Here is the second part to our story. We will keep you posted as we make further progress from Easter onwards.
Our departure date eventually arrived, having been put back several times because of hospital visits/admissions, but at last we had a "window" of three months. We decided to head north up the East Coast to visit relatives before turning South and into the sun. Leaving plenty of time to get some miles under our keel before having to fly home for the final hospital admission on September 16th. Oh those best laid plans!
We enjoyed a relatively uneventful passage to Whitby, calling at Lowestoft and Hull on the way. The return passage was aided by some strong prevailing winds and by the end of June we were well on our way South, passing Harwich and heading for the Thames estuary.
As we crossed the shipping lanes of Harwich we had the experience of listening to a man overboard situation; quite distressing really, but what registered with us the most was the fact that the skipper of the small fishing boat was the one who had gone over-board, and his one crew/companion that day didn't have a clue what to do. The panic in his voice was quite sobering and he was unable to respond to the M.R C.G. requests for position etc.etc. for at least half an hour and though there were two lifeboats and a helicopter searching no sighting was made of his skipper. Knowing that someone had drowned in our vicinity made us feel vulnerable for a time but we kept on going.
That voice on the radio will never leave us: it was also to stand us in good stead at a later date.
As we wanted to make good time, we motor-sailed all the time and it is a good job we did. For when we pulled into Ramsgate I found our batteries were nowhere as fully charged as they should have been considering a 75amp alternator had been running for nine hours on that day alone.
A local firm was consulted and he tested our batteries and said one had failed and brought the others down. We ditched the faulty one and set off again with an engine battery and a domestic bank down to 500 amps. capacity. Should be more than enough. Our plan had been for a passage direct to Eastbourne, but battery problems forced us into Dover. Adverc Battery Management were very good at helping us diagnose the fault and they sent us a new alternator etc. which we fitted in a three-day stop over. Come on I said, the teething troubles have been sorted lets press on.
Eastbourne was reached after a very pleasant crossing sitting on deck in the sunshine with the auto pilot in control and all seemed right with the world and this was just what we had hoped for. An overnight stay and then round Beachy Head and as far West as we could manage, we hoped. However,VERY lumpy seas and a VERY inaccurate weather forecast caused us to loose the engine while passing Newhaven and we had to be towed in. We lost a few more days while the fuel system was stripped down and cleaned. This really angered me as we had paid good money for the system to be checked and the tanks cleaned. All filters were solid with dirt and as Newhaven marina facilities were a little run down to say the least the problem took longer to sort out than I thought it would. These lost couple of weeks eventually cost us the chance of getting out of the UK this year, as we then had a spell of pretty lousy weather which had us and lots of other bigger boats holed up in Shoreham for a week.
I have to admit that by now our spirits had sunk a little, so we left the boat and nipped over to France for a few days to look at where we were heading. On our return to the boat we left Shoreham on a Saturday morning and had a wonderful passage all the way to Southampton; why we went up Southampton Water I'm no longer sure, but we managed to sail past the QE2 and a sight like that is worth it. From there we set off for Poole, but fog descended so quickly that we could not see anything more than 50 meters as we sailed into the Solent so we headed into Lymington. What a charming place! This stopover also gave us the chance to replace a faulty inverter and set the old mind working on ways of reducing power consumption. But more of that in part three, after a meaningful test period.
We spent the next couple of weeks progressing round the South coast and reached Brixham in Devon at the end of August. After a journey "up-North" to Papworth for the last surgery we returned to the boat at the end of September and then moved to a quieter mooring where we have been living and altering the boat ever since. I have to be honest and admit that I don't like living on a boat at this time of year in England, but so far the weather hasn't been too cold though we did have a VERY wet December. The alterations have included the removal of the rear cabin and the creation of a cockpit, enlarging the wheelhouse, which is also the saloon (a la Northshore Vancouver). This has meant the lost of the spare bunks but we are more comfortable with the new layout and though we have no more facilities than we did have, the Heads, galley and Saloon are all larger than before and we have managed to fit in a proper wardrobe with a long hanging rail. The bargain so far (£6) has been a canvas shoe bag from ARGOS that is designed to hang on the back of a door, but with twelve pockets it has many uses.
We are now almost ready to press on and intend to be on our way within eight weeks. We are taking the car to France later this month and leaving her there. We can collect her and use her for sight seeing while going through the canals to the Gulf de Lion and then onto Spain. I suppose last year has left its mark and though we are now even better prepared and organised I still expect to be delayed along the way and having a car on hand all the way down the Spanish coast could be most useful.
Who knows, she may even take ferry to North Africa or the Canaries..but whichever we'll let you know.
In closing this follow up, I would like to mention that we will be taking digital photo's and Video of the French canals and East coast of Spain, and will be making them available via a web site. I will keep Colin posted as to how things are progressing, but if anyone wishes to contact us directly, please do so at
Phil and Carol
Return to Home Page