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Winners Winners Chicken Dinners Whose have thought it, eh? We won first prize in our class in the Baja Haha rally, despite being a week late and having motored more time than we had sailed. In a typical sailing regatta, we would have been thrown out of the competition...

Plan for another plan if the first plan doesn't pan out Here's what we read on Active Captain before deciding to head to Port San Luis: "This is wonderful anchorage..." "We spent a week here relaxing..." "... definitely a welcome harbour in very windy...

What rhymes with tanker?  Someone needs to go back to commercial vessel driving school. As we passed underneath the Bay Bridge, a cargo ship, whose AIS vector showed that he was passing to our stern, decided he wasn't going to pass behind us anymore. He changed course...

What do you do with a month in Alameda? Install Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries, that's what. It took a long time to plan, but they are in, and the old lead-acid batteries are out. The previous Trojan batteries may have a good reputation, but we never liked them. It...

It could have been worse "There is no hurricane coming, but it will be very windy in Spain." I think Michael Fish, the weatherman, said on television before the October 1987 storm.  The forecast models predicted maximum wind speeds of 22 knots approaching Cape...

Escape to America Although we enjoyed spending time with our new grandson, older grandsons, daughters, and even older family and friends (although we would have liked to have seen more - but Covid, you know), and we appreciated seeing places we hadn't previously...

Doing time Despite 24 days quarantine spent in hotel rooms, the last three months has gone quicker than a line of coke up John Belushi's nostrils. Maria and I are at the tail end of another isolation period, this time in a Basingstoke hotel where we, too, are sticking...

Luggage lugging in paradise The next phase of hard labour started when we arrived in Nuku Hiva: we needed to get the stuff we wanted to keep off the boat, stored away and shipped to the US. For that, we enlisted the help of Kevin at Nuku Hiva Yacht Services. Not only...

It's been a bit full-on Here's a summary of what we've been up to In the last two months: We bought a new boat Sold our existing one Sailed 500 nautical miles from the Tuamotus to the Marquesas Hauled Lady Jane out to polish the hull and service the propeller Emptied...

Leaving Fakarava We eventually detached ourselves from our mooring at Pakokota after almost 3 months of paddleboarding, walking, waiting, snorkelling, boat buying and socialising - then headed to Rotoava in the north of Fakarava. Here, we heaved our accumulated...