a family sailing blog
Despite being frightened by stories about exceptionally dangerous storms, such the 1979 Fastnet or 1998 Sydney to Hobart races, not all storms create dangerous breaking waves. But some storms do and its been on my list for a while to understand what conditions will result in waves that may be dangerous in the open ocean.... Continue Reading →
When I was learning to fly…way before kids…I read a magazine called Pilot. It had an article on the back page called ILAFFT or "I Learned About Flying From That". It was the best section in the mag, and the first bit I read each month. Pilots could admit to their worst, most embarrassing, or... Continue Reading →
Whilst in the Alta Rocca Mountains we decided to go canyoning. For those that don't know, and there can't be many, canyoning is a fancy word for throwing yourself, and your kids, down a pristine, freezing cold mountain river. Location southern Corsica. On the morning of our canyoning expedition we were running late and as... Continue Reading →
There was another mistral coming. At present they seem to be an almost weekly occurrence, but vary from fairly mild to really quite nasty. With winds gusts of 50 knots forecast we had decided to leg it from north Sardinia to shelter in Porto Veccio on south east Corsica. It actually worked well, as we... Continue Reading →
While in Syracuse we hired cars and headed for Mt Etna, the largest and most active volcano in Europe. Mt Etna is a 1.5 hour drive from Syracuse and being a big tourist draw card, it gets busy, so we headed off early one morning to avoid the crowds. Navigation was easy, we just headed... Continue Reading →
Syracuse is a superb town to visit by yacht and is one of the Medierraneans best natural harbours. Its town quay, which is grand on any scale, was until recently free of charge to use. Even now you only get charged 10 Euro per night to stay here, bit of a bargin where most wharves/quays/marinas... Continue Reading →
Having made it to Crotone in Italy with Calyxa, we were once again reunited with Clive, Claire and Oliver on S/V Intention, and after a fish BBQ and a bit of boat prep all three yachts headed off towards Sicily. However, we only got as far as Le Castella where we had to hole up for... Continue Reading →
In prepping Vega for launching and sorting out the many pre launch items we had over looked checking that all our stop cocks (for non-boaty people, thats the valves that stop water getting in the boat) were working effectively. So on the day before our launch I was opening and closing the stop cock on... Continue Reading →
The Mediterranean Season 3. Our Mediterranean sailing adventure was always meant to be a 2 year gig. However, charmed by the great people we have met and the awesome places we have seen we found the allure too much and are heading back for a third trip, this time heading west from Greece. So, once... Continue Reading →
This weekend was a busy one. I have spent the last two days completing the Yachting Australia Sailing Safety and Sea Survival course. The Australian Sailing Safety and Sea Survival course was developed following the fatalities of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race. It has now been adopted by the ISAF world wide. The certificate awarded... Continue Reading →
a yacht more to life 