2. It's a GO! (I hope)

Callidus Harwich and Beyond
Richard Wells
Sat 31 May 2008 10:27

It's a GO! (I hope)

It happened on May 2nd. I decided I would accept Richard's invitation to cross the Atlantic with him this autumn. Wow! A lifetime ambition suddenly and unexpectedly in prospect. Carol said 'You must go' straight away, bless her. Richard, the Skipper, must have thought I was made of the right stuff. I can do a bowline, after all. Anyhow I said 'I wanna go!'

On May 11th I drove the 60 miles down to Walton to see the boat. Callidus means expert or clever, so she is optimistically named. ..She was on the hard, being caulked and painted. I had gone to do the VHF course, which Richard did and separated me from £73 for the privilege. Dave was on the boat when I got there, another adventurous yachtsman out of Titchmarsh, leaving for the Azores solo on Tuesday. Dave had everything to hand - epirb, satellite phone, solar still, flags, VHF, liferaft, grabbag, charts, self-steering, even a SCUBA set (he was a Naval diver) - all the gear needed to give him the best chance of surviving a bit of bad luck. We would need similar kit - did we have it?

I agreed to do the first leg from Harwich to Falmouth starting June 10th, with an option to do the biggy - Tenerife to Trinidad, all 2800 miles of open ocean starting around October 15th. I thought I could stay on board after Trinidad and see the Windwards, the Leewards and the Lesser Antilles before landing at Fort Lauderdale (via the Bahamas) by Christmas 2008. Then fly home.

That's the plan anyway