Grown Ups Gap Year

Now the girls have finished University it is our turn for a gap year! #grownupsgapyear

Vessel Name: Mirage
Vessel Make/Model: Moody 38CC - 1993
Hailing Port: Poole, Dorset, UK
Crew: Sally and Paul
Extra: After the girls had finished university we decided it is our turn for a gap year.
04 August 2020
29 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
25 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
22 July 2020
15 July 2020
11 July 2020
05 June 2020
29 May 2020
19 May 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
12 May 2020 | Atlantic Ocean
04 May 2020
11 April 2020 | Guadeloupe
03 March 2020
Recent Blog Posts
04 August 2020

Falmouth to Studland

We spent two nights on a mooring buoy in Falmouth but wished we could have stayed longer and had a slow passage home to Poole. However we are getting Mirage lifted out of the water as soon as practicable and we do this near to where we live. To get to the boat yard we have to go up the local river that [...]

02 August 2020

Azores to Falmouth - the arrival

With the final 400 NM we were typically doing 140 NM a day or better until the last night on the way to Lizard Point and the entry to Falmouth. The wind was around 20 knots for most of the time but the wave grew bigger during the first 200NM and became steeper once we had crossed the continental shelf. These [...]

29 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean

Azores to Falmouth Update 2

Day 4 brought the strong winds we had been expecting but we had kept ourselves further south than the shortest route to help keep out the strongest. The day was a mix of drizzle and sunshine but still warm enough to keep the shorts on & we carried on sailing at a good pace crossing the 800NM to go [...]

25 July 2020 | Atlantic Ocean

Azores to Falmouth Update

We left just after 10am on Wed 23rd to sail the 1156NM to Falmouth. The weather did its best to give us a good send off but the wind was missing! We were waved goodbye by the boats from Praia do Vitoria and help with our lines by some friends we had met there. With the lack of wind we needed to motor [...]

22 July 2020

Terceira

We did an overnight sail to Terceira Island (Ilha Terceira) from Sao Jorge to ensure we arrived in the daylight. Our destination was the marina at Praia da Vitória. This is known to be the cheapest in the Azores but is also a good departure place from the Azores to the UK. The sail took us initially [...]

15 July 2020

São Jorge

We left Horta for São Jorge at 08:30 to sail the 22NM. We knew it was going to be a slow sail as the wind was light and we also only had the genoa which when on its own isn't the ideal sail for an upwind sail. With her clean bottom however Mirage didn't disgrace herself and we managed the sail in just [...]

Update 3 - Atlantic Crossing

12 December 2019 | Atlantic Ocean
Paul
843NM left to go in a straight line so we are well over half way. Typically we have been doing 140NM-150NM days with the best just over 160NM. We are now true down wind trade sailing with a poled out Genoa and a stay sail set on the inner fore stay making for easy sailing. The sea has been quite bumpy with 4-5m swell for a lot of the trip which makes doing anything on-board difficult.

We have had one failure, the AIS system has stopped working so we are no loner seen on big ship navigation systems. This also supplied the GPS position to the VHF radio, so a few hours were spent rewiring things to feed another GPS into the VHF radio. This also Marinetraffic tracking will not work Father!

We anticipate another 6/7days on passage. The wind steering system has performed well and takes a huge load from us. We hve not seen another yacht or ship since leaving Cape Verde Islands and only have had one ship on AIS when it was still working.

We are still seeing lots of flying fish and a few sea birds, one landed on the boat and visited us in the cockpit and even sat contentedly in my hand.

Happy Birthday Malcolm!
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Mirage's Photos - Main
30 Photos
Created 22 July 2020
50 Photos
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62 Photos
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29 Photos
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Created 11 April 2020
47 Photos
Created 11 March 2020
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22 Photos
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29 Photos
Created 11 January 2020
7 Photos
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21 Photos
Created 11 January 2020
23 Photos
Created 20 December 2019
40 Photos
Created 2 December 2019
18 Photos
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12 Photos
Created 14 November 2019
51 Photos
Created 9 November 2019
20 Photos
Created 27 October 2019
31 Photos
Created 27 October 2019
8 Photos
Created 17 October 2019
34 Photos
Created 16 October 2019
19 Photos
Created 10 October 2019
18 Photos
Created 6 October 2019
52 Photos
Created 29 September 2019
11 Photos
Created 26 September 2019
16 Photos
Created 24 September 2019
Nazare and O Sitio
19 Photos
Created 23 September 2019
33 Photos
Created 18 September 2019
14 Photos
Created 15 September 2019
70 Photos
Created 14 September 2019
12 Photos
Created 14 September 2019
From Corrubedo to Foz du Minho
11 Photos
Created 12 September 2019
15 Photos
Created 10 September 2019
Journey to Cabo Finisterre and the visit
11 Photos
Created 9 September 2019
Ria de Camarinas
11 Photos
Created 7 September 2019
3 Photos
Created 5 September 2019
16 Photos
Created 2 September 2019
General photos of the crossing
8 Photos
Created 31 August 2019
The final loading and setting up for the start of the true Adventure
2 Photos
Created 10 August 2019

About & Links

Photo Albums
22 July 2020
30 Photos
15 July 2020
50 Photos