Yes, Lady Kay is now showing over 25,000 miles on our sea log. The equivalent of more than a full circuit around the equator. We've actually done more miles than this because the 25,000 miles is recorded by a small paddle which is turned in the water, and often sticks with bits of barnacles etc. However, officially the boat has done at least 25,000 miles. She's survived hurricane, storms, big seas and numerous ocean crossings and still looks good, although showing signs of age.

We first sailed from Sables D'Olonne near La Rochelle in June 2003 and went via Lagos and Funchal to Madeira. Michael's first ocean crossing. Lady Kay was based in Grenada for the next five years. In the first year we sailed her to the BVIs and then through the whole archipelago back down to Grenada. In 2004 Lady Kay was badly damaged by Hurricane Ivan. Amazingly she was sailing again within a few weeks, although the final repairs took a year to complete.

Since then Lady Kay has been sailing in the Caribbean normally between December and June, visiting and revisiting most of the islands of the Eastern Caribbean.

In December 2008 Lady Kay set sail from St Lucia for Panama, crossed the canal and then the Pacific. We went by way of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and then the long crossing to the Marquesas.

From there we sailed through the Tuamotas to Tahiti and its neighbouring islands. We then left French Polynesia for Nuie going by way of the tiny atoll of Suvarrow. We finished the season by visiting Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Lady Kay then headed South for New Zealand via Norfolk Island.

After spending the Southern Hemisphere summer in New Zealand we are spending a second season in the South Pacific. We returned to Tonga, Fiji and New Caledonia to see some of the places that we missed first time round. We discovered that there was so much more to the islands and their peoples when you explore slowly.

We are now back in New Caledonia, and are planning to go into Noumea to await a weather window for the long journey south to New Zealand. Where we plan to give Lady Kay some TLC in readiness for her next season. We are hoping to return to Fiji and Vanuatu again and leave for Australia earlier in the season so that we can arrive their when the land is still relatively cool.