​The adventures of
Saecwen and her crew

The Gambier islands form a small archipelago in the southeastern part of French Polynesia and are one of the natural first destinations when crossing the South Pacific from Central and South America. We chose to make Saecwen’s transpacific landfall here rather than the more popular Marquesas islands further north primarily due to the huge number of yachts which we knew were heading to the latter. We were delighted with our decision not just because of the reports of unsustai

Written by Justin Buckland, Heloise's brother who joined Saecwen in Panama on the 13th March and departed from the Gambier islands, French Polynesia on 16th May. I was delighted to be offered a place on Saecwen’s voyage from Panama to French Polynesia: crossing the Panama Canal, on to the Galapagos Islands and then a 3000+ mile Pacific passage. Part of the deal was that I would bring a few items for the boat: in the weeks before leaving the UK I accumulated a bewildering arra

Week one was so much fun once we’d found the trades. With plenty of food on board and a new moon, oh what happy days. Fresh wahoo and mahi mahi perfecto for ceviche, and Saecwen’s under way. Week two and the wind got up speeding us on under reefed sails. Fixing and mending kept busy the crew until we were hit by squalls. Dolphins to starboard, flying fish at night, the sky lit up by the growing moon. Starry night watches were such a treat, here no time for gloom. Week thr