Topsail Adventures Ltd

Amelie Rose and the Hungry Sailors Episode 2: Crustacean Slaughter in Salcombe

We're up early on the 3rd to sail Amelie Rose along the coast to Salcombe. With sandbars at both The Yealm and Salcombe entrances we have to time our trip carefully with the tides and this doesn't fit in with the crew's scheduling so Steve and I are alone as we nose out of the bay and head out with the early morning fishing boats.

The wind is light at this early hour but builds steadily over the next couple as we dip into and out of bays en-route allowing Vic (the Associate Producer on this shoot) to get some shots of us sailing along. Finally as we approach Salcombe we decide to opt for a windward drop for the jib rather than dropping to leeward as we normally would with a full crew. After all, we think, as long as it doesn't get caught up in the rig it'll be easier to manage right?

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Amelie Rose and The Hungry Sailors - The Whole Story...

Here it is! 60 days of filming with The Hungry Sailors compressed into 21 action filled chapters. We've been on fire and nearly ship-wrecked, we broke a bowsprit, we've visited 29 ports and through it all we sailed and munched our way ever Eastward. We think that the most interesting stories are those of the folks we met though - many who have left "normal" jobs to pursue their dreams - just like us. Those stories still need telling and we're hoping to have news about that soon, but until then, read on!

We hope you enjoy reading this blog, and watching the series as much as we enjoyed filming and writing about it, and don't forget - you too can sample the Amelie Rose experience!

Lots of love, Skipper Nick & the Marvelous Miss M xxx

Episode 0: A Prologue to Episode 20:

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From City Streets to the Open Seas

At the beginning of last year we had this piece written about us for an Australian Classic Sailing magazine who were kind enough to let us include it in our own features section.

"On Thursday 23rd April 2009 Nick Beck and Melisa Collett, IT specialists working in banking jobs in the City of London left their respective workplaces and departed the capital to start a new life in the South coast county of Dorset in the UK. Less than 24 hours later, having driven 300 miles to Gweek in Cornwall, they watched the manifestation of their dream, a 44 foot gaff cutter called Amelie Rose, take to the water for the very first time.

We were fascinated to discover what inspires a couple to undertake a project like this and to hear a little about the burgeoning Pilot Cutter scene in the UK, so we spoke to Nick and Melisa at their base in Poole Harbour to find out more..."

Amelie Rose's Dorset Apple Cake

We love Dorset and never want to live anywhere else. Part of the reason is that any county that chooses this stunning cake as it's county dish has got to be a winner.

Dorset also has the cheeriest County Flag of any we know - but that's a different tale so let's get back to the cake.

Actually cake is a bit of a misnomer, this is more a pudding that you can hold. We mostly make it in the Autumn when there's always tons of windfall apples lying around in our village. It should end up moist and just a tad crumbly with an almost scone texture but as long as it's nice and appley who cares!