Yearly Archives: 2012

I had set out on a trip around the Canaries on a bit of a magic roundabout. Going round in circles seems to be more of a day sailor’s outing, and I hadn’t really done any courses with an N for North in it since Belgium. But this was to be my holiday, the culmination of two years of fixing the boat in exotic locations, which some regard to be the essence of cruising a sailing vessel, and partying my not particularly godfearing backside off all over Europe.

Our elite + minimalist team consisting of Aaron and Anna got blasted from La Gomera to Gran Canaria by the vicious funnels around Teide. The blue crests of the 3 metre seas were almost transparent in bits, and we were all pleased to arrive in the blistering, […]

We invested a wonderful two weeks on Lanzarote in the delightful company of fellow local liveaboard expatriates Sam and Terrie. The Euroballgames were on, a bizzare spectaculum whereby seemingly sane apes of the species sapiens rally around a flag they were assigned due to sheer geographical coincidence at birth, and huddle in front of their teleprompters to watch 22 select hairdos prance about a pretty lawn. When in Rome do as the Romans do, they say, and, accordingly, we invested a few weeks living by their panem et circenses [bread and games] recipe to keep […]

A long winter of hard work and no play nearly made this humble narrator a dull boy. Barry R turned up a full month early to help bodge the boat up to ocean travel standards. And turn the aft cabin into a fully fledged orgy platform. My local friend Sandra helped redo the name on the stern with a stencil. And we mounted some solar panels. And my neighbour Klaus gave me a lovely rotting rib, which should do us for a season or two. And we […]