Rotor and Tailplane

Raffles was recommended by The Sunday Times and Visit Qatar.     Its reviews made for stunning reading.     An all suite hotel, butler on call, an unpacking and packing service, all in a stunning architectural scimitar.     A five star or possibly a seven star hotel.     Unfortunately as you have already gathered this is not the case.     The entrance was underwhelming, good but not really special.     This is a shame as at the centre of the building there is a massive entrance and atrium which is inexplicable not being utilised.   Our reception on arrival was again underwhelming.    On the plus side the room was special even if it did have faults. The faults first; the finishings in the bathroom were poor, it would seem that the hotel,was built in a rush, scratched tiles poor and sloppy grouting etc. Plugs in the room were poorly positioned as were the light switches, and that TV mentioned earlier had poor sound...

Today we leave Doha and head to Nairobi.    Breakfast is even more chaotic, they have no idea.    Anyway we have a late checkout so head to the pool for a final dip before finishing the packing and head to the airport. Qatar business lounge is impressive, a whole floor and no one in it.    Custom sandwiches and beer. I only wonder what the first lounge would be like, it can be any better.  The five hour and twenty minute flight to Nairobi is uneventful.    We will be met by Tanzania Horizon Safari at the airport to be taken to the Four Point Sheraton.  Update On arrival we didn’t have a visa so were taken to one side were they helped us process such visa.  This immigration team must the best ever, they were so help and kind. We had issues with selfies and uploads but they helped us all the way.  Outside we were met by Daniel and driven to the hotel by a great guy who taught us a few Swahili words.  At the Hotel Maria disco...

The usual chaotic breakfast and back to the pool before heading off to the Gate Mall and the Museum of Illusions. Well it was what its name is, an illusion, not worth the money, time nor space.  Luckily, saving the day we find a nice Italian restaurant, Cocina, at the Marriott Marquis by the City Mall.    Great food and service. Great dinner.   A quick walk around the city mall before heading back and straight to bed.

Up just before 9 and down to breakfast to be looked after by Abdul who looked after us yesterday.    Breakfast is similar to yesterday, yogurts, fruit, toast, cornflakes, bread (gluten and gluten free), tea and the delicious mint and lemon drink. Back upstairs to,change and to the Aqua pool. A beautiful infinity pool basking in 43c heat.    The air temperature is so hot that three times a day they add large blocks of ice to the pool.    Afternoon siesta    score heading of to the NMoQ.    This wonderful architectural detail houses the history of Qatar.    Two hours of education is plenty before heading to the souk to take in its delights again.    There are various areas;    perfumes, jewellery, musical, men’s clothing, women’s clothing and the pet area! Dinner is again at the Royal Indian, hey if you like it you like it! A Turkish ice cream before heading back to the hotel 36th floor.

Relaxing morning waking at just before 9, TV not working but who needs a television when you wake up,to the scimitar, Arabian Sea and sun.    Ok, it, is a little hazy, but with this heat by the coast, no wonder! Breakfast is not where we were told, it is in the Aqua Restaurant on the second floor.    The start is chaotic but Adil, who has worked in London can to the rescue, no Weetabix though! Adul, hats and gives a    helpful little, run down of the city, etc.   We head back to the room and have a post breakfast sit down before    taking a taxi to the Jedine Mall to buy some sunscreen.    All was good except that the taxi driver went the wrong way and ended up on some building site before we helped him find his way.    Fair dues though as he only charged us 15 Ryl, but this was a problem as we had no cash and his card machine didn’t work!   An expensive mall where Maria had an expensive lunch, I had McDonal...

Transit from Lhr T5 to T4 takes about 16 minutes, but then we follow muppets at security etc. who delay us 20 minutes unpacking and repacking bags, only for them to be bag searched on the other side. One could forgive them if this there first time travelling, but they have just come through transit! Anyway I was muppet and sat in the wrong seat, no harm done! Movies watched were Bezos (good story, probably not the best film, and The boys in a boat, good story and good film, highly recommend.  Journey was pleasant and staff attentive.   Quick clearance through immigration and bag claim, airport was quiet.  20 min journey to hotel costing 68 riyal.   Fabulously large room, however it does has issues, too much technology and you MUST not turn the TV off by the remote pwr button.  A quick snack in the Italian restaurant; pizza with cottage cheese and off to bed after working out how to turn all the lights out.

Below I attach  Garmin GTN™ 750Xi | Touchscreen Flight Navigator   Checklist for the Cirrus SR22 and Robinson R66. Use of checklists is at users own risk, at all times the Official Pilot Operators Handbook should be consulted. The following files need to be added to the route files of relevant GTN SD cards (this incudes any Flighstream Card in use).  The files are .ace files and need relevant software to view.  The editor can be downloaded from Garmin  here: SR22 GTN Checklist R66 GTN Checklist  

 Draft 1 Conclusion Was it worth it? Not really sure! Did I learn anything? Not really (well that is with regards sailing anyway, which is a shame as I have a lot to learn). However the skip didn’t really make an atmosphere conducive to learning, and didn’t allow us to make our own decisions and mistakes.  We should have been allowed to skipper the boat / sail the boat at some time during the second half. We should have been allowed to pass the instructions to our fellow crew members thus really could have been done on our rostered navigation days and thus really would have allowed us to learn and gain confidence, instead all we did was follow orders and be quietly barked at, admonished when we were unable to follow them either immediately or quickly enough or due to inclement weather. I cannot be sure but I genuinely believe that this is why one original crew member left on arrival at Gijón (he had skipped to watch shifts after being admonished on his last watch), and I have ...

  Wednesday   Today we make a long sail to Sada which is further than A Coruña yet is an inlet before it.    It dawns on me that the reason why we are anchoring here is so the paid crew can save on harbour fees which they probably trouser for themselves. If this isn’t the reason then I just don’t get it.  The sail is approximately 9 to 10 hours and ends up being a “race” at which our boat BlueJay is soundly beaten by both Oriale and Starling. Surely it had nothing to do with feint tacks which destroyed any momentum that BJ had and reduced our speed to 0kts. But I guess that is the gamble you take with well planned tactics.  Pleasant surprise of fish fingers and ice cream tonight followed by another game of Russian fool.    Thanks crew! 10 to bed with thunder and lightning in the air.  Thursday Short sail and motor to the marina with a stop for fuel. Today Linda and I are on cleaning duty which we dutifully do to only find out that it would al...

Monday Not in the best of moods today, literally got out of the wrong side of the bunk, and there is only one side, (not helped by discovering that the Shreddies I bought where frosted; damn Nestlé make the boxes different), which makes sailing to a beach just outside a marina to which we will dock in the following morning seem all the more nonsensical to me. There seems to be a lot of effort expended for little gain!   Anyway the crew seem to have fun racing with Starling, and it actually was, whilst in the cabin we keeled over 90° and were thus able to see the local fish through the cabin port hole. We also smelt what Helena was convinced was an Orca!   We made it into the beach first and Starling docked alongside and to us. We are such an accommodating boat.  The ribs were deployed so that some crew could have a 10 min paddle - lots of effort for little gain again! (although Alex did manage to get some good video).  White rice and ice cream for dinner f...

 Please see a Friday Breakfast done (bacon - hooray!) we start a new rota, myself and Linda carry out the IWOBBLED check on the engine.   Set sail at around 12:30 having completed the three S’s We sail to Artedo where we hone are incredible sailing skills.  We anchor in Artedo, a pretty little cove with an ugly two tier road bridge overhead.  “Dinner” is again served - not too bad some kind of vegetarian stew with white rice.  Saturday Breakfast of Sugar Puffs and then straight off to Ribadeo at 10:30. Another fine day of sailing had by the now well oiled crew! Today Lind and myself are the boats Chefs.    We amaze the crew with a comfort food lunch of Ham and Cheese Toasties - a truly superb dish!   After a reasonable adventurous sail we dock in Ribadeo where Linda and myself again stun everyone with a fabulous cat food stew (Tuna, pasta and the usual tomato source tin). So good that there is a rush for seconds before a birthday cake is...