My first trip of a lifetime.

So, you may ask, why has he started blogging now ?

It's simple really. I'm going to sail across the Atlantic.
Well the bit of it between Bermuda and Horta in the Azores.

My friend Greg. has a Bénéteau 42s7 sailing yacht 'Eclipse' in Clear Lake, Texas and he wants her in Cowes, Isle of Wight in time for Cowes Week 2008. So he has organised a group of interested souls into crews to cover the four legs of the trip - Texas to Florida, Florida to Bermuda, Bermuda to The Azores, The Azores to The UK.

I can't afford to not work for the two months the full trip will take, so I'm doing the Transat bit.

To view a map of the route go to: This Link

There is also be a web page to track our progress - http://www.kemahportal.com/

Eclipse will be joining the ARC Europe rally from Florida, so there will be about 35 yachts crossing the pond approximately together. From a safety and organisational standpoint that makes everyone happier. Especially those back home.

And this blog is a way of keeping everyone up to date. During the next couple of months, I'll be posting to this blog regularly with updates on where I am physically, mentally and logistically.
We've got laptops and a Sat phone on board Eclipse - we have to report our position every day via email to the ARC organisers, so I'll hopefully be able to blog from the boat!

When I work out how to drive the blog properly, I'll have a comments thing so you can ask questions or remark on my lunacy. These will then be emailed to me. But we're on a slow SatPhone connection to the boat, so please keep them short so I can be up top taking pictures, rather than down below on the computer!

So, where am I at now?

I fly out from Gatwick to Bermuda on Sun 18th May. We then get ourselves organised for food, fuel, prezzies etc for a couple of days. On Wed 21st we set sail. During the next couple of weeks we head approx. NorthEast dependant on breeze and weather, taking pictures and drinking ... Tea - Eclipse is a dry boat. ie No alcohol. We plan to reach Horta in The Azores on 2nd June. Here we meet Greg., who is holidaying amongst the islands before he takes Eclipse back to Blighty. We can then fly home, job jobbed.

I'm now thinking about packing - AAARGH

Thanks for reading.