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Thanks for the comment. The Cruising Association, if you're a member, has a great source of info on the new clearance rules but, in a nutshell, if you arrive at a main Port of Entry (PFF) you still have to show up to the douanes in person to get passports stamped. When you leave France you then have to leave from a PFF to get your exit stamp in your passport. However, as of July 24 there are 53 smaller ports and marinas operating under the new 'Protocol' - you can usually get the form they required (24 hours ahead of arrival) from their individual website (the CA has a version on its website which is a bit easier to edit) together with the email address to send it. In our case we used St Quay who were super-efficient. This way you don't get your passport stamped (we never had to show them) but do get a copy of the form with the customs stamp on it. The only caveat is that if you use a Protocol port to arrive, you have to use a Protocol port to depart (not a PFF). in practice the marinas are all keen to make this work so are very helpful, though some of the staff are still getting the hang of it. We were told at Lezardrieux that we'd be sent a copy of the customs stamped departure form but we never received it so we assume they cleared us out but..... Keep a copy of all your forms, just in case!

@@grahamkeating751 Many thanks for such a swift and detailed reply. Much appreciated. We will check the CA Site and check St Quay. Safe sailing.

Great video, thanks for taking the trouble to make it and for sharing it. Fair winds.

Hi Alexis, thanks for your comment. Visibility over the pilothouse is pretty good (actually better than the 34pilot) but we fitted a bigger wheel (which has to be a folding one to be able to access the cockpit locker) to make it comfortable to sit to leeward and look along the side deck. There are several videos on our MaunieofArdwall RUclips channel - the Post Lockdown Shakedown one from about 3 years ago has a below decks tour.

Be aware that they only built 12 V38 Pilots ( they were expensive board for their size) so finding one might be a challenge!

@@grahamkeating751 Thank you Graham. If really looks like a great boat! And though expensive, probably worth the original price tag. Cheers, Alexis

I’m guessing it’s an Oxley self-stabilizing sail. From the Oxley website: “In contrast to a conventional Spinnaker/Gennaker, Oxley’s self-stabilizing sails BORA and LEVANTE are equipped with a lift creating wing in the upper part of the sail body. For the long distance cruising sailor the advantages of this construction can be summarized within the following features: For the cruising sailor with an AUTOPILOT. The entire boat is stabilized as the sail is automatically balanced by the lifting function of the wing. This leads to a reduction in rudder pressure and minimized corrections of the autopilot.”

Thanks for the comment. It’s a Parasailor ( a German design) - it has an inflating wing, much like a parascender canopy, which stabilises the sail, provides lift and also allows some venting of sudden gusts. We love that thing and flew it for 52 hours non-stop when we were crossing the Pacific.

not found that to be a problem - we tend to use it on a fairly full tank so the returning fuel probably only disturbs the top couple of inches in the tank,

Initially I took the lid off the Racor and put some clean fuel into the bowl; it then primed straight away. after that I close the valves after use so the pump and Racor have fuel in them and it primes immediately

the pump is after the Racor

We followed ASAP's advice so the fuel goes through the filter first then the pump - seems to work perfectly.

Hi there - this video might help a bit: ruclips.net/video/oZGn23qKI2I/видео.htmlsi=noW2AuLU6f0abruh You need a sheet and a guy on both sides of the boat - I use 14mm lines. The guy goes to a block (pulley) about amidships, the sheet to a block as far back as possible. Standard arrangement for a symmetrical spinnaker do you should be able to find a diagram in a sailing manual. It’s a good idea to have blocks with beckets so that you put some elastic from the top to the guard rail above it to keep the block standing up at all times. They say you can set the Parasailor without a pole but it’s much more stable with one. If we are dead downwind we sometimes rig a pole at each side but the hassle only pays off if it’s going to be up for a long time (our record is 52 hours). Also, we always fly it with the mainsail stowed (as recommended by the makers). Always wear gloves when hauling down the snuffer and put the line round a foredeck mooring cleat - it’s very easy for the wind to suddenly fill the sail as you are part way up and there’s a risk of friction burns on your hands as the snuffer bucket flies upwards. It’s a fantastic sail- get lots of practice in light winds. Have the engine running quite fast and in gear as you snuff the sail as this reduces the apparent wind in it, but beware trailing sheets into the prop!

I did consider that but because you can easily see the flow rate of fuel from the outlet pipe back into the tank, the MK1 eyeball works perfectly to tell you when the filter is getting blocked.

According to Wikipedia (arbiter of all knowledge) Fuel Polishing is described as: “Fuel polishing is the technical cleaning process used to remove or filter microbial contamination from oil and hydrocarbon fuel in storage. It is essentially the removal of water, sediment and microbial contamination from such fuels as diesel, red diesel and biodiesel.” Which is, I think, exactly what this set up does! LOL

Thanks for your comment. The veneer for the doors was from thewoodveneerhub.co.uk and the flooring laminates was from robbins.co.uk

Google “fuel polishing”and you’ll discover that’s exactly what the process has become widely known as! Sure, it’s filtering but the commercial guys who charge a lot for the process obviously thought polishing sounded better and so the description joined the yachting vernacular. Who cares - The most important thing is to get the bugs out of your tank.