Sao Miguel

After Terceira (Angra), Sao Jorge  (Calheta, Velas), Faial (Horta), Pico (Lajes do Pico), we're now in Sao Miguel (Ponta Delgada). We'll be here for a few days and then off to Lisbon. Discovered new marina in Lajes do Pico - super little place. I'll be putting pictures and more background on www.blue-hound.com soon! In the meantime here's a shot of Pico from Horta.

Azores again!

Well, we got to the Azores via L'Aberwrach and Portosin - light winds, 52% motoring! Rosy's first time here, but Blue Hound's fourth visit. This time we are going to see a lot more!

Terceira was great, now we're about to depart Sao Jorge for Flores (wind dependent). Good food and wine, great weather. The fajas in Sao Jorge were amazing, but here's a picture of the Tourada in Terceira:

Round the Island

What a great weekend. I'd never done the RTI before, and the thought of a 12 hour drifting match or a beat into half a gale for 6 hours was not appealing. But this year I think will probably go down as one of the better ones, at least for smaller boats. A friend invited me to sail on a Starlight 36, and did she go!

A great spinnaker run down to the Needles, then a long reach down to St Caths and a beat to the forts.Then a cracking reach to the line in close company.

Our corrected time was just under 8.5 hrs, and we would have done a lot lot better if we hadn't tried to take a shortcut inside the fort (against my advice). We lost about 10 mins I reckon. But a great day for the Folkboats - they were in our class and did they go! Nip and tuck all the way.

The radar saga is now at an end. I did in fact manage to fix the old one - bad connections in the scanner. Boy, is that Koden gear tough! In the meantime I managed to locate a used Furuno 821 - a great set, but only 2kw. So now I have two! :-)

First Cross-Channel This Year

Well, got that out of the way - a cross-channel weekend to test everything. Headed for Cherbourg from the Hamble, but the winds didn't work too well for a schooner, light and easterly, so ended up in Alderney. Flat sea both ways, and a beautiful midnight moonlight sail into Braye. Sunday saw us in Crabby Harbour for some fuel - we were a tight fit! Sunday also saw the beautiful Jolie Brise sail in and anchor.

Although I'd tested the radar before leaving and it was fine, it did have a wobbly moment.  I remade the mast connector and it was fine. However, it did go down on the way back, and this time I think it's a circuit board issue. Lots of radial noise on screen in standby mode, and completely swamped when transmitting (and no sign of any targets). Tuning appears to have no effect. I have detailed circuit diagrams, and I'm wondering whether the noise filters are screwed, or maybe the tuning circuit. It's a Koden MD300 - superb tough piece of kit, but about 20 years old now. So, if you know of another one I can cannibalise then let me know!


I was last in Alderney in January 2009 before heading up to Cherbourg where I was snow-bound for a few days; then a brisk single-handed cross-channel to the Solent. Since then, Mainbrayce Marine has changed hands - the new owners are very helpful, and the range of stock has increased a lot.


Anyway, the first trip is done, though we had to motor all the way back.

Easter Weekend, Looking Out..

Easter weekend, more activity at last! View from the porthole this morning:

First Trip 2010?

A grim winter now past! First trip - just a tootle up and down the Hamble with a radio journalist who is preparing a short piece for an arts festival, but at least the cobwebs are away. I'll be posting the audio piece on http://www.blue-hound.com/, sometime in April.

It's good to be mobile again!

Sun and Hurricanes

A beautiful sunny morning on the river - spring is in the air methinks!

I've just been reading about research into future hurricane patterns - it seems that they will become more intense and less frequent. The research is based on output from the IPCC - though their output is under question at present. Anyway, it is an interesting read. See more here at Physicsworld