A LEIGH woman has written a book about her experiences sailing the Atlantic.

Former Leigh CE pupil Lesley Hayes, 43, who grew up on Langdale Street, undertook the massive task along with her partner Mike Dye as part of the 30th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers last year.

The couple were inspired to write a book together after they produced a blog while sailing from Gran Canaria to St Lucia on their yacht – A Sea Symphony.

The rally requires competitors to keep a log of their journey which sees them travel with a small team across the Atlantic where everyone has to learn to live together.

They had the accolade of being the last boat across the finishing line and also won the prize for the best log of the rally.

Lesley, who attended Lowton High School but has lived in Greece for the past three years with Mike, said: “We hadn’t met some of the crew before the trip and all of a sudden we were living and working together.

“It was a great experience.

“We bought and restored the old boat and then set sail, living with four other people in a small space for 23 days while crossing the Atlantic ocean.

“I had my birthday while we were sailing and we wrote poetry, sang songs, got to know each other and ate tasty food – it was a crazy journey.

“People said it was no wonder we were last in as we were having too much of a good time.

“While doing all this we wrote about our experiences separately and ended up winning the best log award. It was crazy to hear Mike’s perspective of things I experienced too – it’s a real Mars vs Venus perspective.”

A Tale of 2 B’logs’: or...Sailing with Mike and Lesley from 2 VERY Different Perspectives is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition and as a paperback on Lulu.com