Fidelio of London

On 6th June 2011, Fidelio of London completed her global circumnavigation, in 13 years 44 days, for a total of 47,792 nautical miles. Fidelio is a Najad 371, built in 1987. Her crew was Anne & Ian Gatenby, ably assisted by a Hydrovane which steered her virtually all the way. We did not cruise in company, but were in daily short wave radio contact with other cruisers, exchanging weather and other information.

Routing strategy was determined by Mother Nature. For the half year outside the hurricane season, you can cruise the tropics. For the other half year, you have to leave the hurricane zone, either by leaving the tropics, which is what we - and most other cruisers – did, or by going close to the equator to a zone where hurricanes (in theory) do not form. There is, thus, a half-yearly natural pattern to most of the cruising and, because of that, at any one time there are many other cruisers in the same general area following the same general pattern, and it is those with whom one has most radio contact, in addition to meeting some of them from time to time at the well-known stopping places en route.

Anne and Ian Gatenby on board Fidelio of LondonThe following is a note of our principal cruising areas. We will be writing a two part feature for the Little Ship magazine, part one this autumn will cover the highlights of our circumnavigation. Part two next spring will explore the practicalities.
 

1998 23 April Departed home port on Hamble River

  • 01 May. Departed UK: cruised Brittany, Channel Islands, French Atlantic islands to La Rochelle
  • June/July Crossed Bay of Biscay to Castro Urdiales: cruised northern Spanish coast, the Rias then Portuguese Atlantic ports to the Algarve.
  • Aug/Sept Into the Mediterranean: cruised Balearic Islands to Tabarka, Tunisia
  • Sept/Oct Cruised Tunisian ports to Monastir.
  • Overwintered on board at Monastir

 

1999 April-Aug Malta, Sicily (incl Siracusa), Aolian Islands, Sardinia,

  • Corsica, Elba, Northern Italy, Sth coast France, Spanish coast
  • Sept Gibraltar
  • Oct Porto Santo, Madeira islands
  • Oct/Nov Canary islands
  • Nov/Dec Atlantic crossing (25 days). Landfall Tobago

 

2000 Jan-April From Tobago cruised north through island chain to Bahamas.

  • May entered US at Fort Lauderdale. Intracoastal Waterway plus some passages outside, to Cheseapeake Bay
  • June Washington, Annapolis, Baltimore, New York
  • Jul/Aug Long Island, Block Island, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Martha's Vineyard
  • Sept/Oct South to Oriental, Nth Carolina. Hauled out.
  • Oct/Nov South to Florida Cays.
  • Dec Cay West to Havana, Cuba


2001 Jan/Feb Cuba to Isla Muheres, Mexico

  • Providencia island, Colombia
  • San Blas islands, Colon, Panama
  • Feb/Mars Colon Panama for repairs
  • April To Belize.
  • May Belize, Bay Islands of Honduras, Grand Cayman
  • June-Sept Bocas del Toro, Panama
  • Oct Bocas via Chagras R, to Colon
  • Nov Transited Panama Canal.
  • Nov/Dec Cruised W coast of Panama and Las Perlas Islands


2002 Jan Cruised Darien region, Panama.

  • Feb To Galapagos Islands
  • Mar To Marquesas Islands (28 days)
  • Apr/May to Tuomoto Islands
  • June/July Society Islands
  • Aug/Sept Suwarrow Atoll; Tonga
  • Oct Tonga to NZ via North Minerva Reef
  • Nov/Dec NZ

 

2003 Jan-May NZ

  • June/July Fiji
  • July/Sept Vanuatu
  • October landfall Bundaberg, Australia via Frederick´s Reef
  • Nov cruised E coast ports south to Newcastle

 

2004 Jan Sydney & E coast ports south to Eden

  • Feb to Hobart, Tasmania
  • Mar cruised E coast Tasmania
  • Apr/May E coast ports to Brisbane
  • June Great Barrier Reef passage and over the top to Darwin
  • July/Aug Cruised Kimberly region to Broom
  • Sept to Sri Lanka via Cocos Keeling Island
  • Oct/Nov Galle, Sri Lanka
  • Dec to northern Maldive island of Uligan

 

2005 Jan to Salala, Oman

  • Feb/Mar Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt
  • May Suez Canal to Med and on to Finike, Turkey
  • Sept/Oct local cruising in Turkish waters

 

2006-9 seasonal cruising in Turkish waters and northern Cyprus

2010 seasonal cruising Greek islands, Dodecanese to Crete

2011 2nd June Departed Rethymno, Crete
(6 June Arrived Siracusa, Sicily)


We now intend to move slowly west cruising the south coasts of Sicily and Sardinia, re-visit Mahon, Menorca, and thence to Fidelio's new home port, Port Leucate, close to where we now live in France.

 

Fidelio enjoying the deep blue sea