Archive for 'Staff Travels'

Trucial Coast, Day 14 – more rain….

I’m beginning to think my off-hand comment about taking on two of every creature before departing Las Palmas was not so far off the mark. After a false dawn yesterday (some sun, a few showers) last night was business as usual with heavy rain squalls and high winds (Rob had 2 Force 9 squalls…). Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 13 – taxing conditions

First of all, apologies for not posting a log yesterday. We had a bit of a rubbish day and anything written would certainly not have been suitable for a pre-watershed audience! Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 11 – 1416 miles down, 1416 to go…

Well at 0230 today, our distance travelled from Las Palmas was 1416 nautical miles and our distance to St Lucia along the rhum line was also 1416 nautical miles, which is as good a reason for saying we’re halfway as any! Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 10 – not quite halfway….

Morning all. Unfortunately our Halfway Ho-Down is going to have to be postponed for a couple of reasons. Firstly I may have spent too long in the sun as I miscalculated our ETA at halfway by about 8 hours yesterday. Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 9 – Whales!

We have had our first whale sighting! I was sat on watch yesterday afternoon and between waves I saw what I thought was a bigger, black rubber buoy or something like that – only 20-25 metres away. It disappeared and then reappeared a couple of more times, once with a second one alongside as they moved off astern of us. Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 8 – nothing to report! Brilliant!

Good morning boat fans! I have some really exciting news today: there are NO INCIDENTS TO REPORT from last night! Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 7 – Wildlife Report

OK, let’s begin today with the promised wildlife update! Between the three of us we’ve heard / seen dolphins on three or four occasions. The best of these was day one but even that wasn’t all that satisfactory as the boat was doing its own Cresta Run at the time and we weren’t really in a position to appreciate the dolphins. We’ve seen quite a few seabirds, especially on day 3. I think they were mainly gulls and petrels (I’m no Bill Oddy….). And we’ve now entered the realm of the flying fish – they’re almost ever-present, and we’ve cleared a few off the deck as well. Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 6 – losing the Parasailor

Morning all! Well there were a couple of noteworthy events yesterday. We put the ship’s clocks back for the first time, so we’re now on UTC (GMT) – 1 hour. A clear sign that we are making progress westwards! We also think we’ve arrived at the Trades – not that they’re signposted or anything. Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 5 – flying the Parasailor

Good morning all from Mercator Squared – this is a phrase I’ve come up with to describe being as far north of the equator as you are west of the Greenwich Meridian, a position we passed through a few minutes ago. Continue reading »

Trucial Coast, Day 3 – sealegs make an appearance

Sealegs are starting to make an appearance now, although I’m not yet up to sitting below decks and typing up a quick copy of “War and Peace” (you’ll doubtless be pleased to hear that!). Continue reading »