Category: Learning to sail
Catching a mooring ball and adding an extra rope is a farce. It takes four of us. At least I think I’m taking an active role – I’m sitting on Colin’s bum to stop him going over! The closing advice from our Coastal Skipper practical in 2016 was that we needed to get out and […]
Clifton looks like the Caribbean in people’s dreams. Shallow reefs and sand bars make the water a stunning range of turquoise and blue shades. Palm trees line the beaches. Yachts bob around peacefully, and a kite surfer dots about inside the reef. Immediately after we completed our Day Skipper practical course in the BVIs in […]
We end up abandoning plans to practice tacking and gybing, and have to motor for the full crossing. There isn’t even enough wind to motor-sail. We are practically becalmed, the sea inky and still. In October 2015, immediately after doing our RYA Competent Crew practical in the BVIs, we took our Day Skipper practical. We’d […]
“Cow!” Skipper Mick shouts from the helm. We confusedly jump across to the starboard side and follow his outstretched finger, catching a glimpse of a green scaly head before it disappears below the waves. We look back at Mick. “Well, you can’t shout turtle. They’ll know you’re on to them”. This is the story of […]
In 22 years, we’ve gone through a lot together. Too much to say it all here, but if we want to look at how we found ourselves 6 weeks from leaving the UK to go and live on a boat we’ve never seen, we need to start somewhere around the early 2000s. This about a […]