Weymouth evening
Friday 23rd June
At 7:30ish, we set off for Dartmouth with little or no wind and motored most of the way. The wind picked-up about 10 miles from our destination and we sailed the rest of the way in peace and quiet. We anchored in the small space left aside from the pontoons and mooring buoys with what appeared to be no swinging space at all. However, when we went ashore and looked-back, Nadezhda seemed to have plenty of room and I needn’t have worried.
Portland Bill Lighthouse
Mum rang and told me that Dad had been taken into hospital following an irregular heartbeat and a tight chest. Thankfully he got the all-clear the next morning and, apparently, this is something that is experienced by a number of people and is generally considered benign.
Fliss
Hello not a lot to report today that Pete hasn’t told you but we did have a go at fishing but only managed to catch a small fishing net, good job we have provisions on board!
In the evening we took a stroll around the top of Dartmouth and Pete was re-assured that Nadezhda would be fine on her mooring, it’s amazing how close things appear. We popped into a really snug pub called the “Cherub” (Pete’s idea by the way, for a change) and got chatting to a young couple, (my god I’m getting old) and he told us how to catch and gut mackerel, did you know we both dislike the taste of fish! But Pete say’s that we’ll have to learn to love it and lemon & chilli’s will hide the taste.
Alan really glad your well and no more scares please.
Lot’s of love to all.
Saturday 24th June
We had a lazy morning and left Dartmouth at 10 O’Clock in the morning. The sun was out and we put up the cruising chute heading for Anvil Point. After an hour and a half, the wind deserted us again and it was back to the noise of the engine (which, I must say, is much better than the old Perkins engine!). Our motor-boat does not make good speed and it was 22:00 before we arrived in Falmouth. Still…the weather was nice and we sprawled on the front deck attempting some fishing and generally relaxing. As luck would have it, the quayside marina had a spare space on the first pontoon and we easily glided to rest without any manoeuvring hassle and dug into G&T for Fliss and Whisky and Lemonade for me.
P.s we think we saw a small shark off Dartmouth
Sunday 25th June
Lazy day today. After a lie-in and shower we checked-out the weather forecast, Weathernet Grib files (Gridded Binary files that show wind and weather pictures on the computer), Saildocs Grib files, WeatherFax and all other sources of information and decided that there was a calm window for crossing the Biscay to La Coruna. So off we trekked to Tesco’s to get in last minute provisions and all those other things (like English mustard, Lea & Perrins etc) that can’t be obtained elsewhere. Oh yes, forgot about the re-stocking of special on-arrival drinkies. With 10 bags of heavy goods, we ordered a taxi back to the boat and nearly killed ourselves carrying the goods back to the furthest pontoon.
In the afternoon we hoisted the England flag to the top of the mast and went to watch England play Ecuador. What a boring match! England will not make it to the semi’s…at least I won’t have to watch any more games!!!!
Fliss
I must be honest when we took the decision to make the run across the Biscay we both felt slightly apprehensive as we have never been more than a day sail. You know how people are when they’re nervous they go quiet, well we both did.
We spoke to the young berthing master and asked him which would be the best pub to watch football in and he said “the one to the right is full of lager louts you would probably prefer the one at the top of the hill which is full of old men and would be quieter” cheeky bugger! It was one of those milestones when you suddenly go from mademoiselle to madam.
I know that Pete endures the footie for my sake, thanks Pete!
I cooked a really large chilli to keep us going for our Biscay crossing.
Goodnight all!
Monday 26th June. We prepared Nadezhda and set-off at 07:00. Yup! We have so far chosen a very quiet time to cross the Biscay. The skies were overcast and there has been a bit of drizzle today but no wind until 17:00 when we managed to get the cruising chute up again for just over 2 hours until our speed dropped back to 3 knots. So, back on with the engine.
It is now 23:30 and the wind appears to be returning. Fliss is off-watch at the moment and is pretending to sleep (we call it relaxing). Hopefully sleep will come to us once we get into the watch-keeping routine and start relaxing into our schedules.
Anyway, I feel a bit more wind and I’m off to get the jib out and see what happens….maybe Fliss will get an engine-free sleep??
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