Easter

A pilot cutter carves a foaming white wake across an ink blue sea, inbound at the harbour mouth.




Stagazer swoops by, sheets eased, the ebb under her, nodding approvingly at the lift of the swell beneath her keel - back afloat and putting to sea.




Bright white smiles crack weathered brown faces. Easter sunlight paints our wind bellied sails a honey gold. The breeze sings in our rigging. We wave as we cross, sharing the joy of the moment.




Out in the Swash, the ebb slows. The wind backs and eases. A fisherman wrestles his catch, as we glide by.




The tide turns off Handfast. We ride it gently back to Poole and slip in....




...under South Haven.





Behind Stone Island, the Condor fast cat muscles it's way through the bank holiday...




....boating melee,in the harbour entrance, with five deep throated blasts of its horn...




...and barrels on past Brownsea Castle - decks lined with spectating passengers.




A keen breeze fills in from the North East and freshens. We slip in under the lee of Brownsea Island.




The sheltered pool in Blood Alley beckons and the ululating cries of peacocks hang hauntingly in the still air.




We drop anchor. Soon the spiced scent of toasting Hot Crossed buns mingles evocatively with the tropical birdsong.

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The Yard

Stargazer's mast lances a cobalt sky. Spring sunbeams cascade brightly off the curve of her pushpit and....




....rejuvenate the faded orange of her outboard motor cover. She stands, like a spider crab, out of her element on the tawny gravel of the hard, supported by six improbably spindly brown legs.




Out in the creek garrulous black headed gulls command the deck of a sea blackened hulk.




Ashore, I busy myself.....




.....shipping our new tiller.




Around me the saltings are alive with the bustle of refitting.




The diesel roar of the crane rises and falls - grunting with the exertion of launching and landing boats, like a cantankerous weight lifter.




My arms windmill to burnish Stargazer's topsides and the reflection of a Nauticat is slowly revealed from beneath the rime.




Silence envelops the saltings as the gulls, the weight lifter and I together fall still and drink in their timeless tranquility.

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Old Harry

Old Harry stands tall and proud in the crisp spring sunlight.




Stargazer lifts joyously over the swell, leaning to a jolie brise (F4). Our winter, confined to the berth, a forgotten memory bobbing in her boiling wake.




The breeze fills in to 25 knots off Swanage, sending white horses scampering across the bay.




I tuck in two reefs under the lee of Anvil Point.




Astern the chain ferry bustles to and fro - arms stretched before it like a busy water beetle.




Clear of Anvil Point, Stargazer swoops over a heaving seascape studded with whitecaps and shrouded by wind driven spray. St Albans Head crouches on the horizon, hazed by the salt laden air.




The Channel ferry rumbles by, inbound from Cherbourg. A reminder for me to turn Stargazer's bows homeward.




We beat in towards the familiar tawny, green capped headland, hard on the wind.




Anvil light welcomes us back. Stargazer surfs past it's feet riding wind driven waves.




We round Old Harry and short tack deep into Studland Bay.




Under the tall wooded cliffs, the roar of the wind and the rush of the water quietens.




Off the beach I bring Stargazer head to wind. She glides to a halt. I drop her main and let go the anchor. Our season has begun.

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Location:Ferry Road,,United Kingdom

On The Beach

Stargazer rests on her berth patiently. Her lines are doubled and her jib is stowed below. She's unscathed by last night's storm.




Ashore force ten winds clawed demonically at the house - shrieking and howling.




The car has been dealt a glancing blow by a nocturnal air bourn fence panel.




Today the skies have cleared and the barometer has risen. The Spring sun beams benevolently down on Poole from a cobalt sky.




It warms ranks of storm shuttered beach huts. They are hunkered down shoulder to shoulder, as if wary of another onslaught by the capricious elements.





The swell rolls in to burst into playful shards of glittering white spindrift on the gnarled groynes - protectors of the golden beach.




Bournemouth pier stands foursquare and stoic above the marching wave crests...




...,whilst slick skinned seal black surfers ride the break, at its feet.




As dusk falls, three new charts lie unfolded on Stargazer's saloon table. I pore over them...




.....and hear the lilting Celtic call of the crimson Welsh dragon summoning us for a summer cruise.

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Fair winds

31.12.13: Poole Harbour.




It is New Year's Eve. An auspicious rainbow arcs across the sky above the boatyard.




The sun breaks through accentuating the white of candy floss clouds and warming the winters day.




The autumn winds have been as tempestuous as this summer's winds were fair. This year Stargazer will not be toasting the New Year at anchor. She will remain on her berth.




The barometer is falling and another winter storm will roll in tonight. Severe gale 9 warns the VHF. Craft of all kinds are making for the shelter of the harbour.




As the sun sets on 2013 a 'jolie brise' from the south west ruffles an aubergine black sea enticingly.




I stand on the beach hypnotised by the soft lullaby of lapping waves whilst my mind's eye transports me back to summer seas....




......and playful porpoises.




To wild and craggy Atlantean anchorages...




.... shared with patient, stalking, herons.




To snug sea lochs.....




........shared with sunbathing seals.




To the tranquility.....




.....and grandeur of the Emerald Isle.




To Belle Ille and friends made at anchor there - fellow lovers of scenery roughly hewn from the rock of Biscay by the majestic breakers of the restless Atlantic Ocean.




To the mystery of enigmatic seafarers who travelled these seas in the mists of time, their passage marked by standing stones.




The sun dips below the horizon. In the twilight I picture the warm sun and blue seas of unexplored shores. I ponder the endless possibilities of 2014...and dream of fair winds.

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Location:Poole Harbour, United Kingdom