Atlantic crossing 2025

Statistics

Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Port St Charles Barbados - 3,010 nautical miles

Time taken - 24 days 10 hrs

Average miles per day -  123 nautical miles 

minimum daily mileage - 85 nautical miles 

maximum daily mileage - 143 nautical miles (Day 9)

Number of engine hours  - ZERO!

Number of alcoholic drinks consumed - 1 bottle of Cava (halfway)

Number of injuries - 1 broken toe, Mandy

Biggest swell - 4.5m

Maximum sustained wind speed - 32 knots

Maximum gust - 41 knots

Number of fish caught - 6 mahi mahi

Number of fish that got away - 3 (Big) Tuna

Winner of Cards (Hearts) - Mandy

Number of Hearts hands - 300

This blog is a record of the facebook posts that Mandy wrote and a collection of my favourite pictures from the journey.

Day 1

5 Years in the planning and we set off with nerves and excitement for the epic journey ahead of us.

Weather planning was the major part of setting off and luck was on our side (for once) and with an update from our professional weather router, all the stars aligned for our planned departure.

We couldn't have asked for a better start, 9-15 knots of wind with a less than half a metre swell from the east, so we were on a close reach for the whole of the first day.

A funny thing happens when you start sailing, all of a sudden you get sleepy, the Cook was the first to give in and take a nap then the Captain then me, the Doc didn't want to miss anything and stayed awake all day and was rewarded by the sighting of minke whales in the distance:-)

The first dinner was spicy lentil soup that I pre-made and went down well. We then started our watches, 3 hours each.

At five to midnight we all got up to celebrate New Year by watching hundreds of fireworks being set off on Tenerife.  We ate the 12 grapes, and Graham and me drank honey Rum, not forgetting to throw some in the ocean for Poseidon himself. What a memorable first night, there was a blanket of stars over us and the bio-illuminance surrounding us, all is well on Mir.

Still learning

Lucky lure

It's a fish

Day 2

So far so good. Our first morning was relaxing after a very pleasant night's sailing. The forecast ahead looked very much the same as the day before.  

After a bit of breakfast Nikki took the helm to give the autopilot a rest and Graham put the line out to catch a fish while I made lunch.  Richie and Graham, using the sextant, tried plotting our position it took a little while for them to remember how to use it!  The wind and waves started to get up a bit and then we were tanking along at 7knots (very fast for Mir). Then the fishing line started to wizz and we'd caught our first fish of the trip. In this chaotic process all hands are needed on deck to reel in the fish, kill, gut and fillet it, as well and throwing buckets of water over the deck to get the blood off before it stains the deck, this is all while the boat is rocking side to side through the waves! suffice to say we had a fabulous dinner.

The days go quick and before you know it has gone dark and we are back on our evening watches.  There is a new moon at the moment and i caught a glimpse of it on my watch, a small silver slither not giving off much light, the sky was cloudy which made for a very dark and moody night ...

Fish gutting

Jenny's amazing fruitcake, Atlantic crossing edition

Day 3

A beautiful sunrise on a cloudless blue sky greeted us this morning.  We haven't seen land for a few days now, all around the sky meets the sea. You could imagine you're in a giant dome, like the Truman show. The wind and sea were still playing nice with us and gave for another fantastic day of sailing.  We played quiz games, chatted and ate well, again.

As you gaze out to sea you are always hoping to see the amazing wild creatures that live below.  It wasn't long before they appeared, jumping high around us, underneath us, showing off their athletic agility and how at ease they are in their world.  You never tire of seeing dolphins, they are mesmerizing.  As they jump alongside the boat they look at us curiously, wondering what we are and what we are doing here.  Something that crosses our minds too!  

Wild sunset

Day 4

Early this morning the wind and sea decided it was time to shake things up, with gusts up to 30 knots and 2 meter waves on our side making for an uncomfortable ride.  We reefed in to slow down and so that we didn't heal over so much.  It was going to be one of those days were lying down was preferable to trying to move around.  It's quite a lot of work doing anything on a boat, never mind when it throws you side to side.  Nikki was thrown into the cooker and its gimble broke, first job for el capitan to fix :-)

We're all aching to take our westwards turn, but still have a little while until we do so. It's important to "hold your nerve" and keep going south towards Cape Verde before we can take that right turn. There we will join the reliable trade winds that will blow us across the Atlantic, where the waves and sea will rolls with us, making for a more comfortable ride. 

For the second day we were joined by a pod of dolphins - which always makes everyone excited. The wind and sea then started to settle down in the late afternoon, making it a bit easier for cooking; and yes, the captain did fix the gimble!

Music playing, sun is shinning, all is good and we realise how lucky we are to be on this amazing adventure. 

Nikki's method of washing dishes

Day 5

The term 'Salty seadog' is how you could describe all the crew on Mir today!  But not for long, the wind was non-existent, which meant it was a good day to all have a shower!  Because of limited water and electricity on Mir we have to be conservative when using either.  We have a water maker but this too uses quite a bit of power.  Richie and Nikki opted for a salt water bucket shower on deck :-) I had a hot fresh water bucket shower inside!!! 

Great day for fishing bug unfortunately the reel in the fishing rod broke, so until Wam fixes it, no more fishing.

We wash all our dishes in salt water, usually this is done by taking buckets of seawater down to the galley, but Nikki has taken a liking to clipping herself onto the back of the boat and washing the dishes straight in the sea with a scourer. 

In the afternoon we were joined by another pod of dolphins (Richie thinks they are the same group) who came for a swim in the bow-wave, unfortunately we were going slow so they had no wave to jump through, they stayed for a good 30mins though just swimming alongside, keeping us company.

Dinner was fishcakes, beautifully made by Nikki with the last of the Mahi Mahi Graham caught.  Then we settled down to a game of Hearts, we will be having many more games of and keeping a tally of the scores, stay tuned to see who won the Atlantic crossing Hearts game :-) 

  

Typical day in the Tropics

Day 6

We have now passed the Tropic of Cancer and our current position is 21:51N & 22:44W. We are averaging 112nm a day and only motored for an hour shortly after we set off on the first day. Apparently it's quite unusual to get a good weather window where you don't have to motor from Canaries to Cape Verde, so we are really pleased! 

We are definitely into a routine now and the days are passing us by. Today was an exercise day, Richie and Nikki were doing forearm exercises with a rope and broomstick, and then we all had a go of hanging off our Beastmaker. It's difficult at the best of times but on a moving boat it takes a lot of strength to keep still :-)  

The Dolphins are still with us, they visited very early in the morning then later just before sunset, it feels as though they are coming to check up that we're all ok.

The winds picked up in the evening and are going to be stronger for the next 3-4 days, which also means the sea state gets very lumpy, but Mir handles herself well in these waters...

Below is a link to our AIS where you can see exactly where we are, it gets updated every hour.

Underwater view mid Atlantic, looking for sharks

Day 7 

Richie..... "Since the previous posts have generally described major events of the day alongside pieces of information pertaining to the functioning of the boat, I thought maybe to change things up and write an account of the structure of a typical day at sea, as I perceive it:

At 9am the night watches end and people begin to rise. We usually all have a coffee or tea below deck, and those who eat breakfast do. Between 9 and 11:30am is what I'd term the morning section. Generally we chat and wash ourselves. This is bookmarked at 11:30 by Wam's announcement of our total nautical mileage in the past 24 hours (what I have termed "the drop"), whilst the First Mate plots our current position on the Atlantic chart. Between 11:30am and 6pm the crew is generally above deck, and we do activities such as: wildlife spotting, reading, crosswords, lunch, discussion, tinkering with the sails, exercise, fishing, odd jobs, and the like. Slowly towards the end of this period the crew descend below deck - except for the Ship Surgeon, who will stay above deck hand-steering for as long as she can (an activity she greatly enjoys.) From 6pm, as the sun sets, the First Mate typically cooks dinner and we eat shortly thereafter. By 8pm we may all play a game (such as Hearts, Perudo, Escape Room, etc.) or we might just lounge around making use of our limited wifi hours. From 9pm the watches start and those not on shift head off to bed.

THIS is an account of a typical day of passage on Mir - at least as I see it. Being surrounded by the sea, and crossing several degrees of latitude and longitude, it is hard not to lose a sense of time and place, as it is typically felt. With the only consistent reccurence being the movement of the sun in the sky, it feels necessary to impose a form on the day. Though this is certainly not the only way in which the day could be chapterised. Wam, who never sleeps with more than half of his brain turned off, may view the cycle of the day beginning and ending at different times, or segment it according to 

changes in the wind or sea state. On the other hand, as a down-and-out passenger princess, I seem to view the day wholey with respect to life on the boat."

Fixing our fishing reel

Trying to get a salt water pump working - unsuccessfully

Day 8

The classic trade wind route, which we are taking has been plied by an enormous variety of vessels since Christopher Columbus himself set sail from the Canary Islands to expand the limits of the world, as he knew it then. World cruising routes by Jimmy Cornell speaks about these routes and the essential rule of not setting a course for the desired destination until well inside the trade wind belt.  We are now inside that belt but due to a strong cold front dropping near 20*N 50*W on Saturday which could cause winds to collapse for a large portion of the Tropical Atlantic especially north of 15*N, so it is important that we are far enough south to avoid the light winds which precede this front. So one more day until we take our right turn :-)

Graham spent most of the morning trying to get an outdoor salt water pump working so we didn't have to haul buckets of water up out of the sea. But, according to Graham, due to the "venturi effect" this couldn't work. Back to the drawing board! 

From Richie's blog you get a picture of what is a typical day at sea entails, but today didn't pass without some eventful happenings either:

I was just about to put the dinner on the table when we heard the wizz of the fishing line, everyone got a bit excited and as I ran from the galley to the companionway to take a look I stubbed my little toe on a corner of a unit! Ouch ouch!!! One broken little toe later and we'd caught another Mahi mahi! After the fish was caught and gutted we sat down to dinner when suddenly Mona (our autopilot) started beeping and went off, then we were plunged into darkness. Quickly Nikki jumped on the helm and navigated by the stars while Graham went off into the engine room to try and solve the issue. Were we worried? Both Graham and Nikki thought this would mean us making a detour to Cape Verde for repairs, but myself and Richie both had faith that the Captain would fix it. Of course he did fix it, but we still had to travel lights out for an hour.

On a long journey, things are bound to break, but the captain and crew were well prepared.

So far

Poor flying fish litter the deck every morning

Day 9

Day 9 and we’re sinking. Not really, but there was a slow build-up of water in the bilges. A ‘leak’ the word every first time Atlantic crossing crew wants to hear! Wam tasted a sample of the salty water and very reassuringly stated “the boat’s sinking”. Thankfully he was joking and the slow trickle of water entering through the rudder post was a well known issue with a simple fix. So after coffee and croissants, sail configuration adjustments, bucket showers and the usual deck sweep for flying fish who’d become aeronautically challenged, Mandy and Graham went to re-seal the rudder post. 

Meanwhile, Richie and me deployed the fishing rod and steered. Soon came the most exciting waypoint of the journey so far: “the turn”. Travelling south to Cape Verde felt like gentle a warm-up and to avoid the dregs of the latest big North Atlantic storm, (emphasis on “North” Mum), we continued further south to 17 degrees latitude. So the big news is- we’ve finally made “the turn”! And we’re heading steadily westwards. Just in front of the bow is Barbados! Well… 1800 nautical miles in front of the bow, so really quite close. Our total distance in the last 24 hours was 143 nautical miles, a record for Mir and crew. 

A novel part of our afternoon routine is to catch a Mahi Mahi but today we had to wrestle with something MUCH bigger first. The monster required 3 people to haul it towards the boat and ended in minor tragedy with a broken fishing line, lost lure and a fish kicking around the Atlantic with a new lip piercing. Richie’s sad we can’t have tuna carpaccio (he’s convinced it was a tuna), Wam’s sad to lose another lure, Mandy took an excellent video of the drama unfolding and I’m wondering if the fish will be feeding ok with the hook in its mouth. 

The days are a lovely balance of busy with tasks and totally relaxed. The nighttime watches are easy and give time to write journals and listen to podcasts have been rudely interrupted to reef sails, usually at 3am. We’ve passed a significant milestone by turning right on this magical adventure.

Spooky moon in background

Day 10

I was on the early morning lookout today. The night watches take you somewhere beyond reality. You hear the slapping of the waves, the wind gusting and sometimes feel the violent jolting of the boat. You look outside the windows and shadows loom towards you in the darkness. Your mind wanders, strange noises alert you to the vastness of the sea around; to say eerie is an understatement. Halfway through my shift the sun rose and lit up the darkness that preceded it, it was a joy to see the dawn. Sunrise is so beautiful for so many reasons...

Now we are on our westing heading is suddenly feels very real, leaving all the safety of land behind us. We are now on our own, the enormity of the sea engulfs us.   

The big rolling waves that arrived later this morning gave a landscape to the sea, a vista that was unfamiliar. We spotted a red billed tropic bird gliding across the sea, stretching and stroking the sea, flying fish in their masses skim the contours of the peaks of the waves. Its another world out here, unforgiving, wild and beautiful...

Day 11

Captain's log

Noises on a boat could drive you bonkers. We had a ticking coat hanger that we couldn't find for weeks, squeaky lines that sounded like a voice from below, a box sliding in the bilge that convinced us the rudder was about to fall off and a toilet seat slamming closed which was obviously an orca hitting the hull. You soon learn to put the toilet seat down... On the subject of toilet seats, they get a right battering with all the rocking and rolling. So it's not surprising that one of their hinges worked loose, making for an even more wobbly toilet experience. Good job I brought some spare hinges with me. Yes, I don't have a spare starter motor but I do have lots of toilet spares. 

In other news my children have learned to fish. Look at the video, I'm so proud. To paraphrase a wise man. Don't give your kids fish, give them a fishing rod.  I can't believe how many we've caught since leaving Tenerife, 6 mahi mahi so far. And the meals Mandy and Nikki have cooked with them, oh my... We're eating so well.

The watches are surprisingly easy when there are 4 of you. Four three hour slots. All you do is sit there for 3 hours as there is not a lot to do or see.  We have an alarm set if anything comes within 12 miles so we don't even have to check the AIS (but we do.) The others read, listen to podcasts or watch a movie. I just sit there relaxing, thinking of all the things that could go wrong.

The crew are in high spirits and we are all thoroughly enjoying the trip so far. Yes, it is a long way and yes, it can get very rolley but the days pass surprisingly quickly. Meals, games, fishing, conversation, watches and before you know it - repeat.

We are nearly halfway there and have had fair winds and following(ish) seas - and of course it's getting hotter. But the amazing thing is, because of good winds, we haven't had to turn the engine on at all. Let's hope it still starts.

The only thing missing for me is my other binlid, Danny. Wish you were here Dan. 

Crew member peeling spuds

Day 12

Let's talk about food. Provisioning for this crossing was an enormous task, after doing some research we got an idea of what it entailed.  Lots and lots of trips to the Mercadona and Carrefour - all by foot!!!  It was a gruesome task and had to be done in stages. Once we were in Santa Cruz luckily the two supermarkets mentioned delivered your shopping to the marina, which was amazing:-) But it was still at 30-40 min walk to get there. We were also stocking up on things that we believe are expensive in the Caribbean. 

I did a meal plan for the 24 days, breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. It was a bit overwhelming to begin with. Some of the dinners I cooked beforehand and I started to do some batch cooking for the freezer, in total about 9 meals until the freezer was full. Two days before departure we went and got all our fresh fruit and veg.  

Storing all this food was a big task too.  Mir is our home and has everything we need on board, so finding extra space for stockpiling food was difficult.  The two cabins we sometimes use as storage had to be emptied for Nikki and Richie too.

We have been eating like kings though, the meals so far have been different every day.  We are now very low on fresh stuff, one apple, a couple of oranges, a courgette, some potatoes and onions is what we have left, we have plenty of cheese and ham though but all the salad has gone. Catching fish has been a big bonus, 5 or 6 days on the row now, starting to lose count :-)

The other difficult thing is the actual cooking on a rolling boat. The cooker is on a gimble but it can still be vprecarious when you have something boiling away on the hob and something in the oven too. For example, if you open the door of the cooker the weight of the door can tilt the cooker and can be very dangerous - so two hands are often needed in the galley.  No injuries so far though!

All the planning has paid off and I think we got it just about right, although Richie is complaining there isn't enough chocolate (it melts over here Rich). In any case we are baking a chocolate cake tomorrow for our celebratory halfway meal :-)

And finally I'd like to mention my beautiful mate Jenny Cade who has supplied us for the last year and a half with her gorgeous fruit cake (her mum's "never fail fruit cake" recipe). Every time I was home she had baked me one to bring back for the boat and she sent one over with Richie for our Atlantic crossing too.  Thanks babes we are thoroughly enjoying it. XXX

Halfway drink

Day 13

Post written by Nikki...

Big news everyone: Mir and crew have officially passed halfway! We’ve confirmed it in a few ways: estimated crossing time is 25 days and we’ve done 13 days; degrees of longitude travelled from east to west is 34 out of 59; and distance- we’ve done a little over 1500 nautical miles and we’ve got a little over 1400 to go. Woohoo! So it’s mini-party time. Mandy made us some banging treats to celebrate: tasty spicy pizza, followed by boat-baked chocolate cake with cream and some cava for a sense of achievement. The summary so far is: “we’ve caught a fish every day, we haven’t had the engine on in 2025, the sun’s out and we’re going in the right direction, what more could we possible want?” See final sentence. 

It’s hard to describe the environment but it’s fun to try, so here it goes. The boat has become our little world, like being in a cosy cottage (built like a tank) and when it’s calm and sunny enough, the front deck is the patio where you can sunbathe and read. The bright blue water close to the boat and the splashes and waves and nature is like our garden. Then the distant navy blue Atlantic feels like a mountain landscape, stretching as far as the eye can see. The rolling swell which has been up to about 3m feels like a hillside. One minute you’re in the valley surrounded by wave mountains, next minute you’re on the summit with views of the endless blue rolling hills. Never dull!

Now that we’re travelling due west, it’s funny to think that off to the left *ehem* to the port, is Antarctica. I know it’s a while away but it puts into context how exposed we are. Like being a bacteria growing in a Petri dish. 

Speaking of things growing, for the last couple of days we’ve been sailing through beds of an orange/ brown seaweed called sargassum. We should be really chuffed because this stuff makes a lot of the world’s oxygen and is a nursery habitat for little fish but it’s a pain for us! Gets stuck in the rudder, the toilet inlet pump (flush), the engine inlet. Most annoyingly, we can’t fish! We just hook a bunch of seaweed and nothing else bites. But it’s everywhere!

Red billed tropicbird

We’ve started seeing some really cool seabirds. We’ve seen our first and second albatross, albatrosses? They’re called sooty albatross and they’ve got funky eyes, a huge wingspan and they live at sea (not unlike ourselves.) They mate for life (awwwww!) and are a protected species. Crossing the Atlantic wouldn’t have been complete without an Albatross! Another belter is the red billed tropicbird which seems unnecessarily swanky (they’ve got tail streamers!) for something that hangs out completely alone and dives like a dart into the water to catch fish and squid. Those guys can fly at 44km/hr! Apparently they can’t walk and can’t stand but they’re great at floating and taking off from the sea.  Loads of Bulwer’s petrels which are small , agile seabirds that scoot across the top of the water hoping to catch flying fish. 

We’ve seen about 7.3 million flying fish (I lost count). They appear suddenly at the surface and glide for maybe 100m with fixed, straight wings (fins?) just above the waves. It looks like they’ll never land! They do though, with a gentle splash, and the occasional but entertaining misfire where they hit a taller than expected wave as soon as they get airborne and abruptly crash back into the sea. Sadly, they’re not all smooth gliders and we’ve found about 10 dried out on deck since we set off. RIP the bad flyers. We haven’t been brave enough to eat the ones on deck yet but flying fish is a specialty in Barbados so we can wait.  

We had rough toothed dolphins with us daily for the first few days of the trip. Pods of 20 ish are common and they’re happy to hang out with pilot whales and humpbacks too. Ours came to visit daily and played around the bow waves, leaping, swimming upside down, corkscrewing between their buddies. We could even hear them squeaking! I don’t think watching dolphins could ever possibly get old. 

I know we’ve had the best possible luck for far on this trip but I’m putting in one more request to Huey (god of the waves): “Huey, please can we see a whale next? Thank you!”

Day 14

A dip in the big blue. 

Today there was a strange vibrating noise in the boat. Graham wanted to investigate the issue by swimming underneath the boat. So we pulled in the sails and waited for us to stop moving, though as we are in a current of about 1.5 knots we were never going to be exactly still. The sea wasn't flat either but the waves weren't as big as other days. We tied Graham onto the boat he jumped in - after checking there were no sharks about of course! Luckily there was just a piece of sargassum stuck in the rudder which he pulled out. 

As this was a very successful mission and it didn't seem problematic getting back onto the boat we all then wanted to have a plunge too. We had discussed the fact that we wanted to swim in the Atlantic ocean during the crossing but because the seas had been quite rolley we were getting worried that this might not happen, so we seized the opportunity. One by one and also tied on we had our dip in the Atlantic, 4000 metres of ocean below us. Scary but amazing! Just glad we didn't see any big fish! One more thing ticked off the list👍

Day 15

Our captain has many talents, guitar playing is not one of them😂😂😂 (he told me to say that.  I think he's brilliant ❤)

A song at sunrise - Take one 

  

Day 16

The days are definitely merging into each other, they seem to go slower when we don't fish.  Fishing was a highlight and took a big chunk out of the day, we need to put the line out again, if only the sargassum would go away! At the moment are all getting through our books and the Captain is getting lots of guitar practice in.

Our nightly card game is getting more competitive, especially because Graham is in the lead, we still have 6 nights to knock him off that top spot :-)

The evening meals for the next 6 evenings are now planned, we haven't much choice because we are limited on what ingredients we have left, although the only repeat meal we have are the fishcakes, which we all love. The lunchtime meals are a bit tricky to make now all the fresh food has gone, very small sandwiches! Thank goodness for cheese - who could get fed up of cheese every day :-)

We are expecting very good winds from here on, might even have to reef in a bit over the weekend.  We haven't adjusted the sails very much since we started on our westing direction, wing on wing all the way so far.  

Six nights till Barbados if everything goes well!

Day 17

Technical difficulty with Richie's post! Normal service will resume tomorrow 😂

Day 18

Richie's Post: Having no better idea for a blog post, and far too much time, I have decided to write a crossword. Questions with an asterisk are cryptic whilst those without are general knowledge. All answers are nautically themed or related to our passage (hint: crew names are answers to some of the cryptics.) Having tormented my fellow crew members with crosswords during passage, I hope that these questions may also keep you awake at night. The questions are pasted below but there is also a link to a pdf at the end. 

Answers will be released Monday evening.

ACROSS

4. Defined area on Earth where the sun can be directly overhead? (7)

7. Floating algae commonly found in the band around the equator. (9)

8. Gusty Hospital location. (8)*

13. Tolkien dwarf doesn't spill his drink. (6)*

14. Sail formation used for downwind sailing? (4, 2, 4)

15. Only marine mammal to habitually prey on warm blooded creatures? (4)

17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (3)*

21. Unit of measurement used in marine navigation? (8, 4)

23. Red port? (4)*

26. Family group of dolphins and whales? (8)

30. Albert Ross. (9)*

33. Informal term for someone who's lost their mind, also the crew's favourite treat. (9)

34. Russian space station operational from 1986 to 2001. (3)

37. Island from which Columbus set off before "discovering" the Americas. (2, 6)

38. The isles of dogs? (8)*

39. Term used to denote the side of the boat from which the wind isn't coming. (7)

40. The crew's favourite card game (Wam is still winning). (6)

DOWN

1. Strictly the back of the boat. (5)*

2. Child's toy plays instrument. (8)*

3. Lemon haired bukkit dunker. (5)*

5. Term used for making westward progress. (7)

6. Recurrent weather pattern allowing sailors to reliably travel certain routes? (5, 5)

9. Steel cabling (formerly made of rope) used to hold a ship's mast in place. (7)

10. Fish Fish. (4, 4)*

11. Eponymous crab line. (6)*

12. Smelly sailor? (6, 6)*

16. Welsh town from which the crew and boat set off in August 2023? (8)

18. Male divided by plank? (3, 9)*

19. Sounds a bit like a biscuit? (6)*

20. Sailing position when wind is coming perpendicular to the sail. (4, 5)

22. Informal term to denote a person from Barbados? (5)

24. Hat measurement. (7)*

25. Ford car made of wheat. (9)*

27. Island from which we set off before reaching Barbados? (8)

28. Item of clothing, coloured? (4, 5)*

29. Called a sheet even though its a _? (4)*

31. Sudden violent change in wind and seas, usually accompanied by rain? (6)

32. Some fella says yes, in Russian. (6)*

35. Sailors' warning? (3, 3)*

36. Navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two objects. (7)

Mahi mahi with dauphinois potatoes - OMG!

Washing day. We're not grotty yotties

Day 19

Captain's log

The first 2,000 miles were a breeze, blue sky, good seas and light winds. The last 900 miles and time seems to have stopped. The sea has an uncomfortable 3.5 meters swell,  the wind is not enough to overcome this and it's been raining!!! It feels like we are back in the  Irish sea. But the worst thing is the chocolate status. The hot chocolate was found to be moldy and the addicts are down to their last box of ferrero roche. They are just about getting by on tinned fruit, rich tea biscuits and pancakes with Nutella and marshmallows. But we better get there soon. 

The boat is performing amazingly. Today we had 4m following seas and a constant 24 knots of wind and saw some gusts of 40. Although very uncomfortable for us the boat was flying along hitting 9 knots. Defo in its groove and nothing to worry about. Even though there is a different groan, rattle, pop, squeak every 5 minutes. Best to sit on deck, you can't hear the noises. We even had our first wave over the back that soaked everyone on deck and soaked the pilot house through the companionway.

I have to mention the amazing job Mandy is doing with provisioning and cooking. Every meal has been 11 out of 10. Cooked under very testing conditions she has consistently produced amazingly assorted meals. And it's not just cooking, considering she actually said to me 35 years ago, "I'd never want to sail around the world" she's turned into an amazing sailor, meteorologist and extremely competent crew. And she's still earning money!!! How lucky I am?

I should also say my children have been amazingly competent crew and great company as well. Let's hope they're available for our Pacific crossing in a few years. (Let's hope I'm available for the Pacific crossing in a few years)

600 miles to go, all downhill from here. 

Come, Mr tallyman tally me banana.........

The only way to manage a rolly sea

Day 20

Woohoo the dolphins are back, it's been over a week since we last saw them, they were happily swimming with us for some time.  We noticed a while afterwards that, along with the flying fish jumping out the sea we saw what looked like tuna too jumping out the sea. Are they trying to avoid a predator? But more importantly there is tuna to be caught, so Nikki threw the line in the water hoping to not pick up any sargassum, something bit straight away and it was a big one, Richie jumped up to help haul it in, they tried to do it as slowly as possible, to tire the fish out, it was definitely a tuna! This was taking ages but we were so excited about having tuna for tea, then, yes you've guessed it the line broke! We lost another lure, and the fish!!!  That's 3 lures lost so far, all our lucky ones, we threw one of our unlucky ones on the line next and guess what, it was still unlucky :-(

The sea swell and wind are still high, we are reefed in for safety which is slowing our daily mileage down. The weather is a mixture of squalls which brings rain, which cleans the boat, then the sun comes back out.  The sea looks so much more friendly when the sun is shinning on it.  

Whilst we have this weather sleeping at night has been quite uncomfortable and challenging for the first time, we are getting thrown from one side of the bed to the other, which wakes you up :-) and the noises of the waves crashing against the hull is amplified when you are lying in bed, the hull feels very thin. You can't believe there is only 2-3inches between you and the sea.  We are all getting a good abs workout though:-)

Answers to Richie's crossword are attached below.  Well done to everyone who had a go :-)

MIR Russian space station operational from 1986 to 2001. (3)

SARGASSUM Floating algae commonly found in the band around the equator. (9)

LAGOMERA Island from which Columbus set off before "discovering" the Americas. (2, 6)

TENERIFE Island from which we set off before reaching Barbados? (8)

BAJAN Informal term to denote a person from Barbados? (5)

CETACEAN Family group of dolphins and whales? (8)

SQUALL Sudden violent change in wind and seas, usually accompanied by rain? (6)

TROPICS Defined area on Earth where the sun can be directly overhead? (7)

WINGONWING Sail formation used for downwind sailing? (4, 2, 4)

TRADEWINDS Recurrent weather pattern allowing sailors to reliably travel certain routes? (5, 5)

HEARTS The crew's favourite card game (Wam is still winning). (6)

NAUTICALMILE Unit of measurement used in marine navigation? (8, 4)

ORCA Only marine mammal to habitually prey on warm blooded creatures? (4)

RIGGING Steel cabling (formerly made of rope) used to hold a ship's mast in place. (7)

PWLLHELI Welsh town from which the crew and boat set off in August 2023? (8)

BEAMREACH Sailing position when wind is coming perpendicular to the sail. (4, 5)

WESTING Term used for making westward progress. (7)

SEXTANT Navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two objects. (7)

LEEWARD Term used to denote the side of the boat from which the wind isn't coming. (7)

FRUITCAKE Informal term for someone who's lost their mind, also the crew's favourite treat. (9)

ALBATROSS Albert Ross. (9)*

WAM Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (3)*

MANOVERBOARD Male divided by plank? (3, 9)*

LEFT Red port? (4)*

CANARIES The isles of dogs? (8)*

AMANDA Some fella says yes, in Russian. (6)*

GIMBAL Tolkien dwarf doesn't spill his drink. (6)*

NIKKI Lemon haired bukkit dunker. (5)*

CAPRICORN Ford car made of wheat. (9)*

RICHIE Sounds a bit like a biscuit? (6)*

WINDWARD Gusty Hospital location. (8)*

ROPE Called a sheet even though its a _? (4)*

MAHIMAHI Fish Fish. (4, 4)*

CAPEVERDE Item of clothing, coloured? (4, 5)*

DOLDRUMS Child's toy plays instrument. (8)*

STERN Strictly the back of the boat. (5)*

CANCER Eponymous crab line. (6)*

REDSKY Sailors' warning? (3, 3)*

GROTTYYACHTY Smelly sailor? (6, 6)*

CAPSIZE Hat measurement. (7)*

Richie's lifejacket auto inflated when he got a shower. We didn't know it was an auto inflator. 

Crew member cooking

One of our many delicious and varied meals

Day 21

About our boat. Mir is a 25 year old Nauticat 42 (42 foot long.) Built in Finland based on a traditional fishing boat design, it is one of the later designs made just before they went bust in the 90s. The previous owner had the boat immaculate. We have done some additions to make the boat suitable for living aboard and travelling long term. Graham has fitted 600ah of lithium batteries, a Victron Quattro inverter charger, 900w of solar panels, induction cooking, a water maker and a solar arch. The boat was commissioned by a German chap (Graham and I am are the 3rd owners) would you believe he had a sauna fitted which was replaced by the previous owner with a washing machine and tumble drier, which we find unbelievably convenient (no carrying bags of washing to launderettes that are miles away and closed). The pilot house aspect of the boat makes living aboard such a pleasure. At anchor you can see all around and watch the world go by. Doing overnighters if it is cold we navigate from below.  

We have 3 cabins, ours being the largest and it really is luxury, the other cabins can fit two adult in as long as they like each other :-) 2 heads (bathrooms for all you landlubbers) and a good size galley. 

The cockpit outside is more than comfortable for up to 6 people and we have a sugar scoop at the stern making it easy to dive off and get back onto the boat. She is set up as a sloop which means we have one mast and forestay.  We have one spare sail for the gib, not exactly the right size but would do in an emergency. 

Mir is our comfortable home and she is, right now, looking after us extremely well, we will continue to look after her too:-) 

349Nm to go...

Our trusty Spanish flag. What's left of it

Day 22

Good job we are getting to Barbados soon because Richie and Nikki are eating everything in sight :-) Can't believe how much they eat!!! The new thing is porridge in the morning made with water as there is no milk left and putting Nutella in it. I had to have a go of course and it was rather delicious :-) We are getting through the tinned fruit too, and have one cooked frozen meal left and some fish in the freezer.  We do still have cheese though! 

Every morning after our breakfast Nikki and me go and sit outside to get a few rays, after about an hour Richie and Graham come outside and insist on the bimini going up, as soon as they disappear we take it back down again :-) The battle of the Bimini has been going on since we set off. The Bimini will be permanently up once we get there!

The big waves we are surfing over sometimes break at the peak and splash the boat. They have got us a couple of times, totally soaking us! Now I sit and watch them nervously, ready to leap away if I think its going to break over the back of the boat, the amount of false alarms is hilarious!!! 

The boats clock is set to change with the longitude we are in and has been moving back an hour every week or so, this morning it moved back again and we are now on Bajan time, so 4hrs behind the UK.  It gets a bit confusing because we have the navigational equipment clocks set to local time and the other clocks on the boat set to UK time. Each morning we do our millage check (used to be 11.30am) and mark the chart but now we have to do it at 7.30am, we'd always make a thing of guessing the millage but no one is up at that time except for the person on watch. 

Still haven't seen another sailing boat but we know they are out there, sailing the same confused waves as us.  We also haven't seen a whale yet :-( only 2 more days of trying to spot one, come on Willy where are you?

Morning coffee and daily position fixing

Day 23

Second to last night at all hell breaks loose!!!

Mona (the autopilot) has a small quirk which only happens now and again, normally when we're least expecting it. She will start turning one way and does not stop until you take Mir off autopilot and steer yourself.  It's a little scary when it happens at night when you can't see the sea and what waves you may be turning into.

Well last night she stepped it up a notch.  Around 1am this happened while I was on watch. I quickly turned Mona off and pressed the button to use the wheel in the pilot house and started to steer us back on course.  When I was happy with the bearing I switched Mona back on. Then suddenly the boat was going in a completely different direction this happened about 3 times before I woke Wam up to ask for help.  What we then realised is Mona wasn't actually turning back on, OH NOOOOOO! MONA HAS DIED!!! If there was ever a time for the autopilot to break, only having 180 miles to go, isn't too bad to hand steer between four people, it could have been a lot worse.  BUT Graham had an amazing solution to this problem, something he's told people to do so often when their computer or phone is playing up (often with an expletive).  Nikki and I went outside to hand steer using the stars (Jupiter) to navigate whilst Graham did what every computer geek in the world does first: he turned it off and turned it on again! Guess what, when we turned it back on Mona was back with us :-) 

So the day was one of excitement and reflection, we should arrive sometime tomorrow early evening and while we can't wait for it there is something sad about the journey ending. But very much looking forward to a glass of champagne, a boat that's not rolling, and stepping foot on land. 

116Nm to go...

Day 24 and 25

The Eagle has landed...

Santa Cruz, Tenerife to Port St Charles Barbados - 3,010 nautical miles

Time taken - 24 days 10 hrs

Average miles per day -  123 nautical miles 

minimum daily mileage - 85 nautical miles 

maximum daily mileage - 143 nautical miles (Day 9)

Number of engine hours  - ZERO!

Number of alcoholic drinks consumed - 1 bottle of Cava (halfway)

Number of injuries - 1 broken toe, Mandy

Biggest swell - 4.5m

Maximum sustained wind speed - 32 knots

Maximum gust - 41 knots

Number of fish caught - 6 mahi mahi

Number of fish that got away - 3 (Big) Tuna

Winner of Cards (Hearts) - Mandy

Number of Hearts hands - 300

Wow, wow, wow, what an adventure we've had. We are elated and exhausted and well on our way to getting just a little bit drunk :-) Frustratingly we can't get ashore tonight as we need to log into customs and they are very inconveniently closed until tomorrow. So Nikki cooked up an amazing cupboard meal and now Richie is making rice pudding (still harking for sweet things). We would like to thank everyone who read, liked and commented on the blogs. The comments where a daily highlight and helped to keep up the moral onboard. It was awesome to have so many people behind us, wishing us well, so thankyou so, so much!!!

Here's to continuing Fair winds and following seas...