Category: Sailing in General
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Aberystwyth towards Falmouth
Log 8498 Distance approx 230nmGrit and I arrived in Aber (as they call it) on Thursday 17th August to have a day preparing and provisioning before setting off towards Falmouth. We went to the Christopher Williams exhibition again where I was surprised to meet Jannicke (I’ll put up a nice picture of her later). In…
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Torsten in Aberystwyth
How nice it was to bump into Torsten during our visit to the National Library of Wales! Torsten is, of course, one of the worlds experts regarding sea bed geology. There can hardly be a sand or mud bank along the east coast that Torsten doesn’t know intimately. I remember sailing from Ramsgate to Dover in dense fog when…
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Port St Mary to Aberystwyth
We reckoned the best time to leave would be 18:00 but the sun was out so we left at about 15:00 with a very gentle southerly breeze. The wind gradually veered to become a westerley generally around force 3-4 but with a couple of light patches which meant a few hours of motoring. We sailed…
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The Mull of Kintyre
By now we knew we were the last boat to leave Jura for Arran. Barbara, who was one of the organisers had politely asked if we were still competing. “Of course we are” was Charlotte’s reply. To get to Lamlash on Arran we would have to round the Mull of Kintyre – a notorious headland…
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Rowing Past the Corryvreckan
I confess that we had been a little worried on-board the ship as the runners had taken longer than we expected. We knew one runner from another team had to be air lifted off, and we were much relieved when a text arrived from Charlotte saying they were on the road back. Once the tired,…
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“Land Ahoy”
Position N56,41 x W006,41 Wind F4 Westerly rather unstable. Now we are sailing downwind through the Sea of theHebrides with Coll on our starboard bow. We hit some rough seas as the depth dropped from 1000m to about 100m but it is more peaceful now except for the occasional viscous squall which drives through with…
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Nothing Remarkable
Position N59,48 x W013,12. Wind easterly force 5 Still making progress into a boisterous sea. We recorded our first ship passing 8 miles away but never saw it. Long dark nights now. Gales still forecast near landfall time and with no gearbox we may hove too at sea for a day or so or make…
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Rough Ride
Position N60,50 x W014,53. Force 6-7 easterly It is pretty uncomfortable now with two deep reefs and a reefed yankee. The waves are around 10ft and occasionally breaking over the yacht but the sun is popping out between the clouds so it is an attractive view. This weather is set to continue until tomorrow afternoon…
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En Route to St Kilda
Position N63,03.7 x W019,25.85 We completed our chores on Sunday morning and Gudrun and I climbed up Heimaklettur, a spectacular hill over looking the harbour and the south coast of Iceland. The weather was perfect and the whole island was smiling. After a swim and hot tub we returned to Sumara to clear customs. This…
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Vestmannaeyjar Islands
Position N63,26 x W20,16. Heimaey Harbour. Calm Well we made it, but only just. After we rounded Reykjanes Peninsular the wind became light and we needed to motor to make any worthwhile progress. Gradually the wind increased and we were able to sail again but it was an easterly and the sea was more lumpy…