Arianasailingteam

ONE PLACE LEFT UK to Lagos (Portugal) in Style in a Classic Swan 55

Hello fellow sailors

UPDATE: 29/10/22
Weather window not opening until at least 03/11/ 22 Still time and one place available. Contact us to reserve a spot


I hope you've all had a good summer on the water and are ready for some offshore sailing to the sunshine with us on Ariana, our beautiful Sparkman and Stephens designed Swan 55, launched in 1972 and fully restored to the highest standards with all the latest safety equipment and satellite communications.

Ariana Sailing Team has been busy with our not for profit organisation, developing new recipes for our solar cooking project, talking to local growers and suppliers for our sail trader project, and planning our circumnavigation, amongst other things!

We are currently based in Portland Marina (near weymouth) and will be ready to depart on the 15th October although the weather is looking unfavourable so departure may be pushed back to 17/18th oct

The trip will take us approx 14 days as we plan to make stops along the way due to the difficulty in finding a weather window for the whole 1200 mile trip. Possible stops include /St peter port or falmouth/ Brest or A Coruna, and Vigo or Lisbon, before our arrival into Lagos on 30th October.

Ariana is a very safe, warm, and comfortable bluewater racer/cruiser fully equipped for ocean sailing, managed by a skipper and first mate obsessed with safety and good seamanship, who are always on hand to advise and assist with skills improvement, and we are always learning from our crew who bring with them a great deal of knowledge and skills with them, even if they are just starting out.

You can see the layout of Ariana and the accommodation by going to our website below

https://arianasailingteam.org/the-swan-55/


We have 6 places available for this trip

2 for novice sailors (no experience required but willing to listen and learn
2 for coastal/weekend sailors who want to develop their passage planning skills/offshore resilience
2 for offshore sailors or milebuilders who hold or are working towards yachtmaster exams..

We will experience all kinds of weather conditions along the way, with pleasant downwind sailing most of the way hopefully! But be sure to let us know if you experience sea sickness and how we can help you manage it.

We hope you can join us on this trip, and we have many more in the lead up to our circumnavigation in Dec 2023. As a not for profit organization we rely on raising funds through our sailing trips and ask for a donation of £1.00 per mile for which breakfast, lunch, dinner, and all snacks and soft drinks are provided, as is all safety equipment, and all cleaning, linen mooring fees, electric/water at marina/ all diesel passage fuel / and use of tender with outboard / kayaks / etc ... a pretty good deal really!
On all trips, our priorities are Safety. Education. Fun. Fun and more fun.

We sail with people of all ages, and all backgrounds and we aim to be as internationally inclusive as we can... We do always appreciate having younger sailors with us, as well as female sailors who seem to be grossly under represented in offshore saiiing and racing...

WHAT TO EXPECT

I won't bore you about watches, and cooking and cleaning duties, I'd rather say this,.. Life on board tends to be the following.... 95% drinking tea and eating biscuits, cakes and chatting and laughing, sailing along peacefully, and 5 percent sheer terror mixed in with a lot of shouting and a bit of chaos but quickly goes back to quietly sailing along again! We have a problem, we deal with it, we move on...

The crew dynamics on an offshore/ocean sailing boat can be very complex. People can feel loneliness, isolation, anxiety, fear, and often anger towards other crew and the skipper when they feel they have been mistreated, or feel they are not being listened to,
I try to get the crew mix right, so that everyone gets on, but occasionally I get it wrong and people end up unhappy, or feel

I always tell all crew that they should come to me if they have a problem including with me, but most people rarely do, and wait until they leave the boat to express whatever emotions they couldn't onboard.. (usually in a review) such is life!

Offshore sailing can be a life changing experience but it isn't for the faint hearted. On board I am compassionate and listen to the crew, but there are times when people just need to follow orders for the safety of the boat and their crewmates...

I'm sure we are going to have a great time together on this trip

Normally this trip would be £1200 but due to the short notice, the total cost will be £650...

Your donation goes towards the upkeep of Ariana, ensuring she continues sailing the ocean waves for another 50 years so that new generations of sailors get to experience the freedom that ocean sailing brings...

We look forward to sailing with you soon

Fair winds

Alan and the team..


PS We have noticed a very negative review, which has been made by an ex-employee not a guest crew member. We have safely sailed with many crew aboard Ariana, of all skill levels, and personality types for over 30000 miles without any issues, and we try to learn from each experience, to make each trip safer, and more fun.

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