Spirit of Diana - Atlantic Adventure 2009

The Wisdom of Oz !

2009-11-17T13:29:00.002Z

So, nearly there. The thunderstorms finally caught up with us in the middle of the night, boat speed sometimes 15kn, rain, lightning,sail change, but really nothing special.Only 17sm to go, and the celebrations can start: Champagne, beer, whatever, and most likely all afternoon , evening, and night. Let's deal with the consequences tomorrow.

So what is the conclusion of all of this, if there is one ?

Well, it depends most likely on each of the individuals here on board. But there is a broader scheme that I would like to point out to the reader. Because one has to ask oneself what makes people not knowing each other joining a boat of very confined space, only bunk beds, a 'fire place' , ie gas stove, and storage only left for food and the sails - if you brought more clothes than you were wearing on arrival, that is your own fault. The answer I believe is that all of us seeked the experience. We never came to win the race ( we will be third, I guess), but we came to see what we are made of. And what an experience it was. We learnt again basics. Not only to clean the toilets, cook for 11 others, do the washing up, but also basics on humanity. We realised again the need to give space to others, whilst demanding the team effort and disciplin from everyone. Because this kind of boat you can only sail as a team. So selfishness does not bring you far, but with the right spirit, people can work together to achieve great things - whatever we might choose.
The other experience was fun. So much fun we had, down to the point of sillyness. There is a saying that people who sing are good people. I don.t know whether we are good or not, but we sang. Well ,we started slowly, but by now Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heartsclub Band and all its other songs we could sing as a choir. The best and all time favourite however remains 'The wheel on the bus go......', and if you meet a person in the street humming this song, he or she might possible be from our boat Diana.
So if I would ever do this trip again, and needed a crew, I know now plenty of people I would not hesitate to ask joining me. Because we might have lost the race, but we have gained many new friends. What is more important? I leave that to the reader to dwell upon.
Dr.Detlef Munchow
alias
Master Mike
alias
Michele di Venezia
Adventure Seeker and Sailor
Interpretor of Oz

Stop the presses

2009-11-17T13:28:00.000Z

At 23:44 yesterday evening the skipper not only found the kettle, he actually put it on and made a brew! Why is this so odd? We have been on board the boat since 1 October and it is the first time it has happened!

This down wind sailing malarky is a bit of a breeze - we have got this gybing stuff well and truly sorted out and we can now do it under 60 minutes, if we really concentrate, and this includes stopping half way through for a brew! We got the idea after seeing steam coming out of the skippers ears ie steam equals tea!

This was really put to the test tonight when a huge squall came through (apparently- as the authors of this blog were safely tucked up in their respective bunks) and the guys on deck had wind, rain, skipper's shouted commands to get the spinnaker down, get the foresail poled out and put up the staysail (the sail between the mainsail and the foresail) all in about 20 minutes - as the guys wanted to get off deck by the end of their watch, and decided to forego their brew. However, all the crew had to help pack away the wet spinnaker which meant that by the end we were all wet.

We are now nearing Barbados and looking forward to the first case of cold beer - each. We have champagne in the fridge and would you Adam and Eve it the fridge has packed in - so only semi cold champagne to look forward to We rufty tufty sailors have a really tough life.

Morale is high and our mental state is good. We sing " the wheels on the bus go round and round" with the hand actions, obviously. We hear the skipper saying "muppets" under his breath - he may need counselling when we get to Bardados - but it won't be anything we have done. But one sign is him at the pointy end of the boat (does anyone know what it is called?) first staring into the water and then taking photos of it What is that all about?

All in all we think we have been a brilliantly efficient crew- quite capable of sailing in all sorts of conditions. As long, of course, that Duggie, Julian and Rory (the 3 proffesionals) are there to yell at us which bit of blue rope to pull in or let out!

On a serious note - on behalf of everyone who has sailed on Diana on this epic adventure - we give our heartfelt thanks to Duggie, Julian and Rory for looking after us, making the trip such a pleasure and getting to Barbados(or at least, 50 miles away) safely.

Finally - hi to all the crew who have been on the previous bits of the trip. We still talk about you and the various incidents! We hope that you have enjoyed these blogs.

Hope all is well for everyone at home and for Juno, Minerva and Isis.

Jim and Rowena

"It feels like December 23rd"

2009-11-16T15:27:00.001Z

That was how Julian described the mood on the boat today. The big celebration is there on the horizon but it is still too soon to get too excited about it. One major problem was solved today though - now we have finished all the fresh food there is space in the fridge for the champagne! (Don't worry, there is still food should the wind die down, but it would be pasta and rice from here on in.)

Talking of fresh food, we had corned beef hash today, made with the last of the potatoes. It was surprisingly good, considering how it looked and the comments people made when handed their plates. Mike explained it to us. "This is the secret of my success. I know how to turn s**t into gold".

There has been a turnaround in the long-runing "paper,scissors,stone" compeition between Mike and Giles. Mike had a long running streak today and Giles is now two behind in the series with only a couple of days to go. Nail biting stuff.

Perhaps more nail biting than Diana's position in the race, where we are consistently holding third place. Our consistency might well have paid off in the longer run since we still have all our equipment intact, wheras one more accident on any of the other boats and they would have problems patching things up again. (You have to admire Juno for keeping up as well as they are without a spinnaker, managing to sail with their enormous "number one" jib poled out.) Anyway, there are still a few hundred miles to go so things could change. In the end it would be nice if all the boats can get in on the same day, which might just be possible as it stands.

The dolphins, turtles and aeroplanes continue to be elusive (ie we have not seen any yet). We do get seabirds though. Today we were entertained by three gannets fishing around the boat. Often it is only a single bird that circles the boat, perhaps just to break the monotony of its own long journey across the ocean.

I am off to take a turn on the helm. Goodbye for now, from Phil and the crew of Diana.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEENIA !

2009-11-15T15:54:00.001Z

The usual reader of Diana's Blogs might forgive me sending a rather personal note to my daughter, but there is also a message for all of you .

Dear Zeenia,
first, all the best and lots of love for your 8th birthday. Unfortunately I can't spend this happy moment with you today, but we will celebrate it on my return at Mr Chow, your favourite chinese restaurant.

As a result I can't give you a birthday present today either, which I know you had wished for. But I can assure you that there are children out there in this world, who are materially much worse off than you are, but who nevertheless are joyfull, laugh, and are even in their own way happy.

Some of us visited , organised by Ondeck, the Albert Moreaas school on San Antao, Cape Verde. It is the private initiative of a single man.

Many of the pupils have only one dress, one shirt, and some have 'Flip Flop' shoes, whilst others are barefoot. Many walk for miles every day to and from school to what they call 'home' : A hut in the middle of a rather deserted island, no windows, no door, but washing hanging outside. According to some sources, in the year 1982 more than 80% of the population on this island were illiterate, today roughly 72% of all children visit a secondary school. And that has been achieved by people who have collected money for this and other schools. It takes only 20 Euro! to have a place for one child for one year at school, and that includes a warm meal - probably the only one per day they get.

I have therefore contributed some money on your behalf into the collection box we organised for the school, and which we handed over to the head teacher. This I did instead of buying you a present, and I know you support this gesture. I will show you some pictures from the school, and maybe you can discuss this in your own school, and decide whether you want to continue helping them or not.

And so I believe there are on this your special day at least three people in this world happy : One child in Cape Verde, because he or she can go to school , you, because it is your birthday, and me , because I happen to be your very proud father.

With all my love, Papa. I miss you.

Tom Dangles from the Pole

2009-11-14T17:48:00.001Z

After winning the mid-Atlantic quiz at the halfway party on Thursday, Tom was given the unique oppotunity to go up the pole to admire the view and take a photo of us all. And so, around Friday lunchtime he was stood on the foredeck, attached to a harness and winched up the down-haul until he was suspended somewhere off the side of the boat, around 20ft above the water as we sped along at 8kts. Somehow he even remembered to take the photo and managed not to look too terrified! The photos we took from the boat are pretty good as well.

Last night was one of the busier nights as we had to jibe at around 11 o'clock at night. We took this opportunity to bring forward a planned lowering of the spinnaker from lunchtime today to the middle of the night. And so the early hours were spent repacking and wooling the spinaker before putting it back up again a few hours later. Although a few of us lost some sleep during this time, I think we are mostly agreed that doing this at night was probably preferable to doing it in the middle of the day, especially as today is one of the hottest yet.

However all of this was almost done in vain as we were hit by a squall in the early hours which brought torrential rain and fairly strong winds, but fortunately this passed fairly quickly before it was neccessary to bring the spinaker down again.

It was a bad night for Watch 1, who lost sleep in the middle of the night and then got rain on in the early hours.

Overall it has been an interesting night, however the sun is now up and it is a beautiful day.

Only three more days to Barbados!

Giles

We passed the half way point at lunchtime

2009-11-13T14:53:00.001Z

and celebrated with a cake (thanks to Ro for making it, not easy on board) and a dry party.

A special mention to all the people on the previous legs now we are passed half way and we are happy to report the saillng is much easier with shorts and T shirts replacing the oliskins and boots of the Biscay legs.

The day started well with the thought of getting below 1,000 miles to go but then one of the toilets broke down and Rory spent over 5 hours taking it apart and repairing it for which we are all eternaly grateful - a big thank you to Rory. Prizes from the half way party were a night watch off for Chris (me) who won the sweepstake on the time to reach half way and I can report that its a fantastic prize and despite numerous offers of beer in exchange I have decided to keep it for myself with a 12 hour break rather than the usual 4.

Tom won the quiz and is going out on the spinnaker pole to take photo's. Now we have been at sea for a few days the level of humour has dropped to school boy at best to the point were sleeping on deck risks the aquisition of a marker pen tatoo as Phil discovered earlier today. We have also been doing some gybing with the spinnaker up.

This involes most of the crew and I dont fully understand everything that happens but I focus on 5 ropes 3 winches letting some out, releasing others and winding in the rest if the skipper starts swearing as well as shouting then we go faster and the process is complete when he stops shouting and starts nodding, the deck is covered in rope, everyone is gasping for breath and the boat is facing in a slightly different direction. Finally the skipper asks "OK any questions" and we cant think of any, so its finished until the next one.

Thoughts with everyone at home now its downhill to the finish and special thanks to Lauren and Amy for their text message - see you soon.

Chris and all the Diana crew.

The 'day' began ...

2009-11-12T08:12:00.001Z

... with serious concern about squalls particularly after poor Juno's encounter with one, so for hours in the middle of the night Duggie skipper and Julian first mate were rushing up and down from the commanders cubby hole checking how the squalls approaching us looked on the radar.

Thank goodness this can see rain clouds and there was a vicious looking one at a mile or so away from us for some time. There was endless discussion about whether we should drop our spinnaker in anticipation. Meanwhile the crew were on tenterhooks sitting in the cockpit with adrenalin rushing around our systems at an exhausting rate. We each had our allocated place by the rope for which we were responsible in the dropping routine.

Our chosen routine is the 'letter box drop' which involves the deflated spinnaker being pulled through the gap between the mainsail and the boom; the red rope which controls this is now not unnaturally called the post office rope. Anyway the vicious looking squall turned out to be a little rain with no dramatic wind so the spinnaker stayed put. Much as we would have liked to put our much verbally rehearsed skills into action, on balance having the spinnaker still set and in tact was the best outcome.

Today has been a washing day with various clothes emerging from the washing bucket to festoon the guardwires. Clearly we are all getting ready for our halfway party to be held when we have only 1000 miles left to go to Barbados, which we hope will be tomorrow afternoon.

Cakes are being planned and rumour has it that there may be a bottle of bubbly secreted on board for this occasion !

Otherwise it has been a fairly quiet day with a little less wind than we like - it would only take a little more for the boat to be surfing down the swells but we can't complain - lovely sunshine, a few flying fish to watch and even the odd Shearwater skimming the wave tops. We hope the dolphins will remember about us tomorrow, or a whale or turtle would do....

Tom

Skipper's 'scottitch' !

2009-11-11T16:05:00.001Z

It is the fourth day at sea now, and life on board is being controlled by a strict watch system, which we on Diana have settled into again quickly. After all, most of us have been 'living' together since Porto, which I believe helps. And the new arrival Phil has been integrated quickly, no problems here.

The wind is steady and calm, so that we make our trip over the atlantic in what seems to us to be slow motion: Between 6.5kn to 9.5kn, day and night, watch after watch. So next to the routine you might say some kind of boredom settles in as well.

Now if this applies to the crew it is ok. We have plenty of books, play 'I spy with my eyes ....' or 'I am guess who...' etc, so self-entertainent is on high ground. Also the jokes become sharper, and discussions about the sex life of the jellyfish more profound by each mile we cover.

Unfortunately this happy life is disturbed once in a while when the skipper gets bored. Now this is dangerous, because all 'hell brakes loose'. It usually starts slowly, like an itch. Our skipper trembles his legs whilst sitting on a sail. This is a first sign to volunteer for kitchen duty, as long as you get out of his way. Then the next step is him playing with the sheets, of which we have plenty : Mainsail, Forsail No 3 and Spinnaker. Of course after 5-10 minutes they are all back in the same position as before. But this only increses the aggrevation of the skipper, and by now everybody is nervous and on full alert of what might come next : And then destinity strikes : Clear for jibing !

From here onwards personal 'survial' comes down to the interpretation of our skippers scottish accent. As this is an operation that during day time might take 10-15 min if everything works well it is so much better doing this during the night - like yesterday. So all in all it took us the first time 40 min with all the safety measures in place, and talking through each step first. After one hour or so, the itch was back , so have a guess : Another jibe , all back to square one. This time it took 'only' 25 min. Aren't we clever. And we learn scottish !

Now comes the good news. Once in a while the skipper needs some sleep however for how long nobody knows. He goes to sleep, so we can get on with our watch system and silly games. Wouldn't life be fantastic without a skipper ? But then.........we would miss 'your scottitch' Duggie !

Mike (Detlef)

PS : Zeenchen , am 16. Nov. hier auf dieser web page !!!!

Day three in the big brother house...

2009-11-10T11:15:00.001Z

and Yacht Diana crew have enjoyed a shower, banana cake, banana flambe, no direct hits from the very smelly flying fish, and most crew are recovered from the mystery bug.

With two spinnaker gybes in as many hours this evening, after no sail changes during daylight hours, we are now vaguely competent at night gybes, but who knows what we'll be like when we're asked to add the complication of sight to the equation.

First Mate, Julian, has just popped into the chart room where I am blogging to check on track, which is 271 degrees, and position, N16 26, W033 56, to see if the last gybe had worked, and left saying we might be gybing again!

We had our first clock change today - back an hour, which will probably happen every two days as we cross time zones. In theory a well excuted clock change means we benefit from dinner together at sunset, but like gybing, we need a little more practice to get our timing right on that one.

Although the day has seen light winds, we are now picking up a little more from the clouds that have accumulated since sun down, and we are sailing a good/direct rum line course with a quarter of our journey already done - the Atlantic feels very big when you see how little is eaten up on the chart each day, then all of a sudden a few days pass and we knock off 25% of the journey.

For those interested, we have about 5,000m of water below us, and are benefitting from about a knot of current from the North Equatoral Current, wind F3, sea state slight, visibility bugger all (it's night, and the moon is hiding behind clouds), still seeing birds fishing.

Enjoying spotting planets including Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. As well as playing with a great iphone app called Personal Universe, which uses motion and GPS to tell you exactly what you're looking at...v cool.

Off to finish the final hour of the early night watch of 11pm to 3am before heading to bed to get a little sleep before we're back on at 7am to catch a glipse of Venus rising before the sun gets a hold on the day.

Nicky and the crew from Diana

Hi all family & friends

2009-11-09T10:33:00.001Z

Today's blog starts with a thought that flying fish are so "yesterday". We have now seen hundreds - so the novelty value has worn off! Our main hope is that they stop bombarding the boat as we have to pick them up and throw them back into the sea. To be frank - they smell even worse than we do after 2 days at sea without a shower. A few dolphins and whales are on our wish list.

On the smell point, skipper Duggie has promised us a shower in the next couple of days - he must be in a good mood. Probably because we managed to put the spinnaker up without making too much of a mess of it and it is still flying, without any wraps around the forestay or any holes appearing in the sail. However the wind is so light now we are only managing about 4 - 5 knots - so the likelihood is that we will be in Barbados in time for Christmas 2010! Will anyone reading this blog please pray for wind.

We did have a short squall a little while ago with a blast of high wind and enough rain to get wet, but not enough for a quick shampoo and soap. So I am writing this with wet trousers until the end of the watch.

Other news? We did a "deep clean" at 3.30 am last night as a couple of the crew developed a bit of a bug. I will not go into too much detail - suffice to say that the 3 people affected were limited to the starboard head, whilst the rest of us used the port head. It does seem that it was a 36 hour problem and they all seem to be nearly over it. The good news is that the clean seems to have worked and whatever it was has not spread to the rest of us.

Our new crew member, Phil, ignored all advice to get some sleep on his first night at sea - because he was so interested in the stars and the sailing, However, by mid-day he was fast asleep on the foredeck, safely harnessed on. Only the call to lunch was enough to wake him.

One consequence of the current low boat speed is that we have resorted to I-Spy to keep us awake in the 4 hour night watches. Unfortunately, our brains have gone so soft that when Chris "spied" the letter "m" he had to tell us that the answer was"mast". We have obviously been staring at it for far too long!

All for now - as I have to go and change into dry kit.

Rowena

And they're off!

2009-11-08T13:26:00.001Z

The transatlantic leg is under way with all four boats having some exciting tacking in the confines of Mindelo harbour as we jockeyed for position at the start line.

We had a great turnout from the locals to see the boats off, including some children from the local school who enthusiastically cheered us as we cast off.

The start was hotly contested to the extent that we had to dump our mainsail to narrowly avoid Isis, who seemed to have got their ports and starboards confused a one point.

Anyway all are safely off and at the current time (2:45 am) we are in third place, but gradually overhauling Minerva who are about a mile ahead.

Once out of the harbour, skipper Duggie issued the classic order "Due west for 2000 miles" at which point everyone quitened down as we contemplated the rather large expanse of water ahead.

I am the new guy on board so I got fingered to write todays blog. Fortunately I was assigned the boat with the best bunch of people aboard and they made me feel instantly at home. It may be the wee small hours but it is still fun sitting and chatting under the stars. Although the flying fish are targeting Giles, so perhaps he is not having so much fun!

Finally, on a personal note, my love to Andrea. I hope the rest of the holiday in Cape Verde was fun.

Phil and the crew of Diana

Short blog this time because

2009-11-02T13:04:00.000Z

we have arrived in Cape Verde at last and have an overwhelming desire to dive into the showers after a week of wet wipes, and then head to the local marina bar for some cold beers (not necessarily in that order - but you all knew that didn't you).

Maderia to Cape Verde, 1105 miles, 6 days, 3 hrs. Leg 2 complete. Six sunny days, F1 flat calm to F7 surfing rather large waves and we've loved it!

Yesterday our skipper's very impessive boat speed record was smashed by none other than our star helmsman, Ian, who clocked up 14.8kts after surfing a succession of cool waves (basically we are now on a 65ft long board), and importantly was on course all the way on 215 degrees...if you need a job doing well...get Ian on the helm. Jiles was very excited to clock up 15.1kts shortly after but it was off course, much to his disappointment. Ian is now gloating at every opportunity!

Here's to an on-land adventure on Sao Vicente, Cape Verde. Next blog likely to be when we kick off on the big one; leg 3.

Everyone very excited to contact you all soon, so bye for now and "cheers" from the Diana crew.

And from me, a special mension to Josh, Harrison and Evie, my nephews and niece who are watching this blog avidly...the dolfins and flying fish are cool, waves huge, and we might even get to see whales on the next leg, Lots of love, Auntie Nicky x

Hi to all our family and friends back home.

2009-11-01T10:24:00.001Z

Firstly to say that we are all fit and well, apart from a few bumps & bruises which are to be expected from life at sea. The main cause of bumps and a few curses is a rope across the companionway which keeps the staysail from "backing" Now, we all know the rope is there but that has not stopped each of us from headbutting it when we come up on deck! So far Jim has hit it hardest and I am sure his friends can accurately imagine his comments.

We are still sailing with a main sail, a foresail and a staysail - the latter is between the other 2 sails. The wind is basically just behind us and we have some large rolling waves. This makes for some very fast sailing and there is now a competition between the helmsmen (all of us take a turn) to see who can clock the highest speed. However it is not good enough to be fast - it also has to be in the right direction. So surfing down the waves but not on course does not count. Inevitably, perhaps,, the current record holder is our skipper, Dougie, who clocked just over 14 knots - and believe me that is fast.

The other highlight has been the appearance of flying fish. The first made its appearance last night at the feet of Giles, who was helming at the time.He says that he now knows that he can dance as he hopped around the deck whilst Nikki picked the poor fish up and threw it back over the side. During the day we have seen shoales of perhaps 50 and over flying out and over the waves - they really do look like they are flying as they change direction in the air and drop back into the sea. Obviously our thoughts turned to food - does anyone know if flying fish are edible?

Last night we continued our astronomy "school". With the aid of Mikes book on astronomy (in Portugese which none of us speak) and first mate, Julian's Iphone astro application,we have been identifying and trying to remember various stars and constellations. I now know where Castor & Polliks are.

We are trucking along at an average over 8 knots and anticipate reaching Cape Verde Sunday evening. So expect a flurry of phone calls to those at home - but only after the first 2 beers have gone down, obviously

Staying safe and having fun

Rowena

Is been a fairly eventful 24 hours aboard Diana.

2009-10-31T07:48:00.000Z

Yesterday we got the spinaker up for the first time which gave us an extra couple of knots, but sadly at around 12 this afternoon a hole was discovered and it had to be taken down. However we are still making good speed, around 8-10knots, and should reach St. Vincent in a couple of days.

Late this afternoon we were joined by a huge pod of dolphins, many of which were swarming around the front of the boat, while others further off were jumping right out of the water. It was a fantastic sight and they followed us for around half an hour.

This evening was a bit of a treat as we had a huge meal of spagetti bolognese followed by a very tasty apple crumble mde by Duggie the skipper. Overnight it has been reasonably quiet, however there was a brief attack of flying fish, with two landing on the deck and we have been enjoying surfing down the waves. Overall morale is high, the weather has been beautiful and the sailing superb.

Giles

P.S. Happy birthday Chloe for a couple of days ago, from 300 miles off the coast of Africa!

Wednesday was fairly uneventful

2009-10-29T09:44:00.001Z

with a mixture of lovely sailing (still close hauled!) and lots more motoring - the wind was quite fickle even when sailing, with sneaky shifts to keep the helmsman on his/her toes. The day was spent passing the north side of the spectacular Tenerife and then leaving Gomera to port and Hierro to starboard.

The views of Gomera in the evening were stunning, with a particularly beautiful sunset.

Notable events during the day were seeing a plane overhead - this had a red tail so Nicky is quite clear it was Virgin; we also saw a large container ship and a yachts going the opposite way. We had 2-3 dolphins playing under the bow for a few minutes - sadly Rory missed these but others rushed forward for a few moments wondering at these fabulous creatures (Mike tried a photo - not sure if he was successful).

Also wondered how the killer whale is faring now he/she is back home on Isis; perhaps he/she would like to spend some time in cruising class with Diana and will perhaps see if we can arrange this.

Does anyone have a book on Atlantic sea birds ? - I can't identify the ones we are seeing. Until tomorrow and the next hapless victim...

Tom
distance to go: 700Nm

The new team members are settling into the routine well.

2009-10-28T08:24:00.001Z

This morning we were greeted by big lazy rolling waves but not much wind so we had to motor sail for a while but it picked up this afternoon and we were able to turn the engine off which certainly makes it easier to sleep without the noise.

My first night watch last night with great views of the night sky with far more stars visible than from home. We had to winch Julian to the top of the mast to change a bulb and get the tricolour light working for tonight, he is heavier than he looks. A quick sail change this afternoon with one sail down and the other back up again to help us get round a squal and to better winds and with our dinner served at the same time.

880 mile to run to Cape Verde and we should start to go round the Canary islands tomorrow.

Love to everyone back home especially Lauren & Amy.

Chris and the rest of the Diana crew

After a few days in lovely Madeira

2009-10-27T10:37:00.001Z

great hospitality from the local (and very impressive) yacht club, and one or two beers and bottles of wine too many, the Spirit of Diana team leave port with high expectations of the passage ahead kicking off with an exciting race around the cans with close call tacking on the first mark and a nice gesture by Ondeck to sail past our very generous host yacht club before bearing away and heading South.

The highlight in Madeira for many of us was the chaotic morning with tens of 12-14 year old kids coming out for a relaxed sail from the host club, or so we thought. Meanwhile, within 10 minutes we'd lost control of the boat and the kids were helming and trimming their way closer and closer to the other yachts - close enough to throw the water bombs (that materialised from nowhere) at the 'enemy'. Very funny, wet and entertaining - great kids and a good boat induction for the new crew.

We sadly leave yacht Juno behind who are waiting on some parts before setting sail, hopefully only 24hrs behind us. Big hugs and kisses to Juno from the Diana team.

A few crew changes on Diana to note with Selina leaving from leg 1, and Chris and myself joining at Madeira for legs 2 and 3.

Weather: sunny, F4 decreasing, speed 6.2kts decreasing too, course 178 degrees. Expecting to pass the Canary Islands to port in a couple of days (skipper Duggie holding off decision until we're a little closer...tactics...), then straight down to Cape Verde!

Leg 2 is approx 1050 miles, and we've covered a whole 6.7 miles of that, and already Rory is opening his v cheap cigarettes saying in the same breath that he needs to give up "cause it's too hot to smoke in Antigua", and Tom announcing to the 'dry' (no alcohol) boat that he has a stash of mini bottles of Maderia and a bottle of port on board! I'll take this as my mission to find and steal said drinks before the night is over.

Watch system has been briefed and all are very excited that it is entirely based around snoring patterns. Guilty parties include: Jim, Tom, Giles, in no particular order, however, Mike has finally lost his sense of humour about Tom's snoring, which appears to be directly related to the booze he is consuming - another motivation for the seek and consume alcohol mission this evening ;-)

Everyone on board sends their love to family and friends - we're all well, happy, and having a great adventure x

Blog by Nicky Flook (with contributions from all, including those not mensioned above but who were every keen to contribute to the blog content: Rowena, Ian, and Julian - First Mate)

What a fantastic world this is.

2009-10-19T20:52:00.000+01:00

It came from the East, travelling over the northern sky in a NNW direction. Watch 1 reported it first time at 20-30h on the evening of Sunday 19th Oct. 2009. It was first a collection of diffused lights, like a swarm of mosquitos, surrounded by 2 fast and vast expanding circles of light, getting all stronger and stronger the closer it got. When passing north of us, one could clearly see a sharp light at the front end, like a spear, followed by a tale of exploding lights : The tale of a comet !!!!!!!!!!!!!! it disappeared with enormous speed in a NW direction, where it continued to glow for quite some time. Now we have no idea about its name, so if any reader of this blog has got a clue, let us know.

Last thought : How might people have reacted to this 2000 or more years ago. Scared ? Delighted ? A sign from the gods? Who knows, so let's be happy that we know what it is.

Mike

PS Darius halt die Ohren steif

Greetings from Diana

2009-10-15T07:44:00.001+01:00

Ships log 17:30 BST Wednesday 14th October 2009 off Figueira da Foz on the West coast of Portugal.

Welcome to the first bulletin from this leg of our journey from Porto to Madeira.

Let me set the scene for you. There are 12 of us on board, led by our skipper Duggie, 9 male and 3 female with ages ranging from (I'd say) 25 to 65 years old..

Those who had not been on the Portsmouth to Porto leg joined ship on Monday after an easy transfer from the airport. We are a mixed crew, experienced sailors to complete novices but, thanks no doubt to an early bar session before supper that evening, we bonded immediately.

On Tuesday morning it was time to try out the crew. Some were a little apprehensive as we sailed out of the harbour into Force 7 conditions. But we needn't have worried, a boat this large handles the situation with ease.

Soon we were back for a debriefing and lunch.That afternoon, Ondeck's Stokey Woodall - trip organiser and meteologist extraordiniaire, had laid on a visit to Porto for us and the other three boats. It started with a tour of a local port producer (what else), followed by a conducted tour of the 6 bridges of the River Douro. One of which was designed by none other than one M. Eiffel.

Supper that evening was in town followed by an early night as we had a 7:00 start, or would have if local port procedures meant that our departure papers were not signed until 10:00.

We sailed out on our 160 mile trip to Cascais (Lisbon) with some excitement to find, as we passed the harbour wall, ............ no wind.

Not great for a sailing boat. So on went the engine and here we are some 7 and a half hours later doing 7 knots with the iron sail, and nothing to do - except write up the first blog for you.

More tomorrow,

Roger

Evans family & friends

2009-10-06T21:29:00.002+01:00

Day 5 awoke to 7 o'clock watch call to welcome the dawn rising off the Spanish main Aarggh! - beautiful sun and Galacian mountains, Good Morning?Yes!

First shift mix of showers and beautiful sunny day, helming at 8-9 knots beats being in the office. Cooked a lunch of fresh baguette,fried brie and salami. All that was missing was a cold beer and the family.

Off for some well earned rest - speak soon

Chris Evans

Hello from Diana

2009-10-05T22:02:00.002+01:00

Hi to all our family and friends back home.

First few days settling in generally and getting into the watch system.

We have a good varied meal plan - but appetites have been a bit lacking due to getting used to the conditions - however everyone is settling down now!

We are headed south down the Bay of Biscay to avoid the bad weather. This afternoon the sun came out and the deck was full of happy smiling crew, drying their oilskins and other bits of kit.

As usual with these types of boat, space for storage is at a premium so novel ways are found. Up in the forepeak, where I have my bunk, there ar 2 hammocks with fruit and veg!

I must interrupt my flow to say that I have just seen Rory, 2nd mate, sliding past on his backside holding a bowl of food - until he found a locker to come to rest so he could eat.

All for now - we are keeping safe and enjoying the challenge

All for now

Rowena