Hello everyone

As I write this email I’m finding myself confused as to whether this is update two or three. The reason for this is two fold, life on board is a continual cycle of sleeping, eating and being on watch – this is very difficult to split into specific days and therefore specific tasks. Night is night and day is day, but I probably can’t remember too much of what’s has happened in which day, just that it was either night or day! The other reason is that we are producing another blog for friends and family; the two can become confusing!

Clearly the readership of Yachting World will fall into two categories; those that have taken part in an ocean crossing and those that have not. Those that have will no doubt use this, and similar blogs as an aide memoir, but for those of you that haven’t I’m going to pass on something that I have read in a book (Stevie Smith’s Pedalling to Hawaii) during this trip.

‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has power, energy and magic in it.’

I am certainly glad to have taken this opportunity and I’m happy to report that we have already had more than our share of magical moments. Top of the list for me has to be the dolphins that were with us a few days ago (I think two, but maybe three!). They stayed with us for a couple hours, jumping and playing in the bow waves. It is no exaggeration to suggest that there were more than 100. Their grace and speed through the water is quite astonishing. We have also seen a pilot wave off our stern, as well as a shoal of flying fish earlier on today. One them hit our skipper Paul square on the back, they are slippery characters to try and get hold of!

So far on the trip we have caught one fish – we think it may have been an Ornate Wrasse. Fried in olive oil, with garlic, ginger and some incredibly sharp gherkins, it provided a lovely starter.

In terms of our sailing progress, we have been heading South since leaving Gran Canaria and have now turned West (to coincide with the butter melting!) and are making our way in a more direct line towards St Lucia. We hope that this slightly longer route will provide us with good North Easterly trade winds and the opportunity to catch those that have taken a direct heading to St Lucia.

I am now required to prep dinner but I hope to update again soon.

All the best

Ross