Author Archives: Piers Barnes-Sherwood
Summer cruise 2020
Our first post-lockdown holiday of 2020 was a two-week sailing trip on Odyssey. We started by setting off west down the English Channel, travelling non-stop for 38 hours from Poole to the Isles of Scilly. After a couple of days … Continue reading
4,111 miles in 37 days, 19 hours & 35 minutes
The sun’s shining, I’ve got a nice big beer in front of me, and the table isn’t moving. Not even a tiny bit. Nor is the waiter throwing water over me, so this can mean only one thing – I’ve … Continue reading
Day 39: Land-ho!
Well, this is all getting jolly exciting as I think I can just very faintly make out something which could be land on the far horizon. It’s quite hazy and I could well be wrong, but I’m now just 20 … Continue reading
Day 38: run, little hedgehog
The southerly wind got us moving nicely yesterday and we kept up a speed of 7-8 knots all evening and into the night, giving us a great push in the right direction at last. I’d spotted a couple of ships … Continue reading
Day 37: stop the boat – I want to get off!
Sorry if I sounded a bit miserable yesterday, I wasn’t really, just feeling a bit frustrated at being so close to France but unable to make decent progress due to the annoying easterly wind. Once again I sailed about 100 … Continue reading
Day 36: another rant
I’m afraid this is becoming a bit of a theme as I’m going to harp on about the wind again. As I said yesterday, I hate sailing to windward and the last 24 hours has done nothing to change this … Continue reading
Day 35: ungentlemanly conduct
I suppose I could say this is my third month at sea since I left Florida in July and it’s now September, and at the rate I’ve progressed today it could well be another three months till I get to … Continue reading
Day 34: bewinded again
Humpfh, as my good friend the lovely Ulrika would say! That’ll teach me to moan about the lack of wind as it gave me a bit of a runaround last night. All day there had been little or no wind, … Continue reading
Day 33: becalmed again
So much for that nice little south-easterly of yesterday – it died away before midnight and since then has just occasionally puffed a bit in our direction, so in the last 24 hours we’ve only managed a measly 60 miles, … Continue reading
Day 32: plugging the leaks
Now that Odyssey’s pretty much dried out after a week in the sun I’ve decided it’s time to try to make her a bit more watertight before the next storm arrives. At the moment if it rains or if waves … Continue reading