Video Archive

You never know what the day will bring. Today was good miles, a small problem, a quick repair, and an unforeseen barrier...

Sailing from Le Fort Bloque, more headwinds but enough for OK progress. Then the fog came. And a foghorn was sounding, encouraging me to stay close inshore. Some miles later and out of the white mist appears a regatta committee boat. I sail towards it and then a beach that becomes visible, make an inelegant landing, and am helped ashore by this friendly crowd, of windsurfers!

Photo montage by regatta organiser Patrick Le Lay, who had let me know about the event, but in typically disorganised fashion I'd not fully registered when or where...

Today sailed through the Raz de Sein, which has the most notorious current and overfalls on the French coast. A small gap next to the Pointe du Raz allowed a passage through on flat water. Then a long haul in open water, a few zigzags to get through the rocks off La Point de La Torche, and finally into the calmer waters of south Brittany. Good to get here! Video clip is of the current yesterday just after leaving Le Conquet, where it also burbles through quick.

Wind and rain for most of the day. Flat water, but too windy for comfort before the Héaux de Bréhat lighthouse. The lighthouse itself sits on a reef, so inside is protected. Beyond, the sea should have been a cauldron, but big tides - full moon tonight - turned the sea into a eastward flowing river, robbing the waves of their strength. Being lucky, still. 40nm nearer to Spain!

Exciting sailing.

Short but nice video clip sailing away from Dinard (near St Malo), France. This after a great stop where without a plan things all came together, and the true spirit of humanity and collaboration shone through again. Thanks to Léo Lefebvre for being in the rubber boat and the iphone video work.
(Update: there are now two clips - click through to see the second one).

Past the first of the D-day beaches. Their normality was perhaps what impacted most.

Emotions. Sadness: that we Brits were so willing to fall for the peace-time propaganda of Brexit. A pulse of anger too. And puzzlement: at the twisted priorities of those who seek to drive wedges with scant regard for Europe's greatest achievement: peace.

Those were my thoughts upon arriving at Juno beach, location where Canadian and British forces disembarked in 1944.

First landing. Calais. Come a long way.

An early morning dash in a narrow weather window got me to the Danish island of Læsø. Overnight had been windy so the Swedish side of the Skagerrak / Kateggat Sea was confused and lumpy - but he angle was just right to sail high in reaching mode, thereby heading into the waves rather than accelerating down them. That keeps speeds down and means control is less of an issue. By the middle things had calmed down enough that I had the confidence for a spot of filming in the shipping lanes. The aircraft at the end of the clip circled a few times for a good look.

Decent progress to Stavern. Exciting sailing with a fair sized swell and skerries all over the place. Before that - in behind Jomfruland - managed to cheat a bit with a free ride. Good day!

Upwind sailing these last days on open coastline without protection from swell. Yesterday I sailed a few miles with contact Alex, before leaving him with a couple of Snickers bars and wishing him good luck getting home. I probably made it to land before him. At a headland which turned out to be surf spot 'XY'. There I met off-grid campers Gerard, Anna, Bic and Sara who were kind enough to include me in their barbecue and the drinking of their not inconsiderable alcohol supply.