David Smith

Delivery Cuxhaven to Portsmouth on a Bavaria 34.

450 NM in 2.5 days with Halcyon Yachts. Brand new Bali 4.6 which will be at the Southampton Boat Show. Great crew Andrew Henry and Chris Chouldery. Hardly a puff of wind so on the engine .Great weather all the way from La Rochelle to Hamble.

Delivery of an Island Packet 33 Ardfern to Mylor. Dolly.

Delivery Waterford to A Corunna. Westerly Storm 33. Pretty calm . Great trip

Delivering a Westerly 33 Storm from Waterford to La Corunna. Great weather window for Biscay. Lots of dolphins and not much traffic. Quick stop at Camaret for fuel.

630 NM Arzal to Camaret to Falmouth to Ardfern MWS 25 kts Output from gearbox sheared going into Camaret. Lined up an engineer in Falmouth who ordered a new gearbox from Volvo Penta. Sailed over to Falmouth and 6 hours after arrival on the move again. Replenished food and was towed in by a regular Halcyon crew who lives in Falmouth. HR 39 with 75 HP engine .

Our own weather lockdown in Benodet came to an end as France announced a national lockdown coming into force. We spotted a small weather window that should allow us to get at least to Guernesey, hopefully further with the weather behind us in the channel. Getting out of Benodet and into the Chenel du Four was pretty lumpy, things calmed down after leaving France behind us. Fuel was running down quicker than expected as we were mid channel, but half a headsail kept the Lagoon cruising around 10kts thanks to a strong F8 behind us. As we approached Portland bill area, wind picked up to 50kts+ (far and beyond a new record for me!). Sea state turned into big rolling waves on the beam, a couple of which tried their best to spin the boat, but to no avail. Entering the Needles was very rough and we were being pushed all over the place by opposing swell and tide, but once inside the Solent the sun came out and it was a simple, fast sail back to Hamble!