In the 2016 season we launched Al Shaheen at the end of May in Saltsjobaden near Stockholm, sailed her 100 miles south to Mem then crossed Sweden via the Gota Canal to Gothenburg. After that we sailed north up the west coast of Sweden to Fredrikstad, then around the south coast of Norway to Stavanger. We waited in Stavanger in the rain and strong westerlies for two weeks for a favourable wind to cross to the Orkneys before abandoning that plan and returned to Gothenburg. Thence south to Denmark, north Germany, the Kiel canal and back across the North Sea to Ipswich where we replaced rudder bearings.

Following that we sailed her to the Hamble in September and put her up for sale.

Sadly, Al Shaheen is now SOLD, the end of an era!

I can see we missed out on reporting the 2014 season entirely! In fact we left Ipswich in late May after a major repainting job, then sailed to the Kiel Canal and into the Baltic to join the OCC Baltic Rally. This took us through Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and into Finland before leaving for St Petersburg. After a wonderful visit to Russia we idled arounf East Finland for a few weeks, hauled out early due to a house move and left Al Shaheen in a shed in Loviisa, Finland for the winter.

We launched in late May this year (2015) and sailed to Helsinki where we had a small get-together for OCC Finnish members and made a presentation to Vladimir Ivankiv of his PO Medal. Since then we have progressed steadily westwards through the Turku Archipelago and are now on the eastern extremity of the Àland islands. Still very cold.

We shall cross to Sweden once we have explored Àland and thence to Denmark.

Al Shaheen winter 2013/2014

This summer we sailed 4,300 miles from Nova Scotia to Ireland via the Azores and then pottered along the south coast of Ireland to Falmouth via the Isles of Scilly and from there Falmouth, Plymouth, Dartmouth, Weymouth, Lymington, Southampton, portsmouth, Brighton, Eastbourne, Ramsgate and finally Ipswich.

Al Shaheen is to have a major re-paint at Fox 's yard in Ipswich.

Next Spring the plan is to sail to Kiel in May and join the OCC Anniversary Rally in the Baltic to St Petersburg. Come and join us!

John and Jenny,
It was a pleasure meeting you this past summer in Maine. Your story resonates on many levels having lived your experience for 6 seasons on the other side of the pond. ( much of it single handed unfortunately ). Do say hello for me to my good friend / host in Scotland Mark Holbrook. Hope we can cross paths again ( in Maine ? )
Bill R. ( and Jeane )
SV Blueprint

Here 's an update for Al Shaheen.
We left Nova Scotia in early July and motored practically all the way to Maine. We have spent the last 6 weeks cruising Maine between "Don East" and Penobscot Bay, culminating in the very successful Maine Rally last weekend followed by a short cruise with up to 30 OCC boats!

We are now getting ready to sail back to Nova Scotia and our winter base in Mahone Bay to haul out. looking to meet more old friends and OCC Port Officers along the way!

John thanks for that we are hoping to overwinter in Nova Scotia in a couple of years after when we cross westwards via Iceland and the West Coast of Greenland so it 's good to have a local recommendation for a yard.

We left Al Shaheen last September hauled out at Gold River Marina in Chester Basin, Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. Her mast was taken down and she was fully shrink wrapped. The previous year we had done the same and found her bone dry and no mildew aboard in the Spring. Gold River is a rather quaint but very friendly and caring marina with excellent staff. We would recommend it for anyone over-wintering in Nova Scotia. Length/displacement limit is about 45 ft and 15 tonnes.

Anyone wanting information on Nova Scotia yards for haulout and storage, please contact me.
John Franklin