Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day 17: A crew of few words

Sunshine.NE Trade winds.Poled out genoa.Downwind sailing.Dry clothes.Chocolate brownies.Fun and laughter have returned to Rhapsody and, with them, the realisation that we might make it to St Lucia soon after all.It’s the simple things in life.Clare and the crew of Rhapsody. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day 16: Something fishy

I smell like a fish. I’m not telling you this because it’s something I’m proud of, but if we do meet I don’t want you to think I’m a fan of fish perfume, have some kind of serious medical condition or am trying to impersonate the Little Mermaid. Just don’t be alarmed - breathe through your mouth as we chat and you’ll hardly smell me at all. To be honest, I think it’s something I’m going to have to learn to live with - like having hairy arms, a weak bladder and alarmingly thick toenails. At first I didn’t think my scaly odour was too overpowering, but I’ve noticed the crew no longer want to sit next to me and have started whispering behind my back. I’ve consulted my husband Terry about this but he’s assured me this has nothing to do with the smell - which I’m taking as a positive.My. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day 15: The boat quiz

On Rhapsody we are fans of (even if not very good at) the Guardian Saturday Quiz and the BBC quiz show Only Connect. It is in this vein that we invite you to answer the following:Round 1 - What links…Q) Sirens, kraken, mermaids and the NE trade winds?A) They’re all nautical myths and legendsQ) Sunshine, sausages, salad and star-filled night skies?A) Things that we had on board a week ago and would like to see againQ) Nightwatch squalls, electrical storms, westerly winds and soggy waterproofs?A) Things that we’ve experienced over the past week that we would like to never see again.Round 2 - What comes next in the sequence?Q) No wind + engine on + 10 minutes; perfect wind + spinnaker up + 10 minutes; no wind + spinnaker down + 10 minutes…A) Perfect wind + spinnaker up + 10 minutes (repeat. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day 14: Thanks a bunch, PredictWind

This passage has given us a bit of everything. Well, everything except the damn Trade Winds. They’d have been nice. Even for a day or two. Still, we live in hope. There’s a long way to go. Today, even PredictWind gave up on us. I downloaded a weather route, only to be greeted with the message: “Route failed (too shallow or too much wind)”. Very helpful, especially as neither is remotely true. It was the digital equivalent of “Where’d you want to go, mate? Ooh, I wouldn’t start from here…” Thanks a bunch, PredictWind. We’ve been making our ‘total miles sailed’ guesses for when (if?) we ever get to Rodney Bay. The prize is getting the first night’s dinner for free, and estimates are around the 3,200-mile range. So, an extra 500 miles over the direct route. Nice. And, frankly, we may be. read more...

Rhapsody - Rhapsody - Day 13: Three days to weather

It’s day 13 on Rhapsody. We are halfway across the Atlantic. The spinnaker is packed away. The galley’s stove remains fixed at a steep and constant angle with its countertops. And my Fitbit has logged 37,000 steps during my sleep. I can now say with some certainty that trade winds are an elaborate ruse concocted to lure sailors into a false sense of security when volunteering to sleep in the V-berth on passage. As the wise saying goes: “A gentle person never sails to weather.” Luckily for the crew of Rhapsody, gentle is not how one would describe us. We are collectively approaching 100,000 miles at sea with many memories of the North Pacific still fresh in the minds of several onboard. We are a collection of salt-crusted souls with backgrounds as varied as our eclectic tastes in music.. read more...