2010 November

The end of yacht charters for 2010

As we sit in the airport waiting for fly back to the UK Geoff and I thought it was a good time to write a quick good bye blog for the end of yacht charters for 2010.

I am behind on loading photos and writing blogs for Sicily and the Aeolian Islands (I will be writing these when I am back home). However here are some of the highlights from this year (in no particular order):

• Making the decision to leave work and set up the yacht charter business. This is one of the major parts of the trip and I’m glad I made the decision to cut away from normal 9-5 working and try something new. Everyone should give it a go!
• Sailing down the Thames. An amazing feeling and Tower Bridge looked great from the Deck of Tangaroa
• The sun shine and my sun tan. I’ll miss them both!
• Dolphins. Beautiful
• Catching the tuna. We have to do it again now Geoff’s been watching Utube and knows hoe to gut it
• Croissants and bread delivery in Corsica straight to the boat in the morning. Brilliant and perfect
• 20.56 knots top speed in the Middle Sea Race
• Seeing Stromboli at night
• The Calanques – probably my favourite place of the trip
• Barcelona- a fantastic city that we would love to visit more. If we could live there for a while we would
• Mallorca – this really is the perfect location for chartering a yacht. Quiet anchorages, beautiful towns and lots to explore. OK so there were some places we likes better than others but I’d recommend this as a yacht charter location
• A long weekend off the boat in Rome!! Yep,  we were dying for some aircon, a normal bed, a shower with unlimited water and no anchor to worry about
• Blue Marlin, Ibiza – thanks Hamish for the recommendation. Their Pina Coladas were the best I’ve ever had
• All our guests on-board. We loved having people out on the boat – great company, good sailing and someone for me to talk to in the mornings
• Sun sets (I would say sun rises but I got quite into lying in… Oh I’ll miss that when I start working)
• 3rd place in our class in the Middle Sea Race and 21st overall

And the low lights:

• Getting stung by a jelly fish – ouch
• The rain in Perpignan and Calais – I thought it would never end and that there’d be no summer
• Lifting the boat out at Calais – We learnt a lot by that experience. From now on I am a travel lift fan!
• Loosing our fishing lure to the motor boat that came too close. Our best lure for catching tuna
• Mosquitos – argh. They are so frustrating and their bites are itchy
• Having to anchor in the gales. Enough said.

We both had an amazing time and hope our guests did too. I think we’ll be missing it when we get back into the daily grind of work and London life.

Tangaroa is now tucked away in Malta with Nisida and Bongani to keep her company. I’m sure she’ll miss us traipsing her around the med but she definitely deserves a few months off.

Uncategorized | Author: jholley | No Comments