New Plans & New Adventures

It gives such pleasure to be writing to you all and to be embarking on a new adventure that we would like to share with you.

It would take such a long time to write about all that has happened to us in the past three years so I will save you all the boredom and try to sum up three years of our lives very simply.

So, where do we start? Well firstly, we did not sell our beloved Troskala. It is true that we got close but we pulled out last minute due to so many emotional ties. Well she ended up sitting for three years deteriorating in Virgin Gorda and costing us a small fortune as yachts tend to do. The decision however felt right and now I know that is was the correct one and we get to set sail again on our pride and joy.

So, back to our three years charting large yachts in The British Virgin Islands.

We worked our first year on a 48 foot Robertson & Cane catamaran (Kokomon), which was based out of Tortola., Carlotta as a chef and I as a Captain. After one year any too many charters we promoted to Sofia, a brand new Leopard 58. We were joined by Jose, Carlotta’s brother who worked as our additional crew- member.

Our first charter yacht – Kokomo

We did many charters offering ten guests the opportunity of renting out a very luxurious yacht for up to a week.   We have so many stories and are contemplating writing a book based on our experiences within the luxury charter industry so watch this space. The one thing is that the job financially benefited us. The wage was standard but what you could make on tips was sometimes mind-blowing. It was the easiest way to put some money behind us and that we did.

We found time in between to finally get married after thirteen years together in August 2015 in Oviedo (Spain). I have attached the video below for anyone who is interested. Thank you to all our friends and family and fellow cruisers who made this day so special.

Password: carlotta2015

So, what is the plan now and why have I started blogging. Well, for us there is only so much chartering we can do and around December we decided that enough was enough. We had been living on Sofia full time for over a year and the thought of completing yet another full season in the charter industry was too much. It is never a good idea to continue doing a job where you are unhappy or have doubts in what you are doing, so we looked to the horizon for new challenges.

During a night of many vinos with Carlotta we discussed the future and what we wanted from it. It was easy in a way to keep on earning good money in the charter industry but it was clear we were both becoming more unhappy with our job and at that point the decision was made to leave the charter business.

Originally we had planned to leave in 2017 but 2016 is our year and Troskala is now undergoing a major refit to get her back to the state she was three years ago before the 02^nd May.  When making our decision, we expected that I would find a job in the Super Yacht industry and go from there after taking eight months to cruise.

Whilst planning our future the subject of children always seemed to come up but if we wanted this we would have to settle and this time not in a boat.

As luck would have it I was recently offered a job to set up and manage The Moorings charter base in Palma Mallorca. We could not have been happier with the offering however the need for me to now be in Palma has put pressure on getting Troskala over the pond. Palma will be our new home.

So, the clock is ticking and we need Troskala ready to be launched by the 1^st of May 2016.

Troskala has spent the past three years on the hard in Virgin Gorda and I have to say that these three years have been very unkind. She is not in the best state and in order to get her back to previous condition a lot of work and a lot of money are needed.

So, why am I writing this blog? Well, unfortunately we will not be completing the circumnavigation we had planned four years ago when leaving London. Instead I want to complete the Atlantic circuit. This has now become a passage of timing and endurance. We need to make Palma by the 08^th July and to undertake this will mean that the timings need to work well without being dangerous. We very much look forward to completing the 5,500 miles on Troskala and returning her back to Europeam waters.

I would like to share with you all the upgrades and changes we will be making to Troskala over the next few weeks. I want to share photos and right about our successes and failures. I also want to share with you the planning I undertook prior to departure so that I am hopefully able to assist those of you who are panning a similar journey in the future.

I plan to make the journey solely by using celestial navigation. I hope to video every aspect of the journey and write about the various destinations we visit although our time in Bermuda, Azores and Gibraltar will be short. I hope to detail everyday of our trip and share with you the logs that we make and the lessons learnt

The following crew has decided to help me undertake certain passages with me:

William Bates – British

Ollie Campbell – British

Jovita Sarpnickaite – British

Jordan Bennett – American

All of the above have sailed with me before, some more than others. I thank all of you for your support and for supporting the crazy notion of sailing a 32 foot yacht across an ocean.

As always the blog is designed to receive questions so please feel free to ask me anything and question what I am, doing; I love the feedback.

Enjoy and thank you for joining in on our adventures.

Twenty Days until laugh and just a little work to be done.