The nautical adventures and misadventures of Hejira, her skipper, and all who sail in her…
What a good decision it was to hire scooters for 24 hours. They were booked for 8.30 in the morning but torrential rain prompted a phone call and a delay in their collection until lunch time by which time the weather had brightened and we set off to explore the islands. Early caution gave way... Continue Reading →
Barry and I ‘took a turn into town’ and it is quite clear that Bermuda is a really lovely, organised destination – or so it would seem from our current experience of St. George’s island. The town of St. George was originally the capital before it was transferred to Hamilton and it dates back to... Continue Reading →
Dawn prompted a flurry of activity to prepare for our arrival. The mast top burgee had to be hoisted before we could deploy our RVYC defaced red ensign. The Bermuda courtesy flag and the yellow ‘Q’ (quarantine) flag had to be flown at the starboard and port crosstrees and the ARC people like their flag... Continue Reading →
We continue to motor across a glassy sea and expect to arrive in Bermuda around 1300 today. Soon after leaving the BVI, we witnessed a spectacular patch of ‘boiling’ water as the surface briefly erupted with quite sizeable jumping fish. It has been notable since then that we have not seen much in the way... Continue Reading →
Hejira being a heavy solid cruising yacht, needs a ‘bit of a blow’ to get her going. The light sailing conditions experienced since the period of squalls has provided good relaxed sailing but it has also meant that the lightweight production yachts have ‘got away’ and we have slipped back down the fleet. As we... Continue Reading →
At last! Wonderful sailing. No purple patches on the radar, a steady F4 on the beam, full sail and ‘munching the miles’ at a sprightly 7 knots. We even have some patches of blue sky. All is well again. Stephen, who crewed on the Trans-Atlantic to the Caribbean, contributed so entertainingly to the blogs, adding... Continue Reading →
When running downwind, it is usual to hold out the jib using the spinnaker pole or the whisker pole. The sheet ‘works’ across the end of the pole as it stretches and this, over a period of time can badly damage the sheet. Our solution was to ‘serve’ some dymeema outer sleeving over the sheet... Continue Reading →
With such a featureless horizon, the passing of a cargo ship one and a half miles astern becomes noteworthy. The AIS data suggested it was heading for Portsmouth but not whether that is Portsmouth Virginia or Hampshire but judging from its course, it looks like Portsmouth UK although that is a Naval port…….. The temperature... Continue Reading →
The early promise at dawn soon condensed into heavy cloud and with lightning and thunder came torrential rain. I couldn't understand why a yacht in front we had been tracking on AIS, turned left and ran at 90 degrees to its previous course but this soon became clear with the massive wind shift that accompanied... Continue Reading →
We had a clean start off Nanny Cay with the 40 ARC yachts heading west on a broad reach to clear the islands. Of the ARC fleet, there were different rallies sharing the same start, some were heading straight to Florida, most going to Bermuda but with some of those heading on up to Virginia.... Continue Reading →
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