Progress Reports Page 2 of 2 << Prev 1
2 Next >>
|
Merry Christmas
After a busy few weeks, the work on the decks of Two Easy is now completed, and she is looking very smart too. We will be going on a Boxing Day cruise with around ten other boats from the Marina, just a few miles along the coast to Portimao. Apart from an excuse for a sail, we will all be contributing an entry fee to the local childrens home. The Navigators Network support the home and many boats have a bottle on board into which we throw our loose change and give the full bottles to the home.
The weather is quite warm still through the day, around 17 - 19c, but it is quite cold at night and we have had to buy a fan heater to keep warm. Our friends Paul and Mo from Ti-Gitu have now left Lagos to go into the Med. Keith followed them down the river in the dinghy for a while, complete with two outboards to keep up!
We had an enjoyable Navigators Christmas dinner on 19th. Around 100 people attended a five course dinner, and every boat received a gift from the Marina, either a cap, key tag or similar and a bottle of Port. There was also a 'Decorate your Boat' competition, the Marina looks very attractive with boats lit up like Christmas trees. Naturally Two Easy is bedecked with as many LEDs as possible along with coloured lights up the mast and along the guardrails! (no, we didn't win!)
With only a few days to go to Christmas, we are not missing the fog or chaos back in the UK. We're looking forward to our Christmas dinner, we're booked into the Jardim Das Dunas with a number of friends and will go to our local, Lazyjacks afterwards. (We may even see the Queen's speech on Sky!)
Keith and I are currently running the Navigators Network club in Terry's absence. We did our first broadcast today and didn't get heckled once, though I'm sure that will all change soon.
Wishing all our web watchers a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR, and looking forward to fair winds for next year.
|
|
Life in Lagos
We've been in Lagos now for 3 weeks and are settling into the 'live aboard' way of life. There is a Navigators Network every Monday Wednesday and Friday on channel 77 which is a way of finding out information and helping other yachties needing technical help or advise of where to buy boatie things.
Lagos is very 'British' as there are so many UK sailors here, all the locals happily like to speak in English as long as you have made an attempt at speaking in Portuguese. Even the local cinema shows films in English with Portuguese sub-titles. (Hope to see Casino Royal this week)
We've been to a few parties and went to a Thanksgiving lunch with the American yachties last week. On Friday (1st Dec) it is Portuguese National day when the monarchy was restored. There will be food and Fado music at one of our 'locals'. Fado music is melancholic and unique to Portugal.
Right now we are working on the boat when we want and going to 'Lazyjacks' for a brunch or off to the beach for a swim, when we don't. I (Pam) am busy working on the decks, as I pulled all the grip matting off. The decks will be painted white which will be cooler on the feet!
Keith did a presentation of the LED lights at a Nav Network evening. We have around 120 Lights on board that we hope to sell as we travel. He has an order of 5 so far and I have an order for curtain making.
There are huge storks nests on chimneys around the marina and a pair of black swans in a pool. We'll get photos onto the website soon.
Regular visitors to the site will notice it has been updated and now links into Google Earth. Unfortunately, previously we only put one decimal place on for our long/lat references, which now makes us look as though we have gone over land. (I thought it was bumpy) However hopefully we should have more accurate references in the future.
|
|
Nazare to Lagos
We left Nazare on Wednesday 8th November mid afternoon for a 205 mile sail to Lagos. For the first time in a long time we managed to switch the engines off and actually sail! However Keith had to power back up in the early hours of Thursday.
We had a fairly uneventful sail (we've had enough excitement) and we're joined by some very athletic dolphins most of Thursday. We sailed about 28 miles off shore and well off the continental shelf which I thought would be too far out for dolphins.
In the early hours of Thursday evening we saw what we thought were more dolphins approaching from the portside. They were huge and swam more lazily. We realised later that they were pilot whales, unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them as we were too enthralled by the size of them, about 8 to 10 feet long and taking deeper dives to jump fully out of the water just alongside.
We rounded Cabo Vincente at 2.15am Friday with only 20 miles to Lagos left to cover. However the current was not with us and we were only making 1.9 knots, so the last few miles took 6 hours to cover! The current was very rolly right into the entrance to Lagos.
As we tied up on the reception pontoon, the first person we saw was Roger Bennett, late of Rainbow sailing school of Swansea and last seen by us in La Trinite sur Mer in August as he took Rainbow Dreamer, our Celtic Raid leader's boat, down to Portugal. We saw Rainbow Dreamer in the marina and expected to see Will's head pop up out the hatch at any time!
We also have met up with Mo and Paul Fay, from Ti-Gitu who are now in Lagos. They had wintered in Bristol last year, so it was great to meet up and chat with them.
There are alot of Brits in Lagos and three times a week there is a radio network system full of information and advice. There's even a Lidls store!!!!
|
|
Vigo to Nazare
We left Viveiro on Friday 28th October, waving a fond farewell to a sassy little Yorkshire terrier pup called Arnie that Helen and Paul got a few weeks ago. Arnie became very friendly with Rocky, our ship’s chief bear. (In fact he got a little too friendly for a pup of 12 weeks!) We sailed in full sun which turned into thick fog a mile out leaving us with no backward glances.
Our next port of call was Vigo, a journey of 159 miles which took 36 hours Keith did the night hours taking his off watch period through the day. We were surrounded by dolphins during most of Saturday. A pod that was making its way up the coast happily swimming along until they heard our engines, made a 45degree detour to play in our bow waves. I never tire of watching them jostling for pole position, criss crossing from one bow to the other (two for the price of one with a catamaran!) and down between the hulls, round the sides and start again. Even at 11pm, the dolphins were quietly surfacing and diving as we locked into our final approach to Vigo.
We tied up in Vigo marina at 1.30am Sunday. Vigo is a very sophisticated city with smart shops cafes and restaurants, no litter or graffiti and nice Prazas, town squares (or rectangles) lined with trees and sculptures. We soon found our café of choice for the best coffee and were now perfecting our Spanish for the key phrases to help us get around. Unfortunately, though, we were about to leave Spain on our next move, to enter Portuguese waters!
We left Vigo on Thursday 2nd November in 28c of sun. Sailing down the coast our friends the dolphins joined us again and I even saw a small whale about 100 yards off our starboard side. After 20 miles we entered Portuguese waters but the sea was a little too rough to climb onto the coach roof to change the courtesy flag. We had radio contact with a boat that had been moored next to us in Vigo, named Niedla. It was skippered by a professional crew of three Spaniards we became friendly with. They left Vigo just after we did, and went 20 miles offshore to find 18 knots of wind.
Keith took Two Easy off shore during his night watch and we made good headway however we then had to cross back over the continental shelf giving us a bump ride for about 5 hours. We set our course to Nazare and made the approaches at midnight. About 5 miles from the entrance I became aware of the ‘welcoming’ committee driving along the coast road and at one point 2 sets of vehicle headlights came on simultaneously to light up the side of the boat.
The entrance to Nazare is quite unique as there is an underwater canyon of 1000 – 1500 feet depth. It starts from the beach and appears to be tectonic plates that fractured forming the deep canyon. (Not the sort of place to go for a midnight paddle!) The welcoming committee (the Polizia) boarded Two Easy within 5 minutes of us securing our lines. Even at 2am in the pouring rain after another 36 hours at sea we had to deal with ships papers and passports! It was just the usual formalities as there has been quite a bit of drug and people smuggling along the coast.
Nazare is a delightful fishing town with a sweeping bay, sandy beach nice shops and cafes, and an historical town leading back from the promenade. Narrow streets cobbled with small white stones, where the women wear headscarves fastened in a unique way, and knee length skirts that look like aprons, with front pockets and trimmed with embroidery. The Portuguese are friendly people and the language only differs slightly from Spanish. They seem to be a little more relaxed and easy going and most of the locals speak English! The marina is run by an English manager with a wicked sense of humour.
The only industry is fishing and the boats leave at 4am to fish for 12 hours for very little reward. Most of the fishermen are only earning 1.50 euros an hour. Would you get out of bed and sail in some atrocious conditions for that
|
|
Ready for the next move
At last the engines are working again! We had to call out a mechanic as the engine bores just filled up with water every time we tried to start the portside engine. We think the mechanic was called something like Fernadez Gonzala Emanuel Del Monte! We called him Bob for short.
He couldn’t speak English, so we went to see Cuban Steve, the car hire man at the bus station, who also teaches English, to ask him to write down a translation of our engine problem to give to Bob so he would know what the problem was.
Bob spoke in Spanish, Keith replied in English, yet they both knew what they were talking about! Bob took the head away and we were told ‘dos dias…’ two days. Right on time he came back and spent seven hours working on the engine. We can only presume he had the head skimmed as it fired up, with clouds of smoke, which soon subsided.
Great, we thought, now rather than being stuck we can go when we want. We hadn’t run the starboard engine since we came into Viviero and sods law was fully engaged…it wouldn’t start. As it was Sunday and very sunny the only thing to do was go for a jolly good bike ride. Oh how I miss the gel padded saddle from my stolen bike! We rode round the promenade which took us up into the hills round the bay, the whole ride was on a path that must have been about three miles long.
The Spanish like to promenade and usually end the day by gathering in a square where the children (who are always beautifully dressed) play together whilst the adults chat. We have quite got into ending the day this way and include a nice cool beer and glass of wine as our focus. The locals are getting used to us now and come to admire our bikes, and are amazed when we demonstrate how they fold.
When we returned to the boat, a rib rushed into the marina and three Aduanas (customs) jumped off and boarded a French boat that had just berthed. Half an hour later they boarded Two Easy to check our papers and passports. They asked (in Spanish) when we were leaving, we indicated that one engine was out. The chief pointed to one of his colleagues and said ‘mechanico’ The following half hour was bizarrely spent watching the Aduanas all in and out of the engine trying to repair it for us, without success!
We called Bob out again on Monday, with the help in translation from Mr Big, the local big cheese whose motor boat is berthed opposite us. We didn’t know he could speak English until he asked Keith to make sure the pontoon gate was shut at night! He also directed us to an ‘electrico domesticos’ as we needed a micro switch for a water pump.
Pepe Lavandanos (Peter Launderette) wasn’t in the shop when we got there, so we said we would go back after siesta. A couple of hours later a man knocked on our hull, speaking in Spanish, we tried to communicate in French but didn’t know what he wanted.
He said the word ‘parta’ and we guessed he was Pepe! He had driven down from his shop to find us in the marina! We can only presume Mr Big must have called him! Either that or we have now become so renowned in the town (probably as that mad English pair who ride round on bikes!)
Bob fixed they starboard engine with a ‘one off’ squirt of engine start that smelt quite lethal! The whole cost of the engine repairs was 350 euros (about £230) and worth every penny.
We are now waiting for some good weather, we had 40kn of wind yesterday (Wed 18th Oct) which was great for drying my washing. The duvet cover was washed, dried and back on the bed within 3 hours!
Tomorrow (Fri 20th Oct) is our first wedding anniversary, so we will be going into town with Paul & Helen, an English couple working on their boat, who we have become friendly with, for a meal, and hopefully setting sail again very soon.
We plan to winter in Porto Santo which is a small island just off Madeira we should be down there by mid November. We’ve already contacted Nelson, the port captain and agreed a discounted price for a long stay. Our plans for the Atlantic are on hold/cancelled as we have missed the timing for going and also need to test the sea worthiness of Two Easy. In any case there is a big Mediterranean to explore yet…..
|
|
Boat Repairs
We had an enjoyable trip to England and helped out on the Celtic Goodwill Raid stand at the Southampton Boat show. There was a lot of interest and we gave out over 1000 brochures. Following the boat show we had a busy few days gathering together all the bits and pieces we needed to repair Two Easy. We filled a small travel bag with nuts and bolts, rigging and at the eleventh hour, our head gaskets had arrived from Italy. We met Michael from Diesel power at 10pm in the car park of a well known supermarket in the centre of London, as he had taken the kit home with him knowing we were due to fly back to Spain the next morning. He kindly guided us on our road to Stanstead. Now that's what I call customer service!
We also had a call from a close friend who was concerned about a hurricane that seemed to be heading for Northern Spain however when we returned the hurricane was just a bad storm that soon blew itself out.
The job we thought would be the most difficult, being the cracks to the bows and redesigning the rigging turned out to be the easiest. There was a never ending number of experts on the pontoon all pontificating over how to carry out the repais. The engine is still not working and we are waiting for an email from Diesel Power with the correct torque settings before we use another head gasket!
So we decided to have a day out by bus to La Coruna to buy replacement bicycles for the ones we had stolen the night before we flew back to England. The marina capitan had sent a diver down in case they had been kicked into the water and asked us to leave it to him to make enquires. However on our return to Spain his selective English was not working that day and we had to accept our bikes would be well and truly in the mountains by now.
The next thing in La Coruna, a very big city, was to find a bike shop. Where to start? First I put together a sentence 'Donde esta una tienda vende bicicletta?' (where is a shop that sells bikes?) we found a UPS delivery man who understood what we had said and pointed down the road to the left, over a bridge and walk for 5 minutes.
Fortunately I glanced to the right at one road junction and saw the shop. We bought two very smart folding bikes which will be better that our mountain bikes on the boat.
The journey back from La Coruna was like something out of a carry on film. We were waved down in a small village by a man who gave the driver a 5 litre container of paint, which was delivered to someone a few villages down the line.
The the driver stopped at a tabacos to do his shopping, and a little further along he stopped by a shop to deliver a big box! I don't think the Spanish understand PC, or if they do they don't give a damn, as under the sign that could only mean 'Do not disturb the driver by speaking to him' gathered a group of locals who chatted to him throughout the whole journey. The rest of the journey was carried out at full speed, making up for lost time!
We have had a few days of heavy rain and hope it will soon pass so that we can finish the repairs and make plans for our next move south.
|
|
Español
We finally made it out of La Trinite Sur Mer and went across to Houat where we stayed on anchor for a week. Houat is a charming little island with a population of only 301. All the cottages are clumped together at one end of the island which is only about 2-3 miles long. Most of the cottages were painted in white with blue shutters, and a special building around the only water source on the island.
We visited the ecosolarium as the islanders are very proud of the way they manage the sea.
The day we had a trip on a ferry to Vannes, resulted in us going to Port Navalo due to misunderstanding over ferry times. The only thing there was in Navalo was the return ferry to Houat!
We left Houat on Sunday 27th August and went to Le Croisic where we sayed five days and became very friendly with the locals in a bar straight out of Allo Allo! The barman kindly gave us 6 beer glasses as a leaving gift, we gave him a picture of Two Easy!
We readied ourselves for the crossing of Biscay to Spain, checking the weather forcast and saw that we had a window of about 5 days of calm weather and high pressure. Would that it was true! as the Bay of Biscay has a weather system all of it's own and we found that just as we were about to cross the continental shelf, a bit of a gale blew up making the crossing very rough, the wind swung round to 213´ right on our course making our tacks run from side to side. We covered 45 miles to move forward 1 mile! Then the dolphins came to play around the boat just as I (Pam) had spent two days with my head in the bucket. (Result of a virus rather than sea sickness)
By day 3 we were on course on making great headway to Spain. It is an amazing thing to see land creeping up on you out of the mist after 4 days at sea, even better to find that it is the port you were heading for!
We were guided into the marina at Ria de Vivero by the wecoming lilt of an Irish man who had heard us calling up the port. (They had heard us but didn't answer as they could not speak English!)Ken took our lines and we look forward to drinks and a chat with him and his wife Carmen tonight (Wed 6th Sept)
We plan to fly back to the UK on Mon 11th to pick up a head gasket for the boat, go to the Southampton Boat Show and visit family.
|
|
Lorient to the end of the raid
We arrived in Lorient on Friday 4th August for the closing weekend of the Celtic festival. The quite afternoon lilt of music turned into a cacophone of different bands in competition with each other. Girl violinists dressed in jeans with a pelmet like kilt over the top, mad drummers hammering out beats, we didn't know which way to look or which band to watch, which went on till 3am every night.
After another birthday party on one of the raid boats, a friend of one of the group was playing with his Anglesey band at the event and brought his violin to entertain us. We went into town to watch the final gig to end all gigs. The band were French Canadian with three sisters on various instruments and a wild corkscrew haired violinist playing Celtic/Irish music.
At 2am the next band came on. A girl aged around 24 with long blond curls fronted the band.One of the guys from the raid said she was 'marvelous' however when we pointed out that she hadn't played a note yet he said, 'I know, but just look at the way she holds the bow.' (he should know, he is recently retired from the Liverpool Philharmonic!)
He was right, the music was amazing, she kicked off her 4" heels and stomped out the music.
The floor bounced up and down by 6" as people joined in with the stomping to the music.
We left Lorient the next morning and had a nice sail up the coast in full sunshine to Etel. A small town with a difficult entry due to a sand bar and riptides. A walk through the market next day saw lots of fresh breads and cheeses for sale.
From Etel we hopped from an anchourage at Houat to Port Haliguen and onto La Trinite sue Mer and the last few days of the Celtic raid. Boats from the raid were leaving and the numbers dwindled. After a final farewell supper we were down to three boats. By Tuesday 15th August all the raid boats had gone their own ways leaving Keith an I in La Trinite, harbour bound by the weather and waiting for the Force 5-7 to drop.
Hopefully the forcast will be good for Friday and our onward trip to La Croisic.
|
|
More Celtic Raid
At last we have stopped long enough for us to find an internet cafe! The hospitality in France is amazing. At every port we have been made welcome, from L Aber Wrac'h we went to Ile Moulne for an over night stay. It is a small island just at the end of Channel de Four. We then progressed down the Le Four to Camaret Sur le Mer where we had a full pontoon reserved for our flotilla. With all the bunting up we looked a stunning sight. We stayed for 3 days and had the usual skippers meetings at 6pm which have now turned into a good excuse for a party and a quick chat about sailing plans! We moved from the pontoons further into town where Pam took an unplanned dip when she jumped off the boat onto a finger pontoon. Unfortunately the pontoon acted like a trampoline and bounced her straight into the water! leaving Keith to tie off by himself. A passing Steve & Carole from Courtier pulled Pam by the back of her shorts into their dinghy. After a week the knee swelling and ankle bruising has just about gone. Pam's prescription sunglasses fell off in the process and were rescued by Keith who donned his scuba diving kit (we knew it would come in) to find them after a grid search of the bottom.
Our next stop was Audierne and again another Moulle et Frittes night! We met an amazing character who directed the flotilla to their moorings. Jean-Louis who was a French Welshman or Welsh Frenchman. He had been 25 years in the French Navy but was very proud of his Welsh connections and had a strong Welsh accent and a dozen sheep plus Rocco the sheep dog. He is now the undertaker in Audierne and unofficial harbour assistant. He was most taken aback at one of the 'skipper's meetings' when he had to leave to deal with a 'stiff' who had hung himself!
Next stop Concarneau which had a a closed Medieval town. It was almost like a theme town it was so well maintained. Full of shops, cafes and creperies and an ampitheatre at the end where musicians play every night.
We moved to St Martine and then across the river to Benodet and down to Lorient where a Celtic festival is taking place.
We finally managed to switch the engines off, having had two very good sails in force 6 and steamed into Concareau at 12 knots, wondering where the brake pedal was!
|
|
En Francais!
The morning we were due to leave Dale was the 'mother' of thunder storms bringing a little boat called Mrs Mouse onto the pontoon and skipper Graham who subsequently joined the raid for a few days. We left Dale bound for Tenby in glourious sun and anchored in the bay.
The raid then sailed onto Swansea for four days whereupon Two Easy left the raid to go to Ilfracombe to dry out on the beach to finish fitting our Hydro-vane after the parcel from a well known company caught up with us in Swansea.
We then rejoined the raid in Cardiff as part of the Bay fesitval we continued our work of sail repairs and final touches to the spray hood that we made and did the laundry. Whilst in Cardiff we were visted by various family and friends and left on Sunday 16th July at 10pm bound for Ilfracombe again to stem the tide for 4 hours then on to Padstow.
We arrived in Padstow at 8pm on the Monday night sailing on smooth waters and managed to turn the engine off for a time.
We were visited by more 'further afield' friends and negotiated with another well known marine company, the delivery of another parcel that should have been waiting for our arrival. The parcel took a trip to our last land locked address before reaching us in Penzance.
We left Padstow after much debate on a treated thunder storm that didn't matierialise and had an excellent rounding of Lands End arriving in Penzance at 11.30pm to be met by an array of lights in the Bay looking desparately for a white light to guide us into the harbour.
Our parcel arrived the next morning at 11am, and we set sail again at 2pm in our flotilla to cross the Channel to L'Aber Wrach. Again we had smooth seas which was just as well as one of the flotilla's engines stopped and our intrepid raid leader drew alongside and leaped aboard to mend it under the radioed instruction of another member of the flotilla.
It took Two Easy 21 hours to cross the Channel, arriving in L'Aber Wrach at 11am the next day. We are now about to attend a civic reception with the Mayor in our honour, followed by a Shanty evening and Moulle et Fritte!
|
|
The Celtic Goodwill Raid
Apologises to the residents of Ilfracombe for all the noise we made in our final preparations on Wednesday night. We were still fixing the hydro-vane to the boat at midnight and packing away tools due to a late tide. It's amazing to think that 12 hours later there would be 6 - 8 dolphins racing ahead of the hulls on our way over to Milford Haven, in the same place that Pam was working putting the finishing touches to the hulls. Unfortunately we are having problems downloading pictures onto the site but hope to have some added soon.
Milford Haven was okay, we managed to catch the end of the Seafair Haven, a bi-annual event of classic boats supported by the French and English sailors in turn. We were fortunate to be invited to the closing party and met up with some of our friends from Bristol.
On Saturday 1st July, we moved up river to Lawrenny, very similar to the Falmouth estuary, but without all the boats. It's an unspoilt place that has remained that way through choice, it was idylic.
We have now moved onto the pontoon at Dale as there are five boats in out floatilla we decided we would take the Cat to the pub with all on board, as we draw no water and could get close to the shore! Very civilised and closed with a party on Two Easy.
Tuesday (4th) we hope to be going to Tenby and from there onto to Swansea.
This cruising life is hard work, it's all tea/coffee/pub and naps.
|
|
Afloat at last
After 3 weeks of intense work, we finally completed preparing the boat, some three hours before high tide in Bristol on Thursday 22nd June and slipped out quietly into the Cumberland Basin at 4.30am, in company with Mike and Claire from Tristan Da Cuna.
We locked out at 5am and made our way down the Avon river to freedom at last. Only to be met by 20 knots of wind on the nose, wind over tide and a rough ride to Cardiff to stem the tide.
Then on at 4pm to Ilfracombe arriving at 1am Friday 23rd June, where we are at present dried out on the beach and the main tourist attraction.
When we popped into town on Friday, all the locals knew we were 'from that cat on the beach' Even the postman shouted across that he had delivered a letter for us at the Harbour Master's office, forwarded on by our wonderful administrator, Susan.
Work is progressing very well anti fouling and vanrnishing woodwork, watched by our new found friend Tony, former bass player with The Applejacks and, for a time, Black Sabbath (we thought he was Ozzy's dad!) He had a very successful aerial photgraphy business until a heart attack put a stop to it. He now chills out in Ilfracombe, fishes from his small boat, ably assisted by any young lady who becomes one of his 'Tony's Angels' His catch is taken to anyone who will cook him a supper.
We hope to have all the work completed by Thusday 29th June in order to sail to Milford Haven to start the Celtic Raid.
|
|
Raring to go
Well, at last we have both given up paid employment and after a busy week getting rid of the winter clothes to charity shops, the last bits and pieces have been moved onto the boat. We also have now moved onto the boat, Keith is busy fitting extra battery power etc, Pam putting the finishing touches to a new spray hood.
We picked up the newly serviced lift raft today and visited our good friends Bill and Eleanor, mainly to stash some surplus cushions and for Keith to raid Bill's extensive supply of wood. However we were easily distracted with bottles of cool beer and good food. Looks like we'll have to go back another day to finish the raid!
The weather is hot and is really giving us a fore taste of things to come.
|
|
Pre Trip Preparations
We had a very successful Mayday festival trip to Padstow. Crewed by our tame RYA instructor Bill Bailey from Bath (without his lovely Lady Eleanor who was confined to land with work commitments) and Angela from Anglesey, aka Phil Mcavity (Keith's Dentist), hopefully Angela's black eye, caused by a wayward door bungee that smacked her in the eye at midnight, is getting better. We woke the next day to find a note saying 'Taken Angela to hospital...eye injury' followed by a 'we're back, all okay at 4.30'
We heard nothing of the two burly policemen who were brought on board to take the injured Angela to shore, unfortunately neither of them had every come aboard a boat before and knew nothing of the strange movements of boats on water. Particularly as we were rafted up against a 'mono'maran, and in their efforts to stay upright, their big black boots, not having the properties of deck shoes, slipped all over the decks of the boat next door, leaving associated skid marks.
The next morning,there was a very disgruntled Christine, who had clearly given instructions to every one who passed over their decks, not to leave footprints and not to stomp on their foredeck when they were asleep.
Unfortunately, the burly policemen knew nothing of this special instruction, as did Christine know nothing of the burly policemen and Keith took the wrap until she was put to rights whereupon Keith received a handshake of apology.
Padstow harbour was not as full as usual due to prevailing winds, which stopped alot of boats from reaching Padstow due to the Northerlies swinging Southerly. A force 8 was predicted for the return journey on Tuesday 2nd. After consultation with Bill and Rob, skipper of the Matthew of Bristol (the John Cabot replica) as the wind was off shore, it was decided to sail, and what a sail. Padstow to Cardiff in one hit under 14 hours reaching speeds of over 14 knots at times.
Now it's down to work, work, work, preparing, checking provisioning and making our next plans to sail to Ilfracombe after saying our goodbyes to one and all
|
|