Blog

Dear Brother Hedley

More bad news unfortunately. My brother Hedley passed away in the early hours of Monday 31st January 2022, aged just 73. He was diagnosed with Leukaemia last year and after periods in hospital undergoing treatment, he chose to spend his final weeks at home with his family. I was fortunate to see him very recently... Continue Reading →

Homer….not Simpson

Reference to Homer’s Iliad might be seen as rather ‘highbrow’ and somewhat incongruous given the usual more ‘earthy’ content of these blogs. So, not surprisingly, I must confess to having been introduced to it by an infinitely more learned and cerebral friend and fellow Southerly 135 sailor, John Goodall. Here is his mail to me... Continue Reading →

No Balls !

Is it just me being a cantankerous pedant, or are nautical standards slipping? Maybe they are just evolving and changing to reflect the times ? There was a time when yacht Ensigns were ‘dipped’ to Royal Naval Vessels, and the Navy were expected to ‘dip’ in return as a matter of courtesy and etiquette, poor... Continue Reading →

America’s Cup update November 2021

The announcement of the venue and dates for the 37th America’s Cup in 2024 has been delayed again. With the NZ government only offering $100 million dollars (!) to fund the staging of the cup, there appear to be several locations clamouring to host the event. The speculation includes Ireland, Italy, Spain and even Saudi... Continue Reading →

Such Sad News

It is such sad news to report that Barry Locke-Edmunds died at home in Wales on the 28th of October aged 73. Readers of this blog will know that he crewed on the Atlantic crossings to and back from the Caribbean. Barry helped me prepare Hejira for the adventure and gave me such a lot... Continue Reading →

Mayday Postscript

Since returning, I have been in touch with Steve Hancox, skipper and owner of ‘Bryony’ and we have had some interesting correspondence. Bryony is an old wooden ‘Gaffer’ which Steve restored in the garden of his house in Herefordshire. She is 10 metres over the deck with a 2.85-metre bow sprit.   She is a “double-ender”... Continue Reading →

Mission Accomplished

We did manage to evade the zealous Yarmouth Harbour fee collectors and after a sumptuous full night’s sleep, we slipped our mooring at 06.45 bound for Northney Marina. Heading down the Solent under a clear blue sky and with the tide under us, we had the best ‘white sail’ sail since departing the Cote D’Azur... Continue Reading →

Carl’s confessional 😕

The updated weather forecast coupled with our delayed crossing necessitated a rethink. With the wind veering to the NNE in the evening, we didn’t relish the prospect of just bashing back in 25 knots on the nose. The better option was to take the 3 hour shorter crossing to the Needles, get in earlier and... Continue Reading →

Mayday !

Our intended passage from the NW corner of Brittany was to sail towards Guernsey overnight, pick up a signal for a weather update, and carry a favourable tide through the Alderney Race with a slingshot into our channel crossing – best laid plans
 Coming on my watch at 2am, making good speed under sail alone... Continue Reading →

The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea

Our crossing of Biscay started, as expected, with mirror calm conditions over a long, languid Atlantic swell and little wind. Carl continued to suffer, and he took himself off to bed with a bucket. If he enjoyed his octopus pie when first ingested, the regurgitation didn’t sound at all pleasant. As we pressed on, the... Continue Reading →

Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.

Up ↑