Month: March 2018

Whilst UK was struggling with yet another spell of unseasonal snow, we were faced with headwinds on our way from Lanzarote to Madeira.   518 miles with the wind on the nose. Good job today was a great drying day!

Our guests who were all new to ocean sailing found that the waves were bigger than they had seen before – and the wind stronger than they had ever sailed in – not at all like the Mediterranean. With the boat leaping around everything was harder to do than expected. They commented that whilst the trip had taken them out of their comfort zone Velvet Lady made them feel safe and they were taking home some fantastic memories. In particular steering at night with only the stars for company.

This was the start of our series of long passages which will take us back to Plymouth and then up to Norway for the summer before heading south again in the Autumn.

For details of all of our trips see our Schedule

Whilst UK was struggling with unseasonal snow last week, Lanzarote was struggling with unseasonal gale force winds from the south west.  This presented us with a bit of a challenge for our expedition to La Gomera and plans had to change.

Once the wind died off to a steady force 6, we set off for our overnight sail to round Alegranza, La Graciosa and Lanzarote.  The wind was still gusty and the sea had not died down too much – a baptism of fire really for our guests on their first night sail.  After a particularly large gust we burst a seam on our mainsail and promptly reefed.  By the time we had returned to port under smaller canvas the wind had eased and the sky was blue – perfect conditions to change to our spare and set off sailing again.  after 5 days of gale conditions we were rewarded with 3 days of champagne sailing to round off the trip.

We change up a gear next week as we start on our passages north to Madeira, UK and Norway.

 

We get the nicest e mails and photos from guests

Dear Lin and Richard
I have just stopped the feeling of rocking!
What a wonderful week. If sailing is like that every time then we want more. Champagne sailing it really was. We are looking forward to our next sailing adventure. Thank you so much.
John and Di

A short note to say thanks for a great week, as always I have learnt some new skills, mainly how to call a rescue helicopter to rescue a crew member from the top of a mountain…..

Just seen the forecast for next week in Lanzarote, winds gusting higher then 100 kph on Tuesday, stay safe tied up tight!
All very best,
David