Good times are here, spring has finally arrived, the warmer weather is now upon us and the tent cover is now been removed, however a slight change to out plans due to certain circumstances our departure date is now looking near the end of May.

Ashby Girl was lifted out of the water where we spent a week on the hard; we decided to stay on her whilst she was having her annual make over, life's hard on the hard (I think a song should be made about this). Since her return to the water her performance has greatly increased, we really noticed the difference especially in the marina where the speed limit is five knots.

Once again we planed a nice trip to Guernsey over the Easter holiday. We decided to leave Thursday lunch time so that we could reach the Alderney race on the correct tide some 24 hours later. There were 2 boats leaving together our neighbour Jon and ourselves there were 6 crew on Jons boat and 5 on ours. All week we had been checking the weather and it was touch and go up until the day before when we decided conditions were acceptable. Jon recently had a new engine fitted on his boat and this was signed off on the morning of our departure. We stocked up with food and drink, weather pretty good, bit choppy and we left just after noon. Jon left first we followed close behind, we just get outside the marina and we get a call from Jon saying he is having engine problems, we remained in close proximity to Jon incase we needed to assist him in any way. We then get another radio call from Jon saying he thinks his engine is fine now so the trip is back on. We put up the sails and are happily flying along at 8 knots we look around for Jon and he still appears to be in the same spot. We then get another radio call from Jon saying he has problems with his engine again and is unable to continue with the trip to Guernsey. We then head back to Jon and towed him back into the marina, by the time we are safely in our own berths it was then too late to continue this trip to Guernsey. We were all disappointed but all feel this is the best decision under these circumstances. Because of commitments Jon & friends still had to go to Guernsey so they took the early morning ferry from Weymouth. We then decided along with our other neighbour Phil to take Ashby Girl to France. We left at four in the morning in darkness and thick fog, the fog was to remain with us throughout the trip. Just before the shipping lanes as the light was trying to break through we had four dolphins swimming with us at our bow, great sight to see and it certainly woke us up. We tried to take some photos but we could only achieve some ripples in the sea. The radar we recently had fitted, worked brilliantly when crossing the shipping lanes, at one time there were over ten ships within close range, but due to fog we were unable to see them, but the radar enabled us to monitor their position and heading and keep us at a safe distance. Had a good time in France, plenty to eat and drink and sight seeing. The trip back was mostly under motor sail due to lack of wind, but the sun was shining so no complaints.

We did wake up one morning unable to breathe and speak due to the domestic battery over charging. The battery and the charger had to be replaced at a cost of £500, nothings cheap on a boat, never mind no beer for Debbie for a week.

Our leaving party is only a few days away and we are busy preparing, we will let you know how it goes in our next update and who made a fool of themselves, this will probably be me. See the photos titled April 2009.