Intrepid Travels

Vessel Name: Intrepid Elk
Vessel Make/Model: Outremer catamaran 51
Hailing Port: Fremantle
Crew: Robert and Revle Elks
16 May 2017
06 October 2016
30 September 2016
22 September 2016
18 September 2016
17 September 2016
14 September 2016
13 September 2016
12 September 2016
10 September 2016
04 September 2016
01 September 2016
31 August 2016
30 August 2016
27 August 2016
24 August 2016
23 August 2016
21 August 2016
19 August 2016
Recent Blog Posts
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 [...]

Eriskay

21 July 2016
Yesterday we motored the 4 miles to Castle Bay, the most southerly settlement on the chain of islands, and very picturesque with the castle ruins in the bay itself and the grey houses dotted over the surrounding rocky hillsides. We found a suitable mooring buoy (easier than anchoring in these deep waters with up to 4 m tides!) and went ashore to stock up on bread and milk as provisions are few and far between on these islands. In doing the shopping and finding somewhere to access wifi, we had a chance to see just a little bit of what life is like for the locals here, with challenging conditions most of the year and little contact with the outside world.
We left Castle Bay a bit later than planned as we had a few fraught hours of working out why we suddenly lost all power despite having monitored our power consumption closely, as always. A bit of sleuthing later, and recharging the batteries with the motors for a short period, everything was working again and we set off for the short journey to Eriskay. This is the small island where Bonnie Prince Charlie made his landing in the British Isles from his exile in France, intent on reclaiming the throne. We found a wonderful anchorage, with a very narrow entrance channel, and went ashore to stretch our legs before the heavens opened once more.
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