Champagne sailing
Well, we’re incredibly lucky. It’s honestly unbelievable how lucky we are with the weather. The weather in Europe is all over the place: the lows are tracking between Scotland and Iceland, and there’s …
Cruising
A Prosperous Start
We left yesterday around 10 o’clock with very little wind. By about 3 o’clock we had passed Den Helder and could finally get the sails up. There wasn’t much wind all night, but just enough to keep …
Back to the Azores
Marion is busy with the church renovation this year, so this time I’m setting off the old way: with crew first. To keep my sea legs in shape, and because it’s a truly beautiful spot on this planet, …
Bumping our way home
Over the weekend it quickly became clear. Two more days of patience and the wind would veer from south to northwest. That’s a nice direction for heading due south. On Tuesday morning we get up at 6. Not long after, …
Stavanger and Surroundings
After 2 days on the free mooring of the Royal Norwegian Boating Association in Uskjo, it was time to mingle with people again, and besides, we were rather curious about Stavanger. That meant quite a detour, because the …
Ryfylke, Norway
Phew, this is another first for the year – a report written almost live! Last Tuesday we left the anchorage south of Lerwick nice and early again, around 6 o’clock. It was drizzly, dull and cold once more. …
Scalloway, Shetland
It had been clear for a few days that the weather would improve on the 14th. So where there had been 4 sailing boats in the morning, by midday we were on our own. The English boat La Contenta left for Fair Isle. We also …
Westray, Orkney
Last Tuesday we were ready for a change after the metropolis of Kirkwall and all those stones. So, sails up and off to the “Northern Isles”. After trying to anchor in Fersness Bay (too much swell), we settled …
Mainland, Orkney
On Saturday we could finally pick up the car from J D Peace. We handed over four bottles of Brouwdok, but there was so much staff around and not the one gentleman we’d promised them to. Rental cars are in short …
Kirkwall, Orkney
It’s been a whole year since the last update appeared on this blog. All winter long the moment to finish writing up the Atlantic loop here kept slipping through my fingers. I’ll try to make up for that …
Waiting for family on Faial
For about six weeks I was on board alone in Horta, on the island of Faial. Very relaxed: I wasn’t going anywhere and had little else to do than wait for the family’s holidays to start. A bit of work on the …
3,200 miles from Bonaire to Faial (Horta)
I had been looking forward to crossing the Atlantic from west to east for a long time. Sure, we had done east to west, but that turned out to be very easy: point the bow west with plenty of wind from behind! Ten days is …