Category Archives: Sailing

Croatia Cruising and Climbing

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We’ve just finished our first week in Croatia, sailing to the Islands of Vis, Korcula, Hvar and Scedro. We had perfect sailing conditions, with 10-20 knots winds most days. Aboard our Bavaria 46 Cruiser, we were able to set sails to make the cruising very smooth. The wonderful people at Adriatic Yacht Charter provided us with an immaculate yacht for the week. Thank you Goran for your expertise!

It’s no wonder that sailing in Croatia has gotten so popular. There are a seemingly infinite number areas to sail, whether leaving from Split, Dubrovnik or further north from Zadar. One can wait until the winds are established in the morning, then let those winds take you to some new island, secluded inlet or historical harbour.

Thank you to the wonderful Donohue family for sharing this unique week with me.

Greenland Heliskiing and Spring Update

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What a winter! There was so much to do I needed 36 hours in the 24 of each day. Hiring some of my favorite guides to look after the clients I couldn’t ski with did add some of those hours. But it still felt non-stop. We were lucky too this winter, with the bulk of the Alpine snow falling in this corner of Switzerland. Mid February showed us with 138% of norm snow depth.

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This has meant a lack of updates from me. By then, my knee was strong enough to start guiding with confidence. There were so many fun trips in my backyard and further afield around the Valais and to Italy and France. One of my favorite powder shots was in late February, Nellie on her second run from the heli, super exhausted already…

Heliskiing Verbier 20176

Heliskiing Verbier 2016

Then Greenland again! What a pleasure it is to stay in the tiny village of Kangaamiut, our base for heliskiing on the west coast of Greenland. There was less snow than I’ve seen, yet the skiing was as good as ever. A few more days of bluebird weather would have been nice. But the glaciers were so well covered, it allowed us to again ski lines never skied before. We will be in Greenland again from April 17, 2017 to May 7, 2017. Come join us for the best heliskiing in the world.

Summer is almost here, and I’ll be traipsing around looking for fun rock to climb and waters to sail. Please drop me line to join in any adventure.

Fiona rock climbing above the Rhone

Fiona, rock climbing above the Rhone Valley- June 7,2016

Sailing Croatia

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Because I also have a skipper’s licence, plan B, sailing in the Croatian islands, gave us a whole new perspective. Plan A was 7 days ski mountaineering in the Bernese Alps, from the Jungfraujoch and Aletsch. The two pictures below, from my house here in Verbier today and Croatia yesterday, leads me to believe it was a great choice!

Yachts off my stern

Yachts off my stern

30 cm of fresh!

30 cm of fresh!

What a week of sailing it was. Because of the continued forecasted wet and cold weather in the Alps, we decided a few days before departing to go south. The islands of Croatia offer excellent sailing grounds with an abundance of yachts to charter. Easy Jet offers weekly flights from Geneva at affordable rates. We chartered Svrsata, a 40 foot Sun Odyssey 39i, out of the new port at Seget, near Trogir. She was a blast to sail, tackling strong winds up to force 6 with ease. I was never a fan of in-mast furling, but this made reducing sail super easy. We sailed to Vis on our first day out, in a solid force 5. After getting the sails right, Svrsata sailed close haul at close to 7 knots with ease. We combined that with a fine climb at “Little Thailand” on Hvar to make a real fun week of fine adventure.

Sailing on Lake Geneva

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Cherries, Stephan and I had a fine, sporty sail on Lake Geneva this early September Thursday. Basile was bouncing and flying over the turbulent waters of Leman, happy to be shaking the spiders from her shrouds. We sailed much of the afternoon with one reef in the main, and no head sail. Gusts over 20 knots kicked up some fine little waves!