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All ready for the off. Time to put some miles under that keel.

20_03_22

Iain & Fiona Lewis March 24, 2020

Red sky in the morning, fisherman’s warning; and so we head out to sea.

20_03_25

Iain & Fiona Lewis March 12, 2020

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Part two of our Pacific Odyssey is now online. T

Part two of our Pacific Odyssey is now online.

To read the blog and see more photos, please follow the link in our bio.

Friendships are.... Sailing friendships are somet

Friendships are....

Sailing friendships are something special. Mention to someone that you are not relishing handwashing many weeks of bed linen, and they instantly offer to not only collect the necessary rain water, and wash all your bed linen in their big washing machine, but they dry and fold it too!

Thank you @sailingblownaway

The first (of 4) instalments about our epic Pacifi

The first (of 4) instalments about our epic Pacific Crossing.

To read all about it and to see more photos, please follow the link in our bio.

#pacificcrossing
#longdistancecruising
#crossingtheequator
#saddlebacks

Another monster blog update with lots of photos, l

Another monster blog update with lots of photos, lots of bullet points, and not much prose.

https://ruffian.uk/2024/02/finally/
https://ruffian.uk/2024/02/ruffian-rally-rescue-rendezvous/
https://ruffian.uk/2024/01/escaping-the-inferno/
https://ruffian.uk/2024/01/dr-who-and-his-protective-tardis/

Sorry that Insta doesn't work well with hyperlinks, but you can find all our blogs by following the link from our bio.

Super cool pre-breakfast swim. #mantaray #french

Super cool pre-breakfast swim.

#mantaray
#frenchpolynesia
#sailingfrenchpolynesia

Another blog catchup day. When we left the UK to

Another blog catchup day.

When we left the UK to go sailing some people thought that we were sailing off the end of the world. In the Darian River, which creates the drug and murder filled Darian Gap, we literally fall off the edge of the map.

https://ruffian.uk/2024/01/filling-in-voids/
https://ruffian.uk/2024/01/pearls-in-the-perlas/
https://ruffian.uk/2024/01/transport/

To see more pictures, and read all our blogs, use the link in our bio.

Bit of a blog update blast today. We made a deci

Bit of a blog update blast today.

We made a decision as to where to head, we work on Ruffian and cross into a new ocean. All very exciting.

https://ruffian.uk/2023/12/one-ocean-to-another/
https://ruffian.uk/2023/12/peter-the-pilot/
https://ruffian.uk/2023/11/the-new-normal/

Hyperlinks don't work great in insta but you can follow the link in our bio and catch up on our blogs from there.

Jungle adventure with @sailingblownaway to seek ou

Jungle adventure with @sailingblownaway to seek out the Polynesian petroglyphs.
Great to stretch our legs, and rebalance ourselves after so long at sea.
The variety of flowers and fruits was astonishing.
The petroglyphs themselves were unique, some completely unrecognisable, others... could it be a turtle, an octopus, a bird.... Whatever, we had a blast.

Day 38 Anchor down! We have arrived in Hiva Oa, M

Day 38
Anchor down! We have arrived in Hiva Oa, Marquises, French Polynesia.
Our longest passage ever by 16 days.
It became even longer when on day 15 we realised strands were failing in our new rigging wires.
We sailed 2200nm with emergency dyneema lowers.

Happy Wedding Anniversary! Life with you will alw

Happy Wedding Anniversary!

Life with you will always be an adventure.

The Pink Footed Boobie. Stayed a while to rest i

The Pink Footed Boobie.

Stayed a while
to rest its broken wing
made a mess
now gone,
please don't come again.

For Nicky!

Day 30 Thought we'd be there by now. Another nigh

Day 30
Thought we'd be there by now.
Another night.
The moon comes up,
The moon goes down.
706 nm remaining.

Day 24 The winds have reduced and so has the sea

Day 24

The winds have reduced and so has the sea state. This meant Iain was able to go up and rig a dyneema stay to the starboard lower (which now has broken strands at the base as well as the top).

We haven't been able to tie them so we can use the mainsail, but now with both lowers secured with dyneema we can put out both headsails wing on wing, which will give us a little more boat speed when the wind comes back again.

@piphare, do you recognise the red dyneema? A halyard from The Shed! Knew it would come in handy one day 😂

1312 nm to go.

Dawn on day 23. We still have 1430 nautical mile

Dawn on day 23.

We still have 1430 nautical miles to go.

Here is why we are going so slowly. On 9 March (day 15), in the evening we spotted that a strand had broken in our port lower. We reduced sail, and Iain went aloft to install an emergency dyneema stay (not an easy task in 12ft seas).

Whilst he was up there, he spotted that we had the same issue on the starboard side lower. We decided it was too dangerous to go up a second time. Installing an emergency stay on the starboard side will have to wait until the seas subside.

For the non sailors, the lowers are part of the wire rigging that hold the mast upright. If one of them fails completely, the mast will fall down. This wire rigging was replaced at huge cost just 4 months ago when we were in the Rio Dulce. To say we are disappointed is an understatement.

Therefore we are sailing very conservatively, not usng the mainsail, reducing sail at the slightest hint of a squall, and using the best advice from Chris Parker at Marine Weather Centre to stay out of the squall zone and in light breeze.

1500 miles done. 2500 miles to go. #pacificcross

1500 miles done. 2500 miles to go.

#pacificcrossing

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