Distant Shores News

Sailing from England to the Netherlands – Frisian Islands

Sheryl Shard — 2010-06-30T22:58:52+02:00

July 1, 2010

Faaborg, Fyn
Denmark
Latitude: 55º 05'.6N
Longitude: 10º 14'.4E

First of all, a Happy Canada Day to all our family and friends back home! As Canadians, Paul and I are also celebrating our national day today but this year we are doing it in Denmark.

We arrived in Denmark last weekend aboard our new Southeryl 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, and are experiencing hot summer weather at last! We were starting to get worried since, up until a few days ago, we were still in full foul weather gear as we made our way here from England to the Netherlands, through the Kiel Canal in Germany, and then north to Denmark. But allow me to back-track a bit and continue our story where I left off last time...

After our shake-down cruise in May to the Channel Islands which lie off the coast of France we returned to England to the Northshore Yachts in Chichester Harbour to say goodbye to everyone there and have a few minor adjustments made to the new boat before we set off on our summer voyage to countries of the Baltic. Thanks again to the entire Northshore Yachts team for building us another great boat!

While we were there, Paul converted our main winch, a Lewmar 46 manual winch, to an electric winch, to make it easier to raise the mainsail. (See his discussion on this in his New Boat Blog) It's a huge sail and we realized we weren't using it as often as we'd have liked nor were we reefing when we should have since it was so much effort manually. Not good. So installing the electric winch meant another delay but well worth it!

Then the old boat sold and there was lots of paperwork etc. to deal with and then FINALLY at the beginning of June we got away. In celebration we dressed the boat with all the courtesy flags of the countries and colonies we've visited during our 20 years of cruising.

Our good friend, Wanita Gray, flew in from Canada just before we left and joined us for the leg to the Dutch Frisian Islands. Wanita is a very experienced offshore cruising sailor, a friend of 20 years through the Port Credit Yacht Club, and we have also served together on the national committee for the Extended Cruising course of Canadian Power and Sail Squadrons for many years so we're all happy aboard a boat together.

It was great fun to have Wanita with us as we made tracks along the south coast of England stopping at Brighton Beach,

then sailing past the white cliffs of Dover dodging the incredible amount of ship and ferry traffic in this stretch of the English Channel

as we made our way to Ramsgate where thick fog rolled in just as we arrived. (Yay to our Raymarine chartplotter with radar and AIS displays. We have an AIS transmitter too on this boat so the ships are very aware of our presence and we could literally see them adjust course long in advance of approaching us.)

After a lay-day in Ramsgate we made a night passage across the North Sea to Holland where we cleared in to the Netherlands in the port of Den Helder. We exchanged our British pound notes for euros and enjoyed a day of browsing the town, relaxing in cafes, and getting a feel for the country and culture. The town was stereotypically Dutch – spotlessly clean and orderly and everyone was riding bicycles. Everywhere we were to go in Holland there were excellent bike paths.

Our favourite experience in Den Helder was a visit to the Maritime Museum where we were given an interesting tour aboard a submarine by a volunteer who had once served on that very sub during the cold war.

From Den Helder we made an afternoon sail to the island of Texel where we began our cruise of the Frisian Islands which are a string of shallow sandy barrier islands along the north coast of Holland and Germany. Lots of shallow water so great territory for using our swing-keel. Although Distant Shores II is 49 feet long she only draws 2' 10" with the keel up. If you have ever read the book "Riddle of the Sands" by Erskine Childers the story takes place on a small sailboat in these islands.

When we arrived in Texel at the harbour at Ouderschild it was filled with beautiful traditional sailing boats giving school children heritage weeks aboard. We counted almost 50 of these boats with about 20 young people aboard. What a great experience for these kids!

We had pretty strong winds the next few days but in the protection of the islands the seas are pretty flat so we had great fun short-tacking up the narrow channels. The boat has a small self-tacking jib which made this really easy and fun.

The next island we visited was Vlieland, a very natural place with lovely long golden beaches and sand dunes.

There are excellent walking and cycling trails here, even out in the wild spaces so we rented bikes. Wanita and I opted for traditional bike and since we're both small needed kids bikes which cost us 6 euros each per day. Paul went for the fancy electrically assisted pedalling bike which was 20 euros a day.

From Vlieland, Wanita took the ferry to the mainland where she caught a train to the airport in Amsterdam, flew back to London and made her transatlantic flight back to Toronto the following day. The 2 weeks that she was with us just flew by and we all had great time sailing together, catching up on news from home, cooking and eating delicious meals onboard, and generally having a great time. Thanks to her for all the great photos she took during her visit.

We had some bad weather the few days after Wanita left so we anchored in the protection of Richel Island on the south side where we could dry out at low tide. It was like a moonscape when the water went out and we cocooned here writing and editing til the winds calmed and the sun shone once again.

Our Rocna anchor was totally buried after the experience! Good to know we have a good anchor that really grabs in when the weather gets foul.

The lovely island of Ameland with it's picturesque villages was our last stop in the Dutch Frisian Islands where we celebrated mid-summer night. We saw lots of seals around this island. So cute.

Next day we sailed to Borkum in the German Frisian Islands. As a welcome the harbourmaster at the Port Henry sailing club raised the Canadian flag in our honour. This was a nice tradition that was continued as we travelled through Germany.

Since it's Canada Day I think this is a good place to end. I will continue the story next time telling you about our transit from the North Sea to the Baltic through Germany's Kiel Canal.

Until then,

Sheryl and Paul Shard
Aboard Distant Shores II
www.distantshores.ca

Click here to check out our DVDs for more cruising adventures and tips!

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England to Channel Islands

Sheryl Shard — 2010-06-20T19:07:22+02:00

New Southerly 49 – England and the Channel Islands

June 20, 2010

Vlieland Jachthaven
Vlieland, Frisian Islands
The Netherlands
Latitude: 53º 17.877 N
Longitude: 5º 5.154 E

The last few months have been busy and exciting ones with the commissioning of our new Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, so over the next few newsletters I will be catching you up on all that's been going on...

We flew to England in early March after completing post-production on season 6 of the Distant Shores TV series and while in London visiting family we also spent a day at the Travel Channel studios where we filmed a number of promos for the new season and did an interview with Gareth Davis and Ginny Buckley, hosts of The Holiday Show. This is a great new weekly talk show on Travel Channel and this summer as we travel to countries of the Baltic filming new episodes of Distant Shores we will also be recording on-location interviews from time to time via skype for The Holiday Show. So if you receive Travel Channel check the schedule online for both Distant Shores and The Holiday Show at www.travelchannel.co.uk

After a few days in London we drove down to Itchenor on Chichester Harbour on the south coast of England. This is the location of Northshore Yachts, the manufacturer of Southerly yachts and it was here that we took delivery of our new Southerly 49 sailboat, Distant Shores II, on March 11th.

The weather was still pretty cold and gray in March so until we got moved on to the boat we stayed at the lovely home of Itchenor friends, Nigel and Elizabeth Pattison, who we'd met when taking delivery of our Southerly 42 a few years ago. We met up with them again while they and we were cruising in the Caribbean and stayed in touch. They are life-long sailors and delightful hosts who helped make our transition on to the new boat an easy one. They also introduced us to many of the their friends at the Itchenor Sailing Club and we especially enjoyed an evening there where one of the members gave an excellent presentation on his voyage to the Baltic which provided many useful tips and suggestions for our voyage this summer.

We had planned a month to complete additional boat projects we wanted to do ourselves, to have the factory fix any snags we came across during sea trials, and to move on board gradually so that we could really sort things out before beginning our summer voyage. But there were many delays primarily because the shipment of all our gear, bedding, cooking utensils, clothing and safety equipment from the Southerly 42 was delayed by several weeks! However the ship eventually came in and all our stuff arrived in good shape so by April we were enjoying exploratory sailing trips around the Solent area and several friends came to join us on weekends.

April 12 was Paul's 50th birthday. Starting another cruising adventure on a new boat was a wonderful way to celebrate it! He received many phonecalls, cards, e-mails and lovely gifts that day. Sailing friends, Vicki and Per, of SY Sunray arrived with a box of Baltic birthday goodies as a present. It was a great start to our summer's voyage and we had a fun weekend partying together and showing them around Chichester Harbour.

On April 28 we made our first night passage with the new boat, crossing the English Channel from Chichester Harbour to Guernsey in the Channel Islands off the coast of France. We had to time our departure and arrival carefully to work with the big tides and strong currents especially in the Alderney race where there can be currents of 8 knots!! There is also a lot of heavy ship traffic in the English Channel which we really had to be careful of so it was a challenging passage and good shake-down for testing out all our safety and navigation equipment. (See Paul's New Boat Blog for technical details).

We arrived in Guernsey in the late afternoon and spent only one night there since we were on our way to the next island of Jersey to participate in the Jersey Boat Show May 1-3rd. We would come back to Guernsey again afterwards to see more of this beautiful island.

It's just a half-day sail from Guernsey to Jersey but once again we had to carefully work out the tides and currents for departing and arriving. The tides in the Channel Islands are among the largest in the world with a range up to 11 m (40 feet)! The St. Hellier Marina where the boat show was to be held has a sill to keep enough water in the marina to keep the boats afloat at low water so there are only certain hours in the tidal flow that there is enough water to get over it. We timed our arrival a bit early so tied up at the waiting pontoon outside until the tide rose high enough for us to get into the marina.

The Jersey Boat Show is a small but very well attended show due to everyone's affinity for the sea in these islands. There were 5 Southerly yachts represented at the show including our 49 and Paul and I had an enjoyable time showing people our new boat as well as meeting fans of the Distant Shores TV series which has many followers in the Channel Islands.

Following the boat show we spent a few days exploring the lovely island of Jersey, famous for Jersey potatoes and Jersey cows (good ice cream here!). We especially enjoyed the many coastal walking paths, the Maritime Museum which had many creative and interactive exhibits, and the excellent War Tunnel Museum which told the story of the World War II occupation of the Channel Islands by the Germans.

After a few days we sailed back to Guernsey which also has a sill to be negotiated to get into the marina. We had just tied up when Adrian Heyworth, a fellow Southerly owner who lives in Guernsey, came by to say hello. He introduced us to his brother-in-law, Rupert Dorey, who is in the process of buying a Southerly so there was much talk of boats and cruising. Rupert and his wife, Rosie, and Adrian and his wife, Penny (the women are sisters) became our hosts and took us on a very fun outing to the nearby island of Herm.

Rosie's and Penny's parents bought the lease to manage the island of Herm which they did lovingly for many years before Adrian and Penny took it over when the parents retired. They are now retired and the island is being managed by another family. We saw puffins and sang to a seal and discovered the best place to dry out at low tide – Shell Beach. What a paradise! For more info visit www.herm-island.com

Returning to Guernsey we concluded our visit filming the Liberation Day celebrations which marked the 65th anniversary of the end of the German occupation. The parades, bands and choirs were spectacular with the crowning glory being a cavalcade of almost 100 privately owned beautifully restored military vehicles from the period of the occupation. The owners were in period costume and had come from all parts of Europe, including Germany, to participate.

It was a really great to visit the Channel Islands as a good shake-down for the boat. We look forward to the chance to return here in the future to do some more exploring and perhaps visit the island of Sark and Alderney which we missed on this trip.

From Guernsey, we sailed back to England and our base in Chichester Harbour to tend to a few tune-ups before the summer's voyage east. Next, I'll write about our voyage from England to the Frisian Islands where we are currently filming.

Until then,

Sheryl and Paul Shard
Aboard Distant Shores II
www.distantshores.ca

Click here to check out our DVDs for more cruising adventures and tips!

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A Brush with Royalty - HRH Princess Anne

Sheryl Shard — 2010-05-08T08:36:44+02:00

What an exciting day!! Northshore held an official opening of their new factory and HRH The Princess Royal - AKA Princess Anne came to do the official honours. The Princess is apparently quite interested in sailing and has a boat herself. She was shown arround the factory and took quite an interest in the boats and the process of building them. She went on board a few in various stages of completion and chatted with the guys building them. Her visit is of course very tightly scheduled and even which boats she might visit had been planned. What a surprise for workers on the Southerly 42 when she decided she wanted to go down below on that one as well despite not being planned. Royalty hath it’s privileges I guess!

From there she moved on to the showroom for the official opening.

Afterwards there was a champagne reception and a chance for the invited guests to meet the Princess. Luckily we were invited guests so got a chance to say hello! What a thrill!

Was my tie crooked? Did I say something stupid? We had even purchased suit/dress as we didn’t have anything appropriate. Everyone was more than a bit starstruck afterwards.

Seasons Greetings

Sheryl Shard — 2009-12-05T20:14:27+01:00

December 2009

Seasons Greetings One and All!

We hope you are enjoying this festive time of year and are making uplifting plans for the seasons to come.

What's New
Following a delightful fall cruise around the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the USA, Paul and I are back ashore in Canada working in the Shard Multimedia studio on post-production of the season 6 episodes of the Distant Shores TV series.

Distant Shores broadcast in over 200 countries
Although it's snowing where we are and there are Christmas carols playing on the radio, we're immersed in images and sounds of tropical places as we work with our production team to edit, script, and narrate new shows to entertain you in the New Year. These new shows will be broadcast in over 200 countries this winter. See “Distant Shores on TV” on www.distantshores.ca for more information. Note: Season 6 episodes will be available on DVD when the television broadcast is concluded.

New Distant Shores Superpack DVD Collection – All 65 episodes!
Have you missed any of the previous seasons of Distant Shores on TV? Did you loan your Distant Shores disks to friends and never got them back? Or watched them so often you've worn them out and need fresh ones?? Just in time for the gift-giving season the new SUPER-PACK with all 65 episodes from Seasons 1 to 5 is now available on our online store. Hours of inspiring and educational sailing fun! Super savings too!
http://www.distantshores.ca/sailingdvds/sailingdvds.html

Paul's New Boat Blog – See our new Southerly 49 at London Boat Show
In November, Paul flew over to England to the Northshore Yachts factory to check on the progress of our new Southerly 49. The boat is looking great and will be on display at the London International Boat Show in January. Come on by and we'll show you around! In the meantime, you can see photos and learn more about how we're equipping the our new Southerly on Paul's New Boat Blog:
http://www.distantshores.ca/boatblog/boatblog.html

Southerly 42 for sale
If you are looking for a beautifully equipped previously loved sailboat for long-term cruising our Southerly 42 is ready and waiting to take you to exciting places! Search on Southerly 42RST on YachtWorld.com or contact our office at Tel. +1 (705) 484-0061.

New Video Podcasts
Have you seen our new video podcasts? The response has been amazing! You can see them directly on the Distant Shores website, subscribe through the RSS link on the Podcast page or subscribe for free through the I Tunes Store (search Distant Shores podcast). Topics include valuable tips for comfortable cruising and on-location use of navigational and safety equipment.
http://www.distantshores.ca/podcast/cruising.html

See You at the Boat Show!
Paul and I love boat shows and this winter 2010 will be making guest appearances and conducting cruising seminars at the following shows:

London International Boat Show, England
Friday January 8 through Monday January 11
ExCel London
Visit us on our S49 at the Southerly stand N010 - Fri Jan 8 through Mon Jan 11
Seminar: “Transatlantic to the Caribbean & Bahamas” - Sat Jan 9 at 10:30-11:00 *
Seminar: “Shallow-draft cruising in the Bahamas & Caribbean” – Sun Jan 10 at 1200-1230 *
*Seminars to be held at The Show Stage, North Hall
www.londonboatshow.com/

Toronto International Boat Show, Canada
Thursday January 14 - Sunday January 17, 2010
Exhibition Place, Trade Centre
Seminar: “Shallow-draft cruising in the Bahamas & Caribbean”
Thurs. Jan 14th @ 4-5 pm
Fri. Jan 15th @ 1-2 pm
Sat. Jan 16th @ 5-6 pm
Sun. Jan 17th @ 2-3 pm
Seminar location: Presentation Theatre (located adjacent to Hall B entrance).
http://torontoboatshow.com

Sail Away Seminars with the Shards
Planning to go cruising and have lots of questions about cost, equipment, provisioning, communications and route planning? This winter we are hosting Sail Away Seminars at Port Credit Yacht Club in Mississauga, Canada, to help you design your sail away plan. These will be intensive one-day workshops. Attendance is limited to 20 people/day. Two dates to choose from:
Saturday February 13 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Sunday February 21 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Contact our office manager, Jill Schaffner, for more information or telephone: (705) 484-0061

Wishing you all the best for the holiday season and coming year!

Sheryl and Paul Shard
SV Distant Shores
www.distantshores.ca

United States Sailboat Show, Annapolis MD

Sheryl Shard — 2009-10-15T20:39:49+02:00

Thursday October 8 to Monday October 12 was the 40th Annual United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis MD and once again Paul and I and our Southerly 42, Distant Shores, participated in this wonderful in-water boat show. (See 15/11/08 Newsletter about about our trip south from Canada for last year’s boat show.)

Boat and equipment manufacturers from around the world display at this show, the largest in-water boat show in the United States. Every year it falls on the Columbus Day Weekend which is the Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend too so many sailboat enthusiasts from across both the US and Canada take advantage of the long weekend and fly or drive in to Annapolis making it a very festive yachting event.

Our wedding anniversary always falls during the boat show and it’s a fun way for Paul and me to celebrate all our years together with cruising friends attending the show. This year we celebrated our 24th anniversary!

This boat show was another great opportunity for us to share information with those planning upcoming cruises and to meet with viewers of the Distant Shores TV series. This TV series (also available on DVD on our online store) follows our sailing adventures to countries around the world and gives tips and techniques for safe and enjoyable cruising aboard a sailboat.

The Distant Shores TV series is broadcast across the United States on the high-definition channel WealthTV. Check the schedule on the Wealth TV website if you are in the US or Caribbean. In Europe, Asia and Africa you can see the programs on Travel Channel. We’ll be announcing a new Canadian broadcaster in the new year. We are currently filming episode 78 about cruising in the Chesapeake Bay.

This year at Annapolis we had the pleasure of working with Ben Davies, Sales Manager of Northshore Yachts (the manufacturer of Southerly yachts) who flew over from England for the boat show and also with the new American dealers for Southerly, Jack and Sharon Malatich, of Southerly America who are based at the Gratitude Yachting Centre in Rockville, MD.

If you are interested in a new or used Southerly yacht, Jack and Sharon are the ones to contact in the US. They are handling the sale of our Southerly 42 while we await construction of our new Southerly 49! (Read more about our new Southerly 49 in Paul’s New Boat Blog) You can also see the boat listed on Yachtworld.com under Southerly 42RST.

As a result of the boat show, Jack and Sharon have been booking appointments for test sails aboard Distant Shores and we will also be showing the boat at the upcoming Open Dock at Gratitude Yachting Centre in Rockville MD on Saturday October 24 from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. If you are looking for a fully-equipped ready-to-go luxury cruising yacht this Southerly 42 may be the boat for you! Start your cruising dreams now and contact the Malatiches for details. Tel. (410) 639 2777 or e-mail info@southerlyamerica.com.

In the next installment we’ll get back to cruising and tell you more about sailing around the Chesapeake Bay....

Til then,

Sheryl and Paul
Aboard SV Distant Shores
Annapolis MD

Port Credit & Southampton Boat Shows 2009 - seminars

Sheryl Shard — 2009-09-18T21:10:00+02:00

One of the pleasures of the cruising lifestyle is the opportunity to get together with fellow boaters and share stories, information and experience. This can take place informally aboard one another’s boats, at the yacht club, over a drink at a local sailor’s bar in some foreign port. More formally it occurs through books and websites, podcasts, DVDs, television programs like Distant Shores, or - like the last few weekends where we spoke at the Port Credit Boat Show in Canada and Southampton Boat Show in England - at boat show seminars.

I enjoy seminars since they are such a nice mix of formal and informal exchange of information. The classroom setting and style means a lot of information can be shared but the live interaction between seminar leader and seminar participants makes the whole thing casual and friendly, at least when the topic is about boating!

Paul and I have been cruising internationally now for 20 years and have 76,000 nm under our keels. We set sail from Toronto on September 21, 1989, on our first cruise, a 3-year Atlantic Circle aboard our self-built Classic 37 sailboat, Two-Step, that took us to the Bahamas, transatlantic to the Mediterranean, south to the Canary Islands and Brazil, then home to Canada via the Caribbean. The adventures have continued ever since with further travels in to the Mediterranean and countries of the Middle East and Caribbean. It’s a privilege and a pleasure to pass on what we’ve learned so that others may experience the joys of navigating to interesting places by boat too.

August 28,29, and 30th was the 19th Annual Port Credit Boat Show in Mississauga, Canada, just west of Toronto on Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes. While Paul worked in the studio completing post-production on new episodes of the Distant Shores TV series, I attended the boat show and each day conducted seminars about cruising in the Bahamas and Caribbean. We’ve now made 8 cruises through the Bahamas and 3 through the islands of the Caribbean. The turn-out for the seminar was excellent with standing room only despite the cool windy weather on a couple of afternoons. Thanks everyone for coming out and for your input!

With the help of our parents and office manager, Jill Schaffner, who looks after our office and fulfills book and DVD orders, I also manned a booth alongside fellow authors and filmmakers and had a great weekend talking to boaters, both power and sail, about the cruising lifestyle.

September 11, 12, and 13 Paul and I were in England for the first weekend of the Southampton Boat Show where we were invited to participate in the world premiere ceremonies of the new Southerly 49 along with yacht designer Rob Humphries and 2-times world circumnavigator, Dee Caffari. The ceremony and press call was on the Friday morning.

For the rest of the weekend we were at the Southerly stand to speak to visitors and cruising sailors about their upcoming plans for long-distance voyages.

The Southerly 49 on display at the Southampton show, which runs until September 20th, is hull #1 and is headed for Australia. Our new Southerly 49 is hull #2 and is well under construction. It was fun to be at the show and get familiar with the 49 there by showing people around the boat.

There was a large fleet of Southerly yachts on display at the boat show from the 32 up to the 49 and with the beautiful summer weather that weekend, many people came out to see or try out the boats.

We also enjoyed meeting many fans of the Distant Shores TV series, which airs in the UK and 50 other countries in Europe, Asia and Africa on Travel Channel here. Northshore had set up a nice area where we could sit and talk to those people that dropped by to say hello and ask questions about outfitting a boat for long-distance cruising. It’s a two-way exchange since these sessions always raise interesting topics and give us new ideas to share with others through our magazine articles and TV programs as well the newsletters and New Boat Blog on our website.

Another great thing about boat shows is the chance to meet up with manufacturers and suppliers of equipment we have depended on over the years. Friday night we had dinner with the team from Pantaenius Yacht Insurance who has looked after us throughout years of adventure under sail. We have always dealt with the UK office but they recently opened an office in the US for those of you that are interested.

On the Saturday night we gave a presentation at the Southerly Owners Dinner at the Royal Southern Yacht Club a beautiful club in the picturesque village of Hamble on the Hamble River and had a chance to meet and converse with many knowledgeable Southerly owners. Most had never cruised in the Bahamas so using excerpts from the Distant Shores Season 5: The Med to the Caribbean and Bahamas DVD we showed them what a perfect place the Bahamas is for shallow-draft cruising.

All and all it has been a great start to the boat show season! Next stop is the United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis MD from October 8-12 where we and our Southerly 42, Distant Shores, will be at the Southerly America booth on Dock D. January 8-12 we’ll see you at the London Boat Show where our new Southerly 49 will be on display and then we’ll be in Toronto for the end of the Toronto Boat Show January 14-17.

There are lots of great new products and innovations on the market to make life aboard more comfortable, safe and pleasurable. As boats are hauled out and winter sets in planning next year’s adventures by doing research, taking a course, attending boat shows, reading a good book are all ways to deal with cold weather and keep the cruising dream alive until spring launch. Paul will be discussing the new gear we are considering for our new Southerly 49 in his New Boat Blog so we invite you to drop by the Distant Shores website regularly to take a look.

Abaco Cays, Bahamas - Hope Town

Sheryl Shard — 2009-06-22T02:57:16+02:00