Not all who wander are lost …
Vasile at Slick Hull is a workaholic. He buzzes around the yard on an electric scooter sorting 3 or 4 things out at once, never seeming flustered or phased. There must’ve been 15 to 20 boats having work done when we were there, so raising Elice’s paint job in the priority order needed a deadline …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 52 – Return of the Mighty Viking"
We relocated to Ferragudo 7 nautical miles along the coast. It had to be done, mooring in Lagos is expensive during the summer and we’d be almost next door to the boat yard where Slick Hull are based in Portimão. The anchorage was pretty busy but we managed to squeeze into a spot and caught up with A&E one last time before they moved on. Elice was due to be lifted in less than a …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 51 – The lone Piper of Portimão"
We’d planned to get hold of a few crucial boat bits while in Lisbon, but Chandlers were short on the ground and what there was wasn’t overwhelmed with boat gear. No problem, we managed to get hold of what we needed, though it cost a shed load more than expected. Once sorted we were off …
The anchorage just inside the mouth of the river Douro is small and looks quite hectic, but is, deceptively peaceful considering. Not long after dropping the hook we were visited by PJ and Roxanne who delivered some delicious Natas for us on their way back to Annette. That puts them top of the rankings for …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 49 – Wavey, Ravey Ice Cream Flavey"
Life at anchor in Alden was a bit of a treat. Our friends Liam and Mags were at anchor there and it wasn’t long after seeing them that we could gauge whether international dog shunning was still happening to the first mate, or whether the international order to shun had been rescinded. Schooner the hound …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 48 – The Chameleon Eyed Cephalopod Thief"
Following the last Blog post, I’ve done some reading and feel a bit more confident that I can fairly convincingly give the impression, to anyone that doesn’t know me, that I know more than I actually do about sailing! We’d been invited onto our neighbour’s boat while in Muros. Our neighbours were PJ and Roxanne, the folk I’d mistakenlythought had chartered the lovely …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 47 – Full 10 on the Smug-O-Meter"
Biscay had not been without incident, but we’d made it across and enjoyed our first good night’s kip in A Coruna. The huge firework display had looked spectacular as we’d arrived, it was just a shame that nobody could see me expressing my gratitude. We mentioned it when booking in the next day. The mariniero insisted it had been in honour of St …
My first thought when writing this was to give an overview of all the things that have been refurbished, repaired, renewed, discarded and added during the Autumn, Winter and Spring months. That would be too dull, so let’s just say that I spent the dark months trying to improve Elice, well, the inside anyway. Now …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 45 – Are we Nearly There Yet?"
Well, it’s been a while eh! Since I last time I wrote one of these. I was still tanned and reasonably fit then, but now I’m a grey haired withered old hermit who occasionally pops his head out the cockpit, like a meercat on lookout, just to check the world is still alive. Life aboard …
So, there we were at Cawsand, lolloping from side to side as we tried to rest, half reclined on the saloon seating, partially wedged beneath the dining table. By 9:30, we decided that if we were going to get some sleep we’d need to relocate. After a brief conflab with Whimsy, we were heading for …
Continue reading "Captains Blog 43 – How’s this work again?"
There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.
POOP DECK: Because we give a SHIT
Living the dream onboard our Beneteau 473 with our sailor dog
Our Big Boaty Adventure 