Jack Crowe

IRC Overall 26 of 43 IRC Class 4 8 of 13

Engine intake blocked on sail drive causing slightly delayed departure. Motor in low winds across the Cowes.

A relaxing start to the day for a change with overcast skies and a forecast for showers in the afternoon, but no wind. A bit of drama getting out of our box berth which was for boats up to 12m. The width of the trot is less than 12m, making turning round whilst missing all the mooring poles a bit of a challenge. Tamaroa doesn’t have the benefit of being able to turn on a sixpence. In future we will consider paying for a bigger berth which necessarily comes with a bigger trot. A bit of a frustrating sailing day as the required course was on a run and the wind was flipping between 0 and 8 knots. We did get the cruising chute up for an hour or so and very fine she looked until the wind died off to nothing again. The showers arrived, but were very light and short.

A sparkling day on the water, literally! Easterley winds kept the temperature cool despite complete blue skies and sun. A lovely, relaxing sail at sea today ending in a short motor up the picturesque River Schlei. Jack played a blinder and got us into our box mooring at the second attempt. It was a very tight turn to get in with little room to manoeuvre. Massholm is charming. Dined in Am Schleieck Restaurant (seafood) - highly recommended. A good day for nature spotting. A porpoise joined us for a while and later a white tailed eagle flew overhead during our post dinner walk. A deep red orange sunset over the marina highlighted wind vanes in the distance and brought the day to a close.

Beautiful days drive through the canal. Very fair weather. 30 minute wait at Kiel Lock and then easy drive up to Laboe. Transit to Baltic complete.

Good NEly winds allowed sail well into the Elbe. No issues with Brunsbuttel lock. Jacqui attempted to sink the boat by leaving the stop cocks open on the bathroom sink and decided to tick of legs rather than buoys on the passage plan causing confusion when we thought we were an hour ahead of plan!

Fog at first however Molengat well buoyed and easy. Motor sailed at first head to wind but made good way close reaching once approaching Borkum. Wind 3-4. Approaches to the Elbe / TSS busy and challenging at night. Many uncharted Buoys. Helgoland pilotage easy. Excellent leading light.