11/20/2009, Brighton
Hi all, delayed blog-age, sorry
We've managed to escape house renovation in Cambridge (England, not Boston!)
And we have a new crew member!!! Let's hear it for IGOOOORRRRRRRRRR!!!
The Kipor IG 2000 (did you see what we did there?) generator. It may be yellow, it may not be a honda, it may be cheap, but it is a good source of power!! I'm sure we'll have many happy years together.
We're now back on board full time and starting to get our heads around the dreaded winter jobs and what is and what isn't achievable before we head north, south east or west. Discussions ongoing for the 1st April departure.
We also have another new crew member, but that is for another time and up to the Admiral to introduce her, maybe the next blog.
Phil, sorry to be slow on the updates, thanks for the Facebook message, we had to sort out the Cambridge house, hopefully now the blog should be more regularly updated with our improvements and life amongst the cold, diesel, damp, and mould of the British winter.
slainte
skip
|
Comments [0]
11/08/2009, Brighton
Well it has been a while since my last blog.
Following the harvest of sloe berries on the trip back to Brighton, we've managed to find a cheap offer of gin to use with the sloes.
However I prefer it as a G&T myself. Is this a photo of the perfect ratio? ;-)
So what have the crew of the good ship Emerald been up to you ask? Well we've been busy renovating a house, oh no! I hear you cry, they've swallowed the anchor...........
Well no such luck, it is a rental property we have which was in need of some (a lot) of updating and maintenance. We've manged to cram 6 months of work into about 6 weeks, and have one more week to go before it is ready to rent again.
Then we shall concentrate on Emerald, who has been feeling rather neglected over the last month or so. I'm not sure we'll get the winter program of works complete this season, which is hugely annoying, but there are only so many hours in each day. We probably have a year's full time work to do on Emerald to finishe her to a standard that we are happy with, but the reality is we will only have about 3 months time before we head off cruising again (can't afford the mooring fees in rip off Britain during the summer months)
Therefore we'll have to make do and mend and cram all the gear onboard somewhere to complete everything and head out to sea.......
Where you may ask? !
At the minute we are debating between the Med and the Baltic. Leaning towards the baltic (admiral) and med (skipper); so the baltic it will most probably be. We'd likely go for the following itinery... England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, Ireland, England/France to winter in 2010/2011.
From there we'll cross Biscay and cruise Northern Spain, Portugal and into the med. Couple of years in the sun then the puddle jump to the Carib and all points west.
Right then must get back to writing the final list of work for the house,
Fair winds and gardening!
slainte skip
|
Hope you are having fun in Brighton and nearly got that horrible decorating done. We are happy on a chilly River Crouch and still clinging onto summer moored on the river. Round to the marina any day now. Enjoy that gin!! xx
10/07/2009, Brighton Marina
Here is a little summary of what we did over the 92 days we were away on our summer shakedown:
Starting and finish location: Brighton
Places visited in order: Itchenor (at anchor), Yarmouth (pontoon), Studland Bay (at anchor), Weymouth (town quay), Dartmouth (pontoon and at anchor), Cawsand Bay (at anchor), Helford River (at anchor), Falmouth (pontoon), River Fal (pontoon), Fowey (buoy), Cawsand Bay (anchor), River Yealm (buoy), Salcombe (pontoon), Studland Bay (at anchor), Newtown River (at anchor), Itchenor (at anchor)
Total distance travelled: 550nm
Longest leg: 87nm from Salcombe to Studland
Nights were spent as follows:
5 on town quay
15 on marina pontoon
25 on river pontoon
41 at anchor
5 on mooring buoy
1 night sail
Fish caught (that weren't put back): 1 mackerel!!! (think we need more practise...)
Total mooring fees paid: £890
Most expensive mooring fees - Weymouth £28.60 per night
Most expensive beer - Yarmouth, IOW £3.30 a pint
Internet costs: £30
Longest time between running the engine (running on wind and solar power only): 5 days
Over the 3 months we used the following fuels:
3 x 3.9kg propane bottles for the cooker
245 litres diesel for main engine and battery charging
60 litres of petrol for the outboard engine
6 litres of paraffin for oil lamps
Breakages:
Steering cable popped off its guide.
Wind generator blade flew off (sorry Marc and Anne)
Outboard engine continually breaking down , bad at starting, when started would cut-out, not very reliable and meant we often felt trapped aboard.
Useful items:
Vodafone internet stick - good signal everywhere except River Fal where it was a bit hit and miss.
AIS receiver - particularly useful at night for making it obvious what a distant light was and where it was heading (and for spotting Le Grand Bleu).
Photo is Emerald sailing back to Brighton with all sails out for the first time, picture courtesy of Anita Curtis.
|
