Sephina - The mystery of the exploding apple juice

Thursday afternoon (day 11)There was I just before lunch, innocently typing an email when a loud 'BANG' came from the galley (ok it's only 3 feet from the chart table), suddenly followed by a cold shower of something wet & sticky. Our cook, Robin, had saved half of the contents of a carton of apple juice (at least that's what he told us it was) in a squash bottle and hadn't noticed it had started to ferment (we assume). Everything in the galley, companionway and nav-station was dripping and smelling of rough cider, and I'd only just changed into a new snowy white t-shirt ! After the trials and tribulations of getting to Las Palmas (almost steering failure near Bayona, engine malfunction 1st day out of Lagos, mysterious flat batteries at Porto Santo, continuing engine problems into. read more...

Sephina - Ship Ahoy

0330UTC Wednesday. "Skipper, there's a ship coming up astern, very fast". I was off watch, sound asleep for a change when Pete shook me awake wanting to call the ship on VHF to establish it's intentions. Now to set the scene, since the fleet seperated south of Gran Canaria, we'd seen two ships within the first few days, and then two yachts (neither in the ARC) and the top of another mast at some distance (so other vessels had been a bit of a rarity). It was a clear startlit morning dark enough to see the Milky Way (no not the kind you can eat between meals without ruining your appetite). "It looks like a cruise liner, lots of lights along the side, but I can't make out the Nav lights yet" says Pete.I climbed out of my bunk, carefully negotiating over Robin's bunk so as to try and not. read more...