WHILE their Penketh neighbours shiver through February, the McDonald family are anchored off Bridgetown, Barbados, soaking up the sun and enjoying the local rum at £15 a gallon.

The McDonalds - Bernie, Sue and daughter Ruth - are six months into a round-the-world voyage in their home-made 40-foot yacht, the Liver Bird.

They crossed the Atlantic in 29 days, held back by unfavourable trade winds.

Ruth, aged 14, described their first sighting of Barbados in a letter to the GUARDIAN:

"After making amazing times for the first 18 days, up to 150 miles per day, suddenly the winds deserted us. We crawled along, sometimes doing as little as 40 miles per day.

"We had given up all hope of reaching Barbados for Christmas when a shout from dad told us there was a squall up ahead.

"A strange sight greeted us, a black squall bore down on us. Above us the clouds boiled and the rain came down in sheets.

"Behind us we could see the glassy windless sea, around us the angry foaming waves and in front a sailor's dream - a blue sea and trade clouds, a brisk trade wind and the steady rolling trade swells. Two days later we sighted Barbados."

Ruth says she has settled into a routine of school, shopping, diving and canoeing and get togethers with other yachters.

A highlight of their voyage was a trip 60-feet down in the ocean in a submarine. Ruth was overwhelmed by the magnificent corals and varieties of fish.

Despite the temptations of their idyllic location, Ruth is studying by correspondence for her GCSE's which she plans to take this summer from the West Indes.

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