Arrived Thursday in Helgoland

Detour to Den Helder

After sailing at seven knots for fifteen hours the wind died and we turned on the engine.  After an hour we discovered that we had air in the diesel fuel and a minute later we decided to turn ninety degrees to Den Helder Holland to make repairs.  In light winds we sailed literally to the entrance to the marina, turned on the engine and within a minute we tied up at the dock.

Thirty hours later, after repairs, we are back sailing to Helgoland, but we are close to shore in case we need to go into port again.

Best

John and Nancy

Off We Go to Heligoland!

15 June 2017  Lowestoft: at the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club.

Time to quit messing about getting stuff fixed- it's a boat! ...and we are ready for crossing the North Sea tomorrow, casting off at 4am.  We found and installed new house batteries - 6x 100 ah: the bottom is shiny with new paint; the topsides, from the waterline up to the rail, are gleaming with fresh wax; a few little things have been fixed and almost everything is working!

We had a pleasant trip yesterday from anchor in the Orwell River, just South of Pin Mill, up here to Lowestoft. We had thought it would be a motor-sail all the way, but we spent about 70% of the time having a glorious sail in 12 knots of breeze and flat water: so that was a big bonus.  All sails and rigging are correct and shipshape, and the Admiral and the Captain are pleased with the progress made in the last couple of weeks.


Best,
John and Nancy

After three days up on the land at Ipswich Haven Marina, Adventuress is ready to be launched: 13 June 2017.

Shake down cruise

We left Tidewater Marina bright and early on Friday, June 2, to head to Ipswich Marina for a haul out, bottom paint and wax job.  Since parts of the Deben River dry out at low tide, we anchored several miles down river intending to leave the Deben the next day.  Surprise!  The windlass didn't work and several gauges were on the blink.

John discovered that our 6 marine 'house bank' batteries were not holding a charge.  So back to Tidewater Marina at 6pm high tide during a thunder storm.  Luckily the starter battery was in good shape.

Today we are hopeful for a battery delivery and we will try again.  It's great to sort out these issues before we head to Helgoland.

Cheers!

Nancy and John

This Sailing Blog Awakens....

....from its hibernation!  

After another splendid Florida winter working at golf, tennis, parties and suntans, it’s time to get back to the toil of sailing in Europe for the summer of 2017.  We have one whole thing nailed down: we will fly to London arriving 23^rd May. Then it’s all a bit vague. What will probably happen is:

First week of June, haul the boat for bottom paint.

Mid June, we shall sail from Lowestoft, England, across the North Sea to Heligoland. Adventuress thereby (and we have this in writing from the French Customs, no less!) by fueling and docking for a night, will have left the European Union Customs Zone, and we will have receipts to prove it. This is quite important to accomplish, so that we will not be deemed to have imported the boat into the EU and be liable for a $50,000 VAT tax on her.  Previously we went to Norway: and last year we visited the Channel  Islands.  Then we discovered - sacre bleu!  - that the French don’t count the Channel Islands as outside the EU (the Brits do!)  Thanks to my new friend Bertrand,  Patrouilleur des Douanes J.O. Fourmentin, Boulogne- sur- Mer, and the French rules he sent me, I discovered that the French do count the German tax haven island of Heliigoland as outside the Customs Zone.

Not only that, but diesel is half price in Heligoland, as we confirmed when we filled up there in 2014.

Now the Admiral says Heligoland is far North enough for her, thank you very much, and so instead of sailing up to Norway we will most likely turn South from Heligoland and make the short sail to Holland, where we will tarry a while, no doubt.

Then, it will be through the English Channel, and off to visit Normandy again, about end of June.  Then Beaucette in Guernsey, and off to new waters: Brittany, Biscay, Bordeaux, and thence to Spain, say about beginning of August.

After revisiting the Rias of North West Spain, South we will sail to Northern Portugal and the Douro, and Oporto. Maybe there we might find some bottles to stash in the bilges? Late bottled vintages will work best, I think. 

Lisbon will be next on the agenda.

Thus with some luck and a fair bit of skill and judgement (the Admiral will be aboard) we might fetch up in Lagos, Algarve, Portugal about say mid to late September.

Quite a good chance that will all happen: but having our own floating home and not needing to book any travel, it’s all flexible, and depends on the weather, the inclination, and what and whom we find along the way. 

Vagabonds we happily shall be!

Best to all,

John and Nancy

Marco Island, Florida

 At one of countless parties during the Marco Season.

And talking of the Season, here's the  Admiral modeling this season's....

....hottest pants!

Quote of the week: "Smoking cigars is like falling in love. First you are attracted by its shape. You stay for its flavour, and you must always remember never,never to let the flame go out."   Winston S. C.

Fun France, Fun Friends

After feasting on French cuisine, we have had a super dose of “friendship food”.  First with Sissel and Einar: these are fun cool Norwegians whom we met on the island of Laesso, Denmark in August last year. Some years back they sailed their boat transatlantic, going clockwise around the North Atlantic, with two children ages 16 and 11.  They have a second home in Normandy, and now we were lucky enough to meet up with them in Dives-Guillaume, even though we had a shortened sailing trip this year. 

They treated us to tours of Normandy, taking us to the charming Honfleur, to the Normandy Beaches, and even a “pilgrimage” to the Chateau du Breuil – a maker of superb Calvados.

So we feasted on fun and friendship…..and of course continued to refuel daily with Haute Cuisine!

After bidding adieu to Sissel and Einar, we sailed to Fecamp. And here we had one of those rare lovely things, a huge happy coincidence. Our friend Sue McMillan from San Diego, whom we first met in St Thomas Virgin Islands, had seen our blog and now sent us an email: she was working in France, and would be starting a week’s assignment in Boulogne: were we going to be anywhere near?  Yes we certainly were! 

So we made rendezvous with Sue in Dieppe, and had a fun time with her in this lovely old port town. We toasted her absent husband, Dewey, whom we Skyped in St Thomas, and congratulated him on their marriage just ten days ago! 

Even though it rained a lot, this did not stop Sue and us from following local gleaned intelligence about……what else? ...enjoying the best local restaurants!

Berthed In St Vaast - and what a charming old Normandy harbour town it is! Here we enjoyed a fine new marina in the heart of town, surrounded outside the harbour with ancients oyster beds!

Sissel and Einar in love at Honfleur!

Surely riding his bike down this classic tree-lined lane is an old Frenchman, with bunches of onions hanging from his handlebars, and with a black beret atop his head?

The beauty of the Normandy coastline stands in harsh contrast.....

....to the monuments above the beaches to so many brave Americans...

...and British and Allied soldiers.

From the cemetery, the provocative and somber view looking East from Omaha Beach.

Sissel and Einar's second home is centre, behind the tree, and just two minutes from.....

....the impressive promenade at Cabourg.

Arriving at Dieppe, when about three miles off, we saw a few strange things in the sky over the waterfront....and then within a minute there were fifty, then a hundred! What the devil.....? Then as we got close we could see that they were kites: and soon we discovered that at Dieppe was a huge International Kite Festival, with 37 countries attending!

Sue photographed us on the waterfront at Dieppe, in between rain showers.

Sue snaps a selfie, dining at the Restaurant du Port, Dieppe.

So we now are full of French food and wine, and have new fond memories of friends already made but now encountered in new places.  This fun and friendship fits our need perfectly, to live by our motto “Spread Joy”.

Best, Nancy and John

Normandy Gourmandy

Here we are in Honfleur, and why do we look so happy? Well, of course we just ate a gourmet lunch !




Warning! Do not continue unless you have already eaten!
The State of California has determined that if you are in any way hungry or thirsty it is dangerous to consume this blog and you may suffer irreparable psychological damage. 

If you approach the average French person from Normandy and ask in English “What is the most famous thing about Normandy” you may well get a blank stare - many of them don't speak English.  But if you ask it in French with an English accent, he will instantly reply “Bien sur, c’est Guillaume Le Conquerant!”   (“Of course, it’s William The Conqueror!”)

The best thing, however, about cruising Normandy is the food and wine:  the bounty of land and sea, not forgetting the apple liqueur Calvados. 

We must first rave about the oysters, undoubtedly the finest we have ever tasted!  

                           

The huge flat beaches coupled with a 25 foot tide range make St Vaast a perfect land/seascape for the French to farm oysters by the millions. These Froggies are quite good oyster farmers – they have been doing it a long time - and take the oysters from the seabed and place them on platforms so that at high tide they are covered, and ..........

 

.........as the tide goes out they then uncover and sit in the air.

This makes the French oyster very plump and yummy!

Next comes the wine, and Muscadet wine is not expensive and goes very well with oysters.......

 ....and so you can dine like kings for the price of fish and chips!

Then there are the Pates, 

the pastries and confectioneries, 

Chocolate sculpted into every fanciful icon of art deco,

the sausages and charcuterie,

and of course, the hundreds of different cheeses. 

All this is superbly complimented by the baguettes, the olives, and every type of vegetable imaginable.

And perhaps best of all, the process of acquisition is so much fun, with old fashioned markets in every town, and bakers and pastry shops, butchers and delicatessen, and every sort of temptation for the taste buds.

Vive La France Gastronomique!

Jean et Nancie Chevalier