We found the sun.... in England of all places!

written by Guillemette 3 comments

After a very rainy and windy summer we finally found the sun in England! After our stop at Bruinisse we sailed to Bruges, Belgium where we had a very nice tourist stopover. Adam & Seth had fun spotting all the plastic food! We also saw some really creative masks made of seashells.

Our goal was to cross the English Channel to go explore the south coast of England and we got a really nice weather window. After a night in Dunkirk where we went through customs, we had a very nice crossing under sail! A beautiful sunny day with magnificent views of the white cliffs of Dover and Calais! 

Our friend Henning who splits his time between Germany and San Francisco joined us there and after a bit of work we discovered Dover and spent a day visiting Dover Castle and England's rich naval history. The visit of the secret tunnels and the history of Operation Dynamo were particularly interesting! 

Good Fish & Chips!

We hit the sea again on Wednesday and after a stopover in Eastbourne arrived Friday in Cowes on the Isle of Wight, a village very popular with sailors and known for its regattas - the Fastnet race begins there. We had a few really nice dinners, one of them at the ROSC (Royal Ocean Sailing Club) where a member was kind enough to give us a history of the use of the flags and burgees - The White, Blue and Red Ensigns. White is for the Navy and The Royal Yacht Squadron, Blue is for Yacht Club with a Royal designation (And used to be the merchant navy) and red is for everyone else. Before departing on Saturday we had coffee at the Royal Squadron Yacht club and were given a wonderful tour!  

We flew our Blue Water Runner (BWR) for the first time! It is a fast sail! 

Cannons in front of the Royal Yacht Squadon - Still used for racing signals and to honor dignitaries arriving to Cowes.

The "Wreck" buoy marks the broken pole of the pontoon!

In front of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Founded in 1815 it is one of the oldest and most prestigious Yacht Club in the world. The tour of the club was such an honor.

Our next stop was Portsmouth to continue exploring the naval history at the Historic Dockyard housing many museums and ships - The HMS Victory, where Lord Nelson died in 1805 during the battle of Trafalgar, the Mary Rose recovered nearby after over 450 years underwater .... We were quite tired after a couple days of sightseeing but  it was fascinating!  

H.M.S Victory

Next stop for us is Hamble to get some boat work done and continue preparing for our offshore adventures. The chandleries in this part of the world are some of the best around and we hope to find some of the remainig items we need.