To blog or not to blog? These last to months the answer seems to have been: not to blog. None the less, they have been an interesting and busy few months.

Boat/sailing wise the last few weeks have been frustrating. Our plans have mainly been thwarted by the weather. We found ourselves either adrift in the sun, reefing like mad in +25kts squalls, going to windward in horizontal rain or dodging hailstorms. Sometimes all on the same day. The weekly trips up to the boat became a chore instead of something to be enjoyed. Not a good sign.
Last weekend’s trip even got cancelled altogether. The journey to/from the boat is a 200 mile round trip – diesel’s not exactly cheap at the moment – and frankly, I didn’t think it was worth it given the forecast. A new low.
As luck would have it, we’ve had 2 weeks of very good sailing weather in the last few months. The first week I was working and the second week we were abroad.

The boat’s ready to go, and yet lately I’ve been more frustrated than ever. With the weather, with our cruising ground (big fish – small pond), with a lack of time, ... I think I will own a boat till the day I drop,, because I’m in love with the freedom owning a boat affords you. There is no limit to what you can’t do or places where you can’t go – beyond the horizon, there’s always another horizon.
Yet, all the planning and dreaming will only get you so far. Time to enjoy what we’ve worked for all the years would be good – right now would be even better. I’m all for (extended) foreplay, but at some point I do want to fuck.

My sailing itch needs scratching, and it needs scratching soon. Last week (or even this week) was to have been the week of our first Channel crossing. Either with crew (last week) or single-handed (this week). It wasn’t and isn’t to be, Spring’s regressed back to Winter.
I stumbled across an old video clip of my fist (and so far only) single-handed Channel crossing a few years ago. The memories and feeling of accomplishment came flooding back. More please. And possibly sooner than anticipated as Brigitte’s Summer leave has been drastically cut short by her employer. Only a few more years of that though.

On a more positive note: the shore based half of our cruising life is now well on track. We are now the proud/lucky owners of a little cottage in Brittany. As we’re in the final stages of refitting the boat, we have a house makeover to look forward to. Hopefully we’ll be able to apply lots of ‘lessons learned’ and not make the same mistakes again (or come up with a whole batch of new mistakes).

I love the house, I can picture us growing old disgracefully there without a care in the world. And right on the doorstep of a new, beautiful and exciting cruising ground. We’re now on the waiting list for a mooring on one of the prettiest rivers in France. Looking forward to the move. It would be nice to have an opportunity to explore southern Brittany before we set off on our odyssey to new and distant shores.

So, yes: we do still sail the boat whenever possible and the blog still has a pulse. But the present state of near-hibernation may well continue over the next few weeks (mainly due to work). Next significant event on the agenda is the Oostende voor Anker maritime festival (25-28 May). This should(!!) herald the start of our Summer sailing season.

In the mean time, bear with us. Maybe, just maybe, it’ll all be worth it in the end.