Farewell to 'Windward'.....

"Starfire" with Skip, Robin, Michelle and Bert on board

Early morning to catch the tide from Port Owen, "Windward" left her jetty and trundled on down the Berg River towards St Helena Bay and the open sea.....  seeing her off was the good ship "Starfire" and "Shoestring"

"Windward" on her way.......

Ursula, "foredeck Goddess" with Rob crew

Set the alarm for early start to get down to 'Pinta's jetty to see "Windward" off....... rest of the mob were due to be on 'Starfire', with others going on down to the harbour by car.  (Had builders coming in, so couldn't get that far!).....

 however, Jules, Andrew, Toni and Laetitia were with me, so we were all able to shout and wave our goodbye's as "Windward" and her crew came past us.... Al at the helm, with crew and "crewbabe" Ursula on the foredeck here on in referred to as foredeck goddess!!!   We all sighed with a degree of relief that they had made their start, as well as sadness with love at their departure, and excitement for them on the beginning of a definite adventure.... will watch out on their blog for the future news.  Lotsalove from us all here and safe sailing xxx

Part of the mob: Andrew, Jules, Laetitia and Toni

 

Thinking about 2014 Season.......

Air tickets are booked, and Skip is pouring over various Pilot Books and various chart-type pieces of paper..... the yachting magazines are open at assorted pages of information, and are occasionally being thrust under my eyes so that I can 'see' where we are heading!!!  

"Freedom" still has to have her tent removed and lifted out, but Skip will be in UK in time to check out the anti-fouling, and get the sails back on, and generally de-winterised!!  The Elephant has managed to stay fairly safe and cosy despite the terrible winter storms that has crossed the UK, so we are pretty confident that the good ship will be fine when we get there.

It will be the French coast again this season, via the Channel Islands.  Binic is a must at some point, either on the outward or return journey.  Roscoff, possibly Morlaix, on through the Chanel du Four* and The Raz* again, down to Benodet, and taking time before aiming for The Morbihan is the general plan, maybe further depending on time and weather etc.

As previously, when looking at the 2 tidal gates* of infamous proportions, The Morbihan an inland lake/sea ..... the pilot books and various articles do not suggest that it is going to be a "relaxed" affair..... far from it, tides whooshing of up to 9 knots or more, whirlpools where steerage is lost....... bla bla, doesn't fill yours truely with heaps of confidence, but on the other hand, the pictures do look quite nice!!! ...........