May 1st. Day 1 again!

Today is May 1st 2026.  This is a portentous day in my calendar as it marks the 2nd anniversary of my mum’s passing when all 4 of her children were gathered around her bed to say goodbye.  It was a moment of total solidarity as we jointly comforted each other sorry to see her go, but glad for her release from the clutches of dementia.

Day 1 leaving Antigua on Yacht Sukama

It is also day 1 of Atlantic Odyssey no 2.  Doing justice to describing the enormity of this reality is a tall order, but here goes.  It’s 5.30pm.  I’m sitting on the foredeck with the stowed parasailor providing an exceedingly comfortable backrest as I scribe.  Shorts are still the order of the day but this is possibly the very first time a scarf round the shoulders is a welcome extra.  The sea is as benign as we’ve seen it in our 3 months of being in the Caribbean.  In UK met office terms it would be smooth to slight.  It’s not quite the brilliant blue we’ve often experienced as we have significant cloud cover of various descriptions, maybe 60%, but the sun is peeping through as it gradually descends towards the western horizon.  We’re passing around 5 miles west off the coast of Barbuda having left the fuel dock in Jolly Harbour, Antigua at 10am this morning, and gradually gaining on Joshua with a single handed sailor Peter who left an hour before us.  We’re both working with Charlie, our weather router so we found time to say hello over a beer a couple of evenings ago.  He’s a braver man than me.  You wouldn’t catch Malcolm or me out here single handed facing a 3 week passage not necessarily known for being plain sailing.  We feel exceedingly lucky to have both Paul and Anthony on board for this passage giving us what we hope is a strong mix of youth, biceps, knowledge, experience and above all a prudent approach to problem solving with safety our number one priority.

I wasn’t actually planning to be onboard for this passage as I felt the boys might enjoy a boys only trip, but I knew in my heart that I’d be so envious that I invited myself along.  I was also concerned about being regarded as chief cook, a role which doesn’t suit me well.  I can do it for so long, but then I don’t want to peel another onion for the next week, and I get grumpy so everybody suffers.  My solution on my terms is to put my hand up to do the lions share of the galley work for the first 48 hours after which it’ll be turn and turn about.  I trust.

Poor Paul.  He needs to find his sea legs again but I’m sure he’ll be fine shortly, especially if he keeps taking stugeron, our remarkably effective sea sickness remedy’s when you follow the instructions to the letter.  Anthony has turned his attention to fishing off the back and found himself staring at a sad barracuda who had already lost its tail to a different predator.  He wasn’t long for this world!

I think I’ve set the bar pretty high for victuals.  Last night we dined on homemade lasagne.  Today at 7am we collected a ton of fruit and veg from the lovely Dominican lady in the car park.  How fabulous to have 3 strong men able and willing to do the heavy lifting!  Though poor Malcolm did his normal look of horror as he struggled to contemplate where we were going to stow it all, but we found a way with nets and bags.  Lunch of loaded nachos and salad was highly successful I’m glad to say.  Prior to that I’d knocked up dinner of ratatouille which is still in Mr D, our hay box equivalent which saves us huge amounts of gas.  I need to a way to go and cook sausages to go with it, and obviously as it’s Friday, we’ll have to think long and hard what to have to follow it! (Malcolm and I have a 50+ year tradition of cheese and wine Friday, however late it got after children went to bed or home after a week away working).

The horizon is glowing, the wind is picking up a little to 15 knots, and we need to sail as close hauled as possible.  It’s time to move from here or risk getting very wet!

Preparation is all important, here’s Paul, Malcolm and Anthony on deck before we set off:

Day 2

Apologies for any typos!  Obviously not at my best in the wee small hours!  I’ve had a little more sleep now!

Today is making us query what all the hype is about.  We’re challenged by lack of wind with strengths of 6 or 7 knots for almost the whole of last night.  8 or 9 is infinitely better. We’re close reaching north/northeast bound with such wind as there is ahead of the beam so no possibility of using downwind sails, though in their wisdom, the boys did try flying the parasailor which might have stood a chance of working had there been a little more wind. I’m glad that I was asleep at the time or I’d definitely have been a dissenting voice!  Malcolm is flying our pocket handkerchief of a storm jib as a cutter rig in our desperate attempt to keep our 20 ton home moving through these latitudes.

So apart from tweaking sails, Sukama is very undemanding today making good food even more important.  Written in real time 30 minutes ago, since when……..

Made a 40 degree adjustment off course to follow the minimal wind round as it veered with the black clouds.  Found the instruments reading 11knots and us making 3 knots with intermittent violent flapping of sails.  Such a strange experience as the storm clouds take control.  Making 0.5knots we gave in to the inevitable and put the iron horse on.  Furled away the genoa, centred the main and put 2000 revs on the engine.  Back on course.  10 minutes later the wind had veered blowing at 18 knots from the right direction!  Now we’re moving at last, seas up, wind blowing, until the next time.

Goes to show how quickly things can change for the better or worse.  I’m not at all sure how many more black clouds there are to contend with until we reach our way point 136miles ahead, but I know we’ll all be there and pull together to come out the other side where the sun will be waiting for us.  Sailing teaches us lessons every single day.  We should never be complacent!

4 May 2026 at 14:16:39 BST

Day 3

At the end of Day 2, my cheffing day, I tried to follow a recipe for a delicious dinner but it proved to be a stretch too far for me, and perhaps others unused to conjuring up meals from unfamiliar ingredients. In the end dinner was delicious with the aid of christophine, chilli and ginger, (and yoghurt to quell the burn) but nothing like the dinner I’d planned. KISS came to mind, Keep It Simple Stupid. If only I had, I might have enjoyed the experience rather than tying myself up in knots.

Day 3 dawned. Yet another day in paradise! Balmy, sunny, breathtakingly beautiful, but precious little wind. Anthony had downloaded the email from Charlie and had already jumped on the new waypoint before 8am. We were surprised to learn that Peter on Joshua had heaved to in the squalls we came through with 18 knot winds yesterday. Hope he’s ok.

Today has been Anthony’s cheffing day and I for one am really enjoying the experience. Delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner with every meal unusual and creative in a way it never would have been had I done it. I think he enjoyed the experience too, but it’s too early days to ask that question just in case he says ‘no’! With the day being so quiet it’s promoted opportunities to engage in different ways, to chat, to listen to podcasts together, to read or sleep. And for some of us to scribble.

We all connected with home, admired the stars, the blood red rising moon as it crested the eastern horizon and the glints of the phosphorescence, searched for mammals to no avail, huffed and puffed with all our might, but still our home is hardly moving, and moving such as it is, is in the wrong direction. We’re currently – 11.30pm – venturing to the North Pole at 2knots.

Midnight. Paul’s just come on watch and we’ve decided it’s iron horse time again, which is a little worrying seeing as we haven’t even hit the doldrums yet:-(

___________________

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.