ESCAPE'S return to blighty

Welcome back to the second half of ESCAPE'S voyage to Norway.  

Lying here in RISOR stern to quay are the finest examples of Norways Colin Archer designed ketch rigged pilot vessels. A highlight of sailing season is this regatta... along with the classic racing 8 and 12 meters this beautiful small village comes alive with all sorts of crafty caracters!

These two urchins sailed 180 miles round from Oslo.... We were all pretty impressed with that. I noticed a hairbrush and a teddy bear in the headsail bag. It was evening dresses and makeup down below... Angus even went a bit gooey...for a scot.

The king of Norway has a fantastic 8 meter..Real class.

Once you've been to Norway, Its hard to leave.. I never imagined there could be somewhere so unspoiled, humans just seem to be able to fit in sensibly to the surroundings. I'll be going back someday and if you have the means to sail there.. you will not be disappointed.

I worked in boat yard for years, unfortunatly nothing like this one. I saw a photo from over a hundred years ago showing the same yard taken from the same spot... It hadn't changed one bit. 

I managed to whip up some pretty nice fresh Mackeral fish cakes. With parsely from the last of our on board herb garden and some good ripe tomatoes...  We're all at sea again.

Our return leg was fairly eventful, with pressure from the owner to get back to Scotland, we had little choice in putting to sea with a dodgy forecast. A westerly course to Inverness would take us directly through the oil rigs up here in the North part of the North Sea. At one point, we hove to for practically 24 hours, with water rising in the bielge alarmingly during a period of force 8 wind. Finally working out that water was coming back down bielge pump outlet and into the boat, we avoided becoming another statistic of this notoriously dangerous area.

Finally we reached Inverness and the Caledonian canal. After treating ourselves to the finest and most well deserved COD AND CHIPS in the world we would have the most incredible weather to last us till our final destination...  Carrera marina, Oban.

Classic jaunt to Norway.....

Not so long ago, my brother and I were lucky enough to join 'ESCAPE' on her return voyage to Risor in Norway. Recently relaunched following an extensive re-build at the Lowestoft school of boatbuilding, this  15m Colin Archer is the ultimate cruising version of the legendary ketch-rigged lifeboat  from Norway's past

Rescued  from a mud birth on the Itchen and re-fitted to practically original specification, Escape has to be the most beautiful boat I've ever stepped onto, and I've been pretty lucky with boats on that front!

With a crew of two exeptional boatbuilders, a rescue helecopter pilot (owner) and myself as navigator, all novices, looked set to be a great adventure. Lowestoft-Risor, direct course.

With perfect southwest wind almost the whole way to the SW coast, the fist leg of the mission was incredibly serene. An hour from the Orwell and we could really sense what it would have been like a hundred years earlier.

Some fantastic home made pizzas, a visit from the king of Norway and some adventurous girls on a folkboat later.... We arrived in Risor.

The humble adventures of a marine baboon

Humble, yes, but Marine Baboon has seen far more action than many of the thousands of well equipped yachts of the Solent.

Here on the UK's South Coast there is many a great day trip to be had and I thought I'd better get on with sharing my passion for these places and help others enjoy them too.

From home made ten foot dinghies, to the luxury yachts of Swan, Najad and Hallberg Rassey, the boats we own are keys to some of the most beautiful and sometimes forgotten spots of the country. As a caulk head (From the Isle of Wight) I've been lucky enough to have all this on my doorstep, but recently I've been wondering.... Where is everybody?

As a qualified Yachtmaster and working Delivery skipper I'm going back to basics....

Having fun with boats.