sailing | Scout Around The World

April 13, 2017
by Natalie 4 Comments

Sines to Gibraltar and those fishing pots

The plan was to depart at a time, that with our calculations would have us arrive at the straits at dawn. We didn’t want to miss or to contemplate it in the dark. Sines had a customs department so we were able to check out of the Schengen zone as we were heading to non Schengen Gibraltar. This would help us to preserve the 90 days that as Australians we are limited to in Europe. Gibraltar is a big hang out for non Europeans who are also trying to be compliant with the rules. If you would like to read more about our restrictions here is a link to our previous post on it. So we would have 2 days sailing and perhaps 3 days in Gibraltar and perhaps another 2 days sail until in Spain again. At this point we have to be in Greece by the 1st June but now we could push it back another week.

11 am was departure. The early afternoon began with next to no breeze. Although we were motoring it was lovely to be out in the still glassy sea. No swell, a dead flat sunny day. By 3 pm we were sailing in what I would describe perfect conditions. Full sails out and and 9 to 10 breeze abeam us and we comfortably doing 8 knots. It was magical this is what we were here for. Mike was in his element. He was supposed to be resting but couldn’t help himself but be out at the helm sailing. He really enjoyed the afternoon wanting to constantly trim the sails to learn more about Scout and how she responds. It was our most delightful afternoon so far and at this rate we would be at Gibraltar way before our planned time. It was calculated on an average of 5.5 knots because of the light winds forecasted on our nose and we thought we were going to have to motor a lot.

So, just over a month into this sailing life and I am loving it. Apart from the obvious traveling aspects, visiting different cities, the food, speaking and understanding different languages, what I am loving the most is getting there by sail and learning a new skill. I have always loved numbers, procedures and maps and even though I knew would love the obvious wind in my hair analogy, what I have really loved more than I thought I would, is increasing my understanding of wind angles, bearings and headings, the difference between true and apparent wind speed and I love keeping a log. Every hour calculating averages- speed and remaining distance and logging our position in relationship to the rest of the world. This is our little world on this boat and it is like we exist completely independent of everything else but I love plotting and searching our location in relationship to it.

Cabo Sao Vincente. Sth Western point of Portugal

That evening we made it to the point of Cabo Sao Vincente, the south western point of Portugal where we start turning east towards the Straits of Gibraltar and the Med. We had to go around 2 headlands to get on this heading and the first one we arrived at just on sunset. A beautiful majestic large lighthouse at this headland had just turned on its light as we approached. The sun was setting to our right as we made our way around the cape. I love the slow anticipated rounding of headlands, even this one as it was becoming dark. As soon we turned, lined up on our next heading, we could see the second headland and there was the full moon just rising over it. It was breathtaking! My night shift started and the wind had dropped. We dropped the sails and we became (what we fondly call it) motor vessel Scout. For the next 90 minutes I motored directly into its path. The moon straight ahead rising. It’s lit path across the glassy sea became my path to travel along. A memorable moment!

Sun setting to the west

Moon rising to our east

Well it’s is such a shame that that path of light turned away from me as I changed course an hour later because shortly after, in the dark, that tranquility and pleasure subsided….We hit a net or fishing pot at 22.30. What a fright. A loud crash and then a sickening noise from the engine as the prop churned with something wrapped around it. There was also a loud banging as the float attached to it, was hitting the hull. Immediately Mike turned off the engine, tried it in reverse but no luck. We just couldn’t free or see it underneath. No wind, no engine, not much choice but to sit there and drift for the night and wait until daybreak- 8 hours. As a positive there was no wind, no current, no drift, calm seas and we were only 3 NM from shore. I had always wanted to go to Lagos and here we were bobbing off the coast. We may even yet have had to pull in there for repairs. We had no idea what to expect. There was a full moon to light outside and the pretty lights to light up the coast. Mike and I just took turns sleeping and lit the boat up like a Christmas tree so no one could run into us. It was a long, very gently rocking calm still night.

Us drifting- black boat in the centre. Fortunately not too far off our intended black path

At dawn Mike braved the cold water and dived under with his knife to cut free the rope and float from a fishing net. I was so proud of him. Not because I think others would not do. It was because I don’t think I could do it. 10 mins later we were on way again. 8 hours behind our schedule we decided to use the motor more than we had planned to and set course for the rest of the way at an anticipated 7 knots average.

The culprit. What Mike cut off the propellor.

We did it. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. I became completely paranoid about fishing nets and pots and eyes were peeled for the rest of the trip. Portugal- we loved your seafood but ahh those nets! Well it was just another challenge and obstacle to overcome.

Mike awoke me from my sleep on the Thursday morning at the start of the Straits of Gibraltar. We had both been looking forward to it and he didn’t want me to miss it. The sea was choppy like bath water with currents escaping so unevenly from this narrow channel of water between two large land masses. There wasn’t as much ship traffic as I had anticipated but there was certainly one of the largest freighters I had ever seen with containers stacked about 6 high on the deck. Didn’t look too stable to me if it encountered rough seas. On our right was Africa and to our left Europe. Both continents so close. At its narrowest it is only 14 kms. The view was a bit hazy so unfortunately not much of a photo opportunity but nevertheless it was a memorable moment.

Europe to the left

Africa to the right

Gibraltar was just around the corner and was spectacular on approach. With the hazy morning it actually reminded me of Hong Kong. Low visibility, steep elevated cliffs, tall buildings and of course lots of ships in the Harbour. Unfortunately Gibraltar was not to be. There was no room at the marina, which was no surprise as it is popular for those with visa restrictions like us. It was the same just over the runway/border into Spain where both marinas were full. Nevermind. We were so excited to be in the Mediterranean that we decided to keep on going. The Costa del Sol was waiting for us

April 9, 2017
by Natalie Leave a comment

Pretty Portugal, where fish and catching them is everything

Its always exciting when we arrive in a new port. Coming around a headland, entering a river, not sure what beholds us around the next corner, excited to get off and explore… and Portugal in the 3 ports that we visited did not disappoint.

Our first destination was Porto. We had been forewarned to make sure that we approached the river mouth at high tide and Mike had exactly timed our arrival for an easy entrance to the port. Sleep eyed, excited, the view as we approached the marina was grand! I knew that Porto was a city of bridges but there right in front of our marina was bridge number 1.

These bridges set the scene for the rest of our visit. We walked into town, 3 kms along the river and around each corner we were amazed by the view. Porto is set up along steep banks up from the river and thus the need for these very high bridges. 6 in total. It creates a very dramatic backdrop for views and picturesque photo opportunities. Lots of tourists didn’t dampen our enthusiasm and we explored the sights and ate and drank too much seafood and wine. The highlight for me was us stumbling across a local football club bar with their verandah perched over the river and right beside the main bridge in town. It is set in a path that climbs high from the river and is entirely of steps. As you walk up the path you pass by people’s front doors, see into their lives and you wonder how these little old ladies climb up and down this path everyday to go about their lives.

The steeped walk to the Gundalense Football Club

Community washing area

We said good bye to James in Porto and it was sad to see him go. We loved him being with us at the start of our adventure and we were very grateful for the help he gave us while we were finding our way with handling Scout.

So we set off from Porto with just the 2 of us for a 24 hour crossing to Cascais (pronounced Cascaish). 10 minutes out of Porto and we couldn’t believe the amount of fishing pots everywhere. I suppose you can’t have all that great seafood in Portugal and not find it from somewhere. There was one about every square kilometer. The computer game minesweeper came to mind as we dodge and weaved our way out to sea. We did have an altercation with one and the noise as it scraped between two of our hulls was sickening. We decided to get out as far as possible where we could safely navigate our way south.

Just out of Porto we were also joined by a group of very large bumblebees. Harmless, they buzzed around us while we were trying to get out the sails and were a real nuisance. After an hour or two of their persistence, I realised that these poor creatures had taken refuge on our boat and now there was nowhere else for them to go! They hung on and placidly sat on our deck and it was so sad to see some of them dead the next morning. I wish I had been able to do something to assist them.

This sector went well, but along this coast we seemed to have either the wind right in front of us or not enough right behind us, so there was a lot of motoring. A memorable moment was when we rounded Cabo Da Roca. This is the most western point of mainland Europe and where the world believed, for many centuries from the Roman times that this was the end of the earth. Aptly named ‘Lands End’. Well, we rounded that cape and we thought we had nearly got to the end of the earth. Crazy wind change, high seas… and we bashed and crashed our way for the next few hours into Cascais. We and Scout were covered in so much salt that when washed off the boat in port it resembled a thick briny solution. Mike was absolutely exhausted and after a lengthy check in procedure at the marina, we were relieved to have arrived.

Cascais is a beautiful town. A quaint city, beautifully maintained houses and gardens with interesting laneways that work their way around the inlet beaches. Lots of energy and excitement, very picturesque and it was packed – Lots of tourists. I am only glad that we weren’t there in the heart of summer. There would be no room to move. A very busy, expensive marina with, need I lament again, dreadful internet. The highlight for me was my run out along the cliffs one morning with breathtaking scenery.

Our next sail was a 9 hour day sail to Sines. I think it was the first time that Mike really got to relax and enjoying sailing Scout. Not only was he becoming used to her but we had some favorable sailing winds where we could just sail for a change instead of just battling to get where we wanted to go. Mike was also becoming now more capable and relaxed with docking Scout. We arrived in Sines relaxed and high again on the adventure and thrill of what we were actually doing and what this is all about for us.

We loved Sines. A small town perched high on a headland with a beach and harbour dropped down below it. So high, there is even a lift from the ridge of the city down to the beach. From the sea, you approach the two rock walls and you round the inlet into the calm, pretty, quiet harbour. Again another delightful surprise for us on entering. The weather window forced us to wait out here for 4 days and we couldn’t have picked a better place to rest. We were regrouping for our next big stage, which was going to see us do another 48 hour hop- this time to Gibraltar.

Below Vasco’s Castle at the beachfront

My own Vasco da Gama looking out to sea from his castle birth place wondering what awaits him.

The lift from the town down to the beach

March 5, 2017
by Natalie Leave a comment

What has been happening and where to next

Well our days have been busy so far turning Scout into our new home. We had become familiar with La Rochelle in our last two previous visits, so with relative ease and a hire car we have been zipping around stocking our boat. We are amazed at how much storage there is on the trimaran and I have been managing to fill it up-a lot.

Mike down in the centre hull in the engine room.Photo looking aft with still the same amount of space looking forward. Lots of space to work on the engine and I am eyeing off the available room.

With the weather a little bit on the wet side, we decided to dedicate the last 2 days stocking the boat and we have had a lot of fun. It never seemed to end and we have had to go back to the same stores a few times now. We are now parked at the marina and are getting used to be being the packhorses in transporting things from the car down to quay. The most difficult being the life raft. Mike ended having to winch it up high to drop it into its bracket. Sorry I missed that photo opportunity! With a boat that sleeps 6, there are also lots of big and bulky things to bring aboard- pillows, doonas, etc but I think we now have it all sorted. Still to lug down to the boat will be the tender( dinghy) and its motor next week.

One of the many trips to the shops

On the sailing side- we have been out for a short sail with Timothé Bruneel and Mike enjoyed learning some more about handling Scout and in particular how the bow thruster works. It certainly makes docking such a wide boat easier. We are on a side dock at the moment. The real challenge will be practising into a pen. This is all to come.

So what next?

Now we are fairly well stocked the focus from here on will be on the sailing. Mike is currently sitting outside mastering and programming the navionics and over the next few days we will do some more sailing- practising manoeuvres. e.g. man overboard drills etc.

Our friends Sylvie and Joël from Champagne will be joining us tomorrow for a few days. We are going to crack a bottle of champagne and have a French naming dedication and make an offer to the gods of the sea. According to legend, each and every vessel is recorded by name in the Ledger of the Deep and is known personally to Poseidon, or Neptune, the god of the sea. We have to make sure we get this correct to ensure good luck and fair weather to Scout.

At the end of the week, our second eldest who lives in Vancouver is joining us for a month. Ideally to help us out as additional crew for when we eventually head off over the Bay of Biscay, which will be a 2 to 3 day passage, but also as a wonderful opportunity to spend some time with him.

When we set off to Spain, we are not quite sure. A lot depends on the weather, how much handling experience we can get in, Mikes competence and confidence and whether we deem it necessary to have some additional lessons. We are not in any rush and for all our family members reading this, we will not be doing anything premature.

So please stay in touch. I am fairly active on Facebook, with more up to date information and I have just amped up our Instagram page where we’ll have more photos of Scout and our travels. When the inside is all settled I will also do a video of the interior to post.

PS… while I mention that Mike is doing all the learning, I am certainly going to be following Mike and improving my competence once he is in a better position to pass on to me the skills I need. After all I am not just here for the cruise!

On another note, La Rochelle experiences huge tidal differences. Unlike anything I have seen in Australia. This huge marina is set on floating dock and here is the difference between high and low tide.

Here is high tide

Here is the same view at low tide

The docks float up and down around these pilons

December 1, 2016
by Natalie 2 Comments

2 weeks annual leave …. where to go?

To visit our boat of course!.

In fact, it is the second time we have visited La Rochelle in the last 18 months.

In May last year just after we had ordered the build of Scout, we decided to go to France and visit the builder and the factory where she was going to be built. Up until now we had been dealing with our agent in Australia, Multihull Solutions, but wanting to get closer to the source, we combined our short annual leave break with a drop in to France. Yes, a long way to go for 2 weeks but we couldn’t keep away. It was great to meet Eric Bruneel and his team and it confirmed to us that we were on the right path in choosing a Neel 45 trimaran. Our visit also coincided with a Neel 45 that was just about to be launched and the first Neel 65 Trimaran, nearing completion also. Very industrious and impressive factory!

This November, annual leave rolled around again for Mike and we decided again we had to visit La Rochelle. But this time our Scout was waiting for us.

To help with the production line and the latest generation of Neel Trimarans, the 51, we agreed for Scout to be built earlier than planned and this was done a few months ago. With the horrendous freight charges between Australia and France, it was also a good opportunity for us to utilise a generous 60 kilos flight baggage allowance and move some of our things on board. To cap it off, Timothé Bruneel also offered to take us out on a sail. It was fantastic. We couldn’t wipe the smiles from our faces for days. Being on Scout made the dream, all of a sudden very real and to see her personalised to our specifications we had no doubt she was ours. Mike felt very comfortable at the helm and I took heaps of photos and measurements ( sheets for mattresses, v- berth etc). I even put together my first of many, I hope, videos on youtube. Please watch it here

The time in La Rochelle also gave us the opportunity to make some contacts with chandleries, open an account and search the local stores for purchases for next March.We certainly feel better prepared for our arrival next year and can do some arm chair internet shopping from home in the meantime.

We had a wonderful time in France. We visited our friends in Champagne and finished the trip running the marathon from Nice to Cannes. What an amazing coastline. We hope to explore it better from Scout next year

November 24, 2016
by Natalie Leave a comment

It has been a while!

Yes it has been a while since I have posted. I hope you hadn’t thought we had given up on our dreams and plans. Nothing further from the case. We have had a busy 18 months and are right on track for our March departure. We couldn’t be happier with the way it is all progressing and as we are coming into our last 3 months before moving aboard, right now is no better time to update as succinctly as I can, everything that has transpired to date that has lead us closer to Scout

It has been a whirlwind of changes and developments over the last year and a half, but I can confidently say that it is all coming together, perhaps even better than we may have planned it. Eighteen months ago, the prospect of what we had to do seemed daunting to me and our two year time frame seemed endless but, on the contrary the time has gone by so fast and everything seems to have naturally fallen into place.

The Farm.

One of the biggest decisions we had to make was what we were to do with our business and our farm and our home on the Gold Coast. Something had to go to make our purchase of Scout attainable. Lengthy discussions and analysis ensued and we made the initial decision that we had to sell our farm and wind up the business, leaving us with our home on the Gold Coast. We had a coffee farm in the beautiful hinterland area of Byron Bay and a business, roasting and selling the coffee to customers online and in markets.A successful boutique business with lots of loyal customers. Not such an easy decision. Mike had poured so much of his life into being a coffee farmer and we passionately loved the property but we soon came to the realisation that to make our next dreams come to life, it would have to be sold. If it didn’t sell, then it was going to be back to the drawing board for plan B.

After what felt like a long time, the farm sold successfully in May this year and over the last 6 months we have wound up our coffee company. While the decision to sell was a difficult one, when the sale went through it was with a feeling of relief and excitement that we could now focus on Scout and our journey to move aboard.

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Our Children- now all adults.

When we started making our plans, we knew we couldn’t possibly have left any earlier than planned as we still had our youngest at school and our older children were still finding their feet and starting to make their way in life. So the plan was to begin our adventure after the youngest had been out of school for a year and was in a settled position. It has turned out to be perfect timing. Of our 6 children, the three eldest have settled into very happy job paths and careers that have taken them interstate or overseas. No 4 is about to graduate from uni next month and move into the work force. No 5 is cruising along with part time uni but happy to move in with friends and away from the apron strings and the youngest, well he is loving his studies at uni which involves attending college in the country and has to spend his semesters living there.

The Dog- the hardest of all to accommodate into our plans.

Our dog Gemma is a farm dog. She is a Maremma and if you know this breed you would be familiar with how difficult it would be for them to live in a small property. That just about ruled out everyone we know who could possibly look after her for us while we are away. So rather than rent out our house for a year, we have found some friends, a retired couple who are going to house sit and look after her for our first six months aboard.

With the logistics solved it was now time to get on with the preparation of Scout and ourselves as sailors.

Sailing Training

We both knew that we had to supplement our basic sailing abilities and skills with some additional training to at least give us some confidence in sailing offshore and handling a larger boat.

Mike has attended two live aboard off shore courses, both with Sunshine Sailing at Marooychdore on the Sunshine Coast. He attained his Day Skipper qualification with the RYA and gained experience with both passage planning and hands on practise. I completed my competent crew qualification with the RYA at Pacific Sailing School at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our course was conducted by Lisa Blair who at the time of writing this blog is about to set off to become the first woman to circumnavigate the Antarctic solo, non-stop and unassisted. Good luck Lisa. I will be following. It was a terrific 5 days and the information and experience I attained was extremely valuable. And what better place to do my training than in beautiful Sydney Harbour and Pittwater, near where I had grown up.

French

The New Year arrived and I also decided to add to my goals and conquer French this year. I sat down with some books, tapes, videos and subscribed to a social media language learning site called Italki. My goal was to be at least conversational by the end of the year. We have, of course a french boat and what better way to get to know her and her builders and environment than to learn the local language. I am pleased to say that my French has greatly improved and while I am by no means fluent, I am conversational ( just) but my comprehension, listening and reading has met my target for the year and I have one more month to go to still improve. I also have dabbled in some Spanish and Italian – enough to get by.

That sums up briefly the very hectic changes in our life over the last 18months. We have also spent a lot of this time reading blogs…. thank you zerotocruising for being our initial motivators, Miss Catana ( fellow Australians) – watching hours of Youtubes….La Vagabonde, Catamaran Impi, Trio Travels, which have not only been entertaining but a source of great sailing cruising information. Also a special mention to the series Distant Shores, whose sailing adventure TV series was invaluable and highly enjoyable. On top of that, countless hours researching all the conflicting information on everything from what anchor to buy to what bedsheets are best in the tropics. I don’t think we have turned on the television for 18 months. We have been constantly glued to the internet.

I am hoping our blog posts will be more frequent now as we approach our departure date. We recently returned from a visit to Scout, who has been built and is waiting for us in La Rochelle. I will write a post about that visit shortly but for more up to date posts on what is happening please have look at our Facebook page – Scout Around The World– and our very new youtube channel where I have posted my first attempt at making a movie showing our first meeting with Scout a week ago.

March 12, 2015
by Natalie 2 Comments

So the dream starts to become real

The Dream…… to buy a cruising multi-hull yacht in France and over the next few years sail it back to Australia via the Med and the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and the Pacific.

A dream that started for me two years ago when Mike intrigued me by stating that he has always wanted to own a yacht. My interest was piqued immediately. I have always loved the idea of sailing and being near the water, but neither of us had had much experience. Me- sailing camp in high school and Mike, quite a bit of time on a wind surfer but none of it what you could call real experience. Our lives are pretty hectic. Mike is full-time employed in his profession. I run and manage our family business. We also have a full-time farm in the Northern Rivers NSW and 6 children. We both knew that if we were to own a yacht and have it sitting at our local marina, then chances are it would never get sailed and would just cost us money. No real joy in that. The only way that we wanted to own a yacht was to make sure that we would have the time to enjoy it. Then, if we had the time would we be happy just cruising the Gold Coast? Again no real long term joy there for us either. The dream then, was how could we take off from the commitments and structure of our life and make an adventure out of sailing a yacht.

We decided fairly quickly that our ‘dream’ would be to buy a new yacht and to fulfil the adventure side of it, buy it in France and sail it back to Australia. We then quickly entered the logistic phase of how could we possibly make this happen. Two years ago we still had our two youngest finishing high school. Mike and I were entering our fifties, so although there was no great rush we soon quickly become obsessed with this dream and how and when were going to make it happen. Do we wait until retirement? Do we sell our business and farm and Mike take leave from his employer? Could we afford to make this happen? How do we leave the kids and parents? The real allure for us was to do this while we were still young enough. Our kids ( now ranging from ages 23 to 17) are hopefully not contemplating children and our parents ( 6 in total) are still fit and well. There would be no better time than the next few years but could we afford it and the time off the work.

This is our blog of how we make it happen, our adventure ahead and how we got to where we are. It has not been a whimsical notion. The last 2 years have been spent studying books, reading blogs, searching the net and a bit of sailing all in readiness for us to depart from France in 2 years time. We know we have a lot more work to do but are inspired by the people before us who have done similar. It has become an obsession that we have talked of and have made plans for almost every day for the last 2 years. Today marks the day that all our deliberations have paid off and we move forward from here with a firm plan in mind and a schedule to make it happen. The big decisions have been made and now we just put it all into action.

Scout Around The World

Our journey from buying a trimaran in France and the voyage and adventure sailing her back to Australia

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