Mediterranean Summer
Log Dated 04/08/2023
Summer is upon us and the ocean is calling! News to share and adventures to look forward to lead me to announce that I will be participating in this years Palermo to Montecarlo Yacht Race! I’ll be joining the beautiful Lady Jane, captained by Anders Kähler, to build miles, gain night watch hours, and hopefully share in an awesome experience.
In preparation for this trip, I took the RYA/ISAF Offshore Safety Course over 2 weekends in London in May; playing with safety equipment, life rafts and flares, and learning lots more about accidents at sea. I’m not sure if the aim of the course is to scare you into taking more precautions? But I daresay I left feeling slightly more nervous about ocean exploration than before. Which is only a bonus if it means I’ll be able to keep myself and crew safe while out on the water.
As I write this I’m sat in a guesthouse in Olbia. Unfortunately, the plans I had made pre the race (which doesn’t start till the 22nd of August) fell though, so I’ve spent most of today trawling through facebook groups and crewseekers to find someone willing to take on an extra hand. Got my fingers crossed for a positive outcome, and maybe I should be more worried, but I have always been of the opinion (as of yet not unproven) that most everything will turn out just fine… obviously there’s more to it than that, but the sentiment stands. If the worst thing that happens is that I have to backpack around Sardinia for 2 weeks…?
My main desire to fill the time on a boat (of course wanting to be at sea as much as possible) is to build miles. Prerequisites for the Day Skipper and Coastal Skipper courses that I’m taking in autumn sit at 400 nautical miles, and 12 night hours. The race alone should in theory be enough, but I have always been keen to gain more experience whenever and wherever possible - if only to combat the imposter syndrome that plagues me whenever I sit one of these exams.
I’m excited to get started. I will find a boat.
For now though theres a pizzeria looking out to sea and a large glass of wine calling my name. Alla prossima!
Captains Log is my way of sharing my outdoor adventures with you, snow and sea both, and I look forward to updating you about the next leg of this voyage!