23/6/06 Drove down to Southsea, packed a few essentials onboard and made ourselves comfortable for the night.
24/6/06 Our first calamity! Moved boat to fuelling pontoon and pumped in 185 litres of diesel, only to find that the fuel hose between filler cap and tank was disconnected.....ooops! Returned to berth and bodged up a repair which enabled us to fuel and slip out into Langstone Harbour to await low water.
25/6/06 Slipped the buoy at 0500 and motored out to sea, making for Eastbourne. Wind was unfavourable and on the nose...hoisted mainsail but even with change of course to stbd it meant motor sailing for a great deal of the way. Dee sleeping for some time to combat her aversion to the motion of the sea! Stood about 10 miles offshore until making Beachy Head and locking into Sovereign Marina where we were met by George and Jean, old buddies from Gillingham Marina.
26/6/06 Motored out to sea at 0800 in steady rain, hoisted all sail and made course for Ramsgate. We were advised off Dover to slow down and allow the cruise ship "Insignia" to pass ahead of us en route for Oslo. Sadly, this meant a complete 360 turn which caused boat to roll enough to persuade Dee to part with her breakfast and we then considered putting into Dover for the night, but continued to Ramsgate, where we stayed for a day to shop and attend to important matters.
28/6/06 Lazy start, leaving harbour about 1000 and motoring to North Foreland. Full sail in East wind allowed a lovely quick passage in glorious sunshine to Garrison Point through Princes Channel, then up the Medway and into Gillingham Marina, tying up alongside at 1600.
Mini Refit attending to all the niggly bits which were discovered at sea. Hoisted from water and bottom re-painted, anodes changed, prop and rudder checks. Despite all the storage space, it soon became evident that we would not be able to take half of what we intended to take with us and that repairs and attending to matters ashore would delay sailing.
5/8/06 My good friend Sandra, who lives in Lincoln and works in Exeter (don't ask!) came down and re-named the boat and insisted on a trial sail. We had a good sail in a steady Force 6 out past the wreck of the Montgomery, Red Sands towers, the wind farm and Shivering Sands towers before returning to Gillingham at 9 knots.(Click for information on the Montgomery)
(Click for information on the towers)
13/8/06 A welcome rest from storing, repairing etc when friends came round for a drink (or two) and despite appalling weather during the morning, the sun shone in the afternoon – and a good time was had by all, the diehards leaving sometime after midnight. Thanks to all for coming over to see us, nice to see you all and put faces to names – and I somehow managed not to fall in the ‘oggin! Click here for rogues gallery.
12/9/06 The boat is almost packed with gear and about 5 inches lower in the water than she was 3 months ago with still an extra 100 litres of water and 125 litres of fuel to go onboard! Wondering where to pack it all now - and also where to put the fenders when we finally leave the pontoon safety of Gillingham Marina. Hoping to get away at 0600 on Thursday of this week, just to Ramsgate to see how she handles with all the extra weight. The weather this week has been glorious - and forecast to change to rain on Thurs - just our luck! However, providing it isn't blowing a gale, or forecast to do so, then we will go - and whatever we have left behind we will have to do without!14/9/06 After a night of torrential rain, thunder, lightning.....0545 - Slipped the mooring at Gillingham, filled up with fuel, said “Cheerio” to Maurice the lock-keeper and Malcolm, who had come down to the lock from the gate, and proceeded down river into a weak sunrise. Wind directly on the nose after Garrison Point until 1030, then F4/5 South East. A series of malfunctions as we rounded North Foreland in steep short seas – ‘arold (the name given to the Aries windvane) ceased to work, the auxiliary rudder refusing to lock down. The Navico wheelpilot packed up with mechanical problem and the instruments stopped ‘talking’ to each other. Dee constantly sick during this time and unable to do anything to assist. Dropped sail and started the engine to find that the engine wouldn’t idle, and would only run at 1700 revs.
1400 – Entered Ramsgate Royal Harbour, Dee saying her final farewell to ‘Hughie’ as we passed the light at the harbour entrance, much to the amusement of spectators looking down from the wall. The next few days were spent putting things right and re-distributing some of the weight from aft. Sourcing the snapped wheelpilot belt proved problematic as Navico, taken over by Simrad, have withdrawn from the UK and the belt, only supplied as a kit with a new clutch, had to be imported from Denmark, which in turn meant an unexpected stay in Ramsgate instead of an overnight stop! Still, better to have these problems show up now rather than later! We took the opportunity to visit Southampton Boat Show during our enforced stop-over, spending far too much money in the process, and we should have bought some new navigation lights, as some light fingered Herbert decided to they had greater need of ours, removing them from the bow whilst we were away from the boat – probably on the other side of the Channel by now!
