The historicLively Ladyhas finished the first leg of her voyage, arriving into St John’s, Newfoundland at 16.45BST on Saturday August 19. The transatlantic passage saw the crew battle with 45-knot winds, which were replaced by the equally tricky conditions of light winds and thick fog for the last stages of the journey.

The two South-Coast youngsters on board, Matt Vigar and Jay Williams, see here for previous story , were certainly put to the test by conditions onboard during the trip, as Jay’s journal entry below shows:

‘During the night, everyone took it in turns to go on watch but stayed inside because it was too wet and windy on deck, the wind had now reached 40 knots, we did an hour each while the other three slept. It was hard at times because the rocking made it difficult to rest; in 24 hours I have had about four hours’ sleep. This has completely thrown out my track of what day and date it is because the pat few days have seemed like one long one. It has been impossible to cook a meal in this weather. I was quite hungry though so I had a few spoonfuls of peanut butter and chocolate spread – it was the best I could do at the time – all part of the experience.’

Lively Lady and her skipper now have a couple of weeks of rest and recuperation before beginning the next leg, from St John’s to Portsmouth, USA, in early September with two new youngsters onboard.