One Life. Two Worlds.

Current Date: 22nd November 2019
Current Location: Us - in the air returning again to Bristol from Lanzarote. Mehalah - In Arrecife Marina watching the BIG boats setting off on the Royal Ocean Racing Club's race across the Atlantic.



Ebley and Mehalah. Mehalah and Ebley. They're fighting each other for supremacy. But living two lives is not easy. We try to live in the moment but we really want to take every opportunity to be aboard Mehalah.

This week we've sneaked 6 days back in the Canaries. It's warm and we remember with fondness our time here in 2014. What a lot has happened since then. My dad has died, my mum has become more frail, I've been diagnosed and so far fought off the effects of Stage 3C prostate cancer and we've had the most wonderful adventures across the Atlantic, along the Caribbean island chain, through the Turks and Caicos and up to the Bahamas in Petronella. And the friends we've made - priceless.

And so now it's Mehalah's turn. At last we finally consider her as "home". She's proved her worth and sails like a dream. She, and we, are itching to go. Next time we return, on 6th January, it will be 2020 and a proper ocean will be beckoning us back. We've gone from nervousness to anticipation and most of the jobs are done. Here's one still to do - the EBay cogs for the Aries windvane.

Nice new parts. Of course they are not QUITE the right fit. A job for January,

So much so that this week has been mostly about making M easier to live on. I've installed new reading lights in the saloon so we don't need to go to bed as soon as it gets dark. Sounds simple but of course involves getting out every tool we possess, dropping the headlining, removing the speakers, finding out the new electrical crimps are useless etc etc.

Total chaos yet again.....

....but all worth while in the end.

Gill has bought and installed a nice IKEA (yes, there's an IKEA in Arrecife) spice rack and toilet roll holder.

The new spice rack.

The new toilet roll holder. Exciting stuff this!

She's also been beavering away to finish the cockpit shade that doubles as a raincatcher. Almost finished when the feed dogs on her sewing machine gave up. Should we bring it back to the UK to be fixed or try and get it done in Lanzarote. Can they even do it here? We've left it. That's a job for January too.

A nice grin before the dogs went.

My £40 Androis tablet with free software is installed for easy reading of the key information on passage with minimal battery drain.

New instrument installed. Not sure where the max speed of 1.7knots came from!

Ah yes. We've also fixed two winches, changed a bulb, installed another LED strip light, programmed the PC to work with our secondhand sat phone, dug out the bicycle from the depths of the third cabin and Gilly's done a massive reorganisation and sort out.

And..we have tried out Vera's Mk II mosquito nets. They fit and they don't fall out. Cracking work V.

Just you try and get through that you little beggars.

On Sunday with jobs going so well we decided to be tourists and go to Teguise Market for a couple of hours of R&R. 35 minutes walk followed by a bus to Teguise and another to the market. Walk = fine. First bus = a pair of them disappear as we get to the stop. Next bus = 10 minutes late. Connection bus to the market = disappears as our bus arrives. No more buses today. Taxi €19 = having a laugh. We get the bus back home to Mehalah. At least we saw some of the starkly beautiful Lanzarote countryside.

It is odd being back. We're older now and when we pass the hospital we think "ah, it's useful to know where that is" instead of "oh look, they have a hospital here". And we've made an ocean passage once already. So here in the jumping off point for Atlantic crossers we're seen as one of the more experienced crews which seems a bit odd but that's the way it is.

OMG - where did Lilly come from.

So now it's back to England to see Jenny and Emma and friends, for the Styles' annual get together, for family Christmas with mum, Phil and Jane and the girls. And for New Year back in Gleaston with the gang. Tomorrow begins the next round of ordering bits to bring back out with us in January.

Meanwhile have a very merry Christmas and a cracking 2020.

Destination Canaries!

Current Date: 1st November 2019.
Current Location: 100 miles off the Moroccan coast halfway between Lagos, Portugal and Arrecife, Lanzarote.

So from the title of this post you can see that we made it to the starting gate for our passage to the Canaries after all.

November and we should still have a 36% chance of NE winds.

Amazingly Jack and Fizzy flew out to join us just in time to squeeze in our passage between my visit to the UK and Gill's Uncle Syd's funeral. And yes, we got a five day weather window too! An amazing set of circumstances that we had hardly dared hope for. Great to be able to welcome the ever flexible Jack and Fizzy on board at the last minute.

Consequently I am writing this at 20.10 on Day 3 of our passage to Arrecife. It is dark. It is rolly. Things are crashing about as this is our first big Atlantic swell in Mehalah. Jack is on watch. The rest of us are occupied below, mostly asleep. We've had a bit of everything so far. Fog, calm, a bit of wind. Plenty of frustrating motoring. But at present we have around 12 knots of breeze from behind us so we are rolling towards the Moroccan coast at 6.8 knots. Later tonight or tomorrow we should make our last gybe (turn) [I wish] and head towards our final destination.

To  reef or not to reef? That is the question.

It's cool to be back on passage. Jack and Fizzy have fitted in easily. And this evening was a bit special as the Mount Gay rum bottle came out. The halfway mark (275 miles) was celebrated in traditional fashion with small tots for each of us and one for Neptune to thank him for looking after us. Not so lucky was sailing yacht Loulou who we heard via a Mayday Relay was in difficulties not too far from us.

Exercise time.

That's more like it Fizz.

Earlier I had returned on my own to the UK slightly apprehensive at what my colonoscopy would show, leaving Gilly on the boat. A nasty result would preclude further passages over the next year or so to the Canaries and also across the Atlantic. But before that I met up with Emma for a footie day in Wolverhampton. Happily it was a rare away point for Southampton. [Little did we know that only a few days later Leicester would be dishing out a 9-0 thrashing]. Then, after a night with Emma's friend in Birmingham it was back to Stroud. My procedure was a success with no nasties discovered though the prep liquid was disgusting, so my return to Lagos was one of celebration and hope with the promise of a passage to the Canaries.

Day 4: Tonight was one of those magical nights when it's great to be alive. We gathered at 5.00pm in the cockpit for Gilly's delicious curry. The weather was fine. We put in a single reef for the night and watched the moon come up. 20 knots on starboard tack and tonight the sea was flat, Mehalah was unstressed and we flew towards Arrecife at a steady 6.3 knots for hour after hour. We sang our songs - pretty rubbish tonight except for The Mingulay Boat Song and listened to classic old person songs from Joni Mitchell, Simon and Garfunkel and Hockridge [yes girls, you know the ones!]. A perfect evening with great friends. Not for the first time we marvelled at how lucky the four of us are.

Testing yet another design for something!

A rare action photo.

And another day draws to its close.

7th November. On the plane back to the UK.

And now it's back to our other life in the UK. We've just flown over Alegranza the first uninhabited island you reach as you approach Lanzarote, which in turn is the first of the Canary Islands you see. As we approached there a few days ago we were met by a huge pod (40+) of Striped Atlantic Dolphins cavorting with us. Squeaking and rolling over, they and we spent a delightful 40 minutes in each others company. They came so close that Fizzy, lying down up on the bow could touch then as they whizzed past. Brill! We spent the night anchored off the tiny island of Alegranza. A beautiful remote place. We arrived as the sun set and the moon rose, a dark forbidding volcanic mass greeting us as the sea flattened and the wind dropped (a bit). We anchored in 10m of water so clear that in the morning we could see the bottom. Almost before the anchor had hit the bottom Fizzy had stripped off and dived over the side, a ghostly angel floating in an ethereal world.

Land ahoy! Arriving at Alegranza as the sun sets.

The remote Alegranza achorage with newly arrived French boat.

We had sailed downwind most of the last two days trying out various pieces of kit we hope to use on our Atlantic crossing next year including our InReach communicating device (thanks for the weather forecasts Jen). Jack even managed to assemble the sling for the the dinghy engine, a task that had previously defeated several our of regular readers. Well done Jack! Mehalah performed faultlessly and we enjoyed our last couple of days free from the stresses of life on land. Jobs were done and fantastic food was cooked (mostly by Fizzy and Jack) and eaten (by all of us). Salads (we grew our own mung beans), more salads and other delicious fare. Well done crew, we must be the best fed boat afloat and food does become very important on passages like this.

Dinner time.

Early next morning we left Alegranza and sailed in strengthening winds down to our final destination of Arrecife on the eastern coast of Lanzarote. Another rollicking downwind sail at 6.5 knots. A slight scare when it appeared that our booking in the very busy marina had been cancelled (we were one day late) but before long we saw the familiar twisty entrance to the marina. We called them up on Channel 9 and captain Gilly made a perfect approach to our berth where we tied up, took a deep breath and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. Our first long passage in Mehalah had definitely been a success. During our check in process at reception though we met up with the crew of Loulou who we knew had had a problem of some sort. It seems that in the middle of the ocean their rudder had snapped off leaving them unable to steer. They ended up being towed several hundred miles and we're busy arranging a liftout and sorting their insurance claim. There but for the grace of Neptune....

Since then it's been a return to our favourite blue tapas bar, just as good as it was in 2014, where we treated our crew to grilled octopus and seared tuna. And of course more jobs. A big bag of washing, food restocking and catching up with life admin for Gill and Fizz. Jack and I worked on Paul the Aries steering gear and then I spent half a day back in the naughty cupboard known as the lazarette at the back of the boat where we started implementing several minor enhancements and repairs to the autopilot. Whilst there you will be please to note Andy that the water lock has not moved a millimeter. Good job mate.

Our favourite tapas bar - The Blue Cafe

OK Skipper - the pressures off now.

So now it's back to Ebley for we don't know how long. We do have a flight booked back to Lanzarote on 6th January but we are hoping to get another week or so there later this month to carry on preparations for the next big challenge, our second Atlantic crossing, early next year.

Somewhat tired but safely tied up in Arrecife, Lanzarote.