Inspiration

Some extra days in Odessa whilst we find a resolution to the next border issue. The Ukraine-Romania border meets the Black Sea at the Danube delta and on the Ukrainian side there are (in theory) no "ports of entry/exit" anywhere near, so we are applying to Customs for a workaround.

Contacts Max (https://www.surflaguna.club/) and Alexandr are making the delay a real pleasure, and it is fascinating to be in this city: visiting the centre either by bike or public transport whilst residing in a more typical residential area.

It will soon be two years that I have been windsurfing round Europe. Before that I circumnavigated Britain, via Ireland and Northern Ireland. I’ve met many people.

The family of the sea have of course been accepting. The nationality of a seafarer matters little, and there is none that does not drown. Every seafarer knows that the sea is bigger than they are. This knowledge unites them.

Menorca is a good place to recharge batteries. I've been continuing a very simple life: some exercise, some work, occasional human contact. The borderline hermit life is restful. The shops are a long enough cycle away to encourage self sufficiency with what you have. The coastal paths are wild and empty. It's an island...

Long Standing Ambition - the Windsurf Round Britain book - is published. It is available now in paperback and Kindle editions.

The book has been written for quite a while now, but publication was slowed up by the need to include maps - and there is one for every day sailed; and some photographs - where I thought these added to the account and there was space to put them. So apologies for the delay, but the result is a book that is to my mind is now genuinely complete.

A meeting with Rob Henshall - pioneer solo expedition windsurfer

Yesterday I met Robert Henshall - the pioneer of solo expedition windsurfing - a man whose existence I first became aware of over twenty years ago. He got a too-brief mention back then, in Boards windsurfing magazine, for having solo windsurfed Ireland. That feat stuck in my teenage mind, and became the foundation of my belief that windsurfing round Britain unsupported was a reasonable and feasible proposition.