Friday 21 June
Journeyed to Deacons Yard, well laden with clothes, supplies and bits for the boat by train in the morning and persuaded Aladdin’s Cave to check out the rigging of Willow, a Sadler 32, which was completed within the hour. Alja arrived a later and shortly afterwards we started the engine and slipped moorings just after mid-day picking up diesel (40 litres) from the Hamble Marina refuelling point. With two reefs in the main and two thirds genoa we sailed into a stiff south westerly force 5, in sunshine, with forecasts of stronger winds to come. We arrived at Yarmouth and chose a walk ashore berth and were tied up by 7pm. We had supper on board and examined the weather forecast to see if there was a chance to sail the following day – there wasn’t.
Saturday 22 June
HPO sightings
We were delighted to welcome three of our HPOs to the Club just recently.
Pictured are Michael Wynter (HPO Sydney) and Gabe Langerak (HPO Amsterdam) renewing their friendship with LSC members and English beer at the bar last week.
Sarah Fountain, HPO for the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, joined us for the Showstoppers night when she was staying at the Club for a couple of days.
In other HPO news, Anne and Ian Malcolm were entertained and looked after by our HPO Fethiye, Stuart Aikman, his wife Dilek and their young daughter Katrina on their recent sailing trip to Turkey. Ian took this footage of their Beneteau 44 underway in the beautiful blue waters.
HPO Stuart Aikman underway in Sukran, video
A clip of HPO Fethiye, Turkey, Stuart Aikman's Beneteau 44 Sukran, sailing to windward of our yacht Saturnus on a recent sailing holiday to Turkey.
Crossing the SW Sunk
I mentioned in my previous blog that when we made the passage to Calais there seemed to be a lot less depth in the SW Sunk than last year. East Coast navigators may be interested to know that (saint) Roger Gaspar of the Crossing the Thames Estuary website has been out to survey the location and has produced an updated chartlet, which can be found here, with additional discussion and some photos on the YBW forum.
The best route through the swatchway is now further to the NE as indicated by the chartlet. Many thanks to Roger Gaspar for all his efforts.
Ronhilda goes to Holland and passes a Watershed
Getting a crew for this cruise turned out to be a nightmare, several members were otherwise booked and others had to drop out. However I managed to rustle up two crew making three on board, just enough in my planning.
Plan was go as far as Waddenzee if all went well, do-able if the weather played ball and nothing else went awry. The weather did indeed play its wicked way, the weekend of the 22/23 saw predictions of F5/7 and gale 8 in Wight and Dover, no place to be with a crew fresh to the yacht. We prudently stayed in Chichester Marina picking up a buoy on Sunday to leave first thing Monday 24th.
Le Blog du Lot - The Final Episode
Once again, the Potamoi were on our side, and the rain held off as we made our way to Caix. We stopped en route to test the “ancrage sauvage” so dear to the French (not a people generally known for their parking prowess!), and lunch was spent at anchor – or rather, lassoed to a tree.
For the first time, the food served for dinner in the only restaurant was disappointing – however, we were treated to a wonderful impromptu concert, by a local guitarist and a clarinet player – whom we had met working the locks! They jammed for a good hour, clearly enjoying performing as much as we enjoyed listening to them.
The River Lot - Our thanks to Caroline!!
When we signed up for the Rally, we little suspected that the most difficult part would be our navigation through the murky waters of French bureaucracy and labor actions. From the beginning Caroline provided some of the most extensive guidance and material that I have seen and once disruptions in train and Air travel occurred she worked tirelessly to provide assistance wherever she could. We were all extremely appreciative and thankful to her.
Le Blog du Lot - More French Adventures
Wednesday, Skipper got his crew on deck early, as there were only 2 days left to get as far as the end of the navigable part of the Upper Lot.
Le Blog du Lot
Caroline Quentin had set up a few obstacles to those of us who wanted to join the Lot cruise she had organised, and we had to battle through strikes from both French air traffic controllers and train drivers to get to Douelle, the start of the cruise. Years of living in the UK have badly eroded my capacity at navigating the French public service, and I managed to get there a day late - therefore missed the sailing up to Cahors, as well as the visit to the market on the Sunday morning.
I met the boat at lunchtime on Saturday, and dinner at Le Balandre was the perfect way to recover from a slightly frustrating journey - French cuisine does not get much better than in the Quercy, and regional wines need no introduction. A walk back to the boat through the sleepy town rounded up my first day.