What next?

The definitive end of the sailing season has been brought home to us by the sudden change to decidedly autumnal weather. During the warm, even hot, sunshine of September we could imagine perhaps one last weekend of cruising, but the gloom, drizzle and chill of October have us lowering our sights towards Sunday afternoons spent poring over the charts and dreaming of next summer, or, more accurately, squabbling over the itinerary. Tea and crumpets and log fires are infinitely more tempting than 2 reefs and a damp sleeping bag.

Skipper’s Box-To-Tick next year is that of two 60-mile passages (required for the Yachtmaster exam) which are to include as much night sailing as possible. Until this summer, the Mate was sceptical about doing this without a third crew member, but now I think it’s perfectly feasible, with a bit of careful planning. There is a balance to be struck, however – I’ve had to dig my heels in to prevent the holiday (holiday, this is the key word that seemed to be missing from the Skipper’s yachting vocabulary) from being totally hijacked to this end. I think we have reached a good compromise now, but of course the best laid plans, etc.

The boat is already booked, from La Trinité sur Mer again. It seemed sensible to do the long passages in an area we’re getting to know quite well. This time, however, the boat is a Dufour 34, which should be a little more sporty than the Bavaria. Make that a lot more sporty. I’m really looking forward to helming it. The best bit about helming is watching Tubs the Skipper do a bit of winching for a change. Short tacking can be such fun. In his short (and not especially illustrious) offshore racing career the Skipper was often the youngest crewmember, and did a great deal of winching, but I’ve allowed him to rest on his tiller, so to speak. I intend to make amends.

Having challenged ourselves with the Dufour: long passages, lights, tides, rocks – does this sound like fun? – we have decided to treat ourselves to another week in the Baltic on a little Folkboat next July. Hopefully it will be just as much fun for us as this year, if somewhat less entertaining for any spectators. We plan to get hold of a copy of the Pilot Book in advance, so I can do some translating at leisure rather than guessing and bluffing with the harbour already in sight, as I did last time. (Well, we didn't hit anything, did we?) We might also splash out the extra 100 euros for one of the smarter Folkboats. Sailing the scruffiest boat in the Baltic once was certainly amusing, but I think once is enough.

Remember this?

The idea of buying a Folkboat one day is starting to solidify as a Plan. The Skipper has gone so far as to find out how much a permanent berth in Brittany would cost, and was very tempted to join the waiting list, currently at least 10 years, depending on the port. On reflection, though, it makes more sense to wait too long and have to pay monthly rates for a year or two, rather than to get to the top of the list before we’re ready, have to refuse the place, and go straight to the back of the queue again. Having reached agreement on that point, we nevertheless have a source of “debate” in the question of deep or self-draining cockpit. That should keep us busy for at least a few of the years between now and the actual purchase of the boat…