Thirty-two yachts left Gibraltar in October to begin a two-year circumnavigation with the Yachting Monthly Blue Water Round-the-World Rally. Who takes part in this adventure, which would have been thought only fit for the super-tough and faintly mad just a couple of decades ago? What sort of boats do they sail? James Jermain was there to meet them.

Don’t miss the January issue, on sale now, for the full report.

Boat and crew profiles

Jenny (Sun Odyssey 45) Peter and Jenny Crouch
By far the most experienced rallier in the fleet is Peter Crouch. His credits include two Rally Portugals and a Biscay Triangle. Peter has also crossed the Atlantic from Boston to Southampton and with Jenny he has crossed the Pacific from Panama to the Marquesas. It was this last trip that persuaded Jenny that she wanted to do a full circumnavigation – for Peter it has been an ambition ‘for many, many years’.
Some people might be surprised that Peter, who has owned two Najads, has switched to a Jeanneau for the circumnavigation. ‘This type of boat is designed for warm waters and for comfort in harbour – which is where we’ll be most of the time’, he explained. He added that the hull, plumbing and electrical systems on Jenny were at least as good as the Najads and he could put up with the ‘MFI’ interior, which was lighter, better ventilated and much more spacious. His only doubt was the hull shape. ‘She wont be as sea kindly and I expect some slamming but most of the time we will be sailing downwind so it shouldn’t matter.’
Peter is also bucking the trend by keeping his business going while sailing. As an insurance broker he can keep his company ticking over via email and sat-phone while at sea and he will be flying back to the UK from each stop-over.
Peter has fitted extra fuel and water tanks, together with a generator and watermaker. She is also one of the few yachts with windvane self-steering, a Hydrovane, attached to an electronic tiller pilot to give a fully independent steering system. Jenny will also be one of the most fully crewed with friends joining for the most of the cruise and their daughter joining for the Pacific legs.

Penelope (Najad 440) John and Jane Espiner
For this cruising couple the rally is definitely a two-year gap in normal life. When they return it will be ‘business as usual’. Having built up to the event through the Biscay Triangle, they were impressed by the Blue Water Rally’s organisation which gave them confidence to tackle the ultimate cruise. They have had Penelope for seven years and one gets the impression they are tackling the circumnavigation as calmly as they would an annual holiday cruise. The boat has the usual essential equipment but the Espiner’s will be relying on wind, solar and water power and the standard water and fuel tanks. One concession has been to coat the Najad in Copperbot to avoid repeated haul-outs for antifouling.

Stargazer (Westerly Oceanranger) Hugh and Shan Evans
Hugh, a surgeon and Shan, a nurse, both retired, have been building up to this event for seven years. ‘I never thought it would happen’, admitted Shan. Serious planning began three years ago when they bought Stargazer. Apart from fitting the usual navigation and communications equipment, including a massive gantry over the stern to take all the aerials as well as safety gear, solar panels and wind generator, the Westerly’s standard capacities have been the biggest headache. Battery capacity has been doubled; a watermaker fitted and the paltry 35 gallon fuel tank augmented with plastic cans to give a cruising range of 1,000 miles. Hugh and Shan are experienced sailors having graduated from GP 14s through a Westerly Griffon to the Oceanranger. Their daughter, Alison, and her boyfriend Anthony, will be crossing the Atlantic with them on their way to Madagascar to work in reef conservation. Hugh is a keen mathematician and has taught himself astro-navigation, which he plans to use across the oceans. They plan to cut the rally short in Crete and cruise the Eastern Mediterranean for a year or two.

Shaula 3 (Ovni 385) Gianfranco and Barbara Balducci
This good humoured Italian couple had quickly endeared themselves to the fleet. They began dreaming of a circumnavigation three years ago when planning for their early retirement. First they considered cruising the Med, then the Caribbean then thought ‘Why not the world?’. They were looking for a solid boat which could bounce off reefs and rocks but would have preferred a fin keel. However, they found Shaula 3, which had been built for an abandoned round-the-world voyage and in all respects, apart from the lifting keel, she was ideal. They joined the rally mainly for the security it offered through the Red Sea and the two canals. They are worried that the two-year time frame will be too short to do all they want but the back-up organisation means they can make the most of it. Like most boats Shaula is fitted with wind and water generators and solar panels but has no generator.

Aqua Libra (Steel Roberts 392) Paul and Morag Padfield and Holly (5)
Morag claims Aqua Libra is the only boat crossing the Atlantic with room to spare in its lockers. And a visit below on this massively constructed, hugely spacious cruiser suggests she might be right. The Padfields are crossing the Atlantic with the Rally Antigua but after that will probably be cruising on into the Pacific at their own pace – which will be considerably slower than the rest of the fleet! Although Morag is a teacher and Paul worked for a Conservation charity, they have settled more or less permanently into the cruising lifestyle – at least while Holly is young. ‘We are a bit low-tech compared to other rally yachts’, observed Morag, and even the technology they have goes largely unused. They have a petrol generator but rely almost exclusively on wind and solar power, only using the large main engine as a last resort. They also have an electronic autopilot but prefer to use the Hydrovane.
Aqua Libra was professionally built 10 years ago and is set up for a crew of three. Paul and Morag have installed a ‘school table’ for Holly astern of the inside helm position where she has all her books, drawing and painting kit and DVD player – one of the few, but seemingly inevitable, concessions to modern living.

The families
Namani (Dufour 35) Marcus Schweitzer, Nadine Slavinski and Nicholas (4)
This family has taken a year out of work and school commitments to fulfil a dream. Nadine’s father had always planned a circumnavigation but died before he could achieve it. Now American-born Nadine, a teacher, is completing at least a part of this dream by taking part in the Rally Antigua before sailing on to her home in Portland. The boat will be left here while the three of them return to Marcus’s home country, Germany, where he is an engineer. In three or four years they have plans to cruise on further. They bought Namani a year ago for the trip. She had already crossed the Atlantic twice but still needed a fair bit of re-equipping. Their main problem has been water. With no watermaker nearly half their water will be carried in bottles.
Nicholas has taken to cruising well although so far only on voyages of up to two weeks and the longest passage they have managed is 650 miles. Apart from netting round the guardwires they have done little to modify the boat for Nicholas who plays happily down below at sea – mainly with Lego or watching DVDs. They will be shipping a third crew for the Atlantic crossing to free Marcus and Nadine for child-watch.

Sea Bright (Super Sovereign 36) David and Jo Naylor and Beth (5)
One of the ‘shoe-string’ boats, Sea Bright was bought by the Naylor’s with a long passage in mind. Although only signed up for the Rally Antigua they plan to continue cruising in the Caribbean for a time and maybe carry on into the Pacific independently. One of the simplest, yet most seaworthy boats in the fleet, Sea Bright has little more than the bare essentials on board. These include a DVD player to keep Beth amused because with just two adults on board (three for the Atlantic crossing), sleep and watchkeeping duties will mean she will have to entertain herself for at least part of each day,
David and Jo chose the Rally Antigua over the ARC because it was ‘smaller, more intimate and less competitive’. They have sold their house to pay for the trip while Jo is taking unpaid leave from hr job as a children’s nurse and he is taking time out of his career as a management consultant trainer and teacher. Beth, who will celebrate her birthday in mid-Atlantic (the day after her father), can already steer the boat and is looking forward to seeing whales and Dolphins

Jenny (Sun Odyssey 45) Peter and Jenny Crouch
By far the most experienced rallier in the fleet is Peter Crouch. His credits include two Rally Portugals and a Biscay Triangle. Peter has also crossed the Atlantic from Boston to Southampton and with Jenny he has crossed the Pacific from Panama to the Marquesas. It was this last trip that persuaded Jenny that she wanted to do a full circumnavigation – for Peter it has been an ambition ‘for many, many years’.
Some people might be surprised that Peter, who has owned two Najads, has switched to a Jeanneau for the circumnavigation. ‘This type of boat is designed for warm waters and for comfort in harbour – which is where we’ll be most of the time’, he explained. He added that the hull, plumbing and electrical systems on Jenny were at least as good as the Najads and he could put up with the ‘MFI’ interior, which was lighter, better ventilated and much more spacious. His only doubt was the hull shape. ‘She wont be as sea kindly and I expect some slamming but most of the time we will be sailing downwind so it shouldn’t matter.’

Peter is also bucking the trend by keeping his business going while sailing. As an insurance broker he can keep his company ticking over via email and sat-phone while at sea and he will be flying back to the UK from each stop-over.
Peter has fitted extra fuel and water tanks, together with a generator and watermaker. She is also one of the few yachts with windvane self-steering, a Hydrovane, attached to an electronic tiller pilot to give a fully independent steering system. Jenny will also be one of the most fully crewed with friends joining for the most of the cruise and their daughter joining for the Pacific legs.