Natsha Lambert

Disabled sailor and adventurer

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You are here: Home / Archives for Rachel's Blog

Atlantic Storms!

4th December 2020 By Site Admin

Oh, my word!!! Thursday Was just the longest day! At around 3 am The beginning of my second watch of the night when we noticed a flash in the distance. At first, we thought not much of it but as we continued to watch it, it started to get closer and the flashes more regular. We had been in the “rinse cycle” of the dark washing machine that was the now a building sea for about an hour when we decided the storm was getting a little too close. So, in an attempt to slow the boat down and let the storm pass ahead, we put a reef in. This seemed to work however the lightning was still visible several miles away and The wind still strong!

Nobody got much sleep over the next few hours, as we spent the night monitoring the angry red shapes drifting across our radar, and as the day progressed the clouds around us darkened once again and several squalls full of heavy rain Began to build into more storms. During this the winds would Shift and alter direction, the swells between 4-6 m with wind speeds varying from 4-30 knots And by around 4 pm the skies now black And the radar showing the ominous activity surrounding us We turned all our electrics off and Mike steered a 275-degree course for St Lucia.

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Torrential rain, persistent lightning and visibility down so low we couldn’t see much beyond the bows except the murky greys of the sky and sea, we waited. This lasted for around 2 hours before the skies started to lighten as dusk fell. The winds and sea state calmed but the lightning continued until about 1-2 am this morning.

As the sun rose behind the last remaining clouds There was a sigh of relief from everyone, the storms had gone and we had sustained no damage!

Rachel.

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Filed Under: Atlantic Challenge, Blown Away, Challenges, Rachel's Blog Tagged With: Atlantic 2020, Atlantic ARC, Atlantic Challenege, Atlantic Storm, Crossing the Atlantic, disabled sailor, Gary Lambert, Lambert, Lambert Family, Mandy Lambert, natasha, Natasha Lambert, Rachel Lambert, sailing, sailing adventure, Sailing family, sailing the atlantic, Storm, Tough sailing, Windy

Settling in, Sparkles & Stars.

26th November 2020 By Site Admin

An update from Blown Away – Wed 25 Nov 2020 08:41.

A dolphin spotted by the Blown Away crew.

All going well And settling into routines. Loving the night sky and phosphorescence! We saw our 1st pod of dolphins at dawn on Monday, another at dusk last night, (Tuesday 24th.)

We’ve enjoyed talking to other ARC boats on the radio. Spotted the empty fishing boat yesterday that lots of people had mentioned on the radio about 200m to our port. Lots of cheesy jokes, a favourite meal so far – stir fry chicken, and apple crumble with custard.

The wind has been variable and we’ve tried different sail configurations. Spinnaker and twin-poled jibs. Highest wind encountered so far was 25 knots and top boat speed so far 12 knots. Expecting wind to stay quite fresh for the next few days.


Natasha has been helming from both sitting and standing and loving it all!!!

Filed Under: Atlantic Challenge, Blown Away, Challenges, News, Rachel's Blog

Day one – Start day…

23rd November 2020 By Site Admin

Well that was some day!


Nerves and much excitement, setting off with all the boats on the start line, looking out for friends on their boats waving to the crowds that had gathered to see us off.

Photo credit – WCC/James Mitchell.

Very very light winds and A slow start for us but wind picked up just after it got dark and we were able to put up our downwind sail.

The adventure begins…

Rachel Lambert.

(Blog taken from our ‘Teleport-Blog.’)

Filed Under: Atlantic Challenge, Blown Away, Challenges, News, Rachel's Blog Tagged With: ARC, ARC 2020, Atlantic 2020, Atlantic ARC, Atlantic Challenege, Crossing the Atlantic, Lambert Family, Natasha Lambert, Race day, Rachel Lambert, sailing, Sailing family, sip and puff

Preparations in Las Palmas.

23rd November 2020 By Site Admin

Arriving here in Las Palmas just over two weeks ago, it’s been amazingly busy getting prepared! Fitting extra solar panels, cleaning, servicing, safety checks, rigging checks, provisioning and sourcing a new computer for Natasha that got damaged as we went though security at the airport on our way out here.

Fitting new solar pannels on Blown Away.

One of our last jobs, Dad dived to clean the hulls underwater and whilst there did an inspection and found our starboard prop had play in it which meant having part of the prop renewed!


One of the nicest part of taking part in The ARC is all the lovely people we have met. Everyone has interesting stories to tell, people that have been planning this adventure for 20/30 years to people who just decided a few months ago!

Our only disappointment is that we couldn’t see more of the Island, we hired an adapted vehicle but unfortunately it was supplied with no wheelchair restraints and a lift that didn’t work and despite attempts to get resolved unfortunately we were unable to. Which was a shame.

Our crew arrived a few days ago, Mike, Sue, Neil and Angela and they have been busy helping with all the prep…

The crew!

And now the night before our departure, after A great firework display we are all excited to start our adventure together!


Wishing all our new friends and crews a fantastic sail and look forward to hearing everyone’s stories in St. Lucia!!

Rachel Lambert.

(Blog taken from our ‘Teleport-Blog.’)

Filed Under: Atlantic Challenge, Blown Away, Challenges, News, Rachel's Blog Tagged With: ARC 2020, Atlantic 2020, Atlantic ARC, Atlantic Challenege, Blown Away, disabled sailor, Journey, Natasha Lambert, Our crew, Our family, Rachel Lambert, sailing, Sailing family, UK Sailing

The Atlantic – Phase one by Rachel Lambert.

23rd November 2020 By Site Admin

Our journey to Las Palmas and the start of the 2020 ARC began on the 1st of August 2020 when we left Cowes and headed over to Cherbourg. After 2 years of work converting and learning to sail the boat (Blown Away) it was great to finally be off!

The first week day sailing along the French coast with some lovely weather stopping at Granville, St Quay, Roscoff, L’Aberwach and Breast.
Our next passage was our longest to date, a seven day 1008 miles down to Gibraltar, as one of our crew had to return to U.K. and if we stopped in portugal or Spain this would involve quarantine due to current covid situation.

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The Needles.


All sorts of weather during the passage from dodging thunderstorms in the Bay of Biscay, 30 knot winds off Acoruna fog and no wind off Lisbon, hundreds of dolphin and beautiful sunrises and sunsets. Transiting the straights of Gibraltar in the dark with strong winds and currents off Tarifa huge amounts of shipping and fantastic sight of the Atlas Mountains and the rock of Gibraltar as the sun rose!

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Dolphins!



The next week spent resting sightseeing re-provisioning and waiting for another crew member to fly out and join us before starting our next passage down to Las Palmas.

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Another 700 miles and 5 days experiencing the acceleration zones around the canaries, and with the boat safely in Las Palmas marina we flew home for a couple of months before returning at the beginning of November for the start of this years ARC!!

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Rachel Lambert.

(Blog taken from our ‘Teleport-Blog.’)

Filed Under: Atlantic Challenge, News, Rachel's Blog Tagged With: adventure, Atlantic 2020, Atlantic ARC, Atlantic Challenege, Blog, Blown Away, Crossing the Atlantic, Journey, Lambert Family, Las Palmas, Natasha Lambert, Our family, Rachel Lambert, sailing, Sailing family, Travelling

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