My journey from buying an S&S 34 in 2013 (with little sailing experience) to becoming a confident coastal and ocean single hander and moving on to sailing a 46ft Ericson single handed

My journey from buying an S&S 34 in 2013 (with little sailing experience) to becoming a confident coastal and ocean single hander

My journey from buying an S&S 34 in 2013 (with little sailing experience) to becoming a confident coastal and ocean single hander. This project took me 30 days of a 115 day severe lockdown in Melbourne Australia. It saved my soul.

My journey from buying an S&S 34 in 2013 (with little sailing experience) to becoming a confident coastal and ocean single hander

So I had to get away on Mendana, but the weather forecast was a shocker. I decided to steal a day trip through the Port Phillip heads at 9am arriving in San Remo just before dark...Then the fun started as the wind really blew up for a few days.

John and his wife have looked after the tracks and aerodrome on 3 hummock island for the last 8 years. 3 Hummock Island is a small island off the north west coast of Tasmania. Beautiful! Am I a goose or a geese! dooooh.

Great day with 25-30 knot winds from the North on The Bay. This means flat seas - a great environment to test some newly installed heavy weather systems.

A beautiful day on 3 Hummock Island, N. Western Tasmania. Looking over to Hunter Island and the Tasmanian mainland

Recent trip exploring Tasmania from St Kilda. This is a short clip of what was a half hour 'Dolphin Fest', during which we were surrounded by up to 500 dolphins doing random gymnastics and generally having a fantastic time. I have never seen so many...Nor so active.

Sailing on a fine day without touching the tiller or using autopilot - magic!

This is my journey from buying a great open sailing vessel with no knowledge of boats or little knowledge of sailing in 2013 to participating in a non-stop single handed race around the world - the MOD global 2019-20 single handed race!

Leaving Geelong on a beautiful day. I'm not good t doing this, but survived it once again....I think its all in the head Andy Burnip

A great day on my way from Geelong to Beaumaris Bay (Port Philip- Melbourne). Very cold and a long day eventually weighing anchor at about 8pm.

I love the way that Dolphins turn their heads to look at you when you sit over the pulpit....Wonderful creatures - they get me every time.

The chain ran away from me and I let 69 metres go... Lifting anchor was excruciating!.. I'm glad I was diligent in choosing a good anchorage with land to windward all night

I am trying out my new whisker pole. It is telescopic and weighs just 6 kilos. The reviews were not fantastic but I bought it anyway with the downsides in mind. It works well so far in up to 25 knots from behind...I will ditch my other pole which weighs 20 kilos and is 14 ft long. This one telescopes from 7ft to 15 ft.

Mendana showing her true colours as a vessel built to sail to windward. An exhilarating trip to Geelong in 30 knots of wind. Great solo experience...Later we had rain and hail with a few squalls.

Quick tour of my squeaky old boat

Beating back to melbourne

Bouncing along under the command of sir Edward