Pentanemos - 091129 Blog

29th November Skippers blog. 2-5am Sitting in moonlight, alone, hand steering doing 6-7 knots on a shimmering, glassy ocean with the moonlight on the rolling waves; the spinny up in 15 knots of wind ... life is great and can't get any better.! True sense of freedom and no worries as Thin Lizzy bashes out "Whisky in the Jar" in my ear. 7 day spinny run and still going. Overall dress is a pair of board shorts and a tee shirt at night only.I definitely realise that Pops would be over himself if he was here at this moment, so I nod to the stars wish him the best as I know he would be grinning ear to ear as I am. Although the monetary cost of doing this crosses my mind. I gave up my job, my flat, my car, my skiff to do this. I could be on a round the world 7 star cruise (with regular showers). read more...

Pentanemos - 1st Dec - Will's log

Skippers Log1 December 2009.Another day of spinny running however last night the surf was 5 m and we were still carrying the kite. Due to the swell we could not autohelm so we changed rotas to 1:30 helm 3 hours off. Today I am shattered as two days on the trot I have scooped a 4 hour - 5 hour shift by some means. My longest sleep in the last 7 days is 2:30 mins. The boat was so uncomfortable yesterday rolling one way and another and getting knocked badly by waves. Saying that it was our doing as overnight we averaged 8 kts. Also I set a new trip record top speed off two waves with 12.8 knots. We are hoping our good time today will put us in good standing with the fleet. We are still unsure of our position as everyone seems to be so far north and they will need to drop down at some point. read more...

Pentanemos - 2nd December - Neil's Blog

Daily Diary from NeilHi Folks,Now deep into our white sails only part of the trip and making good times - well I think so, anyway.Fishing, on the other hand, is a little less successful. We have had a few on board but all were volunteers and flew on rather than getting dragged onboard unceremoniously by a hook through the side of its' mouth.Our next "target" is a waypoint we've created for the one thousand miles to go - we've promised ourselves a second Atlantic showering session when we reach it! There is a chance the wash might come earlier if the weather system ahead stays put until we get under it - the wash is needed and a day sooner would be good.Helming is testing us and we really appreciate the work 'Winston' did during his rather short life. There will be no cat napping on watch. read more...

Pentanemos - 2nd December - Neil's Blog

Daily Diary from NeilHi Folks,Now deep into our white sails only part of the trip and making good times - well I think so, anyway.Fishing, on the other hand, is a little less successful. We have had a few on board but all were volunteers and flew on rather than getting dragged onboard unceremoniously by a hook through the side of its' mouth.Our next "target" is a waypoint we've created for the one thousand miles to go - we've promised ourselves a second Atlantic showering session when we reach it! There is a chance the wash might come earlier if the weather system ahead stays put until we get under it - the wash is needed and a day sooner would be good.Helming is testing us and we really appreciate the work 'Winston' did during his rather short life. There will be no cat napping on watch. read more...

Pentanemos - 3-4th December Skippers Blog

3-4th December Skippers Blog Evening 3rd, day 4thWe have all settled nicely into the hand steering routine, without the high maintenance spinnaker requiring constant attention, we are all getting lots of rest and although speed has been sacrificed, we are starting to enjoy ourselves again.  Unfortunately, as night fell, the horizon began to display some extremely violent electrical storms. Now the sailors that are reading this will appreciate what went through our minds at that time, for those that are not sailors, I will outline some of the risks lightning posses and the precautions that can be taken. As you can imagine, a large metal rod, in a moist humid environment, during an electrical storm, is not ideal. One stray bolt of lightning would undoubtedly destroy all our electrics and. read more...