People
Nicky and David Barwell
26th August 2025
A photo of us with Canadian friends we met in Brazil
We grew up either side of the Helford River, near Falmouth.
We progressed from messing about in boats to dinghy sailing, then racing dinghies and yachts, including some offshore races.
Our first yacht was a Seawolf 26 which we sailed to France in when our children were small. We then progressed to a UFO 34 which worked very well as a family yacht but it was very wet and this was before sprayhoods.
When the boys were in their teens we changed to a racing yacht, a Big Bolero, fast and fun. We won the Helford to L’Aber Wrac’h race in 1977. We had in mind to sail further afield and decided a Sigma 38 more suitable, and taking a year out of work we sailed to Portugal then Madeira, the Azores and home.
Having had a taste of sailing distances we decided again to change yachts and bought a Moody 419 in Lisbon from a Portuguese guy who chose his mistress over the yacht. Mind you he had named the yacht ‘Mistress Moody’ which we quickly changed to ‘Baloo’. We crossed Biscay many times in this yacht enjoying the Spanish rias during summer holidays. We also had our windiest crossing, Force 9 gusting 10 we were told afterwards, we didn’t have any wind instruments working so just thought it was a bit windy! The yacht was fantastic at handling winds and seas.
Having met friends who had sailed twice to Brazil we began thinking perhaps we could also do this trip. It would involve two years away to get down as far as Rio which was our plan. We sailed again to the Azores to see if we were liking the distances and the yacht was up to it. Unfortunately the mast was damaged on the sail back to the U.K. which ended up with a new mast which was fitted the week before we left.
We sailed to the Algarve before setting off to the Canaries, then Cape Verde, across the equator to Fernando de Noronha islands, then Salvador and finally Rio. However, since leaving the UK we were experiencing trouble with the main halyard, until finally, in Rio it was discovered the mast had been built incorrectly. This episode overshadowed a lot of the trip.
Having had 6 months in Brazil we sailed up the coast, crossing the equator again to French Guiana. We had a brilliant time there and met cruisers we have as friends years later. Our younger son, a rigger, flew out and replaced some parts in the top of the mast so we could safely sail home. Due to illness we didn’t have very long in the Caribbean on our way home but still enjoyed 3 months sailing up to Antigua. We left there to sail to the Azores with a group of yachts but 400 miles out our Hydrovane broke and we returned to Antigua for spairs. After than we sailed to Bermuda, which was one of the best islands we visited. After a week there we set off with a group of cruisers to the Azores, then the U.K.
We then decided to change yachts again for something smaller and bought a Jeanneau Sunfast in Italy near Venice. We sailed back through the Med, the only time we have been there and managed 3,000 nms in 5 weeks, we were in a hurry to get home but can’t remember why.
We then had 5 great years sailing to the Algarve, specifically the Guadiana river for the winter and returning to the U.K. for the summer. Unfortunately in October 2022 we suffered an orca attack near Sines and the rudder was so bent it needed replacing. So we spent 5 months on the hard near Lagos. For some silly reason we decided to sell the Jeanneau, even before the new rudder was fitted, to a really nice guy from Dublin and we packed all our belongings into our car and drove back to the U.K.
Being homeless David’s very patient sister offered us space and we then searched for a replacement, harder than we thought. Our quest for a replacement home took us to Dublin, the east coast, Scotland and finally Wales, where we decided to buy our current yacht. A bit bigger than planned but a lovely yacht to live on.
Having met friends who had sailed twice to Brazil we began thinking perhaps we could also do this trip. It would involve two years away to get down as far as Rio which was our plan. We sailed again to the Azores to see if we were liking the distances and the yacht was up to it. Unfortunately the mast was damaged on the sail back to the U.K. which ended up with a new mast which was fitted the week before we left.
We sailed to the Algarve before setting off to the Canaries, then Cape Verde, across the equator to Fernando de Noronha islands, then Salvador and finally Rio. However, since leaving the UK we were experiencing trouble with the main halyard, until finally, in Rio it was discovered the mast had been built incorrectly. This episode overshadowed a lot of the trip.
Having had 6 months in Brazil we sailed up the coast, crossing the equator again to French Guiana. We had a brilliant time there and met cruisers we have as friends years later. Our younger son, a rigger, flew out and replaced some parts in the top of the mast so we could safely sail home. Due to illness we didn’t have very long in the Caribbean on our way home but still enjoyed 3 months sailing up to Antigua. We left there to sail to the Azores with a group of yachts but 400 miles out our Hydrovane broke and we returned to Antigua for spairs. After than we sailed to Bermuda, which was one of the best islands we visited. After a week there we set off with a group of cruisers to the Azores, then the U.K.
We then decided to change yachts again for something smaller and bought a Jeanneau Sunfast in Italy near Venice. We sailed back through the Med, the only time we have been there and managed 3,000 nms in 5 weeks, we were in a hurry to get home but can’t remember why.
We then had 5 great years sailing to the Algarve, specifically the Guadiana river for the winter and returning to the U.K. for the summer. Unfortunately in October 2022 we suffered an orca attack near Sines and the rudder was so bent it needed replacing. So we spent 5 months on the hard near Lagos. For some silly reason we decided to sell the Jeanneau, even before the new rudder was fitted, to a really nice guy from Dublin and we packed all our belongings into our car and drove back to the U.K.
Being homeless David’s very patient sister offered us space and we then searched for a replacement, harder than we thought. Our quest for a replacement home took us to Dublin, the east coast, Scotland and finally Wales, where we decided to buy our current yacht. A bit bigger than planned but a lovely yacht to live on.
