A Two Day night Sail by Ella

I was a bit shocked because we had to sail two days and two nights without stopping, I thought we would only be sailing at night again when we crossed the Atlantic! We sailed from the north of Portugal to the capital city of Lisbon, it was 250 miles away.

To keep myself busy I liked to count how many seagulls there were and watching the dolphins, this time we saw eight sets in one day. We tried to video them but they are so fast, if it comes out ok, we will post it on the blog soon. I also played on my DS, read a book or two. Before dinner we always played charades as a family, I nearly always won, Mummy says she is going to try harder next time.

At six o´clock Jack and Daddy went down below to sleep and Mummy and I were in charge of the boat. We played a brilliant game, called 20 Questions, but we kept forgetting to look out for the lobster pots, so we almost hit one! Luckily I spotted it in time and we were able to miss it. We carried on playing the game, but we still kept forgetting to look out and we nearly hit more lobster pots, so Mummy decided to stop the game, I was a bit sad as I loved the game. It got really dark at eight pm and we still had one hour of our night watch left! Looking for lobster pots in the dark was even harder. It felt great to go off watch and to bed at nine o´clock. But Jack was sleeping in my bunk and it was not time for him toget up so I had to sleep in the specailly made child bunk ontop of the chart table. It was a squeeze but I loved being cosy like that.

My next night watch was with Daddy and we saw this green stuff called phosperessence. The green stuff are little animals that if they gat banged on the head they turn a shiny green in the water; daddy said it only happens when the water is at a certain temperature; it was exciting to see this green light in the water; it helped the time to go quickly.

To Lydia, Ines and Maya, I really, really, really miss you, wish you could be here, I would love you to leave some comments.

Night time sailing in Spain by Jacobus 10/09/08

I was really excitied about going sailing for the year. People who are sailing on Brimble are me, my sister, Ella, someone we know called Jack (not me), we call him Big Jack because he is a grown up, Daddy and Mummy.

I felt a bit sea sick and thought I was going to be sick because the waves were very bumpy, they came all the way across the Atlantic Ocean from America. I went down below, that is what you call the bottom of the boat when you go inside, I went there because I was feeling sick and went to sleep, I was really upset becasue I wanted to stay up but I was not well.
I felt much better when I woke up, still a bit sick, but not much any more. One hour later I felt better. I shouted out at the top of my voice, I could not beleive it, 'DOLPHINS', they were the first dolphins I had ever seen in my life, I was very happy. We saw four dolphins that time and more later on.
I really want to know what all of my friends are doing in Cholsey and the European school and I really want to see Sean and Olivia. I miss you all very much. I would love all my friends to be here with me.

My first night sail by Ella 10/09/08

It was the beginning of our sailing year and I was so excited. We were leaving La Coruna, a town in North West Spain, it was very nice there. It had the Tower of Hercules, we went there, it had 165 steps to the top! The view was fantastic, you could see the sea bashing against the rocks, it was so exciting.
After the tower we went to the aquarium, it had a tiny octopus there, a bout 5cm long and a genorunous shark about 4m long. My favourtie was probably the seals, they were so cute bobbing their heads up. The worst thing was that there were no dolphins there.
We set sail for a little south from where we were called Sanchenxo, whilst we were sailing we saw a whole pod of dolphins surrounding the boat, had I put my hand out I could have touched them. It was the most exciting thing of my life, they were jumping up in the air and splashing the water, it was such fun. Two of them jumped together like in a heart shape. It made me feel better because I had been feeling sea sick.
At night time we did not stop sailing, I was quite shocked because I thought we would! I took the second night watch with Daddy, which means you sail at night while the others sail the boat. It was cold so I wore my thermals, oilskins, life jacket and life line which you clip onto your life jacket and then onto the boat too, it stops you falling off the boat and over the side.
Daddy and I watched the stars, we sawthe Milky Way and Casseopia, it looks like a big 'W' in the sky. We also saw the Big and Little Dipper. I enjoyed the night watch so much but it was tiring, it felt great to come back onto land though.

In Spain, by Ella, 03/09/08

I flew to Spain on a plane as a U.M, this means you go on a plane all alone. I felt very nervous before I got on the plane but when I was on the plane I was not nervous at all. I was so so so happy to see Lydia and Ines. It was brilliant!

Spain was great because there was loads of things to do like going into the swimming pool at the grandparents house, pick raspberries in the garden and swimming in the nearby village river. The best bit was probably by the edge of a waterfall because it felt like you could be sucked in, but you couldn't really!

Not everything was so great because we had to go to a water fountain every day and fill up two water bottles because we could not drink from the tap water!

I went to a swimming party on the last day, it was such fun because you could go on two slides. At the end I had to say goodbye to Lydia and Ines, it was very sad to say goodbye to them but I did not cry, I had stayed with them for twelve days.

I am now in a hotel with my Mum, Jack and my Bestefar (this is Norweigian for Grandad.) We are in Spain in Santiago becasue we have to wait for my Dad and the boat called Brimble.

Getting ready to go away for a year. By Jacobus. September 3rd 2008

I have been staying at Bestefar's house because we do not have a house anymore because we are going sailing for a year. Our house is being rented out to someone else. I have been playing with my new Lego that I got for my birthday from Robin and Ella and visiting Stuart and Lukas, I miss all the European school friends.

We had to go to pick up Ella from Spain, because she was there with some friends. We are in a hotel in Spain in Santiago with Bestefar waiting for Daddy and Brimble. Brimble is my boat.