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sand yachting in Brittany

• Test sand yachting in Brittany

In the landscapes of our beautiful Brittany , there's nothing like an outing to the open sea to oxygenate the mind... And if we added a pinch of thrills? Let's swap our swimsuit for a completely different outfit: we're off for a morning of sand yachting initiation!

How to do sand yachting?

To practice this sliding sport, nothing could be simpler: all you need is a little wind (which comes from the sea), a low tide and a great desire for adrenaline!

Direction the sailing school where the instructor welcomes us to explain how the machine works. The technique to start? Imagine that we have a bicycle handlebar... To handle with the feet! To move forward and master the speed, he explains the vocabulary words to remember: “trim the sail”  means pulling on the sail; “shock the sail”  means to release the sail. How to stop? We asked him and here is his answer: the sand yacht has no brakes! The instructor reassures us and shows us that the sand yacht stops as soon as we face the wind! We put on our helmets, it's up to us!

• Check if the wind comes from the open sea: it will not be cut off by the monuments and will remain stable
• Handles like a bicycle: the feet direct the direction, the arms regulate the speed
• To slow down: lower the sail
• To speed up: tuck in the sail
• To stop: face the wind

Discover the sensations of sand yachting

Sitting at ground level, each on his own machine, we begin our first sand yachting session in Brittany! We remember the instructor's precious instructions and let our racing car glide along the Brittany coast. The least we can say is that the sensations are not long in coming! The sand yacht accelerates slowly (with a few jerks, lack of control on the first try of course), but after only a few minutes, the speed begins to stabilize little by little.

If we had to describe our sensations? Certainly the same as those we can find in karting, but with the sound of the waves replacing that of the engine: a real pleasure!

• Sand yachting is a great water activity if you're looking for adrenaline
• The average speed of the sand yacht is 60km/h. The more seasoned can drive up to 100km/h!

Test sand yachting in Brittany: for whom? 

In Brittany as elsewhere, the practice of sand yachting is accessible from an early age! In general, the first sessions can be given from 6-7 years old, when children are able to dissociate the movements of the arms and legs.

For the great beginners, we try to favor the days when there is little wind, in order to start gently. Great fans of speed, tricks and skids will have a great time on days with strong winds!

• Sand yachting is recommended from around 6-7 years old (ask sailing schools)
• It is possible to do initiation sessions for children and adults: a great opportunity to go out to the water's edge with the family!
• For complete beginners, it is recommended to test the sand yacht on a “light wind” day.

Where to test sand yachting in Brittany? 

To test sand yachting in Brittany, here are our 3 spots to remember in Dinan-Cap Fréhel:

From Rougeraie beach to Beaussais Bay, the place is ideal for all levels. In addition, the sailing school is open all year round!

Sailing school in Saint-Jacut-de-la-mer

In Sables-d’Or-les-Pins , the dune landscapes welcome you for a beautiful ride in a sand yacht, on one of the most beautiful beaches in Brittany! In the program ? 3 km of fine sand, pine trees, the bay of Saint-Brieuc... A magical place to test sand yachting in Brittany!

Nautical Center of Fréhel in Sables-d'Or-les-Pins

The Bay of Mont Saint-Michel is a good place to learn sand yachting! Brittany's 7 km long stretch of coastline guarantees great acceleration… Meet at the sailing school, labeled “French sand yachting school”!

Sailing school in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel

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Northern Ireland

Best anchorages in the region northern ireland.

Good protection against wind and swell, good seabed and holding, a nice beach... Here are some of the best anchorages in the region Northern Ireland based on the reviews of the Navily community.

Best marinas in the region Northern Ireland

Welcoming staff, a safe and clean marina, good prices... Here are some of the best marinas in the region Northern Ireland based on the reviews of the Navily community.

Land Yachting – Sailing for Those who prefer land

September 30, 2019 Rob Sayers Experience Days , Extreme Outdoor Activities , Fun Outdoor Activities , Land Activities , Outdoor Sports , Physical Challenges 0

Blasting down the beach with your backside inches above the ground makes land yachting one of the most exhilarating sports I have tried. Powered purely by the wind in my sails, I joined a posse of stockbrokers who were intent on fulfilling their need for speed.

I tried land yachting as an outdoor activity gift from my wife through Red Letter Days . Activity gifts are one of the best ways to guarantee successful gift giving, at least for me.

What is Land Yachting?

The land yacht had three wheels for stability. In case you didn’t realise, it can be quite a challenge to get a four wheeled vehicle to have all four wheels evenly on the ground unless you put in some decent suspension. Land yachts don’t have suspension, and so you feel all of the bumps and bounces. Traction is provided through wind blowing in a large triangular sail attached to a mast mounted at the front of the land yacht. You sit in a very reclined position and hold onto a rope that pulls the sail in or releases it.

Do I need to be able to Sail to Control a Land Yacht?

Sailing a land yacht is far simpler than sailing a boat. There is no risk of waves, capsizing or falling overboard. Also, because you are lying down in the land yacht, there is no risk of being hit by the sail boom when you tack across the wind.

Your instructor will tell you the circuit for the day in relation to the wind and the technique for getting around corners to keep the wind. All you have to do is pull the sail rope and steer to avoid any of the other land yachts, dogs, people on the beach.

How to Control a Land Yacht

You steer a land yacht with two pedals, left and right. Some land yachts have hand levers for steering, but that only leaves one hand free for pulling the sail rope.

If you are facing the right way, all you need to do to get the land yacht moving is to pull the sail rope tight and keep it held tight. You musn’t loop the rope around your hands though, because if the rope pulls too much you could get rope burns or cuts. Land yacht racers usually wear gloves to protect their hands.

The tighter you pull the sail rope, the faster the land yacht will go, as long as you are not heading directly into the wind. As with any sailing sport, you have to work out which direction the wind is blowing to get the most speed. If you get it right, you find yourself hurtling down the beach with a rather huge grins on your face. Tight turns can lead to flying along on only two wheels, which is a bit hairy but awesome fun.

The Thrill of Land Yachting at High Speed

My Land Yachting Gift Experience

Whenever I get a gift experience I always open it with a sense of trepidation, wondering what experience I will be getting myself into. The Tiger Moth flight was a bit scary, mostly because people kept telling me that they had had dreams of me crashing and also because you didn’t get parachutes.

I was very excited when I opened the Red Letter Days envelope with a gift voucher for land yachting. It was something I had wanted to try for quite a while. I booked the two hour session on a beach near Rye in Kent and eagerly awaited that windy day.

It was easy to find, not least becuase of the big van plastered with signs for the land yachting company. The guys running the day were busy setting up the land yachts, which were left lying on their sides so that the wind didn’t blow them down the beach before time. There were quite a few rather nice cars parked at the side of the road, and talking to the other peope waiting most of them were stockbrokers. Land yachting must be one of those sports that attract people who have a need for that adrenalin rush. Engineering doesn’t necessarily give you such a buzz, but using some of the things you design certainly does.

We were given a brief training session on safety and how to control the land yacht. Then it was pretty much in you get and of you go. At first, it was a bit tricky getting around the first corner because you had to cross the head wind. If you didn’t turn quickly enough, you slowed down and stopped facing the wind. No amount of tugging on that sail rope would get you moving. the instructors stood on that corner to help get you moving again. After a few laps, I got the hang of it. At this point the instructors called me over to the centre to stop. I wondered what was up, and then they increased the height of the mast, which in turn unfurled more sail. This meant more speed! Awesome!

I was back out into the circuit and amazed by the increase of speed from increasing the sail size. One by one, the other bankers were pulled over to have a mast extension. Things then became quite competitive. Overtaking and racing ensued. I got such a thrill from overtaking others and a great sense of satisfaction if one of them lost the wind on a corner.

All in all, the two hours whizzed by and I was left wanting more.

How can I get to try Land Yachting?

You do need a licence to sail a land yacht on a public beach in the UK. The best way is to find a land yacht racing club.

If you want to buy your own land yacht, Blokarts are the most popular brand. The Potty is a UK land yacht design that will fit into the boot of your car.

If you want to try land yachting, you can buy land yachting gift vouchers from Red Letter Days. .

Recommended Reading

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Land Sailing in Nevada

January – february 2013.

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By MATTHEW B. BROWN

Nevada has many claims to fame, and you can add one more to the list: land sailing. In fact, I was interested to learn recently that the Silver State is arguably the premier land-sailing destination in the United States.

“We have the dry lakebeds, the hard mud,” says nine-time national champion and current treasurer of the North American Land Sailing Association, Mark Harris. “Nevada is a very popular location because we can go the fastest.” Nevada also has wind galore, which is as valuable to a land sailor as fuel is to a racecar driver.

Land sailing, also known as sand yachting or land yachting—or as Harris likes to call it, “dirt boating”—has evolved primarily into a racing sport in the last half century. Its roots can be traced as far back as 6th-century China. Centuries later, some European royalty used land yachts for entertainment, and they were even used hundreds of years ago in the U.S. to transport goods.

Today, however, they are used primarily for competition. Land-sailing events are held internationally from the vast beaches of Western Europe, Ireland, New Zealand, and Brazil to the dry deserts of the U.S. It’s no surprise then that the arid sands of Nevada have become the epicenter of the fiercely competitive dirt-boating world.

OK, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration. “It’s friendly competition,” says Harris, an electrical engineer for the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. “The Europeans are big on entertainment, so that tradition has carried over to the states.” The sense of community and family is strong in land sailing. Harris says a group of spectators and racers, which rarely exceeds 100 at most events, will enjoy potluck dinners, fly remote-control airplanes, hold stargazing parties, and socialize around bonfires.

The next major Nevada event is America’s Landsailing Cup (this and most others are open to the public) on March 23-30 at Ivanpah Dry Lake, just south of Primm—a shopping and entertainment destination known for its Primm Valley Resorts and Desperado roller coaster.

Richard Jenkins set the world land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle (126.2 mph) there on March 26, 2009 in his yacht Greenbird. The previous record of 116.7 mph was set at Ivanpah in 1999.

While Ivanpah is technically in California just over the Nevada border, it’s still largely considered a Nevada event because Primm is the gateway. Other Silver State terrain used primarily for land sailing includes Misfits Flat, just south of Stagecoach; Smith Creek Valley Dry Lake southwest of Austin via State Route 722; and Diamond Valley northeast of Eureka via S.R. 278.

On the NALSA website there are images from the 1998 “Holy Gale” event held in the Black Rock Desert. The Thrust SuperSonic car (jet-powered in this case) famously bolted across northwestern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert in 1997 at a world-record speed of 763.035 mph, or 2 percent above the speed of sound.

The annual Holy Gale has since moved to Smith Creek Valley, which is Nevada pilot Lester Robertson’s favorite event. Robertson is the owner of the aforementioned Misfits Flat land—where much of the famous 1961 film starring Marilyn Monroe was filmed—and the Carson City company Complete Millwork Service.

Robertson loves the competition of land sailing, but he also cites, “the silence of the desert; just setting down these contraptions, accelerating, and seconds later flying along at 50 mph in a cloud of dust,” he says. “The dust subsides, and you will find yourself five miles from camp without a breath of wind, hoping for the next puff to come in and take you home.”

Robertson, who heavily promotes youth land sailing, also speaks highly of the camaraderie that is such a big part of the sport’s makeup. “A lot of guys and gals have been friends for years—the same bond you find with the rock hunters, rocketeers…all of us waiting for the next year’s trips to the heart of Nevada, the Great Basin.”

Black Rock Goes Soft

The Black Rock Desert in northwestern Nevada was once a premier land-sailing destination, but that’s not so anymore. The key, believe it or not, is moisture—or lack thereof. “It has not flooded since 2000 or thereabouts,” says Nevada pilot Lester Robertson. “Four years ago the surface went from so hard you did not leave imprints with your motorhome tires to so soft and crumbly a 250-pound dirt boat would sink so deep you cannot sail.”

According to Robertson, the Black Rock needs a substantial flood covering after which the water would soak deep into the subsurface. “Perhaps this will be the year we get the type of snow and rain we had when the Truckee River flooded and the Helms pit became Sparks Marina; that’s what it will take to repair the Black Rock Desert,” he says.

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Three newly discovered shipwrecks revealed by shifting sands off the coast of Dublin

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE National Monument Service are assessing newly-revealed shipwrecks just off the coast of Portmarnock in north County Dublin. 

Shifting sands uncovered one wreck that was previously visible in 2017 and in the 1990s. 

Its reemergence was identified by local underwater photographer Nigel Motyer and a subsequent investigation by the National Monuments Service (NMS) led to the discovery of three never-before-recorded shipwrecks, some of which may date back as far as the 19th Century. 

Karl Brady, a senior archaeologist with the NMS who led the inspection said:

“Prolonged periods of wind from a particular direction move beach sands constantly and, in this case, had temporarily stripped the southern end of the beach of sand leading to the exposure of these wrecks”.

The NMS team has surveyed and photographed the wrecks, and ongoing analysis of the materials, size, and construction style will help archaeologists to identify the wrecks. 

“The newly-discovered wrecks are poorly-preserved due to continuous tidal and storm action over the years.,” Brady explained. 

“In general, while only the lower portions of the hulls and bow areas have survived, our team has identified timber frames, planking, metal knees, and even a metal winch/windlass system at the bow of one of the boats.”

Some 50 wrecks are recorded for the Portmarnock/Baldoyle area in the Wreck Inventory, identified through years of painstaking historical and archival research by the NMS. These range from 14th century trading ships to 20th century coal-boats. The physical remains of at least 13 of these vessels have been located. 

“18th and 19th century newspaper articles and specialist maritime sources can shed some light on the wrecks, where they were built, and the identities of the crew,” Brady said.

“In some cases, records exist detailing the final moments of the vessels, as well as rescue attempts undertaken by local lifeboat crews, often in severe weather. 

“Many vessels have similar construction style over the centuries, and there are often no dateable artefacts recovered, so confirming the identity of the wrecks and aligning them with historical records is challenging.”

Research by NMS indicates that most of the vessels recorded off Portmarnock Strand were lost during bad or stormy weather. 

“Several of the ships, en route to Dublin, may have attempted to seek refuge in Howth Harbour during stormy conditions but failed to reach the safety of the harbour entrance and were compelled to run ashore on the strand, a desperate measure to save lives. 

“Other ships, originating from ports on the west coast of Britain and bound for various global destinations, seem to have been unfortunate victims of stormy weather, driven ashore at Portmarnock, often at night. There is an unusually high number of wrecks in this location.”

Minister Darragh O’Brien, who alongside housing and local government has responsibility for heritage, today visited with the underwater specialist archaeologists as they assessed the wrecks.

O’Brien said the discovery was “a very exciting development”. 

“No doubt each of these shipwrecks has an important story to tell and we hope that, in time, we will learn more about them and the roles they have played in shaping our history.”

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Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Sailing the Orkneys: ‘Bryan saw a tall black fin breaking the water, followed by another – it was a pair of orcas’

• Toby Heppell
• September 9, 2024

Mark Browse sails across the fearsome Pentland Firth, one of the most difficult stretches of water in the British Isles, to explore the remote Orkney archipelago with its UNESCO prehistoric sites

Sitting on my living-room floor surrounded by tide tables, pilot books, and almanacs, one part of my upcoming voyage around Britain began to excite me more than the rest. I had never been to Orkney before; and although in purely cartographical terms it’s not all that far from the mainland, it seemed intriguingly remote.

It’s full of history and prehistory, and is beautiful to boot. I couldn’t wait to see it.

But we had to get there first. And that involves crossing one of the most fearsome stretches of water in the British Isles: the Pentland Firth.

Goldfinch, our Bénéteau Océanis 36cc, had left her home port of Ipswich in mid-May, and by the middle of June she had arrived in Wick. We spent three nights there, waiting for the weather to be just right for the crossing to Orkney.

Sunset at Stromness marina. Photo: Mark Browse

Crossing the Pentland Firth

Between the mainland of Britain and the Isles of Orkney lies the Pentland Firth. As the tide coming in from the vast Atlantic Ocean tries to sweep eastwards to the North Sea, it finds itself squeezed into a gap only six miles across.

The result is that this area has the second-fastest tidal streams in the world, reaching up to 16 knots at times. Dangerous tidal races spring up, known as ‘roosts’, like the one known as the ‘Merry Men of Mey’.

This might sound like a comic troupe of Morris dancers, but in breaking seas it can be dangerous. The Orkney and Shetland Sailing Directions, published by the Clyde Cruising Club, goes out of its way to make sure skippers don’t take this passage lightly: it has dire warnings in red ink.

The Firth is not especially wide, so getting across it safely is largely a matter of timing. Pick the right day for the weather, and the right hour for the tide.

Article continues below…

Sailing from Scotland to Ireland: ‘The mountains were swathed in a blanket of cloud and the waves became enormous’

The magic and mystery of the western isles of Scotland capture my imagination and draw me back every summer. This…

Sailing across the Irish Sea: ‘We had never seen such evocative scenery’

Bleary eyed, we stumbled out of our sleeping bags as the boat rocked gently on her berth. Fumbling around we…

The weather forecasts suggested that the right day would be soon, so now I had to work out the best time to leave. As usual, the most trustworthy advice came from the locals.

The harbourmaster at Wick gave me a clear and believable instruction: be off Duncansby Head when it’s high water at Wick. It’s something like 10 miles from Wick to Duncansby Head, so it took us the best part of two hours, motoring in a half-hearted wind.

As we passed Duncansby Head we could see the northern shore of Scotland stretching away to port. A few miles to the west was John O’Groats, and beyond that Dunnet Head, the northernmost point of mainland Britain.

But our destination was further north than either of those. By now the true wind was astern, and the apparent wind almost nonexistent.

The face of the sea was calm; but even in these benign conditions it had a confused quality. Beneath the surface, we could feel Goldfinch’s keel being nudged forcefully in all directions by the contrary currents.

It took about an hour to cross the Pentland Firth. We passed between the southern tip of South Ronaldsay and the small island of Swona, and then up through Hoxa Sound and into Scapa Flow.

The ring of Brodgar is older than Stonehenge. Photo: Mark Browse

Scapa Flow is effectively an inland sea, with only a few channels connecting it to the outside ocean. On a map of the British Isles it looks like just a speck in the middle of the smudge that represents the Orkneys, but up close it is surprisingly big: around eight miles from north to south at the widest point, and 12 miles across.

It was in these sheltered waters that the Royal Navy had its base during the two World Wars, and it was here that the Germans deliberately sank their fleet in 1919, fearing that the ships would be seized by the British. Surrounding Scapa Flow are the islands themselves: mostly green, fairly low-lying land, with gentle hills.

To the west, the towering peaks of Hoy are very prominent, rising far higher than the rest of the landscape. As we motored across towards Stromness, the water was silky smooth, with barely a breath of wind to disturb it.

It was a magical moment. By 2030 we were in the marina at Stromness, all fast.

Goldfinch safely alongside in Stromness. Photo: Mark Browse

It had been a good day. The biggest island in Orkney is called, perhaps confusingly, Mainland (here, the landmass of Britain is referred to disparagingly as the ‘Sooth Island’).

We spent a few days on the Orkney Mainland, visiting some of the historic and prehistoric sites that had so excited me when I was planning this voyage. The Stones of Stenness are a mysterious group of standing stones dating back to Neolithic times.

From them, it is just a short walk to the even more impressive Ring of Brodgar, an awe-inspiring circle of stones that is older than Stonehenge.

On the Mainland

In the west of the island is Skara Brae, a Neolithic village that was discovered in the 1850s when a huge storm swept away much of the earth that had covered it for centuries. Like the Ring of Brodgar, it is older than both the Pyramid of Giza and Stonehenge.

Its great attraction is that the houses still contain much of the original stone furniture, and it is easy to see how they were laid out: a central fireplace, a stone ‘dresser’ which seems to have been used for storing or displaying possessions, and stone beds. As with the other Neolithic monuments of Orkney, there are many unanswered questions.

Joe, one of the crew, gingerly peers into the void at the precipitous Noup Head cliffs. Photo: Mark Browse

How did these people get here (presumably they regularly crossed the Pentland Firth in open boats), how did they live, and why did they leave? Archaeologists have been able to infer some of the answers, but there are many tantalising gaps in our knowledge.

The overwhelming impression of the place is that these people, who lived so many thousands of years ago, were not all that different from us. They worked for a living, played, and decorated their houses and bodies.

More recent history has also left its mark on Orkney. To the south and east, some of the smaller islands are connected to the mainland by the Churchill Barriers – massive barricades made of huge blocks of concrete that were put down during the Second World War to help protect the fleet anchored in Scapa Flow.

Situated on Lamb Holm is the Italian Chapel built by prisoners of war who were kept on the island to help with the construction of the barriers. The Italian Chapel is made out of nothing more than a pair of Nissen huts, but the men who built it were not content just to have a room in which to hold their church services.

The Italian prisoners of war decorated the Chapel with exquisite artistry, painting the inside to look like coloured tiles, carved stone, and stained glass, eventually creating a unique place of beauty in their exile.

Noup Head’s dramatic red stone cliffs are home to hundreds of seabirds. Photo: Mark Browse

After a few days on the mainland, we left Stromness, bound for Westray. This passage took us around the western side of Orkney.

At 1319 on 20 June, I wrote in the logbook that we had reached exactly 59° north. This is a record for Goldfinch, and the furthest north I have ever sailed.

It was good to be at sea again. Once we were out of the Sound, almost the whole passage to Westray was under sail, with a fine Force 4 on the beam and a flat sea – perfect conditions.

The tiny and enchanting Italian Chapel built and decorated by prisoners of war at Lamb Holm. Photo: Mark Browse

The wind gradually picked up during the day, and by the time we arrived in Pierowall harbour on Westray that evening, it had become a bit feisty. Goldfinch has a lot of windage up front, and in any kind of brisk cross-breeze, her bow will get blown around willy-nilly as soon as you slow down to safe manoeuvring speed, even with bow thrusters blaring.

Parking the boat in the little marina was really quite challenging, although we managed to tuck her between two yachts without mishap. Pierowall is in a substantial bay with a half-moon shaped beach of pale sand.

In the implausibly sunny weather we were having, the sea was a deep sapphire blue that would make the Mediterranean jealous.

The next day we took a taxi up to Noup Head on the north-west of Westray. From the lighthouse, there is a spectacular walk along the coast.

The dramatic red stone cliffs are home to hundreds of seabirds such as guillemots, terns, gannets, and puffins. It was a fine breezy day, and the whole lot of them were having a grand time wheeling about in the wind.

Looking across the Loch of Stenness. Photo: Mark Browse

To Kirkwall

Our plan had been to return to Stromness so that we could leave Goldfinch there in readiness for the next leg of the circumnavigation in July. But when we got up that morning, the day was grey and blowy.

We chatted to the locals and told them our intentions, and they were unanimously of the opinion that it would be a mistake to go to Stromness that day. The passage takes you outside of the Orkney archipelago, with nothing to the west of you but open ocean.

It had been flat and serene on our way up, but by now the swell had built up, and by all accounts, our journey would have been extremely uncomfortable. A better bet, we were told, was to go to Kirkwall instead.

The Old Man of Hoy appears in the distance. Photo: Mark Browse

This passage would take us down the middle of the islands, where we might experience some uncomfortable waves as the fast tide met the wind, but it would probably be bearable. It’s always a good idea to listen to the locals.

By the time we left Pierowall that afternoon, some hours later than our original plan the wind had moderated, and for most of the passage we had almost ideal sailing conditions. Some low-lying clouds clung to the islands and occasionally the visibility was poor, but much of the time the sun shone.

We had felt a bit of trepidation when setting out, with rumours of roosts and bone-shaking confused seas, but in the event we had a peaceful passage.

The majestic sight of two orcas playing made the passage to Kirkwall very memorable. Photo: Mark Browse

Surprise encounter

On the way we passed between the small islands of Faray and Eday. As we sailed through the sound, Bryan saw something that made him exclaim loudly: a tall black fin breaking the water, followed closely by another.

It was a pair of orcas. They were swimming in the same direction as Goldfinch, and only a few boat-lengths away, close enough for us to see quite clearly the black and white patterns on their sleek bodies. ‘Awesome’ is a much overused word these days, but it’s the only way to describe the sight of these beautiful, powerful creatures.

When we left Goldfinch in the last week of June, safely tucked up in Kirkwall, there was a northerly gale blowing in. The boat was rocking, the fenders were squeaking as they took the weight between hull and pontoon, and we had about seven lines securing her to the shore. During our time in Orkney we had had impossibly good weather, but now it was quite unpleasant, and we were all glad not to be at sea.

In July, Goldfinch continued her voyage round Britain, and we took our leave of Orkney, with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Farewell to Stromness playing on the boat’s sound system. It was an amazing trip and I very much hope to return one day.

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