Welcome Aboard, Padraig!

Common Sense has a new crew member, and very welcome he is! Here's Padraig arriving on the slow ferry from Nassau to Spanish Wells. Padraig Mallon hails from the town of Camlough in County Armagh (just north of the border), where he lives with his lovely wife Clare. He runs a successful air-conditioning business with his two brothers and is very handy with tools and systems - what an asset on a boat! He is also an endurance swimmer, having conquered the English Channel and participated in the Guinness world record open water swim, and an enthusiastic kite-surfer. Let's hope he doesn't need to make too much use of the distance swimming talent - although he did leap into the water to save some beer that went overboard from a Bahamian fishing boat, and was recognised on local radio for his effort!

Padraig turned 35 on his second day aboard, so we celebrated with a chocolate cake - the nine-hour candle was a pretty good alternative to 35 birthday candles. In case you're wondering, his reason for signing up to join us on the Atlantic crossing is that this is his "annual adventure". The whole Mallon family seems to be an adventurous lot. Padraig's personal motto is "if you don't go when you're gone you don't get" - I think it loses a little bit in translation, but you get the gist. We're delighted to have him aboard, not only for his skills and enthusiasm, but also "for the craic".

We're now in Marsh Harbour waiting out some ugly weather so we can start the Bermuda passage. That will be a test of the boat and of us - about a week at sea to cover over 700 nautical miles.