Hello from exotic Neyland!
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51:42.54N
004:56.62W No we are not really in
the Where has the last month gone? David and Lawrence finished their bit on the pointy end, and Dave Sturdy gave up valuable drinking time at the party to finish off the welding. We should now be able to anchor safely without ripping the front of the boat off. Sarah carried on unpacking and packing lockers and came to the conclusion that we actually need a TARDIS, not a boat, although using the dinghy like a trailer is always an option... The day before the party
was spent clearing up and cleaning. All the stuff that Sarah couldn’t get into
lockers was put into the overflow storage facility (the car). Thank goodness the
weather held for the party, because we would never have got everyone inside the
boat at the same time. It was so lovely to see so many friends and family, and
extremely emotional – I think we were all delighted and surprised to see just
how many people turned up to say ‘bon voyage’. Throughout the whole project, so
many people have given their time, help and enthusiasm to help us realize our
dream. After the past couple of
months of good weather, it was a bit of a shock to wake up to cold rain the day
after the party (Sunday 22 April). The weather forecast for the following few
days was not good, but as we had the lift out to fit the SSB radio dyno-whatsit
booked for Friday 27 April in Neyland, we really needed to leave Aber on the
Tuesday or Wednesday if possible. David retreated to the pub for an hour to surf
some GRIB (wind and weather) files and decided that Tuesday was the day – the
forecast was SW 4—5 veering NE and decreasing 3—4 so should be getting better.
In the event we got a SW gale force 8 (45 knots of wind) the whole way and stood
still for 3 hours off the Bishops and Clerks (nasty big rocks near St David’s
Head). To add insult to lots of vomit (expected of Bryn and Sarah, but even
Bethany, David and Lawrence succumbed), the mainsail ripped at one of the reef
points (places in the sail where you can put in a ‘tuck’ and tie it to the boom
to make it smaller). However, Sarah managed womanfully (between chucks) to
deliver bacon butties while David and Lawrence hand steered because the
autopilot whimped out due to the big waves. The children eventually managed to
sleep curled up together like puppies. Just after dawn we turned into ‘the
Haven’ and surfed in with the waves at 12.5 knots. Having left Aberystwyth at
14:30 on Tuesday 24 April, we finally tied up in Neyland at 07:45 on Wednesday
25 April. One of the new jobs added to the list of things to do was to sort the
leaks – we knew about a couple of them, but in the event, water got inside the
headlining (ceiling) and with the washing machine motion found its way in to
every bunk except Lawrence’s. The forecast weather arrived on Wednesday
afternoon so we were able to dry the bedding. On Thursday 26 April we
sorted out getting the sail repaired and ordered a new mainsail (ouch!). We also
invested in some spinlocks (rope locks) with labels so that Sarah has no excuse
for pulling the wrong rope when David says pull the so-and-so. We were lifted out last
thing on the afternoon of Friday 27 April. It is very scary seeing your home
dangling in two webbing straps and imagining what would happen if anything
slipped and all your possessions encased in 15 tons of fibreglass hit the
tarmac…. However, as Cape’s bottom emerged from the water, it became clear that
we’d picked up a rope around the prop at some point and this had welded itself
to the seal – this meant ordering a new seal from Volvo and resigning ourselves
to a weekend on the hard (still in the sling, climbing a ladder that was not
quite long enough to get on and off the boat). The view of the Cleddau isn’t bad
from up here though. The weekend passed
quickly with quite a few jobs getting done and two more mullet finding
themselves at the wrong end of |