Henn Avasalu's letter (YM Dec p. 16) "Sail the Baltic" attracted our attention as it demonstrates the warm welcome British and other visiting yachtsmen receive all around the Baltic as well as highlighting some of the advantages of cruising this beautiful and interesting area. Henn has been unfortunate in meeting few of us because we are out there in considerable numbers but by October we have laid up our boats and returned home.
The Cruising Association is delighted that members Paul and Rachel Chandler have been released from captivity after 388 days. They are now at the British High Commissioner's residence in Nairobi and will be returning to the UK shortly. They were kidnapped from their 38ft yacht, Lynn Rival, in October last year in international waters some 600 miles from the coast of Somalia. Their yacht was returned to the UK by the Royal Navy in November, 2009.
Further to my “discovery£ that Weatheronline provides the UK Met Office meso-scale wind vectors, I have now found that COAMPS forecasts can be obtained in GRIB format for the Mediterranean, British Isles, Biscay, the North Sea and Scandinavia.
Because I rarely look at Weatheronline, I am a year behind the
pace in noting that output from the UK Global and the North Atlantic European
(NAE) meso-scale versions of the Unified Model are publicly available using a
web browser.
From 5-9 July CA's Baltic Section met in Helsinki. The venue was the home harbour of Helsingfors Segelklubb (HSK) at Lauttassaari. HSK with whom CA formed an affiliation a few years ago welcomed our rally and gave the opportunity for many HSK members to meet with the Baltic Section members
Since they (in line with most of the EEC) prohibited the use of red diesel
fuel to power pleasure craft several years ago, there are concerns that the
Belgian Excise Authorities are taking a keen interest in where and when you
bought your fuel.
"Pouncer", a Twister 28 skippered and owned by CA Member Charlotte Wilkinson is the first foreign yacht to use the newly permitted passage to St. Petersburg.
Just a brief note to thank everyone for their efforts last weekend
