The quickest way to get S.V. Arrested from New Ross to Brittany would be to head south and cross the Celtic Sea. But this voyage was never only about getting the boat to France. It’s about the music along the way, and about going back to where my sailing started before I begin the next chapter. So the route I’ve planned takes the long way round: through Wales, along the south coast of England, home to Essex, and only then across the Channel.

Sailing solo sets the pace

I’ll be sailing single-handed, and that shapes almost every decision. My insurance limits me to passages of 18 hours, and I’m planning to keep every leg under 15 so I arrive with something left in the tank. Arrested is a Jupiter 30, a quick cruiser that will average five knots without much fuss. At that pace the whole trip breaks down into about 39 day passages.

The first hop is a short one, down the coast to Kilmore Quay. Staging there makes the crossing to Milford Haven a much easier day. I’ll leave New Ross from mid-April, on the first decent weather window.

Tides, headlands and weather

Some stops are there because the sea says so. Ilfracombe splits the Bristol Channel into two manageable legs. Padstow has to be entered around high water. Further on, Cherbourg is where I’ll wait for the right tide through the Alderney Race, and in Brittany L’Aber Wrac’h and Camaret-sur-Mer are the waiting rooms for the Chenal du Four and the Raz de Sein.

I’ve also built in one spare weather day for every three passages. The dates on the route page are windows rather than promises. The weather will have the final say.

Playing my way along the coast

The other half of the plan is music. I’ve chosen ports with venues nearby so I can play as I go: gigs in Milford Haven while I wait for the Bristol Channel, a base at Falmouth for a run of shows around the Fal, and harbour towns all the way along the south coast. Many of the marinas are in the Passeport Escales network, which offers free short stays and makes the budget stretch a lot further.

If you run a pub, club or venue near one of these ports, I’d love to hear from you. I can fit a gig around the tides.

Going home to Essex

At Dover, instead of crossing to France, I’ll turn north up the coast to Burnham-on-Crouch and Stone Sailing Club. These are the waters where I grew up sailing, and the chance to bring my own boat back there was one of the first things I knew I wanted from this voyage.

I’ve given myself a good two weeks there in June: time with old friends, gigs in town and a reunion at Stone Sailing Club. It’s the one part of the schedule I’m determined to protect.

My first sailing club was Brandy Hole Sailing Club on the Crouch. From there I moved to Maylandsea Bay on the Blackwater, and then on to Stone, where I started sailing in competitions around the UK. I have so many fond memories of childhood friendships made in Maylandsea, Stone and Burnham, and sailing my own boat back into those waters feels like the right way to close one chapter before I start the next.

Then on to France

From Ramsgate it’s the short hop across to Dunkirk, then down the French coast: Normandy, the Channel Islands, north Brittany, round Finistère and into south Brittany, arriving at La Roche-Bernard around the end of July or early August.

La Roche-Bernard will be the new home port for S.V. Arrested. I was looking for a place with great sailing, active music venues and easy travel back to Ireland with two small dogs, and it ticks those boxes.

You can follow the full passage plan on The Route page. In the meantime I’m gigging through the winter to pay for the refit, so if you’d like to help the voyage happen, book an act for your event.