Exploring the World in 'Blue Velvet of Sark': Where have we been?

For our current location in 2024 look at the 'Where are we now?' page on the Blog, or if you'd like to see where we have sailed before then scroll down this page.

2024: Getting some repair work completed on Blue Velvet delayed our departure from Guernsey until June in 2024. That curtailed our plans somewhat but we did manage to get back up to Scotland, albeit for a much shorter period than we originally envisaged. From there our original plan was to head down the western side of Ireland before setting off towards the Azores. However, weather and time played against us, so instead we returned south down the Irish Sea to position ourselves in Kinsale to prepare for our depature in early August towards the Azores.

This year the Atlantic depressions rolled in towards Ireland rather than up towards Scotland. However, on the back of one of the depressions heading a little further north we set off from Kinsale towards the Azores. The seas were very confused with swell and waves from 2 directions and with F6 winds we got a lot of water over the deck. That revealed that our fore hatch and windows were leaking. After 2 days it was clear that the depression was not going to head towards Scotland as forecast but instead swung further south. Rather than pressing on towards the northern Spain we diverted to Brest and spent the rest of the summer enjoying cruising in Brittany before returning home to Guernsey early in October. Over the winter we will replace the leaking windows and hatches as well as the generator, all of which should set Blue Velvet up nicely for another Atlantic crossing in 2025.

2023: Organising the Sailing Event for the Island Games kept us in Guernsey over most of the early 2023 summer but we did escape on Blue Velvet in August and September for a mini cruise around the north coast of Brittany, Southwest and Southern England.

2022: From July to October 2022 we escaped again this time setting off from our home island of Guernsey to the Western Isles of Scotland. A fabulous cruising ground well worth visiting again; we barely scratched the surface of the opportuities there.

2021: From August to September 2021 we enjoyed a mini-cruise from our home island of Guernsey to the southwest of England and then on to the southwestern part of Ireland. It was our first visit to Ireland and whilst the effects of the Covid pandemic were still present, we were able to move around freely and we thoroughly enjoyed our time in this beautifu cruising area. We will certainly be back, most likely in 2022.

From October 2019 to May 2020 we cruised first in the Chesapeake Bay and then completed a circuit of the northern Caribbean Sea from as far east as Antigua and as far southwest as the Honduran Bay Islands. Sadly that is when the Covid-19 pandemic changed our plans completely and after 2 months in lockdown on Roatan we made our way north to Beaufort in North Carolina. With the uncertainty and restrictions in traveling to countries the pandemic brought, we decided that the best course of action for us would be to return home to Guernsey, wait out the pandemic effects, and then set off cruising again sometime in the future. Our plan had been to set off transatlantic as soon as we could after leaving the Honduran Bay Islands. However, the weather in the Atlantic has proved to be completely disrupted this year and not following normal patterns to the extent that the conditions were just not favourable for a traditional May transit from west to east across the ocean. Instead we moved north up the USA east coast to Beaufort NC to wait for better weather patterns to establish themselves (pictured below). Our sail up from the Honduran Bay Islands and the subsequent 26 day Atlantic crossing from Beaufort NC back to Guernsey is pictured above.

From November 2018 until July 2019 we sailed back down to the Caribbean before skirting the southern Bahamas Islands and on to Cuba. Having enjoyed exploring the southern cost of Cuba we stopped briefly in Key West before moving on to the Bahamas. From there we sailed back to the USA East coast visiting Charleston and Beaufort NC before jumping to the Chesapeake Bay. The map below shows our 2018/2019 route.

From May until October 2018 we sailed from the Caribbean northwest and then up the US mainland and on to Canada before turning back south and returning to Virginia; all shown on the map below.