All posts by Paul Blacknell

I caught the sailing bug in 2010 and have grabbed every opportunity to sail since then. Since then my family has trained as Competent Crew and we bareboat chartered in the Ionian in 2011 & Croatia in 2014 having an outstanding time. I’ve competed in all the Round the Island races since 2011 (skippering in 2014 & 2017) and vow to enter in each of my remaining years. I'm a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore.
Cruises

First skippered Channel crossing

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I elected to skipper my first Channel crossing from Gosport to Cherbourg. My reasoning was that this would be a daytime passage whereas skippering a first Channel crossing at night would be pushing it. Since acquiring my day skipper ticket I’d logged around 1,300 miles – a good proportion of that as skipper. So I felt ready – what could possibly go wrong? Continue reading First skippered Channel crossing →

Holidays

Cowes to Itchenor Reach

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Another lie in, of sorts, after a great evening with the boys at the Folly Inn. We took our time over breakfast and I was torn over where to go today as the wind looked very gentle and the tides didn’t really want to help over to Chichester until much later in the day. Pottering around the central Solent didn’t seem like it would have any purpose although we did consider Hamble and Bucklers Hard. Continue reading Cowes to Itchenor Reach →