A New Adventure Begins!
02 July 2012 | Falmouth
Lin
Sail blog June 2012
Many of you will not have heard from us for a long time. So much has happened since we returned to the UK from the West Indies in July 2010.
In brief, we have lost our three remaining parents. In October 2010 Paul and I “tied the knot” as did my daughter Lucy and Jake just a few weeks later. In February this year we became the grandparents of another beautiful grandson making four grandchildren altogether and we have also purchased a new home with a wonderful garden. Paul’s brother Keith has designed major adaptations to the property for which we are awaiting planning permission and Listed Building Consent.
However, our wanderlust continues. Having returned to the UK from the West Indies after a nasty mosquito had infected me with the Dengue virus, we had to rethink our plans, as we were warned by my doctor that catching it again, especially if a different strain, might well be fatal.
Therefore after giving Sareda a much needed re-fit we are now heading for the Mediterranean where Dengue or Malaria has not endemic and where there are many more countries to be explored.
As is usual we are held up by the weather in the UK. We were moored at Turf Lock on the Exeter canal for several days where Chris, my son, helped Paul to re-fit five of the boat windows which had been leaking badly. Chris had removed them with either Paul’s or my other son David’s help. He had then removed the glass and after I had cleaned up the frames Chris re-bedded the glass with a special rubber compound. The family visited on different days and Bethan our six year old granddaughter showed remarkable skill in handling the dinghy and outboard independently – she can also row with some skill! The evening before we left on the 20th June we were joined by our friend Jenny and daughter Nicola who came to wish us farewell and we were amazed at seven thirty the next morning to see them again, together with flags, waving us out of the lock and into the Exe Estuary when we had a good sail with fair winds across to Dartmouth.
We had six pleasant days there, even if cold and wet at times, meeting up with a crowd of sailors that hailed from Weymouth. Ann Gale, a friend of mine in Weymouth put us in touch with Bev and Louie who were also in Dartmouth with a group from the Weymouth & Portland Cruising Club and after an entertaining evening on their boat on the Thursday, twelve of us met for Sunday brunch at Al Fresco, our favourite eatery in Dartmouth and then continued the revelry at the Dartmouth Sailing Club until 6pm.
On the Monday evening we were visited by my eldest son, partner Charlotte and our two grandsons, Farley and baby Eden. They couldn’t stay long with the little ones but it was a lovely surprise to see them before we left, as we intended early the following morning. However the 4am morning shipping forecast advised us of contrary winds so we returned to our bed and left the next day instead.
It was a misty start but a sunny day was forecast – it was not to be. We motored until we were abreast of Plymouth but then the wind picked up and we had a good sail down to Falmouth. However, we were met by thick fog and our new AIS transponder proved a very useful addition to our instruments especially as the new radar chose not to work and we inched our way into the Fal Estuary unable to see a yacht 0.1 nautical mile away, although the AIS told us it was there. After crawling around the docks following the harbour wall we saw yachts anchored although we couldn’t see land/lights at all, a very tiring 16 hours at sea having left Dartmouth at 5am.
We invited David, a single hander on a Rustler 31 and fellow member of the OCC across for a drink and chat on the Thursday evening. It turned out that he had sailed the Atlantic 17 times and also the Pacific several times delivering yachts for other people. We had a very good evening but regretted the next day not having tapped in to more to his wealth of knowledge and experience.
Daughter Lucy and granddaughters Bethan and Hallie visited us on Saturday for the day when Bethan proved that she could handle the dinghy as well on the sea as she had on the canal at Turf Lock. Sadly they left us at five as they had a long journey back to Exeter.
We now hope to leave Falmouth for Camaret in France on Thursday but tonight Sunday we are meeting four friends, John, Isobel, David and Karen for an Indian meal and tomorrow Paul’s son Mark is coming down from London and spending the night with us.
We are beginning to feel relaxed after nearly two weeks on Sareda and are intending to leave her in the Med and return home for the winter in late September, however we may not make the Med this year as there are other places to visit en route but we will keep you informed of our progress.
Best Wishes to you all.
Lin and Paul