5.30am: Woke up to Danny Boy this morning. NO!!!! Not the ******* shipping forecast again! Also Cherbourg smells of rotten fish and I’ve developed a cold. Went into town and acted French. Ate mussels, bought Camembert and French sticks. A
Provisioning (Basically Wine & Cheese) Read Post »
Woke up to Rule Britania at 5.30am this morning. Very loud. What the **** is going on? Is this Sam’s idea of a bloody joke? It was only after Rule Britannia had finished that I realised he was tuning into the shipping forecast on Radio 4. Obviously essential to our safe passage but please don’t let this happen every day – I can’t handle it! Just to make things more difficult I have decided to give up smoking.
Whilst the food went down well I think there was still a lot of first day nerves, at least for me. Had I made the right decision to leave the comfortable surroundings of home? What’s Sam really like when it’s blowing a force 7 in 20ft waves? Would I get on with Conny and Lorraine? Is sailing for me?
Setting Sail in the Solent Read Post »
A qualified Royal Yachting Association (RYA) offshore yachtmaster, Sam has already crossed the Atlantic a number of times. His piece-de-resistance, however, must have been sailing the original Ramprasad (a traditional open Indian fishing boat made from teak) from India to Australia single handed. Check an Atlas to put into context just how mad this bloke is.
This introduction was written by my brother when the original FTB website was put together, preceding the Europe and Atlantic trip undertaken in 2003.
Tim helped communicate my adventures to family and friends by setting up a small site to contain these stories. This is the very original introduction that preceded the FTB web site.
The Original FTB Introdution Read Post »
So this is it! The first ever sailing trip that set the course of my future life at sea. Not that I knew that at the time, mind. As far as I was concerned I was just on a jolly with my dad and brother. That changed when we hit a stiff Force 6 on the bow. I’ll never forget my brother’s face as ‘Knight Vision’ healed over to 30 degrees for the first time. I seem to remember his face looked reflected how I felt: terrified! Here’s a brief account of that trip by my father, Mike.
My First Ever Sailing Trip! Read Post »
England To Netherlands, May 2002 We wish we’d kept a log of this trip, since this was the first time Mike, Marcus and Jamie had ever been sailing. Actually, Mike had done some sailing in the sea scouts but since
Crew: Knight Vision Read Post »
