Trawler Travels

Back home to Topsham

2009-09-15T21:36:00.004Z

Soon after I caught the train, Dave set sail from Falmouth on his own. The wind was still blowing NE Force 5, dead on the nose. The sea was pretty choppy leaving Falmouth but after 10 miles, both the wind and sea started to moderate, with less water coming over the deck. Instead of heading into Plymouth, 35 miles away, Dave decided to carry on. He passed outside the Eddystone Lighthouse, by which time the sea had calmed right down to a F3.
He reached Start Point around nine in the evening and had a good passage around the headland in calm seas with less than half a metre swell. He arrived at Brixham just after midnight and moored up for some sleep.
In the morning, Andy Voysey and his son Jamie joined David for the last leg home. The wind was still on the nose but only F2-3 and the sun was shining so they had an enjoyable trip back to the Exe, with Jamie on the helm most of the way. They went as far as Topsham, watched the start of the raft race across the river, then picked up the mooring and went for refreshments at Turf.

Since the boys didn't take any pictures, here's my Mum and sister after finishing the half marathon in Nottingham. Well done both of you!

The ‘Ros Ailither’ now has her sail covers back on and looks as if she’s been there all summer. In fact we have traveled 1,490 nautical miles at an average speed of 5.6 knots. We have thoroughly enjoyed the trip despite the inclement weather, especially meeting up with all the people from Ros Ailither’s past and discovering bits of her history. Thanks for giving us a good welcome in Ireland!
There are no more trips planned at present but we hope to be reviving ‘trawlertravels’ sometime in 2010.

Around Land's End

2009-09-11T16:24:00.003Z

Ted Davenport joined the crew in Bideford. We had an evening meal ashore with the French crew on ‘Ambrym’ next to us, and even persuaded them to relive their youth on the bumper cars at the funfair! The next morning, we were very nearly ‘neaped’ on the mud but Dave got us off with a bit of oomph from Mr Gardner (the engine!). We headed out over Bideford Bar, where an impressive swell was rolling in, and headed for Hartland Point.

Ted was put straight to work hoisting the sails and we were soon cruising along at 6 knots. This increased to 10 knots as the tide swept us around Hartland Point, kicking up messy seas, but once away from the headland, the sea settled down again. We had a good Force 5 from behind so poled out the staysail and goosewinged our way down the north coast towards Lands End. There was barely a cloud in the sky and it felt great to have the wind in our favour for a change.

We dined on chicken curry before watching the sun go down, still not a cloud in the sky. This was our first overnight trip since arriving in Ireland and we were expecting the seas to pick up around Cape Cornwall. As it turned out, the wind dropped a little and we had a lovely sail around Lands End with a clear starry moonlit sky. There were plenty of lights on land, flashing buoys at sea and lighthouses to identify and a constant stream of ships passing in the distance.

We decided to carry on around the Lizard while the going was good and passed it three miles offshore with a ship either side of us heading in the opposite direction. From that point on, we lost the shelter of the land and the wind soon picked up to a force 5 gusting 6 from the NE - right on the nose! Our speed dropped to under 4 knots as the gusts kept stopping us dead so we decided to take the easy option and head in to Falmouth.

It is typical that we have been fighting westerly winds all the way to Ireland and now that we need them, we are faced with strong easterlies for the next few days! At least we have the sunshine…

Ted set off home soon after we anchored up, filled up with pasty, beer and lots of ideas for his forthcoming novel. We caught up on a bit of sleep before meeting local friends Graham & Heather in the Chain Locker pub, along with Ed & Maria, who happen to be holidaying in St Mawes! Sadly, our friends have to work today but we have spent the day relaxing in the sun with the Twittons, Archie and the bump.

I will be abandoning ship tomorrow to watch my sister run the half marathon in Nottingham, so it’s up to Dave whether to wait for better weather or bash through the seas back to Topsham.

Last leg in Ireland

2009-09-08T16:23:00.004Z

Arklow harbour

The harbourmaster in Arklow recognized the boat straightaway and said ‘It’s a good few years since she fished from here’. He gave us a berth in the fishing harbour, which suited us just fine. We were right opposite the old Tyrrell’s Boatyard, which built many of the Ros fleet in the 50’s and 60’s, and Dave couldn’t resist the temptation to go and look around. This boatyard has now passed into different hands and is now mainly reduced to decommissioning these fishing boats.

There was a lovely looking black trawler, a similar size to ours, in the process of being decommissioned. The hull was in perfect condition as the owner had looked after the boat, keeping it on a mooring all its life but the deck, superstructure and bulkheads had all been ripped out. Even in this state, the boatyard were not allowed to sell her, despite her being unfit for fishing. Under the current rules for decommissioning, they have to chop up the whole boat, including the keel and provide a photo of every stage of the process. A 65-footer was still floating but reduced to a similar condition. It is a real shame as these boats will never be built again and there are plenty of ‘madmen’ like Dave willing to convert them for pleasure.

We had a visit from a fisherman, Dermot Green, who had seen us arrive and taken pictures. When he saw the name of the boat, he had to come and introduce himself as he had been on board in the 60’s. The ‘Ros Ailither’ was apparently the first boat to commercially fish for crab in Ireland and the BIM (Irish Fisheries Board) had provided the ‘Ros Ailither’ to the owner for this purpose. On the weekend of the Great Train Robbery in 1963, they were taking the boat from Baltimore up the west coast towards Killybegs when the engine blew up, throwing a piston through the bows. They had to wait 14 hours for the lifeboat to come out and pull them in to Valentia. Dermot didn’t hear what subsequently happened as he joined another boat, but he thinks the owner (James Haydn) was given another boat to crab with. Presumably the BIM fitted the ‘Ros Ailither’ with a new engine before she went to fish from the Aran Islands.

The south of the east coast of Ireland has a large number of wind farms, including one offshore on Arklow Bank. The boat we were moored next to, ‘Windcat II’, had the job of heading out to Arklow Bank every day to take engineers out to service the seven wind turbines. The boat alone was burning 175 litres of fuel an hour so this can’t have been a cheap operation for the electricity company. The guys on board were very kind to us, helping with our ropes even in a torrential downpour, and Peter Burne made us a lovely bell-pull for our ship’s bell.

We stayed in Arklow for one wet and windy day, amusing ourselves by taking Katie swimming but when the weather was still unsettled and looked like it might be for a long time, we decided to leave. We headed out with a forecast of W winds 5-7, but our internet sites had shown the wind easing that afternoon. They were wrong! We had a good sail to start with, as the wind was off the land. Then it turned more SW and we had to motor-sail. We passed Rosslare, and got to the bottom corner of Ireland, which the pilot book describes as ‘challenging’. They were right! The wind was still blowing a F5-6 and we had 2 or 3 knots of tide with us but against the wind, kicking up big seas. Tuscar lighthouse kept disappearing in the 3-metre swell and the decks got washed with spray. Katie, thankfully was down for her afternoon nap and slept through the worst of it. We were very glad to finally pull away from Carnsore Point and see the big bank of wind turbines on the headland slowly move aft of our beam. Finally, we got some lee from the Saltee Islands (aptly named!) just south of Kilmore Quay and the motion calmed down. We took the shallow short cut across St Patricks Bridge and were soon moored in Kilmore Quay.

wind turbines on Carnsore Point

It was worth the effort as we then met up with the family of the very first owner of ‘Ros Ailither’. Jim Campbell bought the boat brand-new in 1954 for his four sons, Jim, Jack, Dermot and Fred to fish. From the original crew, only Dermot is still alive and he came down to relive a piece of his past. Even though the boat has changed so much, you can definitely tell that Dermot had spent a lot of time on board, and he pointed out three of the bunks he had slept in from our photos. They used the boat for trawling (mainly herring) and always felt that the original engine, a 88hp Kelvin, was underpowered. They had lots of problems with it and, despite many requests, BIM refused to change the engine. This was the main reason they didn’t purchase the boat in full and it went back to BIM after 8 years.

After a while, Dermot told us that his wife Kathleen was waiting in the car. She didn’t think she could make it on board with two artificial hips but she hadn’t reckoned on Dave McCabe’s help! He soon had her on board, along with their nephew John, wife Suzanne and family, and a local fisherman who recognized the boat.

Dave, Kathleen & Dermot Campbell

Since we were staying put for a day (yet more strong winds), Dermot and Kathleen picked us up the next day and drove us to their home town of Wexford. This is where the ‘Ros Ailither’ originally fished from but we were unable to enter due to a difficult and shallow channel, which was risky without local knowledge. They took us to the Irish Heritage Centre, where they have recreated typical dwellings dating from the first settlers in Ireland, spanning the Stone Age up to Norman times. Katie enjoyed running around between each ‘settlement’ and hiding in the huts!

We were then treated for lunch and completely spoiled for the day; even Katie was given a new teddy. Back on the boat, we had a visit from Dermot’s son Jim, a photographer for the local paper, along with a fellow journalist, so it looks like the ‘Ros Ailither’ may appear in print yet again! Later that night, another nephew Colm, brought his family for a quick look onboard.

Dermot had hoped to see the boat sail away but we weren’t sure exactly when we would be leaving. The winds which were forecast to drop hadn’t done so by nightfall so we got a few hours sleep and set off in the early hours. The wind had dropped but we still had a good force 5 on our stern quarter and a sizeable swell. We averaged over six knots the entire trip. Another sailing boat set off at the same time as us, a 35-foot Hallberg-Rassy design, and we both entered Milford Haven harbour within five minutes of each other. Not bad for an old fishing boat!

So we were back in UK waters! We anchored in the little bay called Dale, just off the entrance channel. It seemed strange to go ashore and hear Welsh accents after two months of Irish tones. The following day brought strong southerly winds which turned our peaceful spot into a very rolly anchorage so we spent most of the day ashore - playing on the pebble beach, having a roast dinner in the yacht club and picking blackberries in the hedgerows.

The following day, the wind died almost completely and we motored across the Bristol Channel to Bideford Harbour. After two false attempts at mooring (once in a fishing boat’s spot), we were given some local advice and moored alongside the traditional schooner ‘Kathleen & May’ in a soft mud berth. A French yacht, ‘Ambrim’, who had come across with us from Dale, moored outside of us. We are both hoping to set sail on Wednesday morning and if the weather holds, get right around Land’s End.

Dublin to Arklow

2009-09-03T07:41:00.003Z

We were hoping to moor on a pontoon right in the middle of Dublin but unfortunately it was impossible to reach as a new swing bridge was being built but didn’t swing yet. So we ended up in Poolbeg Marina, a 20-minute cycle from the city but right on the edge of the shipping zone. This was amusing at first but less funny
when we were woken at 3am by a huge cruise ship turning round (with the help of two tugboats) about 15 feet from our boat!

Anyway, it was a convenient base from which to explore Dublin. We took a tour on the open-topped bus, and couldn’t believe it when two friends from the Ardglass festival, who had moored in a completely different marina, appeared on the same bus.
They probably couldn’t believe it when they got dragged along with us for a tour of the jail, Kilmainham Gaol. It had been highly recommended by the bus driver and was actually very interesting, just an awful lot of information to take in. As our guide took us around the prison, he gave a series of lectures filling us in on the last 200 years of Irish history, the famine, the struggle for independence, the fate of the martyrs, (many of whom were put to death in this prison), and of course the appalling treatment by the Brits.

Katie was very patient throughout it all, especially as food had been specifically forbidden during the tour! One thing I had never realized was the significance of the colours of the Irish flag. The green represents for the ‘true’ Irish, the orange is for those Irish descended from the British and the white symbolises peace existing between the two.

So, back on the bus for some well-deserved snacks and the return trip through Dublin. We passed the statue of ‘sweet Molly Mallone’ and Dave was dismayed to discover that she was not just a vendor of cockles and mussels but a lady of the night. Or, as the driver put it, “the trollope with the scallops”. An illusion shattered!

We got a more agreeable tip from the driver about where to go for lunch. He pointed us to an old-fashioned pub, or ‘drinking emporium’, just off the busy O’Connell Street where we had a delicious meal at reasonable prices without the crowds. After escaping from the guilt of the prison, we had to relax with a pint or two… Here we parted ways with Dicken & Pam, who are sailing back to the Bristol Channel with their lovely pilot cutter, ‘Peggy’.

The next couple of days we wandered around at our own pace. We found busy shopping streets, quiet market stalls, street entertainers galore, beautiful old buildings, ugly new buildings and all the things you expect in a city. We visited the National Gallery, Dublin Castle and managed to break a smile from a harassed-looking waitress in the tourist area of Temple Bar. We crossed the river Liffey on the new Millenium Bridge and back over the old Ha’penny Bridge (much more elegant).

Ha’Penny Bridge

There was a lot of building work going on, particularly on the north side of the river, so lots of cranes, dug-up roads and scaffolding barriers, which I’m sure will be lovely when it’s finished. We got rather lost on our bikes and ended up the wrong side of a huge basin off the main river. Rows of restaurants bordered two sides of the water but we ended up at a dead end where somebody had set up home in a caravan right in the middle of the street, with kids toys scattered around the road. We had to drag the bikes across two sets of lock gates to get back to the main road to the marina.

Chloe came out to visit and after one last night among the throngs at Temple Bar, we set off down the coast to Wicklow. We had a good sail with the wind off the land, crossed one fleet of racing yachts near Dalkey Island and another further south near Graystones. Chloe did a great job at entertaining Katie, doing a 2-hour stint of painting at sea! By lunchtime, grey clouds had taken over the sky but in between showers we had great views of the coastline and the pointed peak of ‘Great Sugarloaf mountain’.

We had to dodge a colourful fleet of sailing dinghies outside Wicklow harbour, then went in and moored on the quay wall. The first thing we noticed were the paintings of ships the length of the harbour wall. Before long, a man on a bicycle arrived to say hi and he turned out to be the artist, named Pat. As well as being a postman (yes, Postman Pat), he is a ship enthusiast, and seems familiar with all shipping movement along this stretch of coast. He knew the name of the cruise ship that ruined our sleep in Dublin and often travels to nearby ports to see and photograph unfamiliar ships arriving.

Wicklow harbour with Great Sugarloaf Mt behind

Pat pointed us in the right direction for the town centre and we went to stretch our legs and treat ourselves to an icecream. Wicklow seemed a nice little town, with lots of stylish clothes shops, a vast selection of pubs and several Chinese restaurants, but we couldn’t find a bench to sit on and ended up eating our icecreams on a deserted doorstep!

Pat with one of his paintings

The forecast for the whole week was pretty uninspiring, winds between SE and SW and varying from moderate to gale force. There was a possibility of heading 15 miles down the coast to Arklow the following day but we managed to miss both the late night and early morning forecasts and so assumed the forecast of SW 5-7 that we had heard was still valid. (Our dongle for getting internet on board has gone from excellent to intermittent to not working at all.)

Instead, we took the train to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dunleary), where there was a Festival of World Cultures. There were rows of stalls offering foods from all over the world, but at a price – crepes for €5 seemed a bit steep, but we couldn’t resist the German pretzels or American muffins. Sadly, the rain came down in earnest just as lunchtime approached and we didn’t fancy sitting in the rain to eat African food, however authentic. Instead, we wandered into the town and happened upon a lovely little café that did us a fantastic lunch in the warm and dry.

Once the rain eased off, we wandered back and took a very excited Katie on the Ferris Wheel. This gave us an amazing view over the town and harbour, where a fleet of small boats were barely moving in the breeze. It certainly didn’t look like a force 5-7. Of course, this was the sheltered shore, but even so…! Anyway, the train didn’t go back until 7pm, so we had no choice but to re-immerse ourselves in music and watched a flamboyant display of Brazilian dancing.

The next day really was wet and windy. The harbour was sheltered from most of the wind but we could feel the boat surging in the swell and the lifeboatman’s opinion that “it’ll be dirty enough out past the headland” settled it for us. We had a last wander ashore before the rain came in, then cooked a roast chicken dinner before waving Chloe off on the train back to Dublin.

The next day, we headed out towards Arklow. Again, the winds seemed light in the harbour and just outside, but we only realized how much shelter we were getting from Wicklow Head when we got to it. It was blowing a good F5-6 on the nose and against the tide. The lifeboatman was right, it was pretty dirty! Olaf, at the end of our bowsprit, was well and truly submerged in the swells, and our topsail mast got bent up and broke. (Our fault for not lashing it better.) Two hours later, we arrived in Arklow and moored in the fishing basin. We will be here to wait out another gale before heading south to Kilmore Quay.

To Dublin

2009-08-26T21:12:00.004Z

We spent two days in Portavogie. There was surprisingly little ashore so we were pleased of a chance meeting with another wooden boat enthusiast. Nick had a 68-foot fishing boat in nearby Bangor, which he was in the middle of revamping as a charter boat. He drove us up to see his boat, ‘Dundarg’, which was in remarkable shape, especially after a weekend of celebrations for her 70th birthday!

The following day we set sail for the Isle of Man, the seas were big to start off but soon settled down and gave us a good sail, if a little bouncy. A dark fin lurked in the water as we approached the island, it turned out to be a large basking shark that soon whipped off when it seemed we must run it over! We had no expectations of Peel Harbour so were delighted to find a picturesque harbour overlooked by a castle, a perfectly shaped hill and the town and beach.

We moored in the inner harbour where we could float at low tide inside the sill (a new and controversial development which is already malfunctioning). After Katie’s nap, we set off to explore and climbed the hill for fantastic views over the well-preserved castle and surrounding sea. We also met up with Mike Craine, editor of the 40+ Fishing Boat Association, who took us for a drive around the top of the island, told us some local history and showed us the thatched cottages used in filming ‘Waking Ned’.

Yet another unpromising forecast kept us in Peel for an extra day, so we were able to peruse the shops and buy some kippers, a local speciality. We discovered that the herring for these kippers has to be imported from Scotland as only 2 Manx fishing boats retain the right to catch herring! Katie enjoyed time off sailing on such a lovely sunny day and had a good time playing on the beach and flying her 99p kite.

We heard about an Old Gaffers Festival that weekend in Ardglass so headed there the following day in calmer seas. The poor weather had put off some of the regular comers but the eight or so boats there had enough crew for a very jolly night at the local pub. There was music and singing, with a variety of instruments from guitar thru squeezebox to spoons.
We had been told to make up a limerick beginning ‘There’s not a Tall Ship in sight at Ardglass’. After formulating 2 verses, I forgot to take the piece of paper I’d written it on and had to read out something half remembered and half made up on the spot! It sufficed to win us a pair of insulated mugs, and like every boat we were given a bottle of locally brewed wine, an Old Gaffers Special Reserve called Vino Calapso!

So one big gale and two hangovers later, we were finally ready to head south again. With the wind straight on the nose and squally showers, we decided to cut the trip to Dublin into two hops, stopping for the night at a place called Drogheda, that I can’t pronounce properly. (Apparently there’s no ‘g’!!??) It was a pleasant detour up the river Boyne and we moored for the night next-but-one to yet another sister ship, the ‘Ros Einne’.

Next morning we had a lovely sail in sunshine and flat seas down the coast to Dublin. We cut inside the privately owned Lambay Island, which has a population of six people and a large castle, then rounded the Ben of Howth and entered the busy shipping area leading into Dublin. We are moored in Poolbeg Marina right near the city and with a great view of container ships coming and going!

Across the top

2009-08-19T15:47:00.003Z

From Killybegs, we moved up the bay to Teelin in order to get the boat ship-shape again. It turned out to be a beautiful anchorage, surrounded by green hills but with the same dark brown water as in Killybegs. Maybe caused by fresh water running down through the peat?? It looked like we were in a bay bounded by two long sandy beaches until we tried walking to one and ended up on a wild goose chase up the side of a river. A local man saved the day by allowing us through his garden to the narrow strip of beach behind and Katie was finally able to paddle.

The next day we had some pretty strong winds pushing us up the coast, along with fog, visibility was down to less than half a mile. We passed the famous Sleive League coastline but the clifftops were hidden in clouds and their magnificence was hidden in the grey drizzle. A lifeboat overtook us briefly in the mist then disappeared again, we later found out they had steamed around from Killybegs. As usual, Katie didn’t seem too bothered by the motion!

The lighthouse on Arranmore Island finally appeared through the mist and once around Torneady Point the swell dropped immediately. After anchoring, we went for a wander ashore and Dave spotted a similar boat to ours ashore on the slip and badly affected by gribble (worm). Later the owner came out by RIB and confirmed it is indeed a sister ship, the Ros Oirthir, his father fished her for years and he is considering the huge task of rebuilding her, replacement keel and all. Another sister ship, the Ros Ard, is apparently still fishing here and in immaculate condition but she was moored way around the south of the island and we didn’t get a chance to see her.

The weather was perfect the following day, blowing W3-4, and we had a great sail up the last of the west coast and around Bloody Foreland. We passed several islands - Tory island, Inishbeg and another Inishbofin and anchored for the night in a place called Portsalon, halfway down Lough Swilly. There was a long sandy half-moon beach but we were rather disappointed to find that the ‘village’ consisted of bunches of identical modern holiday homes. Not a single old stone cottage in sight. Were they all knocked down to make way for this or was it uninhabited before? Either way, the boat looked pretty at anchor and the holiday-makers seemed to be having a grand time.

The wind had pretty much disappeared the next day but we hoisted the mainsail in hope and motored out to Malin Head. This was the northernmost point of our trip, though not of Ireland, as we cut inside the island of Inishtrahull. Having seen very few pleasure boats at sea so far, we were surprised to cross paths with two right at the top of the Emerald Isle! One was a yellow RIB who stopped for a moment to take in the scenery, snap a couple of pictures and exchange a friendly wave before disappearing into the distance. We wondered for a moment if it was Ed William-Hawkes reliving his round-Ireland adventure from several years back!

We also crept up on another blue boat with tan sails, this one a highly unusual junk rig. We exchanged hellos as we passed by and ascertained where each other was going. We had planned to stop in a fishing harbour called Greencastle but after a quick recce Dave decided there was precious little room so we motored on and joined the other yacht at a place called Coleraine up the river Bann. They were a British couple who had cruised down from Scotland with their newly aqcuired boat, and hadn’t been near ‘civilisation’ for over a month!
They certainly found it in Coleraine (pronounced Coal-rain), in the form of a busy town centre and a shocking amount of traffic on the road - we had obviously slowed down to the pace of life in Southern Ireland! Here we had crossed the border into Northern Ireland and it was just like being in England, with a big Tesco’s down the road and prices in pounds sterling instead of euros. One of the bonuses was a big swimming pool in the town, complete with water slides, which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Strong winds were forecast for the next three days so we realized we weren’t going to make it the 25 miles to Ballycastle where we were hoping to meet up with Pat Nolan, who wrote ‘Sea Change’, a book about the 50-foot Irish fishing fleet. As it was, he came down to meet us and took us for a drive along the coast as far as Ballycastle. The road followed a stunning coastline dotted with castle ruins, lovely beaches and busy holiday towns. We passed the world-famous Giant’s Causeway, a geologist’s heaven of natural lava rock formation but sadly it is not visible from the road and the queue of waiting cars put us off actually taking a guided tour to see it. The same applied to the wobbly rope bridge across to an island so we had to be content with the view from above. It was great to see the coastline we would soon be sailing along and get to know Pat a little better after our brief meeting in Killybegs.

The following day we took the train to Belfast for the last day of the Tall Ships celebrations, arriving just in time to watch the fleet departing. They made a spectacular sight, especially the majestic ‘Europa’ with her square sails set. A man from GMTV overheard us say we’d come from England and wanted to interview us but Dave, ever camera-shy, declined.
We had promised Katie a visit to the funfair but we couldn’t believe it when a 3-minute ride on the carousel cost £6!! They were certainly making the most of the masses of people visiting.

Before we left, we spent a sociable evening in the local yacht club where we caught up with our neighbours on ‘Moonshadow’, who we had first met in the Azores last summer! We all looked back fondly on the glorious weather we had experienced there… but, as we keep reminding ourselves, we didn’t come to Ireland for the weather!

We left the next morning to find the strong winds had turned to no wind. This was much preferable as the NE corner of Ireland has some of the strongest tides, running up to six knots through the Rathlin Sound and Northern Channel, and causing strong eddies and a whirlpool so dangerous it has a name - ‘Slough-na-more’. It was harmless when we passed through, being whizzed along at speeds over 12 knots on the GPS!! We had a brief glimpse of the Mull of Kintyre in hazy cloud but that is the closest we’ll be to Scotland on this trip. We took advantage of the flat seas and fair tide to get as far as we could and made it to Belfast Lough by 10pm. We anchored for the night in Ballyholme Bay then were off again at 6am to reach a sheltered harbour before the forecasted southerly wind picked up again.

So here we are in Portavogie, amongst a fine fishing fleet, mostly wooden boats. There seems to be little ashore apart from a chandlery, a shop and a pub, but the harbour is bustling with industry. As usual in Ireland, the harbourmaster is very accommodating and seems more keen to actually help us out rather than charge us. A novel experience after the south coast of England!
Considering the constant boat traffic, we were amazed to see a large number of seals, apparently fifteen of them, who actually live inside the harbour, fearlessly popping up between the moving boats. This is a boat maneuvering in the narrow entrance with a seal’s head just visible behind. Four of them followed him in at a distance of just a few feet!

Hauled out in Killybegs

2009-08-13T20:08:00.003Z

Things moved quickly after our arrival in Killybegs. The local paper did a big write-up about our visit, featuring a photo of us with a group of former workers from the boatyard. Most of them came aboard for a look but sadly one or two were unable to get down the ladder, including one man, Columba Cunningham, who started work in the boatyard in the 1950's. Here he is holding a book about Killybegs showing him working at the boatyard at the tender age of 14½!

Brian McGillowry, Patsy McGowan & Columba Cunningham

Michael O’Boyle had arranged for us to get hoisted out for free by Mooney’s Boatyard, where the Ros Ailither was originally built back in 1954. So the following afternoon we took her over to the lifting bay, built on the site of the boat railway where she would originally have been launched..

It was a historic moment that obviously brought back lots of memories. The foreman at the yard, Patrick, came in specially on his day off to operate the container hoist. His father, Patrick, was foreman when Ros Ailither was built, and his son, also Patrick, works there too. Michael O’ Boyle was there with his son Martin and little grandson, as were former workers Pat Cunnahan, Jackie Neehan and Josie Murran. Pat Nolan, author of ‘Sea Change’, a book about the BIM Irish 50-footers, had driven down from Northern Ireland, and representatives from the Marine Times were there to take pictures.

Michael O'Boyle, Pat Nolan, Patrick the foreman, Martin O'Boyle

We all watched as the Ros Ailither slowly came up out of the water and was set on chocks next to the hoisting bay. Everyone remarked on what good condition she was in for her age. Lee Mooney, owner of the yard, came over for a good look inside once he could get away from his work. His father worked in the BIM yard prior to taking over the boatyard and it was obviously still a thriving business. It looked deceivingly quiet from the road but two brand-new (aluminium) boats were under construction in the huge shed, not to mention several boats out of the water for repairs.

Lee Mooney on board with Dave

For the next four days, David worked hard on getting the topsides and bottom rubbed down, filled and painted. It was a great spot to work, uncrowded and with a lovely view over the harbour entrance, shame about the annoying rain showers! Dave had several visitors who were all able to add more snippets of information of how the Ros boats were built.

Mooney’s yard was instrumental in making Killybegs such an important fishing harbour back in the 1950’s, building 37 wooden fishing boats during the 1950’s alone. They built two or three boats simultaneously, each with a team of 19 shipwrights working on them. Surprisingly little was available in the area so all the nails and steelwork, for example, had to be specially made and shipped in.

Hazel and Katie spent the days exploring Killybegs. It is a small town (with no coffee shop!) totally dominated by the large fleet of enormous fishing boats on the quays. We happened upon St Catherine’s Well, a source of natural spring water dedicated to the town’s patron saint, and still used as a place of prayer. Our arrival coincided with the street festival weekend and Katie was very excited to see the funfair setting up. Obviously she is a bit small for the ‘Drop Zone’ ride but enjoyed clambering up the inflatable slide!

longest carpet loom in the world

I was surprised to discover at the Maritime & Heritage Centre that Killybegs was also world famous for carpets. This was the site of Donegal Carpets, makers of high quality hand-knotted wool carpets. We were shown a video of women at work in the 60’s – it is a slow business and took a team of women four months to make a single (large) carpet, each one individually designed for its destination. We saw the largest loom in the world (42 feet long and weighing over 4 tons!!) and were allowed to put a couple of knots in a ‘show’ piece of carpet in-the-making. The factory is now only a fraction of the size and was not in use when we were there but still goes into operation when a commission comes in.

On Monday morning, Ros Ailither was looking much the better for a lick of paint, and we had even painted the original (trademark) shamrock back on the bows. Lee Mooney himself lifted the boat back in the water with Michael and Martin O’Boyle who came to watch and take photos (and video for u-tube!).

We moved back to the fishing quay for a short while then made a move the 10 miles down the bay to Teelin in order to get the boat straight for sailing again.
We would like to thank Lee Mooney for the free haulout and use of all his facilities, and to Michael O’Boyle for setting it all up, and for all the background information. Thanks to everybody who gave us such a warm welcome and sorry we didn’t hang around for longer. When the weather’s right, you’ve got to keep moving!

To Killybegs

2009-08-06T10:13:00.002Z

Our next stop after the Aran Islands was in nearby Roundstone Harbour on the mainland, a beautiful anchorage with the Connemara mountains as a backdrop. Made all the better when Dave spotted one of our sister ships in the harbour, recognizing the shape despite there being no name visible. She was soon identified as the ‘Ros Beithe’ when the new owner popped out to introduce himself – and check out our conversion.

The next day we had a bumpy ride around Slyne Head to another island, Inishbofin, where we spent three days waiting out more gales, up to Force 9 this time! I could well believe it after our first night spent rolling wildly on a mooring in the middle of the harbour. The following day we moved into the pier, having lost any reticence of taking the delivery ship’s berth! We had to move to make room for the supply ship the next morning but it was worth it for the stiller motion. And the view of the islanders latest acquisitions being unloaded – nice quad bike!
Inishbofin was very quiet, the landscape more hilly than Inishmore, a bit like a piece of Dartmoor set down off the coast of Ireland, sheep and all – we even found them wanderering on the beach!

Inishbofin Harbour

When the winds finally abated, we made a long day’s run around Erris Head to Ballycastle, a sheltered anchorage in pretty surroundings but with little to offer in the way of civilization. There was a great deal of boat movement as they are building a controvertial gas pipeline here and boats seem to be permanently whizzing crews back and forth. Still, a quiet and non-rolly night for us as more gale force winds came through…

We finally made the last long hop to Killybegs on 4th August, over a month after leaving the Exe. There was just the right amount of wind in the right direction (S force 4-5) for us to have a great sail up Donegal Bay at average speeds of over 6 knots.

We were met outside Killybegs entrance by a boat carrying local press and Michael O’Boyle, one of the original workers in the Killybegs boatyard and they escorted us in. When we tied up ashore, we had a welcome party waiting for us of people who either fished on board or had a part in building the boat right here back in 1954. Welcome home, Ros Ailither!

Aran islands

2009-07-31T12:18:00.004Z

Hazel’s parents were our first visitors from the UK. Their planned ferry was cancelled due to bad weather so they didn’t arrive in Dingle until gone midnight after a tortuous drive right across Ireland in the rain. We treated them to a night in a marina but I’m not sure this was fully appreciated when we told them we planned to set sail at nine the following morning!

After waiting three days for fair weather, we didn’t want to miss our window and we had two amazing sails, from Dingle to the Shannon river, and from there to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. Unfortunately for Hazel’s parents this meant a long drive each day to meet us at the other end, and in the case of the Aran islands, a ferry trip too! For us as well, it was a full 10-hour sail each day but the conditions were perfect and we enjoyed our first 'proper' sailing (without the engine) almost since leaving the Exe.

It turned out to be a wise decision to keep moving as the wind did its usual trick of blowing at gale force for the next three days. We moved from the anchorage to the sheltered harbour wall but even so, there were real waves inside the inner harbour. Our boat was fairly still but the two yachts tied alongside of us were jumping about nicely and water kept crashing up over our deck.

Weather aside, we had a warm welcome from the local community, where the ‘Ros Ailither’ was based in the 1960’s. Michael Conneely, son of the then-owner, was waiting for us at the harbour after being told of our imminent arrival by one of his colleagues at the airport who had flown over us as we were sailing towards the island! His father had owned the Ros Ailither for several years and Michael had spent a couple of years fishing on her.

Sadly, Michael's father, Martin, is now physically unable to climb on board but he came down to the quay to take a look at his old boat bobbing at anchor. Michael’s brother appeared the next morning with a load of fresh fish and prawns for us, and we had a fairly constant stream of visitors who knew the boat or had fished on her. One man showed us which of the old coffin-bunks was his for a year and a half!

Between rain showers, we managed to explore the island. With Hazel’s parents we found a secluded beach to take Katie for a paddle, and took a ride on one of the tourist horse and carts. Mac the driver told us how much the island has changed. For one thing, all the little fields partitioned by stonewalls used to be full of potatoes to sell at the big Galway market. This has been killed off by cheap imported potatoes. The main income now comes from tourism, hence the masses of hired bicycles, tour buses and horse and carts that fill the tiny roads. Not a peaceful place to walk unless you go off the beaten track.

As soon as you are off the two main roads, you feel like you have stepped back in time. The stone walls go on forever, but nowadays the fields are full of grass and the odd cow. It is quite a bleak place, fully exposed to the Atlantic winds and with hardly a tree in sight. Lots of the old stone houses have been abandoned and larger modern houses built next the ruins. It is beautiful in a rugged way and there are some lovely quiet beaches, with weird and wonderful eroded lava rocks and gritty grey sand, reminiscent of those sand ‘pictures’ you turn upside down. There are at least a good selection of pubs to while away the rainy days. And of course a vast selection of hand-knitted Aran jumpers to keep you warm, but at €90 a go, we gave those a miss!

We also had the Whittons to visit, as they were nearby in Ireland. They caught the ‘Happy Hooker’ ferry from Doolin but were less than impressed with the wild seas that made everybody on board seasick. We tried to revive them with a hot bath, a pint of Guiness and a meal of local salmon and mash but they were still on for an early night. Happily for us, they were willing to babysit and Dave and I joined the neighbouring boat crew for a trip to the pub to hearsomne live music. The musicians turned out to be three young brothers (aged 14, ten and eight!!) and gave an incredible performance of traditional Irish music and dance!

The wind finally abated a little on Wednesday and, after waving the Whitton off on their return ferry, we set out to sea again. Michael Conneely came down to see us off at the dock and his father watched us head out to sea with all sails set.

Dingle Bay

2009-07-21T21:35:00.004Z

Well, all my talk of rabbits seems to have turned the weather against us!
The force 3 or less forecast for our trip from Schull turned out to be a force 5, gusting up to a 7. And of course from the wrong direction (NW), so we had a pretty bumpy trip motor-sailing into the seas. Luckily both Katie and Jessica (also aged 2) had a good long sleep after lunch, as Kathy and Fergus (aged 7) were feeling rather seasick and unable to move much.

approaching Castletownbere

Thankfully, they both made an immediate recovery on entering the smooth waters of the harbour, where Simon was waiting for us, and we all went for a pint in the famous McCarthy’s Bar. From here, they had to drive home in time for Simon’s gig and we said a fond farewell. We have enjoyed our two short days together - dining on Bantry Bay mussels & beer, visiting Simon & Kathy’s idyllic cottage, (complete with vegetable patch and free-range chickens), and taking the children to the local playpark with a stunning view over the bay. Thanks guys!

True to form, we had another day of strong winds to wait out in Castletownbere. We took the dinghy to nearby Dunboy Bay, had a walk ashore to see the castle ruins (dating from 1602) and found a tiny beach for Katie to practice throwing pebbles in. We also found three half-sunken shipwrecks so that kept Dave happy.

From there, we have come to Valentia Island, at the head of Dingle Bay, this time with no wind to speak of but a nice bit of leftover swell. We passed several uninhabited offshore islands – The Cow, the Calf and The Bull off Dursey Head, Puffin Island and the impressive Skellig islands. The smaller one of these is a gannet-breeding site and the other used to be home to a group of 12 monks, living a tough existence in tiny igloo-shaped stone huts from the 6th century onwards.

Just as we entered harbour, we heard yet another gale warning on the VHF. So we are now anchored in a quiet (but rolly) corner of Valentia Harbour and have an amazing view of endless green hills dotted with a few houses and the odd ruined castle. Directly behind us is ‘Glanleam’, the former home of the Knight of Kerry, one of whose ancestors was responsible for laying the first trans-Atlantic cable from Newfoundland to Valentia Island in 1866. Apparently there are also footprints from prehistoric tetrapods somewhere on the island.

The Barracks

The weather was still ok this morning so we took the dinghy the 2 miles to Cahersiveen for a wander ashore and ended up at an amazing castle-type building known as The Barracks. This was built by the British in 1870 to protect the transatlantic cable station after it had been threatened by a serious Fenian uprising the year before. It was later gutted by fire and left derelict for years before being turned into the current Heritage Centre. Katie wasn’t too impressed by all the history but she did enjoy climbing the spiral staircase up the turret!

By far the most amazing experience in this historic place was to arrive back after a bouncy dinghy ride (wind picked up by now) and find dolphins frolicking near our boat. They were playing right next to a group of children merrily capsizing sailing dinghies near the beach and we sat watching on deck for ages. Magic!

Rabbits

2009-07-18T10:47:00.003Z

There are many superstitions on boats.
Don’t wear green. Don’t whistle. Don’t leave port on a Friday. Don’t leave port on the 13th. Definitely don’t leave on Friday 13th! Never say ‘rabbit’.
I don’t know the origin of this one but I do know that when I inadvertently uttered the word on a friend’s passenger boat the atmosphere in the wheelhouse became icy. I worried that a calamity might befall us simply from the change in mood of the skipper. Very disconcerting…

leaving the Scilly isles

Just before we left Topsham one of Dave’s parents’ friends gave Katie a fluffy rabbit. She was so delighted with it that I couldn’t throw it away, but I did hide the rabbit in her toy box before setting off. Just in case!
While waiting to leave Scilly, we went for a hike around St Martin and came across lots of rabbit droppings. Back on board, Katie kept talking about this ‘rabbit poo’. Could this be a bad omen?
We left Scilly in rough seas and since Katie couldn't walk around, she wanted me to sing to her. Which song did she choose - ‘Hop little bunnies!’ And insisted on me singing it over and over again.
On all these occasions that ‘silly’ superstition came into my mind. What if it did all mean something?

It seems the rabbits didn't bring us bad luck and, once the seas had calmed down, we had a good trip to Ireland, covering the 150 miles in just over 24 hours.
We arrived in Schull harbour, near the Fastnet rock, and were met by friends who live nearby. Guess what their little boy Fergus brought out to the boat with him? Billy the bunny rabbit! Which prompted Katie to dig out her bunny too...

We spent a day and a half in Schull while more strong NW winds blew through. Kathy and the children are now about to join us for the 20-mile trip up the coast to Castletownbere at the mouth of Bantry Bay. Bunny rabbits permitting! And anyway, Dave is flouting the most basic rule of all – no women on ships! He has two on board…

passing Clear Island on arrival in Ireland

Scilly Isles

2009-07-12T14:33:00.002Z

Some progress, but slow!
We spent three days in Falmouth while strong westerly winds blew through. We had our fill of delicious pasties, managed to find some second-hand charts for Ireland, caught up with friends Graham and Heather and even went swimming twice. However, the ₤10-a-night anchoring charge didn’t sit too well with Dave so we moved 5 miles down the coast to the lovely river Helford (and free anchoring!). From there it was a long day’s motor-sail to the Scilly Isles, where we are currently anchored.

We spent a rolly night off the main island of St Mary’s, then moved to neighbouring St Agnes, where we walked across the island, sampled the delicious local ice cream and wandered around ‘The Maze’, a curly puzzle of stones apparently set on a ley line.
Katie enjoyed perching in the front of the dinghy for a visit to the puffin colony on Annet island, where we also scared a sleepy seal off his rock!

We had strong winds and rain yesterday so had moved to a more sheltered but remote anchorage at St Helens Pool. After a drizzly morning expedition ashore, we spent the afternoon holed up on board with two fellow yacht crews, sharing a roast dinner and several glasses of wine!
The seas have subsided today and the sun is back out but still no obvious weather window for the 160 nautical mile-trip to Ireland.
While we are waiting, we are surrounded by different islands to explore and plenty of sandy beaches to keep Katie amused.

Off to Ireland

2009-07-04T22:00:00.002Z

Ros Ailither is on the move again after a year of near total inactivity. We left the river Exe on Thursday 2nd July to begin our summer trip around Ireland.
We hope to sail to the Fastnet area then hop up the west coast to Killybegs, where the boat was built more than 50 years ago (in 1954). We have planned several stops along the way to visit friends and hopefully a couple of previous owners of the boat. We aim to go around the top of Ireland and back down the east coast via Dublin. All, of course, depends on the weather!

The first leg was a short hop to Brixham where we met up with an old friend and had a pleasant evening dining on fresh Exe salmon and catching up.
Dave’s brother Ian and friend John joined the crew for the second leg to Plymouth. John seemed to enjoy the day and took a long stint at the helm as we sailed up into Plymouth Sound.
Ian started out well, helping Dave hoist the main sail and entertaining Katie but soon succumbed to seasickness and spent the rest of the trip laying prone on the hatch getting sunburnt! I think he recovered after a hearty meal ashore.

The third leg took us from Plymouth to Falmouth, where we are now waiting for a big low to pass through before heading off around Lizard Point and out beyond Lands End.

Incidentally, Katie has been fine with the motion!

Back in Topsham

2008-07-30T17:19:00.001Z

The ‘Ros Ailither’ sailed into Torquay harbour on Saturday morning, 19th July 2008, in time for Hazel (and Katie) to jump on a train and join her parents for their 40th anniversary celebration.

David and Jay put the boat on the drying grid in Brixham and repainted the bottom before coming back up the river Exe at high tide on Tuesday.
We were all reunited at Topsham, where we have enjoyed a week of visiting with friends and family and having a few tipples with the local residents!

Ros Ailither is happy to be back on her mooring at Turf, where Dave is busy sorting out a few technical troubles on board (eg. stripping down and re-building the generator).

Katie has found her land legs at last. She took off at the Double Locks Pub then the next day walked the whole length of Topsham recreation ground on her own.

Jay has caught the big silver bird back to the States. It took us two and a half months to sail across the Atlantic and he flew back in half a day! One of his first jobs will be to cut off his long hair, which should now be at the required length of ten inches to send off to make wigs for kids with cancer. (www.locksoflove.com). He has been great fun to have on board and the boat seems very quiet without him.

So, the adventure is over for the time being and we are now trying to get back into the swing of ‘real life’. Thanks to everyone who has read this blog, posted comments and sent us e-mails along the way. I hope you have all enjoyed the trip as much as we have.

Brest Maritime Festival

2008-07-17T18:54:00.002Z

After waiting five days for gales to calm down, we had an amazing trip across the Bay of Biscay. There was just the right amount of wind – enough to get us moving nicely without kicking up too much sea. This lasted for the whole three-day trip and we sailed all the way, motoring only the final two hours into Brest. We didn’t see many whales on this trip but had quite a few dolphin visits, with some spectacular leaps out of the water. John's wife Fiona met him here and they jumped ship to go camping in quieter quarters.

We arrived on the second day of the Brest Festival and were immediately in the midst of chaos. Almost 2000 boats were crammed into the harbour, all different sizes and types and from various countries. There were classic yachts, working boats, sailing dinghies, Old Gaffers, luggers, square riggers and super-fast race boats. Not to mention the fishing boats, ferries, trip boats and ribs whizzing about the harbour on their daily business. We met up with old cruising friends and made some new ones too.

The streets surrounding the dock area were cordoned off to form a vast festival ‘site’ full of tents offering all sorts of goodies: T-shirts, beer, ice cream, crepes, moules-frites… There were displays of French boat-building, Norwegian shed construction, Irish peat burning, Newfoundland rescue dogs in action, Vietnamese woven ‘basket’ boats. huge mechanical smoke-breathing dragon got dragged through the streets,

Every day, the water outside the harbour was full of colourful sails doing ‘manoeuvres’, and each night at 11pm, hundreds of boats paraded in the harbour, with laser lights playing over the sails and Breton music broadcast through loudspeakers.

Ed hit it off with Katie!

The Whittons of Topsham joined us for the week. Maria felt queasy sailing around the harbour in a force 1 so she and Ed went for a drive in their van for a couple of days leaving Grace to learn the ropes. We did a day-sail to nearby Camaret to escape the masses and had a lovely lunch ashore with John and Fiona and a relaxing afternoon on the beach (plus a chilly swimin the sea).

We went for a midnight sail to watch the Bastille Day fireworks and joined in the evening parade for working boats. Dave had great fun up the mast setting off hand flares given to him by the organizers, until they told him enough was enough!

I also found time to carve and paint a wooden plaque or ‘toile de mer’ to add to the collection of over a thousand from all the boats that have entered the Brest festival since its beginning twenty years ago.

It has been a great way to end our three-year voyage and we are now on our way back to the UK. Instead of joining the fleet sailing to Douarnenez today, (which is the wrong direction), we headedg north to l’AberWrac’h, and from here we will head straight back to Torquy. We should be back in British waters sometime on Saturday.

INDEPENDENCE DAY IN SPAIN

2008-07-08T11:02:00.005Z

We nearly had a crew mutiny when Dave got Jay to clean the bilges on American Independence Day.

In Jay’s own words, as e-mailed to friends in the US:

So I thought I´d share with you my holiday. I am in Spain on a boat load of British folks. Today I woke up with my little American flag proudly hanging over my head (the ¨Made in China¨sticker recently fell off while I was re-wedging it so I was feeling pretty patriotic). Those stars and stripes began as a way for me to poke a little fun at my captain, but today it stood for all the beauty and splendor of my country. I actually pondered those guys in the white, curly wigs who declared our independence for us instead of my usual 4th activity of going to a barbecue and drinking a couple of beers. At breakfast I was slightly confused about our beginnings. Most Americans go for the dark, rich flavor found in a cup of coffee so why get so mad about a few twigs and herbs that don´t taste that good anyway?

I don´t think it will be much of a surprise to any of you that the rest of the Ros Ailither crew showed little emotion when I blurted out ¨Happy 4th of July¨ half way thorough the meal while spattering a little more catchup than usual on my bacon and eggs. Although they didn´t share my enthusiasm for the day, I have a not so faint suspicion that they had thought about how to celebrate. After breakfast, I put the washing out on the line and came below as David and Hazel talked over plans for the day. They didn´t have time to get everything done themselves so they pitched a fun little activity my way.

Now I´m not exactly saying they´re still sore about the whole ¨Keep your old woman we´ll get ourselves a president thing¨, but...actually that´s exactly what I´m about to say. Dave went off to take care of a few phone calls, John went shopping for dinner with Katie, and I don´t know what Hazel did but she was really quiet all day while I was literally up to my armpits in oil. For some reason I found myself paying reparations for my country WINNING the war by cleaning the bilges because our generator had been leaking for a few days. To make things worse, while I was digging around for old screws, bits of stainless, and fist fulls of congealed oil, my beloved Red Sox hat that I got while at Fenway with my brother John and our father, got a thorough dousing with black, um I´m not sure exactly what the stuff was but it smelled horrid and probably won´t come off. When I was about half way done, Hazel came down and timidly said, ¨I don´t suppose you can drink a cup of coffee while you´re doing that can you?¨ Yeah that´s right COFFEE! When you combine that with the filth that covered most of my exposed skin and...sniffle...the tarnishing of my hat I don´t think that there´s a more blatant way to say, ¨Take that you dirty American. Next time just drink your tea and be happy!¨

Well, being a strong, stubborn Yankee I did my job without complaint...until now which may very well negate the claim I just made so maybe I shouldn´t have written any of this email...and at lunch I showed them. Sort of. Since I was hot from being in the engine room for so long I didn´t feel like a hot drink so I did the best I could. I chugged a Coke right in front of all of ém while saying, ¨Yeah, how do you like that¨...with my eyes because it´s really hard to talk while you´re drinking. The rest of them pretended not to notice my patriotic stand against their attempt to re-colonize me, but I´m pretty sure they know that next time they ask me to clean the bilges...well I´ll probably do it, but when I´m done there better be a Coke waiting!

Anyway, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. Have a burger for me because tonight John´s cooking fish pie and I don´t even know what that is.

Back to Hazel:
It’s not been all bad though! We have spent a fair bit of time wandering ashore in Sada. It isn´t the prettiest of towns- most of the cute little houses have been knocked down to make way for big ugly apartment blocks. But there is a nice sandy beach and a long seafront promenade where everyone dresses in their finest to ´parade´ on weekends. Katie is loving being ashore, seeing people, grass, sand, dogs and getting lots of practice at walking on her own. She is nearly there...

We have sampled lots of the local delicacies – thick hot chocolate and churros, tortilla, frango, paella, bacalao. We spent an evening drinking cerveza in a local pirate´s bar full of boating knick-knacks where Katie learnt to do ‘cheers’ with her sippy cup. The weather further north seems to be calming down and we are hoping to set off across the Biscay to Brest in the next day or so.

Back in mainland Europe

2008-07-04T16:09:00.004Z

We left the Azores in flat calm conditions. We motored away from Sao Miguel and watched the lights of it grow smaller all through the night before the island disappeared altogether the next morning. The wind stayed light and almost on the nose so we hoisted the main, topsail and jib and motor-sailed for the next four days, enjoying the warm temperatures and calm, almost glassy, seas. None of us felt remotely seasick this time, and even Katie had her sea-legs from the start. And her appetite!

John did an amazing job of spotting wildlife.
He identified lots of birds - Cory’s Shearwaters, Bulwers petrels,Wilsons and Maderian storm petrels, some that even John had never seen before.
We saw a shark, a shoal of tuna and one turtle drift by. We saw plenty of dolphins, both common and striped - often feeding in groups, with shearwaters circling above to pick up stray fish.

Most amazing of all were the number of whales. Some were too far away to identify and others only surfaced briefly. One crossed so close across our bows one morning that John thought we might have a collision. But we had clear views of a pod of sperm whales swimming parallel to the boat, fin whales coming the opposite way and minkes up close. One large but unidentified whale easily overtook us when we were sailing along at 6 or 7 knots; they really are magnificent creatures.

After four days the wind finally picked up from a good direction, allowing us to sail. A gaff-rigged schooner appeared on the horizon and stayed on a parallel course for two days. We spoke on the VHF, they were the 100’ sail-training vessel ‘Ruach’ from Germany, heading home after a planned stop in Torquay. Eventually we parted company as they kept on their direct route and we altered course eastwards to avoid gale force winds further north.

A storm was heading for western Ireland and kicking up big seas even 300 miles to the south. Winds were no more than force 5 where we were but big swells created an impressive sea and we rolled quite nicely for the next couple of days.

Katie was fine throughout, although she was frustrated at not being allowed on deck so much. Instead, she enjoyed bouncing around the material walls of my bunk below.
John found the motion hard to cope with and didn’t feel he’d really got his sea-legs yet. However, he still valiantly stood his watch, helped out with Katie and did his share of cooking etc.

A swift circled us for a while before landing, exhausted, on the rigging. We kept him warm in a box and despite John’s best efforts at reviving him with water and food, he had to be given a sea burial two days later.

Katie missed Jackie but became better acquainted with Jay on this trip. Jay also showed great potential as a master chef. He spent ages whisking egg whites and sugar by hand, here he is mastering the art of piping!
Despite Jay’s best efforts, and three hours in the oven, they didn’t turnout quite as we’d hoped and also had to be given a sea burial.

Comment from Jay: Stupid meringues!

Just as the sea started calming down, the latest weatherfax showed a new gale forming in the Bay of Biscay so decided to head for shelter. We are now in a small town called Sada, just south of la Coruna. We met friends with a similar trawler on our outward journey three years ago and they have settled here on land. We are catching up with them while we wait for better weather conditions to head for Brest.

The Azores

2008-06-25T11:48:00.004Z

The Azores are made up of nine islands spread over 200 miles. We had really wanted to explore our landfall island of Flores, which is one of the most remote and hence relatively unspoilt. However, we had just time for a leisurely lunch ashore on the first day before discovering the weather was about to change.
A big low pressure system was bearing down on us and would make the anchorage very uncomfortable if not untenable, so sadly we decided to head for shelter on the neighbouring island of Faial.

This turned out to be a good move as the next four days brought strong winds and heavy rain. Every day brought new arrivals from sea, including one yacht that got towed in by the lifeboat.
A long-lost friend of ours from the Exe rafted next to us after a rough delivery trip from the Caribbean. He and his two crew-mates had spend 26 days at sea, survived two fires on board from a faulty starter motor and several days of gale force winds. They were delighted to tie up ashore, especially as the owner of the boat treated them to a few nights in a hotel to recover.

Katie was delighted to be on solid ground again and was itching to walk, even in the rain! We squelched around the town in search of internet and fresh bread, admiring the mosaic pavements and fancy Portuguese architecture. The cafes were refreshingly cheap – a toasted sandwich, a beer or a freshly squeezed orange juice all cost around 1 euro.

We hired a car to explore the island during the worst of the weather. Volcanic explosions in 1957/58 created a half-mile of new land at one end of the island and a museum there was meant to have fantastic photos. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the entrance as workmen were digging up the carpark and it had become a mudfield.
The spectacular view from the top of the caldeira was also completely lost in fast-moving clouds, but it was a spectacular drive, mostly for the fact that Dave could barely see the road in front of us! However, we did have a tasty meal in a local snack-bar and got a taste of the island – fields of grazing cows, old red windmills and hundreds of hedges of the famous Azores blue hydrangeas.

The harbour walls of Horta are a sight in themselves. Their entire length is covered with paintings from boats that have visited the island, some dating back to the 1980’s. It has become a mark of good luck to leave your mark and we had fun searching for boats we recognized. Finally, the rain cleared up and I was able to find a clear spot on the wall and carry on the tradition of painting our boat on for posterity.

Jackie’s sister, Mag, joined us in Faial and the three of us took Katie to a natural seawater swimming pool. We had seen it from the hire car and watched waves crashing over the rocks and swamping the pools. This time, it was calm and tranquil and one pool was completely empty. A few stray jellyfish got scooped out by a brave local before anybody ventured in. Jackie stayed with Katie, who didn’t want to get her feet wet, while Mag & I braved the chilly water. One end of the pool had a barred ‘window’ overlooking a rocky channel. You could hold onto the bars and watch the sea surge towards you until an extra-big wave come right in over your head. All very invigorating!

We then left Faial and had a sailing tour around the central group of islands. Jackie did the navigation and did a great job of plotting courses and transferring them into the GPS. She also managed to finish her hat! Mag survived her first experience of sailing without getting seasick and even seemed to enjoy it!

First stop was Sao Jorge, with its fantastic views of the mountain on Pico opposite. All night we listened to the bizarre noises of the local Cory’s shearwaters which roost in the cliffs surrounding the harbour. They sound almost like wailing children, or cats.

Our next stop was the lovely island of Graciosa, very green and lush with minimal development. Red windmills overlook the harbour.
We all went for a long hike in search of an old stone tower leading down inside the caldeira. It took us a while to work out that we had been walking round in circles for an hour at the top, and the road we wanted entered via a tunnel below us! By this stage, the tower was closed but the caretaker passed us on his way home and took pity on us. He not only opened the tower up especially for us but also gave three of us a lift the last km. What a hero!
The inside of the caldeira was a green oasis and a path in the corner led to the tower. This went down 103 steps into a huge cave. One side had a pool of cold water (15 degrees) and the other side had rocks which were hot to the touch and a bubbling sulphurous ‘siltpool’. Very weird and wonderful.

From there, we sailed to Terceira, a much more built-up island. We arrived late, had a meal in a very touristy restaurant and left the next day after a brief wander around the town.

Then an overnight sail to our final island, Sao Miguel, where we were shocked to find ourselves in a big town, complete with busy traffic, a buzzing whale-watching business
and construction work galore.
However, there is a lovely open air swimming pool right next to the marina. With such a great venue we expected the price to be steep. It is in fact free for under 16’s and over 60’s and costs everyone else 40 euro cents!

Jackie and Mag flew to France from here and John joined the crew two days later.
John is an avid bird-watcher and drove us 40 miles along the island to see one of Europe’s rarest birds - the Azores bullfinch. We were pleased to spot several of them, and took in some lakes and steaming fumaroles along the way.

Now we are heading out to sea once again, 1100 miles to Brest in France, where we hope to arrive around the 6th July.

From the crew:

I’m happy to say that since 2005 I did manage to remember three Portuguese words: caneca – 1) mug, 2) big beer; galao – white coffee; obrigado – thank you. You’d be amazed how important those can be after a night out in the Azores. Now, on to Brest. Bierre, café au lait, merci.

Jay

PS - Miss ya Jackie. Couldn’t ask for a better ex-wife. See you in Maine. I might even
cook dinner…or supper…or is it tea?

Newport to the Azores

2008-06-09T17:06:00.007Z

We arrived on the island of Flores in the Azores after sixteen and a half days at sea. For a long Atlantic passage, it has been amazingly uneventful.

We set off from Newport with light winds and calm seas but after a winter of being tied up in a marina, it took a couple of days to find our sea legs.
Jackie took Stugeron tablets before we left and remained invincible. Dave and Jay were both fine but ate rather less than normal.
Katie became very clingy and wanted frequent bouts of feeding. Maybe as a result of this, I felt dreadful and, after fighting it all day, finally found myself hanging over the rail for the first time ever.
Thankfully, this state of affairs soon passed and we all got into the swing of things.

Thanks to Jackie’s husband, Robin, we used the services of a weather expert to give us a good start to the trip. We had expected the Gulf Stream to give us a bit of a rough ride, but with light winds from behind we found the complete opposite and were able to ‘ride’ the Gulf Stream for several days, consistently clocking speeds of 8-9 knots. Apart from one day where the swell picked up and the wind reached force 5, we had calm conditions and near-flat seas.

Despite all assurances that ‘you can’t fail to catch a fish’ in the Gulf Stream, we dragged a fishing line for over 700 miles and failed to catch a thing! Perhaps ‘Ros Ailither’ knows she’s not a fishing boat any more.

Along with the weather information, we were given the positions of the warm and cold eddies that spin off each side of the Gulf Stream. Each eddy can stretch up to 200-300 miles across, flowing either clockwise or anticlockwise at up to two knots. We were given a route taking us on a slightly zig-zag course to hit each eddy in the right place and take advantage of favorable currents as much as possible.

In theory you can double-check your position by testing the temperature of the seawater. The Gulf Stream should be in the 70’s, warm eddies in the 60’s and cold eddies in the 50’s. In practice, every time we threw our plastic thermometer over the back with a fishing weight attached to it, it came back reading 64 degrees!
However, we could confirm we had favourable current as the GPS showed we were moving along at faster speed than we knew we were sailing.

Katie did a lot of sleeping for the first two days then she wanted to explore her new floating world. I had made material ‘lee-cloth’ enclosures that Katie could use as a playpen while underway but in fact we didn’t use them much, except on the odd occasions when I climbed in with her.
She was quite happy to potter around the wheelhouse floor, boarded in by a stair-gate and removable wire mesh on the open doorway. This gave her a great space to practice walking on a lurching boat, and she was soon getting into all the nooks and crannies – her favourite game became emptying out the suncream cupboard.

We plotted our position on the chart each day at noon and all took a guess at the number of miles run. The winner got free pick from the goodie bag. Our best day’s run was 176 nautical miles (under sail in the Gulf Stream) and the worst was 73 (motor-sailing against head winds and counter-current).

We had planned a half-way celebration of ice cream on deck so were disappointed to find it came on the one and only day of heavy rain. We sat in the wheelhouse and shared a big bar of Cadbury’s chocolate instead...
We were within the maximum ice limit at this stage and heard over the VHF an ice patrol vessel asking passing ships (including the QE2) if they had seen any icebergs. We radioed the patrol vessel ourselves and were glad to learn we were at least 100 miles south of the southernmost iceberg.

As we headed east and away from the threat of ice, we came into the ‘Azores high’, a huge area of high pressure, which gives light winds and calm seas for hundreds of miles.
This was Dave’s opportunity to try out his newly-acquired spinnakers. Jackie and I had trying to talk him out of using them for days, as we were nervous about the sheer size of them. They turned out to be perfect light wind sails and not as unmanageable as we’d feared. Unfortunately the bigger one ripped right down the length of a seam the first time we got it up but the smaller one was brilliant and kept us going in mimimal wind.

We were happy to sail along gently until the speed dropped below 3 knots. Then the sails started slatting and the boat rolled uncomfortably. This is generally what happened when the sun went down so for the last week we motor-sailed at night. This also meant better sleep for those below and less to worry about for the person on watch.

We all enjoyed our night watches. Doing one three-hour shift each meant we got plenty of sleep and so we weren’t struggling to stay awake. It was warm enough to sit out on deck and just enjoy being surrounded by the stars and the ocean.
The water rushing past the boat sparkles with phosphorescence and the turning propeller leaves a ten-foot luminous trail behind. This is caused by tiny organisms in the water which are disturbed by the boat and glow in self-defence.

Dave woke me one night to come and watch a pod of dolphins playing in front of our bow wave. There were up to nine of them, all weaving in and out, crossing over each other and swapping sides of the boat. But the amazing thing was the stream of phosphorescence they left in their wake. You could clearly see the track of each dolphin as they darted away from the boat and double-backed on themselves, weaving back in with the pack. They looked like glowing torpedoes. We all sat on the bowsprit looking down as they effortlessly kept up with our 5-knot speed. They stayed with us for over an hour. Absolutely magical.

The calm seas and warm weather made for lazy days on deck. The boat rolled so little Katie was able to walk around fairly easily. After experimenting with bulky lifejackets and her frustration at being pulled back by a short tether, we found a good compromise. We put a harness on her and attached the other end to whoever was walking her around the deck. She liked to carry something in one hand and helped us with the daily chore of changing icepacks in the cooler on deck.

Otherwise, lots of books were read. We made a token effort to learn some Portuguese.
Jackie and Jay both started knitting a hat each. There was an element of competition to it so we were surprised when both hats were nearly finished and they both unraveled the lot and started all over again!
We watched as Portuguese men-of war drifted by and pods of dolphins fed in formation.
A whale surfaced thirty feet from the boat then disappeared.

In the afternoons we got the paddling pool out for Katie. One balmy evening we had a BBQ on deck. I would never have believed how flat it could be in the middle of an ocean.
We were able to run the water-maker and the washing machine. One day we had every available ounce of sail set and strings of washing flapping on the line!

Our crew have been great on the trip. Jay seems to have survived being the only American on board. He stuck a small Stars & Stripes flag by his bunk to remind him of home, only to find it was made in China!
He had the biggest appetite on board and woke several times from a nap with the horrible feeling that he’d slept through lunch. I wouldn’t say we played on this but we did put the clocks forward two hours one day and pretend we’d already eaten!

Jackie impressed us all with her dedication to her knitting and we are confident that her first ever hat will eventually be finished despite many false starts, dropped stitches and tantrums along the way. As Dave says, knit one, purl one, drop two…
She was brilliant with Katie, they are now the best of friends and Katie has honoured this by trying to call Jackie by her name - a real first.

A hundred miles from Flores, the peace was disturbed by the gaff on the main sail coming down. The tongue of metal holding one end of our gaff up had shattered, probably from all the swinging in light airs. We immediately got the sails down and lashed safely, Dave climbed the mast, retrieved the sheet block and replaced the broken fitting, and within half an hour we were relaxing on deck again. Luckily it broke when it did and not in bad conditions or at the start of the trip…

It was almost an anticlimax when the faint outline of land appeared ahead but we got excited as it grew clearer and we could make out the lush green hillsides. We saw yachts’ masts from behind the breakwater and as the picturesque harbour opened up we were amazed to see our old friend Nick, (who has sailed around the world since we last saw him in the Caribbean two years ago!). He came alongside in his dinghy, showed us the best place to anchor and joined us in a celebratory glass of bubbly and a cooked dinner. A nice welcome to the Azores!

Leaving Newport

2008-05-21T11:53:00.003Z

It's 0800h on 21 May and we are about to leave the dock.
The weather has finally given us a four to five day window to get offshore and clear the Gulf Stream.
There are 2100 miles between us and the Azores, we are counting on covering 100 miles a day but hope to do more so should arrive somewhere around 10 June.
Wednesday is traditionally an auspicious day to set off on a sea voyage and will apparently ensure us the favour of the Norse God Wodin!
The sun has also come out after a day of rain yesterday so we are setting off in good spirits.

David's tried executions by hull cleaning induced hypothermia and electrocution by welding. I'd say I've got a better chance of survival in the middle of the Atlantic than at a Newport marina. - Jay

Almost ready to go and really looking forward to it. Just about to cast off our lines. See you in the Azores! Love Jac xx

Ready to set sail

2008-05-19T14:38:00.004Z

Bonnie & Earl threw us a wonderful leaving party on their boat last Saturday. Friends came down from Maine and Massachussetts to see us off along with friends from Newport. Bonnie did a great spread of food, the remains of which fed us for the rest of the week, and everyone chipped in to top up our provisioning fund. Even the Antigua Classics Cup made an appearance to pass around rum punch. A great night!
Thank you guys. We certainly won’t starve on the way home…

Katie's best friends - Bonnie, Madi & Marin

Already, the winter boat-dwelling community is dispersing. The ‘Bonnie Lynn’ headed upriver for their annual haul-out and one by one the other boats are moving to their summer anchorages. It is always sad to say goodbye but we are glad to have met a great bunch of people.

We now have our crew aboard. Jackie, from yacht ‘Blackthorn’ of the Exe, is joining us as far as the Azores, and Jay, son of Jim whose boat Dave has just helped launch, is joining us for the whole trip (or as long as he can cope with Dave!).

The crew - Jay, Jackie, Dave, Katie, Hazel

We let Ros Ailither’s mooring ropes go for the first time since October and went for a shakedown sail in Narragansett Bay. It felt great to hoist the sails and get the boat moving again, especially as we topped 6 knots. More importantly, it gave us a chance to find any snags in the re-rigging of the boat and also to remember what sailing feels like!

However, our leaving date of May 15th has come and gone and we are still in Newport waiting to go. There have been a series of low-pressure systems coming up the coast at roughly three days intervals, each crossing our intended path and causing nasty conditions in the Gulf Stream.
We are waiting for at least a three-day window to allow us to reach and cross the Gulf Stream in favourable conditions and give us a good start to the trip.
Since storm systems tend to track to the north of the Gulf Stream, once we clear it, we should have better conditions and it should be plain sailing all the way to the Azores. That’s the theory…

In the meantime, we have all been busy onboard - stowing provisions, lashing safety netting to the lifelines, and generally getting the boat ship-shape. Dave and Jay scrubbed the waterline from the dinghy but Jay (who was the one reaching down underwater) had to recover with a hot shower and sauna afterwards as his arm had turned purple from the cold water!

We are also trying to get in a few ‘last’ swims in the pool and walks ashore. Jackie and I did the Cliff Walk but it was so long since the last time that I’d forgotten how rough the terrain got and the last stretch had us doing a bit of rock-hopping with Katie suspended in the buggy between us.

At the minute, the weather looks like it might be good for Tuesday so we willbe ready to leave if conditions are still good.

Preparing for the off

2008-05-08T01:16:00.009Z

We have made our third and final trip to Maine to finish off the Herreshoff boat Dave has been working on. It was great see the ‘Wagon Box’ finally back in the water after three years on the hard. These two photos show the transformation it has undergone.

from this...

to this...

Dave made sure the engine was running and we all went for a float around the bay to check everything was working. The masts are now up and Jim, the owner, will be sailing the boat to Nova Scotia this summer.

Back in Newport, we have had fantastic weather. They say there is no spring in New England, winter just turns to summer and that’s exactly what seems to have happened.
Three weeks ago, we couldn’t venture out without a winter coat and the town was quiet. Suddenly, we’ve got temperatures in the 70’s, the shops are bustling, ice cream parlors are back in business and Harley Davidsons are back on the road.
Not that I’m complaining … but I got a serious patch of sunburn on 'the bit I couldn’t reach’. The strength of the sun is surprising until you consider that we are on the same latitude as Spain and northern Portugal.

However, the weather has been a gift to us for working on the ‘Ros Ailither’. The topsides are painted and we have got several layers of varnish on the deck hatches. Dave has replaced bottlescrews, overhauled all the mast fittings and re-sheeted the main on the wheelhouse roof (which we have strengthened with a micro-laminated internal beam).

It is so long since we ran the engine that birds were starting to build a nest in the exhaust. We fired the engine to blow the debris out and draped a tarp over the exhaust to prevent a second attempt. Here’s our disappointed would-be resident!

There is a lot of wildlife around the dock. Our neighbour Meri and I saw a mink creep under the boardwalk in broad daylight and we had a night-time visit from a skunk on the trawler. Luckily he couldn’t get below decks and Dave managed to scare him away without incident (armed with a torch and boathook). There are also a surprising number of starfish in the water, we often see them high and dry on the rocks and pilings at low tide.

So Dave is slowly ticking off his list of jobs to do on board and our departure date is fast approaching (we aim to leave around 15th May). I am frustrated not to be able to help out more but I have my hands full looking after Katie. I try to get out with her as much as possible - walking around the shops, going to playparks, story-telling at the library (a social event for me as well!), or simply playing on the grass at the hotel. Time goes nowhere...

Katie turns one

2008-04-18T13:36:00.002Z

Spring has finally arrived in Newport and Katie had sunshine for her first birthday. Perfect weather for walking round the dock to try out her first pair of shoes. She is already very attached to these and reluctant to have them taken off!

She had three little friends round for lunch on deck and a messy cake-eating session. She got lots of new clothes, books and toys but her favorite gift was a pink helium balloon which has given hours of fun.

Otherwise, preparations are going full-swing for our trip back. The shrink-wrap has been cut back to summer proportions to allow Dave access to the topsides for painting. He has finished re-pitching the decks, replaced most of the standing rigging and welded a new stem fitting and anchor platform.

We are aiming to leave for the Azores around the 15th May and are still on the lookout for one more person to join us. Chance of a lifetime!

Winter wonderland

2008-04-06T18:40:00.003Z

We have done two ten-day trips to Maine in March. We drove the 280 miles twice in our borrowed Toyota, watching the snow appear as we proceeded north and cranking the heater up a notch every hour or so.
Dave has been doing a last push on his friend’s boat, trying to get it ready for the grand launch in May. The cabin top is back on, making it look like a 'real boat' again, most of the interior is finished and tanks and instruments are being installed.

We stayed with our friend Carol, who has a lovely renovated ‘log cabin’ near the water. We were woken each morning as the rising sun streamed through our windows and we looked out onto a wonderful wintry vista.

Unfortunately, Carol was in recuperation during our second visit after impaling her arm on a knife that Dave had bought to replace a damaged one. She spent Easter weekend in hospital with a rare and serious condition called ‘compartment syndrome’ and had three operations under general anesthetic. Once back home, she had to hold her arm up at shoulder level for days on end.

We were at least able to help out a little around the house, which alleviated some of the guilt from buying the weapon! Luckily the wound is now healing well and she should soon regain full use of her arm. Apparently the recipient of a sharp implement must give the donor a penny to avoid a similar mishap.

Katie enjoyed having a large space to play in, especially now she has finally mastered the art of crawling. She pulled herself up to standing at every opportunity, walked between rooms holding our hands, and climbed her first set of stairs while we were there.

She also seemed to enjoy the snow. It was a foot deep on the ground when we arrived and several more inches fell during our stay. We had a good time making snow angels and building a snowman in the garden, complete with swimming costume – in honour of Carol, who regularly braves the chilly sea water of Maine to swim in the summer months.

The coldest month

2008-03-07T03:55:00.000Z

We’re glad to see the back of February. We have had our fair share of winter illnesses this year. Valentine’s Day saw us spending all day in bed – ill with a vicious stomach bug! Luckily Katie had it too or we couldn’t have kept up with her.
Then a long bout of conjunctivitis for Katie and various coughs and colds all round. I guess this is what comes of not heading south for the winter.

On the bright side, we have had some wonderful snow. Snowploughs start clearing the roads the minute the first snowflake falls but the pavements are a different matter. The snow cleared from the roads often gets piled on the ‘sidewalk’ and these mounds can take a couple of days to thaw.
This is the pontoon after a morning of snow.

Our shrinkwrap has proved incredibly useful, giving us a dry workspace on deck, even on cold, wet and windy days. This week, David has been able to sand and varnish the wheelhouse, and even managed to recaulk a few seams on deck. He has found a novel way of melting the pitch – with an electric chip fryer!

Now March is here, crocuses and snowdrops are making an appearance. The average temperature has risen from minus ten to plus ten degrees, positively balmy!
The clocks go back on Sunday, then the race is really on to get the boat ready for the big crossing in May.

Back to the UK

2008-02-11T01:22:00.000Z

We have just made an impromptu visit back to England to see Dave’s Mum, who had a short spell in hospital, but is now back home and slowly on the mend.
We picked the right time to go as we avoided a serious cold snap and bad storm in Newport. Also, the hotel pool was closed for painting; it re-opened just as we arrived back.
We have recently been toying with the idea of sailing back across the Atlantic this summer. We have now made up our minds and are making definite plans to set sail mid-May via the Azores. Since Katie isn’t fully trained up yet, we are on the lookout for willing crew.

Happy New Year 2008!

2008-01-22T13:58:00.000Z

We had a mellow New Years Eve this year. We had the pool to ourselves for an early evening swim. Then a firework display, a meal out, and a midnight glass of bubbly on our friends’ boat. Katie stayed the distance and got in the party spirit by swilling her hand in Dave’s glass!

I had a burst of New Year energy and started sanding and painting our bathroom, but found the paint fumes lingered, not very good for little lungs. Instead of abandoning the job altogether, we put it off until the following week when friends and boat neighbours Bonnie & Earl were away. They kindly let us camp out on their boat for a few days while I had a painting ‘holiday’ and Dave looked after Katie.

We've had a few serious cold snaps already, with several days of below-zero temperatures. You know it's cold when the mooring ropes get icicles!

Otherwise, Dave has been busy helping friends convert a basement into a living space. When that’s finished, he will get on with the list of jobs on board. Already he has re-wired the engine room lights, made a start on sanding and varnishing the wheelhouse, and is getting in gear to re-caulk the decks. All big jobs, and ones that won’t be noticed when they are done but look terrible if they are left!

We had a mini ‘road trip’ to Maine last weekend with Bonnie and Earl. It was originally going to be just the boys, then Katie and I thought we’d go for the ride, and Bonnie didn’t want to miss out on the fun!

Katie was a model passenger throughout the five-hour drive, possibly because she had Dave and I on either side shoveling food into her mouth at regular intervals. We had a good time catching up with friends and seeing the snowy landscape, and Dave bought a barrel of pitch for the deck.

We had originally intended to spend two nights in Maine but ended up doing a late drive back to avoid a big snowstorm the following day. We arrived back at 1.30am in light drizzle, ten minutes later the wind picked up and by morning there were two inches of snow on the ground, we even had to force the igloo door open! We definitely made the right decision, as Maine got another twelve inches of snow...

Back to the UK

2007-12-05T03:40:00.001Z

We have just had a fleeting two-week visit back to the UK. As usual, Katie took the travelling in her stride, she loved the travel cot on the plane, for her it was first-class travel!

Sadly, once we reached the UK, she came down with a bug and was a bit out of sorts for the first few days, but soon bounced back to her normal smiley self.
We spent three nights in Berkshire with Hazel’s parents, two nights in Nottingham with her sister and nephew, then five nights in Devon. One of the main reasons for coming back was for Dave’s Mum’s 70th birthday, here she is blowing out the candles on her birthday cake!

We had a mad few days trying to catch up with everybody, a great night in the (now smoke-free!) Globe and Dave even managed a boat trip down the river Exe.
Two more nights with Hazel’s parents then we were back on the plane back to Boston. We were surprised to find everything had turned white in our absence, it had snowed 7 days before and not yet melted.

However, all thoughts of a white Christmas soon disappeared as the temperature crept back up above zero. Christmas Day itself was warm with sunshine and blue skies, much to the disappointment of our friends in rainy Florida.
Katie enjoyed her first Christmas, she was a bit bemused by all the presents but had great fun ripping up the wrapping paper. We had Christmas dinner cooked for us by friends – a delicious home-cooked ham, which is more traditional here in the US than turkey.

Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
And all the best to the vicar of Dawlish, hope he’s back on his feet again soon.

Thanksgiving

2007-12-05T03:40:00.000Z

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving, or ‘turkey day’ as it is commonly known in the States. Quick history lesson: it all began back in the 1600s when the founding Plymouth Fathers gave thanks for having survived their first bitter New England winter. They could not have done so without the help of local Indian tribes, and their friendliness was repaid by almost total annihalation.

These days, Thanksgiving is a sort of early ‘Christmas without presents’ and most people celebrate with a turkey dinner with friends or family. We were invited to dine with friends of friends, each person bringing part of the feast with them in the American manner (very sensible!). There were ten adults, six children and a huge turkey to match. I was in charge of potatoes and, as well as the traditional mash, I was inspired to make the exotic-sounding ‘marshmallow sweet potatoes’ (sweet potatoes mashed with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg, then topped with marshmallows and grilled until just melted). It was tastier than expected!

The weather here is now getting seriously cold. We have had a few snowflakes but so far nothing that has lasted, but on some days bitter winds make the temperature almost unbearable outside. We have three electric heaters to keep us toasty inside the trawler but still hope to get the log fire roaring after Christmas (we need to extend the chimney through the shrink-wrap).

On Saturday night, we ventured out to watch a parade of vessels with their Christmas lights. It was quite a display, as much for the scantily-clad dancing Santa girls on one boat as for the lights, but they were also pretty impressive. There were Santas, stars, reindeer, even gingerbread-men made of lights. Sadly, it was one of the coldest nights so far and even with thermals on we nearly froze to death!

We are now preparing to fly back to the UK for a quick visit. We will be back in Devon from the 12th to 16th December and hope to catch up in the Globe on the Friday night. Katie has been mastering the art of waving – hers is a sort of royal wave – and she looks forward to trying it out for real!

Fall colours

2007-11-21T21:14:00.000Z

We are now in the height of a New England Fall and the trees really are spectacular. Newport is known for its outsize ‘summer-houses’ and the grounds of these mansions have enormous trees to match, big old maples, oaks and cedars, all now showing their glorious autumn colours. Even in the town, most streets are brightened by vivid splashes of red and orange.

We decided to try out the shrink-wrap and invited people from the dock round for a party in the ‘igloo’. We had a great turn-out, met lots of new people who are also wintering here, and the shrink-wrap was very successful in keeping out the cold and wind – or was that the warm rum punch?

The temperature has certainly been dropping but despite the cold, the weather seems generally drier than England - crispy cold days far out-number the soggy wet ones! We have had to tog ourselves out in our winter woollies but try to spend plenty of time outside - Newport has a good selection of parks for Katie.

We are still learning the slight cultural differences between the US and UK. We have finally got used to the fact that asking for chips will get you a packet of crisps (you have to ask for ‘fries’ if you want real chips). We can now ask for gas in a petrol station, talk about diapers instead of nappies, and know that pants means trousers, to name just a few. But we have been caught out several times trying to buy ice cream - there is a huge selection in the supermarket and you have to read the labels carefully. On various occasions, we have mistakenly bought frozen yoghurt, ‘light’ ice cream, or worse, ‘dairy-free’ ice cream - not to be recommended!

We have been taking Katie swimming most days in the hotel pool. As you can see she absolutely loves it, particularly if the two girls from the neighbouring boat go in as well. She is beginning to get coordination and can manoeuvre her little float to face in whichever direction she chooses. She’s already in charge of her first water craft…

Shrink-wrapped

2007-11-05T01:47:00.000Z

This past ten days has been a long-drawn out preparation for shrink-wrapping the boat. This seems to be common practice here but we’ve never seen it in England. A thick white plastic sheet is placed over the whole boat then literally ‘shrunk’ to fit with a heat gun. Very simple and very clever, with no loose bits to flap to pieces in the wind.

Dave has bought a whole roll of shrink-wrap plastic and after watching a couple of boats being done, is confident of being able to do ours himself. So far, he has put up a framework of plastic pipe right over the boat, reaching to a few feet above boom height, so we will end up with a sort of polytunnel with plenty of room to walk around on deck in the dry. He has already installed a shrink-wrapped door, which looks a bit surreal with nothing around it!

In order to cover with shrinkwrap, we had to wait for a day with no wind. In the meantime, we caught the bus up to Maine, hoping to drive back the following day in the car we have been borrowing from friends all summer.

Sadly, we only got ten minutes down the road before it overheated and we had to pull over with steam pouring out of the bonnet. A top-up of water took us another ten minutes before the same thing happened. We limped back to a small garage and a little investigation suggested it was more than just the thermostat.

It turned out to be a blown head gasket and Dave spent a day and a half stripping the engine and replacing it himself. Luckily friends took pity on us and not only let us stay in their lovely heated RV (‘Recreational Vehicle’ – ie. a big camper van) but also drove us around looking for parts, found Dave a place to strip the engine with use of spanners etc, and John even got his overalls out and pitched in with Dave. Thank you John and Mary!

(By the way, the guy in the picture is wearing a bright orange jacket because hunting season has just started in Maine and he doesn’t want to be mistaken for a deer. No joke – several years ago a mother of two got shot dead by a deer hunter while hanging out washing in her own back yard. And the guy was allowed to walk free…)

So a 2-day trip turned into 4 days and we missed the shrinkwrap day, but we finally had an uneventful drive back to Newport through lovely autumn foliage.
We arrived back in time for Halloween, which is a huge thing in the States. One house we saw had created a Halloween extravaganza in their garden - there were a dozen fake gravestones on the lawn, skulls and ghosts galore, at least 30 carved pumpkins; the balcony was a ‘pirate ship’ with spooky figures hanging from the rigging and an inflatable horse and carriage ridden by Death himself guarded the driveway.

We knew we would have at least one lot of trick-or-treaters - the two girls from the boat in front. While they were out collecting ‘candy’, Dave got the boat prepared. A boiler suit with boots, gloves and hat attached became a ‘dead man’ hanging from the rigging, pirate flags fluttered from the stays, our ship’s bell dangled from a rope by the door with a sign saying ‘ring if you dare’. When the girls arrived and duly rang the bell, we jumped out of the darkened wheelhouse with pirate gear on and gave them a fright. I think it worked, as the youngest (aged 5) had to be coaxed inside by her mother to collect her sweets!

scary pirate!

Yesterday, Hurricane Noel passed close by the coast on its way towards Nova Scotia. Even 100-odd miles from the centre, we had winds gusting 50 knots or more. Unbelievably, today dawned calm, sunny and pretty much wind-free. Dave took advantage of the perfect conditions and by sunset Ros Ailither was shrink-wrapped. We now have a perfectly sheltered 50’ x 15’ living space on deck!

On the move to Newport

2007-10-21T11:10:00.000Z

We stayed in Belfast until the end of the first week of October. Dave has made great progress on his friend’s wooden boat. The inside is now pretty much fitted out, the hull has been painted, all that remains is to put the cabin top back on, give everything several coats of varnish and re-rig it before launching next year.

Friends and boat neighbours John and Mary have been building a barn this summer and we went to see the latest progress. It’s incredible, bigger than most UK houses! In the local tradition, it is all timber-framed and will be clad on the outside with wooden shingles. Here, there are no planning restrictions but houses seem to turn out nicely regardless.

We were invited to join the schooner ‘Bowdoin’ for a short daysail before we left. This is a historic vessel - the original owner built the boat for the Arctic and made numerous pioneering trips there in the 1920’s. The boat is now owned by the Maine Maritime Academy and will be off to the Arctic again with select students next year.
(http://bowdoin.mma.edu/)

Katie is now 6 months old and has just started eating solids. Her initial response was slight bewilderment but she has soon got the hang of it and now opens her mouth eagerly for each spoonful. She is still delightful and seems to have a liking for ropes and ship's wheels, amongst other things. This is her at the helm of the 'Bowdoin' (still safely in dock!)

We had an enjoyable trip to Newport, doing short day-hops and visiting a few new harbours along the way. We had a steaming first day’s sail down the Bay to Rockland, where we spent the night before topping up with fuel.
From there we went to the Kennebec River (motoring, no wind) and spent a night anchored opposite the very ugly and presumably disused Fort Popham.

The next day a mixture of sailing and motoring took us to Cape Porpoise Harbour, a fishing town, which we had assumed would be rather ramshackle but turned out to be very upmarket and jam-packed with desirable properties. This was apparently due to its proximity to Kennebunkport, where the presidential Bushes like to take their holidays! It was a very pretty harbour, once inside, but the narrow entrance was littered with lobster pot buoys. It was bad enough to negotiate in calm conditions and would be downright dangerous in rough weather.

Our next two stops were Gloucester and Plymouth, where we’d been before. Once through the Cape Cod Canal we took a slight detour to visit Martha’s Vineyard, a beautiful island and summer playground of the rich and famous.

On route, we stopped off briefly at Woods Hole Harbour. This is the home of the WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) and the town is basically full of academic buildings and laboratories dedicated to ocean research.
The Institute has four research vessels, the newest one ‘Atlantis’ (274 ft long)launched in 1997 and specially designed to carry the manned deep-sea submersible ‘Alvin’.
We visited the Aquarium and Exhibition Centre (both free), and saw some amazing exhibits, including a portion of a previous ‘Alvin’ (what a lot of buttons to be in control of) and a styrofoam cup the size of a thimble that had been ‘miniaturized’ by the immense pressure of the deep.
(www.whoi.edu)

Katie's sea berth

On Martha’s Vineyard, we headed for Edgartown, at the eastern end of the island. This is a classy resort town full of designer shops and expensive restaurants so we were amazed when the harbormaster offered us a free night on the fuel pontoon. Obviously there are some perks for arriving out of season!

The following day we went to the opposite end of the island and visited the fishing village of Menemsha. ‘Ros Ailither’ looked a picture in the middle of the harbour and we stepped ashore to a friendly welcome from the locals, who were intrigued about the boat. Again, they had just quietened down from the summer onslaught of visitors and we enjoyed a peaceful day relaxing on the deserted beach and exploring the vast inland ‘pond’ by dinghy.

Menemsha harbour

From there we headed to Newport and have now taken up our winter berth on the pontoon.

sunset in Menemsha

Chloe comes to Maine

2007-09-30T20:54:00.000Z

Our second visitor to Maine was our friend Chloe. Apart from one rainy day, she had amazing weather. The clear skies led to hot sunny days but several times the crispy cold mornings produced a phenomenon called sea smoke on the water, a lovely sight in the first of the sun’s rays.

While she was here, we went for a sail, right round Islesboro island, taking along our friends Bonnie & Earl and Carol. We didn’t have much wind but enjoyed a stately sail and a relaxing laze on deck in the sun. After Dave dropped off our friends in the dinghy, we spent the night in another new and remote anchorage, behind Holbrook island, with nothing but trees and one other yacht for company as the sun went down.

The next morning, we took the dinghy to Castine, one of the earliest European settlements and site of the worst American naval defeat in history back in 1779. It now houses the stunning Maine Maritime Academy building, and groups of naval trainees in uniform marched past us as we wandered up the hill. We stopped in a little café for an award-winning strawberry icecream. Dave had a job to eat his as Katie’s arms kept reaching out from the sling and her eyes longingly followed the cornet up to his mouth and back for each lick.

With the boat back in Belfast, Chloe and I did a mammoth hike to the top of Mount Megunticook, 1385 feet high and overlooking Mount Battie, the lower Penobscot Bay and out to sea. The views were incredible, as were our aching legs when we finally reached the bottom 5 hours later. The warden’s estimate of 3 hours for the trail was obviously for fitter walkers than ourselves, or maybe carrying 15 lb of baby slowed me down…

Chloe couldn’t come to Maine without trying the local delicacy of lobster so we went for lunch at the lobster pound across the river. It had a wonderful setting with seats outside overlooking the river but it was definitely a no-frills restaurant. You walk inside a ‘lobster warehouse’ to order - the place is wall-to-wall with tanks and real-live fishermen are busily sorting the latest catch.
Your order number corresponds with a tag on the string bag they boil your lobster in and when it’s ready they call it out on a tannoy for you to collect. Chloe took the soft option of lobster salad, where the meat is already taken out of the shell. I went for the real thing – a whole lobster, a pot of melted butter and a bag of Cape Cod crisps, but I did jazz it up with corn-on-the-cob on the side. It was absolutely delicious but a messy business, especially since Katie didn’t want to miss out on the action. Good job they gave you a whole stack of serviettes to wipe up the mess…

We are staying in Belfast for another week or so, then heading south. This year, we are foregoing the sunny Caribbean to spend the winter in Newport, Rhode Island. The weather there is meant to be less severe than in Maine, and Dave is hoping to catch up on some much-needed boat maintenance. Time will tell if this is a good idea or not!

Grandparents to visit

2007-09-10T13:47:00.000Z

We have just had our first visitors to Maine - Hazel’s Mum and Dad flew over for a ten-day visit, bringing with them supplies of Jelly Babies, Fig Rolls and other such UK delicacies. They were amazed to see the difference in Katie, who they last saw at one-week old. She is now very aware of what is going on, and is getting pretty vocal about her likes and dislikes. Bathtime she likes!

Their first weekend here coincided with the American Folk Festival in Bangor so we took the boat upriver to watch the fun. There were five stages showing an enormous diversity of acts, including Tibetan monks’ bell-ringing (in fantastic costumes), fishermens’ shanties and Appalachian folk singing. We saw a bizarre demonstration of Inuit throat-singing as well as the more traditional blues and folk music.
The weather was scorching, in the 80’s, and we had a perfect dockside location to retreat to. We had our fair share of onlookers there, especially when Dave got Katie in the paddling pool – a joy to watch her laughing and splashing!
Lots of regional food was also on offer – we settled for clam chowder (seafood stew) and, on a friend’s recommendation, tried a ‘blooming onion’, a huge onion sliced in such a way that when it was deep-fried in batter it opened out to make a huge ‘flower’ of onion ring pieces. Delicious!

After the festival, we motored, sailed and drifted down the river to Bucksport, where a brand-new suspension bridge crosses the river. We sailed under it last year when it was still under construction (the two halves didn’t quite meet), now it fully replaces the old road bridge to link the islands heading 'down east'. We took the superfast elevator up one of the bridge towers for spectacular views from the top. At 42 stories high, this is one of only three such Observation Towers in the world and the first in the US.

From Bucksport, we skirted the top of Islesboro and went down the east side of Penobscot Bay. We stopped at Bucks Harbour, Stonington, Ile au Haut and Vinylhaven, each night on a different island. Two anchorages were new to us, both very remote and scenic. One we shared with just one other boat - they must have been delighted when we turned up!

Dave varnished the mast while the rest of us climbed Duck Mountain on Ile au Haut, Grandad carrying Katie in the sling. We had great views over Penobscot Bay from the top but got a bit concerned when the path led us further and further away from the starting point. We were relieved to finally rejoin the main track but then got attacked by hordes of mosquitoes. Katie was well covered up but we were all in shorts…

Back on the mooring in Belfast, we explored locally by car, visiting the excellent Searsport Maritime Museum and Dave’s favourite - Liberty Tools, chock full of second-hand and antique tools. We drove along the wooded coast, past inland lakes and climbed Mount Battie for a wonderful view over the Bay from the opposite shore.

Mum and Dad were surprised by the variety of wildlife they saw – a family of ospreys regularly circle overhead in Belfast, alighting on one mast and then another. We had often heard a bird cheeping nearby but hadn’t associated the tiny cheep with these big birds of prey! We saw a bald eagle along the banks of the river and lots of seals and porpoises in the water. Although moose and deer run wild in Maine, the only animals we saw in the trees during our walks were squirrels and chipmunks.

We went to Blue Hill Fair, an old-fashioned country fair with cattle shows, sheepdog trials, an oxen pull, prize marrows and dahlias. Katie went on her first Ferris wheel and Dave picked her a lucky duck to win a cuddly toy. There were stalls galore selling lobster rolls, hot dogs, fudge, candy floss, ‘doughboys’ (a doughnut the size of a dinner plate). There was a lumberjack display where they chopped logs, ‘sculpted’ a very disappointing rabbit with a chainsaw, and two girls in checked shirts danced on top of a rolling floating log.

And last but not least, on the way to the airport we stopped at Dysarts, a big family-run truckstop to admire the shiny trucks and sample some good honest Maine home-cooking - the biggest plate of mushrooms my Mum had ever seen! It was so good we stopped in again on the way home.

sunrise from the porthole

Summertime...

2007-08-23T01:16:00.000Z

We’re still here, enjoying a summer in Maine. The town of Belfast puts on a lot of entertainment - we have been enjoying the free street music every Thursday evening and went with friends to see a performance of Midsummer’s Night Dream by the local theatre group (outside in a park). Most street corners have some piece of art or plaything for kids and even the wooden pilings have been carved by a local artist.

Dave has been busy helping restore a friend’s wooden boat. It is a lovely 28’sailing yacht but has been sitting in a shed for the last three years. When we first saw the boat, it was down to a bare shell with the cabin top off, no garboard planks, engine, shaft or cockpit. They have been slowly putting it back together and hope to get it back (unrigged) on the water sometime in September.

I am now fully practised at manhandling baby, backpack and buggy on my own from boat to shore via the dinghy, and have tried not to let it put me off getting out and about. I have had trips ashore with friends (for shopping, lunch ashore and to a blueberry farm), met other mums at the weekly storytelling hour, and been for a communal row on the town gig.

Katie is now 4 months old and has discovered her hands, she has got a powerful grip and tries to grab everything in sight. Her latest trick is to stick her big toe in her mouth, and she loves standing up (with a little help). But her favourite thing seems to be the paddling pool, she lays there quite happily kicking her arms and legs and doesn’t seem to mind splashes on her face, in fact she likes to taste the water!

We have tried to do a little local exploring on our boat at weekends. In the first week of August, we had a great sail to the local Wooden Boat school to watch the Eggemoggin Reach Regatta. Last year we took part in this on our friends’ boat ‘Long White Cloud’, this year we contented ourselves with a short sail behind the start line to watch the fleet set off. They made a glorious sight under full sail but encountered thick fog along the course and several boats grounded on rocks (no serious damage done). By evening, there were 60 or 70 boats at anchor and a big party laid on ashore - a huge BBQ for 700 people and a variety of live music.

So life is good on this side of the pond - and a lot drier than the UK this summer from what we hear...

Lobster boat races

2007-07-22T16:25:00.001Z

We’ve now been here for three weeks and got ourselves a large mooring for the summer. Dave dived down to check the tackle and reported that the water temperature does not quite match the Caribbean, to say the least.
The weather is also more temperate but generally much dryer than England (not hard). When it’s hot it’s really hot – in the 80’s and 90’s - but we’ve had a fair few foggy days and spectacular thunderstorms.

We’ve been immersing ourselves into the American way of life – having Tom Turkey dinners at Dudley’s Diner, eating enormous ice creams at Scoops ice cream parlor and visiting the out-of-town shopping malls.
Katie’s survived her first round of immunizations without too much trauma. She’s been going to ‘lapsitter’s hour’ at the library for storytelling and doesn’t seem to be suffering too much from culture shock!

We expected the 4th July celebrations to be huge so took the boat a mile away to see the nearest fireworks in the small town of Searsport, but they turned out to be disappointingly tame.
They did however host a lobster boat race the following weekend which was great fun, with some of the 40-foot boats reaching speeds of 50 miles-an-hour! These boats come from all along the coast to participate and some are built just to race. One had a 1500hp V-8 engine with two exhaust pipes cut off in the cockpit about three feet long and a guy sitting four feet away to keep watch on the engine - with earmuffs on for some reason.… It sounded more like a racetrack than a fishing harbour…

For a small town, there seems to be a lot going on in Belfast. This weekend was ‘Celtic weekend’ with lots of stalls selling Irish and Scottish goods (including real Celtic fairy dust!) and a variety of live music – the sound of bagpipes drifted out to us over the water. Friends Robin and Jackie (also from the Exe) arrived in their boat ‘Blackthorn’ in time to listen to an Irish folk band, buy Welsh miners teacakes and watch an amazing fireworks display over the harbour. We got a great view from water level on the dinghy and amazingly, Katie slept through it all!

Belfast, Maine

2007-07-01T14:21:00.000Z

On arrival in Newport we had to take the boat alongside a marina pontoon to clear Customs. Once the paperwork was done, the dockmaster kindly let us stay on for a few days so we were able to step on and off, had the luxury of on-board wi-fi (internet) and the use of a swimming pool.

Clare had hoped to join us for some of the coastal trip towards Maine but we had strong NE winds (on the nose) for nearly a week and then she ran out of time.
Instead we spent a couple of days taking in the sights of Newport – the mansions along the Cliff Walk, a harbour full of classic boats and expensive racing yachts, restaurants galore offering fresh seafood…
We also caught up with our good friends Bonnie & Earl who had spent the winter in Newport on their charter boat, the ‘Bonnie Lynn’. (www.bonnielynn.com)

It wasn’t long before we waved Clare off at the bus station, the wind changed, and we started heading ‘down east’. We did the trip in six easy day sails, stopping in some of the same places as last year (Marion, Plymouth, Gloucester) and catching up with old friends along the way.

We tried two new anchorages. Kittery Point, in the entrance to Portsmouth harbour was wide open but sheltered, and overlooked by an old fort (built to keep out the Brits!). The view from the fort was quite spectacular as thunderstorms blackened the sky on an otherwise sunny day.
Jewell Island was a secluded anchorage between two small islands, no facilities but a picture postcard setting, which we shared with just four other boats.

Jewell Island

We had a steaming sail (5-6 knots) from there to Rockland harbour at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, then a gentle afternoon sail up to Belfast, where we are now anchored. We plan to base ourselves here for the summer and just sail locally while Katie gets used to a more settled routine on board. She now sleeps through the night and is mostly a pretty happy bunny.

Bermuda to Newport, Rhode Island

2007-06-12T03:42:00.000Z

We left Bermuda on 5th June along with at least 8 other boats, including a 22-foot yacht heading back across the Atlantic with a (very tall) British single-hander at the helm. Most of these boats soon overtook us but we were quite happy sailing gently out to sea in a light following breeze.
There was quite a large swell left over and it took us all a while to get our sea-legs - even Katie wasn’t as smiley as normal for the first day! The sighting of a whale surfacing close to the boat did a lot to raise spirits

We were only able to sail for the first two days. We took a slight detour to the west to avoid a gale forming to the north of us and then encountered head winds, so ended up motor-sailing the rest of the way. We passed through several weather fronts, with rapid wind shifts and lots of lightning but never found the SW winds that were forecast on the other side of the fronts.

We had hoped to have these SW winds for crossing the 60-mile-wide Gulf Stream (known locally as ‘the bowling alley‘). When the wind is against the current, conditions can be quite nasty, and we had been told to avoid crossing in any north or easterly winds. We were therefore rather dismayed when the wind started picking up from the north east as we were halfway across.

There was no wind at all for the first thirty miles but by the time we exited the Stream, we were hammering along at average 8 knots, with a top speed of 10.1 knots. By this stage, it was blowing a force 5-6 from the NE. I know this as I had just been out on deck with our hi-tech hand-held ‘wind-o-meter’ and got soaked from a rogue bit of spray!

We were out of the worst of the current by the time the wind came and were happy to see the miles ticking away as we careened along, although the angle we were at made life interesting on board. Staying in your bunk was one thing but rocking Katie to sleep was a major test of balance!

Once through the Gulf Stream, the wind slowly eased (still on the nose) and after another night and day at sea, we came within sight of land. Dave spotted it first and won the last English Crunchie bar (Clare‘s favourite), but it wasn’t much of a contest as Clare was asleep below and I had my head in Katie’s cot!

We had completely smooth seas and a lovely sunset as we motored towards Newport harbour, arriving just before midnight on Sunday and celebrating with our now customary bottle of bubbly and cheese & biscuits on deck.

Clare seems to have survived the trip ok, good job she shares the same sense of humour as the captain - this is particularly important at the 2am change of watch!

Crew's blog

We’ve been through every kind of weather since we left the Caribbean. Steamy hot, no wind, flat seas, hot with lots and lots of wind, dark and hot with gales raging, big seas, starry nights, thunder and lightening, pitch black skies, cold fronts, warm fronts, lows, troughs, ridges (you name it Hazel’s the expert), full moon, no moon, beautiful sunrises, gulf stream madness, cooler airs, rain, rain, rain, fog, then all is calm the sun comes out, the seas flatten and Rhode Island is on the horizon. Ah at last!

A week in Bermuda

2007-06-05T00:55:00.000Z

We’ve been in Bermuda a week now anchored in St George’s Harbour at the north end of the island. This is a large harbour with a tiny entrance that somehow manages to squeeze in huge cruise ships.

We got Katie’s US visa on Wednesday. This involved a five o’clock start and a bus trip to the other end of the island but by three in the afternoon she had a visa in her passport.

Then it has just been a matter of waiting for the weather. This has involved regular trips to the yacht club (conveniently at happy hour!) to check the weather on-line.

In the meantime, we have had our last snorkel in warm waters, baked a cake, re-provisioned with fresh food - at great expense and had Sunday lunch (on Monday) aboard a mega-yacht.

Just as were ready to go, tropical storm “Barry” decided to head our way from Florida. This has now passed to the north of us and the weather looks good to go tomorrow (Tuesday 5th June). All going well, we should arrive in Newport, Rhode Island, in about a week’s time.

Katie’s first sea voyage

2007-05-29T12:58:00.000Z

We were finally ready to set sail late morning on Saturday 19th May, after going ashore to check out with the authorities and buy a few last minute groceries. Katie’s rash still hadn’t gone but it didn’t seem to be of concern to either her or the doctor.
Our only concern was the crew’s drink problem, which had become apparent the night before!

So… the dinghy and engine were hoisted on deck (Clare’s first job as crew), we all jumped in for one last swim round the boat then up with the sails and we were soon goosewinging away from St Martin. As night fell, we saw the light of Sombrero island disappear behind, our last sight of land for 865 miles.

We had a gentle start for the first three days. The seas were calm, the skies were blue and a gentle southeasterly breeze pushed us along at around 4 knots. This gave us a chance to slowly get into the rhythm of life on board. Dave and Clare split the night watches (two shifts of three hours each) and I relieved them for the odd hour or two between night feeds. During the day, we were all up and about at various times, with normally one nap each.

Katie had a Moses basket lashed below for night-times and a cot wedged behind the wheelhouse table for during the day. Still, she ended up spending most of the time being cuddled by one or other of us, or in her favourite place – the carrying sling. She can’t have been too unhappy about life at sea as we were treated to her first smile the second day out!

On day four, the mast fitting for the topsail broke and Dave had to climb the mast to replace it – thankfully the seas were still calm at this stage. The sky however had clouded over completely and that night we were surrounded by drizzly rain and lightning. The wind had swung round almost head on so we had started the engine and were motorsailing.

The following day, the swell started building. We had been unable to get weatherfax broadcasts for several days due to poor reception so we prepared for the worst by bringing down all sails except the main and lashing down any loose items. That night the wind picked up ... and up… until we were in gale conditions.

The motion inside was pretty uncomfortable to say the least and drips kept finding their way in around the hatches until the floor was slippery with salt water. I stayed below in the safety of our saloon bunk all night, as simply feeding and changing Katie was enough of a challenge. We had to pad out the sides of Katie’s cot to stop her arms flying up with each lurch of the boat. She certainly didn’t need any rocking to sleep!

Conditions were so bad that Clare abandoned her cabin and ended up ‘hot-bunking’ with us – alternating with Dave to share our makeshift bed (the middle of the boat has the least violent motion). I wasn’t sure when I woke who I would find next to me!

The strong winds and seas continued for two days and nights before slowly moderating. Through it all, the engine kept on going and with the mainsail steadying us we ploughed slowly through the seas towards Bermuda, still making progress at about 3 knots.

Finally, the wind dropped off and the last two days were calm, sunny and enjoyable once more. We all regained our appetites (Katie had never lost hers, thankfully) and it was a relief to be able to cook and eat ‘proper food’ after two days on mostly bread and jam. Clare even used the sextant to take a sun sight, but so far is still mid-calculation and we are eagerly awaiting the final position.

The wind stayed from the NE (the direction we were heading) so we kept the engine going and motor-sailed the last 200 miles into Bermuda. We arrived at 10.30pm on Sunday 27th May, after 8 ½ days at sea. After clearing customs and dropping anchor in ‘Convict Bay’, we cracked open a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our safe arrival.

Clare has coped well as crew - standing night watches, cooking meals and keeping her cool in the rough seas. And that’s on top of living in close quarters with us for two weeks - putting up with our funny habits, nappy changes on the dining table and endless inane comments of ‘Isn’t Katie’s hair getting longer??’
(Which it is… plus she’s grown 1 1/2 inches… and her eyes are turning brown…)

But over to Clare:

I'm a very happy crew member but equally very happy to be on dry land for a few days! The McCabe family are an amazing team. Dave is constantly fixing, tweaking and generally making sure we are all ok, never losing his cool. Hazel has the extraordinary ability to keep us all cheerful with snacks and drinks, and chats even in the middle of a dark and stormy night(cliche but true), whilst feeding Katie, and keeping the good ship, Ros Ailither, a smooth running home.

Next stop America.

Ready for sea

2007-05-18T19:56:00.001Z

We have now had a couple of weeks to settle back in to life on the trawler and Katie seems to have adapted well to her new floating home. She spends a lot of time staring up at the beams - either she likes the contrast or she’s going to be a budding carpenter! She has had her first trip to the beach to watch the sun go down but hasn't yet braved the waters.

There have been two birthdays aboard - the captain turned forty and the youngest crew one month old.
Both were celebrated with a few happy hour beers at the yacht club, shown here with a typical mega yacht in the background. This is a great spot to meet up with fellow cruisers - both old and new - many of whom are also heading out to sea, either back across the Atlantic, or north to Bermuda like us.

The trawler is now ready for sea again, all systems have been checked out and the cupboards (and freezer) stocked with provisions. The next step is to set sail for Bermuda and the US, retracing last year’s route. We have put off leaving all week as Katie has been suffering from an unidentified body rash. Today we got the all clear from the doctor so will be off at the next favourable weather forecast.

Clare, our crew for the next leg, joined us last Sunday and, like all good crew, has already shown an aptitude for multi-tasking.

But she’s going to speak for herself:
Crew blog

We will have our work cut out for us over the next 10 days or so. Le Capitaine has been very thorough with his instructions. Hazel, Katie and I have zipped back and forth on the inflatable to check the ever changing weather forecasts. All the gear has been stowed. Lee cloths have been made on board and installed. Katie’s cots have been bolted in place. Despite much encouragement, I’ve so far managed to resist climbing up to the top of the mast, but I have jumped off the bow sprit into the beautifully clear turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Life’s not so bad.

2007-05-03T21:20:00.000Z

BACK TO THE CARIBBEAN

First of all, apologies for our hasty departure from Topsham but Captain McCabe felt the need to be back on his boat and surrounded by water again. Katie also had a Caribbean outfit that she was itching to wear!

Her passport arrived last Wednesday, we were on the internet booking flights the following day and on a plane to Paris by the Saturday. Not bad for a 14 day-old baby… Katie took it all in her stride and slept through the whole experience.

After a day’s rest and recuperation in Paris, we boarded a Corsair jumbo on Sunday for the 8-hour flight to St Maarten. We were allocated the best seats on the plane - row 1, right in the nose, window seats with a view almost looking forward and all the legroom in the world. Also a clever cot for Katie that clipped onto the bulkhead. So clever that we were tempted to see if they had a spare one for the boat!

Again, Katie slept through the majority of the flight and didn’t seem to suffer too badly on landing, feeding as the plane came down. We got this great shot out of the window as we were about to land in St Maarten over the beach where we got sand-blasted waving off the Whittons back in January.

We were relieved to find that all was well on ‘Ros Ailither‘ - the paint and varnish was in amazingly good condition after 3 months in the sun and the inside was well aired out thanks to leaving the portholes open. We have now all had a couple of days to adjust to the time difference, the heat (about 28 degrees) and the new surroundings and Katie seems to be settling in well on board. She has already had her first open-air bath on deck, several swings in the hammock with her daddy, and a trip to the local yacht club for happy hour!

We are now busy getting the boat ready for the trip north which we hope to be starting within a couple of weeks. It is lovely to be back ‘home’, but it has been brilliant to catch up with everybody in Topsham, and Katie would like to say thank you for all her lovely presents, cards and cuddles. And special thanks to the Topsham Birthing Centre for letting her be a true Topsham girl!

New crew member

2007-04-18T21:22:00.000Z

two becomes three...

After being back in the UK for two months, our long-awaited new crew member finally arrived on Saturday 14th April.
Katie Star McCabe made her appearance into the world at 6.33pm, weighing in at 8lb 14oz. And yes, it hurt!
She was born in Topsham at ‘home’ - our temporary residence kindly provided by friends during this boat-less time. Mother, father and baby are all recovering well and getting used to each other.
She has already had her first boat trip across the estuary to the Turf Pub.
We hope to all be on a plane and back aboard Ros Ailither within a month or so.

Baby McCabe

2007-01-30T19:28:00.000Z

It’s official, there’s a baby McCabe on the way!

We had hoped to stay out here for the birth (early April) but due to minor complications, we’ve decided to take the safer option of flying back to the UK just in case.

Hazel is flying to London tomorrow and Dave is staying on for a week or two to finish giving the boat a good coat of paint before leaving it on a mooring in Simpson Bay lagoon.

So there will be no more trawler travels for three months or so. The good ship Ros Ailither has taken us over 10,000 nautical miles in the past year and now deserves a little rest.

We will be back in Topsham in a couple of weeks to sample some good old British winter weather and look forward to seeing everybody there.

Whittons on holiday

2007-01-29T15:15:00.000Z

Within a few days of arrival in St Martin, we were joined by the Whitton family (minus the girls), laden down with supplies of fig rolls and sandpaper from the UK. True to form, Dave gave them an embarrassing welcome at the airport, followed by a tow across the lagoon in a sinking dinghy for Ed. Nothing like arriving in style!

Baby Archie had a bit of trouble adjusting to the heat and strange surroundings, but seemed happy once we rigged him up a hammock above Ed & Maria’s bed.

The first of the holiday activities was a brief diving course in the clear waters of Marigot Bay. After spending 20 minutes struggling into a wetsuit and boots, Ed finally took the plunge and nearly reached the staggering depth of 3 feet before abandoning his instructor (Dave) and spectacularly failing his PADI certificate.

A couple of days later, we took the trawler out of the placid waters of the lagoon to watch the start of the classic regatta. We hoisted all canvas and sailed alongside the twenty-odd entering boats at the start of the race. As the distance from land increased to nearly a mile, the gentle chop got the better of Maria, who was spotted hanging over the guard rails and sharing her Caribbean breakfast with the fish.

For the next few days, we did some island exploring, visiting the beach and tourist shops in Phillipsburg (on the Dutch side), haggling at the colourful market stalls in Marigot (on the French side) and doing a spot of fine dining.

There were several ‘boys trips’ to Budget Marine and around the lagoon, admiring the megayachts – one with a helicopter, a 50’ powerboat and a 45’ yacht on deck. But Ed’s personal favourite was the one with triplets – a green and purple beauty with three 200hp engines on the transom!

The highlight of the holiday was when ‘Ros Ailither’ was lifted out of the water and Ed was invited to join the sanding team – a real treat in 30 degrees heat! Dave even supplied personalized overalls and a refreshing swim in the lagoon at the end of the day.

Maria and I took Archie to the beach to get away from all the dust and managed to pick a day of big northerly swells. Entering the water was a matter of careful timing between waves, we both managed to get tumbled in the process and decided it probably wasn’t wise to take Archie in.

Before we knew it we were back to the airport to see them off – twice, as the plane was delayed by three hours! Dave and I watched them go from an amazing beach literally at the end of the runway and directly under the flight path. Planes coming in to land seem only feet above and you are separated from those taking off by a flimsy wire fence and 200 yards of tarmac. We watched people hanging onto the fence as planes took off directly in front of them and decided to try it with Ed & Maria's flight.
We waved to the Corsair plane as it turned then got blasted by the full force of four jets which hurled hot gases and gravel directly at us (ouch!) and blew the top layer of sand off the beach way out to sea. It wasn't till after that we realised the force had blown our rucksack and shoes into the sea. Luckily they were pulled out by a friendly (fellow Brit) holidaymaker. Now we know where the name of the 'Soggy Dollar Bar' comes from!

Anegada Passage

2007-01-13T15:37:00.000Z

St Martin is only 80 nautical miles from the BVIs but is often a notoriously rough trip across the Anegada Passage against both prevailing wind and current.
After New Year, we monitored the weather forecast and waited for a lull in the stronger-than-average ‘Christmas winds’. In the meantime we did another circumnavigation of Tortola, stocking up with fresh groceries in Road Town and visiting Soper’s Hole and Cane Garden Bay, a pretty spot but one of the most touristy we’d seen. One enterprising local was trying his luck at selling coconuts, loudly proclaiming that they were ‘the natural Viagra’!
After a week we were rewarded with a drop in the wind to a force 2, barely a breeze, and minimal swell.

We went to Virgin Gorda to check out with Customs, left from there at three in the afternoon and had a peaceful overnight trip. There were plenty of lights to watch out for - several yachts were making the same passage as us, a handful of cargo ships crossed our path and a bunch of cruise ships drifted slowly towards St Martin, each one lit up like a small city.

Sixteen hours after setting off, we motored in to Marigot Bay along with a five-masted cruise ship. It was just after dawn and there was barely a ripple on the water as we crept in amongst the anchored boats and dropped our hook. The water was crystal clear and we could see starfish laying on the sandy bottom beneath us.

Our first job was to string up the hammock to enjoy the early morning peace and tranquillity before the anchorage came to life. Within an hour it was buzzing with dinghies and cruise ship boats dropping passengers ashore. Time to start the day…

Totally Tropical New Year 2007

2007-01-08T14:35:00.000Z

After saying goodbye to our Xmas visitors, we stayed where we were, forgoing Foxy’s big bash on Jost van Dyke for a more laid-back New Year’s celebration in Trellis Bay.
The local artist had fabricated one of his signature ‘fireballs’, a five-foot round steel ball from which he cuts shapes to leave a latticework of dancing figures. With a fire lit inside the ball, the design is brought to life in flames.
This year, the ball was joined by a pyramid and a cube, all with different designs cut in them, and all three were planted just above water level ten feet off the beach. In the midst of them all was a fifteen-foot high ‘man’ created from palm branches and propped up by poles.
The music started at midday and carried right on through the early hours, with various changes of tempo. By the time we went ashore, there was a band of six 70-year-old black men in straw hats and colourful waistcoats creating rhythmic tunes on the most unlikely instruments –a banjo, a squeezebox and a cheesegrater.
Just before midnight, the three ‘fireballs’ were lit, sending a cloud of smoke and sparks towards the crowd on the beach, not to mention the ten-feet flames licking out from the sides of each sculpture. Quite an impressive sight! Sadly, the palm frond man had fallen over in the sea earlier and refused to burn, despite several pots of lighter fluid being poured over him. However, the fireworks didn’t disappoint and amongst the mayhem we finally got to see some silk-trousered ‘jumbie walkers’ striding past the flames on stilts.
All in all, a very Caribbean start to the New Year 2007. Not an Auld Lang Syne to be heard…

Caribbean Christmas

2006-12-30T18:11:00.000Z

White Bay
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

After arriving, we spent a few days chilling in Jost Van Dyke and doing odd jobs on board before heading around the south coast of Tortola to meet Hazel’s sister and nephew. The anchorage in Trellis Bay literally adjoins the airport, and since it only caters to smaller inter-island planes, isn’t too noisy. The airport is a 5-minute walk from the beach – no taxis necessary!

The British Virgin Isles consist of three main islands – the biggest, Tortola, in the middle with Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda on either side, then there are a dozen or so smaller islands dotted around. All the islands are within a 30-mile area, so perfect for short day-sails without making the crew seasick.

We spent the first day in Trellis Bay, exploring a couple of nearby beaches by dinghy – both deserted – and in the evening went to a ‘new moon party’ on the beach. This turned out to be a bit of a disappointment, as there weren’t many people there, no sign of the moon in the sky and the advertised ‘jumbie walkers’ (on stilts) didn’t show up. However, the food was good (if overpriced), Michael got the chance to have a go at spinning a pot and the owner did put on a fire juggling display afterwards to make up for the lack of jumbies.

From there we went to Virgin Gorda, 7 miles away.
First stop The Baths, which turned out to be one of our favourite places – lovely white beaches dotted with enormous boulders, and one of the best snorkelling spots we’ve been to (saw squid for the first time). This was only slightly marred by Karen getting stung between her toes by an unidentified object (possibly fire coral) and Michael losing a tooth while snorkelling. We had fun following the trail under and over the boulders and through ankle-deep water to Devil’s Bay, at the tip of the island, where we had a picnic on top of the rocks.
We spent a rolly night anchored off Spanishtown, which turned out to be just a marina with a strip of shops alongside. Best bit there was watching the pelicans dive-bombing at great speed for fish.
Then to Gorda Sound, a big sheltered bay at the top of the island, with views to Richard Branson’s privately-owned Necker Island. Here we found exclusive but low-key resorts, gorgeous palm-lined beaches, delicious if expensive fresh pineapple, and an ideal spot for Karen’s first windsurfing lessons.

This was our most easterly point, and from here we had a great sail downwind (max speed 7.2 knots) past Tortola to Jost Van Dyke, where we spent Christmas.
On Xmas Eve, we had a few drinks in the world-famous Foxy’s Bar and looked around the adjoining expensive gift shop (Foxy’s bikinis just $70!!).
After opening presents on Xmas day, we walked over the hill to the gorgeous White Bay and The Stress Free Bar – both of which lived up to their names, and spent a relaxing day on the beach. Burgers and flying fish sandwiches were on the menu for lunch but we did cook the whole turkey and sprouts thing in the evening once it had cooled down a little.

Boxing Day saw us motor-sailing around Soper’s Hole at the west tip of Tortola, along the unspoilt coast of St John (one of the US Virgin Isles) and to Norman Island, named after an unlikely-sounding pirate. Here there really was buried treasure at one time, not all of which has apparently been recovered. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t find any!
However, there were underwater pirate caves to explore by snorkel, full of amazing coloured fish and various types of coral. We climbed another hill in the evening, returning to the beach in time to watch the sun go down as we sipped drinks with the sea lapping under our sunloungers. It’s a hard life!

The next morning, Dave took Michael snorkelling off ‘The Indians’, a group of granite rocks just offshore, while Karen had another go at windsurfing – she nearly mastered it! Then just time for lunch ashore in ‘Billy Bones Beach Bar’ – with complimentary pirate tattoos, before we had to head back to Trellis Bay where we’d started. Our last supper was eaten at ‘The Last Resort’ restaurant on a tiny island in the middle of the bay with a singing chef for entertainment, not a bad way to end the holiday.

The next day, we waved our visitors off on their first of three flights home (via St Maarten and Paris) then returned to swinging in the hammocks to recover from an action-packed ten days. We are planning to stay here for New Year then head across to St Maarten, an overnight hop of about 100 nautical miles.
Happy New Year everybody!

the baths

2006-12-30T18:10:00.001Z

the baths
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Thought some more photos might be nice!

Norman Island

2006-12-30T18:10:00.000Z

sunloungers on beach
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Elusive trade winds

2006-12-12T01:24:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by rosailither.

The distance from Beaufort to the British Virgin Isles (BVIs) is 1168 nautical miles as the crow flies (or 1343 statute miles). Our roundabout route by boat clocked up 1489 nautical miles (1782 statute miles) over 15 days.

We left Beaufort on Sunday afternoon, 26th November, along with another three boats also heading in the same direction. Our first mishap came within the first half hour of leaving port. We were hoisting the sails and noticed that the rope lashing the top corner of our mizzen sail to the end of the gaff had slipped. So down with the sail and Dave had to crawl out and re-lash it, hanging precariously above the water 6 feet out past the stern of the boat. Luckily we were still within shelter of land, this would have been an impossible job at sea. As it was, the boat was still rolling gently (not so gently at the end of the mizzen) and Dave came back with a bloody eyebrow where he’d got whacked by a swinging wire strop.

We had a good start, sailing with NE winds on the beam and reached the Gulf Stream late that night. It was choppy as expected, with wind against the current, and we were glad we hadn’t left two days earlier as some boats had in much stronger winds. With all the rolling motion, the gaff was swinging around quite wildly and at some point in the night, the 1” thick bolt attaching it to the mast ‘saddle’ sheared. I realized we weren’t sailing quite so well but it took a while to work out exactly what had happened. So with Dave barely awake, we had to drag down the mainsail, which didn’t want to come down, and motor-sail for the rest of the night. In the calm light of the morning, Dave replaced the bolt and, for extra security, he welded the swiveling part of the gaff jaws, which may have helped cause the breakage.

One thing that crossing the Gulf Stream achieved was a change of climate. Immediately the other side of it, the temperature warmed up and although we were only 100 miles from Beaufort (and no further south) we no longer needed to turn the heater on at all and could discard our thermals at night.

Despite the balmy weather, it still took us a good three days to get into the rhythm (and motion) of life at sea. Your body takes a while to adjust to the constant motion of the boat and especially the broken sleep regime – having to get out of bed not once but twice in the night and be alert for the next 3 hours does not come naturally! The morning sunrise was always a welcome sight, filling us with renewed energy for the day. Several mornings we were treated to visits from pods of dolphins coming to play in the bow wave, a sight guaranteed to put you in a good mood.

One of the boats that left at the same time was in radio contact with Herb, a dedicated ex-cruiser who spends all his free time studying the weather and giving daily routing advice to cruising boats all over the Atlantic. His advice was to take advantage of the light conditions at this latitude and make as much easting as possible, motoring if necessary, rather than beating into the stronger trade winds further south. We followed this advice and zigzagged our way towards Bermuda. The winds were very light (Force 2-3) and varied from NE to E to ESE. We sailed whenever we could but most of the time ended up motoring or motor-sailing. The wind was so light and we simply couldn’t point hard enough, ending up sailing almost due north or south at a measly 2-3 knots, so back on with the engine.

We finally managed to get our weatherfax system working on this trip, which meant that we could receive daily printouts of the current sea conditions, surface pressure and forecast winds for the following three days. This was immensely useful and helped us to understand Herb’s sometimes confusing advice.

On about our fifth day out, Dave woke me after his first night watch with the news that there was a strange flashing blue/white/red light ahead. It had been there for an hour or more and he figured it might be a police helicopter - we were within 200 miles of Bermuda by this stage.
A close look through binoculars clearly showed this wierd light pulsing red white and blue and revealed two similar lights a bit further ahead. After reading too many books on the Bermuda Triangle and alien abductions, my mind started racing. I couldn’t see any other signs of weird activity but altered course ten degrees to avoid them, just in case…
It just so happened that a ship was passing within a mile or two of us (the first we’d seen that day) and I toyed with the idea of calling him on VHF to ask his opinion, or at least let somebody know the situation in case we mysteriously vanished in the night.
Thank goodness I didn’t. After forcing myself to think rationally, I noticed the lights didn’t seem to be moving at all in relation to the surrounding stars. I got out a chart of the night sky and – guess what? The main flashing light was ‘Sirius’, one of the brightest stars in the sky, and the other two were part of a neighbouring constellation!

Towards Bermuda, the winds swung more SSE and we were able to sail finally, but only at speeds of 3-4 knots in an easterly direction. The opposite tack would have taken us SW and lost us all our easting. Still, it felt good to turn the engine off for a while. Once near the right longitude for the BVIs, we turned south, motoring into the light winds, leaving Bermuda behind us and heading in the right direction at last.

The theory is that as you head south, you slowly come into the trade wind belt, with steady winds out of the east, enabling you to sail due south until you hit the BVIs….

For the first three days, we had very light winds from the SE so in practice, we did a lot of motor-sailing. This allows you to head almost into the wind, the sails acting not only to steady your rolling motion but giving you extra drive from the generated wind. With a speed of 6 knots and the boat heeling over nicely, it was tempting to think there was enough wind to sail, but nine times out of ten, the minute we switched off the engine, hoisted the staysail and bore away a little, we would discover that there really wasn’t much wind at all and we were heading way too far west at snail’s pace. So, back on with the engine, down with the staysail, sheet everything in tight again and carry on as before until the next attempt!

Just when the wind came almost easterly and we were finally able to sail, a front from a big storm system further north began bearing down on us and Herb’s advice was to keep our speed up and stay ahead of it to avoid contrary winds. In other words, keep motoring to stay in good sailing winds. Hmm, something ironic there…

Finally, at 25° N, we reached the trade winds. The day before, the wind was from the right direction (NE), but each time we got sailing, the Force 3 breeze – our bare minimum to sail – dwindled to a Force 2 or less. After two fitful attempts to sail, we ended up rolling in the swell with the sails slapping from side to side, so we took them all down for some peace and motored through the night. After an early morning downpour, the sky cleared, the sun came out and the wind picked up from the east – perfect sailing conditions! But Dave was catching up on sleep and I had to wait two frustrating hours before I could wake him and get the sails up. Then we were off!

We sailed for two days and two nights without any lull in the wind – it blew a steady Force 3 to 4, slowly coming round from E to ESE. This meant we were hard on the wind to keep a southerly course but on this tack once the sails are set, the boat steers itself. Without any need for manual steering or starting the generator for the power-hungry autopilot, night watches were a doddle.

And then came the squalls…
The nightly routine began with a heavy rain shower just after sundown followed by several more throughout the night. Each squall brought stronger winds but from a more southerly direction, so although we sailed faster, we were forced to head in a SW direction. Then the wind would die away completely after each one, slowly picking up again and coming back to the normal ESE direction. So a lot of opening and closing of wheelhouse windows and doors during the downpours and constant changes of course with each wind shift.

By early morning, the squalls seemed to have exhausted themselves, but so did the wind, and we usually started the day with a few hours of motor-sailing while we waited for the winds to settle back in.

We were keeping up an average speed of 3.5 to 4 knots, which was rather disappointing as we thought we were going faster than that. The answer came via Herb’s weather net one afternoon – we were slap bang in the middle of a 1- 1 ½ knot northgoing counter-current. We couldn’t sail any harder to the wind to escape it to the east and if we headed west, we would have trouble getting back our easting so we simply had to put up with it.

By this stage, the boat that left Beaufort at the same time as us was 2 days ahead, able to sail much faster than us in light winds. Two more boats were catching up from behind so we listened in to their weather forecasts instead! Generally ESE winds, 10-15 knots.

As our plotted course crept down the chart towards the BVIs, the first signs of land started to appear. First, a beautiful white long-tailed tropicbird circled the boat, then a small (unidentified – sorry John!) garden bird came for a brief visit. He flew within two feet of me, chirping cheerfully as he looked me in the eye, then skipped to the top of the mizzen and clung on to the peak halyard ropes for a few hours rest before disappearing again. Also, ships started to reappear in the distance, the first one taking us by surprise after so many days of empty horizons.

When the distance to go fell under 200 miles, we started trying to work out our time of arrival. At speeds of 4 to 5 knots, it seemed destined to be at night. This is not recommended by the pilot books, due to numerous unmarked reefs and small islands, so we had a choice – either speed up or slow down for a daytime entry. Speeding up would mean using the engine, which seemed a shame since we were at last sailing nicely. Also, it would mean arriving on a Sunday and being liable for ‘overtime fees’ when checking in. So we made the obvious choice to slow down and arrive on Monday morning.

Obvious under normal conditions, that is, but during our first night of enforced 3 ½ knot speed limit, the winds then decided to pick up to Force 4-5. We had already forgone the topsail and jib, but were still hammering along at 5, 6 even 7 knots. It was so exhilarating at first that we went along with it, but soon realized that unless we could keep it up for the whole way, we would be arriving just after sunset, with six hours before the moon came up to light the way. Not a wise move on entering a new and unlit reef-strewn anchorage.

So having spent the whole time trying to sail faster, we found ourselves with a nice bit of wind and trying to slow down. This was probably the most frustrating part of the whole trip, making constant adjustments to the sails to spill wind but keep enough in them to do 3.5 knots and no more. With the wind constantly picking up and shifting slightly, this was a never-ending task and we ended up with the sails flogging a lot. The boat was itching to go faster and at the enforced slow speed wallowed horribly in the 8-10 foot swells. The crew were disheartened as we were wasting our only day of ‘proper’ trade winds and the chance to sail at 7+ knots. Particularly when the winds didn’t drop off early morning as usual…

Anyway, it was too late to change our plan so we took the main down and spent the following day and night sailing at around 3 knots under staysail alone. The wind was erratic, one minute a Force 3 and the next minute gusting Force 5 or more, making for an uncomfortable motion on board. We were somewhat heartened by the appearance of five dolphins around the bows in late afternoon. They didn’t stay and play for long, we reckon even they were disgusted by our poor speed!
However, we timed our landfall perfectly, just over ten miles off land as the sun came up. It was great to see the morning clouds uncover to reveal the Virgin Islands dead ahead. The wind had eased off by this stage and with speed no longer an issue, we covered the last stretch at 4-5 knots under jib, staysail and mizzen. We got hit by one last big squall as we approached Jost van Dyke. The boat heeled right over and accelerated to 7 knots (with no mainsail) as the island almost disappeared behind the heavy rain.

Then the sun came back out and we motored the last mile up-wind to the anchorage. It was bliss to drop the hook, and just to sit in peace without having to compensate the movements of the boat. We haven’t had a bad trip all in all, the lack of wind was frustrating but much preferable to boats further north who we heard via Herb were battling storm-force conditions. Even in the light winds, we managed to sail about half of the time.

So here we are in Paradise again. Before the day was out, we were all checked in with Customs, the suncovers were up, the hammock was strung up and we were soaking up the tropical atmosphere, the last 15 days almost forgotten.

Leaving Beaufort

2006-11-26T16:09:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We spent three days in Norfolk, did yet another 'last shop' and stocked up on supplies. The weather was not perfect for leaving from there so we set off on the 200-mile journey through the Intra Coastal Waterway to Beaufort. This bypasses the notorious headland of Cape Hatteras (see charts for numerous wrecks there) and takes us a bit closer to our destination.
The waterway starts very industrial at Norfolk, passing the largest naval base in the world, full of aircraft carriers, submarines and huge grey naval vessels. This is followed by a large shipping depot, where the banks are piled high with multi-coloured containers. Then briefly through the town of Norfolk before slowly getting more rural and the grain silos and gravel piles give way to fir trees and reed beds.
As forecast, a big storm blew through so we sheltered in a little creek for a day before heading into the next relatively open stretch of water. Five days of travelling brought us to Beaufort and back to the coast.
We've been here a few days waiting for a good forecast to leave. The winds have been NE, in direct opposition to the Gulf Stream, which we will cross on our first day out, so we have been waiting for the wind to drop for a smoother crossing.
From here it's 1200 miles to the British Virgin Isles, which should take us between 10 to 15 days.
As you can see we've been getting the boat ready for sea, made a few alterations to the wheelhouse, a lick of white paint and a new name!

Chesapeake Bay

2006-11-17T15:30:00.000Z

autumn colours
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We have been travelling every day since leaving New York, usually setting off at daybreak to make the most of the short daylight hours. Flocks of migrating birds have been passing the boat so we guess we’re heading the right way – south!

The weather was flat calm as we skirted the coast to Cape May. We spent the first night in the fishing port of Manasquan and left the following morning at 6am with a mass of boats all crowding out through the narrow entrance – mainly sports fishermen going flat out and creating a huge wash.
The next day took us to Atlantic City, whose tall hotels and casinos were visible from miles away in the surrounding flat landscape. Apparently this was a thriving resort since the 1850’s, giving America its first Boardwalk, the first color postcards, the first Big Wheel and the first Miss America Beauty Pageant. We went ashore and walked along the famous boardwalk but were not impressed with what we found. Whole sections of the boardwalk had collapsed and what was left was in need of repair. Most of the bordering land was abandoned apart from some delapidated tower blocks and dodgy-looking housing estates.
A bit further along when we reached the ‘Showboat’ casino, the town suddenly sprang into life. Hot dog and popcorn stalls appeared, people were milling about on the nicely repaired boardwalk, loudspeakers piped music from the casinos, bars and restaurants were brimming with customers and touts were offering to push people around in giant covered ‘buggies’. Where did everybody come from??

Cape May, the following night’s stop, brought us our first foreign-flagged vessels for months, including another Brit who had sailed down from Lake Superior, inland on the Canadian border. From here a grey day’s motoring took us up the very commercial and uninspiring Delaware river, where we passed a scenic night anchored opposite a nuclear power station. Imagine our surprise to find it had completely disappeared in the morning – fog had come in!
A short trip through the C&D canal (where even the tops of bridges were invisible in the fog) led us to the long-awaited and much-praised cruising ground of the Chesapeake Bay. It was hard to tell whether it was worth the effort as we couldn’t see more than 200 yards… but we did find a pretty place to moor (even in the drizzle) at Worton Creek.

Luckily the next day dawned clear and sunny and we were treated to glorious autumn trees on our way down the bay. The wind slowly picked up and we had a nice sail under the elegant Bay Bridges to Annapolis. A huge boating mecca, this is still an attractive town with free internet access for cruisers and lots of little cafes and ice cream shops for the tourists. We anchored off the impressive Naval Academy building and were finally able to buy fresh bread ashore – a relief after my home-made efforts!

Another sunny but windless day took us to Solomons Island, also a big boating place, chock full of marinas but somehow still unspoilt. Maybe something to do with the wooden stakes and walkways rather than steel and concrete pontoons? Here we stocked up on groceries for the freezer (a little taken aback by the prices) and cycled down to the end of the headland to enjoy a beer while watching the sun go down and groups of bikers roaring up and down the main street on Harleys.
Yet another dawn start and a peaceful motor (no wind) down the almost empty bay to a lovely anchorage called Mill Creek. We arrived early enough to enjoy a bowl of ice-cream on deck in the sunshine, then our fellow anchorees (a French Canadian couple and a British-Dutch couple) joined us for a few drinks in the evening. We almost felt we were in the Caribbean when the rum bottle came out!

But what a difference the next morning – grey skies, gusty winds, big swells even in the Bay and an amazing 9.6 knots out of the boat under sail. Whew! We flew the 22 miles to Deltaville, where we met up with old friends from Barbados. We had arrived none too soon judging by the sound of the increasing wind outside, and were happy to spend the afternoon milling around Home Depot and Walmart with them before cosying up in front of the log fire with a big pot of curry for the evening. And our first taste of the very American ‘pecan pie’, very gooey and delicious!

Another grey and not-quite-so-gusty afternoon sail took us to Mobjack Bay, and from there a morning’s motor (in sunshine again) to the bottom of the Bay, Norfolk, a large naval base buzzing with helicopters.. That’s where we are now, spending a few days getting the boat ready for the passage to the BVIs. We may go straight from here if the weather’s perfect or else take the Intracoastal waterway to Beaufort (just south of Cape Hatteras) and go from there.

So what do we think of the famous Chesapeake? To be fair, we can't give an honest answer as we literally shot down the centre. It is much bigger than we realized, there are literally hundreds of creeks to explore on both sides of the Bay, you could spend months and not see it all. There is a great variety of both urban and out-of the-way anchorages, but a lot of these are restricted by draught. We liked the few places we saw and would have explored more if we’d had more time.

New York New York

2006-11-06T21:08:00.000Z

Passing Statue of Liberty
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

It took three day-hops from Newport to New York down the Long Island Sound, plus a weekend stuck in harbour waiting for a gale to blow through. Apart from two wild and windy days in Port Jefferson, we had perfect autumn weather – crispy cold but dry, sunny and windless. For some reason there was a strange mirage effect on the water, the horizon more than a mile away disappeared and boats seemed to ‘float’ on a white cloud above the water, although there was no fog at all.

Our first sight of the New York city skyline came as we passed through ‘Hell’s Gate’ leading to the east side of Manhattan. It was Halloween night and the sun was setting as we skirted the city through busy waters full of barges, fast ferries, cruise ships and even a water-plane which took off just in front of us. By the time we reached the bottom of Manhattan it was completely dark. Rush hour was in full swing with endless ferries and water taxis kicking off a nice wash and the sky was full of helicopters.

The city was quite a sight with the skyscrapers all lit up and a forty-foot high clock on the New Jersey riverbank blazing the time in red lights. The mayhem receded behind us as we steamed the five miles up the west side of Manhattan to the 79th Street Boat Basin where we picked up a mooring buoy (for a very reasonable $30/night – reasonable for New York that is!).

Once safely moored up, we rode the subway to Greenwich Village to join the throng watching the Halloween Parade. The parade itself wasn’t as impressive as we expected, there was a big turnout but not many organized floats with music and a lot of the costumes left something to be desired. In fact, some of the best costumes were among the spectators - along with the traditional witches and ghouls, there were a lot of bumble-bees, fake police officers (often scantily dressed with fishnet tights) and even the odd Snoopy.

We spent the next few days exploring the city, from the Empire State Building to the Twin Towers site. It certainly brings the scale of the 9/11 disaster home to you when you see the large hole left in the middle of the city. We strolled through Chinatown and Battery Park, along Wall Street and Fifth Avenue. We glowed in the neon lights of Times Square and went to an off-Broadway show. The antidote to the hustle and bustle was Central Park, which looked glorious in its autumn colours. There we wandered round the lake and through the tree-lined pathways and even had a go on the outdoor ice rink at the end of the park.

After four days, we’d seen all we wanted to see, the freezer was full of ice cream, and the weather was still settled. We motor-sailed past the Statue of Liberty, down the Hudson river and out to sea again.

Figureheads & freezers

2006-10-25T20:07:00.000Z

Olaf
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Two days in Newport turned into nearly two weeks. Our first job was to fix Olaf, our new Viking figurehead, onto the end of the bowsprit, where he will watch out for us and keep us safe from marauding seamonsters.
Then our friends arrived on the ‘Bonnie Lynn’, after a wet ride down from Penobscot Bay in strong head winds. They are spending the winter here in a marina, or ‘dockside’ as they say in the US. They get free use of the neighbouring hotel’s facilities, including an indoor heated swimming pool. We joined them a couple of times for an evening dip in the deserted pool – a real treat!
We also met up with some old Topsham acquaintances, friends of the Eddingtons, (Hi Dave and Sian!), who are currently working nearby on a new-to-them yacht after their last boat got destroyed in Grenada by Hurricane Ivan.
Every day, a couple more boats around us disappeared from the anchorage – mostly heading south or to Bermuda, which seemed a sensible move as the temperature has seriously plummeted. Thank goodness for our log fire! Just when we’d decided we were ready to move on, the weather took a turn for the worse and several big low pressure systems blew through, creating sloppy waves even in the harbour.
In the meantime, we spent days agonizing over whether to install a freezer or not, and if so, which type and where should it go? No sooner had we decided not to bother than we changed our minds, ordered the thing and the components arrived by courier the following day. Then followed a major operation to take out the recently installed (but not often used) spare toilet and convert the space into an ice box.
To enable foodstuffs to stay frozen even in the tropics, you need 6” of insulation around the unit, so a reasonable size freezer eats up a huge amount of space. We spent several days measuring and fitting the bulky insulation, cursing the fact that nothing is square on a boat and piling up a great heap of mis-cuts. (Measure twice, cut once… get it wrong and start again!) That job is finally done, though the electrics and pipework remain to be finished.
The rest will have to wait as we are hoping to take advantage of a break in the weather to make a move towards New York – still three or four day hops, and another gale passing through on Saturday.

Back to Newport

2006-10-12T14:15:00.000Z

Dave pulls two guys at P'town
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

In four day-hops, we came back down the coast to Massachusetts, stopping at Boothbay Harbour, the New Meadows river, Biddeford Pool and Gloucester.

We caught up with our friends again in Plymouth and heard all about their sailing adventures along the south coast of England this summer (their boat is in the Exeter Ship Canal).

They joined us for a weekend sail to Provincetown, on the tip of the Cape Cod peninsula. This is a colourful town made up of three diverse populations – fishermen, artists and a lively gay community.

Provincetown (or P'town as it's known) competes with Plymouth as the first landing place of the Mayflower - tourists flock here in season to soak up the vibrant atmosphere, laze on the long white sandy beaches and do the obligatory climb of the 'Pilgrim Monument'.

The streets are lined with colourful shops, selling a wide selection of unusual and arty products, many with end-of-season reductions.

Among our bargains were Colin’s watering can (made from an old chilli tin) and Dave’s new Viking figurehead, made out of solid wood and re-named ‘Olaf’. He has yet to be secured in the spot chosen for him at the end of the bowsprit.

Then it was back through the Cape Cod Canal, coming out the other end to experience at first hand what the pilot books describe as a ‘brutal experience’ – the prevailing SW wind is funnelled up Buzzards Bay and hits the outgoing tide to create steep waves in the narrow channel. For us, this meant 15 minutes of heavy bobbing and plenty of water on deck, but for smaller boats it would have been extremely uncomfortable.

We spent a night in Marion and met up with some former Topsham-ites (the Woolcotts), then sailed to Newport, Rhode Island the following day. We are now back to where we started in the States and from here on south will be in new territory. Next stop New York.

Heading south

2006-10-03T23:27:00.000Z

sunset in Cranberry Harbour
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We are now well on our way south. We day-hopped down the coast from Eastport, keeping a good eye on Hurricane Florence offshore. We were safely inside the shelter of Penobscot Bay when it passed – still way offshore but the swell made itself felt, sadly a couple of lobstermen were lost off the coast.
We motored as far up the Penobscot River as we could go, up to the big town of Bangor. I’d been looking forward to a shopping spree but found the main shopping mall was miles out of town and all we could find was a decent hardware shop!
There was a big grocery store nearby so we decided to take advantage and stock up on heavy stuff. We filled a shopping trolley to the brim and were headed across the high street to unload on the pontoon when a wheel lock flipped down and jammed the front wheel of the trolley, stopping us going any further. We’d been caught out by a very effective ‘trolley security’, activated by bumpy pavements and designed to stop trolley theft!
The security guard was initially unsympathetic and suggested we catch a taxi, which seemed rather extravagant for 500 yards. He finally took pity on us when we explained our predicament and pointed to the boat visible at anchor. He disappeared around the back and found us a discarded trolley from another supermarket (with no wheel lock) and we were soon back on our way.
A nicer surprise was in store for us when we reached the pontoon and were greeted with hot pizza from the guy on the next yacht who was coming to the end of two years’ sailing the ‘Great Lakes Loop’ with three dogs and a cat on board!
Back down the river to our adopted home ground of Islesboro and Belfast, where we arrived in time for a fantastic free fireworks display in honour of a new pedestrian bridge across the river. We then spent a week doing woodwork (laying a new floor inside the boat), and the worst job of all - saying goodbye to all the people we’ve met who’ve given us such a warm welcome.

Whales and Pirates

2006-09-16T20:48:00.000Z

Pirates
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We saw several more whales coming back down the Bay of Fundy, some just broke the surface in the distance and some breached noisily, coming down with a huge splash of water. There are several species here – finbacks, minkes, humpbacks and the endangered right whale.
We had two last stops in Canada, in the neighbouring islands of Grand Manan and Campobello. Both rely heavily on the fishing industry, the harbour in Grand Manan had been neatly dynamited out to provide deep water for the large fishing fleet.
The water around the islands is a good feeding area for whales and several boats offer whale-watching trips. As we left Grand Manan Island, we passed close by a couple of whales, lifting their tails out as they dived, this makes them easier to identify and we think they were humpbacks.
Five minutes later, thick fog came pouring round the tip of the island and we were soon engulfed in fog, visibility reduced to 200 feet, but bizarrely, the wind sprang up at the same time so we were able to sail through the whiteness. The fog had completely disappeared by the time we arrived at Campobello Island, 10 miles away.
We moored on the busy fishing pier and were greeted by a group of obviously disappointed tourists who announced that “there’s nothing here, no grocery store, no tourist shops, no café.” Nevertheless, Dave got talking to a semi-retired fisherman and within five minutes, he had whisked us off for a private tour of the island in his car, gift shops and all!
By the time he brought us back, the tide had dropped by ten feet and we motored round the island and back into US waters. We once again visited Eastport, the easternmost town in the States. We had originally planned to stop just long enough to check back in with Customs but ‘Ros Ailither’ was due for a repaint and a combination of good weather and the hospitality of Bob at The Chowder House made us decide to stay and make use of his facilities.
Two days later, the boat was freshly painted blue but then it was time for Eastport’s first annual Pirates Weekend, which sounded too tempting to miss. We were talked into joining a pirate’s race along with the two sailing charter boats from Eastport, and one from across the border in Canada – a truly international race!
Bob supplied pirate flags to string from the crosstrees and John from the store decked us out with pirate costumes. We picked up a motley crew, armed ourselves with old bread rolls and prepared for battle. In true pirate style, we fired the engine to assist the sails and bore down on the other vessels. We managed to catch the two local boats and bombard them with soggy bread, but the Canadian boat got away from us so we fired the rest of our missiles on the unsuspecting audience on the quay. Suffice to say a great time was had by all!

The Reversing Falls

2006-09-07T00:19:00.000Z

The Reversing Falls
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We spent a couple of days in St Andrews, a tourist spot with Scottish ancestry if the tartan in the shops is to be believed.

From there to Bliss Harbour for a night surrounded by nothing but fish farms. Dave got chatting to one of the fishermen, who told us there were 33,000 salmon in just this one bay. They keep them in pens for 18 months as they mature, during which time each pen gets through a ton of fish food per day! On closer inspection by dinghy, we could see the fish jumping in each pen, and noticed that the fish all seemed to swim in an anti-clockwise direction.

A full day’s steaming took us to the city of St John, halfway up the Bay of Fundy. This is home to some of the biggest tides in the world, up to 50 feet, so you have to time your passage carefully for favourable currents. We spent a couple of days looking around St John itself, one of the oldest cities in Canada. Streets of lovely brick houses in the uptown area date from the late 1800s when a huge fire destroyed about two thirds of the old (wooden) buildings.

The Reversing Falls occurs where the St John river (450 miles long) empties into the Bay of Fundy through a narrow rocky gorge. The outgoing stream passes over an underwater ledge and clashes with the incoming tide, causing a boiling series of rapids and whirlpools. There are two 20-minute periods of ‘slack tide’ a day when the river and sea levels are equal, allowing boats to safely navigate the Falls.

After negotiating the Reversing Falls without incident , we headed up the St John river. This is navigable for nearly 60 miles and passes by lush green fields, maple and other hardwood trees and nesting platforms for ospreys. This being Labor Day Weekend (officially ‘the last weekend of summer’), lots of boats were out and about making the most of the good weather.

We joined up with a flotilla from the Martinon Yacht Club who convinced us to moor overnight with them in a tiny creek off the main river. The entrance was barely wider than our boat and obviously not as deep as we got stuck on our first attempt. An additional blast of power pushed us through the soft mud into the deeper water inside. Some of the other yachts also needed a push with a dinghy to get through the entrance. The effort was worth it for a charming anchorage and a sociable evening, not to mention the tasty lobster rolls.

The next day we headed upstream again to Gagetown and met up with a flotilla of three boats from another yacht club further up the river. We all had a look around each others boats and in the evening we were treated to tea, cake and a slideshow of the Bahamas, where one of the boats regularly cruises. The morning brought grey skies and rain so we all went ashore for a hearty Canadian breakfast, then before weighing anchor Dave was given a parting gift of an electric tennis racket/mosquito killer - now his favourite toy!

A combination of the rain and the fact that the trees were beginning to turn colour made us decide that this would be the furthest point of our trip north. We motored back down the river and passed through the Reversing Falls again in the evening. This time wasn’t quite so uneventful, despite traversing at the recommended slack time. We faced 6 knots of incoming tide which funnelled through the bridge causing powerful whirlpools and eddies. This is the only time we have used full power on the trip so far, and Dave was still hard-pushed to keep control of the boat, which was pushed perilously close to the rocks on either side of the narrow gorge. We were both mighty relieved to come out safely on the other side.

Canada at last

2006-08-31T21:03:00.000Z

Anchored in Mistake Harbour
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Well, we made a new bowsprit within a week, this time from laminated spruce boards instead of a solid tree. Hopefully this should be stronger as the wood was completely dry and the grain is alternated on each laminate. It was also was much easier to fabricate as we had the use of a friend’s workshop for the glueing process (a warm dry space with lots of clamps available), and then it was roughly square before we started shaping it.

Heading north again, we stopped at the Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island and climbed Mount Cadillac for fantastic views of the island-studded Maine coastline, made even more spectacular by the local 4-masted windjammer sailing along the bay.

Once away from the touristy Mt Desert Island, we were in true ‘downeast Maine’, where lobster fishing is the main industry and the waters are literally strewn with lobster pots, making steering a straight course impossible. At first glance, the small towns we stopped in seemed to have little to offer, but we found the locals extremely friendly and welcoming.

We had an overnight stop in Mistake Harbour, a completely remote anchorage surrounded by rocks and islands. From there we went to the pretty fishing harbour at Cutler, and on to the border town of Eastport. As we entered here, rounding Campobello island, we saw Minke whales surfacing near the boat. This amazed us so close in to shore until we realised the water was 600 feet deep.

To cross the border into Canada, we had to pass through ‘The Old Sow’ whirlpool, apparently the largest in the northern hemisphere. It wasn’t at its most fierce when we passed through but still pushed the boat madly from side to side and sent seagulls floating round in circles. We arrived in St Andrews, Canada to a warm welcome from the harbourmaster who came out to show us to the anchorage and then let us use his phone to check in with Customs.

Easy sailing

2006-08-14T16:09:00.000Z

easy sailing
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

For the past couple of weeks we have been sailing around the local area. It is an ideal cruising ground, with lots of bays and islands creating sheltered waters with no real swell. You could cruise here for months and still not run out of anchorages.
There is deep water for the most part but plenty of rocks scattered around to keep you concentrating on your navigation. Not to mention the hordes of lobster pots – we haven’t caught any yet!
There are some great names around. We have been through the Fox Island Thorofare, the Eggemoggin Reach and up the Somes Sound (the only Fjord in North America outside of Alaska). We have anchored in Mackerel Cove, Pulpit Harbor and Stonington (home of the pink granite used to build many buildings in New York).
We visited the home of the Wooden Boat Magazine which also houses a wooden boat-building school. When we arrived they were running a ‘family’ course where parents and children together build an Optimist dinghy in a week.
We caught up with friends on a boat called ‘Long White Cloud’, who had just sailed down from Nova Scotia, and we joined them on their boat for the Wooden Boat Regatta. They didn’t win any prizes but were awarded a bottle of rum for coming the furthest distance (from New Zealand).
We have been planning to sail up to the Canadian border but first of all waited for a high enough tide to ground out again in Belfast. Here Dave took off the ‘V’ on the back of our rudder and welded on a foot-long plate of steel, the idea being that an increased rudder size may give us better steerage under sail. The following day we went for a test sail in very gusty conditions and managed to crack the bowsprit as a squall came through.
So we now need to make a new bowsprit before we can go anywhere. Luckily there are plenty of trees around!

Tea with the Queen

2006-07-29T20:30:00.000Z

Dave & Rita
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

As many of you already know, we have just had a 2-week trip back to the UK, set in motion by an invitation to a Buckingham Palace garden party, which we presume is the result of Dave’s actions during the tsunami.
From Islesboro, it was a short ferry ride to the mainland and a 5-hour bus journey to Boston followed by a 6 ½ hour flight to Heathrow the next day. We were amazed to arrive to hot and sunny weather and especially so when it lasted for the whole two weeks!
We spent the first long weekend in Devon catching up with friends and family (great to see you all!) then caught the train to London where Dave and his Mum attended the Queen’s garden party. They walked through the palace and into the gardens, strolling down the big lawn to a large marquee where food was served. As well as the expected cucumber sandwiches, there was tea, coffee and a selection of dainty cakes, some decorated with a chocolate crown on the top.
They were both dressed in their finest and suffered in the sweltering heat along with the other guests (apparently 20-odd people collapsed with the heat!). Dave and Rita went for a walk around the large pond to cool down and just made it back in time to see the Queen strolling through the crowds. They made their exit before the main crowds dispersed and were soon back on a train out of London, the long-awaited excitement all over.
Our last weekend was spent with Hazel’s family in Nottingham and Berkshire and before we knew it, we were back on a plane to the other side of the Atlantic.
We came back to find our boat had gone for a little sail on its own when hit by a thunderstorm cell generating 91mph gusts of wind. Luckily our friends were there to move the boat back to safety. Ros Ailither suffered minor scratches but several trees on the island were blown down and power lines were out for several days. Apparently this is not the norm for this time of year…

Maine at last

2006-07-10T19:16:00.000Z

Bonnie Lynn
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

From Gloucester we joined a convoy of three yachts on an easy day sail to the Isle of Shoals, an isolated group of small islands and the site of a religious retreat.

From there, it was an overnight trip to Penobscot Bay in Maine. We had a good sail to the entrance of the bay then just after midnight the fog came in, visibility dropped from 14 miles to less than ¼ mile, and the wind slowly died away to nothing. Daylight saw us motoring up the huge bay relying solely on GPS and radar, neither bank being visible. We saw nothing but the odd lobster pot and a ferry looming out of the mist until land hazily appeared 30 miles up the bay.

We spent two days in the town of Belfast, with Ros Ailither aground on a slip and leaning against the harbour wall. We checked the bottom (luckily no sign of worm attack), touched up some bare patches of paint and installed a new seacock for the watermaker. Dave also took the brave step of chopping two inches off each propeller blade with his angle-grinder. Amazingly, it seemed well balanced after!

Our boat attracted lots of interested spectators in Belfast. One English resident came to say hi after seeing our English flag and turned out to be from Woodbury, Devon. He drove Dave to the chandlery and his wife took me to the supermarket. Here I had the bizarre experience of the staff refusing to sell me a crate of beer with my shopping. Apparently a UK driving licence (even with a photo) isn’t proof of age, and they won’t sell to anyone who looks like they may be under 30 years old!

The past ten days have been spent at Seal Harbour, on the lovely island of Islesboro.
This is the home town of sailing friends who we first met in Portugal and have bumped into several times since - in the Canaries and up through the Caribbean. They run a classic charter boat called ‘Bonnie Lynn’ and we have been able to accompany them on some of their charters - day trips around the neighbouring islands and lobster dinners on board.

Gloucester

2006-07-01T18:04:00.000Z

the greasy pole
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

From Plymouth we headed north to Gloucester, a fishing town set around a huge natural harbour and also the setting for the film ‘The Perfect Storm’.
We arrived in drizzly mist and rain and were surprised to see crowds of people lining the beach opposite as we dropped anchor. It turned out to be the weekend of St Peters Fiesta and a variety of events were laid on to celebrate.
There was a funfair with typical rides, ‘hook the duck’ and hotdog stalls. On Sunday the whole town turned out to watch a big parade of marching bands and groups carrying religious statuettes from St Peters Church, and a Cardinal came and blessed the fishing fleet.
But the harbour was the main centre of action and for three evenings running, people congregated either on the beach or on a flotilla of moored boats to watch the proceedings. A gig-rowing race started things off and got the crowds cheering before the crazy ‘greasy pole competition’.
Forty men in fancy dress (mostly in drag for some reason) got ferried out to a wooden structure off the beach and climbed a ladder to the 25-foot high platform. Attached to which was a 50-foot long wooden pole with a small flagpole at the end and all thickly laden with gooey white (biodegradable) grease.
Each entrant was introduced by the commentator on the beach and after much cheering by the crowds took their turn to try and walk the pole. Nobody was allowed to get the flag on the first round (so everybody had at least one go) and we watched as each man took a few tottering steps and jumped, dived or fell into the water.
By round two, most of the wigs and costumes had disappeared and the competition started for real. There was much ‘ooh’ing and ‘aah’ing if somebody got close to the flag or had a particularly spectacular fall off the pole.
There were various methods of attack – careful steps, sideways slip-sliding or full-on run with arms flailing. There were also several ways of falling, some more painful than others, and a couple of people got whisked off by the harbour patrol for medical attention.
There was uproar when one guy thought he’d won but the flag didn’t come free as he fell and dangled out of everybody’s reach at the end of the pole. The Coastguard were called upon to re-nail it (getting themselves and their boat covered in grease) and the competition continued.
Finally, in the fourth and final round, the same guy reached the end of the pole again and made sure the flag came down with him this time. The crowd went wild, the rest of the men leapt off the platform and swam ashore and the victor was carried up the beach on his mates’ shoulders.
Complete madness and we enjoyed every minute of it!
The weekend was topped off for us when the crew of the pilot gig ‘Siren Song’ stopped by the trawler and invited us to go for a row round the harbour with them.

Plymouth

2006-06-26T13:19:00.000Z

fresh lobster
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

From Newport, it was a long day trip through the Cape Cod Canal to Plymouth, Massachusetts. We are now back into the realm of tides, which is almost nonexistent in the Caribbean. The waters of Plymouth harbour rise and fall by 12 feet (similar to the Exe).
We met up with our friend Colin who lives here but whose boat is currently in the Exeter Ship Canal. The weather turned incredibly hot for our stay and out came the barbeque and cold beers. Colin had just got himself a little boat and a lobster-catching permit and within two days of laying pots we were honoured with a taste of his very first lobster. Delicious!
Plymouth was the landing site of the original New England colonists - the Plymouth Brethren - and takes pride in celebrating its role in history. One of the exhibits is the 'Mayflower II', a working replica of the original vessel that landed here. It was a surprise to find that was she built in Brixham, Devon, in 1957 and was then sailed over here in 55 days. The boat still operates as a sailing vessel, now licensed for 75 persons - as opposed to the 102 people plus 25 crew who were originally squeezed on board.
It is strange to look at a chart and see such familiar town names on a new continent – over the next week or two we will pass Exeter, Dover, Biddeford, Portland and Bath!

Welcome to America

2006-06-15T19:12:00.000Z

nice parking!
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We arrived in America at the same time an unseasonal cold snap. So back on with the chimney for the first time in over a year and we soon had a lovely log fire roaring (with offcuts scrounged from the local building site).
Newport is a pretty town, based largely around the yachting industry and tourism. The first thing we noticed were the trees – huge, green and everywhere you look. The houses are mainly wooden construction, lots of T&G cladding and shingles. Some date back 200 years.
We met up with friends who showed us around by car - taking us to the out-of town shops and the second-hand boat store. We got new chains for our bikes, the old ones had seized solid after the Atlantic crossing! On the Cliff Walk we passed some of the enormous mansions or ‘summer cottages’ that were built along the waterfront by the newly rich in the late 1800’s.

People speak English in America but everything is slightly different.
The date is written backwards - 06/01 is 1st June not 6th Jan.
People are proud to fly the American flag.
You buy a phonecard but still need coins to use it.
You ask for chips and get a bag of crisps.
Even in a pub, you get waitress service...and are expected to leave a tip.
Cars are twice the size and boats have bigger hp engines.
Everywhere there’s a shop, there’ll be a ‘Dunkin Donuts’.
Traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road and navigation buoys are the opposite way round (red right returning).

We’re learning fast!

Six days at sea

2006-06-06T15:55:00.000Z

IMG_4749
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

The forecast looked good when we were ready to leave Bermuda - light easterly winds for at least the next two days - so we checked out with customs, hoisted the dinghy aboard and headed out to sea. The first couple of days we were able to sail at between 4 and 5 knots in fairly flat seas.
We got straight into a watch system, splitting the night into four 3-hour watches, where one of us would sleep and the other was on watch, ie keeping an eye on the sails, watching out for shipping and recording conditions in the logbook.
It’s hard to describe how magical it can be out to sea on really clear nights. The stars are amazingly bright, with no light pollution from land to interfere. As the boat ploughs through the water, tiny organisms are disturbed our bow wave and produce bright green specks of light in the water, called phosphorescence, glowing briefly all around the boat. The propeller also causes turbulence and can produce a spiralling green trail in the water behind us.
The day was punctuated by four main ‘events’- the 9am radio net, where we tried to make contact with other sailing boats; the midday fix, to see the last 24 hours progress; the 5pm weather update from US radio ham ‘Herb’; and finally the evening meal – we made a decent meal each evening to keep together body and spirit. Otherwise, we mostly sat in the wheelhouse, taking turns hand-steering or leaving it to the autopilot and simply reading, dozing or watching the world go by.
You imagine the ocean to be teeming with life but it’s surprising how little you see once away from land. On the second day out we saw three whales about 100 feet from the boat. They weren’t the least bit interested in us and carried on their way in the opposite direction. Yet the following day, we had a school of smaller dolphins playing around the bows. We remarked how blue and clear the water was, as we could see the dolphins clearly up to 20 feet below the surface.
We saw what we thought were lots of empty plastic bottles drifting by, but on closer inspection, they turned out to be the ‘sails’ of Portuguese men-of-war jellyfish. As they drifted past the boat you could see their long blue/purple tentacles. Most were less than 10 inches long but we saw one enormous one the size of a plastic carrier bag.
The main hurdle of this trip has been to cross the Gulf Stream. This is a huge flow of warm water from the Gulf of Mexico that winds its way across the Atlantic to warm the waters of the UK. To the south of the Gulf Stream, the sea temperature is 22 degrees, and to the north it meets the cold Labrador current from the Arctic and suddenly drops to about 7 degrees.
At the point we would be crossing it, the Gulf Stream is about 80 miles wide and flows at around 2.8 knots. It is important to cross at the right point (where the current is with you) and with the wind in the same direction or you can face extremely nasty seas caused by wind-against-tide.
We had ideal conditions as we approached the Gulf Stream – light SW winds going with the current, but we heard over the radio that a low pressure system was developing right in our path. This would make the winds increase and veer to the north, clashing with the current. To avoid getting caught up in this, we started the engine and motor-sailed across the worst of the flow, getting swept along at over 8 knots (compared to our normal speed of 5 knots) in more turbulent waters.
Once clear of the Gulf Stream (noticeable by the drop in speed and more grey colour of the water) we went back to sailing and within a day, the weather took a downturn as predicted.
The blue sky turned grey and brought cloud and drizzle. The wind picked up, gusting up to 30 knots in squalls and we had to reduce sail. Eventually we had a wind shift to the NW and the barometer started to rise, indicating that we had crossed the frontal trough. The most noticeable thing was the plummeting temperature, we had to close all the portholes against the icy wind and dig out woolly socks, hats and duvets!
The winds slowly decreased as we closed in on land but we slowly sailed most of the remaining one-and-a half days, until the wind died completely as we approached land.
We were then treated to both the numerous lobster-pots and infamous fog of this coastline, but the sun shone down on us as we entered the attractive harbour of Newport, Rhode Island, (150 miles up the coast from New York).

So overall, in 6 days at sea (less two hours), we covered 700 nautical miles at an average speed of 4.9 knots, two thirds of it purely under sail. For a slow old boat that won’t sail upwind, Ros Ailither gives us a very comfy ride.

Bermuda

2006-05-30T13:43:00.000Z

white roofs
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

It was an 8-day passage from St Martin to Bermuda. The wind started steady but dropped off throughout the trip and we ended up sailing about half of the 860 miles and motoring the rest. The day before we were due to arrive, we heard a boat trying to get the weather forecast on the SSB radio. He was drifting in light winds and his engine had failed. After making radio contact with the owner, we ended up making a detour of 65 miles (equivalent to a Channel crossing) to pick him up and towed his boat ‘Expresso’ (a 44 foot steel yacht) the final 95 miles to Bermuda. This meant entering St George’s harbour in darkness, through the narrow ‘Town Cut’ channel, which has several unlit buoys – not the ideal first entry to a new harbour.
Otherwise, it was an uneventful passage, with light winds and calm seas. We saw no trace of the infamous Bermuda triangle – no magnetic anomalies, weird fogs or little green men climbing aboard! There was, however, a noticeable drop in temperature the further north we got, we started the trip in shorts and T-shirts and ended it in jeans and jumpers.
We have spent a pleasant few days in Bermuda, the people are very friendly and it is a striking picture-postcard island. Everywhere you look the gardens are immaculate and the houses all freshly painted in various colours. The main thing that stands out are the white roofs. Every household collects its own water from the roof, which by law has to be whitewashed regularly to keep the water supply clean.
The mild but warm weather allowed us to put a couple of coats of varnish on the deck hatches and also to have what may be our last swim for a while. We also explored the island on the fantastic public bus and ferry services and saw magnificent beaches, well-kept old forts and charming scenery.
The only downfall is the high prices – a loaf of bread costs $4.50 (nearly £2.50) so the cost of living here ain’t cheap!
It’s now time to weigh anchor again, next stop Newport, Rhode Island, about 650 miles away and seven more days at sea.

St Martin

2006-05-15T22:20:00.000Z

It was a pleasant overnight sail from Antigua to our last stop in the Caribbean, St Martin. The island is split in two, half belonging to France and half to the Dutch Antilles. After getting used to the Caribbean currency (EC), we were suddenly faced with euros on the French side, Antillean Guilders on the Dutch side, or American dollars which are widely used on both sides. Thankfully, English is spoken pretty much everywhere.

We anchored inside the shelter of Simpson Bay Lagoon, where the boat was dead still from sea swell. It was not the most tranquil setting, however, being directly under the main international flight path, and lots of building work going on so the constant sound of pile driving.

The water in the lagoon was a bit murky and not very tempting for swimming but it was obviously good for marine life - when Dave checked the bottom of the boat before leaving, he discovered thick growth – all within ten days of being here.

We chose St Martin as we had been told ‘you can get everything there’, which is pretty much true. The island is duty free and Philipsburg (the Dutch capital) specialises in cheap electronics. We have finally got up-to-date with technology and got ourselves a ‘wi-fi’ card, which allows us to get free internet access in many places.

We have caught up with several jobs on board, getting the boat ready for the trip to Bermuda. Most has been routine maintenance, touching up peeling paint and varnish, but also a new set of batteries have been installed and Dave finally has a helm seat to navigate in comfort.

Lots of boats seem to congregate here before heading back to the Azores and Europe, so lots of goodbyes and for some the end of the cruise. We are now ready to sail away from the warm Caribbean waters and prepare ourselves for the cooler temperatures further north.

Antigua Classics Week

2006-04-26T21:16:00.000Z

Spirit of Regatta Cup
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We arrived in Antigua two days before the Classics Week began. The steep entry fee ($5 US per foot) initially put us off entering but David soon had this reduced by half and we found ourselves in the race.
Crew was no problem to find among the cruising boats and a ‘uniform’ of a colourful Hawaiian shirt was decided upon. The decks were cleared as much as possible, all our rubbish piled high in the dinghy and left bobbing behind a friend’s boat.
For five days, we were given free marina dockage amongst a diverse group of boats, from a 6m racing sloop to a 200 ton J-class racing machine. We were given a ‘goodie bag’ containing course details, flags and a bottle of rum and every morning a bag of fresh croissants, orange juice and a paper appeared on deck.
Dave rose to the challenge of the first single-handed race and managed to tack the boat upwind for a mile or so. Due to the severe lack of windward ability, this took eight tacks, by which time the rest of the fleet had long since finished and the committee boat gave up waiting for us to cross the line!
For the next two days, we had full crew on board – ten loud Hawaiian shirts at Dave’s command. One person for each rope made manoeuvring much easier but still didn’t improve the windwind performance. Despite all attempts, we couldn’t manage the upwind legs of the first two races and our decision to retire from the race was met with relief by the boat waiting to recover the marker buoys.
The final race was called ‘The Cannon’ and had no windward leg so we weren’t left behind quite so quickly. At one point, we thought we might actually overtake the boat in front but it was not to be… instead we made a point of waving to all the boats on their homeward leg, each one getting an extra cheer if they waved back. After four hours and 24 miles, we crossed the finish line in a frenzy of excitement and even the committee boat were delighted to see us actually finish a race.
The following night was Prizegiving and the Hawaiian shirts came out for the final time. We were somewhat surprised not to get a mention in the slowest boat category but our surprise turned to joy when we were awarded the ‘Spirit of the Regatta’ prize for our enthusiasm against all odds.
Dave went proudly up on stage to receive a silver cup and he even did a little jig on stage amid the cheering. We barely had time to admire the engraved cup before it was filled with rum punch and passed around the crew, without whose help we would never have won the award. It has been an unforgettable experience.

To Antigua

2006-04-19T16:50:00.000Z

Dominican 'boat boy'
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

A week of travelling - 250 miles in 7 day trips:
From St Vincent to St Lucia, then Martinique, Dominica (Roseau and Portsmouth), Les Saintes, Guadeloupe and finally Antigua.
Most places we didn’t even set foot ashore, arriving late and leaving early the following morning.
The end-of-season exodus is starting with boats travelling either north or south to avoid the Caribbean hurricane season so lots of familiar boats in each anchorage and a couple of evenings catching up with cruising friends.
We spent an afternoon in Martinique and were surprised to find ourselves in France again – it was noticeably more affluent than the surrounding independent islands, especially neighbouring Dominica, which although a beautiful island attracts very little tourism. There the ‘boat boys’ don’t even all own boats, many paddle out on surfboards to sell their fruit.
Classics Week starts here tomorrow, the dock is full of enormous yachts in pristine condition and crews to match, it should be quite a spectacle to watch them race.

The Grenadines

2006-04-13T19:48:00.000Z

a stressful holiday!
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

From Grenada, we sailed in convoy with friends on ‘Crisden’ and ‘Sand Dancer’ to Carriacou and on to Union Island, the most southern island of the Grenadines where we could sign in to the country.
There we picked up our new shipmates, Nutty Squirrel and Salty Sam, who joined us for the sail up the Grenadines.
Our first stop was the tiny and deserted island of Morpion, consisting of nothing more than white coral sand with a shaded umbrella on the top. We stopped here just long enough to observe the underwater life through a snorkel, add ‘Ros Ailither’ to the list of names on the umbrella shade and for Ben to acquire a beautiful lobster colour.
Then we cooled down with cocktails on the resort island of Petit St Vincent, (where a room will set you back around £500 a night), and still time to climb the hill on neighbouring Petit Martinique before sunset. Here we bumped into some local children who led us to a nearby house for home-made ice-pops. Delicious!
The rest of the week passed in a similar fashion, doing short day-hops between isolated islands, where our only chance to buy fresh food was from the local ‘boat boys’, offering fish and vegetables at inflated prices (£5 for a pineapple).
The steady east winds allowed us to sail most, if not all of the way to our various destinations, occasionally having to motor the last part upwind.
We visited the famous Tobago Cays, where we swam with wild turtles, had a go at windsurfing and snorkelled among the coral reefs, teeming with fish of all different shapes and colours. If we could ignore the fifty-odd boats anchored around us, we could imagine the peace and tranquility the first cruisers must have found here.
As it was, we met up with our friends again and enjoyed a barbeque on the beach. We also dinghied to the truly deserted and picture-perfect Tabac Island, where Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed.
We spent a couple of days on Mustique - the ‘Millionaire’s Island’, full of lovely beaches and expensive villas(average price £20,000 per week). Our crew failed in their mission to attract any eligible millionaires but we did succeed in finding a wonderful local place to eat (Lisa’s) at a fraction of the cost of the famous Basil’s Bar.
We had a brief stop in Bequia, which seemed to be hotting up for next weekend’s regatta if the volume of the street ‘jump-up’ music was anything to go by.
And our final stop was the main and biggest island of St Vincent. A short ride in the ‘boogie bus’ took us to the capital ‘city’ of Kingstown and all the joys of civilisation – tasty rotis, a cheap & bustling fruit & veg market, the greenery of the botanical gardens, and even a face from Topsham – Bob Murphy’s sister!
Before we knew it, Ben and Samantha had their last rum punch and it was time to drop them at the airport, although they’re threatening to come back again!
We are now sailing full-pelt up the islands (average speed 7 knots today – no engine), trying to reach Antigua for the Classics Week, starting 20th April.

Grenada

2006-03-30T18:53:00.000Z

Treasure chest
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We are now about to leave Grenada again after three wonderful weeks here.
Hazel’s parents came out for a week and with them we did a couple of island tours. Everywhere we drove was surrounded by amazing greenery – we saw nutmeg trees, cocoa trees full of hanging cocoa pods, waterfalls, exotic colourful flowers such as the ginger lily, lots of coconut palms and a variety of trees, most of which were covered in vines and creepers.
The high part of the island was rainforest but the damage from Hurricane Ivan was very visible – huge chunks of the forest were destroyed.
Hurricane damage was most visible in the towns, where 75% of houses lost their roof. Most roofs have now been replaced (still with corrugated steel) or in extreme cases a whole new house has been built, concrete now replacing the old wooden houses.
All the big churches and cathedrals in the main town of St George’s are still lacking a roof.
We visited (and sampled) the Grenada Chocolate Factory – no bigger than a house but producing organic dark chocolate with 71% cocoa solids, all powered by solar panels. Also the Rivers Antoine rum factory where the sugar cane is still ground by water mill (on a 17th century British made water wheel!) and the end product is a lethal 73% proof and tastes like firewater but we still bought a bottle!
We also visited a nutmeg factory where technology hasn’t yet arrived - thirty-odd workers sort through the sackfuls of nutmeg by hand, although a ‘cracking’ machine now saves them having to crack the shell of each nut with a hammer.
The saddest part of the trip was ‘Carib’s Leap’, where the last of the native (and cannibalistic) Caribs were rounded up into one end of the island and rather than being captured, they all jumped over the cliffs to their deaths.
With Hazel’s parents we also motored up to Carriacou. There we met up with a friend from England who had recently brought a fishing boat out here from the Exeter Shipping Canal. His family gave us a warm welcome - his uncle gave us a tour around the island, his mother cooked us a delicious meal and along with her husband showed us around their home and garden where they grew everything – coconuts, bananas, oranges, limes, sweet potatoes, peppers, pigeon peas, even a cotton plant.
Junior himself took us to one of the best swimming and snorkelling spots, Sandy Island, where the sea is a stunning turquoise colour. Sadly this too got hit by the hurricane. Most of the coral reef got destroyed, huge piles of broken bits lay along the windward side of the island and tiny palm trees had been planted in the sand to try and replace what was blown away.
After our visitors returned to colder climates we set to work turning our Trinidad-bought teak into deck storage boxes. We have made these in the shape of treasure chests and are just waiting for Dave’s brother to visit again so he can bring us out vinyl lettering to label each box GOLD and SILVER.

Trinidad

2006-03-07T13:39:00.000Z

hummingbird
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We’ve had a good taste of Trinidad from our two weeks here, especially arriving at Carnival time. The whole country seems to grind to a halt for four days (only KFC stays open) while hundreds of thousands of party-goers take to the streets in brightly coloured bikinis laced with tassels. It’s certainly a spectacular sight, not least for the dancing, the local move known as ‘wining’ is aptly described by our friend as ‘sex with clothes on’. The noise is pretty spectacular too, forty-foot trucks loaded right up with speakers accompany the parade blasting out ‘soca’ music and as they pass, your whole body pulses with the thumping bass.
During the run-up to the big day, various competitions take place. Pan bands play steel drums made from 45-gallon oil drums, with a surprising versatility of sounds. Calypso singers sound off about local political and moral issues and 'ex-tempo' singers ad-lib songs on a given theme with only a moment's notice.
People dress up in highly elaborate costumes to compete for the title of King and Queen of Carnival. Some of these creations are so enormous they have to be supported on a wheeled framework, they take months to make and can cost several thousand pounds. The King and Queen finals were a truly awesome sight.

Otherwise, we’ve been catching up on work on the boat. We are anchored in a place called Chaguaramas Bay, which has the third biggest collection of boats in the world (after Fort Lauderdale in Florida and Gibraltar). The whole area has been designed for the boating industry – there is a choice of five or six boatyards, all with private marinas and dry storage the size of football fields. You can buy almost any marine item or service and get most things repaired. Trinidad is about the only safe island of the Caribbean during hurricane season (July to November) so thousands of boats come here to be craned out of the water.
Despite this, the anchorage is in a lovely spot, surrounded by wooded islands in a corner of the Gulf of Paria. The water is pea green, apparently from the outflow of the nutrient-rich river Orinoko. Growth appears within no time on the bottom of the boat and the water seems to ‘crackle’ with the noise of marine life feeding on these microscopic nutrients.
Away from the city (Port of Spain), Trinidad is a lovely island, with three mountain ranges and a lush green and fertile countryside. We took a trip to a nature reserve and watched hummingbirds feeding from a distance of less then two feet away. On a boat trip through the mangrove swamps, we saw tree snakes, caymans (small alligators) and flocks of thousands of egret and scarlet ibis coming in to roost. It was a wonderful sight seeing the pure white of the egrets and the almost fluorescent bright red of the scarlet ibis against the green mangroves.
We will be pulling up the anchor again on Tuesday night and by Wednesday we should be in another new country.

Tobago

2006-02-15T19:33:00.000Z

Charlotteville anchorage
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We arrived here on 1st Feb after a 24 hour sail from Barbados. For the last two weeks we have been anchored in Charlotteville, a lovely little village on the NW tip of the island. It couldn’t be more of a contrast to Barbados, which is relatively flat and very heavily populated. Tobago is lush and green and hilly.
The water here is more green than blue but still pretty clear, there is a reef at the edge of the anchorage full of bright blue, stripey and spotted fish and we have our own collection of tiny blue-and-yellow striped fish underneath the boat. The nearest beach, aptly named Pirate’s Bay, is the colour of Exmouth sand.
The trees are full of parrots, yellowtails and mot-mots. Frigate-birds circle high above us, brown booby’s swoop down close by and pelicans perch on the fishing boats.
Fishing is the main activity, mainly long-lining from open boats in the bay for kingfish, dorado and tuna.
There are a handful of houses dotted in the hillsides but most are in the town along with a couple of basic shops, some fruit and veg stalls, four or five eating places, a garage and a fish market. There are two internet cafes and one payphone. The locals are very friendly and a lot of them seem to be well-travelled, mostly to the USA, UK or Germany.
We were befriended in the local bar by an 85-year-old man who was one of 14 brothers and sisters, had 11 children, 11 grand-children and had travelled to Germany six times. He had been married for 47 years and was planning to marry his wife again on their 50th anniversary. I don’t know if the secret to his longevity was the amount of whisky he drank of an evening or the tranquil beachside way of life.
Whilst there, we have made new gaff jaws out of local cypress wood, been around the island by bus, walked up into the jungle, tasted the local food (excellent) and had a great beach barbeque for a fellow yachtie’s birthday.
Today, we arrived at the bottom of the island, ‘Store Bay’, having sailed along the west coast, stopping last night in the beautiful and secluded ‘Englishman’s Bay’. Early tomorrow morning we will head off towards Trinidad, where we plan to stay for the Carnival at the end of the month.

Barbados

2006-01-30T18:15:00.000Z

tropical beach
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We’ve been here a week now and yes, the beaches really are like you see in the travel brochures. Miles and miles of powdery white sand and turquoise sea… We sat at a beach bar yesterday that was so close to the sea that the water came lapping over our toes as we supped the local ‘Banks’ beer.
The weather was a bit disappointing when we arrived, big black rainclouds kept coming over to give us torrential downpours. This may sound a bit like British weather except that in between rain showers it’s HOT! It’s now settled down to steady blue skies again.
We both had a craving for a steak when we arrived but found the shops don’t sell it here, all we could find was chicken, New Zealand lamb and various parts of pig (tails, trotters, ears). Luckily, the pubs here cater for tourists so we were able to indulge in steak ‘n’ chips one night.
The local food is very tasty, the norm is a ‘buffet’ of ready-prepared food. You take your choice between fried chicken wings, lamb stew or flying fish sandwiches, all served with peas and rice, macaroni pie or noodles and a side salad.
There is a steady stream of cruise ships in the harbour and you are constantly asked ‘Are you from the ship?’ ‘Do you want a taxi?’ Which is quite tempting after trying the local buses, these drive flat-out and crank up the reggae until your eardrums are pounding. But they will take you anywhere on the island for $1.50 (approx 30p)!
Our three crew took lodgings ashore when we arrived and have now flown back home. We too are ready to move on again, next stop Tobago.

Atlantic crossing

2006-01-21T19:48:00.000Z

Ernie
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We arrived in Barbados on the afternoon of Friday 20th January to complete our Atlantic crossing after 24 days, 7 ½ hours at sea and a grand total of 2833.5 nautical miles from La Gomera.

We had been told to expect various things during the passage:
- it’s wonderful
- it’s boring
- it’s easy
- the wind never blows more than a Force 4 or less than a Force 4
- but you’ll roll like a pig

The reality was all these things and more.
The wind was stronger than anticipated, averaging Force 5-6, but always from behind. Our square sail worked brilliantly and pulled us along at an average speed of 5 ½ knots. We had our fair share of sunshine, blue skies and little fluffy trade wind clouds but also a lot of grey skies, rain showers and gusty squalls.

The boat did roll constantly but not as violently as we’d imagined. Although we got used to the motion and managed to bake bread at sea and cook a hot meal every night, it was incredibly tiring. Even a simple job like making a cup of tea required a monumental effort and just sitting still made all your muscles work.

It was boring in one manner but there were always things to do – preparing food, washing dishes, plotting the daily run, adjusting the ropes and checking for chafe. Or simply sitting reading or watching the waves and the sky. There were always flying fish around the boat (and they really do fly) and we were joined for several days by a beautiful blue-and-yellow dorado who seemed a slow swimmer until he was chasing the flying fish. We also saw two sperm whales proceeding in the opposite direction some 300 feet away from the boat.

We’d been told that ‘you won’t see another boat out there’, but we were still surprised by the emptiness of the ocean. The sight of a ship on the horizon a few days out was the highlight of the day.

We listened in to a daily ‘radio net’ where a group of boats all check in with their positions and share weather reports. Although we couldn’t join in and speak (we only had a receiver not a transmitter), it was reassuring to know that we weren’t the only boat out there.

Two weeks out, we heard a report that one of these boats had lost its rudder. They were two days ahead of us and not far off our course so we headed towards them. By the time we reached them, they had made several attempts to rig a jury rudder, but with little success – they could only head northwest at 1 ½ knots (this 1000 miles from shore).

They gladly accepted our offer of a tow and we initially made a good start towing them under sail. However, the towed boat fishtailed wildly from side-to-side in the big waves and the towrope kept chafing badly. It needed constant supervision and had to keep being reattached or repositioned every few hours, day and night.

Despite everybody’s best efforts, it proved impossible to beat the chafe problem and the constant effort was leading to exhaustion. On the second day, after a long night of stop-start towing, the tow rope parted for the last time and the captain made the tough decision to abandon ship.

Several hours and five perilous trips in the dinghy later, the three crew and several bags of belongings were safely transferred onto our trawler and we continued on towards Barbados. Despite the sad circumstances, our three new crew were good company and, thanks to all the fresh food they brought with them, we ate like kings.

A couple of days later, we were joined by yet another crew member - ‘Ernie’ the egret, who appeared on our handrails some 400 miles out to sea. He seemed in a poor condition, but perked up after a good rest and a hearty diet of flying fish (several of which appeared on deck each morning). At first he was very wary of us but his confidence grew to such an extent that early one morning we found him exploring below decks! His antics kept us amused during his 3-day stay (see he can ride a bicycle!) and we were all rather sad to see him fly ashore as we neared Barbados.

The sight of land was wonderful after so long at sea and to finally drop the anchor and stop rolling seems the height of luxury. The water in the anchorage is crystal clear, we can see colourful buildings, palm trees and beautiful white sandy beaches. Time to go ashore and explore…

White Christmas?

2005-12-26T17:45:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We finally left Tenerife on Friday and went the twenty odd miles to the neighbouring island of Gomera.
It felt great to be on the move again and we got a different perspective of Tenerife as it grew smaller behind us.
There was no anchoring allowed in the harbour at Gomera so we treated ourselves to a couple of nights in the marina - nice and still and no rolling motion!
We almost had a white Christmas if you can count the snow that appeared on top of Mount Teide this week (you can just make it out in the photo). Otherwise it was warm and sunny but we still cooked the traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings.
We are now ready (at last) to set off for the big voyage, so will be at sea until we arrive either in the Cape Verde islands in a week or two, or in Barbados sometime towards the end of January.

2005-12-18T21:10:00.000Z

Originally uploaded by rosailither.

One week later and we’re still here… Contrary to reports in the Express and Echo we weren´t swamped with sea water in the storm, we were safely sheltering in the harbour!
We’re still waiting for the motor for the watermaker to be repaired. It was meant to take two days but Spanish time seems to run slower than normal. We should be used to this by now. A three day delivery from the local chandlery took three weeks to arrive, as did a 4-day delivery from the States (our sewing machine). No wonder two months have gone by since our arrival…
In the meantime, we’ve been busy with improvements and alterations on board. We’ve finished the square sail, despite a recurring problem with the (new) machine – a cast iron part keeps breaking. We´ve made more storage space below and made room for Dave´s newly aquired equipment. We’ve also had a go at scuba diving in the harbour.
We’ve abandoned the idea of Cape Verdes for Christmas and decided to stay here and meet up with Dave’s old mate Mike Barrows, who’s coming out on Tuesday.
The first boats we saw leave have now arrived in the Caribbean but we’re certainly not the last boat here, in fact new boats are still arriving. We have met people from France, Belgium, Germany, Finland and Norway and are looking forward to a sociable Christmas with our fellow boaters.
And we wish the same to everybody back home. Merry Christmas!!

Hurricane Delta

2005-12-09T10:32:00.000Z

shipwreck
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

This is the sorry sight that awaited us the morning after the ‘storm’, which turned out to be the remnants of Hurricane Delta. This explains the 4m swell in the anchorage and winds gusting 65 knots…
Small consolation to the owner of this boat, who (like us) had heard a forecast giving only 20 knots of wind, and so wasn’t overly concerned and had gone ashore. When the wind picked up (it came in very quickly), he tried to row out to his boat but the dinghy was overturned by the waves. He managed to swim to another boat, but by this time, his boat was holed on the beach.
Even worse, he was uninsured (like most single-handers) and so is reduced to selling off all the salvageable bits, most of which have been submerged in salt water.
Dave, as ever unable to resist a bargain, has bought loads – generator, watermaker, SSB (long-range) radio, diving kit, lead ballast, various fittings and oddments of teak…
So that has been this week’s job – stripping everything down, washing the salt water out and trying to get things working again and find space to install it all. The deck of the boat is full of ‘stuff’, it’s hard to imagine we’ll ever be ready to go out to sea again.
It is now too late to reach the Caribbean for Xmas so we are planning to head for the Cape Verde Islands instead and cross from there in the New Year. The Cape Verdes are a group of Portuguese islands some 800 miles to the southwest, 300-odd miles off the coast of Senegal in Africa, and about 7 days sail away. We hope to set off in a week or so.

Some holiday!

2005-11-29T20:43:00.000Z

Some holiday!
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Well it’s nearly December and we’re still in Tenerife. After much deliberation, we decided to take the boat out of the water for our latest visitors, Dave’s Mum and brother, who came for a week. The initial idea was to give them a stable base for the week without rocking on anchor but it also gave Ian the perfect chance to admire the bottom of the boat. And to help with the sanding… Oh, and while you’re down there, you might as well help paint it!
We had mixed weather for the week, with lots of cloudy skies and even a sprinkle of rain. This suited Rita down to the ground but further reduced Ian’s chances of getting a suntan. We did manage to cram a lot into a week, with a trip up Mount Teide and to the north of the island along the terrifying coast roads. We ate in a typical Spanish restaurant (where one lady was tucking into a whole cooked octopus) and visited the much-publicised but overrated ‘Dragon tree’. It is big…. We had a trip out to sea once the boat was launched (sadly no dolphin or whale sightings) and even squeezed in some windsurfing lessons.
The weather is definitely getting cooler here, down to the low 20’s, still not a patch on Britain, where we were amazed to hear you’ve been having snow. Even in Exeter… We have also had unseasonal weather here, with a ‘tropical storm’ blowing through last night. After one boat had a near miss from dragging onto the rocks (pulled away at the last minute by Dave’s dinghy), all the anchored boats took shelter in the fishing harbour. One guy wasn’t so lucky and his boat ended up wrecked on the beach – a sad sight this morning.
Today brought a return to blue skies and calmer seas. We are making good progress with the square sail and still hope to be on the move soon.

Look at that blue sky!

2005-11-11T12:51:00.000Z

trapeze artist
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We met up with more Devonians in Los Cristianos, this is John Knight from Tool Care Hire practising for his new job as a trapeze artist!
The sun is still shining here, we are beginning to take it for granted that the weather will be dry enough to work on deck. We took the bus to the north side of the island and were amazed at the difference in climate. Where the south is hot, dry and barren, the north is cool, cloudy and green. The hillsides are full of banana plantations, which we were surprised to see grow upside down.
We have also been catching up with odd jobs on board and are currently investigating the possibility of making a square sail for the Atlantic crossing. This should be easier to handle than our current main sail, and safer - it would eliminate the risk of an accidental gybe.

More visitors

2005-11-07T10:16:00.000Z

Dave's babysitting method
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Our second lot of visitors were Hazel´s sister and nephew. During their stay, Dave perfected his babysitting technique, ideal for keeping kids safe on the beach!
We took the trawler out to sea to test out the new shaft, all seemed to be working fine but we then had trouble re-anchoring. The bottom of the harbour is flat volcanic rock with just a couple of inches of sand on the top, not enough to make the anchor grip properly.
We have since been catching up on a few odd jobs on board under the shelter of our sun cover. It´s hot out here...

Brits on holiday!

2005-10-31T21:32:00.000Z

Ed in holiday spirits
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

After 8 days of peace and solitude at sea, we were invaded by four (and a half) Whittons in full holiday mode. We rose to the occasion and had fun swimming round the boat and basking on the beach, especially after Alice & Grace’s discovery of two abandoned lilos. We consumed large quantities of ice cream and rediscovered the joys of a real English breakfast. Maria found that pregnant sunbathing was made easier by digging a hole in the sand to accommodate the bump, a job which reduced Ed to a state of exhaustion, especially after Dave took him for an evening´s ‘short stroll’.
Los Cristianos is definitely a home from home for the British tourist, with cheap beer and steak ‘n’ chips on offer everywhere. The sun shines every day and the sea is finally warm enough to swim in. Amongst all this, David still managed to find somebody to mill a new prop shaft, which he installed within a week so we are now fully mobile again. We plan to stay here for another three weeks to catch up on a few small jobs before the big crossing in late November.

repairs at sea

2005-10-19T15:01:00.000Z

repairs at sea
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Eight days at sea

After our visitors left, we had two long days motoring to get to Gibraltar (wind against us), mostly uneventful, apart from passing through a big thunderstorm, with lightning crashing all around the boat.
We weren’t sure what to expect in Gibraltar. What we found was torrential rain, cheap English breakfasts and coachloads of tourists in plastic macs desperately shopping for bargains. We refilled our fuel tanks at tax-free prices, studied as many weather forecasts as we could find on the internet and then prepared for our longest voyage to date – 750 miles to the Canaries.
We headed out into a dying low pressure system, so spent the first two days motoring into a SW F5. The wind swung westerly on the third day so we hoisted the sails and turned the engine off. That was more like it! Until late that evening there came a terrible grinding noise which turned out to be the main prop shaft free-spinning and hitting the rudder, having sheared off completely near the coupling. Dave managed to pull it back and wedged it with spanners to stop it slipping as a temporary measure.
So now we had no choice but to sail. Hmmm. Things still went well once we adjusted to the new mindset – best not to think about getting into harbour yet, just concentrate on getting there…Then the following night, the gaff jaws broke. We pulled down the main and topsail and sailed on the two front jibs until morning. Come daylight, Dave got out the grinder and welder, repaired the gaff jaws (not the easiest job on a rolling boat) and 45 minutes later we were sailing properly again.
Then the wind progressively died and we found ourselves becalmed. ‘It can’t last long’ we thought, and spent a relaxing day sunbathing on deck and swimming in the sea (it’s a really deep blue out here).
The following day brought a hint of wind and we ghosted along at just under 2 knots with all sails set. The planned 6 or 7 day trip started to look like it might take 10 days or more. Panic started to set in, not least because we had Ed & Maria flying out to meet us in 5 days time… Dave put his brain into gear and came up with something that ‘just might work’. He welded the broken halves of the prop shaft together, tried the engine for two minutes and nothing went bang. He then made up some metal ‘bridging straps’ and welded these across the join. We tentatively put the boat in gear and it worked. A little out of line maybe but nothing serious. ‘It may last 5 minutes, it may last 5 days’ was the prediction.
It lasted the first day, then all night, and another day and night. We expected at any moment to hear another horrible grinding sound but, no, it kept spinning the whole way to Tenerife. We spotted the high peak of Mount Teide hidden in the clouds on Tuesday afternoon and arrived safely at Los Cristianos on Wednesday lunchtime, just a day late to meet Ed, Maria, Alice & Grace (& the bump!).
Otherwise, we have survived the trip well. We had plenty of food and soon got used to the ‘motion of the ocean’ (although it’s hardly been rough). Once away from land, we slept at night with the radar on ‘watch’. We were both surprised by the lack of wildlife. In 8 days, we have seen two turtles, several gannets, a couple of storm petrels (one of which came and sat on our gaff during a windy moment) and a small unidentified bird that came and flitted round our wheelhouse some 200 miles from land. Also some dolphins (pantropical spotted variety) which played round the bows as we approached Tenerife. Otherwise, nothing but sea, sky, clouds and the odd ship.
Apart from a couple of hitches, the boat has been going really well. How else would we have discovered that we can sail in a mere breath of wind, albeit very slowly? Bound to get a few snags! And we’re still speaking, which says something.

The Algarve

2005-10-07T17:09:00.000Z

David's brother Ian at high speed!
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

From Lisbon down, the coastline changed dramatically – from non-stop sandy beaches to rocky sandstone cliffs. A couple of short hops took us via Sesimbra and Sines to the southwest headland of Cabo San Vicente, where we rounded the ‘end of the world’ for the third time (after Cornwall’s Land’s End and Spanish Finisterre).
We then left the reliable northerly winds and Atlantic swell for the more sheltered waters of the Algarve with it’s fluky winds – back to motoring again. In one day we went from the unspoilt village of Baleeira to the huge developed holiday town of Portimao, with two cruise ships moored outside. We were tickled to watch the passengers being ferried to and from shore in tiny lifeboat-like craft, which were smashing well into the seas that day, despite it being calm. I wonder how many people are brave enough to go ashore in those in rough weather?
At Faro, we met Dave’s brother and family for a week’s holiday during which we visited the market town of Olhau, the holiday town of Tavira (great beaches) and the Rio Guadiana, with Spain on one riverbank and Portugal on the other. Dave created a new watersport of being dragged behind the dinghy on a surfboard using a rolling pin as a tow-handle, and we discovered that swinging in a hammock at sea creates a violent momentum of its own. We also managed to fit in a spot of shopping and hiking as well as trying out the local places to eat (where a plate of prawns means a plate of prawns.).
We are still debating our next move. It all depends on the price of diesel…

Lisbon

2005-09-24T09:45:00.000Z

Lisbon
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

From O Porto, we have done short day hops down the coast, overnighting at Aveiro, Figuera de Foz, Peniche and Cascais. We have tried to avoid costly marinas and have often moored alongside fishing boats or quay walls, causing some confusion to the officials who need to fill in the paperwork in each port. It has been hard to avoid marinas completely as many new ones have sprung up to replace the old anchorage sites marked in our 1980s pilot book.
We have just spend a couple of days in Lisbon doing the tourist thing with Hazel’s parents. Despite the whole city sitting on the river Tejo, there was nowhere for yachts to moor within walking distance of the centre. The waterfront was all given over to commercial shipping and, apart from the Tower of Belem and the monument to Henry the Navigator, the city was surprisingly unattractive from the water. However the transport system was brilliant and we visited some fantastic monuments and museums by bus, train, tram and metro. Not to mention eating far too much of the typical Portuguese cuisine – grilled sardines, barbequed chicken, pork with clams, cuttlefish, squid kebabs, and the main staple - bacalhau (salted cod)- tastier than it sounds.
We are now heading south again and contemplating a detour to Gibraltar to top up with cheap fuel before heading to the Canaries. On finding a chandlery with English-language books, we splashed out on the up-to-date pilot book, which should take out the guesswork for the rest of the journey.

Viana do Castelo

2005-09-15T09:38:00.000Z

Viana do Castelo
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Having given up all hope of sailing at all in Spain, we finally managed it on our last day. The weather was perfect – sunshine and steady northerlies which pushed us along at 4-5 knots, and we even had a visit from a group of dolphins to further brighten our day. We crossed the border and arrived in Viana do Castelo just as the sun was setting.
On first impressions, Portugal seems much less frantic than Spain. The ‘maritime police’ stopped by to tell us we should be in the marina but then allowed us to stay two nights for free in the fisherman’s harbour!
The town had a relaxed atmosphere, lovely architecture and surprisingly clean streets. We climbed to the basilica on the hill behind for panoramic views, did a tour of the 1940’s semi-restored hospital ship and basically had a stressful day being tourists.
We are now in Porto, having arrived late last night, it was wonderful coming up the river in the dark and being welcomed by the city lights. It´s not quite so pretty and clean by daylight but again some amazing architecture and the cars actually stop for you at crossings, unlike France and Spain!

Getting round the corner

2005-09-15T09:35:00.000Z

Wind Power
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

The last week in Spain brought the tail end of two low pressure systems and lots of strong SW winds and rain. Very disappointing ….
We spent two days sheltering from the weather in El Ferrol. It’s a huge commercial harbour but we tucked ourselves away in a corner near the 15th century castle ‘Castillo de San Felipe’, one of whose main functions was to keep out the British. We splashed out for the 1€ entry fee and were impressed by the extensive remains, the majority of which were still intact and incorporated clever plumbing and drainage systems. We particularly liked the old-fashioned outdoor toilet block, literally hanging over the edge of the sea. The original ‘plop and drop’…
The weather cleared up for a couple of days, allowing us to make a bit more progress (motoring again). We skirted the edge of the beautiful ria de Ares and stopped in Sada for one night, then went on to Lage the following day. Unfortunately we managed to pick up a crab pot just outside the harbour. Dave was just cursing the number of marker buoys to steer clear of when we noticed we were being followed by a couple, some 150 feet behind and doing just the same speed as us! He managed to pull up the rope with a boathook and cut the buoys free but we still had a short piece of rope around the propeller, which could only be freed one way - and that meant getting wet. Luckily the engine kept going regardless so we were able to anchor in the shelter of the harbour beforehand. Despite the inviting sandy beaches surrounding the bay, Dave said the water was rather cold.
The following day brought a forecast of SW winds Force 6-7. We wasted the morning debating whether to go out or not, then when no winds had materialised by the afternoon, we steamed round to the next harbour of Mugia with another English boat, a Warren Cat, behind us. This meant we were finally around the corner and had more chance of being able to sail in what seemed to be prevailing W winds.
We also arrived in the middle of another fiesta, one that lasted four days and was situated some 500 yards from our berth on the quay wall. This made for good entertainment but not much sleep. The music from the dodgems seemed to be competing for volume with the main stage, and neither of these let up until 5am. Then, just as we’d drifted into deep sleep, we were cruelly blasted awake at 9am by 25 enormously loud rocket bangers fired from a nearby boat. You’ve got to admire the stamina of the Spanish, the fiesta-goers spanned all ages and the older folk were just as keen as anybody to dance the night away.
The SW Force 6’s did finally appear the following day so we stayed for a repeat performance in the evening, but this time accompanied by a fantastic fireworks display at half past midnight.
The next day took us to a tiny harbour called Corrubedo, again motoring as the forecast NE 4-5 winds barely blew a 3. The Spanish weather forecasts seem to be fairly accurate - but not for the day in question, for either the day before or the day after! It’s a case of looking at the sky and decide…
The Spanish seem to have gone all out for wind power, most of the coastal hilltops were covered in large wind generators. We found these far more appealing than a nuclear power station.

Portugal at last

2005-09-14T09:06:00.000Z

In need of restoration, El Ferrol
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

Just arrived in Portugal, in a place called Viana do Castelo. Due to technical problems, will update the blog properly soon.
Bom dia!

Nearly out of the Bay of Biscay

2005-09-05T16:21:00.000Z

Lastres
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

We’ve covered a fair bit of ground in the past week, leaving the Basque country for the Costa Verde and now Galicia, but sadly it’s been all motoring and no sailing. There has generally been very little wind, and what there was has been against us. It has also been very misty, with visibility down to a mile or so. We passed a range of mountains 20 miles inland that are apparently snow-topped all year round but we couldn’t see them.
We spent a day in Santander, where we found ourselves in a ‘medieval festival’, with stallholders dressed for the Middle Ages, knights in shining armour on parade and goblins, fairies and hunchbacks wandering amongst the crowds.
We made the brief acquaintance of a blind sailor who, with the help of several crew, was returning from a cruise in Norway, which he pronounced ‘beautiful’. He was also making plans for an extended world cruise. Watching him negotiate the ladder on the quay and putting complete faith in his helpers’ hands gave a glimpse of the day-to-day struggles he must face. A very courageous and determined man.
We also decided to try out the local yacht club after reading in the pilot book that they were very welcoming to visiting yachtsmen. We were informed by the not-very-welcoming man on reception that it was members only. On learning that we were visiting yachtsmen, he reluctantly allowed us in for a drink but told us that no meals were available as the club closed at 10pm. Imagine our surprise to see the place full of diners later that evening when we returned from a very enjoyable meal we had eaten elsewhere…
After Santander, we called at Lastres, a fairly typical Galician village with houses built up the steep hillside around the fishing harbour. As in most ports, the entrance was well indicated by a cluster of small open fishing boats which kept disappearing in the swell. Inside, the whole length of the pierhead was taken up with rod and line fishermen, and we had to nudge our way in amongst them. Once they’d re-positioned themselves at either end of the boat, they settled in for the night and the murmur of voices above continued until at least 6am. Yet we’ve never seen anybody catch a single fish!
The next stop was the uninspiring commercial port of Aviles, and from there to the much prettier ría, Ribadeo. Here we met another English couple on a 60-foot converted trawler and joined up with them for the short trips to Burela and Cariño. I was tickled when we passed a large aluminium smelting plant belching out smoke and their little boy (aged 3) thought it was a cloud factory! It was quite nice to travel in company with a similar vessel and reassuring to see that they roll just as much as we do at sea…

Basque Country

2005-08-27T08:13:00.000Z

Suspended car ferry
Originally uploaded by rosailither.

A tiring voyage from France to Spain - we left la Rochelle at 8pm and arrived in a place called Pasajes at 5am two days later, having hand steered all the way in two hour shifts. It’s hard to imagine the 30-odd day Atlantic crossing like that but people assure us that ‘you get used to it after a couple of days’.
If we thought we had landed in Spain, we were mistaken – everywhere the walls are daubed with graffiti in support of ETA and independence. Professional-looking signs proclaim that ‘You are not in France or Spain, you are in the Basque Country’ and so we made sure to fly the Basque flag along with our Spanish courtesy one in recognition.
The countryside is immediately different – very green and hilly compared to the low-lying beaches along the French coast. Little villages are wedged between the cliffs and built around fishing harbours and sandy beaches. Fish is on the menu everywhere, from posh restaurants to backstreet bars where they serve platefuls of bitesize nibbles called ‘pintxos’. We tried these one night and I found myself eating baby eels in roasted red peppers – actually very tasty.
We have stopped at several small places – Pasajes, San Sebastian (very pretty), Orio, and Getaria. Today we arrived in Bilbao and motored right up the river as far as we could go, the riverside is an amazing mix of shipyards, scrapheaps, pretty hills, fancy housing and abandoned buildings. The most amazing of all was the car and foot ferry that crosses the river suspended beneath a suspension bridge – see photo.
We have arrived in the middle of a whole week of fiesta and the city was accordingly pretty hectic. Whole streets were dedicated to children’s entertainment and music stages and market stalls took up several more. The streets of the old town were heaving, groups of drunken blokes milling about amidst tables of alfresco diners.
We are still getting used to the later Spanish timetable after strict French hours. We arrived at the Guggenheim museum too late to make a visit to worthwhile (20 minutes before closing) but the guy on the counter told us if we came back between 11pm and 2am we could tour the museum while listening to a jazz concert in the hallway!