Intrepid Travels
| Vessel Name: | Intrepid Elk |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Outremer catamaran 51 |
| Hailing Port: | Fremantle |
| Crew: | Robert and Revle Elks |
16 May 2017
Cherbourg encore
We are reunited with Intrepid Elk after a winter/summer separation and it is good to be home again. IE has had a facelift and her shiny white hulls are dazzling once more. She has a beautiful new bimini (shade cover) over the helm seat, which Robert designed and which was fabricated in Portsmouth and [...]
06 October 2016
IE preparation for winter
Our sailing days for this year are over and we are once again busy getting IE ready for a winter in the northern hemisphere. This year, she will be in the water for most of the time, with a short interlude on land in a large painting shed, where she will have her hulls painted. In order to get her into [...]
30 September 2016
Cherbourg, France
It was an inky black moonless night as we slipped out of the river and across the sand bar with fishing vessel Emma Louise behind us. Revle was on the bowsprit with a spotlight looking for hazards ahead. I was at the helm, peering at our chartplotter and concentrating on following our inward track. [...]
22 September 2016
Plymouth
We made a motoring passage of 35 miles to Plymouth Sound, then battled against strong currents up the Tamar River to an anchorage at West Mud where we spent a peaceful night. Plymouth has been a major naval base for centuries and we had some close encounters with modern navy ships in the harbour. We [...]
18 September 2016
Falmouth
Our passage to Falmouth took us past The Lizard, a projecting headland with a ferocious tidal race. We passed a little too close and got caught in the race which was too bumpy for comfort. Approaching the Falmouth harbour, we had the excitement of crossing our track from June 2015 when we made landfall [...]
17 September 2016
Newlyn
We left the Isles of Scilly early in the morning to catch a light northerly wind to Land's End and the fishing port of Newlyn, just south of Penzance. We couldn't believe our luck, having another gentle passage through one of the most treacherous and notorious waterways in northern Europe. We galloped [...]
Khaidari
We watched several of the charter boats leave (two of them snagging the same anchor) and then set off, happily without incident. Our first destination was a nearby beach (Karathona) in a bay around the headland that I had spied from the top when I climbed up to the Fort of Palimidi, a huge Venetian fortress overlooking Navplio that remains amazingly intact.
The bay was a wonderful escape from the ‘big smoke’ and we cooled off in the water and had lunch before setting off again. We had another glorious sail, thanks to the Bouka Doura (the afternoon sea breeze), and arrived in Khaidari where we dropped anchor for the night and again enjoyed the benefit of many cooling swims.
The forecast was for virtually no winds the following day, but we set off and soon had both sails up and were skipping along in local winds of about 15 knots! As we were approaching our destination, we were accompanied by another pod of dolphins who entertained us with spins in the air and endless surfing and diving, before disappearing as fast as they had arrived.
