The Voyage of Lydia B

Ian Laval sailed the 30-foot cutter Lydia B from Vancouver Island in the Pacific Northwest back to his home port of Maryport in northwest England via Central America, the Panama Canal,  the Caribbean and the Atlantic.
The illustrated pages listed below describe the voyage via a regular log transmitted ashore to friends and family via SSB radio. There is  a detailed technical description of the boat, a Baba 30.
In Virginia on the US east coast Ian left his boat ashore on the Chesapeake and completed a circular journey round the United States north to Montreal, across the mid-west and Canada to British Columbia, down through Washington state, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi and back to Virginia through the US southern and south-east states.

He returned to Lydia B and sailed for England via the Azores in May, 2002, arriving at Maryport, Cumbria, Northwest England on July 21.
Lydia B was sold after the voyage and Ian Laval is now restoring another boat, the Cape George 31 cutter Alishoni, on Vancouver Island BC.




Lydia B -- the boat          Ian Laval, Furnituremaker        No Nails in my Coffin - blog         The Cape Scott Trail        The Nootka trail


 

 

What is it that makes us get into small boats and sail across unknown oceans far from home? 

For anyone up for discovery -- about themselves and the world -- it's a brilliant way to travel. It's exhilarating; and it's often tough -- though strangely, it's mainly the tough bits that sailors dine out on when the journey's safely done.

Days in mid-ocean are imcomparable. 

Lydia B, a Baba 30 cutter, made a 15,000nm voyage from British Columbia to northern England between 2001 and 2003. Ian Laval, her skipper, e-mailed a regular log via SSB/Pactor II and Sailmail at sea and from internet cafes to friends and family ashore. 

Lydialog is an unedited selection of some 50 episodes transmitted.

Ian Laval is a former foreign correspondent and furnituremaker. He sold up in England in 1999 and went to British Columbia, Canada to find a boat to sail back to England. After two years of fitting-out on Vancouver Island the voyage home began with a journey up the Inside Passage to Prince Rupert on the BC/Alaska border, out to the Queen Charlotte Islands and back down the Pacific to Victoria BC for a final departure in September, 2001.

The voyage took in Pacific North America, Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and the San Blas Islands, the Caribbean, Florida and the US East and across the Atlantic via the Azores and home up the Irish Sea. Lydia B reached Maryport, Cumbria, on July 20, 2003.

Lydia B is a traditional, heavy displacement boat designed by Robert Perry and built by Ta Hsing in Taiwan. A full technical description of the boat is at: www.ianlaval.com/lydia/rcd.htm 

 

0 - Inside Passage and northern BC       1 - British Columbia to El Salvador     

2 - Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama      3 - San Blas to Florida           

 4 - Intra-Coastal Waterway to Washington DC      5 - Brentwood Bay BC & Chesapeake     

6 - Virginia & Atlantic to Azores       7 - Azores & Ireland to England     

8 - Chevy through the US - 1        9 - Chevy through the US - 2

ian@ianlaval.com