In recent years, in my home village of Sunningdale, there has evolved a group of similarly obtuse, irreverent, but like-minded chaps who enjoy each other’s company, yarning over a pint and the occasional lunch. We have identified with the Kenneth Grahame classic ‘The Wind in the Willows’ as the individuals involved are very well suited... Continue Reading →

With France regressing into more stringent Covid restrictions, there is no imminent prospect of paying Hejira a visit and she remains as I left her, halfway through preparations for The Atlantic Project. I have however managed to secure a more formal ‘babysitting’ regime which should provide some comfort and help smooth my sleep patterns. I... Continue Reading →

My sign off last year was ‘wishing everyone a healthy and happy new year’ having just escaped France (Hejira being moored near Nice) before a crippling strike in December. How very apposite this has turned out to be! To bring you up to date, Hejira was collected from her berth in January and taken to... Continue Reading →

I really thought that the holidaying of Paula and her two friends would be the end of anything interesting to ‘blog about’ but I think I may have been wrong – you will be the judge... We had taken a temporary berth in St. Laurent Du Var as our winter berth in Baie des Anges... Continue Reading →

Having booked a berth in advance, the Calvi marina staff saw fit to place us on the premium ‘A’ dock right next to the ‘action’. This was all very well but the loud music went on until 2am and rather took the gilt off the convenience. The visit ticked all the boxes for the ladies... Continue Reading →

Paula has for many years taken holidays on Hejira and her predecessors, mostly with her two friends, Marie and Kate who go all the way back to Southampton University. These holidays have always been static and invariably in my absence. They have included locations like the Canaries, the Algarve, the Riviera and various UK destinations... Continue Reading →

Our passage to our overnight stop at Porto Pollo was only 30 miles but was memorable for the size of the swell left over from the previous gale in the Gulf du Lion. Keen to tuck ourselves out of the undulations we opted to pick up a mooring buoy behind a reef and close enough... Continue Reading →

Before I forget this story, I have to tell you about our arrival in Bonifacio. We had pre-booked and were allocated a good berth on the ‘active’ side of the harbour next to a nice but old Halberg Rassey. The very tanned and clearly seasoned Italian owner ran around deploying fenders as we came in... Continue Reading →

The wind was due to pick up so we modestly put the main up with a reef and let the full jib out as it is easy to reef. It wasn’t long before we were furling the jib to be replaced by the staysail and putting a second reef in the main. This did at... Continue Reading →