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Channel Islands trip - Alderney to Jersey
Premium sleep achieved! Asleep by 2130, didn’t wake til 0700 and didn’t get out of bed until 0730. I slept like the proverbial baby, soothed by the gentle rocking of the boat. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and the wind light. A beautiful way to start the day. …
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Channel Islands trip - Lymington to Alderney
Well I didn’t really have an early night as I’d hoped, finishing yesterday’s blog at 2300. Hugo came in just as I was finishing, having had a late catch-up with his best man, a decision that would haunt him later. With everyone else volunteering to get up to leave at 0300, I decided to keep out of the way and stay in my warm sleeping bag. In the end with the clanging around, and engine noise, followed by chop as we exited the Solent, I don’t think I actually slept but at least got some rest. I got up at just after 0400 to see the Needles starting to disappear into the distance and the sun beginning to rise an hour or so later. …
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Channel Islands trip - Cowes to Lymington
This week we’re off for a trip with Salty Sailing across the channel to the Channel Islands. The trip is one we wanted to do in order to gain experience crossing the channel before doing it on our own. …
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Newtown Creek - a solo mission
Time for a confession. It’s been a ridiculously long time since I took Lucice (our Sadler 26) out for a sail. The last time Elpie and I tried, we had a nightmare getting off the dock. Embarrassingly caught out by a strong ebb tide and Lucice’s reluctance to go backwards in a straight line to begin with. We decided not to continue. This time though, I was sensible, I waited for the slack water just before high tide, which would also give me the Solent current to carry me west to Newtown Creek once I exited the marina. …
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Mexico Day 7
Woke at 0730 after distintly less good sleep than the previous night. Still feeling ok though and as is now traditional Dewey was making coffee. Reinvigorated by said coffee, I wrote up the last bit of yesterday’s blog sitting in the sun - which rapidly changed to dense fog as the moist sea air was blown onto land. This should burn off in an hour or two if the prevoius days are any guide. …
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Mexico Day 6
Woke at 0700 after 8.5hrs sleep. The sun is shining and Dewey is making coffee. I feel goddamn fantastic! Elpie makes a call home to talk to Ed who’s struggling to change his tickets to Malaysia to the right name - he’d given Eddie as his first name. I hope he can get it changed, the booking agent want him to cancel and re-book, but he’d only get 25% of the money back from cancelling and likely the next flight would be 4x more expensive. …
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Mexico Day 5
My 0000-0200 shift passed without drama. The sky’s were dark and my vision a little sleep blurred but still able to make out a tiny bit of bioluminescence in the boat’s wake. Handed back over to Elpie and went to bed. …
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Mexico Day 4
Up at 0600 to visit the heads and then go on deck to see the last of the sunrise. Nature provided again with Pelicans making optimal use of ground effect and the daily whale show taking place. …
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Mexico Day 3
Woke at 0700 to another beautiful morning at Isabel. The sea state had become a little too rolly for comfort so Brady took the decision to move to a calmer spot. …
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Mexico Day 2
Woke at 2345 (boat time as we’ve moved time zones) for my shift. I went up on deck to sea an incredible star-filled night. I took over from Jim who explained the current situation, the main had been flogging in the light wind and rolling seas, So Brady dropped the main as I came on and went on deck to tie it neatly. Brady left with the true skipper’s admonishment to wake him for anything at all. Knowing I would was the only way he could get any sleep. …
Human speed is about truly experiencing the world around you. Walking, sailing and cycling let you see, hear, and feel a place in a way that driving never can. These slower methods of travel give you time to notice details - the way light hits a tree, the sounds of a neighborhood, the texture of the ocean.