Tom and I joined the boat in Piriapolis a few days before setting off to the Falklands. In these first few days we learnt how to service the winches, probably painstakingly slowly in Chris' eyes! Having never lived on a yacht before it was a new experience, but one which we both enjoyed. Chris, Dave and Magnus have all made us both feel at home on the boat and have been eager to teach us anything to do with sailing,

The night before we were due to set off Tom and I donned seasickness patches and got an early night, in preparation for an early start to get everything sorted and ready to sail. True to the warnings on the packet, the seasick patches had rather strange effects, not so much with me, but Tom became temporarily longsighted, with drowsiness affecting us both!

Now we are on Day 4 of the journey, and the weather has been surprisingly favourable, with nothing above 25 knots in the way of wind speed. Adjusting to the watch system was something of a shock to the system, but fairly easy to become accustomed to, although sleeping for five hours in the middle of the afternoon is still strange!

With the wind now more behind us the boat is rolling considerably more, with Tom and I getting steadily more used to walking around on a constantly changing angle. Something which fascinated the both of us were the phosphorescent plankton-like creatures which, when disturbed by the following dolphins make it look as if green torpedoes are shooting through the water.

So far, the rest of the crew have been teaching us no end of sailing tips, including just basic sailing tactics. Tom and I have helped with a few tacks and a gybe, polishing the stainless steel and have also tried figuring out the radar, sonar system. Both of us have now had a few hours driving the boat, both in daylight and the middle of the night. This we found pretty simple, but now with the waves behind us and slightly larger, it will be harder to keep the boat as steady as before.

All in all, so far Tom and I are thoroughly enjoying our first ever proper sailing trip, and are finding the crew extremely hospitable and keen to teach.