.So we’re all down below bar Wallis who was on deck doing some yoga as dusk fell last night… Next thigh Wallis calls down to Al saying there’s something pulling on his fishing line. Now we often drop our line out in an anchorage but so far we haven’t had a bite unless the boat is in transit so Al was sure it was a false alarm and told Wallis to leave it… next thing the rod jumped again and moved 180 degrees to which Wallis shouted with certainty ‘Al, there’s definitely something on that line’…. Alan jumped up and started to reel it in… ‘it’s a shark, it’s a shark!!!…..’ It didn’t take long to get all crew on deck with cameras to view the catch… OMG.. it really was a shark.. but no sooner had we taken the pics and were about to figure out how to land it, keeping all limbs intact, then the line broke… and we lost our shark!!…… Unbelievable… The cook in me was nervous about tacking it and cooking it but the dentist in me couldn’t wait to get my hands on those teeth!!! Sure enough, as with most patients he managed to wriggle his way out of their before we could get started! ..oh well there’ll be another one at some stage I’m sure…
Audrey

Wow wees, what a crazy couple of months we’ve had since we last blogged. After an awesome transatlantic crossing of 11days and 23hours we partied it up in Antigua. Indeed we were sad to say goodbye to Martin, Woody, Dave, Conor and my Dad, Joe after such a fun crossing together. However, our next adventure awaited and we readied ourselves and Lush for Eddie, Marie and various guests who joined us on our 6 week Caribbean cruise.

We celebrated Christmas and New Years in the fanciest island of St Barts. As it’s a French island we stocked up on all sorts of meats, cheese and vino! Happy days! We came third in the Round St Barts race on New Year’s Eve and sailed back down south the following day to join the rest of the Oyster fleet for the start of this Oyster World Rally. New guests joined us on the 6th of Jan and we sailed further south in winds of 25knots plus pulling into Guadeloupe, Les Saintes, Dominica and Martinique. From there we sailed onto Bequia where four new guests joined us and along with Eddie and Marie we ventured further south to the private island Mustique and onto the stunning Grenadines and Grenada. We managed to catch some fish on route and picked up our fruit and veg from the local boat boys.

In Grenada everyone hopped off the yacht bar us four crew. Alan’s wife Kizzy joined us and we set sail for Bonaire, a Dutch island off the coast of Venezuela. After a few days off, kite surfing and diving some of the world’s most stunning reefs, we set sail, sailing west again, this time for the San Blas islands, just east of Panama. There was no shortage of breeze again for this passage and with the wind on our backs we sailed Lush hard, arriving into the San Blas three days later.

The San Blas are over 340 islands of incredible beauty with untouched stretches of rainforest along with stunning beaches and reefs. This vast archipelago is home to the Kuna Indians, who, according to our cruising guidebook, have best preserved their culture and traditions out of all the tribes in the Americas. Various Kunas have already rowed out to us in their “ulu”, which is a dugout canoe, selling us crabs, lobster and numerous fish along with Molas, which are one of Panama’s most famous handicrafts.

Will try update this more often from now on, it’s just the last two months have been sooo hectic trying to get the hang of this super yacht business, we’ve hardly even spoken to our families. Most of the time we don’t even have internet, which is really hard to imagine when we’ve all been used to having it on our fingertips, 24-7, back home. We update the blog through our Sat Phone but can’t surf online or use skype etc through it.

Must dash for now! I bought some crabs of the Kunas earlier and am keen to get cooking before they escape my bucket!

Love to one and all,

Audrey xxx

PS the rest of the crew will add to these details in time as there’s so much more to report from our first few months at sea! Please do join our facebook page too for more gos.

I can’t believe that today we actually start our trip around the world!

From looking in on LUSH in SYS in Southampton since she was just a hull and seeing her throughout her build and working with Eddie and Marie to get them the perfect yacht for this amazing adventure…this is one of those moments in life where you have to stand up and say, “I was a part of that!”

Loads have happened since we last blogged and we haven’t stopped since we arrived into Antigua last month….we spent Christmas & New Year in St Barts – we sailed LUSH in her first race on New Year’s Eve and got on the podium with a 3rd! Not bad for her first race!

Now we are back in Antigua where Audds and I met 7 years ago and just celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!

And today we all start to fulfil a lifelong dream and start making our way around the planet in the oyster world rally! Check out
http://www.oystermarine.com/worldrally/

Special mention must go to Red Bull who have come on-board as a sponsor and all funds are going to the amazing work of Wings for Life – check out http://www.wingsforlife.com/en/

Wings for life’s mission is too cure spinal injuries and get people back up on their feet again after a spinal injury….I don’t have time now to do their work justice and explain it properly but please check out their website! It’s quite simply awesome!!

We did a photo shoot the other day and so I thought we would treat ya to some of the shots!! Thanks must go to mike the photographer and oyster for getting us the most amazing pics of LUSH! http://www.waterlinemedia.com/

I gotta dash guys……the start is fast approaching!!!

Just want to end on….

Guys, dreams do come true! If you know what you want…know WHY you want it….you’ll find the way to make it happen! So whatever it is you want to do, achieve or be…just get on and DO IT!

One Life…Make sure your living it! :0) xxx :0) xxx

Special mention today has to go to Lush Crew Member, Martin Mc Carthy! AKA “Marty”

Marty has sailed the whole trip like the true gent he is and has always dressed to impress even in storm force conditions!

In fact I can remember the time he arrived on deck in 35 kts of wind in a crisp blue shirt, chinos, national yacht club belt and dubarry deck shoes!

A wave rolled down Lush’s deck and soaked him through and through….not a bother to him, he just whipped his brow and carried on sailing!

Tonight he topped off his evening attire with full National Yacht Club Tie, Belt, Cap & Gilet!

As you can see he puts all us dirty, smelly & unshaven fellas to shame!

He is a very proud National Yacht Club member and promotes, “The Nash” where possible and will have anyone joined up if they express the slightest bit of interest!

So Marty it’s a total pleasure to sail with you and get to know you, your one in 3 trillion! :0)

Ladies and Gentleman I give you Mr Martin Mc Carthy! :0)

One Life….make sure you living it…by dressing for the occasion! :0) x

Well just as I was disappearing to my bunk this morning after handing over the watch to Marty, Audds & Dave the wind had dropped and come round to just aft of our beam….the word…KITE just popped into my head and I mentioned to Audds that if it stays the same we would launch the kite at midday when the whole crew were up to help….

Audds face lit up as any SB3 sailor knows the chance to play with a asymmetric spinnaker is a treat especially on a yacht like LUSH!!!

I heard her mention it to the guys and heard their SB3 enthusiasm kick in to!

So as I lay down in my bunk and I looked up through the hatch at the jib and just thought, “Sod it….lets get it up!!”

So I launched back out on deck and said to the guys, ” C’mon lets get the kite up!”

I have never seen a watch jump to attention so quickly!

Now when I say kite, on Lush her kite is 3000 square meters of sail!!! It’s quite simply MASSIVE!!

So after a while to set her up ready to hoist we finally listened to the halyard winch turn on high speed as the 110 foot long sock lifted off the deck en-route for the masthead!

I looked back at the cockpit and said, “ready???” “Yep!” comes back the reply and I said, “Okay guys, unleash her!”

Up went the sock and the kite fills and dazzles us!

LUSH responded by climbing from 8 knots to 12.5 Knots…she shot off a shovel like…..well you know!

We then all settled in to picture taking and admiring the big yellow kite with a cuppa and a bit of nosh!

Special mention has to go to Wallis our Yogi…….who whilst LUSH was flying along was doing all her yoga moves on the aft deck!!!

The wind steadily built as the morning went on until that point you say in your mind….”its time to take it down now….”

Normally you wait until it’s too late and the wind is blowing hard and you end up with the yacht flying downwind on the edge of control and then it’s a question of safety!

“Not this time!” I thought to myself and gave to order to take it down…..

Then….Whirrrrrrrr…….the reel is running on the back…holy crap another fish!!

Dave Strikes the line and starts reeling him like a speedy Gonzales!!!!

Then…SPLASH

A good sized wahoo jumps out of the water towards the back of Lush…..the team is drilled on how to land fish , so Joe, Marty and Woody start wetting the deck to get ready for Alan to do the deed and send the fish to heaven whilst Audds prepares to chop him up!!!

The Wahoo lands on the aft deck and we are all leaping for joy!!

Now the wind has risen even more and the kite still up!!! So Conor, Dave, Woody & Wallis run up to the bow of Lush ready for the take down!

Conor then became the total hero by pulling down the sock like he was ringing the bells in the church on his wedding day!

Kite down and put to bed, Fish in the fridge on ice and that’s all in a mornings work on LUSH!!!

All great fun!! We can’t believe we are only 555 miles from Antigua!!!

I wonder what the next 555 miles will bring!!! :0)

One Life…make sure your living it! Paulo & Team LUSH! :0) xxx

Great news to report today!

Alan finally caught us all a dorado with a little help from the, “Mayo Girl”!!!

Myself and Al was totally convinced that we were completely “dun over” in Las Palmas by the guy in the fishing shop……we have had a couple of bites and runs but no fish landed on the deck to enjoy that taste of fresh fish!

Eventually Audrey told us that we had better stick to the sailing as for being fishermen we were completely, well, “useless!!”

She also told us that what fish was ever going to catch the squids skimming across the water??? We replied defensively, “Audds we can’t help the fact that Lush sails so quick that we can’t keep the lure in the drink???”

Audds comes straight back at us with sharp wit like only a mayo girl can….”Would you not try weight the line lads??”

“Okay we will see what we can do…..” Alan disappeared into his engine room and arrived back out on deck with 10 M12 nyloc nuts, we reeled in the line and attached the nuts to the line and let out the line…..

Well probably only 2 minutes later the reel ran and Alan hauled in the nice dorado you see in the picture!

Audrey then put her Rick Stein fish filleting skills into practice and filleted our lad…..and fair play to her as Alan and Wallis cooked him up for the lads in butter with just a squeeze of lemon and black pepper….and there was not one bone in any fillet we ate!

Wow it tasted absolutely fantastic! 20 mins…now that’s fresh!

So what did we learn from today….if you want to catch a fish, “Use Alan’s M12 Nyloc Nuts!!!!” :0)

Hope ya enjoying our little updates!! One Life…Live it! Paul & Team Lush! :0) xxx

NewsFlash!

At 1800 yesterday LUSH was boarded by a crew pirates who drank a glass of Moet and ate a load of food!

The swashbuckling blighters arrived on deck to wish LUSH a safe onward passage as she sailed across the halfway mark of her first Ocean!

The sounds of, “arrraahhhhhhh, pieces of eight & nice bounty!” in pirate talk was awash over the deck whilst some heavy pirate rock was played to set the scene!

Jim (Woody) won the best dreadlocked hair do award whilst the skipper (Paulo) won the quickest shave to a dirk diggler mo award!

Conor chopped off his leg used the gaff that has had no fish award!!!

Audrey & Wallis turned themselves into pirate wenches and rustled up a storm of treats from fresh banana bread to fresh humous and dips!

Dave, Marty & Joe showed us how ingenious you can be at sea to flick from being the perfect gentlemen to the perfect pirate in the matter of 20 mins!

Special mention has to go to Lush’s chief engineer, “Alabama” who was the best dressed of the lot of us – using tape to make missing teeth and audrey’s eyeliner to tattoo himself Alabama won the best dressed pirate award and won himself an extra helping to the Lasagne which was served up to round off the evening!

The pirates then waved us goodbye and a save onward passage as the sun fell to the horizon and watches resumed as normal onboard.

Halfway parties are always a laugh and this one will be forever etched into our minds!!! Ohhh arrhhhhhh!!!

So we are over half way and making great speed towards Antigua!

The wind has dropped to around 15 kts true and LUSH is sailing at 10.5 kts parting the blue ocean bound for the start of her world tour from Antigua!

Sunrise this morning was simply stunning! :0) Enjoy the snaps!

One Life….Live it – Paulo & Team Lush xxx

Thought we would just upload some pics for you to check out…..the first 2 is of the weather we went through yesterday and the last you can see is today…..beautiful blue skys, wind dropped, reefs being shaken out and the crew of LUSH on GREAT FORM!!!!

There is flying fish all around us so we figure that the bigger fish eat he flying fish so fingers crossed for a fish today! :0)

We are half way……the halfway party begins at Happy Hour which is from 1300 – 1500 UTC for us and a load of pirates are planning to capture and take over LUSH!!!

So keep checking back in to our blog to see pictures of the party and the whole team onboard!!!

Enjoy your day wherever you are!

Paul & Team Lush :0) xxx