These are the Superlight versions of Brompton’s folding bikes, which, with several structural components and accessories made from titanium, weight nearly a kilogram less than the all-steel versions. Very handy. An advantage of the Garcia Exploration 45 over other yachts is that when sitting on the hard it is not as high off the ground. The centreboard is raised and the boat is resting on its hull at the front, with a low support at the rear. Some of the keel boats around us are scary high. Eek!

Here's a link to a video made by LUGGY, a local personality and future mayor of Fishguard, who we met while he was making a live broadcast and while we were anchoring. LUGGY's livestream shows Snow Gum from new angles which we haven't seen before. The first link below goes straight to our part. The second link starts at the start. Regards from Carolyn and Rick. https://youtu.be/YT0JhZruuzA?t=13940 https://youtu.be/YT0JhZruuzA

Well no one has named the destination for Snow Gum’s first adventure, so here’s a clue. There’s something else that’s interesting to see in this clip. 🙂

Sorry about the wind noise but a VoiceOver would not capture the moment. We’ll try to find a ‘dead kitten’ microphone. So who’s figured out where we ended up? 🙂 Regards, Rick and Carolyn.

Here’s an interesting view of an Exploration 45 from the front. It reveals what Olivier Racoupeau refers to as ‘beam stability’, in his interview on the Garcia Yachts channel. Katy and Jerry on GX25 - Idril pulled up to the dock next to GX27 - Snow Gum. The four of us humans had a good chat about all manner of things relating to Exploration 45s. It was like the old days, pre Covid. Good fun. 🙂 I don’t know what the two boats talked about. Regards, Rick. Quick quiz - what’s the story with the name Idril? No search engines allowed! 😠

Here are the links to this French TV news article. Regards, Rick and Carolyn. Watch from 9:40 - https://mobile.francetvinfo.fr/replay-jt/france-3/19-20/jt-de-19-20-du-mardi-9-mars-2021_4300159.html And on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/257211180986790/videos/3862601153787586

One hull or two? The choice is yours. 🙂

Roberto asked a few good questions about the mast steps in a comment to this video https://youtu.be/p9Ge7HwucF4 . A few good answers are there too, if interested. This short clip provides an update on the brand and part number of the mast steps. Almost no wind right now. I might have to give all 34 of them a try. Or perhaps, by popular demand, Carolyn might try them all! 😳 Regards, Rick.

Here’s a short video showing access to the impeller of the Volvo engine in our Garcia Exploration 45. 🙂

I set an alarm for the spring tide today. We drew a mark on the pylon. Look at how high the water is on the breakwater. Great day for sailing but we’ve got to go shopping first, before the supermarket’s people limit means we might have to cue. Actually, the communities respect for Covid management measures here is very good, something we appreciate very much. Our location on the pontoon helps keep us safe. 🙂

We bought a canyoning harness before leaving Australia and it was still adjusted for Carolyn’s small size, so she was the one to try it first. The fourth mast step was too stiff to be opened so that’s as high as she climbed. We’ll need to carry some kind of persuader to open them, until they free up a bit. After that first climbing effort we had a second go in the fading light, with the two halyards again but also the winch this time. Much easier, for her! :-)

We’ve been quite impressed with the boat speeds we’ve been able to achieve so far, with minimal to zero fine tuning. On our first outing we had 9.3 knots from 12-13 knots of true wind, on a close reach. Today it was almost six knots from less than 9 knots of true wind, reaching. Keep in mind that it’s a heavy cruiser, not a racer. :-)

Here’s a short video showing the view from the deck saloon of a Garcia Exploration 45. We’re running on engine back into the harbour at about 1500 revs.

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For our Garcia Exploration 45 we decided to stick with the standard gas cooker, to maximise our autonomy in places where solar performance is suboptimal. When we do have plentiful electricity we’ll use induction and microwave cooking. Did I say we’re in a rolly anchorage? It is rolly, but it’s a well protected marina. A ripper English Channel winter storm started on cue in the middle of the night and hasn’t let up all day. Carolyn and I were up at 2.30am to check what was banging (the anchor in the bowsprit) and to stop our tender from becoming an aeroplane. Carolyn’s mooring line cleat hitches were all holding well - the day dawned and we were still in the same slip, which is the plan.

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This short video shows Snow Gum’s nav station layout, along with additional, twin 12V outlets, in the just the right places for charging Smart devices in use on the saloon table. We replaced the standard USB outlets with extra 12V outlets, to provide flexibility for future technology developments, along with higher power output - 100W each. There’s also an additional 230V AC outlet under the nav station at the starboard end, perfect for a battery charger or setting up a Wabeco CNC milling machine and lathe on the table. :-D