25. Sailing Beyond the Solent: Atlantic Crossings, Orcas and Photography aboard the Regina 43 ARKYLA

Leaving home waters behind for ocean passages, Caribbean anchorages and the unexpected.

What happens when years of sailing the Solent turn into something much bigger?

In this episode, Alan McIlroy sits down aboard ARKYLA with her owner, James Kenning, to look back at the adventures, challenges and thousands of miles that have taken this Swedish-built Regina 43 from familiar UK waters to the Mediterranean, across the Atlantic and into the Caribbean.

James bought ARKYLA through Berthon in 2018. After a season sailing locally and preparing both yacht and skipper for longer passages, the plan began to grow. What followed was several years of cruising, refits, upgrades and offshore sailing that would take ARKYLA across Biscay, down the Iberian coast, into the Mediterranean and Balearics, through the waters now infamous for orca interactions, and eventually across the Atlantic with the 2024 ARC+ from the Canaries to Grenada via Cape Verde.  

The Atlantic crossing would prove considerably more eventful than expected.

Despite meticulous preparation, ARKYLA suffered a succession of problems at sea. A nearly new hydrogenerator failed, her Parasailor was destroyed, sargassum caused further difficulties and, most seriously, a suspected whale impact resulted in damage to the rudder and hull. James discusses managing those problems offshore and the importance of preparation, practical engineering knowledge and understanding the systems aboard your own yacht. 

As James puts it, “Mid-Atlantic is no place to be unprepared.” 

After arriving in Grenada, the problems weren't quite over. ARKYLA required two emergency haul-outs in December 2024 before undergoing significant hull repairs in early 2025. Yet the setbacks didn't end the adventure, and James was still able to explore the Windward Islands, including Grenada, Carriacou, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Martinique. 

But this isn't simply a story about things going wrong at sea.

James and Alan also discuss why the Regina 43 has worked so well as a bluewater cruising yacht, the modifications made during James's ownership, sailing as a couple, choosing and preparing a yacht for serious offshore cruising, and some of the lessons accumulated along the way.

Photography has also become an important part of James's life aboard ARKYLA. His sailing photography and writing have received numerous awards, including Cruising Association Photo of the Year and Hanson Trophy honours, World Cruising Club ARC+ Best Photo Blog awards, and recognition from the International Cruisers Awards. ARKYLA herself even appeared on the cover of the 2025 Cruising Association Handbook. 

From quiet anchorages and spectacular ocean skies to equipment failures, orca encounters, emergency repairs and the reality of crossing an ocean in your own yacht, this is an honest conversation about taking sailing beyond home waters.

And, with ARKYLA now back with Berthon and offered for sale, it's also the closing chapter of one adventure, and perhaps the beginning of another.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:33

So, as part of our ongoing series of podcasts, we very occasionally will sit down with an owner that has maybe purchased through us and been off and had some adventures. And it's quite nice to hear how those adventures went and talk about the yacht and their experiences. So, in to that end, today I'm with a long-standing client of ours, James Kenning. James purchased a rather lovely Regina 43 via us back in, I think it was 2018. 2018, 2018. And after spending a few years of cruising sort of more locally and in preparation for getting the boat ready, they then headed off and did some Mediterranean cruising, which was obviously leading to the grander plan of the Arc Plus. So we thought we'd sit down and have a chat about James' experiences, both in terms of his sailing background, the yacht herself, Archila, and then of course his experiences of crossing the Atlantic and bringing us up to date as to where we are today. Hi James.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Hello, thanks for having me here.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

You're very welcome, very welcome. Nice to see you back in Lymington after how many when did you leave Lymington?

SPEAKER_01 1:52

Musta left in 2020, I think. It was whenever breakfast was, because we we took her over to maintain her EU VAT status. So I think it was 2020 we there.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

That's rather useful actually. So Archilah has a foot in both camps, and uh not that we could spend hours talking about VAT and this this this particular broadcast isn't to cover that subject, but uh but it's an interesting advent advantage that Archilah enjoys now in that she has a foot in both EU and UK VATPED status. So anyway, before we get to um before we get to the good ship Archila and your adventures on board her, what's your background in sailing and how did where did it all start?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Well, it pretty much started as far from the ocean as you can get in a little gravel pit sailing club um in the middle of Oxfordshire, so Dorchester Sailing Club, where I started with crewing for my dad, and then um soon became obvious that uh I was going to become an orphan if he kept doing silly things. So I went single-handed, raced the okay dinghy, and I did that until my teen years, until going off to university, and then there was really a bit of a stop to my sailing until the latter end of my Air Force days. So from I suppose the early 1980s until uh the early 2000s, there was a bit of a gap in my uh in my sailing.

SPEAKER_00 3:20

Were there you you obviously after university then I presume went straight to the RAF?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Fairly closely straight to the Air Force, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

And were there sailing opportunities in the RAF or so?

SPEAKER_01 3:30

There were. The one that I signed up for, which should have been my first Atlantic crossing going from New York back to the UK, unfortunately got cancelled because the fleet of uh the I think they were Challenge 67s, which were a concrete boat, uh they all found that the concrete was breaking up, and so that did not happen for me. So actually, Air Force sailing there there wasn't any other than my own chartering during that time.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Right. And then uh, if I'm right thinking it was it was then towards the end of your RAF career, you thought Well, what I'm trying to say is when did the seeds start to think of I'm gonna go sailing?

SPEAKER_01 4:09

So I I suppose it was um must have been around 2003, 2004, and uh took a charter in Greece, having not not sailed a brig yacht. I mean I say a big yacht, it was uh it was a Bavaria 34 we chartered.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Um I grew up that was a big yacht.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

You know, I had no idea of things such as prop walk, and so there was a massive learning lesson there. Um I had a skipper on board with us to to see if we were competent to be left on our own. Unfortunately, he was another ex-Air Force person, so um he just wanted to talk jets. He saw that I could I could actually sail, but didn't actually tell me anything I needed to know about sailing, berthing, or anything. So quite a stressful week, but a week that sowed for seed, kept chartering, and then when it came time for me to leave the Air Force, I decided rather than doing the standard thing that people do of getting project management certificates with their resettlement grants, I would doodled off to Gibraltar and got my um uh Yachtmaster offshore certification.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

And based on your experience then of doing the Yacht Master, was that was that at that point then who you said, right, the the plan is going to be buy a boat and do uh an Atlantic circuit or or or I I think so.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I think there was all always a seed that um sailing was the love and that uh there's the cliche of sailing off into retirement into the sunset. Um wasn't quite sure where or when, but yeah, it was it was always going to have that idea.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

Yeah. Excellent, excellent. So the so moving on to Arcela then, the boat herself, you've you've obviously sort of come up with a plan, and what uh apart from obviously budget, which is key in all these things, I remember when you first spoke to me about Archila, you know, it was obviously the viewing went incredibly well because it culminated in you buying the boat. But was was it a very targeted search, or did you have quite broad parameters where were there you know, did you have that sort of tick list of things that it had to do?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

So I I actually had two things on that list which were non-negotiable for me. One was I wanted the deck saloon, yeah, and the other was I wanted the self-tacking jib to make short-handed sailing easy, which instantly limits you to um just a few makes.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

It it it it does. It's interesting you mentioned the deck saloon because I can I think when you move into 18 metres and above deck saloons are obviously much more readily available, but when you go sub or 15 metres or below, deck saloons become uh a rather and a deck saloon in the true sense of the word, in that when you're sitting in the saloon, you can see out the window stroke, I guess you could say pilot house as well in a way. But they're yeah, your options are massively limited, and even more so when you try to refine that down to high quality builds, which I guess then Archila was sort of delivered on a plate for you in that r in that respect.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Indeed, because w when I first um contacted you, it was actually looking at um a Nordship 40 that had come on the market. That's correct, and I originally thought that 40 foot was the length I wanted, and you told me that it had gone within the hour.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

It didn't I remember that particular boat actually, it didn't hang around, actually.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

But then you said um you probably haven't heard of um this make, but I've got a Regina 43 coming up, and I said, Well, actually, I have heard that because I went on one in the 2008 Southampton boat show and fell in love with it, and thought, my god, if um if I could have one of these one day, um I knew it wouldn't be new because it was way out of my price range new. And as it happens, Arkado was that very boat, so fate did have a part to play.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Yeah, as they say in Ireland, what's for you won't goodbye you, you know. But it's interesting, right? So very, very, very quick summary for those of you that aren't familiar with Regina 43. They are very much your classic Swedish build. So they they would rub shoulders with Halbert Grassi, Mallow, and and those fine, although what makes Regina slightly different is they were a smaller yard, slightly more custom, and their USP was the fact that they were largely deck salon as well. But but they they embody everything that you imagine about Swedish yacht building, so it's beautiful layup, lead keel, uh you know, really nice deck layout, deck gear, but of course, as well, married with these very opulent and and the the cabinetry below deck is is one of the significant features of the boat as well.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, I mean that there is a small forest down there of various beautiful pieces of wood which don't squeak.

SPEAKER_00 9:34

So it's while so while yeah, exactly. So while they're not a boat that would be in everyone's uh lips, they I think once you discover them uh you you realize that they've been a bit of a well-kept secret. Uh although this year, Arcula will will be the third example that we've had come to the market.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Yeah, and there are only 45 have only ever been built. Um Arkyla is hole number 40 of those, so one of the later ones.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

So it was love at first sight with Arcula, or it was uh it was uh serendipitous, I guess, as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Yeah, yeah. The the only person who wasn't happy was my bank manager.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Yeah, and I think the vendor as well, probably. Yeah, quite possibly. I think he's he struggled a little bit to say goodbye to her. Uh I remember, and that was quite a memorable sea trial, because if I remember it well, we sailed out of the river Yelm. We did indeed. So, in terms of an ideal setting for a sea trial, uh you couldn't wish for nicer surroundings. And it was a good fresh breeze as we end uh went out of the Elm River, I think, for me as well.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

It was um we didn't really even need the sea trial, to be honest. You know, the minute we stepped on board, we thought this is the boat for us.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

Fallen in love with her. Yeah. It was love at first sight. And and and we mentioned the deck saloon arrangement. That I guess, and that was high on your list of priorities as well. And I guess that relates back to just when a boat stops becoming a boat and becomes your home as well as a boat, that a deck saloon makes the boat so much more livable.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Um, I think I I like light, and you know, there's it just seems a shame at the end of the day if you have to dip down below. And um, with the deck saloon, and as you said earlier, Al Qaeda has got the Regina 43 is a proper deck saloon, it's not like some which are marketed as such, but you have to be standing up to to look out. You know, you sit down with your gin and tonic, and um you see everyone still out on the water, or you you can spot people coming in to anchor too close to you and then go out and and wave them off. But um, yeah, it it it's it's a wonderful way to go sailing, and especially in in a country or climate where the wind and the rain can be a little bit persistent.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Absolutely. No, I I ran a deck saloon myself on the west coast of Scotland, and there's nothing I liked more in the evening than sitting in the saloon, maybe at the table with the laptop doing a bit of work or whatever, but you still felt in touch with the outside world, and I could wave from the guys from the fish farm as they went past on their boats and so on, and it was there was a sort of a almost a social aspect to it, it was nice. You just you just felt involved. So uh you took the plunge with the help of your bank manager and purchased Archila with probably a degree of trepidation and what am I doing? But uh learning the boat then you do well, I I think you adopted a very sensible approach because you bought the boat, you uh in fact brought her back up here to Limington and spent a couple of years not just cruising and enjoying the boat, but also learning her seacock by seacock, exactly boat by boat, and also I guess that it was a combination of enjoying her, learning her, and going through a process of uh prepping her as well for your for the off.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah, I I mean I found that um owning a boat is it it increases your seamanship by an infinite amount because you have to learn how to be self-sufficient with your boat, especially if you're going off blue water cruising. There there isn't going to be um uh someone there to hold your hand and help you. So part of what I did was um over those two years and beyond, to be fair. I mean, um I I had a screwdriver and I literally had every panel off to find where every seacock was, every pipe, um, every pump, uh, the electrics. Because you never know what's going to go wrong. And and I've always said to people that everything on a boat is broken, you just don't know it yet. And so if you are truly on your own, then you need to know how to how to access that. And conversely, if you're if you are in a marina, it could save you many, many thousands of pounds finding a fault yourself rather than have um an engineer come on board.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Exactly, or a or a shipwright or an electrician, absolutely, because they do all charge by the R.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

They do, and as I think we all know, trying to track down something wrong with a boat is not the simplest thing.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

No, and no, uh whether it's a water problem or an electrical problem, uh, if you can invest those R's yourself and get a result, then I think it's it's twofold in that you A, you enjoy the satisfaction of of having resolved it yourself, and B, uh you haven't had to pay a large a large bill for the for the privilege. So uh I guess it so we we you've obviously learned about, you've cruised about you've upgraded what no without going into endless detail, but I guess that what what were all the what were the primary uh prerequisites that you saw for going for blue water?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

So the first thing I suppose was um electronics. Those, Alan, you tried to tell me that they they were still good for a few years, but as we joked, I did get the blue screen of death as I brought a fruit of needles, and that was the excuse I needed to upgrade to the latest ray marine multifunctional displays. Then there was um renewable power, it was a big one. So uh this started off by putting on solar um and a wind generator.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Would you say power is probably it it seems to me almost uh the single biggest issue, it's certainly one of the most discussed issues in terms of long-term cruising and blue water cruising. Yeah, you know, amps are just everything.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Absolutely, and I mean one of the things I didn't want to do was make Alkyla look like a Christmas tree at the back, and so I've never gone overboard on what it is, but I wanted a layered system, so wind power, solar power, and later on I put on a Ramoran hydrogenerator as well, with the idea that with all of those interacting and running together, I could pretty much cover the 350 amp hours that I reckoned I would need daily for a um for an Atlantic crossing. And did you find that was largely the case? Um yes. Well one of the big burners I think was the freezer. And in the end, we decided, you know, actually we we don't need the freezer because you can use tar uh tin-dried goods um for your proteins just as easily. And that actually, not using the freezer, gave a lot more scope uh to the other systems. So we didn't have to worry about running the autopilot 24 hours a day, didn't have to worry about keeping the comms kit on, uh, didn't have to worry about nav lights uh or internal lights, didn't have to worry about charging iPhones and what have you. So it did give that that little bit extra flex. So I think yes, although I mean I'm not a miser on electricity, but I don't waste it, the the systems we put in worked pretty much exactly to what was required.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

So and you I suppose it's a silly thing to say, but it that's it's it almost sounds as though on a blue water boat, it's um you you you arrive at a point where given the confines of the boat that you have, whether it's size or battery capacities and so on, that you build a system around that that will hopefully, as you say, meet your daily needs, and then you also probably make slight alterations to your own habits, your own personal habits, in that you you slightly tweak your lifestyle and and the way you run to then work in in harmony with the boat as well. Yeah. Which you could argue is almost a slightly, you know, it's a slightly more conscientious way of approaching it.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

And the difficulty isn't in doing it yourself, it's when you have guests on board and have to try and tell them to do not run that tap. You don't need a 20-minute shower, yeah. And uh though, having said that, a couple of things that I didn't need to put onto uh the boat was a watermaker because she already carries 800 litres.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Which for her size with that size of boat, uh, for the listeners out there, that is a it's getting on for double the average that you would get in that class of boat. So it's it's it's it's a good tankage actually.

SPEAKER_01 18:27

It is, and um I certainly came back with four people on board from from the Atlantic, and I still had a lot still spare in the tank, and then a refill on the tank kept me going all season in the Caribbean. So, yeah, if you're if you are careful then That's very good actually, yeah. And and everyone I know who's had a water maker is broken.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Yeah, I th I well I think they they've improved. I I've I've uh goodness me, I've I'm here 20 odd years, and so I've seen water makers, you know, circa late 90s through early 2000s and so on, and and they are uh I I think a lot of people would describe them as a gold send, and they are I think but and and and they've undoubtedly improved hugely in those couple of you know in those last two decades. Touch a wee bit on the cruising you've done then prior to your because I guess the the the cruising that you did locally here, sort of at English Channel, France, um and and I don't not sure what you can explain where you got to when you were based out of here in Livington, but that was I guess part of your uh r work up for both you and the boat. Yeah, and also enjoyable holidays to both.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

Um yeah, in indeed, you know, we um took her initially across to France, um, brought her back after or while COVID was was s still a thing, and there was absolutely nowhere that you could put a 45-foot boat in in the South Coast. I couldn't even get a marina berth for one night. Um so it was a case of that season just bringing her back, sailing up and down the West Country, enjoying that cruising ground, which is one of the best anywhere in the world, I think. Uh, but then having to haul her out because there was and having to haul her out early. But um yeah, it they were strange times, those post-COVID times. Um and then it was the next season that made the plunge and went down uh across Biscay heading for the Algarve for a season.

SPEAKER_00 20:31

And how did that's uh again, that's a very popular cruising ground, and you know, you've got I guess in doing that, you got Biscay under your belt as well. Yes, so these are all that's the joy of sailing it when when you're pushing the boundaries each time, and that you know you go over a bigger fence with every every season.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

You know, the the first fence was sort of getting out of a solar past the needles, and you felt the butterflies in your stomach for that. Then the next one was going across the um the English channel.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

No, the the first English channel crossing is definitely a butterfly experience, especially when you see those first ships.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Exactly. You know, when you look at our it doesn't look so bad when you're actually there, but when you look at it on AIS, you almost think you should turn back and uh and and throw throw everything in, but it's not really that scary.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

No.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Biscay comes with a reputation, um, but again, you know, we're we're not sailing a square rigger. We have pretty good weather forecasts now, and especially if you've got a a boat like Al Qaeda which just plows through wind and wave, then um, you know, it's it's all part of the learning. Um, you know, the the big problem now is the orca threat, probably more more than anything out there, because that you cannot really other than going shallow, you cannot uh negate that.

SPEAKER_00 21:57

No, no, it's unfortunately in recent years it's become a it's it's become a uh a reality just to be lived with. It's it's not uh, you know, it's it's happened with too much consistency at this point to be to be a sort of a oh it may or may not happen. It it's actually the likelihood has increased and increased and increased in in recent years. And yeah, I had one boat, uh well, I've had two boats now coming back from the Med that have had a little nudge. Uh both of them came off fine, uh one admittedly with a chunk out of its rudder, but uh but it has become definitely a bit more of an issue. Um you did a season down on the sort of Spanish-Portuguese coast then?

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Yeah, so did a season in the Algarve. Um to be honest, it wasn't my favourite cruising ground for a number of reasons I won't I won't go into, but we were keen, you know, to I was keen to move a boat on and into the med. So that's where I took a um the next year which um but in between that I I did my first Atlantic crossing helping friends uh move their their boat across you you took you you took yourself off for a bit of a dry run? Uh yeah they they had a Beneto 45 and um they came very close to selling their boat in the Algarve but wanted to do a uh an Atlantic crossing and they told me this over a beer and I said well I'm retired I'll come with you and um that is really where I I found a real love for ocean passages.

SPEAKER_00 23:33

I mean it was an epiphany almost was it yeah it that that passage changed me in many many ways it changed my life in in many ways and um yeah never look back from that and and well not to get too not to get too deep on it but I I I I can sort of relate to that there's there's there's a there's a an enormous sense you get that you know things fall away when you drop the lines from the dock and head out knowing that you're not I think I've said this before you're not coming back to that dock. But is it the sense that you are out there you're surrounded you you know only is water for as far as the eye can see and that that settling into that system of seal and watches and sailing through the night it is what what what is the big what's the attraction for you?

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Do you know I'm I'm not sure I could fully put a finger on it but there are certain elements of it for instance on a night watch and you have no light pollution other than your masthead light and you can sit there you look up and you you just see the most incredible skies you see the Milky Way with your naked eye and then you look down and you see phosphorescence coming off your your rudder wake um you you have the encounters with whales and um we'll probably go into that a little bit later on. But um I've had good encounters with whales and I've had a bad encounter with a whale up close yeah but um the dolphins it doesn't matter how grumpy you are they will right raise a smile on your face.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

You need to be pretty cold in the soul not to I think there's not one of us that doesn't get uh a slightly fuzzy feeling when you see that little dorsal on the bow of the boat and you know the entire crew goes and stands on the push pit or the pulpit and and and the other thing is you know just the challenge of getting the most out of a boat and um you know it's I haven't raced a boat since you know in my teenage years but and I'm not a racer but you I like to tweak to to get the boat in a in her sweet spot and go. But also with that comes that responsibility of the boat is the boat is a functioning moving thing at that point and and sails are yawing lines are moving and you have you you get into I I guess you I know I you settle into this sort of mental rhythm of checking everything and it engages you just in keeping the boat moving as moving and moving as well as it could. Absolutely it's um you know people who don't sail you know they say well won't you get bored you know for two weeks crossing the Atlanta nothing of it at all because uh you know as a skipper you you need to be checking all the boat systems you're doing your deck walks you're looking for chafe um you're making sure there's no leaks of oil water out or water in um yeah it's you know it is a full-time job and but it it's a it's a satisfying job as well you know you know that you are doing something which um has a meaning to it at the end and you are you're doing something that's keeping your crew safe um so yeah it's good so at the end of that Algarve season or towards the end of it you you would have then headed off down to uh and I suppose another one of your probably one of the first big offshore passages would have been down to Lanzarote itself.

SPEAKER_01 27:11

So but before that actually took the boat into the med and um had that that was a wonderful sail. So we we did it in stages uh day hops because of the orcas to get to Gibraltar but then from Gibraltar we we were two up and we we flew the twin head sails and we just went to Cartagena and in fact what one of the moments that could never it's one of those moments that could never be repeated we had dolphins off the bow the sun was setting in the stern I had the twin head sails perfectly one one polled on the on the spinnaker pole one through the boom and uh I went up there with a GoPro 360 on on the end of a very long stick and got the picture that won the International Cruisers Award photo of the year.

SPEAKER_00 28:03

Wow yeah and I almost felt like throwing my camera away after that because it was just the perfect combination of I don't know but do you have that do you have that um I have this tussle with myself sometimes when you're you're in a perfect moment and you you want to take a photograph uh and you have this sort of moral dilemma do do I purely enjoy this moment or do I want to somehow and you're I know you're a photographer so you're probably going to disagree with me on this one but you feel you want to capture it as well but equally I have this conflict sometimes where I don't want to almost mar the moment by taking a photograph because I want to experience it and live the moment yeah I I understand that but I always want to try and capture it you want to try and capture absolutely yeah no that's a fair point uh so Cartagena and then um did you did you did you spend a season in there then a winter? No no Cartagena was just day stop or two and then it was onto the Balearyx some sailing around the Balearics put the boat into Valencia for the busiest part of the season um it becoming an increasingly popular spot Valencia we I think it's all in recent years it's it's seen a lot of migration from um the Balearyx actually namely Palma over to Valencia it's become a hugely popular spot and and more well quite well serviced now as well.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

Yeah I mean of of the Balearics my my original intent was I wanted to go down as far as Greece and sail Greece but we just found it so busy. Yeah um I I found the anchoring quite stressful because not not so much at night but when all the day boats came in they they didn't care about you. It was stressful there and so I just made the decision that yeah I want to I'm gonna turn around I'm gonna head back out again the next season and uh go go off to the country.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Transatlantic yeah so where did you winter that the end of that in Valencia yeah yeah good spot yeah so you went in Valencia then what did the the next season then you'd have been er early what where did where did that take you?

SPEAKER_01 30:10

So it was basically just getting the boat out of the med into Gibraltar where I hauled her out and I did uh maintenance on her did some more blue water upgrades and then we sailed her uh to the canary so we we went back up the way we'd come in to um hold off on Port Amal waiting for our our weather window and then I suppose the only not scary bit but concerning bit was the first 70 miles as we got out of the AUCA threat zone and um then we put the parasail up which was another of my blue water upgrades and we just shot off like a rocket.

SPEAKER_00 30:51

And uh yeah what what a sail it was so right I'm gonna digress slightly because I want to go back we mentioned you you did a few more upgrades in Gibraltar. So in term we've we've talked about water because the boat was very she's she's amply supplied with huge tanks uh we've talked about amps what and and and obviously your electronic upgrades on in addition to that what what were the primary things that you felt you know there's there's obviously there's the I know there's a plethora of equipment that goes on about but but the big ticket items the comms for example so that that yeah the big ticket items were the parasail and um in those days where Gibraltar was you could get things brought in tax rate.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Yes so so that made it perfect to order one there.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

And you you were just on that parasailer because I I know people have varying uh thoughts on them uh but you you're very much in favor you you think it's a yeah and I can see why as a downwind sail so for for our Kyla um we have twin head sails and they work fantastic it it's a it's a brilliant rig it's a brilliant sail setup if you have the wind and when I say if you have the wind you need at least 10 if not 12 knots true to really otherwise you know she she's not the lightest boat and uh that's when the the sails start flogging and and it all becomes a bit stressful.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

The parasail I can get the boat moving in six knots of true wind not particularly fast but you are you are removing.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

But you're powered up and you're pushing into it.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Yes and you're going the direction you want. The issue with the twin headsails is you go where the wind is telling you. The parasailer we can actually they say you can sail her up to 70 degrees I not really it would it would need to be incredibly light and you can certainly get uh to a hundred and close to ninety if there's not too much apparent wind. Yeah a hundred would be pretty should be pretty powered up and efficient in in a moderate breeze isn't that actually yeah yeah so that's one of your favorite upgrades we've talked about comms so comms was uh I had to decide whether to go Starlink or uh iridium and I actually made the decision based on power consumption at the time and I went iridium go exec now you can buy a Starlink Mini and you just plug it into your 12 volt cigarette lighter on board and um it works off DC it only draws about two amps um but Starlink is not a safety system so now I would I would have both yeah for for ocean crossings I would have the uh the Starlink for everyday internet needs and the iridium for you can grab that and go into the into the life raft if the worst came to the worst.

SPEAKER_00 33:50

Yeah yeah no I think it well it's it's it's it goes back to that sort of uh belt embraces doesn't it so we've we've got down to the canaries did you head straight for Las Palmas or did you get there a little early and make use of the time you had down there well unfortunately we got stuck in Gibraltar waiting for new batteries to be delivered so that really killed what the plan was the original plan was trying to go to Madeira first um and then down so we ended up pushing into Lanzarote had a had a few days there and then pushed to Grand Canaria but it was it was a fantastic sail down there.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

It was a real good test of the boat at that stage everything was working perfectly the the parasailer the hydrogenerator the comms everything I'd put in you know was working as it should do so I was feeling very confident by the time I got into uh Las Palmas you know ready to to make the push down to the Cape Verde Islands and then across the Atlantic.

SPEAKER_00 34:59

That was that was one of the things I was going to touch on I think I think I think pilots have a decision point on a runway don't they by which they have to decide whether they're going to throttle up and take off or throttle back and not take off did you have a red line in terms of so was it was you know I'd already got over my red line because I'd had I'd given myself a good number of years to get the boat ready to get to where you were I was not in a rush in any way yeah you know I I knew this this is my time I'm ready and actually I was sat around you know on the dock side at Las Palmas drumming my thumbs a bit because I I went with the Arc Plus on that yeah yeah and I'm thinking you know I see everyone else still doing their boat work and I just want to go you know I'm ready. I've been down there quite often for the start actually and it it does I you know it worries me sometimes you see the level of panic on certain boats you think you should be beyond the panicking stage you know nervous yes panicking not probably a good idea you know and having already done an Atlantic crossing a lot of uh the mystique of it you know had already gone I knew what to expect it it is that it I think it's like going into a port you've never gone into it's the fear of the unknown um and and that's so true with sailing uh because there is a lot of that you know as as you know as you as you said you as you go over those fences and the fences get bigger uh it it it certainly it helps arm you for the bigger fences that are ahead of you but it doesn't that doesn't do away with that trepidation that you feel when you're about to undertake something that is slightly bigger than anything you've previously done and the Atlantic crossing is a classic example of that isn't it that and I I would never you know be so blase as to say I know it all every day underwater you learn something new but you do have a level of confidence from things that you have already done and you know what to expect. So that you and obviously you you decide to go arc plus as opposed to just the ARC I'm I'm sort of with you on that one actually even if even just from a purely a ceiling point of view because I suspect it's um I mean my my decision was not really whether to go arc or arc plus it was to whether to go with an ARC at all or just to go independently.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

Yeah go independently but um the that first Atlantic crossing I did you know I had such a good time um I thought you know let's let's go again.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Well yeah we're we're obviously Berthin here we're partnered with World Cruising and have been for you know many many years now I think is yeah there there I I guess that there there's so many reasons why you would do the arc and comfort safety numbers etc etc and and the the level of assistance and guidance that they offer as well but I expect for you it's a bit of social as well. Yeah there is that car artery that goes with it.

SPEAKER_01 37:57

I I already knew that the boat was um yeah was ready because she'd been inspected before because we did the Ark Portugal rally getting down across Biscay um so I knew I knew the boat was good for for me it was really more I think about that social aspect of it that that prompted me to go. And the cost of it it you know a lot of people say oh it's so expensive the arc well when you take off you know your free nights that they give you for berthing and this and that it actually isn't a a huge expen expense over what you might pay anyway.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

Yeah and yeah exactly and for that little added premium that you get with with the a little bit of support here and there or a few contacts here and there. If I was to say there's one thing that it really is good at is it takes away a lot of a bureaucracy of clearing in clearing out when you're actually your mind wants to be focused on the boat rather than the politics sailing it exactly yeah yeah yeah yeah because that that's actually one of increasingly one of the challenges of sailing isn't it you know heading off with your crew list and your passport and yeah dealing dealing with uh uh uh you know customs or or harbour or port police or whatever else uh if you yeah if you can avoid that best best done so so the crossing itself then obviously you left you were you'd say obviously not without a degree of trepidation or nerves because anyone's nervous even regardless of how confident and well set up you are you did quite well actually you you but third in class and so so that of course Arc plus is two legs that there's the leg going down to Canaries where we did have a couple of issues so after night one we were up there we were about fifth out of a fleet of uh 96 that was not on handicap we were we were up there yeah uh but then we we we lost the the remoran hydrogenerator it had a corrosion issue on it it was a known issue uh so we lost power but more importantly uh one of my crew wasn't able to really handle the helm with the parasailer up yeah and the forecast we had was wronged and we were having a sustained 25 knots and they say really take it down at 20 so unfortunately when when we took it down and it was in the dark somehow and I I don't know how to this day but the the hallid came out of the mass winch and it dropped instantly into into into the sea ripping it to shreds. Well I I I've I've been there and I can fully sympathize with that feeling I've done it at two in the morning in the dark yeah and suddenly you go trolling with your kite we we were doing nine knots and we used it as a brake so yeah it did not come off well and then spent probably quite some time trying to retrieve what was left of it yeah a couple of hours retrieving it and by then we were we were mid fleet again.

SPEAKER_01 40:54

But then for the for the main leg crossing out of uh Mindelo across to Grenada as you say we we did quite well theoretically because boats are just they've just got so much bigger now you know the days of our Kyla at 45 foot being a big boat a long gone she was theoretically I think the 10th slowest and uh we came in on the line at I think number 44 third in class and fifth out of everyone on handicap but despite the issues that we had. And that was twin headsail then on the way across twin headsails all the way literally coming out of out of a channel um from San Miguel we set them and then we just went whatever direction the wind took us and didn't take them in until I think it was 20 miles outside of Grenada when we just lost the wind completely. So frustrating last 20 minutes. It's so often the way and and life on board you did four up on the way across so it was three up going down to Cape Baird and then four up going across which which for our Kyle is cozy. Yeah you know three is uh is an ideal number on that one of my learning lessons was choose your crew carefully because I I did have a crewman who you know the dark side came out of him and uh well it's that that I think you know what I don't a boat is a small place whether it's 45 feet or 85 feet and that's probably one of the challenges of an a of a of an ocean crossing is keeping the karma and yeah and um you know my my my partner jumped on board in Cape Verde and she did a wonderful job of uh keeping me grounded and you know we would we would go up and sit on the parasailer yeah the broken parasailer bag on the bow and uh you know just watch the sunset go down on there and it it was just and making landfall in in Rodney Bay then that was uh no no no because we went into Grenada oh Grenada yes of course Port Louis but you have skipped the one issue that we had oh well yeah sorry you so uh crossing you had your you had a power failure which left you short of amps that you sorted out.

SPEAKER_00 43:13

Yes parasailer you decided to go fishing with and we went to head sails. Last but not least you did you did um you as we we touched on earlier your love of uh sea mammals are you you got a little bit too close up in person with one we got a little too close to one and um we never saw it we we didn't actually know we'd had a whale strike until when we hauled out in Grenada and the engineer he did all the forensics and he said this is the only thing that has happened to you but I I have that that the worst thing that a skipper can can ever experience on a yacht is finding a new noise.

SPEAKER_01 43:52

And I went down after I went down at midnight after my watch and put my head down in the uh the aft owner's cabin and heard a that's not right and so I opened it up and the the rudder stock was just doing the funky chicken around the transom void so that was when not really knowing what the issue was at that point you know we got the bilge pumps out we put life jackets on we sent a pan pan we got the grab bag ready um and then we just started working the problem and we we jerry rigged we still had steerage with the wheel we had a little bit of water ingress but not much but the boat was still going the right direction and but we we reefed down to try and slow the boat and we ended up speeding up. So we we were still I mean she was fantastic you know the boat she just plows through waves she handles the wind um and what you know even after this we were still doing eight eight and a half knots so she's nice fine entry running and that

SPEAKER_00 44:58

runs into the you know it's a longish keel profile that delta so it's a fairly long thin keel. Yeah but which gives which gives makes for a very very comfortable see you know ride as it is uh and then you partial skeg on a it's partial skeg on the rudder?

SPEAKER_01 45:17

It's a semi skeg on the rudder yeah and that was the issue we found out we had was that the the whale strike had put a crack in the skeg in the skeg at the at the hull joint. But a but but uh easily repairable easily repairable um well I say easily repairable um we we hauled out in Grenada um literally on the last day before everything shut for Christmas and I I had the most wonderful engineer I mean he knew everything and he ended up doing I think 17 layers laminating new glass into it he cut all the way back through the hull but the hull is now stronger than when it left the factory back in 2008.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

Well and and and that's proven by the fact that you you then spent extended time cruising the Caribbean and and then and and obviously the culmination of your trip has been a North Atlantic trip back to back to the UK.

SPEAKER_01 46:16

Yeah where she performed outstanding you know we again we had 40 knots of wind uh at one stage we were we weren't surfing we we were had a consistent 10 knots um i was I was flying a bit of a shred of mainsail and uh and a reef Genoa and yeah we were just plowing through four meter seas she she just took it she's yeah yeah she she she she revels in it grenada other than the work on the boat did what what were your experiences around the Caribbean then so I I mean the Caribbean's the Caribbean it it wasn't it wasn't what I remembered when I'd cruised there earlier it it's got a lot busier I think and we and we had a lot of wind you know both both seasons we had had a lot of wind but I I did get the parasail flying in it you know each island has its own character favourite spots I loved um I think Anguilla is one of my favourites and Tiga I liked you know I I I try to say that it's not it's not so much uh the miles you cover or the places you visit but what makes sailing is the person you're with yeah at the time yeah you know that was that's what made the Caribbean special for me being with the person I wanted to be there.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

So yeah fantastic so you've you have arrived back um well I w I wanted to hear about your we uh your passage back actually because we spoke earlier in the year and you were in the midst of your your preparations to and I think at that point just effectively waiting a window to sail back. In so do were there were there just okay were there were there preparations as uh well obviously the boat's prepped and ready to go because it's done what it's done but did you find yourself going through it almost more thoroughly because you were coming back at North Atlantic?

SPEAKER_01 48:10

You know it it was almost it was almost I I I gave myself too much time because the boat was good you know I had put so much work into it. I mean you know obviously after when I hauled out for hurricane season you know I had work to do and that there are fixes to do on various things. But I I had complete confidence in the boat and so I mean I remember I was joking with you the other day that the only major upgrade I put onto it was gluing a little Lego man onto the top of the mast because statistically no boat with a little Lego man glued to the top of their mast has ever been struck by lightning. Yeah. And it's true it worked. Yeah and it's still there I would like yes I would like to add I've seen the photographic evidence of said Lego man actually which I'll gladly share so and the passage itself so it was no it was two up so no uh three up three up three up for Arkyla is perfect for an an ocean passenger yeah if you're getting on with the business coming back from the Azores I was two up but if you've got three it just gives you better sleep patterns better rotation yeah yeah but we we came out I I went independently direct to the Azores I I left a day ahead of the Arc fleet who were the Arc Europe fleet who were going up to Bermuda they had a much more torrid time than I did. I was I sort managed to go a little bit more northeast picked up good winds I just had uh I think it was two days of very little wind or to none to the extent that we had the parasailer flying and then it just went limp and so we put a boy out of the back went for a swim mid Atlantic and then we had to put the engine on for a day but then the wind came back we had 40 knots but it was off the beam it was perfect for our Kyla reefed in I said we were we were charging. So what are you running on you're running what a third of a jib and deep reef into that or so at that stage um I actually prefer to reef the Genoa so I have two Genoa's permanently on on the front stay and I either use those split wing on wing or they just lie over each other when reaching and I have a self-tacking jib as well but I would prefer to unless it's really heavy wind I prefer to use a reef Genoa rather than the I guess from a reaching perspective that's a better sheeting angle.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

Yeah yeah yeah but that makes sense I was I was trying to think of the logic of that and then I was thinking actually the reaching angle is so the sheeting angle is so much better. If if we were going directly into wind then yeah I would in those in those wind strengths I would definitely have been using the the self-tacker yeah yeah for those unfamiliar similar to say a disco 55 discovery 55 you've got two furlers one directly behind the other the front furler is a larger reaching Genoa and then the furler behind that immediately behind it is a self-tacking jib and the the Genoa obviously sheets to the to the tow rails or the side decks of the boat whereas a self-tacker is a little bit more on the foredeck uh so I that but from a reaching perspective obviously the Genoa is a much better reaching angle.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

Yeah good setup okay and that was a setup to the Azores yes as as I said we we got every sail out of a out of a bag if you like for for that to be Azores actually I I tell a lie we we didn't set the twin head sails because we were able to use the parasailer but I used the twin head sails coming back from the Azores to the UK rather than the parasailer and you were sure yeah we were shorter handed coming back as well and what about the Azores did you spend any time there or was it just literally a popping through it it was sort of really popping through I had had a few days there the weather was miserable.

SPEAKER_00 52:06

I mean well I'd come from the Caribbean which was beautiful the UK was already in its uh midway for summer but it was just raining and windy in in the Azores that's where I had crew changes I also got kicked out of the marina because the Arc Europe fleet okay um and then yeah it's um I I didn't I didn't see as much as the Azores as I wanted to for a number of reasons which I won't go into but um it's definitely well it's one of those places that's sort of on my uh I it's a bit like you know I've sailed past the Sillies numerous times on the way back from a Fastnet or whatever and I always I I sail past it I'd I I'd have to spend more time exploring it and I suspect the Azores a bit like that as well because people pass through and you know they're yeah and it it's a sort of place you you you you'd need to almost make a specific trip to go and to to explore it.

SPEAKER_01 53:02

Yeah you know I just wish that um circumstances had let me have more time there because it would be fantastic place to spend you know the season before heading back. The islands out they're just beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 53:14

Yeah I believe the walking and everything else is pretty spectacular. Yeah yeah so we've now you said well you've you've we well I should say we actually photographed you coming back in uh last week past the needles and that that sort of finished the the the the chapter I suppose in terms of Archila yeah I mean it it's taken a lot of a lot of emotional strength to get there because I mean she's just been such a good boat and I've had some of my some of the best times of my life on that boat.

SPEAKER_01 53:56

I I really have um you know loving laughing uh living it it just holds so many great memories but you know the the circumstances are that you know this is the time she needs to go but it's a real heavy heart that I'm selling her.

SPEAKER_00 54:17

It's not too strong a thing to say that um because I know the funny enough the last book that I skippered commercially which is now we've got 20 years ago I still got the ensign of it in my man cave. Yeah the tattered Fred ensign because I I think you you develop a loyalty to a boat and you develop an affection for it because of what because of a because of what it delivers for you in terms of where it takes you because a boat can get you to places and you simply can't get to otherwise but it's also and probably more importantly it's it's also the way it looks after you. Exactly when when you think that that boat is the only space between you and several miles of sea mile down yeah and she did look after me you know she's she pushed off you know the Leviathans from from the deep so but um when you talk of the ensign what what I did give when I when we went into Horton and you know the famous Peter Cafe yes absolutely I I did swap out there my very very battered RAF Sailing Association Burgee which there was very little left of it and I got my Peter's cafe burgee um uh in return but I I do fly a special blue ensign it's the Royal Air Force Sailing Association which is unique in that it's the uh the only blue ensign that is sky blue uh all the others are navy blue okay uh clearly no one else can fly it unless you are a member of RAFSA mm-hmm so yeah that will be going on a wall somewhere absolutely the next man cave yeah or or or your study that's right yeah and then so yeah so it's it's with a heavy heart that um we're well it's another on to next chapter you set very kindly sent me a link today to a uh a book that you're you're currently publishing because in addition to sailing your other big passion is uh photography.

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Photography yes so I've I've put together a um a book which is all about how to how to do sailing photography but not in the traditional sense it's not telling you what speed or aperture to use it it's about the philosophy really of how to capture what a passage really is. So it it's something that I've had in my head for a while and I've finally got enough photographs to populate it with.

SPEAKER_00 56:48

And it's that and this goes back to sitting in the cockpit at two in the morning and having time to mull over these things and and and and and work out your own philosophy on things.

SPEAKER_01 56:57

That's right and and it's all about you know you're you're capturing a life you're not you're not just capturing a boat that's you know the sails are cranked in hard and you've got spray coming over the bow. That is part of it but it's a minute part of it and so that's what this book is trying to capture. Yeah. So um I get my first copies of that next week.

SPEAKER_00 57:20

Excellent oh well very best of luck with that and uh we shall be we look forward to receiving a copy of that for our coffee table in the reception. Absolutely I think that that pretty much uh well hopefully that that's been an interesting insight into the the a journey of you know obviously many boats pass through our hands here uh and they go off and do various uh various trips and and passages uh but it's not that often that uh we get the opportunity to sit down with uh an owner and and and hear about their adventures and hear about the boat and the prep of the boat as well so I I trust you find that interesting for those of you that are interested uh I'm a shameless plug time is that Arcula will be ashore here at Lymington and uh you'd be heartily encouraged to have a look at her particulars and photography online and if you would like to discuss her in more detail please feel free to contact me.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

Jims any anything to add or uh no I mean thank thanks for spending the time for to sit down with me and uh let me spew out um you know all my wonderful experiences on Al Qaeda um as I said you know she she has been such a big part of my life for the last eight years um she holds some of the best literally the best memories of my life on that boat so it is with a a very heavy heart and I you know I have to say goodbye to her but you know well it it's so true though that that the yachts have this ability to just uh deliver on so many levels.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Well listen thank you very much indeed for your time this afternoon and uh I I I probably Harry our our our digital content manager will probably ask me to remind you to like and subscribe and and so on. But uh thank you very much for listening. Thank you.