Plans Are Made in the Sand at Low Tide

A number of you lot want to know what our plans are for this year. Normally our plans are written in the sand at low tide only to have them changed when the tide comes in.

But not this year!

So now we are in Murter, Croatia getting stuff fixed.

We then finish off Croatia with a visit to Bol on Brac Island and then Vis. We leave Vis for the south of Italy on or before 22^nd June. We are in the process of getting extra crew to help us do the long sail around to first Sicily and then Sorrento.

We need to be in Sorrento by 2^nd July to pick up favourite Daughter Claire and her hairy but good-looking boyfriend, Kane. According to Kane, we will then fish our way up to Elba along the East Coast of Italy, before zipping across to Corsica and then down again to Sardinia to hang out with the glamorous people.

Talking of Glamour, we pick up Howie and 4 of his/our friends for an overly full boat of 7 for a week of partying and mayhem to celebrate Howie’s 60^th. This all happens from the 22^nd to 29^th July.

After throwing most but not all of the drunken sailors overboard, Howie, Joy, Dee and I will head to the Balearic Islands, still my favourite Med islands. Some would say it’s because I’m shallow and enjoy the sight of all those topless young things frolicking on neighbouring boats, but I like to think it’s because the beaches and coves are delightful and the tapas and wine are first class. Peter flies in from his holiday in England to enjoy some sailing and frolicking (he still looks good topless) in the Balearics and we will drop off Howie and Joy whilst here as well.

Mid August, we will head off to Algeciras in Spain (across the bay from Gibraltar), where we drop off Peter and attend to all that needs to be done to get La Mischief ready for an Atlantic crossing. Now that will be exciting.

We then head off at the start of September down to Casablanca for a bit of “Here’s Looking at You Kid”. A land trip to Marrakesh will complete our Moroccan experience.

Then it’s off to the Canaries to start our Jimmy Cornell Barbados 50 Rally. A week of seminars and boat preparation in mid-September then we cruise the Canaries with the Rally. In October we head down to the Cape Verde islands, which take us down to the Trade Winds.

We leave for Barbados on November 9^th with Phil and Allan on board. It will take us 15-20 days depending on winds and weather. Hopefully it will be relatively boring.

We then leave La Mischief in a Marina for 3 weeks and fly to California so Dee can show me off (really?). Then I go back to Perth for a couple of weeks, to catch up with family and friends.

Then we fly back and hit the Caribbean for at least a couple of years listening to our favourite Jimmy Buffett tunes as we go. Make your bookings now. We will also head up to New York and Boston via the Inter Coastal Waterway during one of the hurricane seasons.

Can’t be unhappy with that.