So I’ve set up a system to allow Mary and David to use Giselle’s SailMail email account from anywhere in the world to post to RoamingTheOceans.com…

…this means we should get updates from them in the middle of their ocean passages

8^)

I’m looking forward to it — are you?

Andrew

Really excited! Finally found some advise on how to handle bad storms. Heaving-To. The important addition to normal heaving-to understanding for low winds speeds is the boat must not be moving forwards as it will get out from behind the protective slick it creates just being blown downwind. Slick disrupts the seas and prevents waves breaking on the boat. Heaving to in gale force winds normally achieved with trysail only (or triple reefed main). In very strong winds requires sea anchor out with a pennant line to stern to achieve the 50° to the wind you need. [Read more →]

Mary writes – I’ve been worrying how to get the prescription drugs on board. Done lots of internet research and talked with lots of medical people but no solution. One short phone call to Dr Bob Hadley at the Cruising Association and I now have a simple plan for both our repeat prescriptions for blood pressure and cholesterol and the drugs for the first aid kit. [Read more →]

I have uploaded the set of slides we used for the presentation we gave at the Royal Forth Yacht Club and at Port Edgar Yacht Club. You can find them in the 2005 folder or just double click on the image above this text. I have put quite large versions so let me know in the comments if you have a problem with speed of loading etc. Mary won the Millennium Quaich for the second time with her account of the trip. (Its 1.4MB so be patient!). You can read the other entries for the Millenium Quaich on the Port Edgar Yacht Club web site.

Still loosing weight. The diet really does work well. The food is good and I don’t have cravings for forbidden foods. In fact most forbidden foods feel sickly! Even 1 coffee a day is all that I want (should be 0 but….). Blue line on graph above is 4 lbs per week loss, yellow is 2 lbs per week and the magenta is completing the 1.5 stone challenge before we set sail in July. We have an appointment with the local GP nurse for jabs on Monday so will get the official word on my weight then. We have had the Hepatitis A/B jabs 1 & 2 and will get Tetanus/Polio/Diphtheria this time. To come is yellow fever, typhoid and the last one will be jab 3 of the hepatitis in June.

Summer cruise 2004 to the West Coast of Ireland aboard our X332 – Madog

I was looking for pictures of Mary and thought you might like to see the whole story.

Mary wrote this for the cruising log competion. This won the Millenium Quaich at Port Edgar Yacht Club.

So this is the beginning of our 784.2mile adventure. The lockers are full; water tanks full; diesel still to come and we are both shattered. Well that’s what happens when you try to leave home, all sorts of things have to be done before you go. The outlook is going to be good – well, after night’s sleep it is. [Read more →]

Congratulations my certificate reads. I’ve passed the theory part. Ocean is all about sextant navigation, voyage planning and world meteorology. Jim Smith, Principal of the Clyde Sail Training Trust, led the course over 3 weekends in January. Excellent course, well taught.

I’ll tell you my weight if you promise not to tell my brother, Jim. If he hears how good this diet is he will try it. Then I’ll be back to square one as the overweight son and Mum will be back on my case.

[Read more →]

I have had some requests for photos of Madog transiting the Gota Canal.

Andrew, Kirsty and family friend, Michelle Kibaris, took Madog, an X332, through as part of our family Baltic trip in 2005. Rebecca was able to come from Germany to join them for a long weekend. They had excellent weather and enjoyed it to the full. I was very impressed that they managed it without a scratch on the boat. No mean achievement with all the charter boats about. [Read more →]

Why did we choose Giselle? We weren’t expecting to. Mary saw an advert in the Cruising Association magazine for charts of the world along the route we planned. We bought them from Pete and Gay Kite and collected from their new home in the South of France. While there, we looked at their Van de Stadt Madeira 44 Yacht which was up for sale. The rest, as they say, is history. [Read more →]