Stuff about my acting is @ Acting

 and stuff about my directing is @Directing

and my Sailing page   has stuff about sailing!

and I have just launched some PODCASTS

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michaeledwinbriant

Boulogne sur mer - my home town and port

MY BLOG 

My Youtube Channel 

 MORE SAILING VIDEOS here

FRENCH CANAL ROUTES TO THE MEDITERRANEAN

Why not take your boat to the Med next summer?

 A guide to the nicer places and a suggested passage plan, from the South Coast of the UK to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.

GENTLE SAILING ROUTE TO THE MEDITERRANEAN

Over 2600 copes of this book have been sold making it one of the most widely used publications for this route

£10 DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK NOW

THE ATLANTIC CROSSING GUIDE

This book covers all the aspects of making a transatlantic voyage from Europe to the Caribbean.
There are sections on preparation, equipment, down wind sailing, navigation and of course all the possible routes.

Over 1,300 copies have been downloaded in since publication last year....

MORE HERE

£10

Pirates

I was boarded and robbed in the Gulf of Aden 

Red Sea  

NOTES: I hope helpful for transiting this area.

Attacked  

is the story of the boarding by pirates in the Gulf of Aden -

The Panama Canal 

pages have full details of costs, transit, documentation

Our wonderful Mediterranean summer Cruise - Log book

Summer cruise from Gibraltar to

Balearics,  Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Tunisia and via Balearics again back to Gibraltar

- here

in my last but one boat a Westerly Ocean 43

Paw Paw of London

MEDITERRANEAN MARINAS

If you are looking for a place int the Mediterranean to keep your boat and be able to sunbath on Christmas Day then this book lists them all from Morocco to the Costa del Sol to Turkey, Greece, Tunisia, Malta etc.

MORE HERE
 

£10

BOATING WITH BREXIT

This is the transcript of the YouTube video (Edition 2) and describes the procedures for British boats visiting French ports and the 90/180 day rule.  It then covers the new situation of keeping your boat in the European Union - Mediterranean and your options for visiting it - Post Brexit - it has 18 pages.

 £5

 Sailing page

also has

links

to items including:-

 Atlantic  

is my personal log of my first Atlantic crossing.  

Medical 

 I carry on ocean voyages.

Coconut Milk Run

across the Pacific Ocean

CRUISING SOUTHERN SPAIN AND THE COSTA DEL SOL   This book replaces the need to buy all the expensive pilot books of Southern Spain and France   From the Straits of Gibraltar and from the end of the French canals all the ports, marinas and places to visit. If you are new to the Western Mediterranean this book is an indispensable guide and pilot book.    more here  £5

If you are thinking of going off to

 'live the dream..'

LIVING ABOARD AROUND THE WORLD

By

Michael E Briant

For more information go to

Living Aboard Around the World

£5

DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK NOW

The Caribbean

is probably the biggest and best cruising ground in the world. Wonderful climate, beautiful islands, nice people and for the most part very inexpensive. With predictable weather and such good sailing winds it  makes the Mediterranean look like a very poor relation. 

How to get there - how to get home- details of all the Island groups and anchorages.  Pictures and chart details together with descriptions of the islands.

Pictures, charts, distances, links to marina's and faculties, weather and places to visit and what to see.......

 There are two versions the first is for boats coming from Europe and the second is an American Version for boats heading south through the Bahamas & Turks and Caicos.

To download this ebook visit

Gentlesailing . Caribbean Islands

 UK to Med routes

Lists the possible routes via the French Canals or Portuguese coast.

All UK to Med routes  in both directions

STRAIT SAILING TO GIBRALTAR

 The final hurdle is entering the Straits of Gibraltar and becoming a Mediterranean sailor.

How it all works - facilities and prices.

Gentle Mediterranean Routes to the Islands

The routes from Gibraltar and the French Canals to the Mediterranean Islands.

Pictures of la Rochelle storm damage

in the Chesapeake a Lightning strike which destroyed every electrical item in the boat

Atlantic

The personal log of my first Atlantic crossing.

Gentle Mediterranean Routes to the Islands

 (Balearic, Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Malta, and Greek Islands)

  A guide on how to get to the main Mediterranean Islands from Gibraltar or the French Canals.

Strait Sailing to Gibraltar

CHAPTERS

1. Mediterranean overview

2. Entering the straits

3. Bárbate

4. Tarifa

5. Gibraltar

6. La Línea                    

7. Aljecerías

8. Ceuta

9. Smir          

10. Duquesa

11. Tangier

12. Bringing your boat legally into Spain

The book contains tidal charts and strategy for making the final passage through the straights into the Mediterranean. Information on fuel and marina prices as well as haul out facilities and places to winter your boat. Beside port information for all the above it provides places of interest and reasons for visiting them.

Dozens of photos and illustrations.

LIVING ABOARD AROUND THE WORLD

By

Michael E Briant

For more information go to

Living Aboard Around the World

£5

For my sailing books and French canal guides please go to

  gentlesailing.com

French Canal Routes to the Mediterranean

Over 2700 copies sold....

This book has become the standard work for transiting the French canals to the Mediterranean and back

DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK NOW 

£10

Why not take your boat to the Mediterranean next summer? GENTLE SAILING ROUTE  TO THE MEDITERRANEAN  There are several ways of getting your boat to the Mediterranean. On the back of a lorry, via the French canals, four or five day’s non stop across the Bay of Biscay then down the Portuguese coast or spend the summer or two, gently coasting southwards, enjoying the harbours, cities, towns and villages of France Spain and Portugal. This is not a pilot book, rather a passage plan and guide to the nicer places between the South Coast of the UK to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea.  It can all be done in easy stages, to suit a lightly crewed boat, with perhaps only a couple of people on board who are without ‘offshore’ experience.  Actually, it is a lovely way to explore a lot of delightful foreign places.    Specially drawn charts of: Cherbourg to L’Aber-Wrac’h. Chenal du Four to La Rochelle La Rochelle to Spain La Rochelle to Coruña Coruna to Gibraltar +illustrations, pictures, paintings   1 – Planning the voyage 2 –South coast to Chenal du Four 3 - Chenal du Four to La Rochelle 4 - La Rochelle to Spain overview 5 - La Rochelle to Coruña 6 - Coruña to Gibraltar DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK NOW £10   LIVING ABOARD AROUND THE WORLD       1Which Boat and what equipment?           2  The canal route to the sun 3    The sea route to the sun 4 Cruising the Mediterranean           5     Crossing the Atlantic                                                                            6     Cruising the Caribbean 7      Panama and Pan Pan                                                          DOWNLOAD THIS BOOK   £5 8     The Canal and into the Pacific 9    South Pacific Islands 10  Tahiti to New Zealand 11   Helicopter Rescue 12  The Great Barrier Reef 13  Pirate Attack 14   Tragedy in the Red Seaall sailors  15       15  Homeward Bound

PANAMA CANAL

Has full transit details, costs and copies of the official documentation.

Coconut Milk Run

(Trade winds route of the South Pacific from Panama)

The Pacific Crossing Guide

From the Caribbean and Panama to Australia via New Zealand and the Islands of the South Pacific including Galapagos, Marquesas, Tahiti, Cook, Fiji & Tonga plus all details of the Panama Canal

 more here

£5 

Summer cruise to:
Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Tunisia
and back via Balearics to Gibraltar
 

Atlantic

The personal log of my first Atlantic crossing. My concerns, fears, conversations with Herb and much more.

Medical

This is not a list of plasters and aspirin! It contains details of the 

Medical

drugs & equipment for ocean passages

Helicopter Rescue.

An unexpectedly exciting adventure off the West Australian coast at

LADY MUSGRAVES ISLAND

Shot from the deck of Bambola in Lady Musgrave just off the coast of Australia near Brisbane

SAILING VIDEOS here

ATTACKED BY PIRATES

&

ROBBED

 

PORTS ON THE WEST COAST OF FRANCE

A PERSONAL VIEW OF THE PORTS AND HARBOURS I HAVE  VISITED ON THIS COAST

Crewing

  the boat can sometimes be a problem. This is how I solved it.  This page may also be helpful to people wanting to crew

 

If you want to know more about

Sailing info la Rochelle

 

La Rochelle/Les Minimes facilities

 

 

WEST COAST FRANCE

 

If you are planning on heading further south next season, you might want to look at this page

which lists some of the marinas and ports we have recently visited.

 

 

 

LA ROCHELLE STORM DAMAGE

Horror pictures

1ST MARCH 2010 HERE

 

 

SPAIN SAILING

FACILITIES I HAVE FOUND USEFUL IN SPAIN,  MAINLY THE COSTA DEL SOL, and GIBRALTAR

 

PACIFIC CROSSING GUIDE               from the Caribbean and Panama to Australia and New Zealand and the islands of the South Pacific Just published on Amazon and gentlecruising.com   If             If you are bored with the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, read this book, then you will want to dream of visiting the nearest place to paradise on this globe. How to transit the Panama Canal see giant rays on the way to the Galapagos and the best islands in the Marquesas and Touamotu groups before reaching Tahiti the Cook Islands, Tonga and Fiji then laying up for the hurricane season in New Zealand or Australia. Available from     £5

Central Marbella holiday apartment to rent 

 Set in the heart of the centre of Marbella, this modern and sophisticated newly refurbished, two bedroom flat is three minutes walk from the beach and five minutes from the marina.

VFT/MA/09188

 more here

https://www.vrbo.com/en-gb/p6874856?dateless=true

Ronda is where I used to live. A beautiful town up in the mountains and about an hours drive from the sea. Wonderful place to be in.

Vejer de la Frontera is a white hill town near the entrance to the Straights of Gibraltar. Probably the most unspoilt of all the hill towns - white villages in Southern Spain

Boat Import tells you how to handle the importation of your boat legally into Spain and how to avoid paying the 12% matriculation tax.

Car Import tells you how to change the plates to Spanish registration, and if its a near new car how to avoid the 12% matriculation tax -

How to Register gives full details of how to 'clock into' the Spanish system if you are going to become a resident

Northern Spain is just that - a wonderful cruising area for yachties and far removed in every way from the 'Costa's'

Banking in Spain give some helpful info on what can be expensive and complicated.

In Praise of Spain

(Although my 'love affair' with this country has run it's course!)

Once you get away from the 'Costa's', which foreigners created, it really is a very beautiful country. The countryside and mountains are spectacular.

Northern Spain, Basque country, is amazing and a wonderful cruising ground and with Gibraltar at the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea you can have the best of both worlds

If you become a resident there is a National Health System which is considered to be one of the best in Europe and a living standard which is both high and inexpensive.

ON THE DOWN SIDE:

 the tax system is antiquated and based on letters and extensive paper forms and has not been modernised since Franco!  It employs vast numbers of people and very few modern computers or internet facilities, unlike France and the UK...

It is grossly unfair and very, very dangerous, which is why I have left the country as a resident and moved to France.  I have been bludgeoned out of thousands of Euros and been fined, despite being open, honest and transparent with the Spanish tax authorities.

I have even had local taxes increased on a property I sold years ago, as the local authority decided, retrospectively, that they had not charged enough back then! 

If you have a 2nd home there you will  taxed on the months you do not rent it out!  

When you sell your 2nd home, you will pay a tax to the local authority on the sale price because they have maintained the roads and local infrastructure and without which, apparently, my property would not be saleable in addition to Capital Gains Tax!

If you buy in Spain or move to Spain, then my advice would be to get a very good English speaking accountant.  

Not doing that and trying to do my tax returns with an inexpensive one, has cost me dearly and shaken my faith in the honesty and integrity of the Spanish tax system.

Vejer de la Frontera is a white hill town near the entrance to the Straights of Gibraltar. Probably the most unspoilt of all the hill towns - white villages in Southern Spain

Boat Import tells you how to handle the importation of your boat legally into Spain and how to avoid paying the 12% matriculation tax.

Car Import tells you how to change the plates to Spanish registration, and if its a near new car how to avoid the 12% matriculation tax -

How to Register gives full details of how to 'clock into' the Spanish system if you are going to become a resident

Northern Spain is just that - a wonderful cruising area for yachties and far removed in every way from the 'Costa's'

Banking in Spain give some helpful info on what can be expensive and complicated.  With the current 'crises' it's quite a 'cash' society so you need easy and cheap transfers.

I highly recommend  builders,  who recovered the terrace disaster and installed the  inside staircase with all the works done to the highest standards at very, very reasonable prices.

They cover the entire Andalucía area and Carlos speaks perfect English & German. Email:-  jcsalas@salasduran.com

WHO is Michael E Briant

When the publishers Classic TV Press asked me to write these memoirs I was very flattered but somewhat unsure.

The title sums up the question I have been asking myself for years.

 The book is available from  here

More about it

here