Sailing and upgrading our performance catamaran, a Catana42s named Paikea
In this episode, we are on the hunt for storm-damaged boats. We have been told that a number of hurricane-damaged catamarans were taken to the marina on the north side of Antigua and that we may be able to salvage an old rudder to retrofit to Paikea as a replacement for the one we lost […]
Looking for Rudders Read More »
The very impressive Chris White designed Atlantic 72 competing in the world famous Antigua Sailing Week. Throw in 10 children and we have our hands full as we chase the Gunboat 68, Tosca, around the cans in the blue waters of the Caribbean. Antigua Sailing Week is a week-long yacht regatta held in the waters off
Antigua Sailing Week on a 72ft cat with 10 kids! Read More »
We have a Nemo brand jib furler on Paikea. It is the original one that came with the old mast. When we built our carbon rotating mast we retrofitted the existing stainless steel wire stays from our aluminum mast to our new rig. We did this for 2 reasons. the first being that we had
Servicing our Headstay Furler Read More »
A kid’s birthday party on the other side of Antigua and only 4 hours to get there? Not a problem for Paikea and her crew. It’s a typical day in the Caribbean with some fresh trade winds making our downhill ride from Green Island to Jolly Harbour an exciting one. With a top speed of
A wicked kite ride and a busted spinnaker Read More »
Introduction In this episode, we talk about sailing upwind in a catamaran. So why do catamarans have a reputation for sailing upwind so badly? Are daggerboards really necessary in order to reach some reasonable upwind angles? The good news is for those of you sporting a breed of cat that doesn’t have a couple of
How to sail UPWIND in your catamaran Read More »
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 »