Jim, Rollo, Jonathon and Tom, enjoy a well deserved drink on in Rodney Bay St Lucia after 15 days, 20 hours and 10 minutes at sea.
Team Belles
Christmas in the Caribbean
Friday, December 21, 2007
ARC Team
Jim, Rollo, Jonathon and Tom, enjoy a well deserved drink on in Rodney Bay St Lucia after 15 days, 20 hours and 10 minutes at sea.
ARC crossing
This is a copy of our blog from the arc web pages.
Wind Belle is a Catana 471 catamaran. All summer I have been sailing it in the med with Sophie and the three girls aboard, Imogen 7 Tallulah, 5 and Sienna 3. We have had a great time and you can read about our adventures at Pudswindbelle.blogspot.com. However for the Atlantic crossing we chose to let the women fly, so on board we have Jim Hartley the girls grand father , Dr Tom Trevelyan, and Rollo Piper all of whom like myself are ex International fourteen sailors and currently sail out of Itchenor sailing club at Chichester harbour. The three crew are all grandfathers, so instead of it being a lads boat its a bit of a "Grand lads" boat. So this is the story so far.
23 Nov excitement is building, we finally have our rig checked at 5.30 pm by Jerry the rigger. What a bummer we have found two strands broken on the support to the cross beam, this basically supports the forestay and stops the bat buckling up front. It is rated to 22 tonnes. I visit the riggers who doubt they have time or the strength of wire to fix it. Gand lads and myself very disappointed and down beat.
24 Nov.
Visit rigger again and see boss man, who thinks he can fix it if we do all the rigging work and pay him lots of money. Not that we are experts at rigging but we take it apart, standing back in case the whole rig falls down.
5.30 pm and our friendly rigger has not returned yet, and the start is at 13.00 tomorrow.
7 pm its getting dark but we are putting the last bolt in place, it looks like we will make the start after all.Yippee.
25th Nov. Start of the ARC.
Wake up with a marching band along the dock, and locals coming around to look at the boats.
We leave the harbour to join the other 240 plus boats milling around for the start, which is quite a sight. And finally we are off, well actually we are three minutes late for the line, thanks to some very unusually conservative sailing from me. What a good sight all the boats going down wind in about 20 knots of wind.
First squall arrives one hour in 36 knots, Jim is steering its raining but we get up to 16.4 knots!!!!!
2pm DR Tom who has carefully put together our medical kit, is the first to use it when he is cutting the cucumber.
4pm see first Dolphin, swimming along with us at 10 knots.
6pm most of us are feeling a little sea sick, its still blowing 20 plus, and we are going well.
Midnight, full moon and I am on watch when a pod of dolphins come and swim alongside in the moon light.
26 Nov 1pm next day
Our daily run is 215 nm. Not bad going. We listen to the radio schedule and feel quite good about where we are compared to the other boats.
28th Nov
Its my birthday, I got some great cards from the girls but it is not the same fun without them here. On the plus side we had a school of Dolphins came and swam at the bow for an hour or so. We all stood on the bows and watched them in amazement, as they leaped about our bow. I also saw a turtle out here in the middle of the ocean, about 20 ft from the boat. In the evening we tucked into the FoieGras that the girls Left on board as a surpise present. Amazingly all hands forgot their sea sickness for about the ten minutes it took to eat it.
29th Nov.
We are still making good progress, one report from the UK said we were the 15th boat, out of 240, just imagine where we would be if we had a spinny!!!! Jim must have an iron stomach. He cooked bacon and fried eggs this morning. We put it on our plates looked at it and decided to feed the fish with out chewing it first.
30th Nov.
We have got to 30 west, so are now about 1/3 the way there.
I am finally well enough to bake bread. So far we have eaten non of the provisions that we bought for the crossing except a bit of fruit.Of course we are fishing but I think we are going too fast to cast anything, our avg speed is about 8 knots and every time we get a bight either the fish gets away or we loose our fishing lure, generally both happen at the same time. Dr Tom today has shown that he is very good at not just humans but boats too. Our generator started to over heat as we made water and then it cut out. Tom's face looked rather anxious, as Jim and I ummed and uhhered... You see with out the generator we would not be able to make water or electricity to power our batteries , steering and nav stuff. Tom became chief bush or should I say ocean mechanic and went into the engine compartment to have a little fiddle. I was rather worried he might try to sink us. Low and behold one hour later when Tom emerged with a pile of gunk in his hand. The gunk had been blocking the water intake to the genny which was then over heating.The generator is now working and Tom is starting to relax, so much so that he cooked dinner.
1 Dec.
Our big genoa wouldn't furl last night at about mid night in a gust of wind, all hands on deck to try to pull it down, but then suddenly it just fell down, as the clip at the top of the halyard had come un-done. So far nobody has dared to climb the mast and we all have renued respect for Ellen.
Last night we also saw the lights of another boat, and radioed them up to find out they are a 73 foot xyacht, I am not quite sure what they made of our little catamaran bobbing along with them.At first light we found a rather unlucky flying fish on deck. You imagine you have the whole Atlantic ocean to fly in and you end up on a boat. Bummer. Anyway we put said fish on Rollos pillow for when he woke up.
Graine has mobilized the Itchenor weather gurus for us and we now have access to the Noaa forcast. It was great that so many people were able to offer help.
Wind is 20 knots directly behind us waves about 10 ft and boat speed is 8-9.5 knots. yesterdays daily run was 197nm.
21.38N 33.35.W Puds
3 DEC.
We have reached half way!!!!! 40 w. 163 nm today.
4th Dec.
70 year old man climbers mast mid Atlantic.
A couple of days ago we lost the genny halyard up the mast. Well today we decided was the day to go and collect it, however the volunteer list was a little short. Dr Tom decided after a little try that he might get hurt, so we left it to the old man on the boat to go up. So Grandpa Jim went up and now joins the Ellen Mcartha mid atlantic 17 m high club.
Today we have no wind, can you believe it. We looked at all the charts and they say we should be in 15-20 knots. We are struggling to go more than 2.5 knots. What a bummer. We now face the prospect of the other boats catching us up as they ride up on the new wind. So in effect we are being punished for being too fast. At least on the bright side we thought we might catch a fish, but a very big one came and took my best lure, biting clean through the line.
As it is light winds we had a BBQ dinner. Which in itself is quite an achievement mid Atlantic, firstly because we managed not to set the boat on fire, secondly because I managed not to drop any of the steaks into the sea and thirdly because I managed to cook the steaks medium rare.
Can you believe it we switched on the engine tonight as we were going no where fast. Ended up doing 8 plus hours of motoring mid Atlantic. This wasn't in the blurb.
18.28N 42.48W 1083 nm to go. 130nm miles days run.
Puds
5th Dec.
Fish. Finally we managed to land a fish and it was a whopper!!! It measured 87cm long, and was only subdued after pouring half a bottle of rum down its gills. It is a dorado, which are a beautiful colour when they first get out of the water, but this rapidly fades. Any way there is huge relief on board and we are looking forward to it for supper. Does anybody have a good way of cooking it. Answers on a post card.
PS We are now in wind, about 15 knots dead behind and so we are moving at 7.5 knots wing on wing. At mid day we were 18.03N 44.4W. 997nm miles to go.
Ate fish last night it was wonderful.
6th DEC. Raw Like Sushi.
For lunch we had Sushimi, Dr Tom was not quite sure he liked it , but the rest of us really enjoyed it. We tried some with Lime juice and coriander but this was not as nice as classic wasabi and soy. It is lucky we like it because today we caught another bigger fish, same make, but this one was 95 cm. It put up a good fight as we tried to land it going 7 knots down wind, luckily Rollo managed to get it in the net. I am not sure who then put up more of a fight Jim or the fish. You see we have run out of rum to knock the fish out with so I was going to use Jim's whisky, which upset him a great deal. However the fish enjoyed the wee dram and soon went to sleep. So instead of bangers and mash tonight we have more fish. I am not sure we will put the line out tomorrow...
Other news is that we have less than 750 nm to run as of 8pm, and we are romping along at 8.5 knots.
Current position 17.01N 43.2W.
8th Dec. 40knots to 2 knots
Woke up this morning to good solid breeze then saw a very big black cloud on the horizon. We put 2 reefs in the main and rolled the jib to the second reefing point, just in time for the wind to come howling in at we guess about 35-40 knots. As we have no wind instruments or direction, we have to use tell tells, but this puff was big enough to blow the few remaining scraps of hair on Rollo's head flat. Rollo manfully stayed at the wheel as we surged down wind and down waves at 12 knots with both reefs in (it was poring with rain so the rest of us stood inside the conservatory). Then the wind dropped to nothing and we ended up shaking out the reefs going only 2 knots. Finally we had to resort to motoring using only one engine to save fuel and we ended up motoring for 12 hours.
9th Fishing gods.
Put the line in and caught another fish, within half an hour. Ate it for sushi and then saved some in the freezer for the girls. Unfortunately we keep getting the same type of fish and what we really want is a Tuna, so we have probably come to the end of our fishing as there is no point catching these beautiful creatures unless you are going to eat them. Also found a flying fish on deck which we froze for the girls to look at when we get to St Lucia.
10th Dec. 150 miles to go.
We are currently at 14.40N and 58.31W. we have a good breeze. We are starting to see other boats on the horizon, and this gets our competitive juices flowing. So far we have burnt all the opposition we can see. You can take the 14 sailor out of a 14 but you can't take their competitiveness out of any boat.
Wind Belle is a Catana 471 catamaran. All summer I have been sailing it in the med with Sophie and the three girls aboard, Imogen 7 Tallulah, 5 and Sienna 3. We have had a great time and you can read about our adventures at Pudswindbelle.blogspot.com. However for the Atlantic crossing we chose to let the women fly, so on board we have Jim Hartley the girls grand father , Dr Tom Trevelyan, and Rollo Piper all of whom like myself are ex International fourteen sailors and currently sail out of Itchenor sailing club at Chichester harbour. The three crew are all grandfathers, so instead of it being a lads boat its a bit of a "Grand lads" boat. So this is the story so far.
23 Nov excitement is building, we finally have our rig checked at 5.30 pm by Jerry the rigger. What a bummer we have found two strands broken on the support to the cross beam, this basically supports the forestay and stops the bat buckling up front. It is rated to 22 tonnes. I visit the riggers who doubt they have time or the strength of wire to fix it. Gand lads and myself very disappointed and down beat.
24 Nov.
Visit rigger again and see boss man, who thinks he can fix it if we do all the rigging work and pay him lots of money. Not that we are experts at rigging but we take it apart, standing back in case the whole rig falls down.
5.30 pm and our friendly rigger has not returned yet, and the start is at 13.00 tomorrow.
7 pm its getting dark but we are putting the last bolt in place, it looks like we will make the start after all.Yippee.
25th Nov. Start of the ARC.
Wake up with a marching band along the dock, and locals coming around to look at the boats.
We leave the harbour to join the other 240 plus boats milling around for the start, which is quite a sight. And finally we are off, well actually we are three minutes late for the line, thanks to some very unusually conservative sailing from me. What a good sight all the boats going down wind in about 20 knots of wind.
First squall arrives one hour in 36 knots, Jim is steering its raining but we get up to 16.4 knots!!!!!
2pm DR Tom who has carefully put together our medical kit, is the first to use it when he is cutting the cucumber.
4pm see first Dolphin, swimming along with us at 10 knots.
6pm most of us are feeling a little sea sick, its still blowing 20 plus, and we are going well.
Midnight, full moon and I am on watch when a pod of dolphins come and swim alongside in the moon light.
26 Nov 1pm next day
Our daily run is 215 nm. Not bad going. We listen to the radio schedule and feel quite good about where we are compared to the other boats.
28th Nov
Its my birthday, I got some great cards from the girls but it is not the same fun without them here. On the plus side we had a school of Dolphins came and swam at the bow for an hour or so. We all stood on the bows and watched them in amazement, as they leaped about our bow. I also saw a turtle out here in the middle of the ocean, about 20 ft from the boat. In the evening we tucked into the FoieGras that the girls Left on board as a surpise present. Amazingly all hands forgot their sea sickness for about the ten minutes it took to eat it.
29th Nov.
We are still making good progress, one report from the UK said we were the 15th boat, out of 240, just imagine where we would be if we had a spinny!!!! Jim must have an iron stomach. He cooked bacon and fried eggs this morning. We put it on our plates looked at it and decided to feed the fish with out chewing it first.
30th Nov.
We have got to 30 west, so are now about 1/3 the way there.
I am finally well enough to bake bread. So far we have eaten non of the provisions that we bought for the crossing except a bit of fruit.Of course we are fishing but I think we are going too fast to cast anything, our avg speed is about 8 knots and every time we get a bight either the fish gets away or we loose our fishing lure, generally both happen at the same time. Dr Tom today has shown that he is very good at not just humans but boats too. Our generator started to over heat as we made water and then it cut out. Tom's face looked rather anxious, as Jim and I ummed and uhhered... You see with out the generator we would not be able to make water or electricity to power our batteries , steering and nav stuff. Tom became chief bush or should I say ocean mechanic and went into the engine compartment to have a little fiddle. I was rather worried he might try to sink us. Low and behold one hour later when Tom emerged with a pile of gunk in his hand. The gunk had been blocking the water intake to the genny which was then over heating.The generator is now working and Tom is starting to relax, so much so that he cooked dinner.
1 Dec.
Our big genoa wouldn't furl last night at about mid night in a gust of wind, all hands on deck to try to pull it down, but then suddenly it just fell down, as the clip at the top of the halyard had come un-done. So far nobody has dared to climb the mast and we all have renued respect for Ellen.
Last night we also saw the lights of another boat, and radioed them up to find out they are a 73 foot xyacht, I am not quite sure what they made of our little catamaran bobbing along with them.At first light we found a rather unlucky flying fish on deck. You imagine you have the whole Atlantic ocean to fly in and you end up on a boat. Bummer. Anyway we put said fish on Rollos pillow for when he woke up.
Graine has mobilized the Itchenor weather gurus for us and we now have access to the Noaa forcast. It was great that so many people were able to offer help.
Wind is 20 knots directly behind us waves about 10 ft and boat speed is 8-9.5 knots. yesterdays daily run was 197nm.
21.38N 33.35.W Puds
3 DEC.
We have reached half way!!!!! 40 w. 163 nm today.
4th Dec.
70 year old man climbers mast mid Atlantic.
A couple of days ago we lost the genny halyard up the mast. Well today we decided was the day to go and collect it, however the volunteer list was a little short. Dr Tom decided after a little try that he might get hurt, so we left it to the old man on the boat to go up. So Grandpa Jim went up and now joins the Ellen Mcartha mid atlantic 17 m high club.
Today we have no wind, can you believe it. We looked at all the charts and they say we should be in 15-20 knots. We are struggling to go more than 2.5 knots. What a bummer. We now face the prospect of the other boats catching us up as they ride up on the new wind. So in effect we are being punished for being too fast. At least on the bright side we thought we might catch a fish, but a very big one came and took my best lure, biting clean through the line.
As it is light winds we had a BBQ dinner. Which in itself is quite an achievement mid Atlantic, firstly because we managed not to set the boat on fire, secondly because I managed not to drop any of the steaks into the sea and thirdly because I managed to cook the steaks medium rare.
Can you believe it we switched on the engine tonight as we were going no where fast. Ended up doing 8 plus hours of motoring mid Atlantic. This wasn't in the blurb.
18.28N 42.48W 1083 nm to go. 130nm miles days run.
Puds
5th Dec.
Fish. Finally we managed to land a fish and it was a whopper!!! It measured 87cm long, and was only subdued after pouring half a bottle of rum down its gills. It is a dorado, which are a beautiful colour when they first get out of the water, but this rapidly fades. Any way there is huge relief on board and we are looking forward to it for supper. Does anybody have a good way of cooking it. Answers on a post card.
PS We are now in wind, about 15 knots dead behind and so we are moving at 7.5 knots wing on wing. At mid day we were 18.03N 44.4W. 997nm miles to go.
Ate fish last night it was wonderful.
6th DEC. Raw Like Sushi.
For lunch we had Sushimi, Dr Tom was not quite sure he liked it , but the rest of us really enjoyed it. We tried some with Lime juice and coriander but this was not as nice as classic wasabi and soy. It is lucky we like it because today we caught another bigger fish, same make, but this one was 95 cm. It put up a good fight as we tried to land it going 7 knots down wind, luckily Rollo managed to get it in the net. I am not sure who then put up more of a fight Jim or the fish. You see we have run out of rum to knock the fish out with so I was going to use Jim's whisky, which upset him a great deal. However the fish enjoyed the wee dram and soon went to sleep. So instead of bangers and mash tonight we have more fish. I am not sure we will put the line out tomorrow...
Other news is that we have less than 750 nm to run as of 8pm, and we are romping along at 8.5 knots.
Current position 17.01N 43.2W.
8th Dec. 40knots to 2 knots
Woke up this morning to good solid breeze then saw a very big black cloud on the horizon. We put 2 reefs in the main and rolled the jib to the second reefing point, just in time for the wind to come howling in at we guess about 35-40 knots. As we have no wind instruments or direction, we have to use tell tells, but this puff was big enough to blow the few remaining scraps of hair on Rollo's head flat. Rollo manfully stayed at the wheel as we surged down wind and down waves at 12 knots with both reefs in (it was poring with rain so the rest of us stood inside the conservatory). Then the wind dropped to nothing and we ended up shaking out the reefs going only 2 knots. Finally we had to resort to motoring using only one engine to save fuel and we ended up motoring for 12 hours.
9th Fishing gods.
Put the line in and caught another fish, within half an hour. Ate it for sushi and then saved some in the freezer for the girls. Unfortunately we keep getting the same type of fish and what we really want is a Tuna, so we have probably come to the end of our fishing as there is no point catching these beautiful creatures unless you are going to eat them. Also found a flying fish on deck which we froze for the girls to look at when we get to St Lucia.
10th Dec. 150 miles to go.
We are currently at 14.40N and 58.31W. we have a good breeze. We are starting to see other boats on the horizon, and this gets our competitive juices flowing. So far we have burnt all the opposition we can see. You can take the 14 sailor out of a 14 but you can't take their competitiveness out of any boat.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
We are Off on the ARC
Wind Belle will be on the ARC for the next 18 to 20 days. Track us on
Worldcruising.com
Friday, November 9, 2007
Gib to Canaries
We left Gib in a good 15-20 knots with a tide going 1-2 knots under us in the right way. After a summer of no current it was funny to be back in the tidal area. Jim Sophie's dad was on board to help with the 700 nautical mile trip, which we estimated would take us 5 days ( the same time Jim had taken in his Swan 42 some 10 earlier.) It turned out that we had good winds for the first three days.
I had flue, Sophie looked after the children and Jim made himself very useful. Jim and I did the watches at night, but Sophie would pop her head every now and then to tell us we had too much sail up or that we were going too fast. One of the things we found was that the boat makes allot of noise when waves hit the middle of it underneath. It sounds a bit like a car back firing, but you only hear it if you are inside, outside, you just enjoy the sail.
Any way for the first ten hours we averaged about 9 knots (much to Sophie chagrin) later we slowed down a bit. The girls were great, doing their school lessons and playing the whole time, without a hint of sea sickness. For you interest we also sailed the whole leg with a vase of lilies on the saloon table, which just show how little we healed.
On our trip we crossed with a french Catamaran, it then disappeared off on the opposite gybe into the distance. About 36 hours later we crossed with the same cat, and even had to alter course so we didn't hit them. Amazing after after sailing that far, to be going exactly the same speed.
On the last day we ran out of wind, so we put the engine on to get us into the port. We arrived in 4 days and 6 hours which was a day fast than Jim's previous effort. ( I think that being an old stalwart of the royal cruising club he had always previously regarded Catamarans as floating caravans, but even he was a little bit impressed.) When you get within sight of land at Las Palmas Grand Canaries, you find that the marina is in a huge port with an oil rig moored at the entrance, then you see a very busy container terminal, finally you see in the corner of the port a tiny looking marina, which is actually quite big. Behind the marina is a main road dual carriageway, and to the left is a little man made beach, however it doesn't look like the place to take the family and kids for four weeks.
But apparently a bit like a strip show, the place slowly reveal her charms. First and foremost these are the people who are moored next to you. Having sailed around the med with lots of people on holiday we are now with people who are doing longer trips and who have the same goals. Secondly they are all very different, different ages , nationalities, boats, and goals.
The girls are a great way to make friends when not screaming at each other, so on Halloween night they dressed up: Tallulah as a Water witch, Imy as a pirate, and Sienna as a flying fish. (sea photo).
They went along the dock and nearly every boat had prepared a huge amount of treats and the girls used their water pistols to enforce the odd trick.
Being tucked up in a marina with shore power and water is a luxury after our summer of almost non stop anchoring, Finally you can go to sleep without worrying about the weather tomorrow or the ability of the generator to be able to power the water maker etc. Sophie has been able to run the washing machine non stop so our boat generally looks like it is covered in bunting.
In addition we have the use of the sailing club in the marina for 20 euros a week, and it has a huge pool, good bar snacks and a wifi area. The girls have been in the pool every day. During this time Sienna has been growing in her confidence to swim and has managed to swim the length of the pool (20 m plus) by herself without arm bands. Its now her party trick and she shows anybody who will watch her, and quite few people watch her every time she goes near the edge in case she sinks.
We are slowly getting ready for the crossing doing odd jobs, and getting things like the life raft serviced. This is a really painful cost as you hope that you will never use the bloody thing, but if you need it you want it to work. So hopefully a lot of money for nothing! We also had the B&G instrument man aboard as we had problem with our depth reading. In Palma a very expensive technician came on board for 4 hrs and couldn't get it going, here the man was on board for 3 minutes when he realised the issue and fixed it, Much to my embarrassment well actually Sophie's as she had been fiddling with it and set our keel depth to 400 meters, which explained why we always got a zero reading except when out in the deepest ocean.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Gibraltar.
We came towards the rock of Gibraltar where there was a veritable parking lot of supertankers and Cargo ships anchored waiting g for their next instruction, and we also saw that one ship had recently hit the reef and was half sunk, we reminded us that even these big ships probably have a few scary nights on anchor watch etc.
In Gib we stayed at the new and very welcoming Queens Way marina, which is in the heart of down town. The highlight of the stay was a trip up the Rock in a cable car to see the monkeys (apes technically). Many still had very young babies and we could get so close to them the girls were just amazed.
Sailing down the coast of Spain,
We cruised down the coast of Spain in the company of sunset Sam, A couple of highlights were:
First the team on Wind Belle, caught their first fish, (yes after a whole summer afloat), it was about 40 cm long and was a Dolphin fish (not Dolphin Mammal) , once we got it on board we weren't quite sure how to kill it not being the experienced anglers, but we put some of our ultra cheap rum in its gills and that did the trick. Then almost immediately we caught a second fish, just over half a meter in length so for once we were able to provide fresh fish for supper. See photos.
The second event was that we went to a hippy commune, we actually myself and the girls and the kids of Sunset Sam.. I took them all for a walk to a ruin before supper, when they got ashore they found a very Bohemian lifestyle where clothes we certainly optional and people were living in tents, or huts made from drift wood. The kids took it all in there stride when we met a women naked except for a pot of water on her head climbing up the mountain, although Tallulah did comment that she had a funny hair cut. We went on up the hill to where the ruin was and we saw that the commune all got there water from a spring in the hill side, even more intriguingly some people seemed to live in caves, one man invited us into his cave which also served as a bar for the commune, with candles and even a fridge in the corner, luckily he was wearing a gstring!!!.
The finally we had to crack on to catch up with Jim (Sophies Dad) who was joining the boat in Mallaga. On the way we were having breakfast sailing along when a whole school; of Dolphins swam up to the boat, with perhaps 30 dolphins in total, it was quite a nice Early morning wake up call.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
A little bit bit of wind crossing to Spain.
A little bit bit of wind crossing to Spain.
From Formentera we planned a simple crossing to Spain, some 70 plus nm away. We left late as we were waiting for a part. the sky was grey but eh forecasts was favourable if a bit light. We set off on a dead run with about 10 knots of wind, we saw a rain cloud ahead and sailed around it, and were now using an engine to keep up our average speed, in order to get to Mainland Spain in Day light. Suddenly the wind died and went in front of us, then a squall came in from the other side, I couldn't even take the main , but managed to to let the sails go, the wind built in seconds to 43-46 knots, it was raining and we had lightening. The foam was being blown off the tops of the waves. I have to admit to being a little terrified. We were30 miles from land any way we looked at it. I dropped the main, in the most un-seaman like manner, gunned the engines to try to get the boat head to wind, which caused the fan belt to smoke, cue Sophie smelling smoke in the cabin!!!!!!
We rolled the jib and the alarm from the auto pilot screeched really loudly to let us know we were off course. I of course thought the alarm was the fire alarm from the smoke (fan belt,) and was now in a a complete state of panic, and could not release the auto helm which would not return to manual. Finally we managed to hove to , then run with the storm before restoring steerage, working out the cause of the smoke and and tidying up the sails. we then edged forwards at 3 knots in 30-35 knots of breeze, after about 1 hour the wind dropped and we rolled out a few sails and got ourselves going at about 10 knots in 25 knots of breeze.
We finally had the Spanish coast in sight and the wind dropped, so that we actually had to motor the last 2 miles, in a glorious sun set. But we learnt a few lessons. First one is don;t panic, second is panicking is quite a fast way to get things done, third, the boat was very good and was a stable platform through out. Fourth, always be prepared for the unexpected especially under dark clouds.
Imogens Week
Imogen's Week
as part of our at home schooling Imy had to write out what she did for the last week. This is what she wrote.
Monday
On Monday we sailed to an Island. it had a long beach. We went all the way along it. We caught 2 jelly fish . They were very small. It was Zach's birthday.
Tuesday
On Tuesday we had a Pirate Treasure hunt, on the beach. The treasure was smarties then we explored the sand dunes.
Wed
On Wednesday we went to another Island we went to the shops and had an Ice Cream and did Tom and Max a card for their birthday.
Thursday
On Thursday we sailed to Spain. It was very ruff. There was thunder and lightening and it was pouring with some rain.
Friday
On Friday we went to a beach. We made a sand slide with a sand ramp on it, then a magic car then we went swimming.
Saturday
On Saturday we sailed a long long time to Torrevieja. We had ice cream when we got there. We played in the play ground.
Sunday.
On Sunday we sailed to a lake. We all went in the doughnut. I Wen t sailing in the Opi to an Island. We made a camp then made a fire and had a BBQ.
.
Imy
Baleares were great.
Baleares were great.
Following Dads departure, we went north to Isla Colom which was one of our best anchorages of the whole trip. Only about 5 meters of crystal clear water, and a free mooring thanks to EU funding, to save the local fish environment. We went into the caves and took the dinghy through a rock arch, then we went to a crescent beach. At 5 pm all the other boats left except one other and we were in one of the most beautiful anchorages . We went to the beach and had a great time all by our own. This might not seem so special but just imagine being on east head beach in the middle of a very hot summers eve without another boat in site, and you are half way there.
Following that we went down the South coast of Menorca to try and anchor in some of the beautiful Calas (short for very small inlets in which there is literally no room to swing a cat and in which it is nearly impossible to anchor a 47 ft boat and totally impossible to anchor one that is 47 feet long and nearly 9 ft wide. In one place we even had to reverse out rather than turn around.
Next day a great down wind sail to Mallorca and Port Colom. At times we were surfing at 10 knots on the waves.
Port Colom was much less developed than expected and was a very nice place. The we met another cat flying a Kiwi flag, called Sunset Sam, the parents Kevin and Rachel are our age, while the kids are 9 Talia, Zack 7, and Alysa 6. We all went to the beach and the girls quickly made friends.
We found out that Sunset Sam are doing the same sort of thing as us, except once they get to the Caribbean, they are going on through the Panama Canal and on hoe to New Zealand. Any way we agreed to cruise on down the coats of Spain and the rest of the islands.
Then we went on to Palma, where we were meeting up with Imy's school friend, Lucy and her parents, Clifford and Hazel. We went out for a sail, but found it a bit rough and very rainy so turned turned back to "The Anchorage" which is next to Porta Portals. We had a great time with the Tompsett"s and went back to their apartment on the golf course, where all the girls had a bath and Sophie dumped Hazel with several bags of washing. (Hazel obligingly acted as the washer women).
Once the Tompsett's left , we got the water maker fixed at a great price and had to wait days for bits etc.
Finally we went to Ibiza, of famous clubbing fame, but we found some great quiet anchorages, and we really enjoyed Isla Espalmador, with its golden sandy Beach, sand dunes and mud baths. looking back we wished we had more time in the middle of the summer in the Baleares, as we feel there were some great places and we only really scratched the surface.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Here are some pictures from our summer
The Girls are starting to sail the OPI.
We have seen some great sun sets
Both Sophie and I are scared of heights so we make the kids go up the mast
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Tuscany and then voyages to the Baliarics
Tuscany and then voyages to the Baliarics
Tuscany and then voyages to the Baliarics
Sitting here in Granny Valerie's garden in Tuscany, just had lunch, Johnie inside doing the washing up, girls playing babies in the tent, well 2 of them, Imy reading one of her new books! We have had a fabulous week here, couldn't have been better. Ben Libby and the cousins have been with us and the kids have played and played, making up for lost time over the past few months. The weather has been fabulous and the pool(s) and villas gorgious. Lots of wonderful food and wine, kids have been making pizzas with Granny in her huge kitchen and icecream, in between their swimming, fruit picking and adventure walks. Every day the kids would race to the chicken run to see if they had laid any eggs, on average there were about 3 eggs, freshly laid, but by the time they had got back to the kitchen only one egg was still unbroken. Tom and Tallulah spent a day making a nest and trying to make the egg hatch, they did everything except sit on it themselves. It couldn't be more different from our life on the boat (well, apart from the swimming of course). Sienna has just mastered swimming without armbands too which was inevitable because she was so ready, but I'm not sure she'll be ready to swim from the boat without them.
The things that I have appreciated so much about here have been the endless supply of water, being able to run the tap without thinking, making washing up a pleasure! The dishwasher of course has been great although after a week of about 12 of us I'm quite looking forward to seeing the back of it. The washing machine is the other thing, as we arrived here with bags and bags of laundry, due to no water maker for the past month and launderettes have been few and far between so I've been saving up the washing till be got here and I think finally after day 7 I have got to the end of it all!!
While we are here, only for a few more days, the boat is lying in a very smart new shi shi Italian marina, costing us about 100 euro a night, but as we didn't have to pay for any flights or accommodation it has been worth every penny.
It was great to see Ben (although he only could stay for a few nights) and Lib and the kids, really great to catch up. The girls had a great shopping spree in Lucca, resulting in Lib buying the inevitable handbag and me doing rather well with 4 bikinis and a pair of shoes (what else could I buy) the shops were full of winter coats and boots no summer clothes anywhere I was very lucky to find any bikinis. My last treat is to be Tuesday morning before we leave when I am getting my hair cut which seeing as it hasn't been done since May is rather needed.
Johnies aunty Becca and Rooc and Spike aso came out. They were great with the girls and as always it was absoluterly fabulous to see Becca.
10 days here has been lovely, we have all appreciated the lovely clean sheets, baths, running in the garden, spending time with family etc. etc. but I think we are nearly ready, can't believe I'm thinking this but we are ready to go back to our life of the boat. The school work has all been delivered and we have one very large box of files to take with us, and I don't know whether the girls feel the same but I'm quite looking forward to starting school. Imy is year 3 and Tallulah year 1 (I hope it's not too hard for me!!!) Johnie gets to do the tricky stuff with Imy. Tallulah surprisingly is the easy one to teach she is so enthusiastic and eager to please and usually gets it quite easily. Reading is getting there with her but she hasn't quite grasped it yet. Imy on the other hand can't stop reading, she litrally read every book on the boat. Granny fortunately bought plenty of books out with her which should keep her going for a bit.
Our plans from here are, to leave on Tuesday (after my hair appointment!) go back to the boat, where hopefully we find her with a working water maker and the other little electrical problems sorted out. Then we need to fill her up with food and shoot off. We are hoping Jeremy, Johnie's dad is going to join us for the leg accross to Majorca, whether he joins us in Italy or on our way through Corsica is not yet decided. But I very much want him to come as it will take us 2 days to get to Majorca, and 2 nights watch just Johnie and I will be hard work, possible but hard, especially when we have to entertain the girls all day, we can't just sleep, so having another bod aboard wil make a big difference.
Once in the Ballearics we hope to see a bit of it, hopefully a few people may catch up with us there, And then we must crack on past Spain, not stopping too much as we have to get to Gibralter and on before it gets too late. Dad is coming to help us do the next bit from Gib to Cannaries which is about 5 days. So lots of sailing ahead of us. All of which is fine as long as the weather is kind we like to pick our weather and go when its nice and light we don't like big seas and windy nights, we try to avoid them if we can. Johnie knows that if we have too much of the nasty stuff Sophie will be packing her bags and be on the next plane home, we have only had a few close calls so far but it won't take much more.
Italy to the Baliarics via, Elba and Corsica. Over 400 nm miles in a week.
We set ourselves quite a tight schedual to get out of italy and across to the Baliarics. Popops ( Johnies dad came to join the trip.) We had a pretty uneventful sail to elba, followed by the 93 nautical mile trip to South Corsica. We had very little wind for this section and as we motored along we saw a school of 20 Dolphin which instead of joining us for some fun, all suddenly jumped about three feet in the air and shot off. Sophie said something bigger must have caused it. We looked around and then saw a whale, spouting water. we got about 40 feet from it when we realized that it was about 30 feet long, there was great excitement on board as we spent quite abitof time cruising along with the whale. Imy identified it as a sperm Whale and we all looked up as much info about it as possible in the animal & sea books. The main point being that they were exptreamly rare in the area that we were in. It was such a high for all the girls and the grown ups too. It finally left us with a swish of its tale and we headed off to Corsica.
Once in Corsica, we went to Rondanara bay and met up with our friends from Lazy Otter, (by chance Jim and Graine Sophie parant were on a cruiser rally with the Lazy Otter parent in the Hamble on the same evening). We all wnet ashore for one of our most expensive nights out ever, as Dad left his wallet on the table stuffed with Cash. The next day the waiter swore he had put the wallet and cash into the bin, without realizing what it was. There followed and empting out of all the resturant bins in a huge skip, which was very smell and dirty in the heat. Funnily enough we didn't find the wallet or money. Some tip!!!!
We left Rondanara determind to got through the straights of Bonafacio and on to the Baliarics. However despite a smooth passage through Bonafacio (it normally blows like stink) we faced wind on the nose and big black clouds with thunder rummbling. We descided that we were fair weather sailors and put in to port Apollo to wait for a easterly wind to spirit us across the sea.
We set off from Corsica at 4 am, and arrived in the Baliarics 33 hrs later. We had a good passage and having dad on board was great as he did the grave yard slot. During day light we didn't see a single boat but at night the whole spanish amarda seemed to be out.
This was our first proper overnight and it wnet quite well although the kids did get a little bored and the adukts didn't feel like doing lessons in the lumpy seas.
We arived in rather rough sea in Port Mahon and were extreamly please to tie up to a mooring boy and go to sleep.
Port Mahon
. Johnie and the girls have gone on an "adventure" in the dinghy with Imy in Opi (rowing) to a little creek around the corner, they have taken home made chocolate crispies and lemon squash as a picnic. I'm sitting here running the washing machine, very exciting as we have a water pontoon just up the harbour where we can fill up. Poor Jeremy I kept teasing him about how much water he used to do the washing up in (in the end he gave in and let me do it). We did enjoy having him aboard and he really did help with the watches during the night and during the day. Not sure he was the most able seaman when it came to springing around the deck. His legs hurt him a lot and as for getting in and out of the dinghy - we thought he was as bad mum, onenight both him and Johnie ended up rolling around in the waves on the beach.
We are still in Mahon and planning to move off tomorrow morning down to the bottom of the island where they seem to have loads of different little Calas (inlets) we thought we would spend a few days down there.
In Mahon there are loads of English boats everywhere, very different to Corsica, and ofcourse everyone speeks English which is a refreshing change. We know absolutely no Spanish though, we need a phraise book. We are out of season though suddenly there are much less boats around and the weather is very different. Although it is boiling hot here, very humid and it keeps raining, in between blue skies. Last night was one of our first nights it was too hot to sleep under a duvet.
We have started school work again, which has been quite hard to get them back into it, however getting better every day. We have just completed week one (although it took us 10 days to do it in!) Working on route isn't as easy as we thought, it is much easier to let them read or watch a dvd than sit and study with them. It really does take both of us to sit down with them at the same time and get on with it. Sienna has started doing her letters and numbers with me, which she enjoys I think - we are doing Letterland.
Next steps
We are not hanging around now . Our rough plan is this week getting to Palma then maybe another week around there . Otherwise we will head on to Ibiza and then accross to the mainland and hop along there from the beginning of October. It all seems such a long way but we plan in doing it all in little bits. There seems to be plenty of places to stop along that coast. Quite how the girls and I are going to cope with 5 days or what ever it is down to the Canaries, from Gib.
Anyway, I think I can hear the dinghy coming back, my God it's 5.30 already I don't know where the days go. Probably something to do with the fact we don't get up till about 9.30 these days and the girls are going to bed so late (like 10 o clock - last night I think they were still awake even later). Sienna usually crashes during the day and Tallulah every now and again. Quite a Mediteranean way of living I guess.
P.S The advenuturers have returned with much excitement as they saw a real live octopus!!!
Monday, September 3, 2007
Corsica is great
After our traumas with the fish farm we were then blessed with little or no wind, I know we are meant to be sailing but actually I quite like the engines( not re paring them but using hem instead of sails). We were able to then truly appreciate some of the finest anchorages we have ever been to, a couple even had Rod Heickell salivating. In two cases he said you couldn't anchor in the places we went to because of the wind.but we were able to and see amazing beaches and swim in Gin and tonic coloured water. In one place our dreamy existence was interrupted when Sophie and Imy were stung by jelly fish. From then on I had to go into the water first to check if there were any jellies.
We caught uo with Anna and her parents again in Rondanara, perhaps the classic bay in Corsica, and had a great BBQ on the Lazy Otter. It was fun to see new friends again who were of the same age as us and doing the same sort of thing.
But finally it was time to leave Corsica and head for Elba, of Napoleon fame, we did the 78 n mile trip in 12 hours. On the way we saw six more Dolphin. Any thought that were are tired of dolphin was forgotten as all the girls jumped on the trampoline as they swam along side.
Another great moment was the process of changing the courtesy flag from french and Corsican to Italian, the whole family were involved and it made trooping of the colour seem like a walk in the park, this was our fist new country and we have many more ahead.
Once we got to Elba we were rather disappointed as the beaches are of dark sand, but the girls soon jumped in. That night we had a thunderstorm. Well you all know what it sounds like in a house, I can tell you that in a boat it is far louder, and the whole boat and rig shuddered with every crack of thunder, at one moment it was pitch dark the next we could see the whole bay like daylight and boy did it rain. I have to admit that I was a little bit frightened, and Sophie and I huddled together, hoping we wouldn't be hit. The village in the bay was hit and all their lights went out. next morning Sophie and I were rather tired when the girls bounced into our cabin, not one of them had woke during the thunderstorm!!!
So after Elba we are finally off to a marina, we have avoided them so far, but after 4 moths we are going on Holiday! I know many of you are thinking that we are on one big holiday, but for us, a week staying with mum in Tuscany ON A house without worrying about our anchor, the wind, water pumps, battery levels navigation etc will be a real holiday.
Looking back Corsica was a very good blooding we had a few good tests , but we also had many of those quality moments we dreamt about before we set off. And even during testing times we did it together as a family and came through and feel stronger for having done it.
jsp
I have added some photos in a random order below
A family swim
The girls are like fish and swim all the time. They can all use snorkles, so we have screams of fish the whole time.
Sienna's third birthday.
We had a loverly party and all the teddy's and dolls came too. Sophie made the birthday cake and we blew it out about ten times.
A little bit windy
We had 30 plus knots of wind for several days in St Tropez, luckily we were at anchor not sailing, but it was still a little bit scary.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Aug8/9 Doliphin and fish farm up close too close....
Aug 8/9
Dolphins and fish farm up close, too close.
Having said how great it was to be near the fish farm we nearly had our comeuppance. At about 2 am it started to get windy and at about 3 am, our anchor dragged, and we just missed the boat anchored behind, as I gunned the engines in full reverse, only for us to charge backwards towards the fish farm and the series of rusty metal pens and bits of very solid looking wood not to say allot of fish that would cost a great deal to replace. Just as we were about to make rather heavy contact, our still dangling anchor (windlass having stopped working at the crucial moment) caught a little buoy to warn boats not to anchor near the fish farm. Either we were very lucky or very unlucky , however we now had ropes under one hull and had stopped our drift towards the fish farm with about 20 feet to spare.We managed to put out the second anchor and in the process, bash the dinghy engine so it wouldn't work, then I managed to cut away some of the line, but the anchor was stuck firm, so we decided to wait until the light of day before doing anything. It was a long wait until 5.30am. Meanwhile the dolphins came in at first light to try and work out how they were going to get the fish our of the farm. I personally think that they were hoping we would hit the thing and thus release the fish. I never thought that I wouldn't want to see dolphin around my boat but at that time I could have done without them. Sophie would have booked flights home there and then, the kids were asleep unaware, and I sat with the engines on waiting for the next drama.
As light rose, two french guys came off the next door boat, ( our kids had waved at their kids the evening before otherwise I am not sure they would have helped), one of them jumped in the water in his flippers,(at six in the morning, I am not sure I would have done the same) and confirmed our anchor was wedged, in some old rope on the sea bed. We then worked as a quartet to release the boat, and get it to safety. I think Sophie could have kissed both our french helpers, I know I almost did!!
Sophie and I then tried to re-anchor the boat, as it was still blowing hard, this was not so easy, after 4 attempts we were getting rather desperate, the problem was that all the good spots were taken and we had to go quite deep, and because we are very high sided we get allot of wind age. At attempt 5 we caught the bottom, and held, relief. Or so we thought....
At about 9am rather weary we turned the radio on for the weather forecast, waiting to hear that the storm we were in was going to decrees. An urgent weather report in French warned of increasing winds of force 8 with possible gust of 9, and very large seas. When you are already in a force 6/7 and your anchor has slipped once this was not good news, especially minus sleep. We waited all day and then did anchor watch all night. It got very windy, but the wind shifted to the west, and our little anchorage was saved from the swell. By 9 am next morning both Sophie and I were ready to book the first available flight home, this was just note fun. The kids mean while were happy playing games, sleeping and eating; no worries for them.
The wind finally went, I was able to go over to the french men and give them our only bottle of wine in thanks, and then we headed off across the bay to Port Apollo, which is actually a bay, we hooked up to a mooring and I was finally able to go to sleep.
Meanwhile a rain cloud came in, and the girls thought this a great novelty,as we haven't seen rain all summer.( Rather different from the UK I gather. When it started to rain, the girls got into swim suites and danced on the trampoline in the rain, unfortunately it only lasted 10 minutes.
More Brits.
We haven't met that many other British kids so it was great when a boat came in next to us with a little blond and a little brunette head on the bow. Bonds were soon made with Anna (5), and Sophia (4) who turned out to be cousins cruising with parents. Its amazing how quickly all the kids bonded together on the beach, exploring rock pools etc. Anna, had been living on a boat for best part of 2 years, so it was good to meet another boat child.
It was also nice for Sophie too have a chance to speak non broken french.
jsp
Friday, August 10, 2007
Corsican adventures.
So we have bee sitting in Calvi with the wind bowing quite hard. We have been told to expect a real storm in the night from the NE. But of course that would put us on the lee shore once again. I hardly sleep a wink in a flat calm evening waiting for the onslaught, needless to say it didn't arrive, although it did get a little bit bumpy first thing in the morning.. So we are off down the island round the west side, we set off in 27 knots, but luckily are soon on a run.
Rained this morning at 6 am, for precisely 2 minutes, not even enough to get the decks wet. This is our first rain for 10 weeks or so, rather different from the English summer.
In a place called Girolatta, we catch up with Anthony and Antoinette Oppenheimer, my uncle, on their 79 ft motor yacht or stink pot as Sophie puts it. They had a terrible crossing from Mainland France, with allot of rocking and rolling including a 20 minute stop mid way across in the big winds we were expecting. Anyway AEO and their guests came to us for a rather ropy glass of wine, and next day we were invited back to their boat for lunch and some fine wines.. The girls thought the stink pots was great with its shag pile white carpet, leather sofas, gold tapped bathrooms and ft at screen TV that appeared with a press of a button.. Tallulah I think would have stayed. But we had to part ways. (Two days later the boats engines broke and the Opps and their guest had to cut short their cruise which was a real downer for them, and reminds us how lucky we are that our cruise is longer than the usual one to two week charter.
Meanwhile our water maker has packed in and to add to that our water pump from our reserve tank has also decided to pack in. After three days without showers and very little washing up and no clean cl oaths, we have resolved to replace the pump.
It has been good to remind us that water is precious. A new pump and a day spent at the laundrette and we are back on track , although we still have to be careful as the water maker needs a spare part.
Other big news is that Sienna, has learnt to snorkel in arm bands, so we can now all go and see the fish on the reefs.She gets very excited at seeing the real fish and talks nearly as much as Tallulah..
Yesterday when we were snorkeling, we found the a wreck,in about 25 feet of water, it was about 40 feet from the boat and was about 30 feet long, it had a wheel house and funnel and looked like an old steam tramp. It was very exciting as the water was so clear that the girls could see int with their snorkles. I on the other hand was very glad we hadn't run into this uncharted object, there was another boat anchored right above, it. I couldn't of slept but he did.
Today we have been anchored in a marvellous bay where there is a classic golden beach with rock and a reef at each end. The water is crystal clear,the girls have been out in the Opi. This is what is is meant to be like.
Aug 7&8th.
Dolphin everywhere.
We came into a little anchorage, that was quite crowded tonight, called Campomoro, We met the British yacht called Orca, which is a 380 lagoon, Martin and Jean invited us for tea they, are from the Royal Western YC.
The anchorage was so crowded, it made East Head look empty on a sunny bank holiday weekend, so we had to anchor near the nets of a fish farm. Little did we know but then five Dolphin came into see what was up with all these fish. We had ring side seats, as the dolphin swam around and around the nets. The whole beach emptied as an armada of kayaks, lilos,jet skis and snorkelers, came out to have a look. The girls found it extremely exciting for 5 minutes.
That evening when all the beach goers had cleared and we had all gone to bed, Sophie and I were woken up by the Dolphin breathing as they came up for air right by the boat. It was the only sound on an otherwise calm night, magic, but very noisy.
This morning Imy and I, got up before breakfast and found the Dolphin, and after ten minutes we were rewarded with a swim with them. We saw 3 of them, quite close up in the water, before they dived underneath us and disappeared to play. Another magic moment.
So we have bee sitting in Calvi with the wind bowing quite hard. We have been told to expect a real storm in the night from the NE. But of course that would put us on the lee shore once again. I hardly sleep a wink in a flat calm evening waiting for the onslaught, needless to say it didn't arrive, although it did get a little bit bumpy first thing in the morning.. So we are off down the island round the west side, we set off in 27 knots, but luckily are soon on a run.
Rained this morning at 6 am, for precisely 2 minutes, not even enough to get the decks wet. This is our first rain for 10 weeks or so, rather different from the English summer.
In a place called Girolatta, we catch up with Anthony and Antoinette Oppenheimer, my uncle, on their 79 ft motor yacht or stink pot as Sophie puts it. They had a terrible crossing from Mainland France, with allot of rocking and rolling including a 20 minute stop mid way across in the big winds we were expecting. Anyway AEO and their guests came to us for a rather ropy glass of wine, and next day we were invited back to their boat for lunch and some fine wines.. The girls thought the stink pots was great with its shag pile white carpet, leather sofas, gold tapped bathrooms and ft at screen TV that appeared with a press of a button.. Tallulah I think would have stayed. But we had to part ways. (Two days later the boats engines broke and the Opps and their guest had to cut short their cruise which was a real downer for them, and reminds us how lucky we are that our cruise is longer than the usual one to two week charter.
Meanwhile our water maker has packed in and to add to that our water pump from our reserve tank has also decided to pack in. After three days without showers and very little washing up and no clean cl oaths, we have resolved to replace the pump.
It has been good to remind us that water is precious. A new pump and a day spent at the laundrette and we are back on track , although we still have to be careful as the water maker needs a spare part.
Other big news is that Sienna, has learnt to snorkel in arm bands, so we can now all go and see the fish on the reefs.She gets very excited at seeing the real fish and talks nearly as much as Tallulah..
Yesterday when we were snorkeling, we found the a wreck,in about 25 feet of water, it was about 40 feet from the boat and was about 30 feet long, it had a wheel house and funnel and looked like an old steam tramp. It was very exciting as the water was so clear that the girls could see int with their snorkles. I on the other hand was very glad we hadn't run into this uncharted object, there was another boat anchored right above, it. I couldn't of slept but he did.
Today we have been anchored in a marvellous bay where there is a classic golden beach with rock and a reef at each end. The water is crystal clear,the girls have been out in the Opi. This is what is is meant to be like.
Aug 7&8th.
Dolphin everywhere.
We came into a little anchorage, that was quite crowded tonight, called Campomoro, We met the British yacht called Orca, which is a 380 lagoon, Martin and Jean invited us for tea they, are from the Royal Western YC.
The anchorage was so crowded, it made East Head look empty on a sunny bank holiday weekend, so we had to anchor near the nets of a fish farm. Little did we know but then five Dolphin came into see what was up with all these fish. We had ring side seats, as the dolphin swam around and around the nets. The whole beach emptied as an armada of kayaks, lilos,jet skis and snorkelers, came out to have a look. The girls found it extremely exciting for 5 minutes.
That evening when all the beach goers had cleared and we had all gone to bed, Sophie and I were woken up by the Dolphin breathing as they came up for air right by the boat. It was the only sound on an otherwise calm night, magic, but very noisy.
This morning Imy and I, got up before breakfast and found the Dolphin, and after ten minutes we were rewarded with a swim with them. We saw 3 of them, quite close up in the water, before they dived underneath us and disappeared to play. Another magic moment.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
July ends with a bang and Dolphins
Sorry still no photos.
20th July We have now got to Ville Franche, which is a picture post card perfect waterside harbour village, in the same sort of way as Foye is. The only big news is that Sienna, had her first go at swimming a few days ago, with out armbands, she managed to swim a couple of meters before going under. she did this three days before her third birthday, which is earlier than the other girls.
21st July
Anchoring in Ville Franche bay is quite strange,as it is so crowded, there are two cruise liners, and about 100 motor boats plus a few yachts. Around six o'clock the liners have disappeared, and the 99 of the motor boats have gone, leaving an nice quiet anchorage.
We are having a nice quiet dinner, when a huge firework goes off near by,which makes me jump out of my skin as it was so unexpected. There then follows a spectacular fireworks display that wakes the girls and echo's all around the steep walls of the anchorage, we have prime seats without even realising its going to happen.
22nd July
Big wind, boats dragging anchor, we are sitting at anchor, but have a huge ugly red steel trimaran, with very pointy bows behind. We move the boat, and spend a few anxious moments as the anchor windlass fails to work, at the critical moment. A quick rummage around fuses and very little understanding of the french technical terms does help very much, we miss the Trimaran and another cruiser by a couple off feet. A little close for comfort, but manage to re-anchor.
We totally run out of Gas a few days ago. Not even the BBQ works, the spare tank Jim and Graine swapped from a big one to a small one when they were out,(thanks guys) lasts for approximately one kettle full.
I then spend ages trying to find gas, which the guide book assures me is readily available, except when we need it. After a cold few meals moral is getting Rather low. I nip ashore and get take away pizza. It tastes great.
24th
We get gas,at last, but the gas adaptor breaks, I am beginning to loose my cool. Need to sail to the next port about 10nm away.It is around Cap Ferrat It is called Beaulieu. We have a great anchorage,and a lovely day if quite wind day at anchor, the wind is forecast to be light from the west at night so we are well protected.
We see the Maltease Falcon sail by with all her sails up which is a great sight, she then rolls all her sails and joins us in the bay with a whole host of other boats. The wind dies off and I am just about to put a few prawns on our now gassed up bbq, when the wind swings to the east, and starts to build very rapidly to 25-30 knots, we like all the other boats are on a lee shore and its starting to get dark.Boats start to move some voluntary, the one next to us drags anchor. Time to go. So we end up going back round Cap Ferrat in huge seas and wind, the light house looks very different at night, arrive back in Ville Franche about midnight. So anyway thats our first night passage.
26th.
Up at 5am, up anchor 5.30 just as the first light is rising,(How the girls sleep through the windlass, especially Imy as it is right next to her bed, I don't know) and motor out towards Corsica, 95 nm miles away. Beautiful sunrise, just Sophie and I awake, flat calm sea, no wind.
10.30 Dolphins, 5 of them including a baby, swimming around the boat, I am not sure who is most excited Sophie, me or the girls. These are the first Dolphins of our voyage and it is a great moment. All of use up on the trampoline bouncing around looking at these great creatures. We see a further 7 dolphin on the trip across. A great day. The trip itself takes just under 13 hours, and for the last four hours we have great wind, and cruise as 8.5 knots. This is our first real big trip when you loose total view of the land, and it is a relief to see land where it should be and then come into the anchorage at Calvi.
A Gaffer called,Annelise with and English ensign and Falmouth registration is anchored right in front of us, they have some fags flying, Imogen get the flag book out, and deciphers the flags as saying 8 today.
27th July
We meet team Gaffer Annelise at the harbour office and agree our boats must be very different and say lets meet up later.
That afternoon a new set of flags go up on the Gaffer, spelling COME4T. So we go over and meet the Paul, Jo, their kids Anna13 , Josh 12 and Maddy(just 8). We all have a great time on the gaffer, and learn allot about how she is rigged and all the sails that they can use. The boat has that loverly cosy feeling that our rather plastic caravan just does have. The insides we built with wood from a Methodist church, so we were sitting on former pews and the hand rails were former alter rails.
Later they all come back to our boat and I think Paul & Jo were quite surprised at our layout and set up, as it was so different and they had never been on a catamaran. Young Josh goes up the mast and changes the mast head light for us, as both Sophie and I do not have a head for heights.
Our first sailing friends for the kids.
The other bright side, is that Calvi is a great place, which we were just not expecting it but the town is lovely much less glitzy than the French mainland, a Little more real,and there is a huge long beach, the water is crystal clear and is about 26 degrees which is warmer than the air in the UK I am reliably informed.
28th July
More flags to read, CULATERWB C U Later WB(Windbelle) and the Gaffer is off around the Island of Corsica the other way, so we may see them at the bottom.
The only slight issue is that we seem to be expecting big wind from the west for the next few days.Most of the places we want to go are exposed to the west so we will have to see.
20th July We have now got to Ville Franche, which is a picture post card perfect waterside harbour village, in the same sort of way as Foye is. The only big news is that Sienna, had her first go at swimming a few days ago, with out armbands, she managed to swim a couple of meters before going under. she did this three days before her third birthday, which is earlier than the other girls.
21st July
Anchoring in Ville Franche bay is quite strange,as it is so crowded, there are two cruise liners, and about 100 motor boats plus a few yachts. Around six o'clock the liners have disappeared, and the 99 of the motor boats have gone, leaving an nice quiet anchorage.
We are having a nice quiet dinner, when a huge firework goes off near by,which makes me jump out of my skin as it was so unexpected. There then follows a spectacular fireworks display that wakes the girls and echo's all around the steep walls of the anchorage, we have prime seats without even realising its going to happen.
22nd July
Big wind, boats dragging anchor, we are sitting at anchor, but have a huge ugly red steel trimaran, with very pointy bows behind. We move the boat, and spend a few anxious moments as the anchor windlass fails to work, at the critical moment. A quick rummage around fuses and very little understanding of the french technical terms does help very much, we miss the Trimaran and another cruiser by a couple off feet. A little close for comfort, but manage to re-anchor.
We totally run out of Gas a few days ago. Not even the BBQ works, the spare tank Jim and Graine swapped from a big one to a small one when they were out,(thanks guys) lasts for approximately one kettle full.
I then spend ages trying to find gas, which the guide book assures me is readily available, except when we need it. After a cold few meals moral is getting Rather low. I nip ashore and get take away pizza. It tastes great.
24th
We get gas,at last, but the gas adaptor breaks, I am beginning to loose my cool. Need to sail to the next port about 10nm away.It is around Cap Ferrat It is called Beaulieu. We have a great anchorage,and a lovely day if quite wind day at anchor, the wind is forecast to be light from the west at night so we are well protected.
We see the Maltease Falcon sail by with all her sails up which is a great sight, she then rolls all her sails and joins us in the bay with a whole host of other boats. The wind dies off and I am just about to put a few prawns on our now gassed up bbq, when the wind swings to the east, and starts to build very rapidly to 25-30 knots, we like all the other boats are on a lee shore and its starting to get dark.Boats start to move some voluntary, the one next to us drags anchor. Time to go. So we end up going back round Cap Ferrat in huge seas and wind, the light house looks very different at night, arrive back in Ville Franche about midnight. So anyway thats our first night passage.
26th.
Up at 5am, up anchor 5.30 just as the first light is rising,(How the girls sleep through the windlass, especially Imy as it is right next to her bed, I don't know) and motor out towards Corsica, 95 nm miles away. Beautiful sunrise, just Sophie and I awake, flat calm sea, no wind.
10.30 Dolphins, 5 of them including a baby, swimming around the boat, I am not sure who is most excited Sophie, me or the girls. These are the first Dolphins of our voyage and it is a great moment. All of use up on the trampoline bouncing around looking at these great creatures. We see a further 7 dolphin on the trip across. A great day. The trip itself takes just under 13 hours, and for the last four hours we have great wind, and cruise as 8.5 knots. This is our first real big trip when you loose total view of the land, and it is a relief to see land where it should be and then come into the anchorage at Calvi.
A Gaffer called,Annelise with and English ensign and Falmouth registration is anchored right in front of us, they have some fags flying, Imogen get the flag book out, and deciphers the flags as saying 8 today.
27th July
We meet team Gaffer Annelise at the harbour office and agree our boats must be very different and say lets meet up later.
That afternoon a new set of flags go up on the Gaffer, spelling COME4T. So we go over and meet the Paul, Jo, their kids Anna13 , Josh 12 and Maddy(just 8). We all have a great time on the gaffer, and learn allot about how she is rigged and all the sails that they can use. The boat has that loverly cosy feeling that our rather plastic caravan just does have. The insides we built with wood from a Methodist church, so we were sitting on former pews and the hand rails were former alter rails.
Later they all come back to our boat and I think Paul & Jo were quite surprised at our layout and set up, as it was so different and they had never been on a catamaran. Young Josh goes up the mast and changes the mast head light for us, as both Sophie and I do not have a head for heights.
Our first sailing friends for the kids.
The other bright side, is that Calvi is a great place, which we were just not expecting it but the town is lovely much less glitzy than the French mainland, a Little more real,and there is a huge long beach, the water is crystal clear and is about 26 degrees which is warmer than the air in the UK I am reliably informed.
28th July
More flags to read, CULATERWB C U Later WB(Windbelle) and the Gaffer is off around the Island of Corsica the other way, so we may see them at the bottom.
The only slight issue is that we seem to be expecting big wind from the west for the next few days.Most of the places we want to go are exposed to the west so we will have to see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
