Rock2Rock

Kuna Yala

Feb.2010 KUNA YALA . Just off the coast of Pamama there is a group of more than 300 islands independent of the governance of Panama.We are anchored in the gorgeous archipelago of San blas known by locals as KUNA YALA. There is a tiny island a few ...

Voyage to San Blas PANAMA

From Puerto Rico we left on our voyage of 850 miles to San Blas. During the first two days at sea the weather deteriorated quickly, there were squalls with lots of rain and 25 to 30 knot winds. I was too sick to take any pictures. On the third day the seas ...

Annie’s Fresh Fish

Annie cutting up lobsters in Kuna Yala. We saw the fishermen in KUNA YALA.Their sails are made from sheets! They were in dugout boats with fish they caught with spears. These are called Red Snapper. The lobsters are full of meat. Mum showed me how to cut them up. Ready for cooking. The fisherman wanted coca ...

Thank you from Miss Tippy

Thank you from MISS TIPPY to all our friends and family for the many messages of support sent whilst we rested in Puerto Rico after Brians accident at sea. Miss Tippy looking gorgeous after a special clean and polish. A really big THANK YOU must go to the boys from Mercury Rising. We ...

Miss Tippy Drama!

MISS TIPPY DRAMA AT SEA A dramatic day on Miss Tippy ( some graphic pictures.) Wed 20th January. We are well into our passage to San Blas. Tortola is 175 miles behind us with a beautiful sunrise at sea. All is calm and peaceful on Miss Tippy with a good weather forecast. ...

Ile Fourchue,St.Barts

We left St Barts and sailed out to sea for a relaxing afternoon. It was a really great sail for about 4 hours with the wind on our side and the sun shining. We then came back to land just 3 miles off St. Barts to Ile Fourchue, a lovely island set ...

R2R 16.2 Caribbean Cruising (Part 2)

This part shows our cruising around the beautiful islands of St Marten, Anguilla, and around the British Virgin Islands (including Virgin Gorda, Anegada, and Tortola). A lovely break before continuing our voyage with a 1,000 mile passage to the San Blas islands in Panama....we'll be sure to post more ...

Jan 10 St.Barts

Miss Tippy gave us a thrilling ride to St Barts with a big sea crashing over the decks, we had a cracking sail as she surfed the waves and carried us into Gustavia Harbour . Freddie ready for anchor action. Annie sitting up front on reef watch. Anchor down Miss Tippy looking ...

R2R 16.1 Caribbean Cruising (Part 1)

After Christmas in Antigua we cruised towards the British Virgin Islands visiting some beautiful islands en route. This first part of our two part film on our Caribbean experience includes Antigua, Barbuda, St Kitts, Saba and St Barts. We hope you enjoy! Problems viewing? Use this link to ...

Dec ‘09 – Jan ‘10 Saba.

We had spotted a little green dot on the Caribbean chart and decided to visit Saba, a 5 square mile Dutch island that offers a wild and unspoiled nature. Freddie the anchor man! Charlie filming Miss Tippy sailing at a steady 5 knots from St Kitts to Saba. We found a beautiful island ...

Dec. 09. St Kitts.

We left English Harbour after a lovely holiday with friends from England. English Harbour is hard to spot from the sea,but a beautiful sight from Shirley Heights on the site of an old English Fort 145m high. We had our Christmas dinner BBQ on the beach you can see on the right ...

Cabin kids postcards: January 2010

Postcard to Ian Petit

Hi Ian.....sorry I am a bit delayed posting this but we have been sailing lots!....

Dec 09 Frigate Birds, Barbuda…. and Tuna!

We loved remote Barbuda and enjoyed the clear sea and beautiful beaches. It has an amazing Frigate bird colony in a lagoon protected from visiting yachts. George known as King Goldilocks took us and friends for a thrilling ride in his water taxi. The children had a boat of their own. The Frigate birds ...

Dec.09 Barbuda

Dec.09 Barbuda Miss Tippy was ship shape after a few days rest in Jolly Harbour . The laundry was done and the galley restocked.It was time to explore new Caribbean islands. The sister island to Antigua was only 25 miles away. We set sail for Barbuda, remote and quiet where the pace of ...

Ahoy there! Happy Christmas 2009!

Happy Christmas day pictures from Antigua! Love to Grandma and Grandad XXXX Christmas Tuna Dinner !! Love from Miss Tippy xx Have a nice Christmas MON !!! A huge box of goodies from Uncle Michael, Auntie Julia, Cat, Alice and Lucy THANK YOU so much!! Love Sheila and crew xx

Happy Christmas!

A very Happy Christmas to all our family and friends ,we miss you all ,with love from Brian, Sheila, Charlie,Freddie and Annie xx Annie,Freddie and Charlie Getting into the Caribbean Christmas spirit xx THANK YOU ALL for messages we really love reading them and hearing your news !LOVE from MISS TIPPY

Dec.18th Antigua REEF RESCUE!

We set sail again and Freddie steered us into Deep Bay just a few miles from Jolly Harbour. We found the perfect spot to anchor off the island of Antigua .The view was magnificent. The children spent most of the day playing under water. Charlie. Annie REEF RESCUE! Next morning we heard a VHF transmission ...

Very Freddie Christmas !

Ho Ho Ho Ho ! What did Santa say to the boat?Have a Ferry Christmas !! Have a COOL one from FREDDIE !!!!

Dec 11th Antiguan Welcome.

The great Antiguan welcome was everything we dreamed of after nearly three weeks at sea.We were so happy to be on dry land that the first thing to do was jump into the sea ! There are 365 beaches on Antigua one for each day of the year! Many bays and ...

R2R 015.2 Arriving in Antigua

What a great feeling to turn the corner at the South of Antigua and see the turquoise water and palm fringed beaches of Jolly Harbour. This film shows our arrival at Jolly Harbour after almost three weeks at sea as well as a number of other rally boat crews who ...

Dec 4th. “I can see land” !

The morning of Dec. 2nd Freddie shouted,"I can see land!" We all jumped around the boat dancing and laughing. What a sight after 19 days at sea,there in the distance the beautiful island of Antigua,so lush and inviting! The green landscape was amazing! The children wanted to swim to shore. Land Ahoy ! 2900 ...

Nov.27th Atlantic Storms

There were storms and lightening for a few days and we felt tired and emotional,the boat surged and rolled and sleep was difficult. The children all crawled into bed with me until my watch at 4am. ...

Nov.21st Into the Atlantic Ocean.

The lovely sea and the sky. The land fades into view and we look forward to night watch and a lovely sunset. Tippy sunset. Mark first night of Atlantic crossing. Skipper Brian takes 8pm to midnight watch, he needs to be available at any time with a moments notice.Crew Mark has the midnight ...

Diving in Antigua

Amy from Yacht Jackamy offered to babysit Charlie, Freddie and Annie on the beach giving us free time to dive with friends from the Rally off Jolly beach. It was a beautiful day in Antigua. Derry and Paul from yacht Jackamy, Brian and Sheila from yacht Miss Tippy, Carol from yacht Bali ...

Nov.13th Atlantic departure.

Diary Nov 13th We awoke excited to leave for the Atlantic crossing.Miss Tippy was looking gorgeous all teak washed and all chrome shiny and flags flying and everything ship shape. We had a hearty cooked breakfast in a café while the children ran around the marina for the last time on land ...

R2R 015.1 Transatlantic Passage

Light winds plagued the start of our first family Transatlantic crossing. Once near Cape Verdes these gave way to steady trade winds and we soon sped along to Antigua. We went about 3,000 nautical miles in 19 days and faced the usual trials of a long ocean passage and went ...

Nov.6th Lanzarote boat school

LANZAROTE.Having rested,partied,played and toured Lanzarote, this week was all about organising boat schooling for the children. Miss Tippy was turned into a school room for part of the day with Brian and I sharing the teaching. Science experiments on the pontoon.Thanks to Gemma Whitely for the props! Lessons are either morning or afternoon ...

CK 003 Lunar Lanzarote

Lanzarote was loads of fun. We had two weeks relaxing there before setting off on our Atlantic Crossing. This film shows some of the tours we went on plus our halloween party!

R2R 014 A floppy sail to Lanzarote

Light variable winds dominated this first leg of the Blue Water Rally. A good time for getting into the rhythm of ocean sailing and fishing. See our adventure on the following film including our best catch so far...a large tuna! Problems viewing? Use this link to our You Tube player.

R2R 013 Rally Away!

At 1000 on October 25th, 2009 a canon exploded forth on Europa point and the rally finally began!! Problems viewing? Use this link to our You Tube player.

Post card to my friends

R2R 012 Departure looms!

Several crews from the Blue Water Rally share their thoughts on the eve of the start of their around the world adventure! Problems viewing? Use this link to our You Tube player.

Lanzarote Halloween

We made costumes all afternoon on 'Miss Tippy 'with children from yacht ‘Roundabout' and had great fun trick or treating. The 17 Blue Water Rally boats had arrived safely from Gibraltar, and were ready to party! Phyllis from 'Amber Sea' organised all boats to be ready with the candy, Pink ...

Oct 25th The Blue Water Rally Start.

After 3 years of planning we were actually on the start line with a beautiful blue sky and 17 boats on the horizon,white sails flying, awaiting the explosion from the cannon across the straits of Gibraltar to mark the start of the BLUE WATER RALLY 2009. The children sat on the ...

Oct.2009 Waiting in Gibraltar

We aim to update this diary weekly from now.This first post covers our time in Gibraltar since we arrived here early in September. After the excitement of arrival we had a sense of anticlimax for the first week or so in Gibraltar. We moored to a fixed concrete pontoon and were ...

CK 002 Caving in Gibraltar

We crawled through holes, absailed down slimy walls and crept along wafer thin ledges on this tour of the caves below St Michaels Cave. While tourists went in the cave above, our guide, Dale took us to explore the lower caves. We took four hours to travel only ...

R2R 011 Moroccan moment

After a month in Gibraltar we were ready for our warm up cruise with the Blue Water Rally to Smir in Morocco. We set off in the dark early on Saturday with Rally Organisers, Tony and Christine Diment plus John's friend Bex for a great weekend! After an ...

R2R 010.4 Lagos to Gibraltar

After about 2,000 miles down through the English Channel, across the Bay of Biscay and down the Spanish and Portuguese coast we arrived in Gibraltar. We had some tricky moments, including a near collision with a fast catamaran ferry off Tarifa. This still didn't dampen our enthusiasm as ...

R2R 010.3 Lisbon to Lagos

We sailed through thick fog down the coast of Portugal, occasionally accompanied by frolicking dolphins! Sailing at night was complicated by the numerous lobster pots floating around which threatened to tangle up on our rudder! Problems viewing? Use this link to our You Tube player.