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 →

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 →

Just as in Antigua, the supermarkets seem to have a high proportion of Waitrose products and we actually bought a couple of bottles of Waitrose Prosecco to toast our arrival in Bermuda and then, hopefully, to toast our arrival in the Azores. It cost $8.55 which equates to about £6 and could, from memory, be... Continue Reading →

This appeared in the June 2016 Yachting Monthly.