Today has been one of the busiest yet, but good progress has been made on the electronics installation. Raymarine C80, GPS, Radar and Autopilot.
Plus I have measured up and drawn a stand for the compressor and generator, which I intend to keep in the engine bays, for storage that is, in use they will be out of the engine bay and well cleaned before returning. I have tracked down a company in La Rochelle, who has offered to make them out of marine grade aluminium, 10mm plate, which will do nicely. They should be ready on Wednesday, fingers crossed.
Maggie and Ivan dropped in today, other immanent Mahe owners (22nd May) Maggie cant wait, It was really nice to see them, they have sent various emails and even called us up at home for a chat about comparing progress, we meet through our blog. Maggie and Ivan should be here at the same time as Jef and Marin (Mahe 88). Anyway a picture of the happy couple to be. Not that they are not happy anyway, you know what I mean. Good luck and fair winds to Maggie, Ivan, Jef and Marin.
Monday, 28 April 2008
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Day 17 - Heading home for the last time
In a change to my usual train based updates, this update is being composed on the Le Havre-Portsmouth ferry by the wonders of technology, using the free internet access in the Club Lounge. I arrived in France yesterday morning by air at 9.35 into La Rochelle airport, where Kevin was waiting to meet me having spent the last week apart. Another of my now legendary flying visits to return our car home after last weekend's delivery trip.
It's been an exhausting few weeks for both of us and when I arrived at the boat the sun was shining and we had it to ourselves for the first time since the first night when we slept amongst the boxes and bags. I had the usual tour of updates and progress since my last visit, as usual I could see the hard work Kevin had put in in just a week, in fact when I think back to that first night it is amazing to think we have only had the boat for just over two weeks. Although Kevin and I are used to spending time apart in the week as I have been travelling away with work now for over 5 years, this last week has probably been one of the hardest. I have been frantically busy, working all week whilst trying to pack up our house ready for exchange hopefully Friday next week. This may not seem like a large task but we are keeping only a few boxes in my sister's attic and what we are taking on the boat everything else has to be disposed of somehow. We are very lucky that our house buyer wishes to buy all of our furniture too which has helped enourmously, which is just as well because the sale is going through very quickly (fingers crossed).
The other reason for the additional pressure this week is that we have both decided that it is not worth the money for the additional work that I had planned to do over the summer to be living our dream apart. Therefore I have booked two weeks off work to do the Canaries delivery trip with Kevin and if the house sales goes through as planned then I will be handing in my notice as soon as we have completion. However, I like to think that we have become the kings of flexible planning which should come in very useful in the coming few years, so this further change in schedule should not cause us any concerns. After all, craming what I had expected to be 3 months of time into a couple of weeks should be fine. I only have a company to close down, house to sell and wedding to organise, I'm sure it will be fine!
I think the side to all of this that you don't really often read is just how difficult it can be in the weeks running up to a big jump off like this in throwing / giving away / eBaying possesions, saying goodbye to friends and family with just photos of a boat to look at and other peoples blogs to remind you why you are doing all of this. I think that was part of what has made my last week very hard work was disposing of our possessions in wet and rainy UK in the house on my own. However, for all of the those people out there planning / thinking of it, I can tell you that the one day I just had with Kevin on the boat has made all of that disappear, we both spent the day saying how sure we were that this was the best thing we had ever done. I think the 27 degree heat helps! It's amazing the uplifting affect on the spirit that the sun gives, but it was also the critical decision not to push ourselves to go out sailing despite the lack of wind in further preparation for the crossing or to do anymore jobs or anything else. We infact decided to take the day off for the first time in what seems like months. Kevin prepared and absolutely delicious lunch prepared with local fresh ingredients enjoyed al fresco on the cockpit table in the shade of the bimini. In the afternoon, we walked along the seafront, people watched in cafes, ate ice creams (ok so that was just me!), wondered round the supermarket buying fresh seafood and wine stocks up for the boat while we still have access to cheap but excellent wine and a car.
Even visiting the supermarket which we both find a terrible chore at home, is fun in a foreign country, particularly one which takes it's food as seriously as France. We ended up with fresh prawns, the obligatory bagette and half a fresh crab enjoyed on the cockpit table (outside) in the setting sun with a glass of champagne courtesy of our brokers, which we were too exhausted to drink on our first night and which Kevin had been saving for us to enjoy together since. Absolute perfection and definitely worth all of the effort.
I know I should probably be terrified as it is my first big crossing, but I am really excited about the delivery. As the delivery skipper is already booked we will keep him on for the trip as I am sure we will both learn a lot from him. So I fly back out on Wednesday, Tim arrives on Thursday and hopefully we set off shortly afterwards, depending on the weather. Ironically our original departure date would have been perfect weather wise, but one advantage of the slightly later departure, is one that I get to go along and two that we will managed to get all of the electronics fitted before we set off. We have a basic set we go with the boat which would have been adequate for the delivery but now we will have everything up and running. So fingers crossed the weather holds a bit longer.
It's been an exhausting few weeks for both of us and when I arrived at the boat the sun was shining and we had it to ourselves for the first time since the first night when we slept amongst the boxes and bags. I had the usual tour of updates and progress since my last visit, as usual I could see the hard work Kevin had put in in just a week, in fact when I think back to that first night it is amazing to think we have only had the boat for just over two weeks. Although Kevin and I are used to spending time apart in the week as I have been travelling away with work now for over 5 years, this last week has probably been one of the hardest. I have been frantically busy, working all week whilst trying to pack up our house ready for exchange hopefully Friday next week. This may not seem like a large task but we are keeping only a few boxes in my sister's attic and what we are taking on the boat everything else has to be disposed of somehow. We are very lucky that our house buyer wishes to buy all of our furniture too which has helped enourmously, which is just as well because the sale is going through very quickly (fingers crossed).
The other reason for the additional pressure this week is that we have both decided that it is not worth the money for the additional work that I had planned to do over the summer to be living our dream apart. Therefore I have booked two weeks off work to do the Canaries delivery trip with Kevin and if the house sales goes through as planned then I will be handing in my notice as soon as we have completion. However, I like to think that we have become the kings of flexible planning which should come in very useful in the coming few years, so this further change in schedule should not cause us any concerns. After all, craming what I had expected to be 3 months of time into a couple of weeks should be fine. I only have a company to close down, house to sell and wedding to organise, I'm sure it will be fine!
I think the side to all of this that you don't really often read is just how difficult it can be in the weeks running up to a big jump off like this in throwing / giving away / eBaying possesions, saying goodbye to friends and family with just photos of a boat to look at and other peoples blogs to remind you why you are doing all of this. I think that was part of what has made my last week very hard work was disposing of our possessions in wet and rainy UK in the house on my own. However, for all of the those people out there planning / thinking of it, I can tell you that the one day I just had with Kevin on the boat has made all of that disappear, we both spent the day saying how sure we were that this was the best thing we had ever done. I think the 27 degree heat helps! It's amazing the uplifting affect on the spirit that the sun gives, but it was also the critical decision not to push ourselves to go out sailing despite the lack of wind in further preparation for the crossing or to do anymore jobs or anything else. We infact decided to take the day off for the first time in what seems like months. Kevin prepared and absolutely delicious lunch prepared with local fresh ingredients enjoyed al fresco on the cockpit table in the shade of the bimini. In the afternoon, we walked along the seafront, people watched in cafes, ate ice creams (ok so that was just me!), wondered round the supermarket buying fresh seafood and wine stocks up for the boat while we still have access to cheap but excellent wine and a car.
Even visiting the supermarket which we both find a terrible chore at home, is fun in a foreign country, particularly one which takes it's food as seriously as France. We ended up with fresh prawns, the obligatory bagette and half a fresh crab enjoyed on the cockpit table (outside) in the setting sun with a glass of champagne courtesy of our brokers, which we were too exhausted to drink on our first night and which Kevin had been saving for us to enjoy together since. Absolute perfection and definitely worth all of the effort.
I know I should probably be terrified as it is my first big crossing, but I am really excited about the delivery. As the delivery skipper is already booked we will keep him on for the trip as I am sure we will both learn a lot from him. So I fly back out on Wednesday, Tim arrives on Thursday and hopefully we set off shortly afterwards, depending on the weather. Ironically our original departure date would have been perfect weather wise, but one advantage of the slightly later departure, is one that I get to go along and two that we will managed to get all of the electronics fitted before we set off. We have a basic set we go with the boat which would have been adequate for the delivery but now we will have everything up and running. So fingers crossed the weather holds a bit longer.
Friday, 25 April 2008
Day 15 - Sunshine at last
This morning we had a visit from Fountaine Pajot, I had mentioned to the after sales manager Thierry yesterday about the engine bay covers only having 3 seals around the hatch and to make it water tight it would require 4. Without any prompting they turned up and fitted the 4th seal, which I am eternally grateful. Then Thierry turns up with a roll of the seal and handed it to me for spares, how good is that, I must say that Fountaine Pajot have been excellent at sorting out our small problems and the snagging list is now at an end. Thank you Fountaine Pajot!
The sun has now decided to come out and shower us in sunshine, which is most welcome, very little to none existent wind, which in these parts must be rare. Anyway I thought I would take a photo on Invincible basking in the sun to share with you all.
By the way the current temerature is 22 degrees the shorts are on and a bottle of white is chilling in the fridge, oh god I miss work, Ha!
The sun has now decided to come out and shower us in sunshine, which is most welcome, very little to none existent wind, which in these parts must be rare. Anyway I thought I would take a photo on Invincible basking in the sun to share with you all.
By the way the current temerature is 22 degrees the shorts are on and a bottle of white is chilling in the fridge, oh god I miss work, Ha!
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Day - 13 Slow day in La Rochelle
Yesterday we went out in 25-30 knot wind speeds to see what the boat could do in these conditions and I am glad to say that it handled the conditions with no problem what so ever. However Paul was feeling sea sick for most of the time, something I don’t suffer with thankfully.
Today we are just having a lazy day of sorts, I have been moving things around the boat to make some sort of an organized approach to the various lockers and holds. Blowing up the fenders we brought with us as the standard ones supplied are on the small side.
Paul looks like he has been in a fight, which he defiantly lost, the bimini is quite low on entering the boat and you need to duck your head, I did warn him due the fact that I lost the same fight in the first week on the boat, but after a few hard whacks you should start to learn about the procedure required. Duck!
The boat is now taking shape and will soon be ready for the big off to the Canaries, to hopefully better weather. I know we are on the Atlantic coast, but the weather system is so varied if defies belief, hence Biscay having it reputation. The good news is that I have downloaded the latest weather predictions and we are in for some sunshine for the next 4-5 days, which I am looking forward to.
Today we are just having a lazy day of sorts, I have been moving things around the boat to make some sort of an organized approach to the various lockers and holds. Blowing up the fenders we brought with us as the standard ones supplied are on the small side.
Paul looks like he has been in a fight, which he defiantly lost, the bimini is quite low on entering the boat and you need to duck your head, I did warn him due the fact that I lost the same fight in the first week on the boat, but after a few hard whacks you should start to learn about the procedure required. Duck!
The boat is now taking shape and will soon be ready for the big off to the Canaries, to hopefully better weather. I know we are on the Atlantic coast, but the weather system is so varied if defies belief, hence Biscay having it reputation. The good news is that I have downloaded the latest weather predictions and we are in for some sunshine for the next 4-5 days, which I am looking forward to.
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Day 10 - Hard Goodbyes
The day has arrived that I must say goodbye to my daughter who has spent the last week with me, enjoying our new boat. A tearful goodbye with some big hugs at the airport from Jo, Alex and Chris.
This now left me with the car to go and locate Paul, to transfer him and his kit to the boat, mean while Paul was having a major problem with him not being able to locate his credit card. I was alerted of this situation by Toni from England Paul’s girlfriend.
I was asked to make my way back to the boat to meet with Paul, it being Sunday and Paul wanting to speak to his personal banker, who is located in Germany only gave us the option to wait till Monday.
Both Paul and I retired to a local café and watched the world go by with a few beers, before returning to the boat and planning our next couple of weeks build up.
This now left me with the car to go and locate Paul, to transfer him and his kit to the boat, mean while Paul was having a major problem with him not being able to locate his credit card. I was alerted of this situation by Toni from England Paul’s girlfriend.
I was asked to make my way back to the boat to meet with Paul, it being Sunday and Paul wanting to speak to his personal banker, who is located in Germany only gave us the option to wait till Monday.
Both Paul and I retired to a local café and watched the world go by with a few beers, before returning to the boat and planning our next couple of weeks build up.
Saturday, 19 April 2008
Day 9 – The Guest Arrive
The first wave of our guest have arrived, both Chris and Paul have flown over together from Manchester and meeting up at the other side in La Rochelle airport to share a taxi, Jo had given both Chris and Paul a description of each other, having never met before and they had to try and work out if they could match the description with the person, sounds like the making of a fun game, anyway Paul admitted to having a go and failing on his first attempt, he explained that upon approaching a single woman standing at the airport who he thought matched the description. This ended up with some poor women wondering if she was the target of some weird chat up line. Chris did not admit to any such adventure and they both arrived at the boat bringing the long awaited sunshine.
Mean while Jo was heading down via the ferry in the car with some more additional kit for the boat, arriving a bit later than planned, but safe and sound.
We had a brief interval to decide on what the next stage of events would be, well it was simple, we now have enough crew to help move the boats, which have been pinning us to the pontoon rafted up. We were soon free from our Jail and on our way out of the marina, only to be confronted with the return of the international optimist boats, which basically consisted of about 2 to 300 small boats containing children with kamikaze like tendencies, you think you are bullet proof at that age, and I was impressed with boats ability to quickly come to a stop and avoid the mass murder, which was now possible.
Jo and Paul did what they could in alerting the mini yachts people to our presence, this did not seem to matter as our boat was only about 100 times bigger than them and they out numbered us anyway, Paul later likened it to a swam of killer bee’s attacking. Chris was just amazed with the chaos, shouting encouragement to the skipper on the helm (me), useful phrases, like lookout they are also coming from behind, thanks Chris!
Once clear of the swarm we headed out to the open sea with fair winds and glorious sunshine, raising the main then unfurling the genoa left us all with a big smile on our face, Alex was soon on the helm grinning from ear to ear. We stayed out for a couple of hours trying out the boat on all points before heading back to the marina. This without a doubt had cleared the cob webs from people’s long journeys to get here.
On rafting up to our location, this time on the outside the weather returned back to its normal state and the heavens opened pouring down with torrential rain, which we now all had to endure helping out unloading the car. Upon completing this task we treated ourselves to a meal out at the ‘La Globe Trotter’ a little bit damp but in high spirits.
After the meal, 3 courses for 12 euros and it was wonderful French cuisine, so no complaints all round. We retired to the boat with Paul continuing on into La Rochelle to see the sights and feeling the need to contact his girlfriend by phone in the early hours to regale his tale of the day in his new found state of happiness.
Mean while Jo was heading down via the ferry in the car with some more additional kit for the boat, arriving a bit later than planned, but safe and sound.
We had a brief interval to decide on what the next stage of events would be, well it was simple, we now have enough crew to help move the boats, which have been pinning us to the pontoon rafted up. We were soon free from our Jail and on our way out of the marina, only to be confronted with the return of the international optimist boats, which basically consisted of about 2 to 300 small boats containing children with kamikaze like tendencies, you think you are bullet proof at that age, and I was impressed with boats ability to quickly come to a stop and avoid the mass murder, which was now possible.
Jo and Paul did what they could in alerting the mini yachts people to our presence, this did not seem to matter as our boat was only about 100 times bigger than them and they out numbered us anyway, Paul later likened it to a swam of killer bee’s attacking. Chris was just amazed with the chaos, shouting encouragement to the skipper on the helm (me), useful phrases, like lookout they are also coming from behind, thanks Chris!
Once clear of the swarm we headed out to the open sea with fair winds and glorious sunshine, raising the main then unfurling the genoa left us all with a big smile on our face, Alex was soon on the helm grinning from ear to ear. We stayed out for a couple of hours trying out the boat on all points before heading back to the marina. This without a doubt had cleared the cob webs from people’s long journeys to get here.
On rafting up to our location, this time on the outside the weather returned back to its normal state and the heavens opened pouring down with torrential rain, which we now all had to endure helping out unloading the car. Upon completing this task we treated ourselves to a meal out at the ‘La Globe Trotter’ a little bit damp but in high spirits.
After the meal, 3 courses for 12 euros and it was wonderful French cuisine, so no complaints all round. We retired to the boat with Paul continuing on into La Rochelle to see the sights and feeling the need to contact his girlfriend by phone in the early hours to regale his tale of the day in his new found state of happiness.
Friday, 18 April 2008
Day 8 - Rain stops play
The rain has been coming down steadily all day with no sign of letting up, both Alex and I went for a wonder round the shops to pick up some supplies for the boat and for us.
A very nice bottle of Muscadet with some local ham and cheese, the wine cost 2.60 compared to a bottle of coke, which cost 2.80 Euros.
We managed to scrub the decks with help from the rain, plus we gave the boat a good clean, we have guests tomorrow, Jo, Chris and Paul are on route.
We have bought a 12V car hover to help with the cleaning, but as soon as we plugged it in and tried to use it, it died on use, blowing the fuse, which then meant we had to find the distribution board, which turns out to be in the Guest room under the bunk, so the hover will be going back and we will need to buy a rechargeable one. Otherwise it's good old manpower.
A very nice bottle of Muscadet with some local ham and cheese, the wine cost 2.60 compared to a bottle of coke, which cost 2.80 Euros.
We managed to scrub the decks with help from the rain, plus we gave the boat a good clean, we have guests tomorrow, Jo, Chris and Paul are on route.
We have bought a 12V car hover to help with the cleaning, but as soon as we plugged it in and tried to use it, it died on use, blowing the fuse, which then meant we had to find the distribution board, which turns out to be in the Guest room under the bunk, so the hover will be going back and we will need to buy a rechargeable one. Otherwise it's good old manpower.
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