Steadily Sorting Plans for 2010
Posted at 5:10 PM, Monday, January 25, 2010
Hi All,
Here in the south of the UK the snow has more or less gone. Buds are beginning to spring up, and we're getting out most weekends to cycle some muddy forest tracks.
We've been lucky and enjoyed one week away skiing in Austria in Januanry, and have another planned for France in March. Business is still frantic - but as you'll read I am trying real hard to get away sailing later this year.
Our past plan for 2010 was to join the Route de Iles de Soleil, a French Rally running starting in October and running from Madeira in the Atlantic, then heading south to Morocco and Senegal before heading off over the Atlantic to Brazil and a 500 round trip up and back the Amazon River. All the stuff of dreams - until the costs arrived.
After studying the entry pack sent to us, and seeing the cost of entry alone is EU8,500, and knowing it will take us a full six months and leave us with the boat in French Guiana - and then having only the opportunity to park her up or race north to cross the Carib to avoid hurricane season or ship her back to Europe - we've decided not to commit to this event. Hope we do not live to regret that - but there are lots of other options that maybe make better use of Swagman and the budget!
Looking back at where we've sailed Swagman since she hit the water in 2005 it has been interesting for us to review the places we've gone to and - and it has also allowed us to remember the special places we said we'd revisit if we had the time. Maybe now IS that time, eh?
2005 saw us join Rally Portugal and party our way down to Lagos in Portugal - where we moved on up into the Med and one favourite place - the Balearics - where we circulated all the islands more than a few times as pals came and joined with us. A tiring but thoroughly enjoyable summer - leaving Swagman parked in Palma de Mallorca for 2005/6 winter visits. The blog for that sarted here - 2005 Yot Blog
2006 saw us add some goodies to Swagman, and with a couple of pals helping to sail her flat out throught the storms of the early spring, we streaked across the Med towards Ayvalik in Turkey. There we took time to journey overland to Istanbul and later joined in with the east Med Rally - and completed that two month exercise in style and only two up.
A fabulous experience from N Turket to Egypt and all points in between. Great parties, super sailing, great places and people plus made some lifelong pals - and just got out of Lebanon before they bombed the place!
Our blog for this starts here:2006 Yot Blog
2007 saw us spend a month in several Mediterreanean countries, I guess sampling each. We spent a month saying goodbye to Turkey, and another saying hello to the Greek Islands. We slid past Albania at night to spend a month in Croatia, and then raced back to again spend a month around the Balearics. If there was a competition for each place - Croatia won.
From there ended up riding the tail of a storm right down the E Spanish coast to make Portugal in one hit before summers end. Two months ashore prepping Swagman and October saw us heading fro the Canary Islands, where we were joined by pal Gerry to helped us sail Swagman to the Caribbean as part of the 2007/8 ARC.
Our blog for this starts here: 2007 Yot Blog
After a quick two handed cruise up and down famed leeward islands enjoying parties over the festive season with other expat sailors, we were joined in April by the kids to take part in Antigua Race Week. Only thing we did well was destroy our livers - and then it was all over.
Our longest passage yet from Tureky to Antigua was complete - taking around a year of our time out sailing the seas. Just great - but business beckoned and we could not stay away any longer.
Swagman was sailed back to the UK by delivery skipper Matt, and in truth she did not go far even locally as the weather in the UK that summer was so bad.
2009 saw Swagman getting some TLC so we could head south once more for a lazy two months exploring the creeks and bays of N and S Brittany before heading out and over Biscay to N Spain, and once more slide down the Portugese West Coast to Lagos.
The blog for this starts here:2009 Yot Blog
So - 2010???
Where now?
We are still scratching our heads and trying to exit responsibilities in the UK, but it looks likely we'll drop down in April or May to kit Swagman out for another cruise this summer.
Our current favourite is the idea of a quick sprint over to Croatia and a couple of months vacation there simply topping up the tan and inviting lots of plas over to enjoy what we found last time. It will give us the chance to sail our own boat into Venice - one of our personal 'got to be done before we die' listings - and should place us well for sliding onward to Kos (Greek Island) where we may well park Swagman for winter 2010/11.
The money we save on not doing the French Rally could then be applied maybe to a flight to S America next winter? Maybe trekking the Andes??
What about getting down to Pategonia for a mini cruise boat to visit Cape Horn???
It all sounds good to me - but got to get away first and the glue is still very sticky......................
But rest assured we'll not stop trying - and of course I'll keep you posted on what we achieve.
Cheers
JOHN