Hi Everyone
The time is nigh. We are ready (we think). The boat is ready (we hope), for the greatest adventure of our young family's life to sail across the Atlantic. We will leave Gran Canaria Island around 12:30 local time (20:00 Hong Kong time or 14:30 Cape Town time) on Sunday 7th November. The last 6 months have been our preparation for this journey. It has been wonderful, challenging, fun and lots of hard work. Not everything is sunshine and daisies. We have needed to study, to teach, we have scrubbed, we have washed, we have carried and we have pulled. But throughout it has been a wonderful time. No question everyone is excited with a heavy dose of nervousness. I don’t think you can ever be fully prepared but you can only do your best. I am super proud of my young family and everyone's contribution.
Tomorrow the wind is very fresh too strong and the sea is big with 3m swells so it will be a fast and bumpy start but things should settle down soon enough. We are very lucky to have my lovely brother Craig helping us route our way across and will be sending daily weather alerts and advice. Thank you Boet.
I apologise for the very limited updates and sharing over the past 6 weeks. We have been working so very hard to get everything ready that honestly at the end of the day all we felt like was a beer.
Next 30 days looks like this
7 November 12h30 - Depart Gran Canaria, Las Palmas
11-12 November - Arrive Mindelo Marina, Cape Verde
19 November 11h30 - Depart Cape Verde
3-5 December - Arrive Port Louis Marina, Grenada
So let me share the important links on how you can follow us and how you can communicate with us.
Our Webite
https://horsfield.family/
You will see our little blue DOT moving and you will be able to see where we are. We won’t have any photos or updates until we arrive in Cape Verde but I hope to add a few updates
Predict Wind
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/SV_Arabella?mapMode=useAtlas&windSymbol=Barb&weatherSource=ECMWF
Our position, current boat speed and the live weather we are experiencing
ARC Rally
https://www.worldcruising.com/arc/eventfleetviewer.aspx
You may need to select ARC + 2021. This will show our position relative to the fleet and all the other yachts. There are around 80 yachts crossing to Grenada on the ARC + rally but only 23 in our class (DIV 4 Multihull Cruising Class A)
granthorsfield@myiridium.net
delphine_yip@myiridium.net
You can email us but only send words. No pictures. No videos. And please check that you have no logos etc attached.
FREE SMS
https://www.predictwind.com/iridium-free-sms/
+881652430325
SMS
+881652430325
(But this isn’t always working and not sure why)If I reply it works for you. Remember to put +88 at the beginning
Finally we really do wish to hear from you and hear your comments and love. We miss you all and hope to see you all somewhere along the way.
Love the Horsfield Family