Ian Clayton

After an enjoyable couple of days in Funchal we set off for Gran Canaria. Wind never filled in significantly so we had the engine on for much of the way to meet our arrival target. First night out had a magnificent view of the heavens including seeing distant lights cross-crossing the north west sky for an hour or so - could it have been aliens? Certainly wasn’t satellites as they were moving in multiple directions. Decided that it was most likely naval aircraft on night exercises from a carrier! Wow! Anyway, we hooked a mahi-mahi which made for excellent ceviche and fried fish that evening, and we missed another that gave a big hit on the rod but took the lure with it. Shame! We sailed between the obscure Islas Selvagens, or Savage Islands; 3 small volcanic islands that are now a Portuguese National Marine Park. Hoped to see some marine wildlife but had to content ourselves with a few more birds than usual. Approaching Gran Canaria we finally spotted some dolphins to keep crew Mike happy. Finally, rounding the NE corner of the island we started to see the large drill ships and other commercial vessels moored up in the port at Las Palmas. We tucked Breeze up safely into the LP Marina alongside an almost deserted pontoon, cleared ready for an influx of boats doing the ARC+. We left her there and flew home, ready to return in late October ahead of the Grand Depart on 9th November.

Well what an adventure for Anthony, Ian Mike & Chris. Longest passage for 3 of the crew by quite a way. Flew back to A Coruna to get the boat prepped for a week at sea. Motoring round Cape Finistère on Day 1 was a little unnerving as we kept a watching eye out for the dreaded rudder-eating orca. Once we started to head further offshore towards Madeira the risk subsided and we settled into our watch system; paired up on 4 hour overlapping watches during the hours of darkness then just one person designated on watch during the day. We had periods of no wind but when it blew we had nothing too extreme, peaking at around 25 knots. Plenty of time to try out some of my new sails from Crusader Sails in Poole - delighted with their performance thus far. We were accompanied by pods of dolphins a few times; fascinated by the bio-luminescence glittering in our wake at night and marvelled at the stars and the Milky Way, cross-crossed with the occasional satellite, shooting star and plane. We were passed by the odd ship heading up and down the coast and then crossed by those heading between the Med and the Americas. Our fishing exploits were successful in that we hooked a fish, yet unsuccessful in that by the time we pulled it on board some other marine creature had eaten it for supper. The weary crew finally sighted Porto Santo and Madeira about 15 hours before we finally arrived into Funchal and some well-earned downtime.

Course #9 (SL -> Bell RM (S) -> Glovers (P) -> RoRo (S) -> Hamish RM (S) -> FL) Max. F4

A trip to Yarmouth with the famalam! We could have done without the easterly wind and the lumpy sea conditions, but thankfully they all traveled well and even had a snooze before we reached Hurst. Very slow going. Motor-sailed all the way (the wind was straight on the nose). Rafted alongside another yacht on Yellow Pontoon. Max F5.

Wow! What a trip! The three of us; Ian. Andrew & Chris made it from Southern Brittany across the Bay of Biscay, making landfall in A Coruna in Galicia. It wasn’t all plain sailing, in particular on our first night we sailed straight into the thunderstorms that ended up hitting Poole on Saturday afternoon - we had massive lightning bolts hitting the sea in front of us, and spectacular bolts running through the clouds, so we turned west…… we had more in front of us so we headed north, then they started getting closer and we headed back across our original track and the wind gusted up to a Force 7 out of the blue. Finally we could see a gap between the thunderstorm cells on the radar so we snuck through it and came through unscathed! Other than that it was mostly plain sailing; the new Code Zero sail came out to play a few times and having the Starlink on board was amazing in terms of getting up to date weather forecasts. As we neared the Spanish coast we negotiated a sprawl of Spanish fishing boats and also switched the depth sounder off in order to try not to attract the orca (that delight in attacking yacht rudders), steering by hand for the last 10 hours as another mitigation measure, then to be thrown the fog, for which Galicia is renowned, for the last 3 hours or so…..All whilst getting used to the sleep deprivation of working to a watch system in a relatively confined space. Good job we all get on well together! Very happy to be here, looking forward to a solid night’s sleep, but not until after a few beers have been dealt with!

Lovely day, light winds so motoring all the way, with a little assistance from the mainsail and fresh out of the box “Code Zero”. Left rather later than we probably should, to catch the favourable tide through the renowned Chenal du Four inside the isle of Ouessant but ended up not being in the slightest bit scary even against the tide, as we reached the southern end of the Chanel. Struck out for the 20 miles across the Cote d’Iroise heading for the equally notorious Raz de Sein and decided to push on, based on how benign the CdF had been, eventually ploughing straight through against 3 kts of tide. Felt not much different to an extended passage through the Hurst Narrows heading into the Solent from Poole Bay. Had a few dolphin sightings; always raises the excitement levels, including a solitary and much larger bottlenose dolphin which played in our bow wave for a while, shortly before we were buzzed, at very low level, by the French Navy. Plenty of spectacular lighthouses along the way. Finally put into the small fishing port of Audierne for the night, rafted up alongside a French yacht and in amongst the local fishing fleet.

When we could all really do with some sleep after the long overnighter before, decided to head out and cut 30 miles off our journey around to the fearsome Chenal du Four at the very NW tip of France. Motorsailed all the way as there was no wind to speak off, punching the tide to start with and then gradually accelerating as the tide turned in our favour. Chose the safest channel into the estuary, just as the sun was setting, giving some beautiful sights that we could barely take in as we tried to prevent the strong cross tides dragging us into the rocks and shallows - quite a challenge.

Overnighter from Dartmouth to Roscoff - first night passage for both Andrew and the skipper! Headed out from Dartmouth in drizzle but it soon cleared as a front came through and the wind settled in the west; perfect for our passage to Roscoff. Sailed with a reef in the main for comfort in a Force 5 and had a lovely sail under an orange moon until it set around 4 am. Even had a few dolphins playing alongside in the moonlight. Lots of big traffic to dodge entering/ exiting the Channel separation scheme - all managed without any problems - phew! Back in Roscoff for the first time since last Summer to check in to Schengen with Customs, then a stroll into town for a spot of lunch before heading back to the boat ready to head straight off again. Shame not to stay longer.