Foreword (actually afterword but we should always be first)

Wow. Penny, Andy and myself have just been reading the last blog and we were all taken aback by the frank and open words of our crew. We thought they were just pains in the arse…..only joking. We had to slip that in to break up the tears pouring down Andys’ face! In all seriousness the Class of Isis 2011 have been awesome, it’s been a pleasure to sail with them and we just wanted to slip in a thank you before you read there farewells. Enjoy!

Tom, Penny & Andy

So Philly-no-Messages finally got a message, cheers bro..!

This time tomorrow we’ll be in Barbados, we will have sailed the Atlantic! It will be a big tick in the box for us, that’s another adventure crossed off the bucket-list!

Of course, we all have our own reasons for being here and this adventure will have a different meaning for each of us, but for sure, when we drop anchor tomorrow in Richards Bay, it will be a significant moment. Until that moment comes, we press on, aside from a pause for a lovely swim in the ocean and a tarzan swing off a halyard, days continue to blend into a long cycle of sleep, read, eat, clean, cook or being on watch. Dates and times matter not, the banter and chuckles are endless, Top-Shelf-Egor continues to thrash one and all at Monopoly, the nightly hunt for biscuits resumes, I think we’ll just make the biscuits last and thank goodness for that, I fear Ynke and Andy Murray may well call a mayday if they run out before we get there!

We’ve done to death the ‘what you gonna do first in Barbados’ game, and whether that may be a double choc magnum or a bubble bath and champagne with loved ones flown in, thoughts inevitably turn to what happens next? For some the future is already well planned; start medical school, get married, start a new job.. for others the future is less clear and we must deal with returning home and facing what ever music needs to be faced. If, like myself, you wish to reboot, re-set, and return to start an exciting new chapter in life with a clearer head, a lighter heart and a fresh pair of eyes, you really need to book on to next years trip and find yourself writing this blog, sharing a wonderful adventure amongst an exceptional collection of people.

So as Atlantic Adventure 2011 draws to a close and I conclude this last blog from Isis, all that remains is for all of us to say thank you and farewell to all those who followed our adventure.

Its been emotional!

Phil, Ynke, Katy, Mark, Andy, Ant, Egor x 2, Mike, Laura, Penny Tom and Sergey.

A few folk wanted a few last words … so hear they are!

From Katy: It’s been a dream of mine to sail across the Atlantic since as a 10 year old I watched my dad set sail across the Atlantic for the opening leg of the BT Global Challenge! It’s been every bit as wonderful as he always told me it was, however I never expected to laugh as much as I have done with such a cracking bunch of people! So Dad – cheers for the inspiration and keep it coming! And to my fiance – thanks for putting up with me disappearing on yet another adventure! xx

From Laura:  Wow…I don’t know what to say, but what a really magical and amazing time the last few weeks have been.  As my sailing adventure got spontaneously longer and longer the experience got better and better.  This is ultimately down to the wonderful people I have shared this 65ft yacht with on each leg.  You’re brilliant!  As the last full day on the water just a matter of minutes ago I was swimming in the middle of the Atlantic, yikes!  Followed by my final comedy moment of swinging from a halyard in to the open water in a very ungainly fashion!  Thanks for this experience – you know who you are…See you in 2 weeks xxx

From Ynke: A dream of mine came true and it is and was much better than I’ve ever thought it could be. People back home: thanks for supporting me. The last  couple of years haven’t always been easy since I lost my father, who wanted to sail the Atlantic himself, but didn’t get enough time to do so. He would be very proud (and extremely jealous). The support of family and friends has been great and made my life so much fun during the last few years! And I might have never booked this amazing trip (where I’ve met amazing people!) without you! See you soon! X

From Egor: As Atlantic challenge draws to its close it’s time to recap, sum up and arrive upon conlusions… These 6 weeks not only allowed me to find new friends amd have so much fun that I hardly get in one normal “boring” year but it also helped to prioritise and to come up with the list of things to do in next 3-5 years… and sailing is definetly big on agenda… Needless to say many things wouldn’t happen if not for our crew that watched out for us, cheered up us in the moments of doubts and taught some really cool sailing tips… Thanks to Tom and Andy who stayed infinitely calm while teaching me to helm, jibe and tack… big thank you to all the people who shared the watches with me (Rodney, Phil, Ynke, Mike, Ant)… you made the days and nights go seemingly fast… thanks those who shared a laugh (Kate, Laura, Mark, John, Joahnna)… and the last but not the least big thank you to Kylea… it’s always such a pleasure to see your smile upon arrival…
For those fun and party loving individuals out there…. Ondeck Atlantic adventure is the place to be!!!
Cheers!

Poor Isis, the wind left her.. Yesterday we were doing somewhere between 3 and 6 knots, while dancing to the tunes of Goldfish during happy hour. Showers made it even happier; they were highly appreciated, almost no breeze is very very hot we’ve experienced. Upside of no breeze: We are fishing again! Yesterday Phil’s magic lure caught us a Baracuda, a fish (beautiful, big fish, evidence will be published in Barbados) we can’t eat :s. Unfortunately the magic lure is gone, hopes are still high since the other lure caught us multiple fish and we are still hoping it will be fresh tuna for dinner.

Over the last few days sceneries have changed. From clear blue skies we have been going to very cloudy. Nevertheless the sceneries are still stunning!

Last night some watches averaged 8 knots, others 2. During our watch we could see the dark skies containing lots of rain coming from far to get us… Time for oilskins. Unfortunately, the oilskins are becoming a bit smelly. Phil says mine smell like a hamster. I think he means a dead one. The cockpit is covered in oilskins at the moment, everybody is trying to refresh theirs.

This morning, ‘the watch that doesn’t bang the main’ (Andy Murray, Egor S., Phil and me) lost it’s reputation due to 2 knots of wind. We more than made up for yesterday, backing the headsail and banging the mainsail every other second. Luckily the breezeless morning was saved by the Egor’s who decided it is crepe friday! With a minimum of eggs they managed to make 2 crepes for everyone. Thanks lovely russians! The crepes were consumed the british way, (on a dry boat) that is with lemon and sugar, yammie!

After a call with Juno Tom decided to turn the engine on at 10 this morning. Juno will do the same when they enter the windhole, that might take them a few days…

Multiple conversations about endless showers, air conditioning, double choc magnums, cold bears, pina colada, a full night sleep and steaks have been going on last days. Those wishes are going to be fulfilled soon! Motoring our way to Barbados will probably take 2 days, arrival on sunday!

The mood on Isis is still very good. The clouds and the breeze generated by the engine make the temperature perfect for sunbathing without melting (or goosebumps, that has been a while..). And despite wild fantasies it will be sad to leave the atlantic after more than 10 days at sea.

Last (and least) I have to get something of my chest concerning flying fish. While flying fish were very amusing at the beginning of the trip, they start to anoy me now. For some reason they always seem to land within half a metre of me. That means I am the one who has to save the lives of the fish that just attacked me, while there is clearly ‘natural selection’ going on. Like Katy said: ‘ Only fish with broken radars try to attack a Farr 65′. But when those strange animals fight for their life, ruining the clean deck by leaving their slimy scales, you sacrafice your hand…

Flying fish, I won’t miss you. I do miss speaking to my loved ones, like the rest of the crew. But soon we will arrive, time for me to go on deck again and enjoy the sceneries and make the most of the days left on the ocean!

Ynke

Wednesday started off pretty good: great sun for tanning, a fab noodle lunch by Chef Penny and we were rocketing along at a healthy 9-10 knots.

Then grey clouds on the horizon and Tom’s understatement of the day: “You may get a bit wet tonight…”.

The brave (Laura, Mike, Tom, Sergai) suited up and stayed on deck.

The smart (Phil, Katy, The Igors, Andy) scurried down to the comfort of the galley for another game of Inky Pinky Pong, biscuits, peanuts and chocloates (Laura kept looking down longingly!)

The thunder and lightning did little to put off Mark putting on his speedos and having a quick shower on deck.

Dinner was a tasty pasta tuna bake (or pasta tuna soak for thoses eating on deck) curtesy of Chef Laura.

On the bright side, we were bulleting along reaching up to 14.7, until the wind suddenly died. It literally disappeared – at one point we were actually going backwards.

By midnight the rain had stopped and the wind was back and people woke up to a blue sky and the smell of Katy’s freshly baked tomato bread (which andy promptly devoured).

Smooth sailing again today but the wind isn’t behaving as we’d like.

Oh…and those grey clods are back on the horizon again

Since the last update we gave you many things have happened onboard Isis.

We have had exercise classes, numerous games of iggy piggy plop, cakes, halfway parties, mummies, super heroes and in our spare time some sailing and the small matter of crossing the Atlantic.

On the sailing front there was a slight set back as we broke the pad eye for the downhaul on the pole by powering up the kite just that little too much! Our thirst for speed proving to be our downfall on this occasion. However the pole was quickly back in action after a quick fix and the decision was made to take down the kite and replace it with a poled out No 1, who me and Tom have affectionately named ‘Janook!’ (long story)

Soon after this the miles to go clicked under 1000 meaning the halfway party could officially begin! So eagerly anticipated was this party that we actually decided to have it the next day as everyone was far to busy reading. lounging in the sun or snoozing…
However party time did eventually come round and what a party it was! Fancy dress and all. Rumours spread that the girls had put some rum in the celabratory cake as ‘happy hour’ became suspiciously happy…Katie, Laura and Ynke sported some cheeky rasta outfits with Bob Marley themed top and bottoms and worringly so did Mike!? (minus the top!) Even more worringly he then proceeded to have a photoshoot at the mast with some extremely interesting poses..I shall say no more…

I personally fulfilled my usual role onboard as ‘sexy Anti-bac Boy’ complete with pants, cape and holsters full of anti-bac. The girls digged it. Penny was wrapped in toilet role to become a mummy and despite her initial reluctance, got into the role fully, even performing a ‘thriller’ esc dance for the crew.

The tunes pumped into the evening until eventually everyone wound down for veg curry and showers making it two showers in two days!! What luxory we live in. Janook is currently powering his way towards Barbados and the crew of Isis are content with life.

Big love from all onboard!

Andy ‘Murray’ 2nd Mate. O and to answer my mums question, yes i do occasionally do

It’s another sunny day on the Atlantic and it’s also a Sunday, so when you have The Egors on board that means one thing…”Crepe Sunday”! You may remember The Egors excelling at producing a mammoth batch of crepes on our way to Cape Verde on a Sunday, well they haven’t let us down on this leg either. It defintely enticed the earlier watches to leave their bunks with the smell of crepes in the galley. So whilst Egor and Egor kindly fried in the galley we fried in the cockpit under the heat of the sun waiting patiently!

The sailing has been calm but still so enjoyable. We jibed overnight sailing a little further south now (although little was I to know of this until I woke up leaning a different direction in my bunk and slumping into my leacloth, these earplugs are great!)

Whilst not at the helm or cooking up a storm in the swealtering galley, we are all either relaxing on the deck with a book – I think Mike is on book number 361 (I am yet to get halfway through mine what with too many distractions of views of the ocean around me, I am persisting though!) or listening to music.

Time can also be killed by doing fitness exercises in the
cockpit…when you’ve got Egor S shouting at Katy, Ynke and I to do 10 more press ups, you’re not going to say no!! Katy and I also attempted our own ‘homemade hair highlights’ yesterday with lemon juice; to our relief, our hair isn’t green today, although it doesn’t seem to be much blonder either, perhaps more tomorrow….

Penny has been spending time over the last few days learning celestrial navigation using the sun with a sextant. She has so far taken lots of complicated figures but hasn’t yet worked out where we are…!!

Andy Murray has taken a break from his first book and thankfully sewn the hole in the crotch in his shorts using the sail repair kit…much to everyone’s relief!

It’s been a quiet day on the wildlife front, however, a seagull risked it’s life by catching the lure on the fishing line today, we nearly had to reel him in and unhook him. It’s a risky business flying over these waters!

Tom is currently cooking up our meal of the evening of spag bol – his own secret recipe, we’ll let you know how that is. Whilst Mark is teaching Mike a card game on deck Sergey is on the helm (taking a break from satellite phone calls…!)

For those of you that know me and who also read Tom’s recent blog, the panda eyes have thankfully disappeared, and the tan – if you can call it that – is evening out, for now! Phil is still fashioning the sexy hanky on head look!

All in all, life on Isis is great. Each and everyone of us are happy and enjoying every minute, as well as anticipating what the weather will hold each day. There is a sweepsteak on which date and time we will be reaching Barbados…I just hope it’s when the rumshacks are still open!!

Off now to wait for the sun to set and reveal another stunning show.

Laura x

PS. Happy birthday Dad, I’m the luckiest daughter ever.
PPS. Your card is on it’s way via flying fish; don’t hold your breath! x

says Rodney Weller, Isis crew member.

With that in mind Isis crew found multiple ways to entertain itself during the day in the less than harsh weather.. with wind constantly below 8 kts (boat speed averaging 6 kts) and tempraturs above 35C during the day. Those lucky to wake up at 7am were greeted by beautiful sunrise. General morning duties kept the crew occupied well into the midday. With sun above our heads crew was all into ipods, books as well as demonstrating healthy sleeping and eating habits. Katie, Laura and Ynga baked a cake… chewn inless than 5 minutes!!! Delicious!

With captain snail definetly finding prevailing boat speed somewhat slow we gambled on the estimated date of our arrival at Barbados. Common consensus – November, 20th. However, allowed timing varied heavily from 10am till 12pm. Well.. now it’s time to sail and see…

Needless to say our boat would soon turn to be a floating casino in the mid of Atlantic!!! Welcome to Isis casino… where you can enjoy playing twist, ynge ponge (perfect past time) and traditional Russian game – Fool. Ynga was particularly good at playing ynge ponge (for some reason we still strugle figure out for ourselves) winning 4 games in the row!!!

In the evening we were blessed with the shower, good meal and tender Nina Simone tunes. By 7pm we encountered “a big boy” in our skipper words – Nigerian supertanker. Without any other signs of life except the seagull travelling onboard it was a welcoming guest on the horizon. With night watches well on their way we tacked and sailed towards the next day…

Love
Egor & Egor

Ever wondered what it’s like to look after 10 school kids day and night? That’s about the gist of it, 13 if you include the crew.

It’s day 3 and the crew are slowly regressing into naughty adolescent school children. I currently put the average mental ago onboard Isis at about 7. I am not sure what it will be like when they get a few rums in them after 10 days at sea. So I thought I’d give you a run down on the class of Isis 2011:

The girls (in case you hadn’t noticed) are obsessed by food constantly discussing the menu and wanting to bake cakes…Katy.

Ynke having discovered chocolate on the leg to Vilamoura complains about not being hungry for dinner with chocolate around her mouth…she’s just destroyed her chilli con carne.

We have a ruski contingent, 3 to be precise. Sergei has brought with him a Sat phone, military spec? I wonder whether we could persuade him to call in an airstrike on Juno if she gets too close?

Egor and Egor (Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee), yes these are their names. Well let me just say I think they may have finally sweated out the rum after 48 hours at sea.These two can party.

Mike – the wrap king. He made chicken fajita wraps for supper last night but then proceeded to ‘wrap’ the kite….twice. Obviously as skipper I was delighted to see the spinnaker twisted around the the forestay in the dead of the night. He then divulged to me there was a third time I missed…thanks Mike.

Ant when not helming can be found tanning himself (it’s not St Tropez darling) on the foredeck.

Laura aka Panda eyes, looks like she just walked off a ski slope. I’m sure it’ll come as no surprise to you guys that she doesn’t tan evenly…she’s not worn sunglasses today.

Mark – inventor of Inky Pinky Plonk a ridiculously named card game which keeps the crew amused during happy hour. This man has serious energy and careens about the deck like a gazelle on steroids.

Today whilst helming Phil, much to everyone’s amusement, resembled something out of Steptoe & Son with a hanky twisted over his head to keep the ever increasing heat of the sun at bay.

Then there’s the crew, Penny 1st mate meows in her sleep, I’m not kidding she really likes her sleep. Woe betide you get in the way of her and food.

Andy Murray 2nd mate went wild in the galley today and made wraps with tuna sweetcorn accompanied by mashed potato and peas, great combo. He’s reading his first ever book today by Stephen Fry Having reading a third of the book in which on numerous occasions, Stephen referes to a man as his lover, Andy pipes up to everyone "wait I’m confused, is Stephen Fry gay?" You’re fast Andy.

As we’re all gathered in the cockpit, Ynke at the helm and another beautiful burnt orange sunset fading into the horizon, you realise these little things are what bind us together as a crew, enjoying each others company and foibles throughout the day. For me it’s all about the camaraderie, these little amusing snippets about people whom, ordinarily you wouldn’t get to meet, that will stay with you and make these trips so special.

Having dined on chilli con carne our thoughts have turned to Juno as she and her ‘happy skipper’ have had a rough time of it having spent the last 36 hours busily fixing sails and poles. This is offshore racing, it’s a marathon and 1st prize usually goes to those who can keep their boat intact the longest. We wish Juno well and whilst we’ve had an easy time of it so far, we’re steeling ourselves for what lies ahead as I’m sure our time will come.

Tom & the crew of Isis

ps. I forgot to mention we caught a barracuda yesterday although, as dustbins of the sea, they can carry some nasty diseases so we opted to throw it back. We are praying for a juicy tuna!

After a week R&R in Cape Verde, Isis has set sail again with much excitement from all on board. This time, the great Atlantic Ocean awaits us! Having waved goodbye to Rodney (bambi diva!) and Stephen (we miss you both!), we welcome our 3rd Russian (no not another Egor), Sergey.

We started the leg off in style by throwing "Wilson" the fender over board for a man over board drill. Having successfully rescued him, the 10 minute countdown for the start of the race began. Tacking our way to the start line, our adrenaline kicked in. It was a joy to see Juno cross behind us and then see the two huge spinnakers fly out in front of the yachts. Everyone stayed on deck for the rest of the afternoon to help trim the sails and appreciate sailing with the spinnaker for the first time on a Farr. The new watch system kicked in around dinner time, with Katy and Mark rustling up Moroccan chicken with couscous (the new menu for this leg had been highly anticipated by the girls!).

Night time threw us a mixed bag of wind. At times the boat reached speeds of 14 knots, however for a 6 hour period we covered just 6 miles! At least it gave us plenty of practice at sail changes! The temperature at night is now lovely and warm and most were making do with just shorts (and not just the pretend geordie Andy Murray!) We had a full moon which lit up the flying fish as they launched themselves on deck (causing much amusement once again!) No one can believe that it was a month ago that we saw the last full moon in Porto! As the sun rose, the wind picked up again and we have had a very pleasant sail with the spinny at a constant 9-12 knots. Lets hope it stays like this, because as this leg is an "official" race, neither boats will be turning the donkey on. The day was broken up when a lively pod of spotted dolphins came to play. Laura, Mike and Sergey treated us to a healthy salad for lunch (the post Cape Verde detox begins). It is now officially bikini weather and the day was spent snoozing, sunbathing, reading and chatting. We are currently looking forward to an Egor S and Andy Murray concoction for dinner (yes it is all about food on Isis) and hoping to break a speed record tonight.

Love to all at home (and just wait until you see our tans!)
Katy and Ynke xx

P.S. It has come to light that Juno were rather imaginative with their positioning on the last leg, so we thought we would let you know that team Isis are currently in the lead (albeit by only a very small margin at present)

Much like busses, Phil’s blogs come all together, its me again..

As we draw closer to Cape Verde, wildlife is suddenly plentiful, firstly a treat during dinner last night, a welcome visit from the dolphin aerobatic display team, clearly enjoying themselves leaping high out of the sea along side us.. if you closed your eyes and listened to the ‘oooo’s’ and ‘ahhh’s’ from the gang, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were at a fireworks party .. clearly inspired by this diplay of acrobatics, Rodney promptly performs an excellent back flip over the coffee grinder, much to the amusement of all, thankfully no harm done!

Not to be outdone by the dolphins, the flying fish make an appearance, ninja-like they sneak aboard at night and attack the crew; Steven copped one on the head during the night, another clearly had romantic intentions towards Tom and tried to fly in through his cabin window.. thankfully for Tom it missed and headbutted the side wall instead, what a rude awakening that might have been for him sleeping below

We’re into our last few hours before arrival, everyone’s tails are up at sighting the islands in the distance, the first sight of land for six days, thoughts turn to the party tonight .. prior to arrival we are all roused by Devo’s ‘Whip It’ and its all hands on deck cleaning and scrubbing and making Isis all ship shape and squared away, we even treat ourselves to a shower and fresh clothes in anticipation of getting ashore.. there best be nothing between Isis and the bar once we tie up, there’s a stampede coming, somewhere in Cape Verde, its beer o’clock!!

PS .. Juno’s gone dark.. a sneaky mission to pip us at the post perhaps, watch this space!!

… wake up it’s 5am, you’re on watch.. urgh! The night shift, we’re into our fifth day at sea, there’s still great wind and fabulous fast sailing, this is what we came for .. the shift rota continues 24 hours a day; as one team goes off watch, another comes alive, its 5am, we’re up again for another shift, we’ve had 4pm till 7pm, 11pm till 01am, now 5am till 7am. The strong winds and relentless pounding of the sea, whilst fabulous for sailing, take their toll; tired and sleepy faces, not a lot of chatter this time, take to the helm, feel for the next wave, compensate for it turning the yacht, ease the helm back as the wave passes, check the course, check the speed; did I break the boat speed record? Maybe next time.

7am comes quickly, its time to wake the next shift and make a cuppa, then its off to hit the sack again for some sleep and nothing’s going to wake me this time; not the rush of the sea past the hull, not the wind, not even the pounding of feet and winches on deck as they gybe the head sail for the third time this night; the wind shifted again.

11:30am, wakey wakey its eggs and bakey..well not quite, but just as welcome; Egor and Egor have been doing a sterling job in the galley, 45 pancakes and its miles of smiles all around, this is an army that truly marches on its stomach!

The huge swell of the sea continues to chase us across the ocean, another day and another 200 miles closer to Cape Verde, pass the sunscreen, its turned out nice again.. oh and don’t forget to turn your clocks back folks!

PS. It isn’t a race apparently, but last night Juno was a dozen miles and more behind us, we’d not seen her for a couple of days, the skippers persue different tactics in this race that isn’t happening, Juno sacrifces heading for outright speed, Isis sails the most direct route thereby sacrificing a little speed, but we’re still no slouch! This morning, after 800 miles and more, Juno joins us again, passing across our bows on an easterly tack, we press on, 210 degrees, its still not a race, but the last one to Cape Verde gets the beers in!

PPS The current boat speed record, set two nights ago amidst much delighted cheering, Laura on helm clocked 15.6kts, just pipping the current second fastest speed of 14.8kts held by Katy, go the girls!!!