September 2017 brought Hurricane Irma; the first category 5 hurricane to be recorded in the Leeward Islands (before Maria showed up 2 weeks later). It had maximum wind strength of 180mph and waves of around 10m in some places. Across the region there were at least 134 Irma-related deaths. Landfall was in Antigua and Barbuda, […]
‘In 1928 I had my first experience of a hurricane,’ my grandmother Joyce had written in her journal chronicling her life in Antigua. After an eventful summer in Europe, I was rejoining my bateau in Guadeloupe during peak hurricane season. Part of the reason I’d chosen Guadeloupe was that it was the next island from […]
My first Transatlantic crossing in May 2017 was tough but not for the reasons I was expecting. Although I didn’t learn much about practical sailing, I learnt a lot about leadership and mental health on board, especially when you’re isolated from the world with just a few companions to keep you sane (or drive you […]
Seasickness, in fact any kind of motion sickness, is something I’ve been plagued by all my life. Long, vomity car rides; being miserable and nauseous on every boat I’d ever been on up until this point; even park swings as an adult were rides of gastronomical danger (adults can still go on park swings, goddamnit […]
I’d bought my bateau because I wanted to learn how to sail. Seems like a simple idea, right? Many people are advised to start off in a sort of apprenticeship mode, learning the ropes (literally) on other people’s boats. Take some courses, spend time seeing how it’s done with the experts before sinking a load […]
I was squeezed into the car we’d christened ‘Electric Furious’ (because it made noises like a dying electric car and didn’t have the power to get us up hills) with my three Spanish housemates (‘mes Espagnols’) and an American; windows down because there was no air-con and the same five reggaeton tunes on a loop […]
We were at Carnival in Fort-de-France, Martinique, and it was Mardi Gras: the wildest and most sexually charged night of the holiday week. Everyone was appropriately dressed up in face paint and the obligatory red and black iterations of their lingerie. Night had fallen and suddenly the cheerful light-hearted phalluses of the parade seemed a […]
A little while ago I met some fabulous people who lived on a sailing boat somewhat bigger and better equipped than my own (understatement of the century). They were shocked that I cruised without basic things like a fridge or shelter in the cockpit. They sent me this great article from Yachting World, where seasoned […]
What it’s like buying a boat for the first time Introducing Anne Bonny When I was a teenager dreaming of having a boat (a standard daydream), I felt like Anne Bonny would be a super cool name to choose because she was one of the few famous female Caribbean pirates, and ‘Mary Read’ just didn’t […]
I told my sister I was writing a blog, and very supportively she said ‘that’s fantastic, I’m sure you’d be good at that’. Then she wrinkled her brow when I said it was more of a memoire type narrative. ‘That’s not really what a blog is any more’, she said kindly. ‘They’re supposed to be […]
September 2017 brought Hurricane Irma; the first category 5 hurricane to be recorded in the Leeward Islands (before Maria showed up 2 weeks later). It had maximum wind strength of 180mph and waves of around 10m in some places. Across the region there were at least 134 Irma-related deaths. Landfall was in Antigua and Barbuda, […]
‘In 1928 I had my first experience of a hurricane,’ my grandmother Joyce had written in her journal chronicling her life in Antigua. After an eventful summer in Europe, I was rejoining my bateau in Guadeloupe during peak hurricane season. Part of the reason I’d chosen Guadeloupe was that it was the next island from […]