Carol Wu

Sailing with Leon on Regina Laska is a privilege to be treasured for a long time.

A consummate professional, whether as skipper, instructor, chef, sommelier or adventure host, Leon does it all with enthusiasm and flair.

Sharing not only his beautiful yacht but also his extensive knowledge of cruising, Leon’s generosity to his guests is unmatched. There’s always something new to learn from Leon, much of it by example.

I’m lucky to have him as a resource for my seafaring adventures.

 

Leaving Cuxhaven on a cold day in April with my fellow crew Matthias, Ralf and Esther.

 

One of Leon’s creations for dinner! This is sailing in style for sure!

Whether we eat out in an elegant restaurant in France or a cozy pub in England or enjoying an evening onboard – we always have fun and enjoy each others’ company! It was great that we all had participated in the theory course together in Malta proceeding the sailing leg!

 

Medical training onboard Regina Laska! Since we all had jointly been on Reginasailing’s STCW Proficiency in Medical First Aid with Dr Spike Briggs in Malta, we found it interesting to go through the complete medical stock that is carried onboard Regina Laska.

Checking all the medicines that are found onboard.

Testing the neck collar that did not feel convincing. Leon immediately ordered a new, better neck collar to replace this one with. This would be delivered together with the new oxygen generator by Dr Spike Briggs a week later to Lymington.

Having fun sailing along the Dutch coast in gale-force winds with the new fixed cutter stay sail. But sailing upwind against the tide was not very rewarding, so after some hours of testing heaving-to and the cutter stay sail, we turned back to Den Helder. It’s always good to have a Plan-B!

My new sailing teacher Matthias! :-)

 

Cool sailing!

 

Taking photos of Leon’s liquid resistant table clothes in four different colours. Which colour shall I choose for my new HR340, do you think?

 

Sunrise on our approach to Dunkirk.

 

The moon with the French coast that we are approaching after an overnight sail from DenHelder.

 

The “super-special mark” outside Dunkirk. What is it?

 

Closer by, we could better see the shape of this super-special mark put out by the Dunkirk tourist authority to attract seamen to their city…

 

Discussing harbour manoeuvres with Matthias. Finally the warm weather arrived!

 

From Dunkirk on, we used classical navigation. And in The Solent we did some great exercises. When I come next year for my Yachtmaster exam, we will have loads of more exercises in The Solent!

Passing the south english coast. Really beautiful!

 

Not many minutes to dig out your ColRegs with these fast fellows approaching!

 

Spraying off the anchor after our session on anchoring in Osborne Bay in The Solent

 

 

Carol Wu, Hongkong, HR 340 owner, sailing the Yachtmaster Prep Course Leg 2-2018 from Cuxhaven to Lymington, The Solent, UK