The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.

— Jacques Cousteau

Mersoleil

Mersoleil

Mersoleil is a 2010 Hylas cutter rigged monohull, an H46, built in Taiwan by Queen Long Marine. A bluewater cruiser through and through, she has carried Robbie and Bev more than 50,000nm around the world from 2011 to 2020. Mersoleil will be interviewing new owners in Ft. Lauderdale by spring 2020.

Recent Updates

Posted: Tue, 25 Sep 2018 - 22:40

It doesn't seem fair that we've told you so little about Madagascar, one of the nicest cruising grounds we've seen since the South Pacific, but the news today is that we're leaving! (Internet speed

Posted: Mon, 13 Aug 2018 - 01:54

August 11 2018 Sailing back from Nosy Mitsio to Sakatia This has been the most fantastic sailing we have EVER enjoyed on Mersoleil! We've run nearly all the 40nm south to Sakatia with a SW

Posted: Mon, 13 Aug 2018 - 01:54

August 7, Sakatia Island, Madagascar The islands off NW Madagascar are lovely. It's dry, but not quite arid, and the waters are generally friendly and calm. We've stopped here for a couple of

Posted: Mon, 13 Aug 2018 - 01:54

August 9th, Nosy Mitsio Madagascar's west coast is characterized in winter by a reliable wind pattern of very light land breezes from early morning until noon followed by more robust sea breezes

Posted: Mon, 13 Aug 2018 - 01:54

August 6 in Hellville, Nosy Be, Madagascar No idea who or why they call it Hellvile, the Malagasy name of the main town on Nosy Be is actually Andoany, Robbie and I spent five or six days resting up

Posted: Sun, 29 Jul 2018 - 19:02

We sailed from Mayotte on July 25, arriving in the early morning of our wedding anniversary, the 27th. Another unexpectedly difficult passage with even Predictwind off by more than 10kts, so we

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

July 5 2018 As we departed Mahe the wind was decidedly SW, which we attributed to its bending around the island. But even 20nm away and further, we're getting no easterly component at all and now

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

July 6, 2018 Yesterday when Mersoleil reached hull speed, 9.6kts, Robbie decided it was time for some more serious reefing. Now the genoa is furled away and we're sailing fast on only a

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

Going the long way to Mayotte to avoid high winds Our weather expert reports that the plume of enhanced winds bending around Madagascar has grown, reaching further north than usual, and he has

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

Greetings from Rocket Ride Mersoleil, July 8, 2018 More of the same... that's all we have to report. Winds generally in the 23/28 range, but once in a while they pop up over 30 just to make

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

July 9 2018 Last evening as we rounded Aldabra, a few miles off, NW of the atoll, the winds and sea both calmed down. It was such a pleasure! We continued on a course of about 235T, then 225T as

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

July 10 2018 on the final run to the lagoon pass, Passe Mtsamboro, Mayotte We've turned on the iron genny hoping we might anchor inside the lagoon at Mayotte before dark today. We could have

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

A Short Visit to the French insular department of Mayotte, not a country, not a territory, too complicated for me. But French, si vous plait. After a couple of days at anchor off Dzaoudzi we've

Posted: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 - 05:06

Departing Seychelles for Mayotte on July 4 2018 Originally planning to remain in Seychelles until August, we've decided to move on a little earlier. Mersoleil was burglarized in early June

Posted: Fri, 22 Jun 2018 - 02:06

A day aboard the Jai Alai, a Spanish deep-freezing tuna purse seiner....... It's difficult to decide which to tell you, that we never give one another gifts anymore, there being nowhere to stow

Posted: Fri, 18 May 2018 - 02:00

With the arrival of every issue of Flying Magazine, to which he subscribed when he started flying small planes, Robbie turned directly to "I Learned About Flying from This" and read with interest the

Posted: Fri, 4 May 2018 - 00:40

This is so typical of our visit to Rajasthan. I didn't even intend to write about this visit to a Thar Desert village homestay, but going to my February photos at random it was the first thing I saw

Posted: Fri, 4 May 2018 - 00:36

I've thought long and hard about this posting, about what to say about our experiences in India. As you know, I'm not wont to post photos with such captions as 'here we are standing in front of the

Posted: Thu, 5 Apr 2018 - 05:16

There's much to report today, not the least of which is that Mersoleil is on passage and has been for nearly two weeks. The most unusual passage we've ever experienced, this one, with virtually no

Posted: Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 23:03

Munnar, Kerala, India Mersoleil securely tied to a dock in Kochi, we've decided to tour Kerala State for a few days. First stop, a three-day visit to Munnar, 125km from Kochi, with its

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