Can’t believe that five days have passed since we last blogged. Is that a verb – To Blog? Anyway.... it’s been a busy five days here in Rodney Bay marina, preparing to head off west with the World ARC group. We are only going with them to Panama, and the other 35 boats are going on together, but we still need to meet all the rally requirements and we have interesting seminars to attend and the occasional party to meet our fellow sailors. So there’s been lots of checking, maintenance, food shopping, planning, learning and generally getting the boat back into Offshore Mode. This includes a couple of trips up the mast: see picture for a high level view from the top of Barracuda’s mast. (Those are Graham’s legs, not Kate’s.)

The next leg is about six days offshore, followed by about four days rest, before setting off again for the canal. We won’t be crossing a full ocean until March, but we do need to get the boat back into ocean-crossing mode as there are limited opportunities to get support now. Our next major centre for any service is Panama, and after that it is a long way off, in Tahiti.

We now have Alasdair MacKenzie on board. Alasdair will help crew Barracuda to Colombia and on through the Panama canal. Alasdair and Graham worked together in the Middle East. Alasdair’s luggage allowance was much appreciated by Barracuda for bringing spares and other useful things from the UK!

Tomorrow morning we will all head west across the Caribbean Sea bound for Santa Marta in Colombia. The trip should take about six days, if all goes to plan. You can follow progress on the ARC Yellow Brick site:

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Select St Lucia to Mackay. (if asked). We are the smallest and probably slowest boat in the fleet so look for us at the back.

We will provide updates along the way as weather and sailing allow.