List of Flicka Blogs

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Here's quite a moving video of a bunch of guys saving a whale from certain death in the Sea of Cortez. The poor whale became intangled in gil nets.

Some inspiration for you!  You're never too old!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8771085/Worlds-oldest-sailor-arrives-home-in-Japan-after-solo-journey-around-globe.html

We're making the most of the last evenings that provide enough light to sail.

Hurricane Irene survival decisions.

Find out if you can climb a Flicka 20 mast.

No summer in complete without a full moon sail.

My Flicka Caraway came with four Brookes and Gatehouse instruments. Wind, Depth, GPS and Speed. There are two transducers in the hull, one for depth situated under the sink and the speed one in the forward locker on the starboard...

We made this quick video to show how fast a Flicka 20 can sail. Conditions:12-15 knots with a reefed genoa sailing to windward.

The South Bay Cruising Club had a pirate-themed rendezvous so we decked out Tuesday's Child for the day.

"If there's no Great South Bay when we get to heaven, we're turning back."

Please enjoy these photos from the first few months of sailing our Flicka 20, Tuesday's Child.

Some super slow motion footage of Nomad boogying down in 25 knots of wind

Well, it’s a nice idea isn’t it?   The idea that you don’t have to conform to the complexity, responsibility, enslavement and tedium of modern life. That instead you can simplify your life, go sailing and search for happiness instead of climbing the career and property ladders and trying to fulfil yourself...

I came across this interesting series of videos by a guy who built his own dinghy and sailed and rowed it across from mainland Spain to Ibiza and along the coast of Spain.   When the wind failed to blow which was most of the time he was forced to row. An experience which is clearly exhausting in the...

I had been meaning to upgrade the module that drives the blogging on this site. I was a bit wary because last time I upgraded the blog module the blog posts were lost. This time I made sure to back up the site before installing the module. The upgrade seemed to run smoothly. I need to make some changes...

I finally found the time to write up my account of the last single handed passage I did from Minorca to France in October 2008.  You can download it direct here or you can find it under the menu...

In September and October every year my partner and I go to Minorca where she creates a brochure for a sailing holiday company; Minorca Sailing. She is given an apartment and I am invited to tag along with my laptop where I can work using the local wifi. ...

Caraway has always had a fixed VHF radio mounted on the port side to the left of the galley and above the entrance to the quarter berth. It was properly installed and has never let me down. The antenna is a Metz Manta 6 and has remained firmly attached to the very top of the mast in all weathers for...

A 14 year old Dutch school girl has set sail on a circumnavigation attempt in a 26 foot boat after winning a court battle with social services trying to prevent her departure .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11048130

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From time to time when I pressed the Yanmar 1gm 10 start button I could hear the starter motor click and nothing happened. If I tried again the starter kicked in and the Yanmar started as normal.  I knew the starter motor needed overhaul or replacement but I had been procrastinating it. But with the...

 

Well I decided to buy a small kayak trolley and go overland to the boat across the marsh. This is practical in the summer but impossible in the winter. In the summer the fields are dry and accessible but during the winter the marsh becomes impassable. I’m also probably not going to keep the boat on her...

Splicing is not something I do very often although I can splice both yacht braid and three strand if I put my mind to it. I needed to make up some new mooring warps for Caraway with proper spliced-in thimbles.  I bought the rope and stuff and made a start. But could I remember how to get started with...

After giving Caraway a copper bottom and new rigging it was finally time to get her back in the water. The guys at Rossiters did a great job and we were back in with the mast up and sitting on our new mooring by midday.  It was a big relief to work with such careful and competent guys and much much easier...

 

Well I intended to paint the top sides this summer but since the yard only paint by hand and Caraway has grooves in her hull to make her look like a wooden boat we decided she needed to go to another yard and be sprayed. That and the cost of the job decided it for me. She would have to wait for a paint...

Being in charge of an expanding web site and database of Flickas I have come to realise that good images of boats under sail are hard to find. Now this is fair enough because photographing your own boat requires another boat with a photographer on board. I can accept this as a difficult problem to overcome...

 

My experinces learning how to easily and securely anchor Nomad single handed

 

Well, my poor little boat has been a bit neglected since we bought the house in Dorset. Having a severe winter didn’t really help either.

Caraway has been sat forlornly under a tree gathering leaves, twigs, spiders and mould while I’ve been busy decorating bedrooms, painting kitchen cupboards...

 

 

 

Caraway’s old Origo was getting a bit tatty after 18 years abuse.  If she’d only be used lightly it might have been in better shape but I lived on board for a few years and our cruising trips were usually 2-3 months or more. The stove did it’s just well but was starting to show it’s age. The mesh on...

 

I don’t know about you but I like looking at pictures on a blog, so here’s a few more from last years Italian cruise…

 

We headed out from Cannes as soon as Nina’s lost luggage turned up (we had to wait three days and Nina had no clean clothes!)



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For some time I’ve been intrigued by another boat that Bruce Bingham designed; the Anastasia. However, information on the boat is elusive and I’ve not been able to find anything more about her since somebody sent in old some images of one under construction.

But the power of web search has brought...