Year: 2014

Let’s break this down into several key areas: Preparations The Ocean The ARC The Boat Geographical Issues People Changes we would make etc We have been sailing for years but prior to our journey ‘the ocean’ was a complete unknown. We therefore left the UK and headed out ‘beyond the Isle of Wight’ into unfamiliar waters. With regard to sailing and after approaching 10,000nm of coastal cruising we still felt like beginners. Now, having added a further 9,000nm to our log including roughly 8,000nm of ocean passage making we are stepping up our status in the sailing world to that

And so it is time to say goodbye to life on the water. We have lived on Aditi every single night for 15 months and it has been an amazing experience. Don’t get me wrong; we are not thrilled to be hauling out today and we would rather be heading the other way. But the boat needs a bit of ‘land’ time and as the hull emerges and you see the level of fouling you know that this is the right thing to do. And so the dream closes in heavy rain, one of the very few occasions where we

We are one of the last of the 2014 season to be camping out in Yarmouth. Often blowing Force 8 and 9 but mainly dry. A Challenge 67 yacht was pinned to their pontoon and unable to leave the harbour for 24 hours due to the beam on F9 that was blowing. The crew emerged on deck in full foulies for about 3 hours as ropes and fenders were moved. The skipper stared out into the Solent for much of this time but wasn’t able to come up with an exit plan.   Yarmouth         Yarmouth Double

Hard to believe perhaps as we motor in what could be a mid-summer’s day – Aditi making sure that t-shirts are still the norm.   From 70 Brighton From 70 Brighton

Having put his Westerly Longbow 31 up for sale, and after wrenching himself away from his beloved friend that looked after him during two solo transats, Sascha dropped in to say goodbye. We have roughly completed the last 1500nm together. We had a great day out and a last dinner before he left for Gatwick airport. It was great to see him and he very kindly presented us with some treasures from the bilge. We wish him good luck resettling into every day life back in Bavaria.

Now! And Then! in pictures….                    

Having returned to our home port the race is on to consume our food stocks before they expire. Every few days we have a ‘lucky dip’ under the sofas, in the forward cabin, in the sail locker, under the bunks and even in the galley lockers and galley bilges to see what treasures we can find (there’s probably more food elsewhere but we have forgotten where we put it). We have opened our 16kg bread flour and so far it has made 3 inedible wheat bricks in the breadmaker, we have found some items that have taken in lots of

In Guernsey we caught up with David and Ann Marie who kindly greeted us ashore and took us to the GYC for a drink. Next day they were kind enough to invite us to their home for a roast lamb dinner. We have carried a load of mint sauce for 9,000 miles in search of lamb (eventually we had the red current jelly on toast) but it was not to be found so this was terrific. It was also our first time in 14 months of sitting on a sofa, of the environment around us being quiet without having to

Phil pointed out that there were sound issues (ie no sound at all) on our recent music videos so we have reissued them below. And we have had to issue the movie of yacht Jambo approaching St Lucia (about 120 to 150nm out) unedited to retain the picture quality.  

Photos of, and photo’s by Sascha, as Aditi and Irreversible head through the race