Sailing - because you love it!

Having first touched a tiller about 40 years ago when learning to handle a dinghy on the Thames above Oxford, I find sailing is an activity that never lets you go. Nowadays the tiller is usually that of my ageing Laser, which is sailed at Chelmarsh Sailing Club near Bridgnorth on Wednesday evenings, but if I get the chance the tiller may be attached to something more substantial.

Click on the link to go straight to the Chelmarsh Sailing Club website.

Since 1985, I've also been involved with bigger boats, becoming a half-owner of Aegeia for 6 years until 1995. Aegeia is a 36ft Jeanneau Sunshine, and we had super fun on our trips along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall and across channel to Guernsey and the north coast of Brittany. It was on one of our trips to France that an Officer on a Customs & Excise launch took some pictures of us and kindly sent us a print for the archive. It was a lovely day and we were bound for Ushant and thence to Camaret, near Brest and, since we never got the chance to photograph the boat with sails set, we were really pleased to get the picture.

This second picture is of the newer, smaller but much more colourful, spinnaker that we bought because the white one was too delicate to use over force 3 and also was a bit of a handful when reaching - frequently broaching us in even a moderate breeze. Here I am on the pulpit admiring our choice of colours, if not the cut of the sail, which didn't work too well.

Jim & I sold Aegeia at the end of 1994 after logging around 5,000 miles and 150 nights on board. The furthest we got from Devon was Baltimore in Co Cork in 1993 and we crossed the channel 19 times! We also both got our Offshore Yachtmaster qualification during this period. We understand Aegeia is now to be found in Poole Harbour on a swinging mooring. We hope she gives her current owner as much fun as she gave us.

While on a diving holiday in Tobermory in September 2000, I came across the beautiful "Voltair", swinging happily on her mooring beneath the Western Isles Hotel. As there was a "For Sale" sign in the window, I called up - and to cut a long story short, as from May 2001, I am the proud owner of a 50% share in her.

She is a Nicholson 38 Ketch, designed as the luxury cruising yacht of her day for 4 persons. We have hot and cold running water in all cabins, warm air central heating, two toilets and a sensibly sized diesel engine for when the wind is uncooperative. Also important for creature comfort, there is a large fridge and a generous drinks locker! Around 150 'Nic 38's, as they are known, were built between 1966 and 1973, and due to their solid construction and continuing ability to charm, are to be found all round the world.

Robin (who owns the other 50%) and I had a 6 year plan for Voltair. The first year we would berth her at Oban and get to know her better, then the second year we would sail around Ireland anticlockwise until we got to the Shannon, where we would berth her overwinter. The third year we would sail her back up to Scotland, up to the Shetlands and over to Norway, finishing in Denmark for the winter, and the following season we would take her up the Gothenburg-to-Stockholm canal, and back around the Baltic to norther Germany. Year 5 would be through the Dutch canals and down to south Brittany, while the final year would see her cruise around the Bay of Biscay, the north of Spain and Portugal and finish up in Gibraltar. Then - the big decision - turn left for the Med or right for the Caribbean?

Plans are always good, but you also need to be flexible! During our first season we had a marvellous time exploring the lochs of the western isles, getting as far north as Skye and as far west as South Uist in the outer Hebrides. Our last cruise of 2001 was in December, when we had a wonderful week going south around Jura in exceptionally kind weather - though with our wheelhouse comforts and our new radar set, even bad weather becomes entirely bearable. While Robin was away skiing in Switzerland in Jan 2002 and I was doing something similar in France, Voltair decided to make a break for freedom, and after a rather short taste of it, ended up on the rocks of Kerrera island, in hurricane force winds and on a high tide. Fortunately, she is strongly built and the rocks on the island are rounded rather than pointed, so she survived. Repairs, along with an osmosis treatment, were eventually done in Totnes, after a long ride on a low-loader, and she was recommissioned at the end of July 2002.

Determined to get back to our plan, or somewhere near it, the 2003 season has seen Voltair in the Helford River, the Scilly Isles and the coast of Ireland from Cork around to the River Shannon. She is also now kitted out for diving, and Robin and I enjoyed immersions in Cornwall, the Scillies, off the Fastnet Rock and off Skellig St Michael - the spectacular mountain that (apart from the Blaskets) is the most westerly point of Europe. She is now berthed in Kilrush Marina and we are using flights to and from Birmingham to go and join her as often as we can get away. Each time we leave the estuary the River Shannon dolphin group comes to say "Hello".

In 2004 we continued around Ireland, clockwise this time, and ended up in Scotland again for the second half of the year. We overwintered in the marina at Dunstaffnage and then began our biggest adventure to date by sailing to Norway. Norway has proved to be an exciting place to sail and on our second visit in 2006 we have reached the Arctic Circle and beyond

If you would like to read our postcards sent back to our friends and relatives, Click on this link.

Other sailing activities: after we sold Aegeia our group of sailing pals took to chartering a yacht at least once a year. We sailed in Scotland, Ireland, the Ionian and the Aegean. More mundanely, here's a writeup about a sailing trip in the Solent in 1999 - actually we were all divers on board! Click the picture to read the story

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Site updated on 20th November 2006