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 [...]
Ermioni
Ermioni was a possibly the site of the first small boat regatta in recorded history and has remains of Roman, Byzantine and Venetian forts on the finger-like peninsular that juts out into the Gulf. Unfortunately, we had more problems berthing (windlass again!) and decided to anchor in the bay until the next morning (we were helped out of our predicament by a salty old French seadog, Claude, and his wife Annie). By 9am the following morning we were safely tied up to the quay and ready for the mechanic to do the pre-arranged service of our two Volvo engines.
Ermioni is a delightful place. It is a working town with a stable population, and an income from the (mainly Greek) tourists. The old village is picturesque and sleepy and not much has changed there for many years. There are numerous tavernas but all is very low key and much more genuine than picture-perfect Spetses. It is a popular stopping point for yachts and we were in the company of the United Nations on the quay!
With the service complete, provisioning done and several walks around the town, we decided to move on, but only after I had managed to have a long overdue haircut at Martina's, which was a real treat and a wonderful opportunity to get a glimpse of local life.
We set off mid-afternoon for a sail along the length of the Gulf of Hydra. The afternoon winds picked up and we just flew along at 7 - 8 knots, tacking across the Gulf in perfect sailing conditions, practising taking in and letting out reefs as we went, until we reached our anchorage in a small bay under the islet known as Nisis Soupia.
