Crossing the Atlantic in Yacht Cariad - follow me & Al on this blog!

Two years ago my friend and mentor Tony died. He had cancer and decided not to take any treatment. My Dad Steve was friends with Tony for years and met through the flying world. When I was about 5, my Dad, Tony, and another family all bought a yacht together so that they could do their sailing qualifications and take family and friends sailing around Brixham and Dartmouth. Tony decided to go sailing around the world 15 years ago, so both families sold their share to Tony. Over the years we managed to sail with Tony. When he died we found out he had left Cariad for me in his will. The crazy chap.

Tony is the one on the left, then my Dad, me, my brother Dan and my mum Mary back in 2012 cruising with Tony on Cariad.

Tony going around the world!

This happened in Nov 2019, so Al and I planned and booked to fly out to the Caribbean where Tony had set up a life for himself and Cariad in March 2020. Yep, you guessed it...COVID hit and we were locked down. We didn't try in 2021 as we knew numbers would be high again after Christmas. So here we are in 2022 getting ready to fly out to Grenada and then catch a ferry to Carriacou. So the plan is to get out to the Caribbean and do a major refit. Al's Uncle Pete is flying out with Al in early Feb to help smash out part of the refit - legend. I'm flying out a week after that to give us an over lap because Al is doing two big expeds this year, the second one where in May he is climbing the Cassin on Denali in Alaska with our pal Ali Rose. 

Then if all is good and safe to go we will be setting off to Antigua in early April to do a big shakedown and test everything. We are then picking up our crew and pal for the first leg Harry!! We will then stock up with anything else we need in Antigua, then set off to the Azores for an exploration and holiday. 

My parents might come and say hey in the Azores, oh to be retired. With our extended leave (I have built up lots of leave over two years) Harry is then flying home and pal Emily Mulligan is flying in! Epic! If Al is getting stuck on time here if we get delayed, Al will also be flying home to go on his next exped. Then Azores back to the UK via Ireland to drop off Emily and swap her with my Dad and then sail Cariad back to Glencoe where there is a mooring waiting for us! 

Tony had a great friend called Paul who we got to know the last time we were out there, luckily he knows Cariad and is a surveyor so is helping us start the refit whilst we are stuck in the UK waiting to fly out. Cariad is out of the water, her hull has been pressure washed and an engineer Jeorg has checked out the engine. 

Cariad's rigging has been taken off and is being replaced. Yep, most of my savings are being used on this! When me and Al sold Yacht Xarifa (Sadler 25) that we used to own together (2017-2020) when I moved to Scotland and lived on her we are psyhed that Cariad is a Sadler 34 so the same make and big enough to stand up in woo. Al owns a percentage of Cariad so any work we are doing on her we are splitting on this epic adventure.

After all of this planning, I hope it all comes together and that we can leave the Caribbean and try and bring her home to Glencoe/Ballachulish and I will be smiling like in this picture!

We have had some epic spreadsheets, reading, and advice the last few years of planning this trip.

I can't go across the Atlantic without measuring something scientific. So after a great conversation with Laura who runs weswimwild and who I have been a waterlogger with and a microplastic "consultant" for the past two years, she has kindly donated some sampling kit...hopefully we don't find too much! The best bit is, is that I sampled from Glencoe source last year, so bringing Cariad back from the Caribbean to Glencoe we are going sea to source!!

Keeping in touch!

I will try and update this blog when I can! When we are on the two big crossings we will have a satphone which we will be using to track the weather and come up with some good routing. If you want to get in touch and email us a short message we will send out the email address nearer the time. The Fenton's have kindly let us borrow the RowAround Scotland spot tracker, so hopefully every day I will be updating our position from April! Thanks also to Goch for giving us loads of advice and helping us to buy some kit and also to Highwatersails who have given us some sail offcuts and other bits and pieces. 

Two skippers on a boat ...who are a couple...this is going to be some experience!! Don't worry we are going to be smiling just like this photo I am sure. :) 

Offshore commerical skipper!

Relief. It has been an intense 2 years completing my RYA and Trinity House Scholarship but finally, I've come out the other side of it as a commercially endorsed offshore skipper for sail and power. I couldn't have done this without my Dad and Tony teaching me how to sail when I was 12 and then so many others along the way teaching me their tricks. I have been building up to these more advanced courses since I was 15 and completed my competent crew! 

They were intense courses. The sail prep week finished with an exam from 2 pm till 2 am where even over dinner I was getting grilled about nav lights and anchoring all whilst in yet another gale! 

Information on how you can get your commercial endorsement if you need/want to drive sail/power vessels for work can be found here: https://www.rya.org.uk/training/professional-qualifications/commercial-endorsements

So, what does this actually all mean?

An RYA Yachtmaster® Offshore is competent to skipper a cruising yacht/vessel on any passage during which the yacht is no more than 150 miles from a harbor.

I have got both licenses commercially coded which means that I can use these licenses to skipper vessels on either sail or powerboats that are coded for work and be paid for it, within 150 miles offshore. 

Happy on the inside, on the outside I am terrified.

To put all of this into context...this is what I have been tested on during both exams:

"Candidates may be given the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge or competence in the areas listed below. In each section the examiner will expect to see the candidate take full responsibility for the management of the vessel and crew. The candidate will be expected to demonstrate competence based on broad experience. 

International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea Questions will be confined to the International Regulations and although candidates must be aware of the existence of Local Regulations, they will not be expected to memorise specific local regulations.  General Rules (1-3)  Steering and sailing rules (4-19)  Lights and shapes (20-31)  Sound and light signals (32-31)  Signals for vessels fishing in close proximity (Annex II)  Distress signals (Annex IV) Safety 

Candidates will be expected to know what safety equipment should be carried on board a motor yacht, based either on the recommendations in the RYA Boat Safety Handbook (C8), the ISAF Special 

Regulations or the Codes of Practice for the Safety of Small Commercial Vessels. In particular, candidates must know the responsibilities of a skipper in relation to:  Safety harnesses  Lifejackets  Distress flares  Fire prevention and fighting  Liferafts  Knowledge of rescue procedures  

Helicopter rescue Boat Handling Candidates will be expected to answer questions and demonstrate ability in complex situations and will also be expected to show a high level of expertise in:  Coming to and weighting anchor under power in various conditions of wind and tide  All berthing and unberthing situations in various conditions of wind and tide  Recovery of man overboard  Towing under open sea conditions and in confined areas  Boat handling in confined areas  Boat handling in heavy weather  Helmsmanship  Use of warps for securing in an alongside berth and for shifting berth or winding 

General seamanship, including maintenance  Properties, use and care of synthetic fibre ropes  Knots  General deck-work at sea and in harbour  Engine operations and routine checks Responsibilities of skipper  Can skipper a motor cruiser  Communication with crew  Delegation of responsibility and watch-keeping organisation  Preparing vessel for sea and for adverse weather  Tactics for heavy weather and restricted visibility  Emergency and distress situations  Victualling for a cruise and feeding at sea  Customs procedures  Standards of behaviour and courtesy Navigation  Charts, navigational publications and sources of navigational information  Chartwork including position fixing and shaping course to allow for tidal stream and leeway  Tide and tidal stream calculations  Buoyage and visual aids to navigation  Instruments including compasses, logs, echo sounders, radio navaids and chartwork instruments  Passage planning and navigational tactics  Pilotage techniques  Navigational records  Limits of navigational accuracy and margins of safety  Lee shore dangers  Use of electronic navigation aids for passage planning and passage navigation  Use of waypoints and electronic routeing  Use of radar for navigation, pilotage and collision avoidance Meteorology  Definition of terms  Sources of weather forecasts  Weather systems and local weather effects  Interpretation of weather forecasts, barometric trends and visible phenomena  Ability to make passage planning decisions based on forecast information Signals  Candidates must hold the Restricted (VHF only) Certificate of Competence in radiotelephony or a higher grade of certificate in radiotelephony. "

This was a blind nav exercise up a random river to this training ship during the prep week, woop made it! My brain was completely frazzled but I learned so much/consolidated my knowledge.
A gale!!!

Revising in the bathrooms at the marina...only private/quiet area! 

On the last morning on the yacht Pheobe, I awoke to a beautiful sunrise in Plymouth after hearing that I heard had passed.

After the long week in Plymouth, it was great to decompress and soak up the sun, sand and sea of Wembury with the Reeds and Venables :) 

Back on the power boats to convert my coastal licence to offshore!

What a stressful rollercoaster...I could have done these RYA exams in a better order and had a lot less stress with fewer ups and downs. The last RYA practical exam (I hope/think) as I've now converted my commercial power license to offshore 🥳. Instead of a gale like I've had in the last two exams, I had a fog bank instead...great times.

Thanks to everyone that's supported me with this and for Al testing me on lots of the theory beforehand! 

The Calmac ferries gave us a good show of its Christmas lights!

 Now maybe we could even hire some sailboats/large offshore vessels at SAMS for sciencing 🤓.

 If anyone's interested in applying here is some more info: https://marineindustrynews.co.uk/applications-open-for-trinity-house-rya-yachtmaster-scholarship/