January 1, 2019
Bareboat sailing
Sailors like to get naked. After all your boat is your home and who needs to be covered up in sweltering layers in the tropical heat? Why not just [...]
October 1, 2018
It all comes out in the wash
We’re back in the UK, enjoying the reunions with family and friends that our brief sojourns from our ‘proper’ life at sea allow us. And there is one acquaintance that I must admit I am incredibly glad to see again – a washing machine. Not a...
September 15, 2018
We’d get nowhere without fuel
Remember the fuel page on our old format website? Well this season's sailing that took us from New Zealand to Lombok, via all the islands of Vanuatu, the Solomons, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, saw some major sea miles and some long, lingering...
May 1, 2018
The beach
Summer has begun. For us Brits the snatched breaks of bank holidays and family vacations send us flocking to the beach. Whether it’s the English seaside - complete with donkey rides, rockpools, and someone selling jellied eels - or jetting off to...
June 10, 2017
Yum yum yum
When your family onboard includes a Londoner with a rare and supreme talent in the kitchen, another Londoner with a great appreciation of good food and a Californian who likes to experiment with new flavours you know that the average mealtime is not...
February 18, 2017
Pescadora mia
There are some important milestones for a boat girl to go through. At 3 and a half our little Rocket has had a BIG moment... She just caught her first fish! She has an ongoing joke that "Dada is rubbish at fishing!" and [...]
December 4, 2016
Back to reality
I wake to find that we are the only boat at anchor in this spot. Our yacht hangs in a mere 3 metres of clear turquoise water, nicely enclosed by an island to either side of us. There’s sand, pebble and shell, which appear [...]
August 25, 2016
Beneath the keel
The very fact that our sailboat enables us to live on the water never ceases to amaze me. This may sounds obvious but, like the landlubber homeowner who always wants to spend more time entertaining in their dining room, taking a luxurious soak in...
July 21, 2016
The family car
We once left a taxi driver in St. Kitts dumbfounded when we explained that after getting out of his cab we’d be hopping into our dinghy to get to our yacht, lying at anchor. “You got TWO boats?” was his astonished response, “You even got a...
February 10, 2016
Ship shape and Bristol fashion
I have never been a neat freak, nor was I very messy in my land-lubber life. However, living on board a boat does teach you the advantages to being that bit tidier. But it’s a lesson that you only learn by getting it spectacularly wrong to [...]
January 18, 2016
Flying the flag
Jess is in this month's Yachting Monthly magazine as the only female member of the panel contributing to an ensemble article called "How to anchor like an expert". 8 sailing pros were consulted on their techniques and [...]
November 6, 2014
The naked truth
Perhaps it comes from being away from your home country and its associated stigmas. Or maybe there’s an element of feeling on a perpetual holiday. It might even be as simple as no longer caring what anyone thinks. Whichever way you look at it the...
September 16, 2014
The curse of communication
Picture the scene: you’ve just crossed an ocean and, filled with elation, you’re brimming with the urge to share that news with your friends and family back home. But for the global cruising sailor it’s not just as simple as picking up the...
July 3, 2014
Too close for comfort
I have long been aware that there is a fine art to anchoring well. It’s something that varies with each boat, each anchorage and the conditions that you’re presented with and it’s only on the rare occasions that someone gets it wrong that you...
November 7, 2013
Balancing act
Like any new parent adjusting to their role both James and I have had some uncertain moments. But it’s par for the course and a necessary part of feeling more confident in the choices we make for our child. We feel confident that being able to both...
November 1, 2013
Landlubbers no more
A short note to announce that we’re free! After over 4 and a half months of marina time (our longest ever) as we combined sitting out Pacific hurricane season with increasing our crew number we are at long last back on the hook at anchor. And the...
March 23, 2013
On Phosphorescence
The Americans we’ve met call it bio-luminescence. When we crossed the Atlantic we talked about it as nightly green fireworks. Without doubt, one of the biggest changes we’ve felt since going from one ocean to the next is that the Pacific is brim...
February 10, 2013
Rude awakening
It’s 5:30am, the boat is rocking violently from side to side and James and I are covered in water. Had we been on passage this might be something that we were expecting or at least prepared for. But no, this time, we are actually at anchor. The...
January 3, 2013
Sun, sand and Santa – a month in San Blás
The San Blás islands, also known as the Kuna Yala, is home to the Kuna Indians who are in charge of the entire archipelago of over 350 islands and retain autonomy without interference from the national Panamanian government. The archipelago is...
October 13, 2012
The art of hibernation
Ah, an empty boat and no guests this month. What to do... what to do? Well, the first answer is, gratefully, nothing. Mary and Don left us and we stayed safely tucked away below deck in the same favoured anchoring spot for nearly 2 weeks before we...
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