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Morvenna 2023
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  • Austen Davies
  • Claire Davies

Morvenna 2023

First year of our sailing trip in our Ovni 435 Morvenna. Looking forward to some great adventures with Rob and Gretel Shaw Läs mer
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  • Morvenna 2023

    Martinique to Quadaloupe

    17–18 maj 2024, Martinique ⋅ 🌬 30 °C

    First things first, fill up with fuel and water. Martinique is European prices and quality. Then head for an anchorage in the bay not to far from the supermarket. This doesn’t sound like adventure sailing but chores are chores. Off to Carrefore to fill lots of shopping trollies with fresh food. Most people don’t realise that the french caribean islands are actually France. And get euro subsidies etc and they feel like France. Very weird. So couple of beers and a burger in a bar ready for an early start in the morning. When we wake the po po are checking boats in the anchorage for some reason they ignore us. Sails up. Anchorage up and a downwind exit through the sand banks of Marin to the open sea. Turn right. About 120miles today to a bay on Quadaloupe. No despising yet on final big sail destination. Colombia too hot. Azores bit short handed with funky weather systems developing. Decide tomorrow. A nice 8 kt down wind drift towards diamond Rock which is a nature reserve with many birds and great diving. Then right again toward Dominica. Wind is perfect 16 to 18 kts on the beam the mighty Morvenna punching along at 8 to 9 kts hardly a boater to be seen, just the way I like it. As we reach the gap between quadaloupe and Dominica we find a boat that doesn’t know we are racing them. We race them until we reach Dominica and the day ends. No wind in behind the island we motor sail the length of the island. Taking turns to sleep there are many lights on the shore and many fishing floats to avoid in the sea. By the time morning comes I am on watch and we have reached the tight pilotage at the entrance to cul de sac Marin. Which is a name we should have heeded. I manage to sail through the channels in half light no engine so I didn’t have to wake sleeping beauty. The town looked very industrial so one past the reef we gibed and headed for a little lagoon in by Douville. Perfectly flat water between 2 reefs Time to make a discussion on where to go next. We look at the 2 options and there is no obvious answer. The weather is complicated to cross the Atlantic. I decide to get some second opinions. And text Jack who has just that day completed a transat back to Azores done in 7 days from Bermuda. I know that Jack Scarlet and the gang on his boat will have plenty of experience and ideas. What a fateful decision this turns out to be. The owner and the skipper are very enthusiastic and there consensus is for us to not bother with Azores. Go to Nova Scotia via Bermuda. Boom there’s a plan we hadn’t considered. And head back across the Atlantic next summer via Greenland, Iceland and Faroe island. I like this plan has a bit more adventure in it..
    We nip into town for some beers and pizza and the plan is settled. Bermuda tomorrow. And find the cold weather clothes.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Carriacou to Martinique a fishing tale

    15–16 maj 2024, Caribbean Sea ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    With the Elephant still firmly in the room for where the boats next destination is,we have decide to head 126 NM north to Martinique. This will act as a shake down for the boat before we commit to a bigger crossing.
    One last tuna steak in the original slip restaurant Holger joins us and becomes our one friend to wave us off. We leave at about 10pm. We slip through the anchored boats in the dark and out into the open ocean the coarse is not far from being due north. The big decision for now who gets to sleep first. We are doing 3 hours on 3 hours off rota system while there is just 2 of us. Rob wins the paper scissors stone and is off to his pit. Beutiful clear night with 15 kt breeze, I can see te lights of Hillborough as the boat starts hit her stride.
    By the time the morning comes Rob is on watch and is rattling through cupboards to get his fishing stuff together. The fish in these parts can be big, and our equipment isn’t. Luckily so far the biggest we have hooked is about 15kg. Things are about to change.
    We have slid past Marrieu and Bequia through the night. And as the day gets going we are just clearing St Vincent. We have a steady 18kt easterly and a 1.5 metre sea. Progress is good. There is a sudden sizzle of the reel. Rob wearing not much more than his pants springs to life like superman’s grandad. He grabs the rod from the holder and has tug. Nope he’s says its got off. The truth is it didn’t Know it was hooked and was cruising behind the boat. Rob began to wind in, and check his gear. The extra tension in the line must of caused the the hook to bury into the fish. It felt that, shook its head above water and then took off for 300 unstoppable metres. The reels drag system could not stop it. The only way we would get this fish in was to stop the boat and organise a 2 man fight. We are about 6 or 7 miles off shore in the channels between st Vincent and St Lucia and we head up to wind to stop the boat and sort it out she just gills along at 1.5 kts. We spend the next 2.5 hours!! Tag team winding and pulling the fish towards the boat. Every time it gets close, it sees the boat and tears off another 50 metres. Eventually rob starts to pull on the line with a gloved hand and we are up to the swivel attatched to the leader. We can see the fish clearly now, a yellow fin tuna around 5ft long and google suggest would weigh about 80-100kg. S H one Tee what do we do now. Luckily fate saved us, just as were in touching distance one shake of the head and gone.
    we were several miles off coarse and pretty tired. Time to get the boat sailing and have a cuppa. Now 2 or 3 hours behind schedule we decide On an unplanned stop in St Lucia. For a good nights sleep. We slip late Into Rodney bay marina past the last few super yachts in the bay and through the narrow channel, to our favourite spot on the super yacht quay. We are so small you cant see us. Quick beer and bed.
    Early breakfast then the 20 mile hope to Marin in the SE of Martinique.
    Time to Vittle the boat for a big trip. But where too!!.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Carriacou (maintenance week)

    6–14 maj 2024, Grenada ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    After a 2 hour ferry trip from st George’s (Grenada) back to the sleepy Tyrell bay on the small Island of Carriacou. There are 2 boat yards in this far flung island and we have chosen the smaller one with the nice bar. It’s 30 degrees and not very conducive of doing any work. The little flat we have rented has a small air on unit (woop woop) and large iguanas.
    30 minutes after getting off the ferry the Mighty Morvenna was in the slings to be lifted out ready for work. The list is long, as always
    Service the engine
    Service the generator
    Clean and anti foul the bottom.
    Service the propeller
    Strip down and fix the water maker.
    Fill gas bottles
    We started fast but the heat slowed us quickly. Lucky we have a handy bar with ice cold beers..
    The heat was overpowering and we were permanently dripping in sweat. In the normal way we stopped a lot and chatted with anyone who was there. Met a french guy called cyprian who started the yard in the 80s he had great stories of exploring the island when they were still pristine. Holger was an interesting German single handed who rarely let the heat stop him. He has only been sailing 5 years and had been in the Caribbean for the whole period. He is a free diver and spear fisher with a pure view to sail travel rarely starting his engine and having a sail dinghy for the hops to shore. He can dive over 4 minutes and has held his breath for 8!!! When he is on land.

    There is an elephant in the room. Where too next in the boat Colombia is the plan and is mostly out of the hurricane area. But there is a feeling of nobody is exited for that. Heading back across the atlantic is discussed. We decide we will head North to Martinique. And decide there.(first world problem).

    One last Tuna steak then off we will go    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    St georges Grenada

    5–7 maj 2024, Grenada ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    After 7 weeks of working flat out it is time to pack up my stuff and head west and find the boat. I've been so busy I can't remember what's on the boat and what I need to take. I'm sure it will all come together. Heathrow to St Geirges 2 nights then Ferry north to Carriaciu to find the boat and start the jobs list before the 1000 mile trip to Colombia via the Dutch antilles.. watermarked service . New hydraulic Hoses. Rig check. Antifouling. Engine and gearbox servicing. The list is long but having a breakdown in the stretch of water would be a difficult timeLäs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Week 3 and st Lucia

    23 december 2023, Saint Lucia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Who would have thought it 3rd week at see. Routine and books and good food making the time pass easily. One of my favourite things for a long trip is to see different wild life, dolphins have been in short supply for a while but as we get within a 1000 miles of land we will start to see them again. Even sea birds are much rarer than they have been. Flying fish storm petrels and the odd sight of a giant tuna breaking the surface is all we have had for the last week. Fishing has continued to be good with staple catch now being small tuna rather than Mahi Mahi. We have seen several cycles of the moon on this trip and each night the skies never gets old. With so little light pollution the stars and now Elon musk saterlites form in what seams like clouds. I have a particular memorable night where it was 3 am the boat was driving along in flat water with a cloudless star congested sky. I stood on the cockpit seat in 27 c in just my shorts and head phones (apparently on watch) dancing to my 80 playlist. Not an easy scenario to repeat in a hurry.
    We get becalmed with a thousand miles to go. So we nose the boat into a raft of weed and decide to take a swim. Very weird sensation so far off shore. The are rumours of big fish hiding under the weed islands and Rob cant help to see if he can wheedle one out. He fails with a big one but manages a couple of small shoul fish for the pot.
    As we get within a few hundred miles of the final destination new bird life begins to arrive. The first and most noticeable are the brown Boobies which hunt close to the boat and dive on flying fish catching with everything 2nd or 3rd dive. Absolutely spectacular. Our last 50 miles run into St Lucia channel was a 7 and 8 knot reach with birds fishing and robs playlist playing. It Was very memorable(Would we make it by dark)
    As we begin to see other boats and the big wild world of business is coming to get us. I decide to give Rodney bay Marina a call to find it where to park the boat. After such an epic journey I was expecting a bit of a fanfare and guided to our birth by there marina launch. What happen was. They called back and said we are full and try again if we are passing again.The. Mood was temporarily dampened by this. We were all expecting to go to the bar and celebrate. Being Wiley Cornish people we said thanks for that to the marina and decided to head in anyway. After wiggling our way through all of the anchored boats out in the bay we found the narrow entrance to the marina as dusk fell. We go past all the local traders on the left of the channel and then it opens up and we see all of the super yachts On there very exclusive births. That’s the spot for us . There was a super yacht birth empty, and it had our name on it, so we gluided in and tied up. A few well earned congratulations and hugs on the very solid concrete dock (it felt like it was moving) after what was quite a brief tidy up, the magnetic pull of the bar was un resistable. We all change into cloths that might get us past security on the upper yacht dock. The Piton bar is in sight , and the security lady thinks we must be super yachters. We are very much in business. At the bar there is a deal for a bucket of Pitons.(5 bottles)
    Which seems very reasonable. So we order a couple of buckets to keep us going. It was our very good luck that the only seats in the house were next to 5 of the local lads who either worked on the marina or on the tourist boats. They welcomed us to there table like long lost friends and the tall stories began, from both side. Nicks final tall story finished with him fast asleep on the grass near to the bar with spoons trying to coax him to bed.
    .    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Transatlantic week 2

    9 december 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    Day I
    More fishing, More cleaning, more breakages. ( bathroom window squeaky Diedrie, steering warps )It become apparent that our cruising chute will not go down wind far enough even poled out. So it looks like we will goose wing all the way to the Caribbean. Seems this set up suits us. Just makes it a little trickier to change gear. But our average is around 150 miles per day.

    Day2
    Well its been a few days since we spotted our first flying fish . We are now at around 14 degrees north and now they are landing on the boat. Sarah seems to think there is meal in them some way. She even tried a bit of one raw. I’m guessing its only a matter of time that we will have a plate of fly white bait. So far the troops are not showing enthusiasm. Floating weed on sea has slowed down the fishing and on occasion slowed down the boat too.

    Day4
    Well today is the day we will reach halfway on our route Las Palmas to St Lucia. I used a very sophisticated calculation to work out where this point fall. Its very important as we are allowed some celebrationional alcohol when it arrives. So I get a USB cable stretch it out round our theoretical course, then fold it in half and use the loop to strike an arc from St Lucia Chanel. Very conveniently it fell, for us, on 37 degrees west. Whoop! Woop! Can of Corev for me.

    Day5
    Well fancy that, another opportunity for beer, Today the mighty Morvenna will pass 10000nm in our ownership 7500 this year. Woop woop more Corev. Great sunset too.
    Fishing has ground to a halt. Due to constant weed. Looks like we will have to open our first tins of food as the fresh food is nearly at an end.

    Day 6
    Today we have decided to have a BBQ and have tuna baked potatoes so I dig out the store cupboard to get out the Cobb BBQ. While I’m in there it goes cloudy and starts to rain. As we all know the same happens at home when we mention BBQ. I decide to use this indoor time to strip down the generator. It definitely needs a new starter motor or refurb this one

    Day 7
    So in the middle of the night the wind dies and Rob decides a few hours with engine would help keep progress on track. All good on decision. Except engine does not start. That means me head down in the engine bay in the morning ,
    I cant believe it, starter motor failure. What are the chances of. the generator and the engine both having starter motor failure. I strip it out and find the solenoid has failed. Its a sealed unit and no chance of repair. What then dawns on me is the spare starter motor I ordered before I left the UK did not arrive. This is now a bit sereous . We now have no way of making any meaningful electrics. So that means no water making. I check the water metres and see wee have 300 litres in stock so nothing to worry about at the moment. The main engine is not hand crank-able so we will have to sail onto anchor when we arrive. I n the mean time we shall read the generator instructions those if we Han hand crank that. Woop woop we can. So more ferreting in the back storage cupboard with the generator. In the end we get it started with a combination of a makita drill and some team work with releasing the decompression valve. All good. Now charge the batteries. Fill up the water tanks and get the fridge cold. All is now good in the world, where did the day go.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Transatlantic 1st week (Pirates!)

    1 december 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    So we weighed anchor from our un attractive spot in the industrial end of Las Palmas. And weaved our way out between the other 100 yachts waiting to leave. Although not that exiting at the time. Its taken a lot of time and effort to get a boat on the start line for a transatlatic, and here we are heading out. There are a couple of big boat anchorages just out from the town for us to negotiate. First thing is sails up as there is only 2 hours of light left. We meander down the east of the island heading south to the open ocean. And The Cape Verdie 900 norm south which will be ours turning point to head west . The wind is predicted a bit light and we will have to try to stay on the patchy northerlies to make progress. These breezes look strongest for the the next few days nearer to the African coast . So we ease our way closer to stay in the breeze. This decision turned out to be more adventurous than we had thought.
    We are catching fish regularly and the fresh vegetables are lasting. Routine has set in 3 hour watches. We are even having rear deck salt water showers now the water and air temperatures are warm.
    The choices to go inland and follow the breeze was good from a sailing tactics point of view. But in normal racing we don’t include Pirate risk and on this occasion nor had I. It was the middle of the day blue sky fishing rods out, our boat was looking like a laundry with all the washing drying on the rails. I was downstairs reading when Rob said he could see a RIB coming towards us at high speed. It was on the horizon but coming our way. We were 150nm off the shore of Western Sahara. “This it not normal” I grabbed the binoculars and headed up to the cockpit. Rob pointed them our they were still a mile or so away, but it was clear that this was trouble. Just as you have seen on you tube it was 10 African men speeding towards us in a wooden fishing boat. WE hid Sarah downstairs and all stood on deck looking directly at them through binoculars. They eased the speed off there boat and matched our speed about 200 yards away.it was clear they were measuring us up. We sent out an all station message by radio and contacted Falmouth coast guard with our position and situation. After just about 2 or 3 very long minutes, I think they decided we did not make the cut for bing robbed. (I’m sure they would have heard our transmissions). They moved aft of us and more slowly headed for the horizon. They moved just over the horizon but we could still see them on the radar. They had not gone far!.. Nick climbed the mast to keep tabs on them. And we stayed in contact with the coat gabardine with up dates. We were many hundred of miles from civilisation, so we were the only people who solve the problem. Night fall was coming so we needed a plan. We were pretty sure they had found us out in this big wilderness by using the AIS system. And they could now see the top of our mast and sails from the other side of the Horizon. Our plan was to stay on track and give them confidence that we were not changing coarse. Wait for night fall and turn off AIS keep all lights off and gibe our goose winged rig through 90 degrees. Hopefully putting as much distance from our original track as possible before they noticed. Tension was a little high, so a pod of 20 plus dolphins showing up was a great distraction. Nicks view from the mast was spectacular apparently we were completely surrounded. With dolphins coming in from all directions spoon tethered up and headed for the bow for the best view of jumping and playing dolphins.. Dark was here and time to gyre and go dark.
    1 mile, 2 miles, 5 miles, time for supper in the dark inside. 10 miles 20 miles. We put the radar on to see what we could see. We could see a small image on our old track. We decided to stay dark all night. And the next day and the night after. We were now 350 mm from land and out of the range of land based pirated. We gabled back on coarse and have a story to tell. Truth is I think we looked too poor and got lucky .
    The next 2 days seemed quite relaxed. 3 meals a day and some light maintenance. 20 to 25 kts of breeze 7 knots of speed all day long.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Las Palmas

    30 november 2023, Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    What can I say, If you are looking for adventure and out there places. This would be about the most disappointing place to start. Firstly we called the marina for a birth. They said no space go to the anchorage. As always we ignored them and snuck in in the dark, found ourselves a spot and started conversations with the locals who lent us an access card so we could go for a much needed beer after 7 days at sea. So far so good.
    We got woken up by the Marina security telling us to go to the anchorage then come back in our dinghy to register. What a pain. Again we ignored them and went to register without moving. There was a queue which took us an our of waiting in the sun to get to the front of. Most people were cheerful but there were some notable exceptions.. everyone was told there’s no room at the in go to the anchorage. And were put on the waiting list which was 2 months long!!!. We registered and moved to the anchorage .

    Next into town for some shopping and spy where the best beers are. We were here to pick up Spoons who was coming on the onward journey. And re stock with food etc and even do the final maintenance list before we are on the start line for the big trip. Best have a beer and think about it.

    Nicks on the shopping, so I’m on the maintenance list.
    New ropes for Diedrie as the originals were rubbish
    AIS was causing an earth leak find and fix.
    Buy and fit new connections for auto helm.
    And at the last moment the generator has spat out its dummy.

    We are far enough south that we should be solidly in the trade winds which should push us south and west. But unbelievable we have south and South west wind forecasts to for the next few days. More weather bad luck for us. Luckily it seems we cant remember all the shopping in just one visits so we get to go multiple times.
    OK time to go to the bar with our new 20 something Cornish mates. Who have bought Nicholson 32 with no sailing experience and were heading across the Atlantic. Having started in Falmouth a month before. We had a great night and I hope they are ok. They have a boat that only carries 70 litres of fuel and 100 litres of water they have plans to carry extra..
    The 1st of December wind looks good, lets get going. Shame about the generator.!    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Vigo to Las Palmas

    26 november 2023, Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Now this is the first big hop of the adventure. 900NM off shore sailing probably about a week at sea looking at the forecast. Our water tanks are full our fuel tanks are full and the food store are full. The first day was slow only averaging 4.5 kts but at leat it was down wind with the sun on our backs. Time to break out the fishing rods and see if we can keep the larder full. And we had success pretty quickly with our first tuna looking fish. We think an albercore but not sure really. But it sure did taste good. Cooked served perfectly by Nick who was super exited to have such fresh fish to serve. On one of the first nights our auto helm failed and hand steering added a big challenge to the nights with an following see and wind constantly over 25 kts
    The next game was to dial in our brand new wind pilot steering gear. Which although wasn’t easy to start with turned out to be a god send. Electric free and silent steering. Our old auto helm is George as is everyone else’s. But the new wind pilot was to be call Diedrie. Quiet but strong.
    As the days went on we found rhythm in the way we worked. Watches were 3 hours on 6 hours off. And it was all oiled by Nicks passion for serving great food.

    Although we had every kind of weather there was no stress involved and the might Morvenna just ticked forward towards the destination.

    As we made land fall on the 7th day we could see a strange shape on the horizon which turned out to be a square rigger. As we caught up with her and made a close fly pass the crew and guest were as interested in us as we were in them.

    Las Palmas was now in view and it was looking like a disappointment.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Viveiro to Vigo

    14 november 2023, Spanien ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Now the first thing to bare in mind is we were not intending to go to Vigo. We were intending to go to A Coruna and then even get as far as the other side of the bay if the weather allowed. This little hop turned into a bit of an epic. We checked the tides and the weather and saw a small opportunity to make some westerly miles. It was an evening leave from Viveiro and at 5pm we untied and headed out. We had just gone half a mile when rob said he had forgotten to return Marina key. So we nipped back. Maybe this was a sign. We sailed over to a little bay under the headland called Cabo de Bares . Our intention was to have supper while anchored in the dark and then set off with the tide round the headland. All going well so far and Supper prepared by nick was delicious. Do the washing up tog up and go. Straight into watch system on a very dark night. Wind was moderate and there was a largish swell left over from the storms. This stretch of coast is rocky and a likely to have quite a bit of shipping. 3 hours on watch 6 hours in bed not to bad really. By the time i woke we were entering the Bay that leads to our destination A Coruna. The weather was fine and we though we would push on to a small port across the bay Malpica and wait for the weather pulse to move through. Here comes the sliding door moment. We were most of the way to the cute little harbour and it wasn’t even lunch time. Quick peak at the weather. We have time to push on to Muxia which is round the corner and will be in the much waited for northerly air flow. We set a coarse to co around the corner. It added just 40 miles and the weather and tide was looking bang on. As we headed into the last 10 miles the wind built and we started reducing sail. The weather had turned up a bit early but the mighty morvenna was happy in these conditions and we happily beat our way to the entrance of the bay. We even got a bit of help from the engine to help us point higher for the last section. Destination in sight but a few miles of up wind still to do through the entrance. The engine stopped and would not start. Checked the basics and it looked like fuel starvation. The sea was still quite big and the wind was beginning to howel. And only 1 hour til darkness. We had no choice but to tack out to sea and put some distance between us and the coast. The weather we were hoping to sit out was on its way and we were going to get some. Our first tack took us straight offshore towards the TSS traffic separation scheme which we would cross at 90 degrees. The dark of night had now set in and the 2 reef stay sail set up we had going was manageable steering big waves in the dark of night is very hard work. And our watches were changed to 2 hours on 2 hours off in rotation for 1 every hour as we needed 2 on watch 1 to steer the boat and 1 to manage the traffic. By the time we had cleared the traffic separation scheme we were 50 miles off shore. And the heavy SW wind was likely to drag us further north, back into the Bay. It was time to tack and start south against the wind and waves . Heavy seas and the constant threat of fast moving container ships kept our minds focused until the new day was in.
    The next day we were clear of the shipping and the sea and weather was being much kinder, time to find out what the problem with engine is. Rob and I began to strip out the stairs in the boat to reveal the engine. All the symptoms said fuel starvation so that is where I started stripping out filters and fuel lines. They were all full of sludge. My guess was that we had had an attack of diesel bug in one of the tanks. I replaced the filters with new ones and switch the engine over to the reserve tank. After some complicated bleeding the engine was running again. But the reserve tank only had 6 hours of motoring in it. We set a coarse for Vigo 50 miles away with an ETA of 5 am. We used the motor and the reserve tank for the last 10 miles to get through the busy harbour entrance. And up to the marina.
    After checking in and having a shower it was time to crack open our fuel tanks and check what was going on. The main tank had 4 inches of diesel bug sludge in the bottom, apparently diesel bug can grow at exponential rates in the right conditions and I think this is what happened. We organised for a contractor to pump out and dispose of all of the fuel. While we all cleaned out and treated the tank, pipe work and filters. We revealed the tank refilled the tank at great expense and were ready to go.
    We thought it best to check out some local Galician tapas brats first. And I guarantee Galician tapas bars are the best there are, value and standard.
    This delay meant that we were committed to a one trip straight to the canaries and Las Palmas. And not stop off in Madeira as planned.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Gijon to Viveiro

    13 november 2023, Spanien ⋅ 🌧 20 °C

    Well after a week back on the boat we had made precisely no progress toward St Lucia. We stuck our head our time of the port 2 days ago to find 6 metre swells and 30 knots of wind both from where we are going. After a 10 mile trial we head back to the birth and a well earned beer. I can tell you 6 metre swells focus the mind.

    But yesterday morning we set off in less the perfect conditions with a view to battling our way to viveiro 75 miles up the coast. The wind, swell and rain forecast were very varied depending on what model you looked at so we new we would have to deal with anything. As it turned out the first 4 hours were lite wind from the wrong direction so a gentle tack miles off shore to start . Then a wind shift and a tack we had a parallel run down the coast. Until we ran into 35 knot of breeze and 4 metre swells all night. I am almost never sicky but i did feel pretty bad for a stretch. We arrived in Viverio after mid day and it felt like we had had a battle. But we had bitten off 75 miles of the 3500 mile journey. I hope they are not all this difficult. Our day in viveiro was filled with normal sailing chores. Shower beer and bout up keep. Today’s. Jobs bleed the heating hot water system, Engine checks, re attatched topping lift. Bled oil system to generator and heating.Tomorrow is another hop    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Arzal Maitenance

    4 september 2023, Frankrike ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    With an Atlantic crossing on the near horizon this our last chance to check the boat and do any work that need doing. The list is long.
    Steering system
    Water sytem
    Hydraulic auto pilot
    Wind pilot
    Bigger Solar panels and controls
    Anti fouling
    Even decided t have a go at the peeling white paint and blue stripes.
    2 weeks of hard work should have it done    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Cameret to Arzal

    25 augusti 2023, Frankrike ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We are on a schedule. I have to be at a wedding in Bordeaux and Claire Is going to pick me up on her way from Bude and she wont wait!!! So we have only a couple of days to make it to Arzal for winter maintenance and modification. After an extended lie in which made us miss the tide at the Raz du seine the pressure was definitely on. But it was a beautiful day and easy sailing. Although 8 hours later than expected. An all nighter past point Pougen then past the Glennan isles, isle de Goix . Belle Isle, past the Quiberon Peninsula, turn left up the river and through lock. Job done. 36 hours and even time for a tidy up and beer before getting on the train to Poitier where Claire Lottie and Kristoff were waiting to take me to south to The Dordogne.Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Back to the warm of France

    20 augusti 2023, Frankrike ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The sea still had a big swell running, and our intention was to continue south through Grimsby sound and leave via the Spanish ledges. Then wind on the starboard quarter all the way to Cameret. Good plan but we got out of bed late again and time and tide wait for no man, even Rob. To we had to punch our way out to the north and sail round the outside. Which actually turned out to be fun. No one out here just us and the horizon. We got the boat balanced and settled into a nice rhythm making great progress for the first 10 hours our arrival time at the North coat of France and ultimately the Chenab du four was critical to some degree out of our control. As night fell the wind died to almost nothing a the “Donk’ was brought into play. With no wind the fog set in and we were stumbling our way into the shipping lanes with no vis and only the engine for power. Best have a cup of tea and make a plan.
    Plan A. turn on and tune the Radar and keep tabs on all the moving targets. We are early on the tide and make very slow progress against the N going tide. But when it turns south the loom of the sun starts to aluminate the horizon and the new day is here.
    It is print tide and over the next 4 hours we are sluiced through the Chanel towards Camelret. As we sail slowly across the bay towards Cameret, rob manages to get his IPad to receive the ladies World Cup football final. It would have been a good picture. Goose winged boat and 2 old gits huddled round a tiny screen. Good game shame about the result.
    Dropped the anchor in the bay had a snooze and then headed to town for some Moule mariner and chips washed down with a cold beer.

    The next day was time to sign into Europe as we are now a third country as they call us in Europe. What idiots thought Brexit was a good idea.. a quick sail down to Brest and the customs office    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Scilly isles

    18 augusti 2023, England

    So the Scilly isles came into view as rob slept, it has always been a special sailing destination for me and hold many memories . Sailing was good 15 knots on the starboard beam heading straight at the entrance of Grimsby sound. I left rob sleep until we were half a mile off. The sails were dropped as we entered the entrance and we motored against the ebb tide to the first decent mooring bouy we could find. There was a big blow forecast and I wanted to be attached to something solid. I knew the buoys in old Grimsby were good because they had all been ripped out in a storm 2 year previously and upgraded with supper strong 200T blocks and chain. The first thing we needed to do for storm preparation was to go to the pub for a big tea and make sure they had enough beer. I had forgotten Tesco had turned into a time share haven. With cruise ships and even a supermarket that resembles John Lewis it has more wine than food for sale. Not all bad but the island no longer has the cool vibe it used to.
    Beer now checked and wine and supplies from “John Lewis” now purchased we returned to the boat to prepare for the blow. Strangely we were parked next to the young french couple from peel.
    Prep list double up the connection to the mooring. With chain
    Tie down everything loose including straps on the solar panels
    Open some Moore beers, put the heating on and wait for storm “Betty” to show up.
    Our mooing wasn’t very protected but was rock solid so we were likely to see the full force Betty had to offer.
    Betty turned up around 6 in the evening, and there lots of people on the decks of the boats doing last minute prep and watching the sea state etc. Even people trying to move anchorages, which seemed a bit foolish.
    While Betty was in full flow we had winds steady around mid 60kts and even the flat water of the sound was whipped up into spray and foam. We had kept channel 16 open on the VHF and were monitoring the various emergency calls that were coming in. 2 of which were within 200 yards of us. Peoples who’s anchors were dragging and were heading towards the rocks. The mighty Diesel engine of the all weather lifeboat was heard weaving its way through the moorings towards the casualties. Women and children were plucked from the boats and the boat was then tied to the life boat and taken to safety. The beast that was the life boat was manoeuvred with great skill between all the storm bound yachts.
    The next day was blue with fast moving white clouds. With the forcast for the wind to drop from 30 knots to almost nothing. It was time to move ourselves towards France before we ran out of wind.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Milford haven to Scilly Isles

    16 augusti 2023, Wales ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    We anchored in Dale bay back in April on our way north it was completely empty. This morning as we woke in the daylight, the entire bay was full of anchored boats. Almost as busy as it would be possible.It was going to be a very sunny day. There was barely a breath of wind but we still decided to sail off the anchor any way, just to prove to the locals we were real sailors. It was a slow motion affair but we managed it. Then we started the engine and headed out.
    It is about 90 miles to new `Grimsby and our afternoon departure from Milford sound should see us arrive around 11am. Once we were clear of Milford and the oil and gas tankers it started to feel like a Cornish cruise. As night fell the wind began to fill in and sailing began. As always as soon as tea went on some dolphins appeared so we spent some time watching them as the sun went down, always a treat.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Peel To Milford haven

    14 augusti 2023, Wales

    The tide height and direction led to a night departure. We slipped our moorings and headed to the fuel pontoon to fill up beer this 150mile leg. We could have been thinking we were tough adventurers at this point. But a young french couple with a boat half our size and 2 kids had left a bit earlier than us and were going straight to the Scilly isle another 100 miles further on.

    Good wind for the first night and good progress too. Perfect little sail right down the middle of the Irish Sea. As the second night approached some tidal calcs were require to shimmy between the islands of Skoma and Grassholme in the dark. The confidants of a chart plotter making it a doddle.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Banghor to Isle of man

    13 augusti 2023, ö av man

    Waking up to a well earned hang over. We dragged ourselves into something resembling ship shape. For some reason we decided to sail off the anchor. It went well luckily, as we were surrounded by very shallow water. The forecast was for 15 kts Westerly, which was just what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately what the doctor got was South 25kts. Bang on our upwind course. After passing round light house island we hardened onto the wind. Luckily there was another boat for us to race which kept us motivated for the first hour. We changed between jib and Genoa 3 or 4 times and slid between 1 and 2 reefs. Steering was a busy task keeping the boat going fast enough to make progress and high enough that we don’t miss the target. As the day progressed we decide Peel was the target. It was a tricky target with a cill and a small tidal window.
    The light was dimming as outer pilotage was needed and it was clear we would not be high enough to sail straight into peel harbour, but would, in fact hit the coast 3 miles east. A very annoying 50 minutes tacking up the coast as the light and the tide left . Luckily for us we just made it over the cill with a bit of keel lifted. Peel harbour was still windy and very tight for a boat like ours with no thrusters.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Rathklin to Banghor.

    12 augusti 2023, Norra Irland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    After a quiet night in we were up early, the weather variable from 5 kts to 30 knots . But was due to reduce and settle down to some light drizzle down wind sailing in the 15 to 20 kt bracket. Almost perfect. This is a very beautiful bit of coast and the clouds formations only added t the atmospheric feel of free wheeling south. We were on a schedule but there is not much you can do to speed up a cruising boat.
    We had to wait for the tide in Rathlin to start to move south once it had changed managed to carry fair tide from 10 until 4pm after that we only had a gentle current to fight as we approached Bangor as the sun started to dim. We tuned the radar so we could see the squalls coming in. There was one last big on on the way and it through the best double rainbow I have ever seen. It was pretty mesmerising. The Belfast ferry even pasted through it at one point . Being the cheapskates that we are we decided to anchor up in the bay to the east of the marina just outside the yacht club. Which was a perfect landing spot for the dinghy on the way to town for beers.

    10 minute walk and we we in Bangor town centre and it was Saturday night and town was pumping many loud bars short skirts and doormen. Who looked a bit bemused at a couple of old guys trying to get in for a pint. After a couple of pints and a kebab we decided to walk home. We were drawn into a quiet hotel bar for one last sharpener, which turned into 3 . We had the pleasure of meeting, and chatting with a couple who were so wasted they thought we were interesting. They even asked us back to there camper van for who knows what. We declined, they said we were English tossers as we left. In the warmest of Northern Irish accents.

    Back to the boat for whisky and bed.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Oban To Rathlin Island

    12 augusti 2023, Skottland

    A couple of things have sprung to mind, first my head hurts after being in the pub too late last night, second Adrian grabs his train home to day and he has had a bit too much motoring on his watch. Thirdly it seems a bit unfair that we are about to have a bit of a fun run down to Rathlin with a view to anchor at Crinan on route. I walk Adrian to the train station and then back to the boat do jobs before rob and I set sail down the coast. Drop washing in Chinese laundry. Get hair cut in Oban again feels like a form of symmetry, go shopping for more food. We ease out of the Marina about 2pm with a view to just get through the Dorus mor on the tide and anchor outside Crinan. We have a nice 15 to 18knots on a fair up wind course sky is blue with fast moving clouds and the scenery is highland Scotland. Definitely all good.
    As we sail down the passage between Kerrara and the main land we se a yacht in tow from the RNLI. Always a reminder. After a bit of solid upwind sailing we get the chance to do a man overboard practice when my baseball cap blows off. Unfortunately the cap didn’t make it and sunk. Nice bit of crash stop and heave to by rob. Good practice .
    Easedale slide past with our sails tight in but we are still on coarse to get to the Dorus before the tide makes it impossible. First we have to negotiate the Cuan sound and pick up fuel at Craobh Haven. The tide sucks us round the shallow meandering sound and we are looking for ward to a cupppa while filling up with fuel. Unfortunately we hadn’t checked what time the fuel guys knock off at Craobh. So after a quick rest we are off again to chase the tide. The wind gets up and we change down to the jib on the inner forestay put a reef in the main and keep going uphill in up to 25kts. Boat smooth as you like but the schedule has slipped. We will have to go round the out side and put in 4 extra tacks to get in. More symmetry we anchored almost the exact place Mark Healy and I had anchored on the way North and had had a drunken party with our Crinan friends. Rob looked pretty tired and I cooked tea. Pesto chicken and rice with leak and chilly.
    Next day was going to be tricky up wind again with maybe some tricky tide. Our plan is to break the day by having lunch anchor at anchor at Gigha but who know if that will work. Again a beautiful day 15knt upwind sailing no tacking Mainland to the port side Jura to the starboard. Our upwind coarse seems too be pointing us straight to the Jura distillery and not Gigha for lunch. I suppose we will just have to go with the flow.
    Seems the wind has come round and we are now heading directly at Rathlin another 30 miles away. Up wind has been pretty easy so far but we are about to get some proper Atlantic swell to spice up the rest of the day. As we leave the paps of dura and Isla behind the open sea is grey and becoming dark, the odd rain squall helps the feeling of being back in the real world. 20kts rolling swell but still able to hold a coarse for the western end of Rathlin We even manage to arrive perfectly as the tide eases back. More luck than judgment. Getting dark but tied up tight and very near to the pub.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Libster To Oban Via The Canal

    7 augusti 2023, Skottland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Guess what, more motoring, left Libster surprisingly early, we heard the the stanchion scrape on the wall as the tide lifted us up. 6AM well I’m up, Adrian is up lets go, while we can. Engine on an start the long motor to the entrance of the Caledonian canal 50 miles away in inverness. The weather is clear and blue and there is every chance of some great wild life spotting in the glassy water.

    First spot is n unknown hawk bombing a Fulmar that is sitting on the water as soon as the Fulmar is foolish enough to try and get airborne the predictor knock him to water again where the assault continues eventually there are 2 hawks and 2 fulmars in a battle. (I think the Fulmars escape) next is a skua busy drowning a gannet. I had heard of this behaviour but wasn’t expecting to see it so often. Again on this occasion the gannet finally got away . Eventually we reached the entrance to the estuary, still best part of 20 miles to go. There is rumour of dolphin pods in the narrows and they did not disappoint. 2 groups of 6 ish being harrissed by viewing boats. Not really the type of wildlife spotting I like. We wind down the meandering estuary through town and under the bridge arriving bang on top of the tide, as planned. (Luck) shame the lock keeper had gone home for the day so we tie up at the entrance of the sea lock. Luckily a grea little pub just 200yards away. Locals friendly and knowledgeable about fishing. Next morning Adrian up early for a run and on his return the lock keeper calls us Ito the first of 29locks and 11 swing bridges
    Caledonian canal is 60 miles long and will lift the mighty Morvenna to height of 33 metres through the highlands.
    When I went through the Crinan canal I had the Mark and the lovely lock maidens Lizzy and Sarah to help, this time it was to be Adrian. I’m sure we will cope. As with the Crinan. Everyone is friendly and positive, getting through the locks is a social event. After the sea lock we nip into the coop to stock up and we climb the first lock ladder with an exclusive tourist boat full of Americans. One lady doing yoga, stood on her head for most of the process. Next stop was Loch Ness with full 20 knot head wind. We decided to sail anyway beating side to side up the loch. Progress, but slow. After about 10 miles progress it was back to motor sailing to the windless haven of Augusta. Here we found nice pub , food, and Eric the Viking from No bullshit sailing on his way back from St Kilda. Decided to spoil his evening introduce myself. Adrian had no idea who he was. I am sure Eric told his mates who he had met.
    Next stop the lock ladder and a long run of Canal top negotiate. Final destination for the day will be the basin at the end of loch oich. Beautiful quiet spot only disturbed by the crashing into pontoons of hire boats as the holiday makers learn how to drive them.
    The next day is the final run to the sea, it seems a shame to have rushed through, there is plenty of opportunity to have a whole cruise within the canal and lochs. Neptunes ladder awaits but while waiting we meet a young chap called Sam who is circumnavigating the UK in a Hurley 22 he bought on eBay for 900 quid. He has a you tube channel called Samsails. Makes you realise that you can have a proper adventure on a shoe string. Top chap hope he does well.
    So down Neptunes ladder like a well oiled machine. Even flicking the ropes on and off from the bottom of the lock with no help. As always we are running late as we hit the final sea lock and it looking as if we could miss the tide through the narrows in Loch Linhe. Which could be embarrassing as Rob was already in Oban and has no where to stay apart from on the boat. We had better get the motor running again. We took all the short cuts we could and just snuck into Oban transit marina in the dark and mist at 10pm. Rob had been keeping warm in the pub and we were going to sneak in for last orders. We meet a young couple while trying to get a seat in the pub they are impressed we had sailed from Norway and asked to see a picture of our boat as they weren’t to sure we were telling them the truth. They were properly impress when Rob showed them a picture of one of the tall ships from Lerwick. 3 masts 120 metres and staff on all the rigging. I’m pretty sure they are still dining out on that story.

    Oban, Time for Adrian to get the train home, so up early to walk him to the station. Rob and I have to continue south.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Lerwick to Libster

    5 augusti 2023, Skottland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Rob and Wild Bill, are leaving the boat today, Bills done a great job on getting us across the the North Sea and making sure we kept up with our wine drinking schedule. Several good nights out in Lerwick during the tall ships regatta. Robs Norwegian fishing jumper seems to have a strange affect on the locals.
    Adrian will arrive tommorow and the plan is to make a hop to Fair isle. No wind on the forecast. So we motor all of the way. 40 miles. On arrival we raft up to a Dutch Ovni 385. With 4 Dutchmen who were on the return trip from Iceland, so many people doing so much adventure sailing in these parts. The local fishing boat returned from his day at see and gave us Yachting’s a basket of fish as a gift. In the basket was 4lb cod 10 decent squid, 4 1lb pollack and some herring. The Dutch boys didn’t look so keen, but we took the pick of the squid and cooked up garlic squid with salte potato’s and and onions on a bed of spinach. op nosh. We then got an invite to the island shin dig in the community hall, this felt like a proper treat being able to participate in such a small communities big night out. There was live music singing and country dancing, we took our own beer, but there was more home made cake than we could eat. We were made to feel very welcome. One thing we noticed as we left, was that we were in our first proper dark night for several months.
    Next day 18 knots of wind forecast from the NE and a proper sail was on the cards to get to Kirkwall. But on route we had promised our new Dutch drinking friend that we would take a few photos of them sailing. Job done we pulled out the Genoa and went into sail trimming mode as we were now racing. (Not sure they new) perfect down wind down tide run to Kirkwall. Pod of almost white Risso Dolphins on route ,very exiting. We even manage to hop across the tidal eddy outside the narrows perfectly to get it going perfectly in the right direction. Into Kirkwall for 3pm. But the days adventures were not up yet. Firstly the harbour master said go to the east basin and find your own spot. We blindly headed into the east basin with an 18knt breeze following us. Assuming there would be plenty of space. There wasn’t. Big boat no bow thruster could turn round in the marina lane as it wasn’t wide enough, shallow water all around. This was going to be a game. After a couple of failed attempts to get hooked onto a small bit of dock and another couple of attempts to turn round. A nice yachty came onto the dock and said there’s an a spot down the next lane thats easy to get into. ( I should not have listened) in desperation I decided to follow his plan. As it turned out the lane was 1 metre deep and the spot was 2 feet long than the boat in the corner tightly between 2 boats. The keel hit the mud on the way in so we lifted it and the rudder. Steering now very compromised. We we committed and after a wriggle we were in. And tied up. When the old harbour master called along later”how did yo get that in there” followed by “how you gonna get that out of there” That’s a problem for tomorrow. While paying said harbour master. Adrian asked if he new Andy the vet as we wanted to catch him for a drink. “ yes of coarse he’s my next door neighbour” of coarse he is. 30 minutes later we walked home with the harbour master who dropped us at Andy’s house.
    After drinking beer and whisky for 3 hours and catching up on Orkney gossip is was time to stagger home, Andy and his wife great impromptu hosts. The following day sailing forecast was still good 18 to 20 knots NE, but first we had to get out of the hole we had parked in, we decided to let the tide fill in and planned to leave at 10am. With ropes springs and a few extra hands we managed to wriggle and spin the boat on the wind without hitting anything we were off and heading for Kirk sound to wait for the tide to cross alongside Pentland Firth. It is springs today so no getting it wrong. We had a nice sail about 30 miles and saw plenty of wildlife. We even managed to sail gently onto anchor for the night. The sky cleared and the sea glassed off. Perfect evening . Tomorrow was looking like a long motor.
    Up at 7am for 2 hours of motoring to the most northerly part of Pentland. We arrived exactly as the flow turned east. Plenty of dolphins Seals and porpoise fishing in the fast moving water. Afer an hour of motoring south in the flat water we could sea clearly the standing waves of the firth,they were 4 miles away and they were very big. Not a ride I fancy taking. Once clear of the firth we witness Skuas trying to drown Gannets and unknown hawks trying to pick Fulmars out of the air. Quite a spectacle.
    Libster, What a cute spot. It has the feel of an old Cornish fishing port. It use to have 100 boats and now has 5 part time fisherman. Something of a heritage port with a history of big Herring money. The town up the hill was poor the pub was rough but very friendly. And the fisherman were free with there knowledge and story telling. All in all a great spot to have nights rest in settled weather.
    After borrowing a few big fenders off the quay we got ourselves secure. This was the first time I had had to manage big tides for a while.
    Early start tomorrow. The Canal awaits.    Läs mer

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  • Morvenna 2023

    Vigra To Lerwick 265NM

    26 juli 2023, Skottland ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Vigra is the island just off Allensund a low island with no particular reason to go,apart from the airport is here. After yesterday 25 kt downwind sail and try trying to moor up in nearly 30kts it was is time for Gretel to catch the plane home and for Bill to arrive. Grets had ambitions of walking to the airport from the boat which she thought would be pretty unique. But that wasn’t going to be easy as she would have to cross the run way. A nice old guy from the boat club where we had moored offered to take her in the car. Vigra has a road tunnel from Allensund a couple of miles long, under the seas which is 140 metres deep. It has a bus from town every hour without fail, The airport doesn’t do international flights. This is another in site into Norways commitment to Infrastructure.
    Rob and I had decided not to get stuck into any alcohol this evening as there was a big sail across the North Sea planned for the following day. Which would probably take about 2 days. Best not to start feeling rough and tired. Bill arrived with clutching s bottle of duty free Jack Daniels and a smile. Talked shit till 2 am drunk the JD woke up with sore head,. So much for the plan.
    280 Mile passages means we had been keeping tabs on the weather for many day before. And always there is a bit of a schedule to keep up with and Rob had to be in Lerwick to catch the ferry. For his daughter Tess’s graduation. Looked like 15kts for the first day and not a lot after that. With a risk of a lot of left over swell, which as any sailor knows isn’t that pleasant for travel. All in all not looking too bad with low risk of getting a beating out in the North Sea. We set off through the channel between Vigra and Lepsoya at about 1.30pm no real swell and a nice 15nt breeze hard on the nose. Its a trickier passage than it looks at first with plenty of off lying rocks and small channels to negotiate, all the same a good sail through. Once in open water, outer coarse to Lerwick was absolutely dead down wind. Not ideal. After a bit of faff we set up the goose wing engaged George (the auto pilot) and considered lunch options. We kept the goose wing all through the night and up to about 10 am when it became obvious the wind was gone and our old faithful engine was about to get a work out, probably for 24 hours, like Le Mans but more sleepy.we manage to talk S H one T for the day we made our way through several oil fields and a large offshore wind farm, all of which are 125 miles plus off shore. Quite a logistic need to opersate these systems in this environment. The second night eased its way in the Donk reliably chugging us forward at 5.5knots through the ever subsiding sea. 3 hour watches meant I got 2 till 5am, sun up in these parts. The sea had gone oily flat and the light was changing hues as the sun crept through the clouds. The sea birds started to return to view as we reached about 60 miles to go.
    With 20 miles to a nice little SE wind arrived about 15kts, We were sailers again. Although wet sailors this time.
    WE were surprised to sea that Lerwick had put a tall ships fanfare for our arrival. Drinking music and dancing girls. I am sure they do it for everyone.    Läs mer

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