Author: Nick Mines

Having sailed for most of my adult life, I retired (took a step back) from my companies Atom and Thorp which continue in my partial absence, producing really excellent work and run by gifted teams of loyal employees. I now sail my Southerly 135 and crew on various friends yachts, just enjoying being on the water. I continue to 'nudge the tiller' at the studios, probably more often than really necessary or welcome!

Bermudan Blockade

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 →

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Bermuda Radio

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 →

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Routine

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 →

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BLISS !

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 →

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Chafe

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 →

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