Coincidence

Talk about coincidence, I posted “Love and Sailing” last Thursday in response to Tillerman’s writing challenge, about the sailing trip Erica and I made in 1997 from England to the Caribbean. Then on Sunday I was reading Micheal’s Dory Man blog and noticed a link to Bill’s Log where he describes owning a Van de Stadt Pioneer 9 Aziz and his trip to La Corunna in north west Spain.

Aziz

I wrote to Bill as in late July or August of 97 we had just crossed the bay of Biscay and were anchored next to Aziz in La Corunna. I recognised the boat having read “When I put out to sea” by Nicolette Milnes Wilson – her account of a single handed Atlantic crossing in the boat. Our yacht Blue Clipper was also a Van de Stadt design, a Legend 34.

Blue Clipper

I recall rowing over to talk to the owner, who I suppose must have been Bill. At the time my normal opening questions were always about water capacity, as it was something which preoccupied me, and about which I asked any and all the offshore cruisers we met.

I do recall however that Aziz had just come back from an attempt to sail to the Azores, in his email Bill confirmed that he had struggled with calms and lack of fuel.

We have seen Aziz a couple of times since then, once in the west country – Falmouth I think ,about 5 years ago and more recently ashore in Hamble Point Marina.

Isn't blogging great - as a PS Bill has some great posts on small boat sailing, including my favourites Sopranino and Nova Espero.

Winter Weekend

The weather turned cold for the weekend, well at least cold for this unusually mild part of the south coast of England. The early morning blue skies and fresh breeze, which had almost tempted me to go for a sail, were quickly replaced by low grey clouds and still air, with the prospect of rain to come.

Down at Shore Road work has begun demolishing the old boat sheds, but the dinghy park and public hard in the foreground, have been spared from this development of marina flats and houses.


Sadly the development will put an end to boat building on the site, the sheds to the left of this picture will be coming down next.

Further down in the pool at Bursledon, the boats are laid up and have their winter covers on.

On a cold and wet winter's afternoon, there's not much better than a brisk walk for some fresh air and then retire to the Jolly Sailor.

And watch the boats in comfort with a roaring fire and a pint of "Pickled Partridge" - apologies to any non English readers who don't understand our taste for warm beer!

Love and Sailing

Tillerman challenged the sailing blogger community to write a story about "Love and Sailing" this month.

Our story started twelve years ago. Erica and I had known each other for just over a year, when I had the crazy notion to put my career on hold and sail across the Atlantic and back. We were fortunate, as I owned an old, but tough Van de Stadt 34, Blue Clipper which was up to the task.

Erica's longest sailing trip at that time, had been 50 miles, downwind from Weymouth to the Solent in near perfect conditions. So, I was even more fortunate that she had no hesitation to coming with me.

We spent the winter preparing the yacht, buying equipment and extracting ourselves from our shore side life. People often tell me how lucky we were, I always recall the dark December day when I hung upside down, cleaning 27 years of dirt from the frozen bilge, with nothing more than a 2 hour drive home to follow - plus our course Erica's company to keep me going!








We left Portsmouth in June 1997 sailing down the western approaches and out into the Bay of Biscay with it's awesome reputation. Biscay crossed, we made our first trip 500 NM out into the Atlantic, finding the island of Maderia roughly where it should be. Then on to the Canary Islands, Gambia in West Africa, before crossing the Atlantic, arriving in Barbados just in time for Christmas.

Sailing the islands was wonderful, south to Trinidad and then north to the Virgin Islands with all the Windward and Leeward islands in between.

It wasn't all plain sailing, we had storms and huge waves, the odd shark had come too close. Equipment had broken a thousand miles from land, in light airs we'd hand steered for ten or twelve hours a day, day after day, under the tropical heat, trying to maintain our speed. Through it all Erica never faltered, she was always there, punchy and positive. Her trust in me was implicit, that trust might have been a burden, but it wasn't, I just grew to love her all the more.

A mountaineering friend joined us for the homeward leg, between the Virgin Islands and the Azores. It was nice to have an extra hand for the 24 day crossing, especially during the night watches. But it was an intrusion, the yacht, our journey and our life together had been so complete, that having someone else share didn't seem quite right.

When 0ur crew flew home from the Azores as arranged, Erica and I wandered those magical mid Atlantic islands hand in hand, for a few weeks, before heading off for the last leg of our trip back to Falmouth and home.

In 2000 we got married, for some reason a television company had got hold of our story and made a short program of our trip, it was a pilot for a series called "The Things we do for Love" hosted by the late John Peel and went out on Meridian TV. Our honeymoon - of course we went sailing.

This year Joesph was born and we're still sailing, maybe not as much as we used to or as much as we like, but of course I still love Erica just as much

Winter Lay Up and other Thoughts

I've been kidding myself recently, that the weather would be nice and that I would have the time for a last winter sail. While we've had the odd nice day in between the gales, I've always been busy doing something else.

So on Saturday I bit the bullet and prepared Greta for her winter lay up. Despite the strong winds (and worse forecast) I rowed down river to take the sails off, run the engine, make sure the cover was secure and generally hunker her down for the next few weeks, before we haul her out.

Greta always looks a bit sad at this time of year, I have to keep on reminding myself that she will look great come the spring, polished and with a few coats of touch up on her varnish work.

Despite the wind and the grey skies, it was good to get out of the office and onto the river. As I rowed past Brooklands (below) I couldn't help noticing how splendid the house looked, with the last of the autumn leaves ready to fall. And for those of you who noticed - yes there are two Bentley's parked in the drive - his and hers perhaps!

Aeolus (below) is a gaff cutter, in the English "plank on edge" type, built in 1904 she is believed to be to a design by Fife. A friend of mine was interested in buying her a few years ago when she came up for sale, but although she was in reasonable condition, the almost 8 foot draft and absence of an engine, at the time put him off. Subsequent owners have installed an engine and undertaken significant restoration and improvements since then, but she still has that deep draft!

With the cost of moorings and the fact that you get charged for every foot including overhangs, a boat like Aeolus at 41 feet on deck, but 60 feet over all must be a harbour master's delight. Just imagine how much they can charge for that boom, which never actually touches the water.

Houseboats

One of the major yachting centers in the UK, Hamble is not immediately associated with houseboats. While there are a few live aboards in the saltings between Bursledon bridge and the motorway, below Bursledon pool the river scene is dominated by shiny white hulls and silver masts.

However just downstream of Hackett's Marsh and Universal Marina is Salterns Creek (above), where a small community of live aboard steel barges lie on the mud, waiting for the tide.

If you know where to look there are quite a few more houseboats, hidden away from the main river.

Surrounded by woodland, coming right down to the water's edge and completely invisible from the busy river, one of these would make a fantastic weekend retreat.

Haul Out Time

It's that time of year when we yachtsmen prepare for the annual winter ritual, haul out, maintenance and anti foul.

Many of of us do our own anti fouling and grumble at paying £80 for 2.5 litres, but spare a thought for this chap, I hope he had a big roller!

Windy Weekend

The wind touched 50 knots on Saturday morning, that's over 57 MPH or for those on the metric system 84 Kilometers per hour. It was a day for staying in.

By Sunday afternoon things had settled down a bit, so I rowed down to Greta, our gaff yawl, to make sure she was alright, out on her mooring.

It was late afternoon by the time I'd finished, the river was quiet and the sky overcast, when the last of the sun broke through.


What a great day to be out.