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Another lesson learnt - keep out of the way of the gear lever if engine still on!

Time to head back to Kilada. We decided we would drop into the bay at the far end of the island, next to the one we had called in on our way out. Also, we thought we would try getting the sails out again, although there was hardly a breath of wind in the air. Well, the main sail was unfurled, speed down to just over 2 knots, it was quickly furled up again, and the speed went up to 5 knots under engine power. The bay was deserted save for an elderly man in a rowing boat putting out a fishing net. We dropped the bow anchor, took bearings and decided it was holding. Time to put the swimming trunks on and go for a swim. Daniel and I went in first while Helen stayed on the boat. After a while I climbed back on board and Helen took to the tender for a row around the bay. All of a sudden I noticed that we were going round in circles! Were we dragging the anchor? I throw out the kedge anchor off the stern and tried to cleat it securely. Don’t panic! A check of the gear level indicates that I must have knocked it out of neutral into forward causing the yacht to swing on the chain. Another lesson learnt; either pass the binnacle on the port side or, better still, switch off the engine…… Everyone back on board we motored back to Kilada. Once in the bay we identified where we were going to moor up and this time, Daniel at the helm, we went straight on to it with no problems. For some reason, I can’t remember why, but the tender was back on the deck and the outboard on the stern guard rail. We needed to get the tender into the water so that we had some way of going to shore. Tender at the ready we started to lower the outboard on to the transom. Oh dear, something had dropped off the outboard plate and into the water. Another time to get the scuba diving gear on, but it could wait until the following day. We all got into the tender and went off to use the facilities at the boatyard. Back on board and, yes you’ve guessed it, more beers and supper.

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The circumnavigation.

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My journey started in June 2018 when I left Preveza, Greece, in my Bavaria37C, a monohull bound for Gibraltar. I had decided to cross the Atlantic with the ARC and had declared that Gibraltar would be my stepping point in order to prepare the boat for this passage. I had ordered a Hydrovane self steering mechanism to complement my autopilot. I also ordered a water maker as I thought that with four crew on board and only holding 300 litres of water, I would need to make some during the trip. The person I had asked to carry out this work was, let’s say, rather slow, cut corners and, to be honest, never finished the work. An ongoing project between Gibraltar and Cape Verde. From Cape Verde we sailed with the ARC to St. Lucia. The boat was left on the hard in St. Lucia over the winter of 2018 before I sailed her back to Greece in 2019. At that point I knew I wanted to go further but needed to think about the type of boat required to sail round the world. At this point I decided that a catamaran would be the best type of boat for this passage so sold my Bavaria and bought a Lagoon 380 S2. The boat was based in St Martin so it was sailed from there down to Trinidad in May / June 2022. It was left there for quite a bit of work to be carried out before setting off again in January / February 2023. Leaving Trinidad to head through the Panama Canal across the Pacific I left my last crew member in Bora Bora. From there I sailed solo up to Sri Lanka where the boat was left once more over winter. In January 2024 I will return to Sri Lanka to complete the last leg of the circumnavigation, heading up the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal and back into the Mediterranean. All of the daily blogs have been written and placed on my website.

The legs

Greece to St. Lucia via Gibraltar, Gran Canaria and Cape Verde.

St Martin to Trinidad.

Trinidad to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka to Greece.

Change of Boats

In order to complete the circumnavigation I had decided that a 'larger' boat was needed. Not necessarily in length but wider, a catamaran. Also my old boat only had one heads (toilet) and a second was required. So, from a monohull, a Bavaria 37 Cruiser a Lagoon 380 S2 was bought.

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