‘Letter from Nakesa’

No. 1, 20^th November 2009

Graham, Phaedra, Aston, Atlanta Applin

Dear Friends

No, we haven’t disappeared forever, we are alive and well (or nearly) and here in Palma aboard our new home,’Nakesa’.

We thought we would keep in touch with a series of letters to let you know what we are up to, the highs, the lows, the challenges, the disasters...a sort of Ellen Mccarthur style diary around the World (without the crying we hope).

We finally arrived on November 3^rd after a delayed departure from the UK. Everything that could have gone wrong prior to leaving, did, with a grand finale of family Swine Flu. All thanks to Phaedra’s brother Damien for looking after a sick and miserable family for four days whilst we recovered.

Day 1 was to be the exciting ‘hand over’ of the yacht and armed with a bottle of champagne, we boarded to depart for an arbitrary point 12 miles from the coast of Spain, to sign papers and avoid paying tax. The sea was rough and confused and combined with the awkward motion of motor sailing the new crew were leaning over the side throwing up within 10 minutes!

You could see the agent wondering whether we were really going to sail around the World.

To make matters worse, after 20 miles of this we reached our ‘point’ only for the agent to announce that it was too rough to actually sign and so we took a picture of our GPS position and turned straight around and went back in!!! We didn’t even open the champagne. This did seem like a waste of time. Phaedra and the children thought it 6 hours of HELL. Perhaps we should have paid the tax!  However the crew were not put off and we had our wonderful first night aboard with the new boat finally ours. We even found a Chinese take away that delivered, to make us feel even more at home.

Finally Hard Rock Cafe for dinner with the waiters all singing Happy Birthday..........a great day!

                                                                                          Atlanta on her 8^th Birthday (the beer is not hers!!!)

yet!). The second hand chandlery had never had it so

 good as car loads of gear was taken up to them. The

rest of the stuff, including all of the interior

upholstery went to the bins, (the 70,s style

20 ft whip arial is still there).

By Friday after a week of preparation we were ready to go and we finally set sail for the islands of Cabrera, a nature reserve on the southern tip of Mallorca. It was beautiful and we even took a dip, this will not be repeated I think until we are much further south. Even managed to get the boat out of the very tight marina without hitting anything thank to a very powerful bow thruster.

                                                                                                         Aston and Atlanta pointing out our next boat!!!

Spent a very relaxed Sunday in Cabrera walking the island and climbing the mountain to see the castle. The next few days saw us circumnavigate the island visiting Porto Colom and Porto Pollensa to drop into Phaedra,s auntie and cousin and invite them aboard for our first dinner party. I don’t think they will come again, they looked very green by the end of it and it wasn’t with envy!!

Our first overnight sail took us around the less friendly north coast

To take us the 90miles back to Palma where we had arranged to meet the joiner and upholsterer.

From day two, school has commenced properly. Aston and Atlanta work from 0900 until 1300 Monday to Thursday and Friday is project day with Daddy! This seems to be working really well. The highlight last week was the geography lesson which coincided with us passing the Caves D’Arta and so an unscheduled stop was made and a guided tour of the most stunning Caves. This lead Aston to ask ‘Daddy, will boat life be like this every day..I like it!’ Which is a good sign.

We are now back in Palma having the guest bedroom fitted out...that sounds very grand, but the focsle (forward cabin) that used to contain ‘gear’ is being converted into a double bunk for guests, so no excuse not to come and visit us.

              The angelic Aston at the Caves D’Arta

So the adventure has begun after all of that talk and thank you all for your support before leaving. Whilst it was sad to leave friends and family behind we hope to stay in touch through these messages and through our blog at Mailasail (details later) and we hope to see at least some of you somewhere hot and sunny soon!

                                    ‘Nakesa’, 1979 Swan 57 by Sparkman and Stephens

Love from

Graham, Phaedra, Aston and Atlanta Applin

Yacht ‘Nakesa’,  Palma, Mallorca

Phone 0034 600399920

Thank you
 
Graham