Mikado - Day 10 I think???

17:07.11N 33:08.46WDear All,Another day in paradise...mid-Atlantic in the tropical zone. The wet weather gear has long been put away and I am even wearing shorts and a Tshirt for my evening watches.Caught a big Wahoo this morning....we think it was one of those anyway...Tony H may be able to advise. Looks like a mackerel/couta. Weighed about 10kg and didn't fight much by the time we had it on-board....It probably drowned in the hour or so it was waiting on the end of the line to be pulled in... Thank goodness Belly made the fishing lines "bullet proof"...the wire tracers can probably handle a ton?? The lure on the end is now looking a bit tattered but is still catching fish... We took lots of photos of the fish before carving him up anyway. The fishing gear has now been retired until we. read more...

Mikado - Flying Fish Lap Dance....

Hi Guys,Another uneventful day yesterday. Still have very light winds which is frustrating. One patch of 12-15 knots for about 2 hours last night where we got Mikado up doing 8-9 knots. But this was preceded by a couple of hours of motoring and followed by the "crashing and bashing" of the sails in the 4-5 knots of breeze that lasted til dawn. We now have 10-12 knots on the beam and are sailing nicely along at 5-6 knots.The winds on this trip have not been what we expected. I feel a bit cheated that we haven't yet had some roaring trade winds to get us up and going to get the full "Atlantic sailing experience"...But we still have 1500 NM to go..On my watch at 3am this morning I got a shock when a flying fish landed straight into my lap whilst sitting at the helm ... You also get the odd. read more...

Mikado - Welcome back Huey!!

Hi Guys,At last we have wind, yes regular trade wind. It came in yesterday and isnow making Mikado sing as we zoom along at 9 + knots towards St Lucia. Maybewe'll make it there in time to enjoy some of the rum punches afterall.....Stuey is more relaxed also, knowing that he may make his originalflight and therefore avoid having to pay a cancellation and rebooking fee.With the yacht rocking and rolling we feel like real sailors again. Changesthe mood on board. We battled one 40 knot squall last night and had toquickly douse the spinnaker to avoid damage. In fact the spinnaker is nowpacked away and we are sailing under a full main and poled-out genoa.Belly still has the fishing line out....I think he feels that given our(wind) luck has changed we might be a chance to haul in a record. read more...

Mikado - Best Day So Far...

Dear All,We just went through a stormy Atlantic night last night....30 to 40 knot winds, lots of rain and decent swell. It was a nice change to experience a mild bit of heavy weather sailing. For the most part we gunned along at "full bore" trying to get in a 200 Nm + day...but tempered the accelerator when we heard that some friends on board a nearby catamaran (John and Ziggy MacKenzie on Windancer IV) shattered their mainsail....Prior to exercising "due caution" we hit 16.1 knots down one wave....yee haa!!!!..That was fun.I'm just about to send in our midday position report and have therefore calculated our run at 191 NM for the day...That's an average of 7.92 Knots ... including a light patch this morning where we sailed along in lighter breeze at 4-5 knots...We have chilled the. read more...

Mikado - Hi Ho Thunder..

16:19.56N 43:19.48WHi All,I seem to be losing track of time out here. Apart from the odd squall (complete with thunder and lightning) at night, we are just meandering along. Not breaking any records, but comfortable just the same. I looked at the plotter before and we have just over 1,000NM to go....seems like we're in the home paddock now and can ease the reins and gallop home.... But then I remind myself that 1,000NM is the equivalent of a sail from Brisbane down to Hobart...Most of the squall activity is at night..a typical tropical phenomena and not indifferent to the late afternoon summer showers back at home. You can generally dodge a few as they tend to be about 5 miles or so in diameter. The heavier the rain pattern (which you can see on the radar) the stronger the winds. For. read more...