BLUEMOMENT

Hello to all on the forum. I've just joined as I didn't know such things existed (websites for yachties that is!).
I,ve just come back from a wonderfull sail on Dave's boat Silkie over the weekend and would like to take the oportunity to thank him again, not only for the sail and the company but for pointing me in the direction of this site!.

What a terribly nice chap! For those who don't know, Narc (interesting choice of ID BTW!) and his good lady have made an Atlantic crossing in a Hurley 22 which makes them top people in my book.

For anyone interested, I've just finished writing up our weekend in my latest blog entry.

Hope you'll join me on Silkie again sometime Ian.

Gosh, I've just read your blog, are you sure it was me who was with you? Also I think there are some spelling errors, for example you have an "H" in the title when it should have been a "Z"!
Seriously though it was a magical, if shortened weekend, and one I hope to repeat soon. Young Iain actually had tears in his eyes when we left Dunstaffnage on the trip down to Glasgow, so I guess he's hooked!
It reminds me of the story of the young man going off for his first sail and the wind gods discuss what they should do with him. The angry North Wind (a bit like Brian Blessed in Blackadder 1) shouts "I'll send a gale to freeze his blood and break his gear, I'll put the fear of God into him."
The East Wind (think of Alan Rickman in Robin Hood) says "no, no, no thats too easy I'll send an easterly gale that will drive him offshore and then I'll leave him becalmed so it will take him a week to get home and he'll roll himself sick doing it".
The West Wind (James Earl Jones in the Hollywood version of the story) replies "you two will hold your peace, I rule the Atlantic, it is my Ocean, and one insignificant little human is beneath my notice, I have currents to drive and waves to build, I will send a westerly gale, let the boy sail or not, it is no concern of mine if he is wrecked on a lee shore."
and so the three of them set to arguing and roaring untill the South Wind (think Kate Blanchett in Lord of the Rings) whispers softly "boys, boys, you haven't heard my suggestion yet."
"You" screams the North Wind, "ridiculous."
"Don't make me laugh" snorts the East Wind, "you're all soft and gentle, you're useless you are."
"Let us hear her suggestion" rumbles the West Wind.
"Well, I'll send him a gentle southerly breeze, and he can have a fine reach out and a lovely broad reach back home, I'll smooth over the West Wind's swell so that the motion of his boat is like a gently rocking cradle, he will have the best time of his life".
"What's the point of that" bellows the North Wind.
The East Wind simply snorts and looks down his nose at the speaker (with one eyebrow slightly raised).
"Go on" growls the West Wind, "explain yourself"
The South Wind sighs quietly, "well boys if we do it your way you'll only have him as a plaything for a few days, if we do it my way you can have him to play with for his whole life."
The moral of the story is never trust the South Wind and when your out having fun, watch out it's bound to change!

TTFN

You can cut out the false modesty for a start or I'll tell the world what happened to the vital dinghy pump adapter at Puilldobhrain just for a bit of balance. Remember that no-one expects anyone on the internet to be telling the truth and you'll get on fine.

Must go. Got to finish packing for The Big Trip.

With regard to the adapter chose one of the following replies:

1. I don't remember anything about it.
2. I do remember and it definitely wasn't me.
3. It was a necessary sacrifice to the sea gods for a good days sail.
4. Doh!!

Good luck on the Ireland trip, remember if it all goes bad Cork (Cohb) harbour is one of the best harbours in the world with an easy entrance (once you find it!)

Sadly, we didn't make it to Ireland. The Fastnet forecast was for F6 occ 7 and although opinion on board was not unanimous the skipper decided against taking the chance of getting hammered. We did have a cracking sail out of Falmouth on Sunday and Monday to make up for it though. Will get to work on the blog entry.

See Ireland Not Quite if you've nothing better to do for five minutes.