A new year, new resolutions...I'm not normally a 'resolution-making-kind-a-girl', but realised I haven't written anything in quite some time.
And I miss it. You might not, but I do...so there it is - I'll try and get a few blogs up soon about what we have been doing the second half of 2013: our trip to Bermuda, Bermuda and all the fun to be had in the Triangle (girls, it even has shoes in it! Real shoes! not flip flops, not boat shoes, no the real McCoy, with heels and a fancy name inside and all!), our fantastic return to New York (more shoes, but this time as memories), the cruises through Long Island Sound, Newport, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Sag Harbour and The Hamptons, following the America's Cup in Annapolis and drifting around the Chesapeake Bay, an amazing kite trip to Brasil and rather full on sailing trip back to the Caribbean via Bermuda. It's been a good summer and the year has ended well with fireworks in St Barths.
For now, we've had our first trips over Christmas and New Year's and are now anchored of Saba Rock in the BVI's - still an unforgettable place to sail and play; especially now that we know how to kite and even managed to get some kite time in behind Saba Rock, Prickley Pear and Eustatius in between getting the boat ready for our next trip: a full on kiting trip, where all that will matter is getting the boys to where the best kite spots are. Now all we need is wind!
Well, I guess it's true what they say: you get into the Bermuda triangle and you disappear!
Or at least, that's what it must have looked like to all of you with no blogs coming from Pure after we announced we'd be sailing to Bermuda....
We had a brilliant Caribbean season, starting down south in St Lucia and Martinique, before dropping further south to spend some time in the Grenadines, with some of the most beautiful spots that we know. Turquoise waters, rimmed by white and pink beaches, framed by green palm trees and an azure blue sky with some puffy white clouds. When you get lucky, you might see a little candy pink Carriacou sloop complementing the colours in your Kodak moment...
We got lucky not just on the pink Carriacou but also managed to get the first beginnings of our kite surfing down while waiting for the guests to arrive in Union Island! Quite a nice spot to do so too! (some would call that the understatement of the year).
The boat is a beehive of activity tonight as our last crew member, Doug, has just arrived from the States, and banter goes back and forth. We are now our full crew of seven and are on the dock in Las Palmas; not a normal dock, though that we expected to be on by tonight, but the reception dock...we arrived here yesterday, one day ahead of the start of the ARC, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, or so we thought...turns out the start of the Cruising divisions of the ARC has been postponed by 2 days, so where we expected to have plenty of dock space all to ourselves after the departure today of 238 boats, only 34 yachts (27 racers, 7 cruisers) started, leaving the other 200+ clogging the docks and the restaurants in Las Palmas.
Lucky thing that we had been cheeky enough yesterday to just park ourselves up on the reception dock of the marina office and with a bit of sweet talking in Spanish, they let us stay the night...and now another one...guess we'll be here tomorrow night as well. We had a pretty straight forward trip from Palma, where we left last Sunday after several days of crazy preparations. It was a relief to get out on the water and away from land! We did some wicked sailing the first night, with 30-35 knots on the beam and just aft of the beam, but the fun didn't last long and we were soon back to motorsailing. Relaxing at least.
Just a very quick update on our last few months!
We had a fantastic season this summer: after Corsica and the Cote d'Azure we spent a great deal of time in Italy, cruising around Napoli, Capri, Ischia and the Amalfi Coast. For good measure we threw a quick trip to Malta in, luckily enough joined by some good friends! It literally was a flying visit and as soon as all the paperwork and repairs we're done, we headed back to Napoli, this time double handed...Napoli treated us well and after 2 more trips around this amazing area, we headed back up north, joined by our trusty sailor friend Leon (who also happens to be Dutch!). We had to take refuge for the night at Elba, to avoid having to go around the infamous Cap Corse with 35 knots on the nose!
We made it just in time for our owners to join us for the Voiles de St Tropez, the place to be to close of the Med season! A hectic but great 10 days followed and that was the season done for us...now all we had to do was get the boat to Palma, to do some maintenance and go off on a holiday! It was great to be back in Palma again and we managed to find a great little place to stay in our fav quartier, Santa Catalina, and catch up with some good friends, before heading off!
Barcelona, for a quick visit to Star Chaser, and on to Egypt for a kite surfing and diving holiday! Yeay! Was great to have some time to ourselves and discover some new things and places.
We're now back in Palma and have another two weeks before we head out to Las Palmas, to start our crossing back to the Caribbean!
Italiaaaa!!!!
Very quick update from Malta...after a fantastic cruise around the Gulf of Napoli, taking in Napoli, the islands of Procida, Ischia and Capri (stunning!), Positano on the Amalfi Coast, we set off from a water drenched Napoli (one of the biggest rain and thunderstorms we've witnessed passed over Napoli on Friday night, stadion lighting was nothing compared to it!) on Saturday morning joined by two of our good friends and crew from the UK.
Been great to sail with them and spend some time together!
It has been a trip with a bit of everything: rain to start with, beautful sunshine with nice winds in the Messina Strait, heavy thunderstorms that made us take shelter in Syracuse bay, lots of wind, no wind, confused seas, wind all over the place...
We arrived last night around 9pm in Malta, happy to be here!
Sometimes having no wind but knowing you have enough diesel to get there under engine isn't as bad as it may sound to you: wildlife becomes great!
Within an hour out of Antibes, we had our first dolphins. I say first, because we had 4 or 5 sightings before dinner!
(talking of which, cooking becomes a doddle as well conpared to doing it at a 35 degree angle!) Then, just before 8pm we had our first whale. A massive one, with at least 4 meter between its blow hole and its small fin...and we didn't even get to see it in all its glorious length...guessing about 9, maybe 12 meters long. It stayed with us for 7 or 8 blows before majestically disappearing below the surface with a polite high bow of it's sleek back.
Read more: No wind, flat seas...can it be a good thing on a sail boat?
It's boating after all...and if there is one part of life that adheres rigidly to the adage of 'the only constant is change' it is boating, or, as we say rather fancily: yachting...
Leaving Cascais on the Thursday, we had to turn back due to some technical issues and finally set off again on Sunday early. We had the most glorious sail south along the Portuguese coast: a good 20-25 knots over the starboard quarter propelling us south at about 9-10 knots, while basking in sunshine...what else can one ask for?
Alas, it didn't last; the first indications arose when we turned the corner at Sagres, and Gibraltar remained shrouded in clouds, with the occasional top of the 'monkey mountain' tipping out of the clouds....the next morning, as we were pulling into Almerimar along the Spanish south coast, things got lively....and by the time we turner the corner again, all we could was head north to beat ourselves out of the most of harms way....
Croatia, where we were supposed to go, was some 1450nm east of us...and in the last few hours we sailed 45nm...making a disappointing 15nm easting...even motorsailing, things were not getting any better. With a rather flat bottom, we couldn't motorsail close to the wind without slamming the life out of the boat, so we were back to beating our way north...
or rather, and more precisely I guess, on the sea again...doesn't have the same ring to it though and it isn't quite grammatically correct either...suffice it to say that we are going back out to sea today.
After a month in Cascais and our eventful arrival here, the boat is again in tip top condition and we are getting the last things ready before we leave this lovely town of Cascais and it's very friendly people. If you've never been to Portugal, do! And if you have, go back! You'll know what I mean: there is history and culture in oodles, nature surrounding you with the most amazing cliffs and beautiful forests, watersports to drown yourself in, more great food than is good for you and people who are just the nicest ever.
We managed to go and see Sting and the Buena Vista Social Club, have a first crack at kitesurfing, go biking and running, see castles, hike.....and get the boat back in order of course. THank you Cascais for a fantastic time!
We're off to Croatia now, sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar and then heading East, past SIcily and then up into the Adriatic Sea. We'll try and get in a few blogs on the way, so don't forget to check back! And you can follow us on the Spot tracker of course!
Yes, you got it: we made it in one piece to the Azores!
Arrived in the middle of the night Thursday/Friday after a fantastic trip.
We left St Maarten after a little hiccup and an extra night on anchor and headed North on a comfortable starboard tack, just off the wind in a nice Force 4.
After a few days, everybody had found their little routines on board and our bodies had adjusted to the rythm of the sea...and the watch schedule of course. For those of you who are new to our ocean blogs a little explanation: as we keep sailing 24/7, you need to have people on watch 24/7. To get this organised, we run a watch system: we have 3 teams of 2 and each team does 4 hours 'on', 8 hours 'off' during the day and 3 hours 'on', 6 hours 'off' during the night and the on watch team sails the boat...the rest of the time we cook, clean, read, eat and chat! Oh, and sleep of course!
We've had a bit of everything: dark overcast days with bursts of pouring rain (the curse is still holding, always on my watch!) alternating with blue skies, trade wind clouds, lovely sunshine and a nice breeze; lots of wind (43+ knots) to hardly any (motoring...); going 5 knots and clocking 19.2 knots under 3 reefs and a handkerchief with Boogie on the wheel, racing down a wave!
They have recently moved from Lady Ann, the stylish modern classic they have been running and introducing to the charter market last winter, to PURE, a fantastic modern sailing yacht. PURE is a 70ft performance cruiser built by the Dutch Nordia van Dam yard. She is a luxurious, beautiful aluminium yacht that comes with a carbon rig and 4 cabins and lots of little extras. For more photos of the yacht, have a look at www.pureofvalletta.nl
Boogie and Marlies are sailing her to Croatia, via the Azores, Gibraltar and Messina with the help of an excellent crew:
* Sara, an amazing American sailor who very successfully raced with Marlies in the Voiles de St Barths, where they took 2nd place with an all girls team.
Read more: Boogie and Marlies are sailing across the Atlantic as we speak!
That's it! We arrived back in the Royal Quays Marina in North Shields (Newcastle) this morning after a great last night's sail under an almost full moon and with the wind (finally) being nice enough to come around so we could make landfall in only one tack.
A quick boat clean up and a lot of packing later, we are now snugly ensconced in the front of a VW van. "We" being Boogie, Luke and myself with me, you guessed it, right it in the middle - good thing I've got such a tiny bum (ahum)! A van, yes, as we did take a lot of stuff on the boat - after all, we originally got on for almost a year before the owner suddenly decided to cancel the warm Caribbean part of the trip - so we had a lot of stuff to get off! It's all packed up in the back now and we're headed south, direction Hamble, to put our Arctic gear in the container before really heading south to Barcelona and Palma. Sunshine and warmth here we come, we've got the skirts and shorts ready baby! (nooo, skirts is only me, no worries!)
The skies are wicked at the moment: (the remnants of) hurricane Katia are about to hit Ireland and the West of Scotland tomorrow and it's creating some amazing views. Looking out to the West the cumulo nimbus are so packed up that it's almost like looking at a snow capped mountain range! At the same time, we have very dark and ominous clouds to the East, coloured up by a double rainbow! And one of them is the whole Arc! We're about to get hit by torrential rain though... Sure, the effects of hurricanes are mostly not so good but you can't deny it creates some fantastic weather phenomena!
Well, a bit more on our last 'sailing' trip in the next few days and hopefully some photos, so stay tuned...
A happy Boogie and Marlies
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