We’re nearing our finish time at the marina in Weymouth, though we have had to extend this a little in order to finish some jobs on Gianti. Over the past few weeks we took out the boat for a little sail and thought we would benefit from some tuition and guidance from the lovely Will at White Dot Sailing. I needed to start getting my head around the complex business of keeping sails full and still going in roughly the right direction!
Will has huge amounts of patience and it’s really handy to have someone one step removed to guide you for the best results. I even managed to park the boat … much to Trev’s consternation 🤯🤗. Will is enormous (granted compared to me, most people are) but still …
We had Trev up the mast refitting the anchor light (still doesn’t want to play) and drilling holes in the boat for the wind turbine fitting. We hope to go to Brixham and Dartmouth next Monday so that we can start the adventure .. the jobs don’t seem to be finishing any time soon … solar panels still need fitting, we fitted new batteries, ordered a new mainsail, service kit for the engine, got the grab bag sorted and have decided on a spinnaker pole, as opposed to a cruising chute, which will give us more power in downwind.
We’ve met a few people – Anna & Richard from Seasalter, Jane & Adrian from Bluebird – and an amazing old couple (Desmond was 93 & ex-naval, Deb was not much younger and a retired opthalmic surgeon). She was a great character and had a great natter whilst waiting for a taxi. If I have half of her energy and attitude in the next 5 years I’ll be more than happy.
I’ve made a new friend called Gary … he’s a friendly local cormorant who regular fishes outside the boat – the pic shows he gulping down a nice long fish thing/eel .. any ideas what it is please let me know.
The thermal cooker came into its own whilst using the lovely Joyce’s infamous syrup sponge pudding recipe … it can be done on a boat .. Trev’s defo a happy bunny.
We’ll try for a more interesting post once we start moving shortly x
Our Big Boaty Adventure 