Hebe - Rest In Peace

5th August 2014    Rest in Peace   Sarah Margaret Hope Peel BEM  4th Feb 1953 - 26th July 2014 It has been a real privilege caring for Sarah with her three wonderful sons during these final 5 weeks up in her home in Pocklington, Yorkshire. Andrew for his part ran all the errands and gave lots of moral support as nursing isn't his forte.  We are so glad to have had this time all together.Sarah's funeral was very special, as funerals go.  She had worked for many years in the visitor centre of the high security prison, HMP Full Sutton and was awarded The British Empire Medal for her excellent work.  The prison turned out in full for her funeral, I am not sure who was left running the place. Sarah's coffin was draped with the Union Jack and she. read more...

Hebe - Galapagos Euphoria

Thursday 13th February 201400:49:13S89:34:51WCrossed the Equator in style ….watching the latitude go to 00:00:00N/S was such a thrill, we toasted the sea with rum, gave thanks for our safe arrival and asked God to bless our families and loved ones. We gave the sea a polished pebble with PEACE engraved and a shell, the rest was a hoot, see below, Andrew is Poseidon and Harry his wife……..P1050097 P1050113 P1050140. P1050127 2 P1050131. read more...

Hebe - Day 5 Beating to Galapagos.

Tuesday 11th February 201400:21:89N88:08:40WWould you believe it we're cranking along rail in the water battling against a current that doesn't want us to go to the Galapagos.  With these guys on board plus Captain Birdseye Andrew we're working like an Americas Cup boat, constant tweaking of sails watching our SOG (speed) COG (Where we're going) BOG (pongs) then there's much discussion over our VMG (Sorry I haven't a clue) not to mention XTE, DTW and ETA (tomorrow)We've crossed the ITCZ (Doldrums) AS a result of all this  we've got Alpharatz biting our ankles for a photo finish. All good stuff and nice to be out of the Doldrums and using white sails instead of all those hair raising spinnakers. We've had a wonderful moon so brilliant, 2 nights running it lit up a lovely. read more...

Hebe - Day3 Towards Galapagos

Sunday 9th February 201402:41:97N83:31:05WHectic day, up and down with every sail Hebe has  in an effort to make the most of every little scrap of wind.  Finally we tried the parasail as the wind had shifted behind and it got in a terrible twist , as we were cursing and untangling the lines a whale blew whoosh beside us , wow! James was abandoned in the galley charged with cooking, up went the sail, phew we all ate a surprisingly tasty supper when the wind died and the whole lot had to come down again.  We then motored into a very dark and squally night when in fact we should have had some sails up, but everyone too tired!!   Gone are the starry nights with sparkling phosphorescence streaming along the boats length, and hello to equatorial squalls..  Only 2. read more...

Hebe - 2nd Leg Day 2

04:40:06N081:33:36WChugging along tonight having hit the Doldrums, but the past 2 days have been brilliant with a good breeze and able to sample a lot of Hebe's fancy wardrobe. WE all got off to a terrific start yesterday morning from Las Perlas everyone getting their spinnakers up on the start line, Hebe's got twisted much to our embarrassment. I was helming which is exciting.Bit of a shock to be rocking and rolling again at sea staggering about in the galley trying to produce meals with drawers slamming, then getting back into the watch system at night. The first night always the worst, we haven't been to sea for weeks. We all sailed happily down the huge Gulf of Panama where the water is green, full of silt from the canal, masses of plankton and fish, everyone chatting on the radio. read more...