| Offshore Foolishness |
Its been a whileJust looked at my last entry and realised that Easter is long past!It was trip full of the stuff of memories - painless Channel crossing followed by a meal on Friday evening with crew from the other boats. Then a brilliant sail under spinnaker from Cap De La Hague to the very entrance to St Peter Port harbour. We spent another night at anchor off Sark and lunched off Herm. There was a v foggy trip to St Malo when we encountered a Portsmouth-bound ferry heading for the same waypoint. Fortunately when called they said they could see us on the radar and the skipper negotiated an alteration of course to port for both vessels; Temptress towards the Minquiers and the ferry remaining unseen off into the bay. Later they called us up to say they believed they were clear would it be ok with us if they resumed their course to Portsmouth! From St Malo we had another great sail to Jersey before heading home in the company of dolphins. To cap it all my eldest (26) was chuffed to be allowed to stand her own night watches for the first time ( she had spent most of her teenage years refusing to be seen enjoying weekends with her mother & step-father) and to be trusted with the navigation. Since then we've been busy with a couple of new projects and a little bit of offshore racing just to keep us on our toes... the acquisition of a new (to us) home in Surrey which requires hauling into the 21st century from its 1960's - 80s decor & fittings. The second project shall be the subject of another entry in its own right - possibly even deserves its own blog - the restoration of a classic Merlin Rocket. That offshore race was Sussex Yacht Club's annual jaunt across the Channel to commemorate King Charles escape to France, the Royal Escape. We took part on Clarionet, a classic offshore racer designed by S&S from the 1960's that is still as elegant and fast at 40-something as she was in her prime. It was the 4th or 5th time she's helped her owner & crew to win the event - 1st in the IRC slow fleet and overall winner of the IRC class by a country mile ( or is that the wrong metaphor to use at sea?). The race marked the start of a short season of classic regattas as we've decided that the quality of the party is as important as the actual race for the crew. 2:44 PM - May. 31, 2007 - post comment
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Description When you reach a certain age and have done more than a few offshore races the time comes to look for a little more comfort.  Home User Profile Archives Recent Entries - Happy New Year - End of the Line - The project becomes a Project! - eBay: Not Exactly Where You'd Look for a Classic Boat... - Its been a while |