Aleria's Adventures

Predict Wind fleet map for all the boats in the OCC Atlantic crossing group I was invited to speak at the IS Cruising Conference. The topic was to tell the tale of OCC's pandemic response effort. Gail had read about what we had done and thought it would be a good topic to cover as many of our IS members who come to this conference are offshore sailors. I had 20 minutes for the talk and 10 minutes for questions, so I didn't have a lot of space for something that consumed our lives for the best part of a year. I wish I could include the slides here, as it's a documentation of how we helped hundreds of people trying to survive a pandemic under very trying circumstances. When I finished, I asked Alex to add his thoughts about communications, which was valuable. Then I asked Vera to come up and talk about her perspective of having been in the Caribbean and being one of the families we assisted with their thinking. Walking them through options and giving them advance notice of br...

1. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome A classic series of sailing adventure stories from the British Isles in the 1930s and is still as relevant today.  The Walker children (John, Susan, Titty and Roger) are on school holiday in the Lake District and are sailing a borrowed catboat named Swallow,  when they meet the Blackett children (Nancy and Peggy), who sail the boat, Amazon .  Uncle Jim (better known as Captain Flint) is too busy writing his memoirs to be disturbed. So the children camp together on Wild Cat Island where a plot is hatched against Uncle Jim when their hired deckhand tells them a daring yarn of his younger days. Soon their boat is on its way to the Caribbean on a treasure hunt and they come up against a shark, a storm, an earthquake, and the vilest eavesdropping pirate. The Swallows and Amazons Series Collection of 4 Books includes the titles Winter Holiday, Peter Duck, Swallowdale, the book that started it all Swallows and Amazons . Also made into ...

As Ireland tonight goes to level 5 lockdown, we will once again face a strange new world, straying no more than 5 km from home, inviting no visitors to house or garden, and limiting social interactions outside of home. Once again, the numbers of coronavirus infections are climbing, instilling fear of infection, fear of isolation, and fear of dying. Mostly, it's the fear of the unknown.  But I believe that being sailors helps to overcome such challenges. As distance sailors having set off across oceans, the great unknown the first time around, we have faced isolation for long periods and known that eventually, we reach the other side. We have faced storms and learned that they all eventually pass. We have survived when others have not, but we didn't let it stop us from taking off.  Sailing can help us keep things in perspective, perhaps enduring more along the way. It can help us cope with extreme physical and mental challenges. Facing the approaching storm, with skies darkenin...

I was interviewed yesterday by Fergal Keane Of the RTE radio programme Seascpaes about the OCC's efforts to help cruisers reach home or safe harbour.  My interview starts at about 18:50. Seascapes podcast On Seascapes tonight, Fergal Keane visits the popular Courtown beach, which disappeared in recent storms. Fergal meets Green Party MEP Grace O'Sullivan in Courtown. John Litchfield reports from France on the sad demise of the ship the Calypso, owned for nearly fifty years by the explorer & ecologist, Jacques Cousteau.  And Daria Blackwell of the Ocean Cruising Club tells how they are helping ocean going yachts reach their home ports during the pandemic.   http://www.oceancruisingclub.org https://www.rte.ie/radio/radioplayer/html5/#/radio1/21787462

Busy, busy. busy times. An article that cited me was published in the Guardian yesterday. Written by Susan Smillie, it documents the plight of cruisers stuck in paradise. The BBC World News editors got wind of the article and asked me to do an interview with them in the morning, which I did at 7:20 am. Now anyone who knows me, knows I don't do mornings very well. But somehow I think I managed to do okay. They've posted the clip online and are sharing via social media. It's 3 minutes long and answers a few questions about what people are facing out there. This afternoon I did an interview with a reporter from Bermuda who is writing a story for publication tomorrow. I also answered a query from a woman wanting to do a documentary about the cruisers. And I forwarded a request for crews to film their voyages for an adventure movie being made about the subject. It's been an interesting couple of days.

The original first edition 1930 Hardback In researching children's books about sailing so I can do a remote session with our grandnephews in isolation in America, I came across what turns out to be a classic book series and set of movies called Swallows and Amazons by British author Arthur Ransome .  His Swallows and Amazons series of novels (written between 1931 and 1947) remain in print today and were made into two successful movies, one in the 1970s and the other released in 2016. Those never made it onto my radar in the US. So I have some catching up to do. They sound wonderful. This first book tells of a wonderful summer of adventure, discovery and friendship. Inspired by the author's own real-life sailing experiences in the beautiful Lake District of Cumbria in the northwest of England as a child. There are many editions over the years, including the first with cover art by Steven Spurrier. The 1st edition was not illustrated, while later editions were illustra...

In celebration of  #WorldBookDa y 2020, I am revising my list of top ten books about sailing and adding to it. What's your favourite book about sailing? The photo above is a selfie I took on an Atlantic Crossing. Flying downwind under spinnaker with our whites seahorse sigil. I'm reading a historical fiction book about Ireland as we sail home from the Caribbean. Without a library of books onboard, I would have gone stir crazy. Instead, I caught up by reading a book a day. Why is it that I can't allow myself to read at home, but read nonstop on the boat?  Does anyone else find themselves in this conundrum? My (Revised) Top 10 Books About Sailing - The Long Way (The Longue Route) - Sailing Alone Around the World - Perfect Storm - Wanderer - Once is Enough - Maiden Voyage - The Riddle of the Sands - As long as it's fun - A Voyage for Madmen - Survive the Savage Sea A few more for good measure. - The Summer Isles by Philip Marsden - Lord Jim by Josep...

We are rarely given extra time, but as 2020 is a leap year, this year we may feel like we have an entire extra day to do with as we please. I personally do not intend to squander it. February 29 falls on a Saturday so, if it works out weather-wise, we are going to take this extra time to get out on the water and mess about in boats! Here are some more resolutions for the leap year: Introduce at least 10 people to sailing this year, esp. kids Strive to learn something new every day on the water Make a point of gently teaching/coaching novice sailors Get in better shape for sailing Go out even when you don't feel like it Inspire young people to interact more with nature  Become attuned to marine biodiversity and contribute to the citizen science database Clean up some beaches and islands Encourage people to try something new on the water, whether kayaking or SUP Improve my own small boat handling skills Make it fun, regardless  And here are a few thought...

The sea welcomes us As waves break over the bow And wind fills the sails (c) Daria Blackwell

Image borrowed from Cruising Outpost , now again Lats & Atts I wrote a blog post some time ago which caused multiple friends to write to me how much they enjoyed reading it. It has to do with the loss of ambition, and replacement of ambition with contentment, especially as it relates to sailing but also in general. I have often examined the psychology of different aspects of sailing and voyaging, and I wonder if it’s a topic that should be explored more deeply.

We are conducting our Happy Hooking webinar online this coming Saturday, May 4 through Seven Seas University of the SSCA. It will begin at 1100h EDT and we'll be broadcasting from the west of Ireland. You don't have to be a member of SSCA to join in. Anyone can listen in and ask questions in this interactive online session. If you've never taken part in a webinar, it would be a good idea to test your system in advance as it requires a small download to activate. We'll be including new material from the latest edition of our book, which has been trending at No. 1 in anchoring and Top 100 in sailing books on Amazon. You can sign up online here . SEA102: Happy Hooking - the art of anchoring Speakers: Alex and Daria Blackwell Saturday, May 4, 2019 11:00am EDT Registration fee: $20 members, $25 non-members The Happy Hooking - The Art of Anchoring webinar is loaded with valuable information on anchoring tackle, anchoring technique, tying up and rafting, and anchori...

There has been an explosion of sailing videos on YouTube in the last few years. It seems that all the young people who have gone sailing are documenting their voyaging with vlogs instead of blogs, which appear to be so passe nowadays. Some have hundreds of thousands of subscribers who watch these videos that can be half an hour long. The best ones for me are under 10 minutes long, any longer and I get bored. YouTube has even created a list of top 30 sailing video channels .

I attended a cruising conference organised by Irish Sailing this past weekend. It turned out to be excellent. The lineup of speakers included:

Sailing 'fun'damentals! Yesterday I made a prediction that the next generation of sailors is already in the making through the effects of the new Disney classic Moana. I also made a plea not to turn kids off when they show up to sail training by forcing them into racing. Today, I am going to continue to expand on my writings about the shortcomings of how sailing is taught for the most part in sailing clubs around the world. In 2015, I wrote a piece for Yachting World about how making sailing programmes fun can help keep more kids sailing. I'd written similar pieces for magazines on both sides of the Atlantic before that. It's sadly not a localised problem. Somehow, we've allowed racing to define sailing. Last month, a series in Scuttlebutt tackled the issue of keeping kids in sailing and gave several great examples of how some clubs have managed to increase retention significantly through "Adventure Sailing" programmes. Can it be true? Is the con...

We have all made New Year's resolutions that we have more often than not given up on. But the best resolution for cruisers is to remind ourselves not to be complacent and to refresh our diligence about safety consciousness aboard. So here's my list of resolutions for cruising in 2019.  1. Adopt the 'astronaut training' mentality when underway. Always ask yourself 'what if' in preparation for the worst things that could happen. For example: What if someone falls overboard? What if the mainsail halyard jams while hoisting? What if the anchor drags on a dark and stormy night? What if the engine quits in a busy thoroughfare or crowded marina? What if a windward shroud snaps while beating? What if the backstay parts while sailing downwind? What if the spinnaker jams while dousing? What if we hit an object in the water?

The last few weeks were extraordinary for storms around the world. It's a strange conundrum that although weather forecasting is getting better, the weather overall is getting worse - more extreme and less stable.

With the advent of the resurrection of the  Golden Globe Race  in 2018 comes the release of the movie called The Mercy , telling the extraordinary tale of Donald Crowhurst's bid for fame and fortune in the first Golden Globe single-handed non-stop, around-the-world race. Starring Colin Firth and Rachelle Weisz, it's a disturbing journey through the deteriorating state of mind of a man who set out to win everything and realizes he is about to lose everything instead.

Yesterday, we addressed a conference of about 100 cruisers at the Irish Sailing Cruising Conference. In 2008, on a crossing of the north Atlantic, we encountered six gales and managed to avoid one strong storm. What we learned then, we were here to share about our experience with storm management. The conference was summarized overall in Afloat magazine . Following is an overview of our talk:

Hosted by the Monte Real Club Nautico de Bayona Baiona, 27-29 October 2017 In attendance on behalf of OCC: Daria Blackwell, Rear Commodore Alex Blackwell, Regional Rear Commodore, Ireland Representatives from 24 yacht clubs and cruising associations from Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal and Spain took part in a 2½ day conference on cruising in Galicia, Spain. Several specialist media representatives also participated. Representatives from ten marina and service organisations were in attendance as were members of the regional tourism and harbour development authorities.

Hurricane Ophelia south of the Azores and heading to Ireland As sailors, we are acutely attuned to wind, waves, and weather patterns. Our lives depend on it. As long-term sailors, we've been noticing the acceleration of changes in those patterns. I wrote about it first many years ago when sailing on Long Island Sound. I wrote about it again in 2011  after several crossings of the Atlantic.