MY SAILING EXPERIENCE
This is the excellent company I use:
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MY SAILING EXPERIENCE
This is the excellent company I use:
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In 2003 I completed my circumnavigation. Did not sit down and plan to do it but rather just let the voyage evolved.
Whilst I was directing a Royal Navy series called Warship I did the shore based RYA Yacht-masters course under the instruction of Dan Hass and learned how to navigate and tie a few knots. I found a 22ft Galion for sale (bit like a small GRP folkboat) complete with its trot moorings on the Hamble River, which I kept for the next 10 years. 3 weeks later set off for Cherbourg. Took 36 hours to get there with no wind and the engine was a little outboard with a 2 gallon petrol tank. Joined Warsash Sailing Club when it operated out of a shed on Lobster Quay. Was and still is a first rate sailing club. ← This is 'Mignonne' - a Galion 22 - so pretty! You never forget your first love...Sold her in 1978 to John Oakey who still sailed out of Portsmouth harbour - much modernised and beautifully maintained. her until quite recently. He installed an inboard engine and 'proper heads' as well as other upgrades. They are such good boats - I was so lucky to have had such a wonderful craft at the beginning of my sailing live. |
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Needed a bigger sturdier boat and purchased an ELIZABETHAN 31 called LIZELLE. Wonderful yacht. Long keel - well built. She taught me to sail. Went all over northern France and the channel Islands. Down to Brittany then to Amsterdam. One winter I set of from Amsterdam down the canal system to PORT ST LOUIS in the French Mediterranean. Exquisitely beautiful and interesting trip - cannot recommend it enough. Had a few weeks in the Med then work came up and in the end had her shipped back by lorry. These are superb boats. Lizelle has now been re-named White Heather and last I heard was a sailing school boat
Because I had found living in a 31 footer a bit cramped and I intended to do some longer cruises I purchased the ketch SOUTHERN CHANCER an extended Maurice Griffith GOLDEN HIND in steel with a 40ft LOA. Took Southern Chancer across Biscay to the Med in late September/October and later down to the Canaries. I found the maintenance on a steel boat trying and she was a bit slow. Sailed her back to the Med along the Spanish coast to Sete in the South of France. Took her masts down and spent a pleasant 3 weeks motoring her up the canals then the Seine through Paris to Le Havre.
Been hit by lightning - attacked by pirates - All without harming me or my crew and had the most wonderful voyage you can imagine. Sheer Magic... f you are coming up the Red Sea then you may be interested in the notes on my passage. If you are worried about Pirates then do have a look at the Pirates page and what being Attacked by pirates is like is a revised reprint of the Yachting Monthly magazine article. If you are worried about being hit by Lightning then this may interest you. If you have not crossed the Atlantic before and would be interested in the log I wrote at the time of my first crossing then Atlantic is perhaps worth a visit. Following that page are how I plan water and food for long trips Victual and as mainly a single-hander how I have found people to help with Crewing. Also there are my thoughts on Watch Keeping that are personal but may be useful.
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It was very useful for me to have a 'project' so I really enjoyed doing a major refit to Eloise. Sadly my plans for sailing down to the Med each year down the Portuguese coast then returning to La Rochelle via the Canal du Midi never materialised but we had some very good times with her around the ports and marinas of West coast France. She ended up being fully modernised with many systems totally renewed.
With the departure of Eloise I was able to purchase the most beautiful boat I have ever owned. A Westerly Ocean 43 called Paw Paw of London. Delivering her from Lymington to La Rochelle was an interesting couple of weeks but the difference between a small catamaran of 33ft and even a Moody 36 mono-hull was amazing. We spent several summers cruising the French West coast and the Spanish and Portuguese Northern coasts then finally moved her down to the Mediterranean and 'imported' her into Spain. We now sail out of Gibraltar and regularly visit Morocco, Balearics and this year are heading for Sardinia and Scilly.
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THE FRENCH CANAL ROUTES TO THE MEDITERRANEAN
It describes the Routes, the regulations the paperwork - How where and when to get the qualifications and license, the depths, air heights, locks and a whole lot more. There are 'charts/maps' throughout, the distances, dimensions & main stopping places and is the only publication to list ALL the possible stopping places on the Rhone River!/ |
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French Canal Routes to the Mediterranean Gentle Sailing Route to the Mediterranean Gentle Mediterranean Routes to the Islands Caribbean Islands Cruising Guides |
For my sailing books and French canal guides please go to
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I am pleased to say this web site is
who have been kind, helpful and understanding. I really recommend them |
My wife wanted a table and a loo that was not a bucket.
Mignonne
gave way to Gamine - a brand new Jaguar 25 with a proper heads,. a table and a
bigger outboard with a 6 gallon fuel tank. (This picture is not of Gamine but a
similar Jaguar 25 also orange. That spring she broke her
rudder blade in a 6-7 off Alderney Race and I was towed for 12 hours into
Cherbourg by a French Frigate. My wife who was on board at the time was not
impressed and after that I started single handing! Got the repairs done and in-between directing a sequel
to SECRET ARMY called KESSLER in Belgium I sailed her back to the Solent.
For various domestic reasons and because I needed a change in my
sailing so I purchased a Prout 33 Catamaran -
ELOISE - you can follow my adventures and change in sailing habits by
going to
