WE GOT AWAY, the little ship and me, in June, from the Clyde, and with a stable high-pres¬sure northerly to drive us, battered south under kite and Hasler for Dublin and Newlyn and a night hop over the English fmch in time for a sluicing tide down the Chenal de Four and the morning glories of Le Conguet - crisp bread, sweet cheese, Calvados and Gauloises - and then a long turn in the bunk.

We'd been here a few years back but this time the plan was grander: to winter in Spain and learn something of the language and only work back for Scotland when the days were nicely lengthened and the heart was quietly singing for the wild transcendent light of the summer north.
So, after that sleep, we dodged down the Breton coast for some fun and games at the Interceltic festival in Lorient: and then one fine morning put out into Biscay, outward bound towards the rias of Galicia.
And we got there too, wintered in Vigo, spring-cruised on the western and northern coasts, and - come mid¬summer week - nipped Qver Biscay again and were back in Scotland in time enough to watch from the Nishnish window the arrival of the West Highland Week fleet in Tobermory.
But how did it work, this long-planned year away? And more to the point, how did the boat ¬her goods and her gear, her tackle and her trim ¬ work out for the single¬ hander? Well, the boat herself could hardly be bettered in terms of her accommodation and her performance. Actually, no single-hander needs a thirty-footer for a year's livir)g aboard, though the space is all the same. But other than simple space. As her accomodation plan shows, she boasts a bulbous chart table which is seldom filled. V berth bet¬ter then on much larger boats. The galley, on the other hand, is tiny by modern standards. But then, it wasn't designed for the sort of marina dinner parties of the sort you see (I've never seen one anywhere else!) in the glossy ads. I found it more than adequate for me, and with a little organisation, it would easily handle a complement of two or three long-term live-aboarders.
Mind you, my living was simple ¬especially when I was given the recipe for bacalao: perhaps the greatest sin¬gle-hander dish ever invented. This is the name for dried cod, which is easily found in local shops. It should be soaked in fresh water, changing that water twice, for 48 hours. You then break the fIsh into pieces, and cook it for some minutes in hot oil. Add one cup of rice and two cups of water, also as much garlic as you can bear (crushed for preference but sliced will do). Ten minutes high heat, ten minutes low heat ¬ and there you are. It keeps for days, and is at least as good cold as it is hot. As for the rest of the Arpege: she boasts a splendid forepeak for serious stowage, and six berths - each of them a serious sea berth. Notoriously with boats,  of course, what looks good on paper in two dimensions might not work so well in real life three. And so it is with the two double berths on Piseag (Scottish Gaelic for kitten).
The Arpege comes with a standard fore-and-aft double, which takes half the week to, er, construct. I relised an athwart ship double which looked good enough on paper. But why bother anyway? As any.student who want entertained in a single cot bed sit remembers so fondly... As for the rig, Piseag's standard sloop does the job with a minimum of fuss. The main has slab-reefing - I would have no other type. The reef lines - all three- are extremely heavy.

to be continued..