The month started sailing Limosa, the MOD 70 for The Famous Project, from Portimao in Portugal to Toulon in the South of France. We left Portugal and then had very light winds when we reached the Gibraltar Straits, resulting in us motoring for about 14 hours. Being an extremely busy stretch of water, this allowed us to relax as we made our way safely through this passage. The wind then filled in and we had the most incredible journey downwind sailing all the way to France. We did not need to tack once and only splashed the deck in the final couple of hours as we approached Toulon. It was fast, fun and a really wonderful sail. The added bonus in covering these miles very quickly meant that I arrived home in time to celebrate Harry’s birthday with him. My gift was bringing some lovely weather home with me which meant we could share the weekend with friends in the sunshine.
London then beckoned and I attended the Travel Geeks event in my capacity as ambassador for Sunsail. The event was organised by National Geographic Magazine and I was on a panel discussing the Ultimate Greek island hopping adventure. I always love hearing about the many nautical adventures available for people to experience but this particular topic was extremely timely as I was heading off to Lefkas to join Sunsail’s 50th Anniversary Flotilla the week after.
The Greek Islands certainly did not disappoint. We cruised from Lefkas to Vathi on Meganissi, hopped to Kalamos, Kastos and Kioni on Ithaca, then Sivota on Lefkada and finally Palairos. It was a fantastic week filled with a combination of relaxed sailing, snorkelling, paddle boarding and swimming. We enjoyed wonderful Greek cuisine and met some great people. I hope to return as I feel we barely scratched the surface of what the islands have to offer, with so many wonderful bays and villages yet to explore.
I end this month with the greatest and most exciting news of all. The Famous Project are launching the big boat and, at 32 metres long and 23 metres wide, she really earns that description. The Ultime, IDEC Sport, holds the current Jules Verne Trophy record achieved by Francis Joyon at 40 days, 23 hours, 30 minutes and 30 seconds. That record has held for 7 years now and to date no all-female team has ever completed this feat. All being well, under the guidance of Alexia Barrier, we hope The Famous Project can earn our place in the record books. Now that the boat is in the water, our work really starts as we learn how to manage the beast, gain the confidence to push her to the max so that we can sail around the world as fast as possible.