Offshore Sailing
My early
offshore experiences date back to my school days. Two opportunities gave me the
chance to venture beyond dinghy sailing in Lyme Bay. The first of these was to
sail aboard the Malcolm Miller, one of the two schooners run by what was then
called The Sail Training Association. A fortnight aboard as one of 13 members
of Mizzen Watch took me to Camaret in Brittany, Alderney and various ports in
the south west. The second one was a holiday spent with a school friend, “Oggy”
Williams, on his parents’ 36 foot Kings Amethyst. We spent a fortnight sailing
down the south coast to Dittisham and back.
Tearaway Too
Latterly I’ve
been offshore sailing with an old friend, Martin, on his J120 “Tearaway Too” This began when he
read my account of the Broads
Sailing Challenge. After reading the account he invited the entire crew,
along with Chris (my other brother) and David (my son) to join him for a
weekend in the Solent in 2007. We had a great time cruising across to Yarmouth
on Friday night and having a day sailing down to the Needles then east to
bembridge before returning to the Hamble on Saturday. Sunday saw us heading for
the Beaulieu River for a leisurely breakfast before returning home. Pictures
can be found here.
Following
that weekend, Martin invited me to race with him (mostly JOG races) and 2008 saw me doing so as often
as I could. I will in due course post an account of each race, but meantime
this is what I was able to do.
|
Date |
Organisation |
Destination |
|
6th
June |
JOG |
Alderney |
|
14th
June |
JOG |
Weymouth |
|
28th
June |
ISC |
Round The
Island |
|
19th
July |
JOG |
La
Trinite sur Mer (The
Illingworth Challenge) |
|
22nd
August |
JOG |
St Peter
Port |
|
19th
September |
JOG |
Cherbourg |