Escapade has been resting on a swinging mooring on the Trinity Inlet, just upstream from Cairns. After our annual slice of Guernsey summer I was back on the boat preparing for the next voyage. There’s about 500 miles of sailing between Cairns and Cape York, Australia’s northern t … | Continue reading
We’ve been sailing past those green hills for hundreds of miles, now we’re keen to see a bit of the hinterland. Escapade is on a quiet river mooring upstream from Cairns and we have hit the open road in a whacking great land yacht. Our circuit of the sunlit uplands took us out to … | Continue reading
Chasing waterfalls After a windy grey start at 6am we sailed in to Zoe Bay a bit overpowered, making our usual entrance at 15kts with spray flying up through the trampolines. Then in the lee of the headland all was calm, jib rolled, main dropped, the sun came out and we anchored … | Continue reading
Good Queensland Casual We are enjoying an old copy of ‘100 Magic Miles’, the classic sailor’s guide to the Whitsundays, first published 1985. Ours is the fifth edition from 1997, found in a Mackay Op Shop by our new friends Michael and Shylie. It’s full of great pilotage informat … | Continue reading
So here we are, half way round the world, almost ten years since we set off from France. For me the joy of sailing and living on Escapade is as strong as ever. For my patient wife Dawn, not so much. Dawn has spent the last couple of years wondering when I will finally […] | Continue reading
Notes from the captain’s log, December 2023. Day 2 I’m lounging in the cockpit, it’s a warm afternoon and I’m slightly groggy from lack of sleep. We’re a couple of hundred miles west of New Caledonia, empty ocean, nothing out here. The SE breeze died this morning at 2am, we have … | Continue reading
02.11.2023 Another new country already! Not really Escapade style to be moving so fast. But here are the red hills and pine clad shores of New Caledonia. Our passage planning worked out perfectly and we arrived at the entrance to the Havannah Pass at 6am with the sun rising and … | Continue reading
So with the threat from that tropical low we reluctantly left our favourite anchorage off the island of Pele and headed south toward Port Vila. We were joined by a pod of pilot whales who played around our bows like dolphins, rolling onto their sides to look at us and talking to … | Continue reading
Landfall! Soon after sunrise the volcanic peaks of Tanna island rose above the horizon, our first glimpse of Vanuatu. The last few miles of a passage always seem to take forever. The destination slowly reveals itself, more details of the landscape gradually appearing to the im … | Continue reading
Back on board. Dawn and I returned to the boat after our summer holiday in Guernsey. We were soon joined by good friends from home, Alex and Arabella. I’ve been hoping to get these guys on board for years, now it’s finally happening. They made the long trip from Guernsey to Fiji … | Continue reading
This post got stuck in my drafts folder. Here’s the last part of our Fiji adventure in June. Better late than never! June 2023 We said farewell to Auriane at the tiny airstrip on Tavenui. She flew away on the first leg of her long trip to Paris. Bryan and I were now short-handed … | Continue reading
Sorry about the long silence there. This blog is an account of our sailing adventures and there really haven’t been any to report, until the last couple of weeks. In early January, Dawn and I finally escaped from that rainstorm. It was described as a ‘once in 50 years’ event. Bu … | Continue reading
Well the weather is a bit changeable down here. The famous four seasons in one day. Our first couple of weeks here felt a very long way from Fiji. It was wet and windy and we were just glad not to be at sea. We left Escapade in the marina at Opua, moved ashore […] | Continue reading
It’s been a while since we took Escapade for a proper sail out in the ocean swell. That was back in April when we left Polynesia on our way to Fiji. Long enough to forget just how much fun it is to feel this boat eating up the miles. We finally committed to a promising […] | Continue reading
18th November 2022 This is a well trodden path.Yachts travel up and down this stretch of the South Pacific every season. We have met lots of Kiwi boats who sail up to the tropics each year to avoid the New Zealand winter, then back home for their summer. The classic time to sai … | Continue reading
Brice and I have been talking about windsurfing at Cloudbreak for years. Probably 20 years. Brice achieved his ambition in 2019, and is very hungry for another visit. When Escapade arrived in Fiji, Brice started scanning the swell forecasts. He can be here in 12 hours from his … | Continue reading
Mud crabs We were just waking up this morning when two fishermen arrived in a longboat with some crabs in a sack. “Fresh mudcrab!” “Are they alive?” “Oh yes! Just boil them till they are red.” “Ok we’ll take two.” The drone of their Yamaha Enduro outboard fades into the distance … | Continue reading
Waves. Our anchor is hooked in to a narrow strip of sand just inside the outer reef. A four minute ride in the dinghy gets us to Namotu. Today we tied up to a mooring in the pass and paddled across to the Namotu Left. A storied surf break mainly enjoyed by guests on Namotu […] | Continue reading
So finally we are on our way. We have been planning and preparing for this moment since 5th February. That was when we saw the email from Tahiti customs office giving us the deadline to leave by end March. Well we did it. Escapade is ready for sea, fully crewed and provisioned. A … | Continue reading
The new crew arrived. I had told them to travel light, space on the boat is very limited. I tried to stay calm as the baggage was dragged out of the little Raiatea airport. Giant triple boardbags. Surf boards, windsurf board, sails, foil boards, kite boards, hydrofoils, a quanti … | Continue reading
Mid February 2020 was a moment in history when everything was about to change forever, but we didn’t know it yet. Or at least I didn’t. I had been sailing with Bryan and Auriane, chasing swells and fish round the remote atolls of the Tuamotus, while Dawn was away in Europe. Dawn … | Continue reading
January 19th Crew change After a leisurely lap of the Tikehau lagoon, Dawn is leaving me for a few weeks. We’ve been away from home since October and Dawn needs to be in Guernsey and England to see family and friends. The problem is that it’s cyclone season here, so if a storm t … | Continue reading
Sorry the blog has not been updated due to lack of internet and lack of Dawn. (She’s back now.) So here’s the notes from January… Our friend Fi arrived from Auckland to help us celebrate the turning of the new decade. We spent a few days circumnavigating the island of Taha’a. No … | Continue reading
6th December 2019 Bora Bora. Is it real? I have read that Bora Bora is the most beautiful island in the world. Her spectacular twin peaks surrounded by a glorious blue lagoon. It’s truly gorgeous to look at as you arrive by sea, sail in through the pass and find a spot to anch … | Continue reading
Roosters in the mango tree. 17th November 2019 Another house, another tropical garden. We have flown south from Hawaii to Tahiti, switched hemispheres, from Maui winter to Polynesian summer. Now we are back in Raiatea where Escapade has been well cared for at Chantier Naval Des I … | Continue reading