to the sunshine and nautical intent of the weekend; so that now I have a fair appreciation for the emotions felt by the crew of the Star Ship Enterprise when they beamed down onto a new. read more...

Tillymint - ARC Day 2

25:36:774N 18:09:329 Great sailing in good brisk winds - mostly 20-30 knots. Tilly Mint making 9-10 knots. 208 miles completed in our first 24 hours. We are still 700 miles NE of our first planned turning point NW of the Cape Verde Islands - this puts us somewhere of the coastline of Western Sahara, passing to Mauritania tomorrow. The fleet has already dispersed almost completely - we've had only a couple of glimpses of other boats today - Mika and Weir Kraken. Fiona (aka Alison) and Laurence suffering from a bit of sea sickness - unclear at this stage whether that has been caused by the patches which are meant to prevent it or by a rather short lumpy sea. Both however are looking much less green tonight than they did this morning so we hope that they will be feeling more human by. read more...

Tillymint - ARC Day 4

I'm back - emerged from theunder the rock of refuge that any good sailor crawls under when beset by seasickness. I am now seeking out Spike Milligan's cure for seasickness which is to SIT UNDER A TREE.............alas not found tree yet  Just need to be brief because we are rocking androlling all over the place today. Doing well miles wise, everyone's sense ofhumour still intact. Voyage pretty eventful so far - day before yesterday thegenerator packed up and, according to sod's law of sailing, we didn't have thespare needed to fix it. We were looking down the barrel of emergency power andwater rationing. Never mind doing without the hair straigtheners, hair washingwas looking perrilous. Glum Glum Glum.  But praise be to the ethos of The ARC, Alex went onthe daily radio. read more...

Tillymint - Tilly Mint ARC Day 5 - A quick good morning

All's well after another good night's sleep - the night watches came & went smoothly without waking me up! Up now on breakfast duty, bread maker running. Big day today, it's Skippers birhday and the real men onboard are going to climb the mast to restore our Genoa. More blog and photos later today  2037 miles to go,  a bit more if we can't sail in a straight line - but all things are possible aboard Tilly Mint. We had our first flying fish on deck during the night whicjh made a good talking point over the Sugar Puffs up deck just now. read more...

Tillymint - ARC Day 5 26 Nov - a room with a view

Work in progress - 2 mast climbs done. More chin scratching up on deck trying to work out how to finish the job of hoisting the Genoa. Steve nominated Man of The Match - so cool he even had time to take a photo from the top. More news later......steve mast climb 023. read more...