5 May 2026 at 14:38:44 BST

Day 4
It’s a slow day at the office where I find myself musing on food………
I’d never really given it the time of day before, but onboard in calm conditions it’s brought home to me that there are so many steps between procuring the food to eating the food.

We stocked up to cross the Atlantic east to west and experienced almost no wastage. If I remember rightly 1 orange didn’t make it.

West to east is proving to be totally different. In spite of careful monitoring of stock there are still items we (the royal ‘we’) miss, with red peppers definitely being the worst offender. Inside 12 hours they can go from seemingly perfectly intact to emitting a smell best avoided as they perish in a drizzle of their own demise impacting every other pepper in their vicinity if you don’t pounce on it quickly enough. Ugh!

Stocking up with local fruit and veg

So without choosing to point a finger at any other perpetrators, we’re having to be much more diligent. Spinach and kale have found themselves picked over and flash fried in order to salvage them or we may have an unexpected bonus of a carrot salad. It may be that purchasing from the local seller might have something to do with the very ripe ripe fruit, but that in itself we can cope with. Either we catch it in time and have it for breakfast or it quickly turns into a local fruit drink, replacing the local fish juice that Anthony suggested as an alternative. I think the sun has got to him!

We purchase. From the supermarket or the local stall with quantities being entirely guesswork loosely aligned to what I’m thinking we might eat for the next 21 days! We each decide on our day of cheffing what we’re going to prepare, cook and eat, but then of course we need an awareness of what needs using first and where it is, and how it might be used. So I’m attempting to update lists on a daily basis with what’s found space in the fridge, the freezer, or is in danger of running away.

But I am still loving this new realm where after our open pow wow I’m only charged with cheffing 1 in 4 days. It is an incredible improvement though when it’s just the two of us Malcolm manfully does more of the cooking anyway partly because he knows how much I don’t enjoy it, but partly because for some inexplicable reason he actually does seem to enjoy it. I consider myself incredibly fortunate as this transfers to time spent on land too.

It takes me back to going on holiday as a family when Jen and Anthony were very young. When we went self catering every family member assumed that it was life as normal. When we camped everyone mucked in and shared the chores including the cooking and washing up. It was all part of the fun as well as individual responsibility. No wonder camping was our norm, and is something we love to this day.

So whilst ongoing intunedness with the stock falls to me, I know I am hugely indebted to the others around me who step up to play their part in maintaining my equilibrium. Which they doubtless will tell you is in their best interests too!

Today was Malcolm’s day off where he did the cheffing producing sundowners and delicious food throughout the day including sautéed salmon and veg this evening chased by pineapple with crème fraiche and caramela rum from La Palma. Yesterday was Anthony’s turn and Paul’s tomorrow which for some reason he seems strangely concerned about. 6metre rollers at sea no problem, dancing around the decks as they yaw up and down in the pitch black of night, no problem, but finding bites to eat for the ship’s company is another challenge altogether. He doesn’t need to worry. There are many willing helpers here happy to lend a hand.

What will the morrow bring, in addition to food? Somehow I sense that even food may take second place to discussion around fuel consumption. We have felt forced into putting the engine on, but there again, we haven’t reached the doldrums yet which may well hold hours of incessant motoring and therefore increased fuel consumption leaving us with markedly less headroom than we’re accustomed to. For now at 2.30am we are motoring due to only 4/5 knots of wind and that annoying adverse current.

6 May 2026 at 12:39:49 BST

Day 5

Another slow day, and more in the offing according to Charlie, but on working out our average it’s not all bad. Since we left Antigua 4 days ago we’ve averaged 5.2knots made possible by many hours at blistering speeds exceeding 8 or even 9 knots.

Pow wow with all straight after breakfast – cereals were gamely put out on the table by Paul! – where we discussed the accuracy or inaccuracy of fuel gauge readings as Sukama gently rocks from side to side or sails heeled over, what we think we’ve used since departure, determining how we manage it going forward. We know we’ve got days of light or no wind yet, possibly until the end of Saturday according to Charlie, so another 5 days, but to date it has filled with up to 12 knots in the daytime. It’s currently 05.50am and we’re seeing 5 knots if we’re lucky, so therefore still motoring. We’ve factored in 3 days x 24hours motoring so 5 days x 12 hours a day actually sounds slightly better. With 80litres accounted for by the generator that leaves 200litres for the remainder of the trip to the Canaries. Peter on Joshua left port in Antigua with 250litre total! Hope he’s ok.

Paul had a lie down. Horizontal. Trying to fathom how to achieve 2 more meals today. I advised him to take it

Paul preparing food

easy until 12 noon! At which point he was ready. He asked for support which seemed to help with the how, what, where and before you knew it we had expertly prepared sautéed butternut squash, kale and chickpea salad, salmon and mayonnaise with lemon wedges, tomatoes and cucumber all beautifully presented. A meal fit for a king!

This lunchtime the plotter looks like Piccadilly Circus with 4 craft in addition to ourselves – 2 sailing, 2 cargo within 15 miles of us, 3 of which we could see with the naked eye simultaneously. It’s positively crowded. Perhaps we should throw a party?!

More slow timing as we are determined to sail if at all possible. Hence creative solutions were tested and tried without success. We gave in around 6pm having cleaned the heads, cleaned the galley, and I’d got ahead with dinner for my day off tomorrow meaning I really can have a day off! But prior to that everything changed. Paul came up with the most innovative creative solution ever to avoiding cooking dinner as the shout went up. I

Malcolm finding what we need from the stern locker

came topside to find 3 men all totally absorbed in the process of landing a fish. How many men does it take to change a light bulb comes to mind – but to give them their due, it was a splendid specimen, and a mahi mahi to boot! I stayed a long way from the scene of operation, but with Anthony on fish preparation, Malcolm spread eagled himself in the lazarette and emerged triumphantly clutching the BBQ, Paul set to with a will prepping potatoes, courgettes and carrots perfectly and with relatively few questions. The table appeared, the fish and vegetables were all done to perfection at the same time, and we enjoyed a celebratory meal with great bon homie and very many smiles. It wasn’t just a meal. It was an achievement of a meal for all concerned. I was the lucky recipient.

So on this slow slow slow day, Paul has conquered his demons and risen to cooking each meal finding it remarkably doable after all, Anthony has caught and filleted his first fine Atlantic fish (there was a member of the fishy family on our earlier transatlantic in 2020 but not a patch on this), in addition he has helpfully written a computer programme to help us with the nonsense of calculating our Brexit days. Malcolm and I have both had valued time and opportunity to indulge in relaxing reading of Wilbur Smith and Lee Child – both formulaic writers but great page turners. A good day was had by all.

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

Pete and T-J are in the UK receiving and sharing our updates via the wonders of satellite.

Photos and videos from previous crossings by Sukama.

Previous adventure updates

Odyssey 2 start – day 3: https://blackwells.biz/atlantic-odyssey-2-start/