Voyages | Designing The Matthew | Building the Matthew August 2009 A quick update from the Matthew crew - Skipper Ben Jones is the third Matthew Skipper to also try his hand at sailing one of the worlds fastest hi tech crazy catamarans. Both David Allen Williams and Rob Salvidge have raced aboard the legendary Nigel Irens designed maxi cat previously known as ENZA and TEAM LEGATO - this week Ben has joined Tony Bullimore for a trip down to the world famous Cowes Regatta and an attempt to break the overall time for the Fastnet Race course. The crew of five had an eventful passage around to the south coast with the squally conditions to start off with and some good sailing up to 20 knots of boat speed. But unfortunately they managed to tear their Solent hadsail and had to get some speedy repairs done in Gosport before taking part in various Cowes week events, but well done to Ben and Tony and the team for another exciting Bristol based adventure. Rob has been skippering Matthew in Bristol for the last few weeks, having also brought Kathleen and May to the City for the harbour festival. "We had a thrilling day out in the Bristol Channel just before the festival" writes Rob "It was very wet and squally but we managed to rendezvous with the wonderful restored Bristol Channel Ketch "IRENE" off Barry. She'd taken a bit of a battering on her way round Lands End and had a weird looking mizzen set as we approached. We later learned this was because of some halliard and Gaff problems, but nevertheless it was great to be on board a trading Schooner sailing alongside a gaff Ketch in a scene reminiscent of the days 100 years ago when such vessels were still holding their own against Steam and Diesel powered ships. We later met up with the sea cadets ship ROYALIST and those who'd braved the elements to wander along Portishead front that day would have witnessed a wonderful sight as we all approached the River Avon under sail. Been doing a bit of minor sailing in Bristol harbour with the fore and Lateen set and ysterday was marvellous as the sun shone and we used the Matthew as the perfect viewing platform for a display by a Spitfire and the Red Arrows who were stars of the Baloon Fiesta. Our guests sipped champagne aboard and marvelled at th ship and the sights above them . Sometimes life doesn't get any better than an afternoon aboard a lovely wooden ship!" May 2009 Skipper Ben Jones has taken Matthew to Gloucester for a two week visit, which includes a starring appearance at the Gloucester Tall Ships Festival and then a week of schools visits tied in with the launch of an exciting interactive DVD about the life of a Tudor Merchant. This is a perfect use for the ship and is excellent at helping youngsters understand the amazing world that people of 500 years ago lived in. News from Matthews regular captain Rob Salvidge Rob writes from Dublin "Just arrived in Dublin aboard the magnificent three masted Schooner KATHLEEN AND MAY. I was asked at short notice to skipper this fine vessel on a run to France to pick up some wine. Sounded almost too good to be true and too good an opportunity to miss getting to grips with the workings of the last West Country Trading Ship still working. Kathlkeen and May was built in 1900 and after several years of restoration is in tip top sailing condition. Its even more exciting to be on board her as we are working our passage and carrying cargo. The great news is that we are bringing the ship to Bristol next week - arriving probably 3rd June - with a cargo of wine aboard which we hope to sell to local merchants and retail outlets and in fact we will be selling some of the wine ourselves at some special events during the Bristol harbour festival in July. So for the 200th anniversray of Bristols harbour we are recreating the traditional wine route from France to Bristol and doing so aboard a beautiful sailing ship that traded into Bristol many times during her 60 year working life"
" Well done to Ben Jones on his passage to Gloucester; despite times being tough this year, the west countrys fascinating selection of traditional sailing ships are busy and have interesting programmes of activities, our friends on Tangaroa from Bristol are also in Gloucester and buzzing about the chanel this year, so we're all trying to keep things Shipshape and Bristol Fashion!"
April 2009 So far Matthew has ventured as far as the old River Avon port of Pill! - not very far but a good shake down a few weeks back after an intensive period of maintainence. The ship is looking really good now and all systems are go on board for our summer cruising schedule around Bristol and the Channel. The ships main skipper for the last four years, Rob Salvidge, is now jumping ship for a few weeks and going to sail the fine Historic West Country schooner down to France. "This is not a jolly" says Rob, "but a very hard working trip for the ship which is involved with reviving the wine trade between Bordeaux and Bristol". Kathleen and May was built in 1900 and traded all round the west country and across to the continent for 60 years. Theres now an exciting French led initiative to use sailing ships to transport wine - its environementally friendly and certainly doesn't do the wine any harm. K & M is due in Bristol around June 4th. "It will be great fun but theres a serious point here in that all tall ship skippers and operators need to be working together, particularly bringing ships to the fantastic port of Bristol, so that the public remains excited about seeing these fine vessels and they are able to make a good living doing various things to help with their maintainence, skill levels of crews etc." Rob will be writing a blog about the K & M trip you can see it in the section ABOUT THE CREW 2008 Saw the Matthew sail the whole of the South Coast of England, cross the English Channel twice and notably visit the Isles of Scilly twice. The year started with a tempestuous journey down the River Thames nd out in the storm tossed English Channel. Whilst the ship was picking its way against the spring gales and tucking into harbours such as Brighton, Lymington, Falmout and St Marys - several large ships foundered and either lost their cargoes or sank. A salutory reminder to us all of the power of the sea but also of the immense strength of our little wooden ship. The summer brought more batterings to our coasts and the long balmy summer weather never really kicked in, so Matthew once again had to seek bolt holes such as the River Fal, Salcombe and Plymouth before dashing across the Channel to the amazing port of Brest. Many English ships looking forward to a few weeks in France didn't make it so we did our bit flying the flag and firing our cannons liberally at the wonderful array of classic french cutters and bisquines which made this such a truly amazing 7 days afloat. Quite how we managed to sail in the dark in company with around 100 other vessels for the delight of 50,000 people lining the quays and not hit anything is miraculous. Needless to say this was a veritable orgy of maritime delights on land and at sea the like of which is unsurpassed in Europe - probably the world. Vive La France. The later summer and autumn period saw us welconming thousands of people on board for our ever popular Fish and Chips cruises and we had a very interesting voyage up the Severn and then the Sharpness canal to Gloucester where we were Pirates for the weekend. Now the ship is safely back in Bristol - in desperate need of some sanding and oiling and general maintainence but that wil come on nice days through the winter and then we'll be ready for another year of sailing adventures. Log Entries from last year Nov 6th The day dawned misty and remained that way as we meandered down the canal from Gloucester to Sharpness and out onto the River Severn. Thank goodness for the remarkable local knowledge of the River Severn Pilots who can pick their way through the shallows and trecherous eddies of the estuary - even in the murk. We crept into Portishead with just enough water under the keel and waited for the next flood tide to take us up the river to Bristol. We arived back in the dark around midnight. The last voyage home of this exciting season which has seen Matthew travel some 3,000 miles around the South Coast of England and across to France. Well done little ship and all who´ve sailed on her - here´s to a happy Christmas and a good cruising programme with fair winds in 2009 Oct 24th Matthew had a fabulous trip up the River Severn and the Sharponess Canal to Gloucester where she is now the centrepiece of a weekend of Pirate Fun. Gloucester Docks are an amazing Victorian masterpiece, currently undergoing major regeneration and the Pirate weekend is a fun for all the family way of bringing people to see the new possibilities and the old gems - including our special ship. Sept 15th. After a busy few weeks of trips and filming projects on the Matthew, we're now gearing up for a visit to Gloucester at the end of October. I used to live in Gloucester and love the docks there. There have been several projects to regenerate this incredible inland port and so I'm delighted to be taking the ship there for a weekend of fun and pirate frolics. Come and see us wekend 25th -26th October. Back in blowy Bristol We had a brisk day sailing back from Cardiff the other day - wind from the South West probably around 20 knots, gave us a chance to get all our square sails up. We must have looked a fine sight as we breezed past Portishead point with everything flying making a good 7 knots over the ground. Its at such times when I sometimes wish I was on the shore with a camera, but you can't be in two places at once and given the summer gale dodging it was good to be on board and be coming home under full sail. We gave the few people who were out in Bristol enjoying a stroll in the gloom and wind, a blast from our cannons and then tidied the ship ready for another few weeks of busy trips around the harbour. We have some interesting enquiries for work during the coming autumn period including an interesting filming jopb which looks likely to come off and also an invitation to attend a Pirate themed festival in Gloucester Ohhhh Arrghhhh. Watch this space for more details. AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND. Phew where has the month gone? Its been very busy for the ship ducking and diving the horrible summer weather - but fortunately most of our booked cruises have passed in the dry and without the champagne and canapes getting blown away. In fact we were out on the water for the one glorious evening when the hot air Baloons floated overhead at the washed out baloon fiesta and all our fish and chip evenings have gone very well. Writing this in a coffee shop in Cardiff Bay where we're having a great weekend and have already welcomed almost 2,000 people on board the ship. Yesterday we went out for a cruise around the bay and were part of the Olympic Flag handover ceremony as parchutists descended into the waters of the bay and we sailed in accompanied by about 100 little Optomist sailing dinghys - no doubt skippered by Olympic hopeful sailors of the future. Good to see Tangaroa here another fine sailing ship from Bristol also the Ruth from Penzance and Bristol Channel Pilot Cutters Olga and Mascotte. Back off the Bristol Tomorrow morning - tuesday - bit of a brisk forecast with force 6 winds and rough seas out in the Bristol Channel but at least the wind is in the right direction and we'll get all the sails up and look very good heading up the North Somerset coast with all the squares flying. There's a possibility of a trip up the Gloucester via the Severn Bridges and Sharpness Canal in October which is a very interesting trip - confirmation will be posted here and it would be good to have some assengers along to enjoy this unique ride. Watch out for more. August 1st. MATHEW WELCOMES VISITNG TALL SHIPS TOP BRISTOL. Harbour Festival fever hits Bristol. The harbour here is full of boats of all shapes and sizes and we're looking forward to a fabulous festival weekend. Last night we welcomed visiting tall ships "Kaskelot and Earl of Pembroke" to the city, by cruising down the harbour with a ship full of VIP guests including the Lord Mayor and firing a welcoming canon salvo across their bows. The Earl and Kaskelot are good friends and always welcome in the city where they used to be based before relocating to Charlestown in Cornwall. Come and visit us and them and enjoy the whole festival atmosphere in Bristol this weekend. Access to the tall ships is between 11 and 4 and is free on a first come first served basis. July 28th Ship safely back in Bristol. We had a wonderful sail back into the city harbour. There was precious little breeze for our voyage back up the Bristol channel and we needed to use the engine for a few hours, but as we came into the river, enough light puffs from the north came in which enabled us to use our sails to help us up the Avon Gorge, as Cabot and his crew would have done all those years ago. We had a fantastic welcome back to our home port with hundreds of people out enjoying our slow but spectacular progress up the harbour. Now we've got a very busy schedule of local cruises and are adding more dates to our itinerary as most public trips are already sold out. A big thank you to my fantastic crew for this summer - in particular brilliant first mate Ben Jones. He and Darren Sherriff excelled themselves in the catering department. Lou and Breamy were the other constant crew for the summer and were always there when the ship needed them. Lou in her extrovert sesame street clothes, splicing ropes and shinning up the rigging, Breamy patient on the helm, always attending ropes and the anchor light, but a total failure at catching fish!. Lovely Lizzie joined us in Brest and has now - sensibly in my view - decided that her high powered university degree is useless and she's going to run away to sea! But most of all I'd like to thank our devoted band of volunteers some of whom sailed this summer and I'm particularly delighted that David and Sonia joined us for an eventful week. But all are stalwarts of the ship who continually perform the thankless tasks without which we couldn't and wouldn't sail and top among those are Jannine and Shawn. Sorry not to mention everyone by name but you know who you are and I know that everyone reading this appreciates your enormous efforts. The whole thing would also fall apart without Jo Lovell who is now available in the office to take your bookings to join the Matthew on her next adventure. So a massive thank you to Jo. July 24th Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife Jane. Without Janes support I simply couldn't contemplate setting off on these voyages with Matthew. But Jane is a great sailor herself - a veteran of the winning Bristol Clipper Round the World Yacht crew in 2002 - so she knows what it's like to set off with new people to new places with only the wind to get you there. (Well in all honesty we do have an engine but with the price of diesel a the moment, we're keen to not use it and in fact have not had enough fuel on board to make this summers trip entirely under power.) Jane joined the crew in Brest for a few days and was extremely helpful as an interpreter whilst we got to know the lie of the land and the local characters. She also taught me a lot of the Cabot story in French so from now on if you come on a trip with us don't be surprised if you hear "Monsieur Cabot ete en provinence D'italie et il visitez Henry V11 pour propose une grand voyage pour cherchez les Iles Pacifique"! Right now I'm writing this sitting on board gently rocking on a mooring in St Mary's harbour Isles of Scilly. We had a lovely crossing here from France - motored up the Chanel du Four which is the passage between the Brittany Coast and the outlying islands around Ushant and then when the wind filled in from the east we had some glorious sailing with all the sails up and came right into St Mary's harbour with our canons blazing. Today we've had a gentle day exploring the Islands and I've just returned from a nice lunchtime trip to St Agnes and Gugh where I enjoyed the hospitality of the Turks Head landlord Rob who is a fellow Bristolian. Sipping a pint overlooking Porth Conger brought back memories of my first trip here with Jane some years ago in our little motor sailor Clare De Lune. I remember Jane cooking a lovely meal on board and looking out of the porthole at the Island thinking at the time this is about a perfect as it gets. Well the Island is still nigh on perfect but there was one thing missing for me today and that was Jane. So Happy Birthday and maybe we should plan another nice birthday trip here sometime soon. Right now some of our new crew are ken to go mast climbing to enjoy the sights of the Islands from 70 feet up and our evenin g meal is being prepard. Our food on board Matthew during this trip has been spectacular with special thanks to Darren Sherriff and Ben Jones who aren't officially the cooks on board, but they've been so good that no one else has dared go near the galley! We've had amazing fish meals, great curries, roasts, fresh bread, cakes, you name it .. We're planning to sail from here tomorrow morning at 6 am with 7 hours of favourable tide to take us past lands End and also a good forecast of nice South East veering South westerly Winds which is perfect or our journey back to the Bristol Channel. July 19th We have managed to dodge the worst of the summer gales and have had some fantastic sailing over the past few weeks: We had a nice gentle crossing of the english channel to Brest where we have had an amazing reception at the festival here: its been a real case of work hard:play hard as the crews have welcomed thousands of visitors on board by day then corporate guests in the evenings: but theres still been plenty of time for traditional late night international friendship making during the late nights on board various ships: This festival is vast and impressive with probably the most impressive selection of beautiful vessels out sailing every day: some days up to a thousand boats of all shapes and sizes are at sea and always when Matthew goes out to play hundreds of smaller boats surround us to take pictures: the highlight so far has been the stunning night parade which really defies description but which we felt very privaleged to have participated in: Thursdqy 17th July we're off to douarnanez just dozn the coast then we sail back to bristol: we're lookiong forward to returning home but quite honestly our own harbour festival has a lot to learn from Brest about how to put on a real maritime festival: June Matthew is moored in the middle of Salcombe Harbour in South Devon, drawing many admiring glances from passing yachts and welcoming many holiday makers on board. Tuesday morning sees nice gentle South Easterly Winds forecast - perfect for a gentle day sail to Plymouth. The crew have been using the sunshine that followed this weekends gale to get down to some serious sanding and oiling. Lou Phillips has been up the bowsprit, Medeaval Dave has been entertaining the crowds with his squeeze box leaving skipper Rob with the delightful job of unblocking the starboard heads! Life on board is good and its great to see Matthew out sailing again - the trip along the Cornish Coast from Lands End was perfect with brisk winds filling the square sails and a spectacular entrance into Falmouth harbour under full sail. Still some spaces available for our cruises in Devon and Cornwall before we crioss the English channel and settle in Brest Brittany for a few weeks. May The Matthew succesfully completed her annual survey by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and has been issued with a new 5 year passenger carrying ticket. There are still jobs to be done to prepare the ship for sea in June, but she's Shipshape and Bristol fashion for conducting harbour tours which are now taking place several times a week. We've had a number of private charter bookings and some lovely Fish and Chips cruises into the setting sun. Check the sailings page to decide when you can join us. There are still places left on our offshore passages, along the Devon and Cornwall Coast and across to France, but we're gettting lots of enquiries, so contact us soon if you fancy setting sail with the Matthew and enjoying the fine sight of the big Sqarue main course blowing you along. April 23rd Later this week Matthew will be lifted high and dry out of the water for her annual bottom inspection. We use the wonderful Underfall Yard victorian slipway which is a big cradle on a track that pulls ship out of the harbour and into the boatyard. We're hoping that not much needs to be done to the hull, the Maritime and Coastguard agency surveyor has asked to see our propellor shafts pulled, which is a sensible and safe thing to request - but otherwise we should have a quick once over and pop back in the water ready for our season of spring harbour cruises. We hope to post some pictures of the ship on the slipway in our gallery over the next few days. APRIL 6TH Winter returns but at least the March winds have blown away. The start of the school Easter Holidays see colder northern air blowing down across the good ship Matthew, but we're hoping to be able to complete our holiday harbour cruises this coming week. Down below things are stirring as we're having a really good sort out of ships technical stores and starting to get the ship ready for our summer sailing programme. We've just got a few details still to sort out but we should be able to publish a programme this week, which will included details of some lovely cruises under sail along the Devon and Cornwall coasts and our much anticipated crossing to Northern France for the Brest Festival in July. Skipper has just recovered from a ferocious bout of "man flu" so appologise to groups who have had recent visits disrupted either by this or by the weather. Fingers crossed for a smoother passage ahead! Never mind March, we know
When you blow
You're really not mad
Or angry or bad,
You're only blowing the winter away,
To get the world ready
For April and May. There are several good poems about March wind - writes Captain Rob Salvidge - but I don't remember the wind being this disruptive to our harbour cruise programme in March before. We have sailed in gale force winds offshore and the ship is capable of handling heavy seas. Our big problem in harbour is manouvering safetly within the confined dock walls. We can go up and down between the City Centre and Hotwells OK, but its turning round that can be tricky. When you look at Matthew and see how much of the ship sticks out of the water, you see the issue. Presenting the high gunwhales and the fore and stern castles to the wind, is like raising a big sail and we just get blown sideways. If the wind is constant and with careful planning, we can cope with winds of around 25 knots, but our weather at the moment has lots of nasty gusts in it, maybe up to 40 knots in the harbour and this is what would cause us the biggest headache. I remember being on board several years ago with the previous captain and we effectively "sailed" up the harbour sideways, not something even a medeival sailor would have relished doing, so we just have to be patient and wait for the lighter nights and softer weather of April and May. ******Stop Press***** Friday 15th Feb - Matthew now safely back in Bristol and alongside at the SS Great Britain. After Falmouth the crew enjoyed a fanstatic sail to the Isles of Scilly where the ship was given a delightful reception by the islanders and opened to the public for a few hours. We paid for that serene pleasure with a stiff battle against headwinds all the way back up the Cornish Coast and along the Bristol Channel. Midnight flit into Portishead on Valentines night and then a gentle drift back up our beloved Avon Gorge on Friday lunchtime. A fuller account of the whole trip to London and back will be published on the website next week. "Big thanks to a fantastic crew of 15 who've brought Bristols tall ship safely back to her home port " Rob Salvidge
Homeward Bound - Captain's log
09 Feb. 13:17 - Alongside Pendennis marina, Falmouth.
26 Hours from the solent. The Falmouth gigs came out to meet us which was brilliant.
08 Feb. 11:51 - Left Lymington 11
Now heading down towards needles. Stunning day. Good wind for sailing later. 7th Feb - Hi From The Matthew moored in Lymington. This delightful and well heeled harbour at the Western end of the Solent has welcomed us really well. It could be something to do with the fact that Colin Mudie, the ships designer - and David Allen Williams, the ships skipper for the Atlantic crossings of the 90’s both live here!
They’ve been to see the ship and in fact Colin Mudie delivered us two bottles of Champagne to be drunk as a toast to the Matthews shipwright Michael Blackwell, who sadly died a month ago.
The ship looks fantastic in a rural setting like this – nice though some of the modern Marinas are, you only really get a feel for what life was like 500 years ago, when you thread a Tudor ship up a twisty muddy creek to a really old seafaring town like Lymington.
Departure from here is top of the tide – 10 am tomorrow morning - and I’m reasonably confident of making Falmouth in one jump taking around 36 hours.
2nd Feb - Made it to Portsmouth after a brisk day out in the Channel.
It was good to get moving again after sheltering from storms in Brighton for four days, and now it looks as if we could have at least a three day wait here while the next bunch of volatile lows blow through. At least we've got HMS Victory and Warrior to look at and the very impressive Spinnaker tower on Portsmnouth front. We managed to get our staysail and Lateen up during the 40 mile trip down yesterday and when we enetered the calmer waters of the Solent actually got them to draw and help propel us along, so it hasn't just been the engine doing the work on this trip. Off to visit the Haslar Submarine Museum this afternoon and then enjoy a nice Sunday Roast on board! 28 Jan - 2008 12:12
Midday Fix. Matthew four miles from Brighton. Clear, sunny, windless morning along Sussex coast. Hit a bit of fog just before dawn near the royal sovereign shoals which made life interesting for the 3am watch. It's crew man James Barnes' birthday so a visit to the historic quarter of this elegant town is probably in order.
27 Jan 2008 17:31
So Matthew enjoyed a lovely gentle days sailing in the Thames Estuary - unfortunately the wind died just as we were picking up the tidal advantage to take us around North Foreland - so it'll be a gentle motor overnight round to Dover and the sussex coast, where we're planning to make a pit stop at Brighton Marina.
Highlights of the day have been sailing past the extraordinarily weird old second world war forts - that look like strange creatures rising on metal legs from the sea bed and even stranger the new Kentish flats wind farm - 30 or so windmills that look like their just growing out of the river.We have a crew of 10 on board, including a novice to the Matthew called Paul who is big bearded chap and likes his historical re enactment. He certainly looks the part, scanning the horizon with his traditional telescope and has enjoyed his first day under sail with us. I'll get him to write some thoughts on the trip when we get to Portsmouth.
Nice Bollognese smells are coming from the galley as I write and as the sun sets over Kent so it must be tea time.More tomorrow.
27 Jan - 2008, 10:43
Absolutely gorgeous morning. Sunny, warm; just upped anchor after an overnight off Sheerness. Perfect wind direction for sailing down to North Foreland where we turn and head south down past goodwin sands and Dove Straits. Crew all been working hard scrubbing decks and getting ship prepared fro first sailing at sea for three months.
London Bound
15 November 2007 - Captain's Log. "on our way up Thames, all looking good for rendevouz this afternoon" ... "...Amazing! How to make Tower Bridge in a beautiful sunset look even more stunning: take one Matthew full of pirates firing canons. Talk about stopping the traffic! It was just incredible. Down to earth now and we've got to wait for a few hours in St Kats lock because the opening bridge is broken and won't open." 14 November 2007 - Captain's Log. "preparing to leave Dover. Predicted short sharp gale did indeed gust through in the middle of the night. Fresh and calm air this morning for passage up past Goodwin Sands and into the Thames estuary. Thanks to Royal Cinque Ports Yacht Club for hosting a Matthew crew shanty session last night." "Lively run up from Dover. Rather petulant seas however things are settling down now and we're just off Margate. All looking fine for tomorrow." 13 November 2007 - Captain's Log "we've made really good progress overnight and are nearly at Dover. Going to go in there and shelter while possible gale blows through." ... "Safely alongside in Dover. As we arrive the wind drops but still nasty forecast for this evening and then lighter winds for tomorrow."
11 November 2007 - Captain's Log
"Matthew crew attended rememberance service in Cowes this morning. Ship is bing hosted by the UK Sailing Academy who are looking after us very well by making all facilities available including a launch for runs ashore. We will be repaying compliment by having school children from Isle of Wight on board. plan is to depart for onward passage to London tomorrow evening.
On our passage out of the Solent we will pass the wreck site of the Mary Rose which was a tudor caravel - like the Matthew - although of course much bigger. On passage from Plymouth we sailed hard for 30 hours with a brisk force 7 wind behind us. the main drama was breaking the whipstaff - the Matthew's steering stick - in the middle of the night. We then had to steer 'blind' from the tiller for many hours with the help of blocks and tackle before installing our spare at anchor in Christchurch Bay."
Skipper's reflections - 1st July 07:
exerpts from recent press release.
"The Matthew is on its way back to Bristol after what should have been a relaxing cruise round the Irish Sea, visiting festivals and harbours in Ireland, Isle of Man and Scotland. We have had some great welcomes and been the star of three really nice festivals, but the weather in between times has bought back vivid memories of white knuckle races across Biscay and the Southern ocean, rather than filling the photo album, with dreamy scenes of sunsets through the rigging."
"A long term forecast that promised gales, squalls and more grey rolling choppy seas than most sensible sailors dream of in a life time, forced us to abandon any hopes of some gentle cruises round the islands of the Clyde and for the past week or more we’ve been battling physically, but more mentally with these unseasonal storms."
"Our dilemma today only serves as vivid reminder of how damn difficult it was to get anywhere by sailing ship years ago. I’ve consoled myself by reading Captain Bligh’s account of taking 31 days to try and round Cape Horn in the Bounty. But this has also had the unfortunate effect of reminding me how near to the surface on old sailing ships, was the notion of mutiny, if things didn’t go well and crew got bored. In the 18th century a coastal town such as this would have had its fair share of brothels to keep waiting sailors happy! Today, we’re a short dingy ride from the hospitality of the Holyhead sailing club, complete with warm showers and cool beer. We’ve got it easy today really but some things don’t change and when you record squally gusts of over 30 knots, even within the protective confines of a mammoth breakwater - just like the old days - you have to stay put and wait for fair winds."
Rob Salvidge - Skipper
Last report, 8 Jul 18:14: "24 hours in to passage from north wales to bristol. Just approaching pembrokeshire coast. Lovely sunny day but wind on the nose. Making good time however and aiming to arrive bristol afternoon tide tuesday. Had lots of dolphins around the boat. More details when we're in the bristol channel"
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