Sailing Illusion

05/05/2020

What to do while on your boat in lockdown? Work on replacing ALL electronics aboard (destroyed by a lightning strike last autumn - and not really "all": the solar charge controllers survived). This is our new wind system (currently on a boat hook pole in the cockpit) and display (now available on any smart wifi device near the boat).

And I sometimes go through old photos: this is a sunset storm passing over me in the ITCZ crossing from the Marquesas to Hawaii in 2013. I surfed at 16 knots for about 4 hours that night!

25/03/2020

Breakfast (I needed to test out a new pancake recipe since my wheat flour was infested: spelt flour, chia seeds & whole oats), following repair work on the main awning (22 years old, so holding up well!). Bette: Remember making this at Barry & Carole's workshop in Puerto Vallarta? The awning, not the breakfast. 😏

22/03/2020

It really was that color! They'll be doing community isolation imminently here in El Salvador, so no more visitors and no one leaves. This quiet estuary is about to become a lot quieter!

15/03/2020

Good morning world! How far are you from your nearest neighbor? Don't forget to keep communicating, even if you keep your distance.

13/11/2019

Amazing!

Guess what. We’re about to sail Greta Thunberg across the Atlantic. 3200nm, with captain Riley and crew Nikki Henderson (and of course Lenny). A spontaneous decision to move our home across the other side of the ocean, but I mean we love Europe so we’re looking forward to some Caldo Verde upon arrival 🍵. Setting sail at 7:30 am tomorrow morning EST. You can track our live progress directly at sailing-lavagabonde.com once it goes live tomorrow morning! Woooo wish us luck. We’ll be posting on Instagram from the satellite phone. The image quality is going to be pretty average though but you’ll forgive us.

12/11/2019

Doug is finally heading back to Illusion today, after spending time in Vancouver and New York for work and residency reasons. Poor Illusion has sat through a very wet rainy season so the next few days will probably be spent cleaning mould. Meanwhile in England, we've had a lovely Autumn - my first here in 12 years. Lots of apple crumbles and walks in woods. We made it to the sea for a couple of days too.

08/09/2019

What a woman! Congratulations!!

Congratulations to Jeanne Socrates on SV Nereida who has officially completed her solo circumnavigation unassisted, and has set a record as the oldest person to do so at 77 years old! ⛵🎉

20/08/2019

Amazing to follow Greta Thunberg's journey ⛵

Day 7. About halfway across the Atlantic Ocean. Very pleasant conditions.

24/07/2019

Here's a blog post written by Tally from Raven describing their journey up from El Salvador to Barra de Navidad - with a few mentions of Doug!

Before I begin, I’d like to express an abundance of gratitude to our friend, Doug, who so graciously agreed to join us on this voyage and...

14/05/2019

I forgot to post these pictures from a busy weekend recently - a great trip to the local mango festival (thanks for getting us all there Bill & Jean) and a beach clean-up organized by the Rotary club (thanks Pamela for getting us involved!)

10/05/2019

Here's something I wrote a bit ago that's now been published. What it's like sleeping on a sailboat and how we got better at it! I had so much more to say (but had to stick to the word count), and I'm sure everyone has more top tips - so add them in this comments thread!

Sleeping on a boat isn't always easy. Here, one writer shares the strategies she uses to get sufficient sleep while sailing the high seas.