La Vagabonde's crossing

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

You been there for the running of the bulls?

It's one of my strong memories from our early cruising. We had a Portuguese friend on board, whose father owned an old estate making Port. So, we were invited/accepted into the local scene and freely shared plenty of great old Port to drink. It was a special time. A bit like much later we were invited into Castle Dunvegan for a private string quartet recital and had tea and crumpets on the clan silver while John McCloud's son sang french love songs. . . . some special times leaving a warm memory for my old age



Yes, that's the current scenario, but how high to go has bobbled back and forth depending on the forecast details. We will zero in better on the 24ths.

interesting ,, i was up at Dunvagen castle last week ,, even the locals have to pay @ 15£ to get in . ( obv they didnt get any of my money ) also that they chose to sing french songs for you when they fought alongside the english against the french supported bonnie prince charlie in the jacobite rebelion which ended tragically at Culloden

[Pelagic]

Is there a deadline for the boat to reach the mainland?

[Dave_S]

I strongly agree that it is important that they take their child with them wherever they go and do whatever they descide to do. The safe option leads to a bland world. It's important that the traits of individuals become part of the makeup of their children. If mum and dad felt ok with their choice, that is ALL that matters. Win or loose, it is still ALL that matters.

The world is getting much narrower very quickly, dramatically just in my time here, and if you project this forward we will become one personality.

[CFS Klopas]

The goal is to attend a climate conference in Madrid which ends Dec 13th.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Cherod

interesting ,, i was up at Dunvagen castle last week ,, even the locals have to pay @ 15£ to get in . ( obv they didnt get any of my money ) also that they chose to sing french songs for you when they fought alongside the english against the french supported bonnie prince charlie in the jacobite rebelion which ended tragically at Culloden

I guess we 'paid' with the tall sea stories we told - we have led an entertaining life and made a (poor) living for a while writing and talking about it.

My (somewhat suspect) memory is that John sang opera in London when he was young before he inherited clan leadership. After he took leadership he would invite top-notch musicians to summer at the castle and in return, they would put on occasional private performances. And we happened to be there for one of those, and he had heard that we were interesting people from family (a brother perhaps) in either the RCC or CCA. As to the French - they had a 4th-century clan battle flag on the wall of the living room (in a climate-controlled case) - seems like they had a long enough perspective on time and were cultural enough to realize that yesterday's enemies may be tomorrow's friends. I quite liked them. and he had problems I could understand, as the castle roof was leaking and he was struggling to find the money to fix it

[HansChristian33]

100% behind La Vagabond and her crew. A life lived in fear is a life half lived and these guys are living a life full of adventure and purpose and giving their precious son the ultimate gift of examples of being truly caring, fun, brave and adventurous, we should all be so committed to living a life chasing our dreams and making a positive difference. Riley you got this man.

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

I guess we 'paid' with the tall sea stories we told - we have led an entertaining life and made a (poor) living for a while writing and talking about it.

My (somewhat suspect) memory is that John sang opera in London when he was young before he inherited clan leadership. After he took leadership he would invite top-notch musicians to summer at the castle and in return, they would put on occasional private performances. And we happened to be there for one of those, and he had heard that we were interesting people from family (a brother perhaps) in either the RCC or CCA. As to the French - they had a 4th-century clan battle flag on the wall of the living room (in a climate-controlled case) - seems like they had a long enough perspective on time and were cultural enough to realize that yesterday's enemies may be tomorrow's friends. I quite liked them. and he had problems I could understand, as the castle roof was leaking and he was struggling to find the money to fix it

thats a wee bit like the history of scotland , allegencies seem to have changed with every new conflict !! ,, anyway i am glad that you enjoyed you stay in Bonnie Scotland .,, and yes , we have a few weather systems here !!!

[Cherod]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Is there a deadline for the boat to reach the mainland?

Pelagic ,, where have you been ????????

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Is there a deadline for the boat to reach the mainland?

Originally Posted by CFS Klopas

The goal is to attend a climate conference in Madrid which ends Dec 13th.

exactly.

I would say landfall dec 10th is probably a goal. Time to get checked in and cleaned up, take the train to Madrid, and slot G into the speaking schedule.

Right now they should make that.

[HeinSdL]

Originally Posted by HansChristian33

100% behind La Vagabond and her crew. A life lived in fear is a life half lived and these guys are living a life full of adventure and purpose and giving their precious son the ultimate gift of examples of being truly caring, fun, brave and adventurous, we should all be so committed to living a life chasing our dreams and making a positive difference. Riley you got this man.

Not sure what the last sentence means but Amen to that!

[Breaking Waves]

One perspective: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

And the other perspective: "Better a thousand times careful than once dead, especially with innocent children at risk."

I do think the 'is this a good or bad venture' perspectives have been well and clearly made . . . repeatedly. Perhaps you all can be satisfied you have stated your perspectives and simply agree to disagree

[Cherod]

and meanwhle , i think it is about 7 in their evening , sun well down by now , and the bold and the brave are currently doing a good 9 knots in 18 knots of wind at their backs ,,, go Vagy ..

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

One perspective: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

And the other perspective: "Better a thousand times careful than once dead, especially with innocent children at risk."

I do think the 'is this a good or bad venture' perspectives have been well and clearly made . . . repeatedly. Perhaps you all can be satisfied you have stated your perspectives and simply agree to disagree

Well . . . I think there's quite a bit of room in btwn those two extremes when it comes to off-season passages by recreational sailboats. I don't know about your framing the issue as "good or bad," but I do agree it's been sufficiently aired.

I did have one question from one of your excellent routing posts which I meant to raise at the time. Back when TS Sebastian looked like more of a wildcard, you mentioned that if the forecasted NE track had turned more N or NW that LV might have to make a run for it to get out of its way. I remember plotting their coordinates in Windy at the time and, given the prevailing winds, couldn't figure out where they would run to? Maybe you can explain if you're so inclined.

[Breaking Waves]

Originally Posted by Exile

Back when TS Sebastian looked like more of a wildcard, you mentioned that if the forecasted NE track had turned more N or NW that LV might have to make a run for it to get out of its way. I remember plotting their coordinates in Windy at the time and, given the prevailing winds, couldn't figure out where they would run to? Maybe you can explain if you're so inclined.

It would depend a lot on exact dates and details of the hypothetical forecast change.

But (in this part of the Atlantic) I would always prefer to be behind and to the west of any forecast TS track. I prefer to use slowing or stopping as a tactic rather than trying to 'outrun' a system. I would prefer to aim for the (forecast) center (or side opposite the TS) of a high-pressure system to use it as a shield. Sometimes none of that is available and all you can do is try to get on the 'navigatable semicircle' side of the TS (but NOT if there is a crush zone on that side which the old-timers did not know but we should today) and maximize your CPA (even an extra 50nm from a TS center usually makes a huge difference in wind speed and wave height).

Generic Maneuvering (eg without including details of the bigger synoptic systems) to avoid an imminent TS is well covered/documented in maritime literature.

You really should read Bowditch (one of the greatest collection of seamanship in existence - is dry reading and some of the electronics aids information is dated, but damn it contains knowledge all seamen should know by heart). You can skip to chapter 36 "Tropical Cyclones", which has a subsection "Avoiding Tropical Cyclones"





And sometimes life is just **** and you simply can't get out of the way and you just get rolled over and have to deal with it. It was like that for us south of the Falklands once. One of only two times I have been scared for my life at sea.

[DeepFrz]

Originally Posted by Breaking Waves

One perspective: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

And the other perspective: "Better a thousand times careful than once dead, especially with innocent children at risk."

I do think the 'is this a good or bad venture' perspectives have been well and clearly made . . . repeatedly. Perhaps you all can be satisfied you have stated your perspectives and simply agree to disagree

I like this. Thanks.