Skipper's Blog
Tell me what you think My summer sail I re-did my day skipper practical this year. I don't suppose that many people do that and I have to agree (with 20/20 hindsight) that it is a bit of a waste of time. I think my money would have been better spent on a mile-building trip or just getting out on weekend crewing more often. It was a good five days on the water though and, with good company, a nice break. One thing that struck home was how important it is, when cruising, to revise your itinerary according to the prevailing weather and tides. Simple, common sense you may think but I've been on plenty of trips where failure to plan properly has put us in an uncomfortable sea, going nowhere and wanting to be anywhere else. We had a lovely, fast sail from Poole to Cowes with the tide and a following wind and were on a swinging mooring in the Medina for a late lunch. Only two years earlier I remember taking all day (well, certainly all daylight hours one February day) to get from Poole to Lymington simply because we'd got the tides wrong. All but 2 of the crew succumbed to seasickness (the 2 responsible for the passage plan - there's no justice) but we got in safe and all was forgiven after a shower and a pint. 24th July 2006 Katie's first adventure safely completed Congratulations must go to Katie for completing her UK circumnavigation (almost a week ago now!). A fantastic solo achievement for anyone let alone an 18 year old! If you haven't been following her progress it's not too late to read all about it and make a donation on her web site www.thechallenge2006.co.uk and try our Katie and Elektra quiz. 15th July 2006Paper clips I heard about that guy trying to swap a paper clip for a house quite a while ago then forgot all about it and this week we heard that the crackpot idea has worked! he´s got his house. Amazing! You´ve got to admire him really. I suppose we´ll see hundreds of new sites sprout up now trying to do something similar ... CD for a holiday, pencil for a car ... how about a toe nail clipping for a yacht? ... Hmmm not a bad idea. We are experiencing some very nice weather lately and it´s making me very sorry I haven´t yet bought a boat to potter about on. Still, I keep looking and this time next year I may be complaining about how expensive it is to potter about on boats. Even so, I´m sure there´s nothing quite like it. 2nd July 2006 Mean Spirit of Teignmouth? Sprit of Teignmouth is a project to build a multi-hull yacht to sail around the world the wrong way in a bid to ´create sailing history´. Please take a look at the site if you´ve never heard of this project. I´ve been keeping a weather eye on the site for some time now since I stumbled across it searching for something else. I don´t know why but the project immediately interested me and the more I read, the more I became convinced that it would happen and Simon Chalk would return to Teignmouth a sailing hero. Then, suddenly it looks like it will not happen after all. Simon has set up a workshop and visitor centre on the old tennis courts in Teignmouth with the permission of the Teignbridge Development Control Committee. Now he needs to extend that permission to Spring 2007 in order to complete the project safely but the committee have granted an extension to September only. Simon and his team are asking anyone who believes in the project and who wants to see it completed to write to the committee supporting their new application for an extension until February 2007. Mine´s in the post. Send yours to ´Mrs Nicola Bulbeck Teignbridge District Council, Forde House, Brunel Road, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ12 4XX´