Rode Orm; a Laurin 32 ketch

[maxiSwede]

Might not be a giant step for mankind, but for the two of us it sure is... Tomorrow, we are off!  Next stop the Kiel Canal, then the English Channel and further south!  

At last!!  Phew

www.sailblogs.com/member/rodeorm

Hope to see one or two of you on the water some day

[Amgine]

Congratulations! Whenever I hear of the Kiel Canal I can't help but think of Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers, a pre-world war I espionage novel that takes place on the coast in sailboats.

Wishing you fair winds and following seas, but you should have plenty of time to get south.

[Tim]

Congratulations Magnus and Isabelle, looking forward to following you on the blog.

Tim

[Oldrig]

Fair winds and best of luck!

[AdriftAtSea]

Fair winds and keep us posted.

[maxiSwede]

Thanks everyone for kind words.

we are currently at anchor in the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and the manland of England after a rather pleasant 7 day long passage. A minor low are passing now and we'll be heading to South Brittany on Thursday if the weather will be delivered as forecasted 

I have a vague memory of some Sailfarer who's living around here...

David Old Jersey - AHOY!!

[Frank]

Fair winds...enjoy yourselves !

[maxiSwede]

Anchored half a mile from Bembridge, Isle of Wight in her Majesty's United Kingdom.

spent three noghts here while a minor low passed with some near gale winds on the nose. We'll probably get up around 4AM tomorrow and make a little jump over to the French side of the Channel. The first Mate is getting a bit homesick 

here's what the little town looks loke at dusk from the boat just ten minutes ago

[Frank]

enjoy your crossing

[Auspicious]

Watch the tidal current going through the Needles. There is a good anchorage just west of the area where the current gets tough to wait in comfort.

Plymouth is worth a visit before you turn left and head south.

sail fast and eat well, dave
S/V Auspicious

[maxiSwede]

Good advise there, Auspicious!

There were a little 2 by 2 square in 'Reed's Nautical Almanac' that was conspicuously hidden away on the 'wrong page' that told about tidal streams of 5-6 knots  outside Cherbourg on the French side of the Channel at spring tide.

well, we had spring tide alright, and it was a bit, eh, interesting to make zero knots on the GPS for several hours.

After that we were compensated with 10+ for some hours though. To take advantage of the latter, we ended up in St Peter Port, Guernsey which is far better than a big commercial port like Cherbourg I reckon.

Waiting for something else than SW winds to go on to S Brittany.

BTW,  The Real Ale at the pubs here compensates the fog and cold water. Cheers! 

P.S: Plymouth was on my list too, but doesn't seem to happen this time around D.S:

[maxiSwede]

forgot the pic

[Amgine]

Sweet!

Nice pic, and great report. Keep us updated! How are your upgrades working out in practice?

[maxiSwede]

It's been a while and we have now successfully 'negotiated Chenal du Four and Raz de Sein' ... cuold probably be described as the Cape Horn of Brittany too.

We are in Southern Brittany now where we plan to stay a few weeks with 1st mates family before crossing the Bay of Biscay.

Hope you all make it out on the water....

Cheers

[Tim]

Thanks Magnus, it's great following you two the blog looks great and the photos are outstanding.

[maxiSwede]

Hi all!

Hope you all had a great time on the water this summer. We haven't had wifi much lately, but I just updated the blog and uploaded a bunch of pictures again. We are in Galicia, N Spain after a fast and sweet 2,5 day passage over the Bay of Biscay from Bretagne/Brittany where we had waaay too much nice food and wine...

No hurries here, we'll be coast-hopping south to Lisboa-Portugal during the next few weeks, and then to some of the Atlantic Islands before turning south to Senegal for the winter. Africa needs to be explored... by us, this time! 

Life is great, I only wish I'd done this 25 years ago.   

[Tim]

WTG Magnus and Isabelle!! 

[maxiSwede]

Thanks Tim.

I really wish that everyone with this dream will pull it through and weigh anchor. It's the best thing I've ever done. If it can provide a bit of inspiration to someone, then fine.

Someone said: - 'The hardest part of sailing around the world is probably to leave the home port'.

Anyone knows who said it?  -It seems so true!

Cheers!

[maxiSwede]

It's been a while again so I thought it could be time for  quick update. We are anchored opposite Vigo,Galicia, Spain. Our last stop in the beautiful, rugged and mountainous coast of Galicia, that is so inspiring to explore.

The weather is great, with a mighty High pressure covering half the N Atlantic (!) but that has the side-effect of almost non-existant wind. No biggie, we've got 2-3 days (some 220 miles9 to Lisbon from here so there is no panic. We'll stay a cpople of days more and see what's coming next...

M & I - living the dream, and not dreaming of anything else! 

[Frank]

Great to hear from you. Glad you're havin fun. Pics...we need pics