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The Adventures of Blue Hound

 blue hound sunset This is an assortment of memories, many pictorial, from the travels of Blue Hound, including:

 

Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, The Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Brazil and the Azores (x4), North Africa, Malta, Greece, Cuba, Dominica and more, together with a collection of resources useful for sailors 

 

The sunset picture was taken from Blue Hound, anchored in the Canal de Itaparica in near Salvador in Brazil. Completely magical!

 

 

Blue Hound is a staysail schooner, built by Chantiers des Ardennes in Marseilles in 1981, in steel.

 

LOA 15.1m, with a beam of 4.60m and a draught of 2.84m.  Sail area approximately 1200 square feet. Displacement 26 tons loaded.

 

Originally built as a training vessel for the French Navy, she has a long and chequered history.


 

2019 - 2022

The world has changed. We completed the Pacific crossing to Bundaberg, Australia via Pitcairn Island (almost), the Gambier and Austral Islands, Tahiti, Bora Bora and Tonga. Then we sailed down the Australian coast to Eden and across the Tasman Sea to Nelson, New Zealand and on to Picton and Covid lockdown. That led to 2 years in NZ (mainly in the Bay of Islands) and another crossing of the Tasman in 2022 from Opua to Bundaberg.

The two crossings of the Tasman were tough with 3 gales in the first and a storm in the second.

In August 2022 that was followed by 2,200 miles mostly of day sailing up through the Great Barrier Reef and 'Across the Top' which led us to Darwin in 7 weeks. We spent a month there cooking in a very uncomfortable climate before heading up to Saumlaki in Indonesia. It's all in the blog referenced below in the 2019 Trans Pacific paragraph.

Image of track 2019-2022


 

2019 - Trans Pacific

 

 We plan to transit the Panama Canal in early February. If things go according to plan, there will be blog entries here at our blog (click);  Also, our latest position should be shown below:

 

 

2017/18 - Atlantic & Caribbean

 

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Our new Hydrovane in action - 3000 mls no problem

We had a fishing net around the main rudder for 1173 miles, but the hydrovane's independent rudder served us well, until the net fell off during a gybe. The seas were too big to allow us safely to cut the net off.

 

 

2016 - a Busy Year

Still getting the miles in with 2,722 miles logged and several new experiences plus a grand tour of the Canary Islands - except el Hierro (we'll get there some day)!

 

2016 tracks

 

 

 


 


Bunkside Thrillers

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When the sea becomes a global terrorist weapon

 

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Suspense and Visceral Action in Tunisia and Southern Europe

 

Sicilian Channel Cover Image

Suspense and Action in Crete, the Ionian and Malta

 

Gate of Tears

Red Sea Piracy and nautical adventure!

...the action is fast paced, hard, gritty and realistic. A lover of the genre couldn’t ask for more or better.

- Novelist Lee Holz

Full review 

 

Essential Companion