A brief kink in a front offered a chance to escape the dubious shelter of Baltasound, which despite the wonderful hospitality of Unst Boating Club I was very excited to escape. Trilleen and I had a storming passage upwind in 20+ knots to Lerwick, shaving the edge of Fetlar and navigating the narrow passages in … Read more
Having reached as far north as I’ll go on this trip, rounding Muckle Flugga has prompted some serious reflection about the challenges we set ourselves — as people in general, and in my case, as a disabled person. People run into trouble in the sea, in the mountains, and other extreme environments without adding extra … Read more
Trilleen and I came round Muckle Flugga, in a Muckle blow, from the south east. Achieving the turn point around Shetland’s northernmost point is the furthest north I go on this Round Britain and Ireland sail, and a point which I thought I might never reach, impeded as much by technical failures, tragedies, and self … Read more
Trilleen is finally free from Stornoway, and as I write this I’m waiting in Westray, the westernmost island in the northern group of the Orkney Islands. I’m loving being back on the water and I think the boat is loving it too. The sailing has been amazing, even if I’m still debugging some of the … Read more
I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Andy Cassell who was born in 1942, and had founded, and remained the patron of the charity for whom Sailing Trilleen is raising funds. At 83, he had graced both the technical and on water parts of the sailing world through the entire post war … Read more
The Royal Ocean Racing Club recommends a minimum of 3l per crew (offshore racing special regulations), per day, but I’ve found that a as a disabled sailor my needs for survival, let alone comfort, are substantially higher. Between the need to stay very much better hydrated than the minimum provides, and the minimum personal cleaning … Read more
I and Trilleen are still lying at Stornoway, and if engineering things continue going as they have been, I may be lying here over the winter. The business of re-engining Trilleen has been prolonged and complex. Three times now I’ve had the pleasure of thinking I was nearly ready to wander the seaways again, and … Read more
What happens when your engine is toast? Trilleen is stopped in Stornoway with a serious defect to her engine. There has been a cascade of failures. I and local engineers think the that the block – the hunk of cast metal which contains the whizzy whooshy bits of the engine has died. Unfortunately my diligent … Read more
Trilleen and I have been pinned in East Loch Roag by a series of weather systems waiting for a passage to Shetland. The meteorology models have offered 25-40kts – at times gusting more than that an 4-6m seas. So I have been exploring some of the loch and spent a week alongside at the shiny … Read more
St Kilda is a spooky awesome place, surprisingly large for those of us who normally only see it as a tiny dot on the Admiralty chart. It comes into view as far as 40nm out, rising on the horizon like a fully rigged sailing ship. The sun was setting directly behind the islands and a … Read more