Skipper, Michael (M in this blog), has been sailing dinghies and windsurfers, and crewing on other boats on and off for a long time – mostly off. M of course loves sailing and travelling and meeting people and seeing places, and is now living aboard almost all the time. Others join him on board sometimes but he’s been a single-handed sailor for most of the past four years.

In the first month of owning Henrietta, June 2015, several cheerful tried and trusted sailors were welcome aboard: Anna, Andrew A, Margie, John F and Paul H……and others to admire, say nice things and usually have a drink. Many more came aboard in the next few weeks, while still in England: Nigel, Bob, Andrew again, and Claire and Julia (for the river trip on the River Dart) and others.

Once the little adventure started overseas, Stuart G and Bob S were experienced and reliable crew, with Bob staying till Portugal, unphased by the vagaries of North Atlantic autumn.

Anna on watch again

Anna, forever uncritical and calm, was the main source of knowledge for natural history, and till late 2016 spent spells aboard in Canaries and Caribbean. Sons, Johnny and George, and other family and friends have crewed in Caribbean and England. In the absence of an elusive mermaid, M now usually sails oceans on his own.

But, in 2018 and in a diversion from the more usual solo sailing, two and then three women joined Henrietta for about four months for the sail from Australia and across Indonesia. Caroline, Joyce and Ann were a delightful eye-opener to the joys and challenges of seagoing ladies. In a nutshell, I know the water-maker wasn’t up to it, one bathroom is maybe not enough, and women are fragrant, lovely and totally mysterious. And, in case you wonder, romance in any shape or form was absent.