Cruising by sailboat has given to us amazing experiences in new countries and towns. This fifth season of 2015 with Nauticat 441 Suwena accrued 1025 new nautical miles on Suwena’s log while taking us towards more distant waters once again. We hoisted seven different courtesy flags and embraced ourselves with almost all of Celtic languages. Mostly our route followed the wake left by Vikings one thousand years earlier.
Most interesting thing to us while cruising is seeing and experiencing new cultures. We can live for a moment everyday life of local people and this way the travelling gives more than a quick weekend turnaround in touristic scene.
We departed from Troon of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic area) and sailed to Northern Ireland. Short detour from the green island took us to the Isle of Man (Manx language). Afterwards again the shores of Ireland‘s east and south coast became familiar with Irish Gaelic speaking people everywhere.
We only missed Welsh Gaelic passing by Wales when we had an overnight sail under the sparkling sky across the Celtic Sea directly from Southern Ireland to the Isles of Scilly.
We also stopped in a few towns of Southern England where we could certainly hear Cornish Gaelic in Falmouth. We sailed also to the Channel Islands and our final destination was the coast of Northern Brittany where Breton is still spoken.
This summer we got stuck for two weeks in Dublin because of heavy winds and broken batteries. Our visit to Ireland stretched out and there was too little time left for the south coast of England and the Channel Islands, indeed. The Irish east coast is called the motorway of boats not without a reason. As an afterthought we should have sailed directly to the southern coast of Ireland. After all the latter is the main sailing area of Ireland. Also if we had more time we’d ideally sail around the Ireland from the west. Fortunately we got a glimpse of the western Ireland’s scenery by taking a rental car.
The Isles of Scilly were definitely the best of the whole summer. Unbelievable nature and tropical microclimate gave a very unique and charming look to these islands. We also liked the Channel Islands so much that we hope to sail back again there.
The big thing this season was finalizing the circumnavigation around the British Isles after two years of sailing. The feelings were high as we were crossing the English Channel, this time towards the continent. We really did it and closed the loop.
Two year long route took us east from Solent and arriving back to the North Sea soon after the white cliffs of Dover. We sailed up the east coast of England and Scotland until reaching Orkney and Shetland later. Coming down from Shetland we passed the treacherous Cape Wrath and arrived in wonderful Western Scotland. Still southbound we stopped in Northern Ireland, and the Isle of Man followed by east and south coast of Ireland. After crossing the Celtic Sea and stopping on the Isles of Scilly we were back in the English Channel and sailing eastbound on the south coast of England. After arriving to Guernsey it was really a reason for a celebration!
The blog stories of 2015, Ireland to Brittany can be read from the blog archive.
Log summary of Suwena 2015
- Nautical miles: 1025 M, from where 24 % sailing, 17 % motorsailing and 59 % motoring
- Engine hours: 141 h
- Generator hours: 28 h
- Fuel used incl. engine, generator and heater: 656 l
- Fresh water: 10440 l, 85 l/day
- Ports 18 + anchorages 8: total 26 ports of call
- Overnight stays: 123 nights
- Lockage: 4 locks
- Dinghy fuel consumption: 5 l
- Longest leg: 140 M Kinsale, Ireland– Hugh Town, Scilly Islands
The map of Suwena’s year 2015 harbours and summer voyage.
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