Bermuda appeared on the horizon on the morning of Wednesday 10th June, a welcome sight after six thousand miles of ocean. Unfortunately the weather was a little inclement, overcast and gloomy, an image which unsurprisingly fails to feature in the brochures, but what the hell it was land and a chance to reverse the developing scurvy and rickets. The fruit, what was left of it, had a Stilton look to it and the furry coating was difficult to digest. I was also so lo...

We have been following the North East trade winds for a few days now and are regularly attaining speeds of 9 knots. This may not seem particularly fast but everything is relative, and add the strong winds and sizeable swell into the equation and it feels like we are flying. It is an awesome feeling, cranked over like a Harley Davison taking a long sweeping bend, only this one has lasted a few hundred miles. Now it is a complete lottery as regards ones sleeping a...

Over the last few weeks I have talked mainly about the sailing but lots of fun things happen on board as well and this Blog gives a flavour of the other side of Tall Ship sailing: From the moment we boarded the Europa in Cape Town I noticed an undercurrent of secrecy amongst certain permanent and trainee crew, a certain bond which fostered whispering and meetings in every nook and cranny in the ship. And a chance encounter with these strange bunk fellows would ...

BLOG 9 As we left Ascension we headed due West towards Brazil picking up the SE Trade Winds which would drive us North towards the Equator. The weather turned favourable in terms of the wind and making ground, but with it came the rain, squalls and storms and together with the big swell, it made for a very rocky ride. This was punctuated by searing sunshine and high humidity, and hence we were all subjected to uncomfortable mix of wet, damp, steam and dry many t...

Inevitably a voyage such as this will have highs and lows and this has been evident over the last couple of days as I shall allude to in the commentary. Ascension Island came into view on the morning of the 11th May, a volcanic land mass born some one million year ago and renown for its green turtles who travel thousands of miles to lay their eggs. As we approached from the east we were greeted by a large school of Fraser and Striped dolphins who treated us to a...