Thankfully, we’re not reliant on my fishing skills for any form of sustenance.   During our travels we often find ourselves sailing through packs of fishing boats surrounded by pods of dolphins and diving gannets, all in a mackerel feeding frenzy.  You would have thought that within this environment I couldn’t fail to get a nibble READ MORE

We aimed at Les Sables d’Olonne to meet up with our water tank and more importantly my daughter Emily’s extended French family, and at the same time we pushed further south. Being a bit too far for a day sail we turned into Piriac and parted company with the region of Brittany and entered the READ MORE

When your shopping list looks like this : Oysters, Champagne, Crevettes, Muscadet, More Oysters, Baguettes, French Butter, Highland Whisky… It can only mean ‘The Velzians’ are on their way! And so it was, after three years of missed opportunities and crossed paths that ‘Le Jouannet’ and ‘Blue Spirit’ with her humble crew of Sophie & READ MORE

Buses, credit card bills, midge bites and socks all seem to come in pairs whilst the frequency and scale of boat defects is a more complex equation (displayed as follows) :- Irrespective of how comprehensive our winter overhaul was, the testing environment in which a boat lives and the pressures placed on it’s components, you READ MORE

April 2017 we left The Hamble our home of some seven years and from under the watchful eye of the eminent Mr Hearsey, Fairview Sailing.  Now heading south and very much on our own, we needed to find a new marina in France.  Our choice would revolve around transport links to the UK, marina facilities, READ MORE