Summer crews

I met my wife, Nicole, in New Zealand and we sailed around the world together on our 37ft Polynesian catamaran, Taraipo. I’ve also sailed thousands of miles single-handed.

However, this summer we decided to do something different and sail with as many friends and family as possible on our UK yacht, Juggler, a 32ft Westerly Fulmar.

I’m from Edinburgh and Nicole is from Switzerland so we sent out the invitations far and wide. So enthusiastic were the recipients, that we had over 30 volunteers for our voyage from Plymouth to the Outer Hebrides and back!

In order to keep track of everyone, I prepared a spreadsheet with the crew’s names, addresses and contact details, and sent out joining instructions to ensure they all brought the right clothing, and to warn them there was no wifiand only one charging point for all the phones!

First on board was my old sailing friend, John McLaren. We set off on 17 May to attempt to round Land’s End, which can be quite a challenge against the prevailing westerlies.

Away with the current

At 0630 with the current, we set off with a light north-easterly under full main and asymmetric spinnaker. We’d spent the day before driving in circles to calibrate our replacement