Tag: Sailing
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Biscay tries to get the last word, almost succeeds.
Weather forecasts. Love them or hate them. We sat in A Coruña for 3 days waiting for a low to pass, and then all forecasts from the three different institutes that I use showed a nice 30 hour window for reaching down Portugal. We knew we would have upwind coming around Finisterre, but that should…
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Overfalls!
Since reading “The Celtic Ring” 10 years ago I have always wondered what it would be like to sail through a really strong overfall1. Now I know. Before embarking on the rather short leg from Lymington to St Peter I did an exemplary thorough route planning, taking into account the tidal state both in the…
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A yacht designed for uncomfort in rough conditions…?
Well, there are rough conditions and there are rough conditions. And a Journeyman ride over the English Channel after 3 days of 30 knot winds was clearly worse than my definition of comfort would allow. So I consider myself beaten. We actually went down to three reefs even though we only had 24 knots wind…
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Wind wait…
Boulogne is a nice town, the marina is reasonably priced, and the weather forecast looks like beating to windward in strong winds (as usual on this trip so far) but this time in rain: Conclusion: We stay here for a while. It seems the low over Scotland will be moving away during Friday, which gives…
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Boulogne-Sur-Mer: Collateral damage. But, Yay! Fresh croissantes!
As always on the channel, 3.5 knots of tide going one way and 24 knots of wind going the other way creates interesting seas. The first victim on this leg was my beloved tea thermos, bought in Estonia. It took a bit of a sharper fall than it was designed for, and smashed. Next was…
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Channel adventures. Of course!
We’ve left Scheveningen for Boulogne Sur Mer. Passing the English Channels is supposed to be adventurous… and so far it has been. Although not in the expected ways. It started with the approach to the Belgian coast north of Zeebruge. We saw a couple of new windmills that were not on my (2 year old)…
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Booooring…
We persisted in sailing until the speed dropped so low we couldn’t steer anymore. So now we are motoring. Again. The sun is shining but it’s hazy, visibility about 2 Nm. The sea is flat and empty all around. Absolutely nothing happening except lots of birds and insects fighting for space on the foredeck. Absolut…
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We can hear you…!
The sea today is so still we can easily hear what they say in the PA system on the Ameland Oost 2 gas platform 2 miles south of us. As we are fed up with motoring, we persist in sailing. At 1.8 knots. Oh well. No hurry.