Liquidstate

Well, last year we did the western isles because we had pretty much stretched as far as we could for a two week holiday.  Jen wanted to do another big trip, and Robert was keen to take the boat over Sweden - so plans were made.  Unfortunately, we didn’t quite pull that off, due to problems finding a home for Honu over the winter in Sweden, so we hurriedly put together a trip to Shetland instead.  On our Orkney holiday, Shetland was just a step too far north, and on our Iceland/Faroes trip, it was too far east!  However, this time, we already had plans to go thru the Caledonian Canal, so Shetland would be perfect.

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Oh … did I not mention that afterour attempts in 2007 and 2008, we can now finally say that we’ve completed the Scottish Islands Peak Race! Get in!  Ultimate respect to our runners Ben and Bruce who pushed themselves through this grueling event!  As usual, the weather proved interesting with wind over tide around the mull.  There’s various stories online of boats that struggled to get round.  Being in a bigger boat, we weren’t too bad, but our trip from Jura to Arran took us something stupid like 36 hours!?!  Anyway, of the 40 odd boats that started, less than 20 finished it.  I think we came 10th overall, but to be honest, we weren’t really in it to win it!

Ever since our first sailing holiday to Ireland, our plans have become grander ever year.  We’ve sailed a the full length of the UK, stretched as far north as we go, and gone as far west.  We’ve always promised to go on a nice ‘easy’ trip around the western isles of Scotland, but we always seem to pass them by enroute to somewhere else.  However, this year, we did it. We had the same boat, the usual crew, but this time, two weeks to kill and absolutely no plan!

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The Channel Isles holiday is/was somewhat of a big deal for me. I’ve been an active sailor for seven years, covered thousands of miles, participated in several annual sailing holidays and seen my fair share of nasty weather.

However, this year marked my biggest challenge – to act as Skipper for this years’ big holiday, arranging (and be responsible) for all the planning, crew, passages, whilst doing my best to have a good holiday! Thankfully, as ever, I had Jen by my side to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid, dangerous, or well … dangerous and stupid

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This year, our annual big sailing holiday was to the Channel Isles. After destinations such as Orkney in 2005 and Iceland last year – well, I didn’t think it would be too big a job. After all, the crew have had plenty experience of watches, night sailing, strong weather. Little did we know that St Helier would prove to be a bit more of a challenge than we originally planned.

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