The nautical adventures and misadventures of Hejira, her skipper, and all who sail in her…
The first I knew of this 'letter' was a phone call saying "where shall we send the bottle of rum" ! Yachting World must have been struggling for content as they have cut and pasted from my blog 'No Balls!', reconfigured it as a letter and essentially, lost most of the thrust of my piece.... Continue Reading →
I am aware that I may be encroaching on an area that is sensitive, and I am certainly stepping outside of the subject areas and tone normally associated with my blog postings. I apologise for this in advance but please read on as I believe this to be important. By way of background, my support... Continue Reading →
Improvement schedule since purchase 22nd August 2012 Northshore (the original constructor) upgrades Winter 2012/13 Replaced Stainless Steel Water tanks (x2) and Stainless Steel Diesel tanks (x2) with polyethylene TEK tanks. Unfortunately, the diesel tanks were installed with leaking drain plugs, something Northshore tried to blame on others. Drain plugs finally sealed by Tek Tanks during... Continue Reading →
This article featured in the July 2022 Yachting Monthly. It was comparing the Southerly 42RST with the 135. Interesting if superficial. In my humble opinion, the 42 is not a patch on the 135, pandering as it does to the modern fashions in design at the expense of sea keeping and practicality.
During the depths of the Covid crisis when I was denied access to 'Hejira' while she was inaccessible on the Cote DâAzure, I looked to get my âwater fixâ with a small dinghy on the British waterways. This was explained in the blog âWind in the Willowsâ (which also explains the nomenclature of the 'Dramatis... Continue Reading →
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 →
Reference to Homerâs Iliad might be seen as rather âhighbrowâ and somewhat incongruous given the usual more âearthyâ 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 →
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 âdippedâ to Royal Naval Vessels, and the Navy were expected to âdipâ in return as a matter of courtesy and etiquette, poor... Continue Reading →
The announcement of the venue and dates for the 37th Americaâs 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 →
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 →
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