Esprit De La Mer is a Beneteau 41 bought new and specifically modified for fast 'blue water ' sailing.
The plan was to make passage directly from Panama to Tahiti via the Marquesa Islands by the old trade route as far as possible without use of engine and to still make good time . The dream was to do so solo . The dream became a reality when my crew jumped ship in St Lucia .
Extensive study of weather information had shown me that to sail a yacht via Galapagos was almost impossible because of the weather and currents within the area of Galapagos .However the arrival of a 'Norther ' in the Caribbean Sea off Panama often resulted in enhanced 'trades spilling over into the Pacific which combined with a natural southerly current off the coast of South America would speed a sailing ship which kept well East on her way to the Equator This was the case in days of sail.
The reality was that I made the 4000+ nm passage to the Marquesa Islands in 27 days 5 hours using minimal engine .This compares very favourably with usual passage times via Galapagos which inevitably involve more than a weeks use of engine .

Full details of my voyage can be read at :
http://blog.mailasail.com/chris.bates

Congratulations, Chris. I hope to read about it in the next Flying Fish!

Vice Commodore, OCC