Gibralter to Formentera

At 18.00 ish Charlie and Simon casually chatted over the sighting of spouting whales, this suddenly became rather alarming as they appeared alongside the boat, Simon instantly ( well that was the plan) stopped the boat to lessen any impact. What a tease, the whales mischievously dived beneath the keel,…

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Malta to Poros

May 15 was a happy day. Margaret and her house guest drove me to meet Rope Sole and a salt encrusted, continental looking chap strode up the pontoon as I raced down to greet her. ‘ Is that your husband?’ Margaret enquired nervously! Crumbs it was Simon….he had changed colour…

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Formentura to Malta

May 10 06.56 after spending a peaceful night Rope Sole bade farewell to Formentera as the sun rose and the wind considered her tactics, 18 knts to be precise, after keeping the guys waiting a mere hour.By 20.00 the log shows ‘ bumpy in the extreeme’. At this point up…

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Caiscais to Gibraltar

April 30 09.00 Happy to be underway again after a busy weekend locating a replacement battery, stocking up with fresh foods, enjoying Charlie and Ayessa’s welcome hospitality and fixing a few niggles on the boat. The log records a steady 5 knts of NE wind rising to 6 when the…

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Weymouth to Caiscais

Saturday April 20 At last Rope Sole pulled out of Weymouth Harbour at 10.45. With12 knts of southeasterly breeze the cruising shute went up and the engine was silenced. Sunday April 21-Tuesday April 23 Crossing the channel, countless shipping lanes and encounters with trawlers. The ships log records squalls, course…

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Pre voyage mania

Sunday April 7 2013 During a hectic week of last minute jobs and waiting for a new exhaust manifold to arrive (apparently the last one in Europe!) we suddenly decided to change the boat’s name from ‘Mon Ami’ to ‘Rope Sole’. We had toyed with the name since bringing her…

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