Time: 1550 UTC Position: 25° 12.840’N 017° 35.422’W Diary Entry We're under sail! I slept in this morning, after taking the 1100 to 0200 watch, to find us goose-winging the main and the code zero. The wind has been fickle with us, but we've been averaging around 4 knots almost all day. We lowered the … Continue reading Thursday 19th December
Tag: Sailor
Wednesday 18th December
Time: 1927 UTC Position: 26° 14.426'N 016° 35.26'W Diary Entry Very little wind today, which has meant a lot of motoring. With such calm conditions, Andrew and Neil took to the water maker again to try and improve its performance. It's been working excellently! It's enabled us to top up our water tanks and everything else … Continue reading Wednesday 18th December
Tuesday 17th December
Time: 1930 UTC Position: 27° 29.48'N 015° 37.062'W Diary Entry Day 1! It's finally here... I arrived in Gran Canaria on the 9th and, after a lot of prep to get the boat ready, we're finally at sea. LodeStar herself has been raring to go for a couple of days. Andrew (the skipper/owner) and I … Continue reading Tuesday 17th December
Sailing LodeStar
My last few hours in the Bajan sunshine are giving me some time to decompress from an extraordinary 56 days as crew on the Catamaran LodeStar; a 40 foot Lagoon. Her captain, Andrew, hails from South Africa and is on an epic adventure with his wife, Claudia, and two daughters, Erin and Bowdie. Having spent … Continue reading Sailing LodeStar
Stumbling back to Blighty
It's turned out to be a rather hectic return to the UK for me. What started with the realisation that I'd been rather silly turned into what I think I'll look back on as one of the most important and humbling experiences of my adulthood. The Plan The plan had been straightforward: take another sailing … Continue reading Stumbling back to Blighty
How do you sum up a season?
How do you sum up the highs, the lows, the trials and tribulations? It's been almost 6 months since I arrived in Lefkas. I'm headed back to the UK within the next week or so. I've finished my last charter of the season and am back on base until I fly home. I am therefore … Continue reading How do you sum up a season?
Taking a breath
Time to write is difficult to come by nowadays. This job has consumed me in a way that I've never experienced before. I live and breath it. The reason I have some time to write is that I'm currently sat in Athens airport in the dead of night waiting for my flight to Hamburg. I'm … Continue reading Taking a breath
Here Goes Nothing!
I don’t think it fully hit me until I was in the taxi taking us from Igoumenitsa to Lefkas. Looking out to sea, then back inland to the hills, I felt almost dazed! I’m actually going to be living here for the next 6 months. I’m actually employed as a sailor. I’m actually doing this. … Continue reading Here Goes Nothing!
A New Job
The countdown has begun, the contract is signed, the dates are in the calendar. I’m going to Greece! It’s crazy to think that, around about a year ago, I was sat in a bar in Hamburg with a friend answering the question: “What would you do if you weren’t an engineer?” With “I would go … Continue reading A New Job
RYA Yachtmaster Coastal
What is a Yachtmaster? The RYA has various levels of sailing qualifications that can be achieved, from sailing small dinghies to driving big motor cruisers. The qualification I needed to attain was Yachtmaster Coastal. There are three levels of Yachtmaster: Coastal, Offshore, and Ocean. Due to my lack of skippering miles logged, I was only … Continue reading RYA Yachtmaster Coastal