Ahhhh the tropics… where the air is warm, the water is blue and you can bet your lucky coconut the wind will be coming from the south east or the north east (depending which side of the equator you are on) just about every day. These are the coconut latitudes, where you cruise lazily between green islands fringed with white, sandy, palm fringed beaches, where your morning ritual involves rolling out of bed, grabbing your mask and fins and flopping over the side into a wonderland of colours, coral and fish.. I’ve had some of the best moments of my entire life sailing from island to island in the tropics, anchoring off deserted islands and whiling the evening away drinking rum out of a fresh coconut and dancing round a bonfire until the sky turns blue once again. Life is usually easy in these latitudes and it’s a place I found myself drifting off to when I was lying in my bunk getting rolled around by a fierce north Atlantic storm, cold and wet, wishing I was back here.