The adventure begins

Sulana's Voyage
Alan and Sue Brook
Thu 26 Aug 2010 11:25
50:54:78N, 01:22:76W

The beautiful yacht 'Sulana' began her BIG adventure on Friday, 20th August. 2010.
Alan, Sue, Fiona, John, Sarah, Richard and Hannah waved goodbye to family and friends, who gathered at Fox's Marina, Ipswich, to wish them well on the first leg of their journey to Jersey in the Channel Islands.
From there the plan is to head for the Canaries to join some 200-plus yachts
in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (the ARC) which would see us reach St Lucia in the Caribbean for Christmas. John and Sarah leave us there to be replaced by Laura, Neil and Jack; and possibly Josh.
We hope to cruise the Caribbean until around May when we'll head for Bermuda and then Nova Scotia before making our way back down the east coast of America in time to return to the Caribbean for a second winter. After that we'll probably go through the Panama Canal onto even more exciting destinations - yet to be decided.
However, back to the first leg... Unfortunately a couple of teething problems and a gale warning shortly after setting sail necessitated a detour into Southampton Yacht Services for some minor adjustments .
We arrived in Southampton on Sunday and have had rain ever since! John had intended to stay on board until we reached Jersey before flying back to the UK, but ran out of time so left us on Monday. He'll be joining us again in the Canaries.
Life on board is very comfy and cosy, with Richard (our First Mate) managing to conjure up ever more storage spaces for the huge amount of kit we've brought along and Hannah (our cook) spoiling us with delicious meals. Life could be worse.