It’s been a while since I posted, mainly because although we have moved further down the coast to Porto in Portugal, we have spent most of the time sitting at anchor or at marinas waiting for the weather. It has been storm after storm coming in with less than 24 hours between each one.
We left A Coruña after waiting for a weather window and a package sent from the UK and are now in Muros waiting for yet another storm to pass on Monday. The current forecast then gives at least a week of good weather to move South to Portugal. While in A Coruña we did some …
Nelly joined me in Santander and we have sailed West along the North Spanish coast to Gijon. We had hoped to get to a Caruna but very rolly seas and little to no wind forced us to come in for fuel. The masthead navigation lights have stopped working and we had hoped to have them …
My windlass finally arrived in Brest, and with advice and reassurance from Darren who repairs boats for a living it was installed and is working great. I have anchored twice with it so far with no issues. I decided against crossing Biscay direct from Brest to A Caruna. The frequent storms and being single handed …
First the parcel, which was sent from the UK, its a replacement windlass and it was held up in customs. I knew I had to pay french vat and duty on arrival but didn’t know how this was supposed to happen. Apparently somebody on the French side should have contacted me to tell me. Nobody …
I have been at Chateaux Marina in Brest the last few days waiting for a new Windlass to arrive. DPD tracking says it should be with me today 🤞 In the mean time I have been doing some cleaning and maintenance and had a look around the Town and the Naval History museum I have …
Sailing along an unfamiliar coastline in fog is a bit daunting but with the right equipment and a bit of planning it’s perfectly OK. I had to do this today from Lannion to Roscoff with visibility rarely more than quarter of a mile. First the equipment I used.. Raymarine Axiom plotter Garmin GPSmap 551 Simrad …
The last few days have been tough on both me and the boat. I want to get on but the weather and strong currents around here mean slow progress. The sail from Guernsey to the French coast went well. It started with good winds which dwindled to nothing and ended in strong winds gusting to …
We have just crossed the English Channel so this is a good point to write about our experiences with beaurocrazy in doing this post Brexit. Pre Brexit, UK vets could issue an EU pet passport once all relevant jabs, including rabies, were up to date. The pet passport lasted the lifetime of the dog and …
My plan last night was to do a night sail back to Guernsey. It was the first opportunity to move for several days due to high winds and a sequence of storm fronts moving through the Channel. I got as far as the outer harbour entrance in bumpy seas and noticed a line flying around …