Into The Mystic - I think we can make this

0416 hours8th December 2021223 miles from St LuciaThis is the worst of all the 4-hour watches. When we started this trip the bonus of this watch wasthat you would experience the glories of watching the sunrise over the ocean at about 0730 hours, there is no chance of that now as the sun won’t rise until 1004 hours today as we travel in our GMT time capsule (St Lucia’s time zone is 4 hours behind GMT).We are slowly counting down the miles. The wind and the swell are pushing us inexorably towards our destination; we just crossed the 5000 metres depth contour so even the ocean is becoming shallower. Its all relative.The vast expanses of the Atlantic have suddenly morphed into the equivalent of the M25 (for our UK readers) or the Brooklyn Bridge during rush hour (for our American cousins).. read more...

Into The Mystic - What goes up must come down

What goes up must come down6th December 1818 hoursWe can’t seem to catch ourselves the right wind, ever. It’s a different kettle of fish (pun intended) with you-know-what though - another biggie landed today. What the flippin’ heck are wedging to do with it all ?This boat comes with a full suite of sails - several of which are designed specifically for this type of sailing ie downwind long-distance sailing. They are those ginormous sails that you may have seen flying in front of boats - spinnakers are one example. It’s quite and effort too put them up and get them down though especially in the kind of swells we are still experiencing. Hence the reason why Brad and Henry must be beginning to hate me. When we decided too take the crossing I was guided by two major principles (neither of. read more...

Into The Mystic - Starry, starry night

Star Date : Monday 6th DecemberNight watch - 0000 to 0400 hoursThis is the voyage of the sailing vessel Into The Mystic whose 18 (or 19) day mission is to explore new worlds and new civilisations and to boldly go where no man has gone before (well, sort of, I have just always wanted to write that :-)568 miles to St LuciaThe stars ? Oh, my wordWe are still on GMT on the boat - we haven’t been putting our clocks back so now sunrise is at 0935 and sunset at 2053 hours. There is no moon tonight (it rises at noon tomorrow) so the night is as black as pitch. Except for the heavens which have put on a stunning show tonight. The stars stretch from horizon to horizon, literally billions of them. Every so often there is a shooting star - shooting stars are one of those natural phenomena that you. read more...

Into The Mystic - Is it Saturday ?

4th Dec1749 hours814 nm to go 2355 nm already under our beltsThe fish catch total now stands at 11. Now I’m not saying that I don’t like Mahi Mahi, I do, but 10 of them……. Its reached the point where the Mahi go back into the ocean, we want another tuna, pretty please.I’m staring at a red circle on the chart plotter screen - it marks St Lucia. I’m willing the little boat symbol thingy on the screen (that’s us) to get its finger out and get us there, in comfort, as soon as possible, I’m saying ‘please’.There is still a sizeable swell which continues to biff the boat on the beam - trust me, it sucks. The winds at least are now down to more manageable velocities so that’s really good news. Thesun is shining, its very warm and all in all a lovely day. We encounter the odd squall; it all goes. read more...

Into The Mystic - Food For Thought

As commented previously thanks to Jodi we have eaten really well onboard during our sojourn across the Atlantic.Today we go out bows firmly pointed towards St Lucia - no more flim-flamming around for us - one day pointing towards Florida and the next day Brazil. Its dead straight for the finish line which os currently some 900-odd miles away. To celebrate we indulged ourselves with a dinner of steak frites. As Henry commented : ‘I have never eaten cow so far from the nearest cow !’ - ho does have a point. Speaking of Henry. We share all our special food treats on this boat - we have large drawer full of them and lots of chocolate goodies in the fridge. It helps to ease the struggle of those night watches. Well, it seems we all share except for Henry. With shock and horror we discovered. read more...