Update number far too few

Greetings team. I do appreciate that this blog doesn't have the update cadence one could fairly expect associated with 2 full time unemployed personnel, but I tell you what, it's surprisingly busy.

I don't even know where to begin so I'll just crack on and talk about passaging. Actually, I should probably shout out to the fact that I'm up quite late as we are hunking down on the thumb of Corsica as a massive gale is battering the region so I'm keeping an eye on things until I'm comfy it's abating which is certainly isn't doing right now. In fact, 45knots and the boat getting tossed in every direction yanking on the anchor chain is definitely just 2 of the signs I won't be getting shut eye for a few hours. That's doubly shit as we just did 24 hours from Rome to get here in which shut eye was also a fictional commodity so while this is passing the time viewers and I value your company, I would rather be asleep.

So let's cover how we got here and that is said passaging. We really did the first long one with Vanessa who is one of my host sister's from my time in Switzerland 22 years ago, and is a regular on the Naulls family adventure scene so was the natural choice #1 on a long list of possibles fighting for a slot (...) on a 3 1/2 day sail from Crete to Sicily. This was an important trip for us as it got us in the groove on how we prefer to sail, do shifts and what to get up to (admittedly those options are limited) as we prepare for a fair few more 24 hour plus journeys before our able crew joins us in the Canary Islands for the Atlantic. We've learned:

1. 3 is just a good number if you don't have 4 or more.

2. It'll take us a few days to get into a sleep groove, 1 day is essentially a right off

3. We're getting pretty good at this as a team

4. We're getting to know what sail plan works, how Tu Meke likes and doesn't like to be sailed

5. Having a good snack sitch is critical to a good crossing

Save for the first day where we motored straight into wind and waves, it was all rather pleasant really. We had to motor / motor-sail for the majority but it was fairly benign sea and a good watch system. There was even a spa on board on the last day with Aperol Spritz for the girls, pedicures, manicures, face masks, the works. Time for a photo break to illustrate the point.

The unpleasant part of the journey was the unfortunately multiple calls for assistance for migrant boats in trouble but these were several days away from our position. Very sobering what people are forced to go through to make desperate decisions like that, all too often ending in tragedy. We did see what we thought was a liferaft so approached that with caution (for the girls benefit) ready to help but it turned out to be the giant sea biscuit below. Score.

Sicily was a great place to land and we had a great time exploring the east and north coasts. Helen's highlight to date was Palermo but I won't rush over that and save that for another update. We've since been up the west coast of Italy through Pompei to Rome and inland but again will do that justice later.

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