Sh*t Bugger Damn

Crossing the Atlantic on a yacht can be a daunting prospect, especially for the first time. Jan and Greg Paine crossed the Atlantic in January 2020 on their 50 foot Northwind sailing yacht, Viridian.

Jan oversaw the provisioning and cooking for the crew of five. She researched online before setting sail, hoping to find advice on what and how much to buy, how to preserve produce, what to cook and how best to cook in challenging conditions; but couldn’t find a definitive guide.

After a couple of days at sea, Jan started to catalogue and photograph her experiences to help others planning similar crossings. She has included details of what and how much she bought, the menu for the entire journey and the main recipes as well as sections on storage, equipment, cleaning, and general housekeeping. She includes numerous helpful tips and advice based on the experience of what went well and what didn’t.

You will guess from the title that quite a lot of swearing was involved, because as all sailors know, not everything goes to plan at sea!

Jan hopes her book will help others to have a smooth crossing and may be of general interest to sailors living aboard a yacht or when making occasional longer overnight passages.