110 saved, 65,000,000 to go
An extraordinary 12 hours. At sunset a Salvamente Maritimo (Spanish Coast Guard) helicopter had located a refugee boat with some 50 persons on board. We were just 15 minutes away from them and offered to…
Author Archives: John Vallentine
Back with the Refugees
Shunned by Malta, Italy and the Libyan coast guard, the NGO Proactiva is now based in Motril on the south coast of Spain. Sadly Golfo Azurro is no longer operative but Proactiva still has 2…
Vale Ian Kiernan
How sad to farewell this remarkable man. Larger than life, he was filled with enormous energy, enthusiasm, practical skills and an irrepressible sense of fun. Why is it that people like him shuffle off, not…
Last Post
We have abandoned Blue Dove in Priozersk, on the western shore of Lake Ladoga. All locked up and bereft of life, she looks lonely and forlorn. I know how she feels. I wonder when we…
Valaam
On the far north of Lake Ladoga lies Valaam Island, home to one of the holiest of Russian Orthodox monasteries. A rich collection of churches, sketes and shrines dating from the 14th century dot the…
Priozersk
Since St Petersburg we have encountered just 2 yachts. Both of them small Russian boats with modest outboards. It is quite extraordinary that such wonderful cruising grounds are so empty of yachts. So Priozersk came…
Konovets monastery
Talk about contrasts! We had not expected to find such a delightful anchorage last night and wondered how the monastery island of Konovets, our next destination and one of the goals of our Ladoga cruise, could…
Dalyokaya Bukhta
On the western side of Lake Ladoga, Dalyokaya Bukhta (60 deg 34.33N/30 deg 40.88E) is a peaceful, forested bay, guarded by two spectacular cardinal marks. The water was glassy and the bay deserted but for…
Out onto the lake at last
Such a relief to leave the Neva headwaters at Schlisselburg, out into Lake Ladoga. Schlisselburg itself has almost nothing to offer cruising yachts but we found the cosy little retreat recommended to us by our…
It couldn’t end better
Sometimes a day could not end better. After that long trip up from St Petersburg we have anchored off the densely forested shore in 5 m of water, Blue Dove held steady by a 1…
Towards Ladoga
The 30 mile trip from St Petersburg to the source of the Neva River at Lake Ladoga is a slow one, with a relentless contrary current, varying between 2 and 4.5 knots. We anchored half…
Neva River
Our journey upriver through St Petersburg was spectacular. We had rafted alongside a huge river barge and took on our pilot at 2 am. Blue Dove, the only yacht, joined a procession of commercial behemoths…
Apostol Andrei
We first met Russian yacht Apostol Andrei at Barentsburg (Svalbard) in 2012. A surprise and a delight to come across Nikolai Litau and his robust ice breaker yacht again here in SPB. Such a contrast…
Sojourn in Moscow
We caught up with old friends. I walked the town while Miss Perfect did her special Moscow things. The weather is balmy and our windows are wide open. Our neighbour, a conservatoire flautist, is practising…
River Yacht Club
The River Yacht Club in St Petersburg, housed in an ugly soviet brutalist building, used to offer snug berths inside its huge stone moles. Now the yacht harbour is closed to foreign yachts, which now…
Russia at last
A long, hot and windless trip from Tallinn finally, finally brought Blue Dove to St Petersburg. En route we stripped off for much needed douches in the Gulf of Finland. Sailing through the barrage into…
Tallinn
Stuck in Tallinn waiting for a break in the relentless easterly winds, we wander the streets of the old town. Apart from its location, I cannot recommend the Old Town Marina. Scores of cruise ships…
Mud Baths
Haapsalu is said to have some of the finest mud in Northern Europe. Peter the Great, Catherine and Tchaikovsky came here for mud bath therapy. I, with my tedious trochanteric bursitis, should have indulged as…
Slow progress
Dogged by light airs and fog we crept slowly along the coasts of Litland and Latland, revisiting picturesque south Baltic ports – Liepaja, Pavilosta, Ventspils – before entering Estonian waters. Much has changed since Tainui…
Age wearies
It is calm and foggy here in Pavilosta and I have time to roll up my sleeves and make confessIon. Reading back through the tainui.org website I finally see what it is that Little Miss…
Liepaja
I am surprised how little this port has changed in the 6 years since we were here in Tainui. There is a new opera house, but the river is lined with the same rusty tugs…
Klaipeda
Finally, some fine sailing. They say that cruising in small yachts is great 1% of the time, tolerable in 30% and miserable for the rest. Our 2 day passage from Bornholm to Klaipeda in Lithuania…
Bornholm
Through a long night we ran square under main alone. Not Blue Dove’s best point of sail but in lumpy seas we couldn’t be bothered setting up a pole then gybing repeatedly through busy commercial…
Rostock
Despite the F7 forecast, 2.5m seas, the prospect of a 25 mile tight fetch along lee shore, cancellation of the local sailing regatta and the advice of fishermen and the bunker station not to depart,…
Warnemunde
Tied up between fat red fishing boats in the old harbour, it feels snug. NW squalls whistle overhead and the fishermen advise us to sit tight. It is finally sunny though. The towering masts of…
Lübeck
Surrounded by Lubeck’s great copper spires, Blue Dove lies opposite elderly ships at the maritime museum. You wouldn’t be dead for quids! In warm evening sun I sit under Marienkirche’s west front sipping wine and…
Travemünde
A 30 mile broad reach down to Travemunde in flat water allowed our Aries finally to do a bit of work. The great square rigger Passat marks the entrance to the River Trave. In late…
No wind, no motor
Our journey out into the Baltic to Heiligenhaven from Kiel started auspiciously with a forecast of 12-15 knot NE winds, sunny skies and smooth seas. Blue Dove slipped along graciously and we were in good…
Kiel Canal
Halfway along the canal we anchored outside Rensburg, alone in a peaceful little bay with forested shore and glassy water. It had been a long 36 hours and we collapsed early to bed. Such a familiar feeling…
Unpronouncable
The Standing Mast Route through Netherlands is a trip worth doing. Once. Often very beautiful, but there are just too many bridges, locks and ditherings about. In Groningen alone there are fifteen opening bridges through…
Such a taskperson
Miss Perfect has become a competent skipper but crikey, she is a taxing taskperson. I have been trying really hard to be good crew, but I nearly spilt 3 coffee grounds in the sink. There…
Friesland
IJsselmeer (yes, that’s the correct spelling) is the large body of water created by the damming of the Zuiderzee in the 1930’s. 20 miles wide it is an ideal place to sail, and on Saturday…
Repairs and Things
Here in Hoorn old buildings are awkwardly tilted. Elegant young women cycle through cobbled laneways. Century-old, ponderous sailing barges still work out of the harbour, there are flowers everywhere and it rains often. All…
Coffee Grounds in the sink
Back aboard Blue Dove, it is as if I had never left. As I had hoped, reconnection (both with the boat and with Madam) was immediate and seamless. There are two differences – first, we…
Loitering Without Portfolio
Back in Moscow with Maxine yet again. After Falmouth it is wet and chilly here, but our little nest is cosy. In addition to reconnections with friends, there have been Cartier Bresson and Brancusi exhibitions,…
The Wall St Journal on refugees
Here’s an article about our Mediterranean refugee rescue activities, published in The Wall Street Journal recently. I believe its author misrepresents the position somewhat. My letter to the editor in response follows. This was not published by…
Falmouth
Falmouth is paradise for sailors. There are gaff rigged oyster smacks, pilot cutters and wooden boats everywhere. If only the weather were less odious and the tides (15′ + at springs) more manageable. Here, a…
More stains on the escutcheon
We left Newlyn under dazzling blue skies with no wind and favourable tide. A mile out I had an acrimonious right of way argument with a cardinal mark. I felt the buoy was comfortably on…
Cymru
Friendly, quaint Wales – home to Dylan Thomas, muddy old Land Rovers, emerald green fields, castles, obesity, walking sticks, wind, rain and dogs. But St Davids is a lovely cathedral. And at last today it…
Discretion and Valor
We have been dogged by dreadful weather for the last month. On Friday (yes, I know) the forecast was tolerable, if not great – wind NW 5-6, with our course SW to Lands End 100…
Cardigan
Our 30 hour crossing of Cardigan Bay was the most miserable yet. Chaotic unpredictable seas and 25 knot headwinds played havoc with a stomach (mine, of course) well tenderised by a couple of bottles of…
Holyhead and Snowdonia
Departing the Isle of Man at some unseemly hour we lurched down the east coast in an uncomfortable Irish Sea. Rounding Calf Island against foul tide we barely crawled past the lighthouse, which looked like…
Portpatrick and Isle of Person
From Troon, Blue Dove crashed south close in to the bleak Ayrshire coast and around the entrance to Loch Owen. In late afternoon sun it was a pleasure to tie up against the wall in…
Rhu to Troon
At Rhu it rained but we were well cared for by Maxine’s Iceland friends John and Rosemary Brown. Splendid folk. After a seriously indulgent evening aboard Blue Dove we groped into consciousness to farewell dear…
Through Crinan Canal
Motoring north up Loch Fyne into Loch Gilp we follow the Scottish version of a Milk Run. At Ardrishaig you enter the picturesque Crinan Canal. Pasha and Tania loved its forested shores, the rich wildflowers…
Ailsa Craig and things
We were more than ready to leave Belfast. After a week of cold rain Blue Dove was blessed with sunny skies and a steady northerly for a 7 knot reach across the Irish Sea. She…
Custodianship
When a boat is 40 years old you don’t buy her, you assume temporary custodianship. Overwhelmed with culture shock on arrival in Belfast, to my shame I neglected to mention the warmth and generosity with…
Blind Date
Here in Belfast it is grey and cold. Once again I have fallen between tectonic plates. I should go sightseeing but weather aside there is something unappealing about Belfast – the people are friendly but…
Back to Malta
After a week’s relentless northerlies we have had calm seas and sultry heat. By day we have been patrolling an E-W line outside Libya’s 12 mile zone. At night we move north and heave to…
Back to the SAR with See Fuchs
After 3 rich and rewarding weeks in Golfo Azzurro I have taken sad farewells, changed ships and linguas francas. I will now be heading back south to the SAR zone in See Fuchs, a stout…