John Passmore September 26th 2018 This is Poole Harbour tonight. It’s going to be hard to leave tomorrow. I can’t believe I will have been here ten days – the first week because of gales and the rest because of calms. I’ve been ashore once for four hours to fill up with water, do some shopping and … Read more
September 23rd This must be the longest I have stayed aboard in the same place since I moved onto Samsara last year: Six days and we’re still gale-bound in Poole. Well, technically-speaking, it’s not a gale – just blowing 25knots and raining sideways like it did all day yesterday. Am I bothered? I’m loving it! … Read more
September 20th Sitting in Havelet Bay in Guernsey last Sunday, I fired off a post to the family WhatsApp group saying that the book claimed the bay was protected from south westerly gales – and that I hoped the book was right. In the event there was a good deal of swell but I came … Read more
August 30th 2018 Sitting here on the lee berth, feet wedged against the windward, occasionally finding the keyboard jumping under my fingers I tell myself I should not be complaining. Remember all the complaints about beating into strong headwinds for ten days round the top of Scotland? Well, logic suggests that if you keep sailing, … Read more
August 23rd 2018 Today the cooker fell off. There was a crash to which, I must admit, I didn’t pay much attention at the time, being out in the cockpit, getting us sailing again. We had spent twelve hours hove-to under trysail even though the wind never did make it to full gale force. However, … Read more
August 21st 2018 There is someone else aboard the boat now – a nice young lady (a pretty but homely blonde is the way I imagine her). Each morning she tells me: “It’s Seven O’clock” – or whatever time it happens to be. Whatever else I imagine about this situation, I leave to your imagination… … Read more
August 17th 2018 Horta is one of the great ocean crossroads of the world. Ever since people started voyaging in small boats, they have been coming here. And now I’ve made it. It does feel as if I should have been here before – indeed, one of the first things I did was go and … Read more
August 14th 2018 “You like fishing?” asked the man on the quay at Calheta. Then he thought about it. Evidently that wasn’t quite what he meant. “You like fish?” That was better. Yes, certainly I like fish. However, I was a bit tired of fishermen, having been roused twice in the night to shift further … Read more
August 11th 2018 You expect some things to change in 30 years – it’s just a surprise when they do. The last time I visited Vila Island off Vila do Campo on Sao Miguel in the Azores was in 1987. With a couple of other competitors in the Azores and Back Race from Falmouth, we … Read more
