Thank you to every person who has journeyed with us and alongside us.  We’ve really appreciated feeling the fellowship of all who have joined us these past few weeks.  But how to do justice to this experience of a lifetime?

Superlatives hardly cut it – incredible, unbelievable, stupendous, bigger, biggest ever seen, awesome, whilst in and amongst we experience bikini weather and sipping tea on the quarter seat, attempt to deny chickpeas their bid for freedom, or to absorb and appreciate the wondrous sunrises, sunsets, and nightly firmament the likes of which you can never experience on land.

Sue, Malcolm, Paul completing Atlantic crossing January 2026

We’ve navigated the minutiae and practicalities of everyday life coming up with innovative and pragmatic answers to challenges you wouldn’t give a moment’s thought to such as taking a shower, washing your hair, how to sleep, pouring boiling water into a mug, or ‘simply’ moving around Sukama as she rocks, pitches unexpectedly or is impacted by rogue waves hammering into the hull.  George has been amazing and has risen to every challenge resuming the course which in turn returns order to upset sails. To stay safe it’s one hand for you, one hand for the boat and is imperative at all times whether down below or up on deck.

But respect of the oceans must always be our top priority.  With the ocean constantly moving and waves up to 6 metres towering over you, froth and white water in every direction, wonder and awe are never far away.  Pure magic is achieved when both we and the waves are in perfect alignment, true poetry in motion.  Sukama is gently picked up at the stern as the wave approaches to roll under the hull and away presenting a mountain in front blotting out the horizon as your bows tilt upwards providing you with additional forward momentum and powerful white water surge with associated noise, like putting your foot down in a racing car.  After setting up the sail set and position of the pole, all of this is achieved without having to touch anything.  George has the con. He makes the adjustments without asking for further guidance.  Once in a while you may seek to adjust but usually by only a degree or two, and then usually because the direction of the waves or the wind has changed.  Responding to the elements is key to staying safe.

I marvel (and am seriously glad) that we have stayed safe.  We can honestly say that we are living our best lives through sailing, in the same way that Jen lives her best life through dance.

Malcolm and I have hitherto been blessed with good health and have always been minded to make the most of every day, hence ‘we are where we are, where do we go from here?’.  Love and respect have always underpinned our relationship, and we are fortunate to have found a way to work together where each of us can contribute and is heard by the other.  Hence decisions around changing sails or sail sets are considered by and are arrived at jointly. This mindset has served us well over the years and is equally relevant in almost all aspects of life from parenting to buying a house, to being ever opportunistic such as upping sticks and moving from the UK to the US for 3 years from 1985 – 1988.

We are delighted to share this adventure through life with others who throw their lot in with us and choose to step on board.  On this voyage Paul, my nephew made an exceedingly bold decision having never even been on board a yacht before, and has been invaluable.  Not many can claim their first and only passage has been to sail almost 3000 miles across the Atlantic.  He has learnt so much in a very short time.  He is incredibly pragmatic, comes with a broad range of skillsets, is endlessly cheerful and full of joie de vivre.  He makes a decent cup of tea, is great at washing up, but needs a lot of persuasion to turn his hand to cooking!  There again, I need a lot of persuasion to stick my head into the generator or engine compartments!

There are many others too.  We owe you T-J and Pete!  Without you none of this would have reached ears beyond our innermost circles so thank you for sharing and navigating facebook and LinkedIn as we’ve sought to share this incredible experience, the likes of which I could never have envisaged.

We also owe Charlie our weather router, and Anthony, our security blanket on dry land keeping that weather eye out for his crazy parents.

Thank you all for giving us peace of mind that someone has knowledge of our whereabouts and the antics we’re getting up to.  Thank you too to Donna and #teamJen, to Julie and #teamDS, and to our various guardian angels – Martin and Maggie, Keith and Sue, Beth, Dennis and Jane amongst others.

I firmly believe that it helps not to have expectations or anticipations of what life might look like, but rather to be open to possibilities presenting and grab them with both hands.  The outcome will be realities, but not prescribed realities as in end goals, rather realities that may far exceed any goal you could possibly have previously imagined.

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Team members: Malcolm, Sue, Paul, George the autopilot, Charlie our weather router

Photos from previous crossing 2020

Previous adventure updates

Day 18 – complete: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-complete/

Day 16 – 18: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-days-16-18/

Day 13 – 15: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-days-13-15/

Day 11 – 12: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-days-11-12/

Day 7 – 10: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-days-7-10/

Day 5 – 6: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-days-5-6/

Day 1 – 4: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-crossing-days-1-4/

Preparation and setting off on day 1: https://blackwells.biz/the-call-of-the-ocean/