The South Pacific continues to astound. We ‘ve passed through Tikehau, Moorea, Tahiti and Tahaa and we’re now on our way to Suwarrow, Niue and Tonga.
Read more at:
Mistral Sailing
Karen’s Travels
World Cruising Logs
YB Tracker
The South Pacific
Since my last update we have completed the longest passage on the world circumnavigation – 2980 nm from Santa Cruz in the Galapagos to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands.
We had Patrick and Janie to help us (thanks!) over the 21-day passage. Three weeks is honestly too long to be sailing non-stop, but needs must.
After a few days in the Marquesas we said goodbye to Patrick and Janie and sailed ourselves the 480 nm south-west to the Tuamotu Islands and the Ahe atoll. All the atolls are a challenge – poorly surveyed and charted sometimes and inaccurate tide tables. Only to be attempted in daylight and in good visibility.
Read more at:
Mistral Sailing
Karen’s Travels
World Cruising Logs
YB Tracker
Moving On Quickly
It’s been quite a few weeks – Panama Canal (got clunked into the side), Panama City, the Las Perlas Islands in the Gulf of Panama and the passage from Las Perlas to Galapagos. Here are a few photos to give you a flavour.
Read more at:
Mistral Sailing
Karen’s Travels
World Cruising Logs
YB Tracker
World ARC 2023
We are now well on our way – two legs completed, Rodney Bay, St Lucia to Santa Marta Colombia, and Santa Marta to the San Blas Islands. We are now in Shelter Bay, Panama, preparing to go through the Panama Canal.
Read more at:
Mistral Sailing
Karen’s Travels
World Cruising Logs
YB Tracker
ARC+ Leg 2
We are now in Grenada after a moderately challenging passage from Cape Verde. 2180 nautical miles in 14 days.
Read all about it on Karen’s blog and the Mistral Sailing blog.
ARC+ 2022
We’ve arrived in Cape Verde at the end of Leg 1 of the ARC+ 2022. We had a wonderful sail here – 860 nautical miles – and have had a few relaxing days before we set out across the Atlantic on Friday.
There’s much more on Karen’s Travel blog and our Mistral Sailing blog.
Sailing Again
We collected Mistral of Portsmouth at the beginning of August, and with the help of Bill, Sheila, Laura and Rory, we sailed her from Gruissan in France to Palma, Mallorca.
Bill, Rory & Laura 
Bill & Sheila 
Dining in Santa Catalina 
Laura 
Amanda, Karen & Valerie 
Calum & Ceri in Tim’s Bar, Andratx 
Ceri & Isobel 
Nicols girls 
Tilly
Since then we’ve been based in Palma. Quite a few friends and family have visited including Laura H, Calum, Ceri, Isobel, Mia, Tilly, Shirley, Jane H and Janice. More to come!
Paddleboarding 
Sa Foradada 
New tender motor 
Riggers at work 
Laguna del Salobra sunset 
Cocktails 
Laguna del Salobra beach 
Laguna del Salobra beach 
Happy Captain! 
Exploring Palma
Mike of Guardian Yacht Services has been a great help with finding experts to repair and improve the boat. And there have been a few things to fix – tender motor, mainsail furling, a tear in the genoa to mention a few.
Off the Hard 
Force 6 
Andratx 
Andratx 
Soft shackle in dyneema 
First mate 
Three sails flying 
Mistral 
Mistral 
Cala Blanca
So far, apart from fixing broken things and learning how to splice dyneema into soft shackles, we’ve visited Andratx, Cala Blanca, Las Isletas, Soller, Deia, Pollensa, Port-Petro, Laguna del Salobra, some of those in the course of sailing around Mallorca. And now the weather is starting to cool down, we’re enjoying Palma even more.
Read more on Polarsteps and Mistral Sailing.
Index to RAF Manuals and Flight Reference Cards
I’ve uploaded all the documents that I’ve got, so that’s it for the time being. Here’s the list on one page:
AP 129 Flying – Volume 1 – Aircraft & Equipment
AP 129 Flying – Volume 2 – Aircraft Operation
Bulldog T Mk 1 Flight Reference Cards
Chipmunk T Mk 10 Flying Instructor’s Handbook
Chipmunk T Mk 10 Flight Reference Cards
Gnat T Mk 1 Flying Instructor’s Manual
Gnat T Mk 1 Flight Reference Cards
Harrier GR3/T4 Flight Reference Cards
Hawk T Mk 1 Flight Reference Cards
AP 129 Flying – Volume 1 – Aircraft and Equipment
AP 129 Flying – Volume 2 – Aircraft Operation
The RAF’s bible of flying – AP 129 Flying Volume 2 – Aircraft Operation, 1958 edition (thanks Batty). Volume 1 – Aircraft And Equipment to follow shortly.
RAF Swanton Morley Gliding Instructions
I completed the Proficiency Gliding Course at RAF Swanton Morley in 1971 as an Air Cadet. Here are the instructions I was given on arrival.
Chipmunk & JP Instructor’s Handbooks
Here are the Chipmunk T Mk 10 Flying Instructor’s Handbook and the Jet Provost T Mk 3 & T Mk 4 Flying Instructor’s Handbook. (Thanks Batty for the Chipmunk manual and Ted Hunkin for the JP manual.)
