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5 Jan 2010 We wish you a Happy New Year and good sailing throughout 2010 1 October 2009
End of September already and we have just done our quarterly draw. The lucky winner this quarter is a gentleman from Bolton. Next draw will be at the end of December It doesn’t seem like 3 years since Richard and I arrived in Majorca very excited to take possession of our first yacht with her new name Velvet Lady. We climbed on board on the 2nd October and from then onwards have treated her with the gentle loving care that most parents do their first child!
In the beginning there were lists of things to do to make her safe to sail back to UK, then there was a huge long list of things to do in the winter refit to make her ready and safe to take our first guests in April 2007.
It didn’t stop there though, as well as routine maintenance which is an ongoing programme we are always planning for new toys, and improvements. Below we have added simple things like extra lighting, new cushions and lampshades, shelving by the bunks etc to make her more homely. After a few people have asked us we now have a gadget so you can hear your MP3 player on the ships stereo system (tried and tested last week), and if you read my blog you will also know that we now have a fantastic new cooker.
On deck we have replaced the windlass for a larger size, the Yankee headsail and now we also have a new mainsail on order.
The safety equipment is inspected annually, and this year we also replaced the electric bilge pump for a bigger capacity one. Not being very impressed with the aerosol hand held fog horns we have also now installed an electronic loud hailer/fog horn. Only problem is no one can get any sleep now when it is foggy because of the noise.
We had noticed that people were struggling to read our old compass, and this could perhaps account for the amount of zig zag courses we steered. No excuses now, we have just fitted a brand new compass, with the numbers magnified for all to see. Richard and I have had a busy morning this morning as we set out into the Ria de Pontevedra to ‘swing’ the compass and adjust it for any errors. It is now correct of deviation right down to the last degree.
Velvet Lady, now at 23 years old is blossoming, and like any woman she loves it when people say that she doesn’t look her age. Why not come along and see for yourself.
Since publishing the early 2010 programme at the end of June bookings are at our highest ever, with a huge amount of return custom. We offer a variety of trips to suit all experience levels. The longer distance trips are already selling well, and we are full from Malaga to Madeira in November and Madeira to Lanzarote in December. There is also only 1 place left on the real roughy toughy trip from the Azores to Plymouth in April so if you are interested in that book soon.
For those who like real last minute booking, there is still some space on the Spanish Rias trip that starts on Saturday or some space on our trip from the Spanish Rias to Costa del Sol which starts on 17 October.
 Our season in sunshine of The Canary Islands starts on the island of Lanzarote with a week of relaxed sailing for Xmas followed by a week of relaxed sailing for New Year. Although New Year is now full there is still the opportunity to book Xmas week either as an individual or for a group with an offer of book 5 places and get the sixth for free.
In early 2010 we are offering a mix of 7 day Relaxed Sailing holidays - for those who want to spend a shorter time sailing and enjoying the sunshine, and more time ashore including spending a day on the tiny island of Graciosa.
For the more adventurous try our 7 day Adventure holidays which include one full night of sailing and watchkeeping with the opportunity to visit another island. Last year one of our guests described his adventure sailing holiday as ‘Sailing for Sailors’!
In early March we increase the length of our Adventure sailing holidays to 10 nights to give us the chance to visit the islands at the western end of the Canary Island chain, La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera.
Only 4 hours away by plane from many regional airports these Canary Island trips are great for a quick break. The start and finish dates have been chosen to coincide with package tour operators and give you more chances for a cheap flight.
Next summer we will again be returning to the Lofoten Islands of Norway (pictured above) – which were just fantastic this year, we only had 4 places that did not book for the whole 3 months that we were there, so if you are thinking of joining us in 2010 don’t leave it too late. All Norway trips are on line and open for booking now.
We use a live booking system and so the website is always up to date with the number of berths available. There is no need to ring us up and check although we are always happy to talk to any customer before booking and answer all your questions.
We have recently been asked about the possibility of buying gift vouchers for birthdays, Christmas or other special occasions. This is absolutely something we can do for a minimum of £50 and upwards. The voucher can then be used towards the cost of any holiday with us. Call us up and pay by credit/debit card and we will issue a booking code inside a card with a photo of Velvet Lady for you to give as a present.
Why not look at the itineraries in our schedule and book for yourself or a friend.
Richard and I would love to see you aboard Velvet Lady
19 July 2009
I must apologise for the delay in sending out this June Newsletter and sailing programme for 2010. We are having a very busy and enjoyable time here in Norway and squeezing in time at the internet café has been difficult, but as chance would have it just when I was ready to load the programme we had major problems with our internet host and server. I am not very techie in this respect and cannot really understand the problems, I only know that we have ended up changing hosts and servers and this inevitably has resulted in some disruption to our site. I have just spent hours clicking away on the site to check it all works, and fingers crossed it seems to although if any one has been trying to book over the weekend it may have proved! impossible to pay! This should now be fixed but I ask you please, if you spot a problem do not hesitate to let us know and we will put the techies on to it right away. Yet again apologies if you have struggled with the site, it has been out of our hands and we hope it won't happen again. As usual we have a quarterly winner, and this quarter the lucky gentleman is from Dublin and registered in Febuary!! Our season here in Lofoten Islands has proved so successful that we have run out of adjectives to describe the scenery and the wildlife. My best description is that it is like living in a nature programme, always being surrounded by wonderful scenery and never knowing what you are going to see next. There is so much WOW factor that we feel we must come back here again in 2010. Each trip we have run so far has been unique, we have seldom visited the same port twice and although we have already been to 20 new places there are plenty of new ones left to go to. ! Apart from needing to sail a long way on the first day to rea! ch the L ofotens we have developed a very unpressurised daily routine. We set off in the morning with no ‘fixed destination’ and at about 3 o clock in the afternnon study the chart and the weather and decide where to spend the night. We have usually been anchored by 6 o clock in time for a drink or swim before dinner.
There has been so much to do, so much to look at and photograph, that the most difficult move of the day is deciding when to go to bed. With the 24 hour daylight and midnight sun it is possible to stay up til 3 in the morning and not notice the time slipping away! I’m already looking forward to coming back next year Check out our Schedule which has now been loaded with all o! f next years trips including the Lofoten Island trips. We are again offering a mix of 7 night and 10 night holidays to explore these fabulous islands. Over the past year we have had such a huge variety of people and characters sailing with us, and enjoyed the company of every one. We really enjoy our work and meeting you all, and the reward is in delivering a holiday that lives up to expectations. Our day was really made when we received this e mail Dear Lin and Richard It is clear to us that we offer a programme that caters for a range of abilities and expectations. We want to keep this variety and flexibility going and so we have written our 2010 sailing programme to have a bit of something for everyone Our Autumn programme has been taking bookings for a while, but there are still some spaces to join us as we head across the Bay of Biscay to the Spanish Rias and then on down to the Canaries to enjoy the winter sunshine. Our winter season in Lanzarote starts with a week of relaxed sailing for Xmas followed by a week of relaxed sailing for New Year. There is an offer on at the moment for both of these that if you book 5 places then you get the sixth one for free. In early 2010 we are offering a mix of 7 day Relaxed Sailing holidays - for those who want to spend a shorter time sailing and enjoying the sunshine, and more time ashore including spending a day on the tiny island of Graci! osa. For the more adventurous try our 7 day Adventure holidays which include one full night of sailing and watchkeeping with the opportunity to visit another island. Last year one of our guests described his adventure sailing holiday as ‘Sailing for Sailors’! In early March we increase the length of our Adventure sailing holidays to 10 nights to give us the chance to visit the islands at the western end of the Canary Island chain, La Palma, El Hierro and La Gomera. Our longer ocean and milebuilding passages begin in the middle of March as we sail from La Gomera to Madeira, Madeira to the Azores and for those really roughy toughy sailors amongst you the ocean passage from the Azores to Plymouth. This trip has sold out early in previous years as it is the longest passage we do and gives you a true flavour of crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Once in UK we will take a breather in Plymouth in May, we then begin the journey north again with a milebuilder d! ash through the Irish Sea, lots of tides and pilotage and idea! l for ga ining experience towards your yachtmaster. The route to Norway this year was via the Faroe Islands, and sold out within a week of loading on the website. We had a fast sail to the Faroe Islands which were spectacular, and arriving in Norway at a glacier was awesome. We will be repeating the same trip in 2010. All the above are now loaded and available for booking. As always the itineraries are example only and subject to the weather. You can read all about 2009 trips in my blog. If there is still a glitch in the payment part of the website we apologise and promise it will be fixed very soon. Do not be put off though, send us an e mail and we can take your booking by phone! See you aboard! How time flies! In 2 weeks we will have been in operation for 2 years and we just get busier and busier. Velvet Lady is sailing like a dream and all who sail on board her have had a great time. We have made many new friends this year and have been sorry to see them leave at the end of the week
We are in Madeira at the moment on our journey north to UK following the winter. After two successful summer seasons in Iceland we are now really looking forward to visiting the Lofoten Islands of Norway. The trips north via the Faroes and south via Orkney and Shetland have been sold out for a long time now, in fact there are only 12 places left on our Lofoten islands 7 and 11 night trips so if you are thinking of coming - book soon! As our programme is selling up so well we have just launched our Autumn and Winter programme. The Canary Islands have been so succesful for the past two years we will again spend Xmas, New Year and the early part of 2010 there. Xmas and New Year weeks are on line now, and whilst the whole boat remains available we would like to give you the opportunity of booking 6 places for the price of 5. If you are not interested in the whole boat, of course the places are available to book individually and as soon as we take bookings the group offer will cease. This Autumn we start our journey south by crossing the Bay of Biscay to Bayona and then Sanxenxo marina in the Spanish Rias. These Rias were so beautiful last year that we have decided to offer an 8 night trip day sailing into each of the Ria Bajas. Richard and I have long talked about going to Morocco, and our trip south from the Spanish Rias includes the opportunity to visit a couple of the Moroccan ports. We will just poke our noses into the Mediterranean Sea and finish in Malaga. We have many enquiries about ocean yachtmaster passages and so this year we are deliberately making sure that any of our long passages are long enough to comply with the RYA guidelines. Malaga to Madeira is just over 600nm and will provide a great opportunity for trade wind sailing in the sunshine. All of these trips are now loaded on line in our Schedule so please take a look. If you have any further questions about any of them please do not hesitate to ask. I apologise in advance that we have had an IT problem and not all the route maps are loaded yet, but will be soon. Good Sailing to you all and of course Happy Easter for next weekend Lin and Richard 4 January 2009
Happy New Year 2009! Another year over and it seems so much has happened since Richard and I were in Antigua in early 2006 planning and dreaming about starting a business and buying our own yacht. After three years of full time work getting Velvet Lady and Velvet Adventure Sailing up and running, Richard and I have made time for our first break away. We are currently in Madrid for a night – en route to Geneva to go skiing in Chamonix. I had hoped to write the newsletter before we left Lanzarote but it was too hectic. We had a busy December with Velvet Lady out of the water on the hard for 10 days for a full scrub and polish followed by very busy Xmas and New Year trips.
Lofoten Islands, Norway - our destination Summer 2009 see below 2008 was a great year for us. Our first full year of running sailing holidays, and what has been most rewarding is the amount of repeat business we are getting in such a short time. Our winter sun in the Canary Islands trips proved very popular, as did our ocean passages. We had a second fantastic season sailing in Iceland, the scenery and wildlife were stunning and the weather kind. Everyone who came had a great time. New for 2009 we are moving on from Iceland and heading further afield to the Lofoten Islands of Norway. Judging by the number of bookings we have taken this is a popular decision and we already have customers from Iceland booking to return with us to Norway. We have also changed the Norway itinerary slightly based on demand. As we have had such a high level of response for the 11 night Lofoten Island trip, we have created a second trip from 22nd July to 2 August. Our ocean passages have always been popular, the trips to Norway and returning from Norway are both fully booked, and as I write, there is one place on the Azores to Plymouth trip. We will be crossing Biscay again in September dates will be published with our winter 2009 programme. Last year our January to March trips filled up at the last minute. Whilst we are away enjoying our Winter Snow break from the sun; why don’t you browse our schedule to find out about how you can escape from the UK winter blues?
We think we have something for everyone.
In late January we start with a Canary Island Relaxed cruise – a 7 night trip where we spend 5 days sailing around Lanzarote, and one day climbing the volcano and exploring ashore in La Graciosa. It must be good because one of our returning customers this year came on the same trip last year. This trip runs from 25th January to 1st February, Sunday to Sunday to enable you to catch charter flights. If these dates don’t suit we run the same trip again from 15th to 22nd February – a half term getaway. If you want to be more adventurous and sail more miles, then our Adventure Cruise from 5th to 12th February may suit you better. We aim to circumnavigate both Lanzarote and Fuerteventura and the trip will definitely include overnight sailing – if you fancy a night of sailing along under the stars this could be for you. For those looking for a longer break and who want to gain lots of miles, overnight hours, learn about passage making and practice navigation; we are running a 14 night trip where we intend to visit all 8 of the inhabited Canary Islands. This trip starts in Lanzarote and finishes in Tenerife. 25th February to 11th March Ideal for gaining experience and milebuilding and plenty of opportunity for 60 mile passages towards your yachtmaster certificate, or if you’re not ready for that yet, it is a fantastic chance to experience offshore cruising in comfort. The beautiful island of La Gomera lies to the west of Tenerife and a visit here is on the itinerary for our Western Canary Islands trip. This trip will be a relaxed trip with 5 days spent sailing around Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro with one day set aside for a visit to the rain forest on La Gomera 14th – 21st March, embark and disembark in Tenerife. During late March and April it is time for our longer trips and an introduction to ocean passages on a gradual scale. All of our trips are open to beginners and experienced sailors alike. We only like to remind beginners that if you sign up for a long ocean passage and it is not for you there is nowhere to get off. It is better to start with something easier like our short passage from Tenerife to Madeira. Tenerife to Madeira is 270nm across the Atlantic Ocean, a fantastic opportunity to experience a short burst of ocean sailing and see if you like it. We will spend 2 or 3 nights crossing the ocean and combine it with a couple of days of coastal cruising. 25th March to 1st April, 7 nights Madeira to the Azores is double this distance at 550 nm. With 4 or 5 nights at sea this is an ideal opportunity to really settle into a watch pattern and enjoy life at sea. We also allow time to cruise in the Azores. 4th to 14th April, 10 nights Azores to Plymouth is 1200 nm and a full on ocean crossing. Only one place left on this now, book soon to avoid disappointment. 18th April to 30th April Booking any of our trips is easy on line. Our website is live and always up to date. Each trip shows the number of berths available and this is always correct. If you have any queries about any trip please do not hesitate to contact us. Please be aware that Richard and I do all our own admin, we will always answer your query but if we are on a trip there may be a short delay
7 October 2008
The year is flying by and now Velvet Lady has started her passage south to stay in the warmer weather. There are many opportunities coming up later this year and early next year to go sailing in the sunshine.
The beautiful anchorage in Ria de Cedeira New to our programme this season was the addition of the opportunity to spend some time exploring the Spanish Rias. These are the numerous inlets and spectacular bays on the Galician coastline – the north west corner of Spain. Stunning scenery, white sandy beaches and peaceful anchorages are promised in the pilot book. Usually the opportunity to potter around these interesting places is missed as one dashes across the Bay of Biscay, rounds Cape Finisterre and then follows the Portuguese and Spanish coastline south to the Mediterranean or the Canaries. We decided this would be another ideal area in which to offer the mix of combining ocean sailing with coastal cruising. We have just arrived in La Coruna and were not disappointed. After a fast crossing across the Bay of Biscay, we made landfall at the beautiful Ria de Viviero, 50 nm east of La Coruna. After an afternoon stop to recover from watchkeeping we set off to explore the Rias of Cedeira, and Betanzos before finally arriving in the Ria de Coruna. Next week we are looking forward to the opportunity to visit a few more of the Spanish Rias as we sail south from La Coruna to Vilamoura. We are already plotting to include a Spanish Rias trip in our sailing programme next year. There are still 3 places available for the 10 day Spanish Rias trip, 8th to 18th October now reduced to £795 per person. This idea of mixing a longer passage with time to cruise has proved popular and continues in our programme on our trips from Vilamoura to Madeira and Madeira to Lanzarote before December this year and then again from Tenerife to Madeira and Maderia to the Azores in Spring next year. The next real ocean passage that we do is when we really do have a long sail of 1200nm from the Azores to UK For the more relaxed sailing holiday we are again offering relaxed and adventure cruises in the Canary Islands. We are really pleased to see that the places on Xmas and New Year weeks are already filling up. Last year we had fantastic time on both our Xmas and New Year trips and are looking forward to repeating them. We are due to arrive in Lanzarote at the beginning of December and before we start with our sailing programme we will be lifting Velvet Lady for her annual scrub and antifoul sprucing her up before the festive season. The boat is currently full of tins of paint, varnish, brushes and paper overalls. Just before we left Plymouth Richard bought an electric polisher so that will be put to good use as well. Really new for 2009, Lin and Richard are going to manage a quick break to go skiing for the first time in 3 years. 8 days in Chamonix are already booked plus a quick visit to UK for Lins sisters wedding, hence the gap in the programme on the website. We are back in action on the 26 January with the first of our Canary Island Adventures, and later in the year offer the opportunity to visit all of the islands in one 14 day trip. This will be a trip with a mix of day sailing and overnight passages perhaps for the more adventurous sailor. Full details of all trips are on our website listed in chronological order in our ‘schedule’. The number of berths still available per trip is also shown. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us on 07801 627660 or e mail voyages@velvetadventuresailing.com. You can always keep up to date with our progress by reading our blog on www.velvetadventuresailing.com/blog
2 July 2008
When we first started Velvet Adventure Sailing, Richard and I spent lots of time deliberating where to spend our summer seasons. On the list were Iceland, Norway and the Lofoten Islands, or the Baltic and the Swedish Archipelago. All are renowned for their beautiful scenery and are as yet unspoilt by too much tourist traffic. We chose Iceland and are here for our second season, enjoying the fabulous scenery, friendly people and mostly wonderful weather. We are still finding new places to visit and adding to our list of wildlife. Last week we were excited to see a white tailed eagle and an arctic fox on the same day. There were also sightings of two polar bears wondering the northern shores, luckily we did not see them. We now have itchy feet and are ready to move on to waters new. After much deliberation we have decided that Summer 2009 we will head off to northern Norway and base ourselves in Bodo. From here we can explore the spectacular fjords and islands of the mainland coast of Norway as well as sailing out to the Lofoten Islands. Here the islands rise from the sea to a height of over 1000 metres and white sandy beaches line the waters edge. There are many beautiful and wild anchorages as well as picturesque fishing villages to visit. As with Iceland marinas are few and far between, and we will be in solitude a lot of the time.
The flora and fauna in the area are unforgettable, and we hope to see sperm whales, puffins and sea eagles in their natural habitat. We should even have a chance of catching our own dinner! If this has whetted your appetite, the full programme for Norway 2009 is now on line on our website and available for booking. We already have customers from the past 2 seasons promising to come with us. Before we get there though, we are already looking forward to our new and exciting winter programme that has been on line and taking bookings for a while. In the Autumn we will be exploring the Spanish Rias. These are very similar to fjords, with spectacular anchorages in hidden bays. We visit these Rias on both the north and west coast of Spain, before continuing south along the Portuguese coastline. Here there are many old and historic ports to visit As an introduction to ocean passage making we then have two Blue Water Adventures – Portugal to Maderia and then Madeira to Lanzarote, a chance to sample ocean sailing whilst wearing shorts and T shirts!, before arriving in the Canary Islands for Xmas and New Year. Last year for Xmas we had a family book the whole boat, and enjoyed a real treat of a week with Mum, Dad, Gran and their three boys. Why not get away for Xmas or New Year this year, relax and let us look after you. This year Xmas is no longer available for a group booking as we already have 2 people booked. Individuals and couples are very welcome to join us. It is still possible to book the whole boat for New Year, and we will be pleased to offer a discount for doing so.
After Xmas we are going to be enjoying the sunshine in the Canary Islands until the end of March. We enjoyed last year in Lanzarote tremendously, and will again be using that as our base for the early winter. In March we head further west to explore the western islands and include a 14 day Canary Island dash, where we aim to visit all the islands in one trip. April sees us leave the Canary Islands and visiting Madeira and the Azores before arriving back in Plymouth in May. A topic much discussed on all our trips is how we can publicise ourselves more. We know we can do with all the help we can get and are always happy to listen to the suggestions that come up. One of those was to load our photos for other people to find and view on Flickr. We have now managed to find the time to do that and are in the process of uploading lots of photos. We will continue to update these photos as often as we can on http://www.flickr.com/photos/velvetadventuresailing Why not have a look. I leave you with some recent comments from our Guest Book and look forward to sailing with you in the future This has been one of the most enjoyable sailing holidays/adventures ever. The sailing was superb and Velvet Lady is an excellent boat and extremely safe. The ports we visited were a fantastic experience in themselves and the scenery was out of this world. But the vote of thanks truly belongs to both Lin and Richard who were excellent hosts and wonderful teachers at the same time. Velvet Adventure Sailing are well recommended. I was looking for adventure and a challenge and I certainly got both as well as a lot of fun and great company. Velvet Lady, Lin and Richard, many thanks for a trip I’ll never forget, all three of you gave me confidence to try things I didn’t think I could ever do. I hope to come again sometime. Hospitality and food always excellent too! Second time in 8 months says it all! We look forward to sailing with you in the future Kind regards Lin and Richard
27 March 2008
17 March 2008
Velvet Lady is returning to Iceland for the Summer of 2008. She is now on her way north from Lanzarote and has been in Madeira for the last 2 weeks. Tuesday 18th March we set off to the Azores. We will be spending 2 weeks touring this volcanic island group situated in the mid atlantic before our passage back to UK. We are still sailing in shorts and T shirts as we follow the sun. The average temperatures have been 18 to 20 degrees and we have had very little rain. The sailing programme from now, right up to New Year 2009 is live on the website and available for bookings in our Schedule. For stories of this years experiences please see our 'blog'
19 December 2007
After 2 weeks of sanding, varnishing and polishing Velvet Lady now gleams ready for our festive charters. We even had time today to put up the tree!! We have a busy 2 weeks coming up, a family of 6 join us for Xmas week tomorrow the 20th, and they are immediately followed by our New Year group. We have done the shopping, bought the turkey and made the mince pies. We're all ready and hope that Santa will make an appearance down the companionway steps. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our customers old and new a very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. May fair winds follow us all in 2008 We will be announcing the December competition winner and sending our quarterly newsletter on the 7th January. Lin and Richard
26 November 2007
Magical Madeira - a new addition to our sailing programme On our way south to the Canary islands we have spent a week exploring Madeira and checking the potential for running Velvet Adventure Sailing trips from here. We are so enchanted with this beautiful island that we have indeed added Madeira to the programme for spring 2008. Madeira is only 270nm north of Lanzarote and so we will be selling a new 'mini' ocean adventure combining the opportunity to do some coastal cruising as well as getting a short taste of true ocean sailing. We will sail 1 week around Madeira and then again offer a 'mini' ocean adventure on the 550nm sail north to the Azores. We are sure that this will be of interest to many of you and hope you will sail with us. For further information see our Madeira page 29 September 2007 Iceland Sailing Programme for 2008 now available online - see Schedule 22 September 2007
We were surrounded by whales on our return passage from Reykjavik to UK. See Blog for more details 14 September 2007
Trade Winds Ocean Passage Join us as we sail south from Portugal into the trade winds and en route to the Canary Islands. Our direct course to the Canary Islands takes us so close to the Madeira Archipelago that it is well worth the diversion to visit one of these remote islands. 10 nights £895 from 18th to 28th November. See more on the itinerary page
News The 'blog' had been added to our website to make it easier for you to read our stories from Velvet Lady's Log. This News page will continue to be updated regularly with News other than Log Stories. We hope that you will read both. Please feel free to comment on our blogs! Blog A few new pages have been added to the blog today. Our log from our last 12 day adventure, and the one previous to that which is late due to technical difficulties with the website. We hope these problems have now been solved, and will continue to update the blog at the end of each of our adventures Spectacular Whales 1 September Sorry for the delay but we have been experiencing some technical difficulties with our web site. We have just spent yet another fantastic 10 days cruising along the Northern Iceland coast, this time with a very ´ínternational´group of guests. We spotted whales on 3 separate days, and reckon that we must have seen 5 or 6 different humpbacks! This photo thanks to Louise.
What a fantastic sight! The new blog is still ´coming along´ and will be linked shortly Comment from one of our guests: New Velvet Adventure Sailing Blog 17 August 2007 We are always interested in improving our site and are in the process of having a link included to our new Velvet Adventure Sailing Blog. We will start posting our Trip Logs here and also other interesting information. This news page on the site will be used for News, the whole change will hopefully mean that you can find the stories you want to read more easily. Please feel free to leave comments on the website, we are always interested in feedback.
Previous News articles have now been archived in our news archive. All Velvet Lady logs are also available to view as archived blogs
Happy Easter On April the 10th we will have been in operation for 1 year, and as I write this it is impossible to describe how that time has flown. Our first year has been fantastic, probably more than we could have dreamed about while adding a new boat into an already competitive business. We have taken over 50 people sailing during this time and Velvet Lady has sailed more than 12,000 nm. We always knew we could deliver the product we just hoped we could find the customers!! We are thrilled that we have already had repeat business, and guests recommended by other guests. A method of advertising we had hoped for and we have had many fantastic comments in our guest book. Our travels have taken us as far north as 66 degrees, across the Arctic Circle and into the Arctic Ocean and as far south as 27 degrees and only 60 miles off the African coast. The startling differences between the conditions – sun and Sahara dust in the south, sun and glistening snow on glaciers in the north, are contrasted with the similarities between the landscapes as all our destinations are volcanic islands. We have photographs taken in Lanzarote that could have been Iceland and vice versa. The sailing has been terrific, the weather kind, especially in Iceland where the temperatures often rose to 16 to 18 degrees (our warmest day was 24 degrees) and the wildlife superb. We have been joined by dolphins on every one of our trips, and enjoyed watching them splashing in the bow wave. We have even managed to capture a few on photos and video – but as they are so fast moving this is often impossible. There were no whales in the Canary Islands, but we did see a lot of whales in the Azores and on every trip in Iceland.
Skalfandi bay on the north coast of Iceland is a popular whale watching area, and once we learned to copy the tactics and techniques of the tourist whale watching boats we spend many hours bobbing around waiting for whales to surface. Our best whale pictures were taken in August, when we found two humpback whales, who were not frightened of the boat and swam along beside us with their fins literally under the boat. We timed our visits to the Westfjords to coincide with the bird nesting season and saw literally thousands of birds lined up on the ‘famous birdcliffs’ at Hornbjarg, we saw eider ducks nesting on Vigur, and learnt how eiderdown is produced. The puffins were spectacular everywhere, but especially on Grimsey Island, so colourful and intelligent looking, almost posing for the photos, and not afraid to let you approach within a few yards of them.
Our memories of our first season are fantastic, often impossible to capture on photo it is best to sit back, enjoy and remember. As we enter our second season and call on those memories we are already looking forward to repeating them. Our schedule for this second season is based on and refined from our first year, enabling us to visit all of our favourite places and leaving enough time to find some new ones. We have learnt much about the weather and timings in all of the places we visit, and have fine tuned our programme to make the most of it. Many of the comments in our guest book are related to the food. Richard and I both love to cook and pride ourselves on providing good, wholesome, home cooked food. Apparently our description does not do us justice – and every week we are told that the food is ‘much better than we ever imagined’ For most of our guests Velvet Lady is the ‘biggest’ boat they have sailed on - and many, having come from sailing courses with 6 people on a 36 footer can’t get over the space and headroom available. The saloon gains most comments as it is so large, airy and comfortable and with only 8 people aboard there is no need for anyone to sleep in it! Velvet Lady has looked after us well this year. We have left enough time between trips to ensure that we can keep up with the regular maintenance, and are also always trying to improve her – often aided by customer suggestions and comments. We still feel that huge buzz of pride as we walk along the pontoon and see her gleaming in the sunlight ready and prepared for guests to arrive. In the past year we have made lots of new friends, both amongst our guests and also in the places we have visited, we are very much looking forward this year to renewing our friendship with these ‘old’ friends and making more new friends. Whilst keeping our volcanic islands Iceland, Madeira, the Azores and the Canary Islands in the programme we have also added the Spanish Rias. We are aware that travel to some of these places is not as straightforward as visiting popular tourist resorts, so we have a Travel Information section on our website to help you. We would like to emphasise that although the travel part might be more difficult to organise, the rewards will seem worth it. As an introduction to ocean passage making we have included some Blue Water adventures – with a chance to do both cruising and passage making in the sunshine. We also have our ‘roughy toughy’ ocean passages if you are up for a challenge. The programme for the year up to New Year 2009 (we already have 2 people booked on Xmas week) is online in our Schedule, and it is possible to book all of our trips on line. Here is a sample of what our guests have to say about us …thank you for a fantastic weeks sailing and your great hospitality aboard Velvet Lady I’m sure I’ll be back……. …we enjoyed Lin and Richard’s professional and welcoming approach to sailing and never stopped learning……………. ……….lots of varied sailing, good food and interesting company……… ………You have been warm and welcoming and we have felt at home and had great fun…. ……A well found boat with a knowledgeable and hard working crew lots of good food……. Great week – Great food – Great company …..We lived like kings, sailed around Lanzarote, swam on Christmas Day ……….. …..An absolutely splendid way to make a first passage in a wonderfully secure boat……… ……..A wonderful variety of sights and sailing experiences complete with excellent food and accommodation – a delight…… …….These ten days exceeded all my expectations and I thank you from the bottom of my heart……..
Happy New Year 2009! Another year over and it seems so much has happened since Richard and I were in Antigua in early 2006 planning and dreaming about starting a business and buying our own yacht. After three years of full time work getting Velvet Lady and Velvet Adventure Sailing up and running, Richard and I have made time for our first break away. We are currently in Madrid for a night – en route to Geneva to go skiing in Chamonix. I had hoped to write the newsletter before we left Lanzarote but it was too hectic. We had a busy December with Velvet Lady out of the water on the hard for 10 days for a full scrub and polish followed by very busy Xmas and New Year trips.
Lofoten Islands, Norway - our destination Summer 2009 see below 2008 was a great year for us. Our first full year of running sailing holidays, and what has been most rewarding is the amount of repeat business we are getting in such a short time. Our winter sun in the Canary Islands trips proved very popular, as did our ocean passages. We had a second fantastic season sailing in Iceland, the scenery and wildlife were stunning and the weather kind. Everyone who came had a great time. New for 2009 we are moving on from Iceland and heading further afield to the Lofoten Islands of Norway. Judging by the number of bookings we have taken this is a popular decision and we already have customers from Iceland booking to return with us to Norway. We have also changed the Norway itinerary slightly based on demand. As we have had such a high level of response for the 11 night Lofoten Island trip, we have created a second trip from 22nd July to 2 August. Our ocean passages have always been popular, the trips to Norway and returning from Norway are both fully booked, and as I write, there is one place on the Azores to Plymouth trip. We will be crossing Biscay again in September dates will be published with our winter 2009 programme. Last year our January to March trips filled up at the last minute. Whilst we are away enjoying our Winter Snow break from the sun; why don’t you browse our schedule to find out about how you can escape from the UK winter blues?
We think we have something for everyone.
In late January we start with a Canary Island Relaxed cruise – a 7 night trip where we spend 5 days sailing around Lanzarote, and one day climbing the volcano and exploring ashore in La Graciosa. It must be good because one of our returning customers this year came on the same trip last year. This trip runs from 25th January to 1st February, Sunday to Sunday to enable you to catch charter flights. If these dates don’t suit we run the same trip again from 15th to 22nd February – a half term getaway. If you want to be more adventurous and sail more miles, then our Adventure Cruise from 5th to 12th February may suit you better. We aim to circumnavigate both Lanzarote and Fuerteventura and the trip will definitely include overnight sailing – if you fancy a night of sailing along under the stars this could be for you. For those looking for a longer break and who want to gain lots of miles, overnight hours, learn about passage making and practice navigation; we are running a 14 night trip where we intend to visit all 8 of the inhabited Canary Islands. This trip starts in Lanzarote and finishes in Tenerife. 25th February to 11th March Ideal for gaining experience and milebuilding and plenty of opportunity for 60 mile passages towards your yachtmaster certificate, or if you’re not ready for that yet, it is a fantastic chance to experience offshore cruising in comfort. The beautiful island of La Gomera lies to the west of Tenerife and a visit here is on the itinerary for our Western Canary Islands trip. This trip will be a relaxed trip with 5 days spent sailing around Tenerife, La Gomera and El Hierro with one day set aside for a visit to the rain forest on La Gomera 14th – 21st March, embark and disembark in Tenerife. During late March and April it is time for our longer trips and an introduction to ocean passages on a gradual scale. All of our trips are open to beginners and experienced sailors alike. We only like to remind beginners that if you sign up for a long ocean passage and it is not for you there is nowhere to get off. It is better to start with something easier like our short passage from Tenerife to Madeira. Tenerife to Madeira is 270nm across the Atlantic Ocean, a fantastic opportunity to experience a short burst of ocean sailing and see if you like it. We will spend 2 or 3 nights crossing the ocean and combine it with a couple of days of coastal cruising. 25th March to 1st April, 7 nights Madeira to the Azores is double this distance at 550 nm. With 4 or 5 nights at sea this is an ideal opportunity to really settle into a watch pattern and enjoy life at sea. We also allow time to cruise in the Azores. 4th to 14th April, 10 nights Azores to Plymouth is 1200 nm and a full on ocean crossing. Only one place left on this now, book soon to avoid disappointment. 18th April to 30th April Booking any of our trips is easy on line. Our website is live and always up to date. Each trip shows the number of berths available and this is always correct. If you have any queries about any trip please do not hesitate to contact us. Please be aware that Richard and I do all our own admin, we will always answer your query but if we are on a trip there may be a short delay. We hope to sail with you during 2009, but now we must dash to the slopes and after months of practising our Spanish practice our French instead.
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