6 – A small space – a lot possible
How would you spend all day in a space about six feet across from back rest to back rest, and approximately ten foot long with no headroom to stand upright?
sailing single-handed
A short passage to Dartmouth
4 – A mooring in Salcombe
Ever curious, I have been asking myself about single-handed sailing and why I enjoy it so much. The fact that I am reflecting on this at all is a clue in itself. I will enlarge on this later.
What brought this on was the image below of a diminutive Blue Mistress moored among a sociable fleet of smart yachts in Salcombe and the acknowledgement that this is not a suitable haunt for the sailor who seeks solitude.
A coincidence I could not ignore
I was intrigued to see, downstream from Blue Mistress, two masts of a large schooner towering over the normal view. Continue reading
A different solution – staying in the bunk
The bunks on Blue Mistress are narrow. Being a relatively small boat this is natural. The problem is, I am used to wider beds at home and tend to turn over expansively. In the boat, that would mean landing on the cabin sole.
A day-sail – 6 hours
I foolishly left the camera my smaller Lumix camera in Farnham at the weekend, so yesterday I took the heavier Nikon 3200 SLR instead. The problem is where to put it down in a hurry when I need to attend to the boat. It sits in one of the canvas line bags at a stretch otherwise in a bag hung just inside the companionway.
There were a number of people enjoying the water. It was one of those days when the wind was steady (F3), the sun shone, the sailing, as they say, was easy. I left the mooring about 1100 and was back at 1700. No pressure.
Three- or four-image stories
Images to tell the story of the sail
I have picked out some images that together tell the story of yesterday’s sail – wind force 4-5, intermittent sunshine.
More boat-watching – Itchenor
We cycled from West Wittering and paused for a pleasant half hour on the hard at Itchenor – boat-watching. It’s 42 years since we lived at nearby Birdham. The view has changed but not a lot – people and boats.
A simple pleasure – looking
Having watched the yacht leave – (and totally failed to note her name), I indulged in the simple pleasure of looking at boats.
A film crew has been in Teignmouth for the past week or so filming the Donald Crowhurst story – Colin Firth, Rachel Weisz etc have been here, 1960’s fashions have been in evidence – (the reporting in this link seems to be all about Rachel Weisz).
I have a deep sympathy for Donald Crowhurst and his family. A lot has been written and spoken about him, the story sensationalised for public consumption; like the previous film (Deep Water), this film will bring it all out again. I hope they treat him with respect. Whatever the mistakes, and there were many from the very beginning, (each one stacked on the previous one), he put himself forward for a huge enterprise that had no precedent. That alone took a particular mind-set. Only Knox-Johnson completed the course. In terms of seamanship, there would have been no disgrace in turning back – or even in not starting at all. One can only imagine what he must have gone through once at sea. Retrospect is easy, Therein lies the fascination – the question is asked of each one of us, “Having got into the tangle, what would you have done?” Think carefully.
Heading out from Teignmouth
I have not been fully fit since returning from holiday. Yesterday I ventured down to the town for the first time to stretch my legs and see what’s new.
I am pleased to say, fit or unfit, the draw of the sea has not abated.
Beyond Steeple Point 