14:23.404N 31:23.392W

Hello - Kath here, guest writing Rik’s blog as an Atlantic crossing first-timer. On board we have Rik, Caroline and Dickie who all completed The Arc in 2017, John Ellis who has seven previous Atlantic crossings under his belt (four of them west to east so this one evens things up) and Nick Collet who, like me, is out here for the first time. 

A few people asked me why/why on earth I wanted to do this. It has been a dream of mine since I first experienced ocean sailing back in the 1990s but I never imagined I would get the opportunity. Being able to truly sense the vastness of the ocean, experience the feeling of complete remoteness from the ‘real world’ and that sense of accomplishment on reaching the other side were my motivations for this amazing adventure. So being offered the chance by Rik and  Caroline to achieve this dream on their beautiful yacht Moose was a moment in time to be grabbed with both hands. 

We are three days in and I can honestly say it is more than living up to expectations. Yesterday was a blue sky- blue sail day and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Spinnaker up, sun shining, a good wind and we made great progress covering 144 nautical miles with speed topping 10 knots. We zipped along and moved up several places on the fleet leaderboard… I know, “it’s not a race” etc etc!! 

I’ve also enjoyed the meal planning, provisioning  and cooking - I think Caroline and I have done a good job so far. Last night was a nicoise salad with the last of the tuna that Dickie caught on the sail down to Las Palmas (yes, we do have a freezer!). The rods were out  all day yesterday but no fish, however hopes remained high and today we struck lucky (I’ve been politely informed that some amount of skill is also involved ). Strike 1: a blue marlin who put on quite a show leaping clean out of the water several times. He was huge, at least 2m long so pretty soon peeled the line and was off! 

Strike 2: a wahoo, successfully landed by John, gutted and filleted by Dickie and ready to cook later with Cajun spices, coleslaw salad and spiced rice. Delicious! 

Over & out for now - K