Sunboy - Marlin Strike on Sunboy

The crew of yacht Sunboy entered the A.R.C 2009 fishing comp in a big way  today. About 14.30pm UTC just as Deb was down below organising a nice hot lunch, the reel of the fishing rod started to scream away. Fortunately the crew was in relax mode today and the yacht was sailing along nicely under headsail alone and autopilot when adrenaline levels shot through the roof. After nearly burning a pair of leather gloves trying to stem the peeling away of the braid line and with what seemed like only metres left on the reel, the tide started to turn. Luke quickly took control of the helm while the headsail was furled and the boat brought back under some control in the 3 - 4 metre swell. With cries of 'thats a fine time to catch a fish you *@*^&&*T, lunch has ended up all over the. read more...

Sunboy - White Pointer Shark attack on Sunboy

Well it could have been, the @*&^@! thing was so close to the boat!!! We were sailing along this morning about 11.30am and Debs called out that she could see a whale coming down a wave about 60 metres of our port stern. She said she could see something big and that she saw quite a large dorsal fin. Well that whale did turn out to be big and so did the dorsal fin, except of course it wasnt a whale it was a 4 metre great white shark. Everyone initally rushed to the cockpit to see the whale but were transfixed as the great white came up along side the boat, literally about five metres from the port side. It just seemed to glide past us, about half a metre under the surface and at the time we were doing about 6.5 knots. Once it got past our midships, it took a downward turn and. read more...

Sunboy - Under attack in mid atlantic battle, frantic efforts made to save ships stores

One of the pride and joys of our boat is the fantastic little herb garden we have been growing since we took up life on the boat in March this year. We bought a fine array of herbs from the Lymington markets and they have been tendered lovingly since then, travelling all the way with us to our present location. We have enjoyed their incredibly fresh flavours and shared them amongs friends on so many occasions. We have been growing basil, thyme, rosemary, chillis, parsley, mint and baby tomotoes, as well as some red geraniums (Courtesy of Osborne House) and some bizzy lizzy. Yesterday morning as the sun rose a bit higher, it was evident that all was not well in our little herb garden of the sea, the stems looked stark and battered compared to the lush growth we had been used to. Closer. read more...

Sunboy - Recipes from the midatlantic

Well by now those avocados that you havent eaten that looked so nice and  green and firm when they arrived on board should be just about ready to toss  over the side. Dont despair, the following recipe will keep you in avocado  heaven for a while longer:Mix and mash two large avocados to every 250gms of creme freche (in  Australia we use sour cream), cook up a good handful of chopped bacon until  nice and crisp and add that to the mixture (yep we use the bacon fat as  well), to this add enough sweet chilli sauce to your liking, usually about  three tablespoons. Mix it all up and then cool off, if you can in the  fridge for a while. This mixture is delicious added on top of hot bread  rolls, toast, crackers or anything you like. We particularly love it with  slow roasted tomatoes, a. read more...

Sunboy - Sunday recipe from Sunboy

The last recipe we posted was for our aussie avocado dip and today we will tell you about a really nice dish to go with it or a multitude of other uses. Again, this is great for those items left in the larder box that might be getting on a bit or when you get back on land to cook anytime you like.Slow roasted tomatoes:Half as many tomatoes as you wish to prepare, we use italian egg tomatoes normally but any tomatoes will do. Spoon out the centre of them and lay them in a baking tray. Mix together 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup of sweet chilli sauce and a good pinch of salt, ground black pepper and a tablespoon of white sugar.Now if you are very lucky and have some fresh coriander, chopped up about half a cup full and add that to the mixture. Of course the odds are. read more...