North Brittany. A truly beautiful coastline with many well protected bays. At low tide, rocks are everywhere. They form barriers that block or hide the route to the beaches. Navigationally confusing. The marked channels to get inside are welcome finds.

The currents - further out - tear east, then west, with a half-hour period of indecision in between. There's little point attempting to sail against them if the wind is light.

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.

Been a bit irregular on the blog posts lately but have managed a few Facebook updates. Remember to check here for those.

First landing. Calais. Come a long way.

Excellent day yesterday. Farewells to Robby at Royal Belgium Sailing Club. Then slipped past Zeebrugge - where windsurfers are prohibited from passing the port entrance. A headwind meant that the course across was oblique, so my tactic was to sail a long (long!) way out first, and then cross approaching from seaward, where I guessed I'd not be noticed until it was easier to let me pass than block passage. I know from experience going past Rotterdam that I don't show up on radar.

There's been slow progress of late, so to put in a 40 nautical miler today was welcome. Also getting past Rotterdam with its continual stream of fast moving shipping. Later I found myself offshore between points of land, but inside offshore sandbanks so on nice flat water. Easy stopping for a rest, as the seals know well.

Forecast is atrocious from tomorrow afternoon and thunder is rumbling now as I write this. Need to get somewhere before the wind comes in strong - that could be in Belgium.

Arms ache from pumping out of the Wadden Sea, a race against time before the tide turned. I kind of made it out in time. Open North Sea for a few days now. Here's a few unused pictures from the last week.

Apologies for lack of news folks! Here's a summary...

Journey back from Helgoland: slow (not as slow as the journey out though!), long way, lots of ships. Got to Langeoog, one of a chain of Frisian Islands. Wind then had a day off - fine by me, who needed one too. Next hop was to island of Juist, where friends of a friend put me up. Particular thanks to Josef for bike tour and insights, and Yann for help getting gear to water the next morning. Enjoyed the island and my stay.