Under the Q Flag

This week, in another life, we would have set sail from Augustenborg in Denmark, heading north towards Norway, making our way across the North Sea to Scotland and back to Ireland.

But life under lockdown does allow time for reflection. That we can’t take life or health for granted. That someday, some time, we won’t have the health, even if we have the life, to enjoy the adventures that we have had the great good fortune to spend our retirement years enjoying – living in the beautiful Alpine mountains and skiing in the winter, exploring new lands, including the wonderful islands and Scandinavian towns of the Baltic Sea in the summer.

If we are lucky, the world will return to some form of new normality. If we are very lucky that will include the ability to travel and explore foreign countries and visit new places and enjoy their culture, their restaurants, their people.

And in the limited years we have to enjoy this good fortune, we have decided to stay in the Baltic, and explore more of the beautiful coast on board our lovely boat Melodrama. At least for the next three years.

If we were to sail back next year, and then spend a year or two in Lough Swilly and cruising in Scotland, we may never get a chance to return, and there is so much more that we want to explore.

So to pass the time dreaming of better days, we have made a plan to sail slowly north-east to Finland next year, and leave the boat in Estonia for the winter. But in these uncontrollable times, who knows if this will be possible. Hope so!

Best wishes to everyone wherever you are in the world, and stay safe.

Factoid: The yellow Q code flag, sometimes known as the ‘quarantine flag’ is flown by all yachts on entry to a new country. It signals ‘My ship is healthy and I require free pratique’, and remains flying until the yacht has been given permission by the host country’s customs and border authorities for its crew to disembark and travel freely in the country.