Introduction We are finally in the Caribbean and enjoying the tropical island life after 4 years in the Mediterranean. It is certainly a different way of life and definitely a much easier place to sit in your aft cockpit and enjoy a sundowner at anchor. Not to say we didn’t enjoy the Mediterranean but you […]
St Lucia and Rudder Damage Analysis Read More »
Communicating with the outside world When sailing offshore, passages require more than just a sim card with WIFI access to gather weather information and communicate with the outside world. In our case, we use IridiumGo and it’s satellite network for all communications including weather routing and predictions, sending and recieving emails and messages, keeping friends
Navigation Systems Onboard Paikea Read More »
In this post we sit down for a debrief of our 3000 nautical mile journey from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean. This discussion aims to give you an insight into what our journey was like – the good, the bad and the ugly. Paikea is far
Analysing our Atlantic Crossing – Canary Islands to the Caribbean Read More »
After losing our rudder 800nm from land, we were in a siltation where we needed to make some changes to both the boat and our plotted course if the wanted to make it comfortably to St Lucia. In our last post we talked about keeping the crew and boat safe in an emergency situation, now
How we sailed our catamaran with one rudder across the Atlantic Ocean. Read More »
What should you do if you lose your catamaran’s rudder while on passage? Rule number One – Don’t panic! Let’s face it, panic is not going to get your rudder back. Neither is it going to get you and your crew safely to shore. What you need is a solid plan that you as the
Losing a rudder in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean Read More »
One daggerboard down and 4th reef as we head towards the Caribbean. Does your catamaran have dagger boards? How do you set yours up for downwind sailing? In this video we talk a little about why we have the one dagger board down for a downwind kite ride across the Atlantic Ocean. Ocean crossing in
Downwind daggerboard and 4th reef setup for 20+ knots Read More »
Paikea is half way into our Atlantic Ocean crossing and we have a sailing lesson for you. We have solid solid trade winds of over 20kts and our mighty Catana catamaran loves the bluewater sailing conditions. The sea state has managed to clam down a little so now we are enjoying the downwind ride towards
Offshore sailing tutorial Read More »
Part 2 of our Atlantic journey. We are mid Atlantic on our modified Crowther catamaran. The ride so far has been fast and sometimes a bit fruity. We discover that the mainsail batten pockets are loading up too much as we placed them too close to the reefing points and have to repair with some
Mid Atlantic on a modified Crowther catamaran Read More »
The first in our Atlantic Ocean crossing series. A light airs start from Las Palmas following the Moroccan coastline proved interesting when we were approached by a Moroccan patrol boat. We suspect they were looking for smugglers (drugs/people) as they asked us to report to them if we saw any suspicious activity. As we are
Atlantic Crossing on a modified Catana42 Read More »
Oh, the joys of old boats. In this episode, we are in the midst of last minute preparations for an Atlantic crossing including replacing the bolts on our chainplates. We had noticed slight movement in the chainplate on the port side since Shayne had put a bead of sika flex around the deck join. We
Concerning chainplates and suspect bulkheads Read More »