September 5, 2007 -- Con made an early visit to the boulangrie (bakery) for our breakfast and we left Dieppe at 7 a.m., arriving at FeCamp during high tide. Courtney drove us into the harbour again. We hiked around the quaint little town, and spotted a small cafe/bar to return to for dinner. We were celebrating Con and my 4th month on Big Sky. Leaving FeCamp around 9 a.m., we motor/sailed to Deauville seeing some of the most beautiful sites along the way. See photo album.

September 4, 2007 -- The four of us walked all over Dieppe yesterday.
It was windy

We ended the night with a great dinner, a game of dice, and a final walk around Dieppe in the evening and stopped for a caffine buzz at midnight in an open cafe patio. Con's French let us down, when he ordered coffee with ice cream in it, and an expresso and a glass of ice arrived.

We set sail at 8 a.m. with Lindsey driving us out of the marina and into 3 meter high waves at the breakwater.


September 2, 2007 --The day couldn't be more perfect for a sail. We barely left the Brighten, England harbour and we were able to set our sails for a broad reach to Dieppe. Big Sky averaged 7.5 knot per hour, and the sun came out a few times, it couldn't be a better day to help Lindsey and Courtney get over their jet lag.

Coming into Dieppe, Courtney took the wheel, once Con took down the sails and she drove us through the heavier waves at the breakwater entrance, then into the harbour, handing over the wheel to Con just as we were about to pull up to the dock.

Lindsey put out the bumpers and expertly threw the lines to a couple of men standing at the dock. No one would have known it was their first sailing experience! Big Sky barely settled from being tied up, and they were out and roaming the beautiful quaint streets.


September 1, 2007 -- What a test of patience, waiting to see Courtney and Lindsey again after 4 1/2 months being separated! They arrived around 1:30 p.m. at Heathrow Airport and took the subway to the Victoria Train Station, where for 22 pounds (about $50 Canadian!) locked their luggage for the next three hours to tour London.


They arrived at Big Sky in Brighton (about 1 hour by train)
close to 9 p.m.


We hugged and talked until midnight, then up at the crack of dawn to depart England for Dieppe, France. Our sail was perfect, reaching about 9.5 knots at times, on a perfect broad reach. It took us nearly 10 hours.

August 31, 2007 -- We're in Brighton, England having arrived around 6 p.m. at high tide. Our 2.2 meter hull is now sitting at 2.1 meters and rising. There are no tides in the Baltic Sea, so this is a whole new challenge. In England, we thought we'd better have fish and chips for dinner. As expected, it was good. Lindsey and Courtney arrive in about 24 hours. YES, we're excited.

August 29, 2007 -- Con narrated a section of our trip to France. See video.

Our first full day in France, and without much surprise, this is the only country (in the 11 we've visited) where the English language isn't spoken by the locals. People just stare at me, then Con steps in with his French and we're able to do our business. Amazingly, Con can speak enough German, French, Flemish (Belgium) to get by and of course Dutch and English. We walked all over the downtown "old" section of Boulogne-sur-Mer, France buying fresh foods from the market and taking it back to Big Sky for a picnic in the cockpit.

The tides here are astounding. We arrived at low tide yesterday and by 3 a.m., the sea had risen nearly 30 feet! The hike up to the street level during low tide is a full workout! See Video

August 27, 2007 -- Up at 6:30 a.m., we biked to the train station, folded up our bikes and took a seat on the train for Lille, France. It's about 150 miles from Ostende and about two hours by train. We forgot the camera, so no pictures... Lille is a spectacular compact city, and for us, a great introduction to France. It's the birthplace of Charles de Gaulle and Louis Pasteur. The centre of the city is made up of beautiful old buildings with architecture dating back many centuries. There was a fantastic citadel from Napoleonic times. We loved the busy cobblestone paved streets filled with local people enjoying outside brasseries (cafes) and the many different shops. Croix, France was just an 8 kilometer bike ride from Lille, so we biked to the Victoria Yachting store and placed our purchase for special-order sheets for Big Sky. We've had their catalogue for over a year, so it was great to be able to walk into their only store.

Con made Belgium Endives for dinner, (it's under the Dutch cheese sauce pictured above). The dark thing is delicious, a Dutch and Belgium dish called "Blind Finch." While visiting France today, we had "FRENCH" fries with our lunch. Now aren't we just so Continental.

August 26, 2007 -- With a few days to spare before crossing the English Channel to Brighton, England to pick up Lindsey and Courtney, we decided to be tourists again. This is something we've not really given ourselves the luxury of doing, because of our too-tight travel schedule. Yesterday, we set off by train to Brugge, Brussels (about 20 minutes from Ostende) and arrived in one of the most beautiful cities we've visited.
See video.


Our luck, the city was celebrating the "Pageant of the Golden Tree," a well done theatre production in the form of a parade. The central theme is the "Tournament of the Golden Tree" which was organized in 1468 in the Market square on the occasion of the wedding of Charles the Bold, Count of Flanders and Duke of Burgundy, with the English Princess Margaret of York. There are more than 2000 actors, six giants and just 12 floats. The absence of floats and the real-life acting is what made the parade so enjoyable.
Belgium is known for chocolate, lace and Belgium Waffles. The waffles were so good.


August 24, 2007 -- We're in the MacDonalds Restaurant, quite possibly the only WiFi location in Ostende, Belgium. Despite arriving late last night, we could see we were moored in a great spot, with the main town right in front of us and a spectacular Tall Ship right behind us.



Belgium is our eleventh country -- so far -- and seems to be a pleasant place, clean and friendly. Ostende has a marvelous beach promenade with wide sidewalks, stores, beach property for rent facing the North Sea, and hundreds of beach sheds line the beach. People rent them for a few weeks to store their beach toys and chairs, etc. They show up rain or shine, pull out the chairs and enjoy the day. The weather has been poor in Europe, overcast, rain off and on, and cooler days. We'll stay for a few days, then cross the English Channel to pick up Lindsey and Courtney at the end of the month.
Leaving The Netherlands
August 20, 2007 -- Frans, Marianne, and Robin joined us for lunch yesterday. Robin is our youngest visitor -- so far. He was busy counting all the winches, feeding the ducks, checking out all the equipment, jib lines and the engine room. Each time he stepped outside the cockpit, he put on his new life jacket.



August 18, 2007 -- At exactly 9 a.m., as planned, the Sprenger family arrived with arms full of food, gifts, and flowers. Jan kindly drove Nomie, Geert, Anna and Albertine to Ijmuiden, but couldn't join us as someone had to do the land-travel. Nomie, curious about everything on Big Sky, quickly moved in on Geert behind the wheel and took her turn at navigating us down the Nordzee Canal. (We traveled the inland route below.)



It was an almost perfect day, with the rain holding off until our arrival at Muiden. See the photo album
and video.


Once again, we offered entertainment to by-standers upon our arrival at the marina. Not knowing what the protocol was for docking, and with Geert at the stern, Albertine at the bow, me standing with the boat hook ready to catch the line in the water that's attached to the dolphine pole, Con expertly backed Big Sky into the slip. He was holding it steady with the cross wind, when our keel "parked" itself about a meter from the dock, as it was too shallow for us. We did our best to tie up, despite the many comments from the lady Harbour Master shouting in Dutch about what we should be doing instead of what we were doing. All ended well, we went inside for Happy Hour.

August 16, 2007 -- The weather report stated: "rain in the morning, strong winds tapering off by noon and clearing trends with afternoon Beaufort 3-4 winds." Since we'd waited a day for better weather, this sounded perfect. Were they wrong! See video.

I motored out of the protected marina at 11:30 a.m. with high tide, thank God, as I nearly went into the shallows! Con said "head toward the ferry" and I didn't. Instead, I reached for the GPS for consultation, and saw that Con was exactly right!

We were completely surprised by the weather, clear skies with some intermittent heavy rainfall, strong winds, and at times Beaufort 6 & 7, and 8 & 9!

The Beaufort Scale goes from 1 - 10. One is a smooth sea, light breeze; 10 is a storm with very severe conditions. The wind went from strong breeze, 22-27 knots to a strong gale with 41-47 knots. The waves were huge, and Big Sky was so smooth, riding up and down with what seemed like no effort. We moved inside to keep dry from the waves spraying into the cockpit and to get away from the constant howling of the wind.

During our five-hour trip, we listened to five Search and Rescues over Channel 16. One couple had their line caught in their propeller; an inland freighter loaded with sand took on too much water and was sinking; an illegal stowaway jumped overboard, believing he'd been discovered; and two others that we could only hear Search and Rescue, but not their problems.

What confidence we're feeling about Big Sky's abilities!

Safely tied at the Ijmeiden Harbour, we'll be joined in the morning by Con's 91 year old mom, two sisters, and a brother. We'll enjoy a five to six hour sail past the country side into the heart of Amsterdam. Ijmeiden is at the mouth of the Nordzee Canal, a protected waterway with locks to protect The Netherlands from being buried by the North Sea.

August 12-14, 2007 -- We motor/sailed into the North Sea Saturday and had the joy and frustrations of a tidal current. We either gained 2-3 knot speeds or fought 2-3 knots. The Elboe River (the waterway that led us into the German Bight) has drying areas. The tide can lower the Sea by up to 3.5 meters so we watch our charts and GPS closely. About 1.5 hours out to sea, we noticed a boat circling so we sailed close to ensure they were okay, and sailed over the lilies and quite likely the ashes. It was a funeral at sea.

Our sail to Holland was a planned 29-hour trek, as there are no places to pull in for the night because of the many shallows near land. We've conditioned ourselves for the long sailing periods, but they're still challenging. Con generally fusses with the sails during the day, and we both do lookout. At night, we take two-hour shifts and over a 14-hour period. Our sailing and motoring is done on the inside station.

Just leaving Cuxhaven; dredging the sea for boats to enter Den Helder (sea gulls are everywhere as the fish and sea bottom dwellers are thrown up).

See Video.

Arriving at Den Helder around 3 p.m., we showered and found a nice restaurant to celebrate our anniversary. It was three years today that we got married in our sunny backyard with our four daughters standing up as our witnesses.

The Kiel Canal was sunny and pleasant. See photos and the video.

August 9, 10, 2007 -- The Tall Ships are in Warnemunde, Germany. Con ran to the water edge to film the Mexican Tall Ship entering the harbour with about 100 sailors standing on the masts. Very impressive! Video

The jib motor was repaired this morning, we stocked the fridge, checked the winds, and plan to leave at the crack of dawn. It's a bit hard to see on this map below, but we'll leave from the east side of the green line, and will travel to Kiel (centre) and overnight there. Sunday morning, we'll go through the canal which may take about seven hours, and will come out into the German Bight. There we'll overnight, in preparation for a few more long days, as we make our way to Holland.


August 6-8, 2007 -- We've had a series of travel days, enjoying the sunshine and the rare east winds on the sea. We left Poland at 9 a.m. sailing past miles and miles of Polish crowded beaches. Starting at 10:30 p.m., we took turns doing two-hour shifts throughout the night. It worked well, because we were both well rested at 11 a.m. when we tied Big Sky to the Danish dock at 11 a.m. on the island of Bornholm. We'd been on the water for 26 hours. See photo album.

In the morning, Con bought delicious "Danish's" from the bakery, after all, we're in Denmark, so we stuffed ourselves with the fresh sweetness before setting sail.

We had planned to travel from the Danish island (red line east on the picture) the southern tip of Denmark last night (August 7) which is just north of the middle of the red line above. Instead, we tucked south to Warnemunden, Germany, (near Rostock, just south of the centre of the red line). Last night, we were experiencing a bumpy 5.5 knots with just the jib up. The sun had just set when Con watched with concern, the jib being yanked oddly from the steady stern wind. It seemed to twist the motor too far to one side then jar it back into place. He clipped on the harness and went to the bow to take a look. As Con suspected, that was not good, so we detoured to Germany in the hopes that we'd find repairs easier here. It appears the wiring mechanism has been pulled out. He had to wind in the sail using a tiny crank. He really does get a good workout. Once the repairs are done, we'll continue to the Kiel Canal (the south west angle in red).

The Kiel Canal is a major route that's preferred when making your way to the North Sea. It was a major engineering feat in its day, built in 1895 to take the German fleet through rather than having to go around Denmark. It's 53 nautical miles long, with two locks at each end.

August 5, 2007 -- Crossing to Poland, the coast guard called on the VHS "Vessel at (giving the location of Concerto, the French boat pictured below, sailing not too far from us) please respond."

After a few attempts and no response the coast guard called us asking for the name of our vessel. Con responded "Bravo, India, Golf, then Sierra, Kilo, Yankee (Big Sky), and they asked a few more questions then said "out." They called a second time, asking about the boat near us. We said we couldn't make out the name. Then, they called us a third time again, asking if we could see the boat beside us. Con responded "yes." The coast guard asked "what is name of vessel." Con responded, "unknown." The coast guard said, "please spell slowly."

August 4, 2007 -- We have crossed paths with Concerto, a French boat since Stockholm. Its owner, Christen crossed from Lithuania to Poland at the same time as us, during the rough sea. Christen took these pictures of Big Sky.

August 2, 2007 -- Ice cream seems to be a major food group here. Photos of ice cream in Gdansk.



August 1, 2007 -- These are our first pictures of Gdansk, coming into the marina through a narrow river passageway this afternoon.



We had our jib repaired in Gdansk, as it was splitting at the seams. I tried in Gydina to go up the bosum chair but the wind was too hard to keep me stable at the stay. Con went up in Gdansk, with the help of the sail maker and female Harbour Master and me. Tough job!

Con was laying flat on his back in the bosum chair (not the way it's designed) but managed to get the sail past a rivet that appears to be incorrectly set. That's a job for another harbour, as Gdansk is unable to help us. Jelly fish below; no one's swimming in the marina today. Con was cleaning the fuel filters. All is good!


About 2 p.m. we left Gydnia traveling a pleasant 11 nautical miles to Gdansk. What a gorgeous city! This is the City of Freedom, where in 1989, Lech Walesa, the Solidarity leader started Central Europe on its road to freedom. It was achieved by sitting together and resolving the conflicts in a peaceful way.