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Well as you can see above, I've got a new logo to reflect the change back to a sailing yacht!

Next year

I hope to be doing some more exciting cruises around the Hebrides and of course out to St Kilda but from now on all the trips will be sail!

I also intend to be able to offer some sail training cruises as well.

Further information and firm dates will be available on this site in September.  Despite the yacht being a spacious 48ft Westerly Oceanmaster, I'll only be taking four guests on board,

The Voyage from Cannes to Dunstaffnage

 I've had lots of correspondence from  previous guests about the trip back from Cannes in southern France aboard the new yacht, then called Ivresse. So for anyone interested I've put together the following tale of the saga!

Northern Wanderer (ex Ivresse) is currently at Dunstaffnage marina while I do all the jobs necessary to get her coded for commercial use. This mainly consists of fitting various bits of safety gear and making some modifications to the set-up as required by the regulations which will be completed over the winter months ready for the start of 2009 season in March.

Ivresse was purchased off a very nice Belgian couple who kept her moored in Cannes on the French Riviera. This was after many years of exciting sailing all over the place. A back injury prompted Michel to put her on the market and hence into my hands!

After lots of work to get her ready for the long passage back to Scotland via the Bay of Biscay, Julie and I set off in the middle of March to begin the journey.  Crossing the Gulf of Lyon gave us a good chance to see the yacht handle some pretty poor sea conditions, the infamous Mistral setting in during our first night at sea. Still she handled the rough seas and strong winds with ease and never gave us a moments concern which was very gratifying with the long passage ahead.

As conditions eased we passed several fishing vessels leaving harbour, this 60ft boat giving us a friendly wave.

Some of the places we stopped at were very attractive, and of course we were well ahead of the normal tourist season so everywhere was very quiet.  We saw very few other yachts during the whole trip back to Scotland!!

We were forced into Almeria for three days while the wind blew up to a force 10, but it was very pleasant having a rest.

Finally we arrived at the "Rock" - Gibraltar where we were to meet up with Brian and Gill Fuller who were joining us to help with the crewing.

While we waited for them to arrive at the airport, Julie and I took a fabulous walk up onto the rock itself.  We met a local botanist who told us that due to the unusually wet spring, the flowers were the best she had see in fifteen years.

Here Gibraltar Candytuft and Solomon's' seal

This is one of the plants which was particularly good this year - giant squill - about 25 cms across the flower head.

The view from the top of the Rock was stunning despite quite a bit of haze.  We enjoyed looking at the flowers, said goodbye to the friendly botanist and sat down among the fortifications to have our picnic.  I had managed to down my sandwiches being somewhat hungry, but Julie was more interested in the view and after a few moments inattention .....

....... a very quick Gibraltar ape shot out from behind a bush and grabbed her bag!  These animals can be very vicious and we were wary of tackling it, but while its attention was diverted by Julies' sandwiches I managed to retrieve  the bag. However Julie was most indignant at the loss of her lunch (especially as I had eaten all of mine) meanwhile I was laughing  so much I was finding it hard to breathe.

So as soon as Brian and Gill arrived we set off from the Rock on our journey north.  The weather was excellent although there was little wind for the first few hours.

That evening we were treated to a wonderful view of the sun setting over a glassy sea.

Of course this being the season for migration of birds we had several hitch hikers. This brown backed shrike was very tame and let Julie get this superb image while I was asleep!

This willow warbler was not so keen to get close but was equally grateful for the chance to rest.

We made steady passage up to Portugal and stopped off at the port of Cascais for a day.

I've not included many landscape pics, but felt one of Cascais harbour was worth adding as the place was so very nice. The people were incredibly friendly and it was one of the few places I found not to have changed for the worse over the years.

However once we left there the wind fell light and we were forced to motor.  Again we had a super sunset but bad fortune was waiting for us the next day.

I could hear a change in the note of the engine and we slowly began to lose speed.   I realised we had something wrapped around the propeller and nothing I did would get it out.  So it was a case of going over the side and having a mid ocean swim in some very cold water!  My first attempt showed me we had managed to become entangled with a huge amount of heavy fishing twine.  Although I tried, the water was too cold to allow me to cut us free, as unfortunately I had no wetsuit on board.  We made a valiant effort to sail in very light winds for the Portuguese coast in order to get a diver, and as luck would have it, had our very best views of whales and dolphins but I was in no mood to take any photos - I was still very cold from the swim.  However we realised we were not going to get very far without the aid of the engine so I decided to improvise. 

I wrapped up in lots of clothes, borrowing Brian's, red long johns, and then covered my upper body in a cut down bin bag to hopefully work in the same way as a wetsuit.  It did improve matters but not by much however there was no other choice. This photo shows my forced attempt to grin as I prepared to enter the water yet again, and also my grin of relief after I was at last finished after persevering for about forty minutes until eventually we were free!

Finally we had the offending rope on the deck and were able to get underway once again.  While the rest continued the passage I was treated to a warm shower!!

Later Brian was photographed with the offending bundle of rope once we had safely arrived in harbour once again.

We made our way north out of Portuguese waters during the night and at one point were inspected by a very ominous naval vessel that came alongside with no warning and inspected us closely from stem to stern keeping us blinded by the glare of an enormous searchlight.  Oddly, they found nothing suspicious and disappeared into the darkness as mysteriously as they had arrived.  We continued on, intending to make for La Corunna in north west Spain but some pretty poor weather and big waves at Cap Finnisterre prompted us to go into Villa Garcia de Arossa to pick up another of the crew - a great guy by the name of Peter Jarrett. 

We stayed there for a few days and took the opportunity to go by train to Santiago  de Compostilla and visit the cathedral there. The remains of St James reside in the casket in the left image and examples of the opulence in the other.

Villa Garcia is a main centre for the collection of various types of shell fish including cockles and more exotic species. My interest in fishing made watching these workers fascinating.

We had a cracking sail across the Bay of Biscay, finding some pretty strong winds and big seas at times but eventually we arrived in Camaret sur Mer near Brest. 

Another day off was called for and we all enjoyed a brilliant walk along the sea cliffs seeing some super flowers but being most impressed by the concrete fortifications all along the way!

Next stop was to be over the English channel to the Scillies, and once again we made excellent passage time to to some pretty strong winds.

We arrived in St Mary's during the night after a rolly passage and again enjoyed a day off to give the winds time to ease a little. Early in the season the harbour was nearly empty apart from one or two yachts sheltering from the breeze.

We made our way up the Irish coast calling in for a meal and a pint of Guinness at Antrim before dropping Peter off at Dun Laoriagh to catch a ferry and then train back to London.  A last call into Bangor, Northern Ireland and our next landfall was to be Bonny Scotland. 

We made fast progress round the Mull of Kintyre and stopped overnight on a mooring at Gigha.

Then all that was left was to pass the light house in the Sound of Luing  and our destination was in sight.

Five weeks had passed since Julie and I left Cannes and we had travelled 2364 nautical miles to get home! Great!!!!

The Team

                                   Peter Jarrett

          Brian Fuller

                           Gill Fuller

                         Julie Stanger

The Skipper

My profound thanks go out to everyone who helped me with the passage and put up with some uncomfortable times but some fun ones as well!!

David Leaver

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