Sailing around the world...

Wow, just wow! After another tricky sail we felt like we'd arrived in paradise. Every bit the idyllic desert island, complete with local tribes selling their wares. A wonderful few days enjoying warm waters, sandy beaches with our wonderful new friends on the WARC. BBQs and pizzas on the beach - this is the life!

With boat inspections, provisioning and last minute maintenance complete (mainly), we set off for Columbia as part of the World ARC Rally. After a relatively strong start, our conservative approach to night-time sailing meant we lost ground on the rest of the fleet in the dark hours. This wasn't helped by the Anti-torsion cable for the Gennaker (our fast downwind sail) snapping. Never-the-less, we arrived in Santa Marta a little weather beaten but with in high spirits.

Charles flew out to join Virginia and the kids in San Diego. It was a wonderful couple of weeks exploring the city and catching up with friends and family. It was also a welcome respite from boat life!

Virginia and the kids left LTD in the Canaries to travel back to San Diego for Thanksgiving with family and friends. Meanwhile, Charles welcomed new crew aboard and prepared to sail to the Caribbean.

Algeciras Marina was a safe haven for LTD during our travels to Morocco. It also provided a great base for some much-needed repairs (Navlight, Spinnaker, deck covering, anchor windlass....). Best of all we could visit 'The Rock', and spend time with friends there. The kids even got to go trick-or-treating, which they loved despite the weather being more similar to the UK than the Mediterranean!

Sailing through the Balearics required close monitoring of the Mistral winds and squalls. However, there were plenty of good anchorages, and Virginia, Findlay, and Tillie took the opportunity to gain RYA First Aid and Sea Survival qualifications. This part of the trip also allowed us to visit Charles' sister in San Pedro for a Sunday roast, bingo, and karaoke. We also became proud parents of a 14 year old!!

After a somewhat shaky start, we finally managed to put the finishing touches to organising the boat before setting off across the Greek Islands. Making steady progress, we managed to stick (more or less) to schedule; visiting some amazing anchorages along the way. Sadly for Findlay and Tillie, this period also saw the start of boat school!

Cyprus is an amazing country both in itself, and in for the opportunities it provides for travel in the region. We were determined to take advantage!

Now, LTD was part of the family; we needed to get her home. Charles, with a willing band of amazing volunteers, sailed her from France to Cyprus. Three weeks of available sailing time to cover over 3000 miles: no problem!!

After driving the entirety of the Cyprus coast looking for places where we could moor 'Living the Dream', we decided on Ayia Napa Marina. The size, available space, and excellent service were just what we needed as we learned our new boat.

After signing the contract we were invited to La Rochelle to visit the factory and discuss options. We also got to meet other NEEL owners and stepped foot aboard a NEEL 51 for the first time. We liked it (thank goodness)!

Exploring Columbia as a family was a fantastic experience. Meeting people dealing with the trauma of Columbia's recent history was as sobering as the river trips and coffee plantation visits were enlightening. Despite everything, the overwhelming positivity of the people we met was truly humbling and inspiring. It re-confirmed the value of this adventure for our family.

We returned to LTD in Rodney Bay with the family back together. From here we explored St Lucia - including the famous Hotel Chocolate - and made preparations for joining World ARC. We saw in the New Year watching the Island's fireworks displays from the deck of LTD before starting to get to know our fellow adventurers for our trip around the world.

Starting in less than ideal wind conditions, assisting the rescue of an immigrant vessel and some overly conservative sailing (Charles!) all contributed to a crossing time of 22 days. Mixed success with the rod lead to the boat catching more fish than anyone: flying fish for breakfast anyone?

Sailing from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands was our first introduction to sailing in the Atlantic as a family and would be our longest passage to date. We were able to recruit a couple of additional crew members to help with watches, but with fair winds and that famous Atlantic swell made for a much more pleasant week at sea than expected!

Mooring LTD for a little while to facilitate some minor repairs, we were joined by friends from the UK and embarked on a mini-adventure on the ferry to Morocco. Using the trains to travel between cities and facilitated by incredible hosts, we had an awesome time on land. Quad biking, eating traditional food by the waterfalls of the Atlas mountains, braving the chaos of the medina and eating at the World famous Rick's cafe were just some of the highlights. "Here's looking at you kid!"

Midway between Greece and Sicily, the mainsail halyard snapped! We were, therefore, extremely grateful for the availability of marine services in Syracuse. An eventful month of cruising saw us climb volcanoes, visit friends and split the spinnaker as a squall increased the wind by over 25Kts just as we were Gybing. Virginia's new rule: no using the big red sails!

Faster than expected, the day arrives when we move from our house onto a boat and set sail around the world. Despite, literally years of preparation time, to say we were ready would be over-stating it!

Once in Cyprus, the family needed to learn how to sail and operate their soon-to-be new home. A trip to Turkey for sailing courses, plus lots of weekends aboard, were just the ticket.

The day arrived, and the LTD was ready. Virginia and Charles flew from Cyprus to France and the NEEL factory to take her over. After lots of walkthroughs, paperwork and training, LTD was named and part of the family.

After some outstanding leaving parties, we re-located to Cyprus where we eventually intended to set-off from on our around-the-world adventure.

We bought a boat! The contract was signed for the purchase of a NEEL 51 Trimaran. A boat that we had never seen in anything other than YouTube videos - what were we thinking!?