Passing Cardigan Bay

Saxon Blue's Blog
Harvey Jones and Andrea Stokes
Wed 5 May 2010 14:38
52:34.03N 005:22.92W

Set out from Milford Haven this morning after dropping Cind off to catch a train back to London. We had a lovely peaceful night at anchor just off a sandy beach in a wild part of the Haven. When I took Cind to the town, we passed massive oil facilities and a Very Large Crude Carrier. Seems strange to find such heavy infrastructure this far away from the hub of people in the UK. Can't help thinking it's all parked out here to keep it out of sight. The tender went really well with us both in it and like a rocket once I'd dropped her off. The 20hp engine is a real improvement.

We passed a series of rugged islands outside the Haven as we started to head north again. It looks like the Hebrides already. The visibility closed in after that and we haven't seen much all day since. A few birds and the very occasional ship. I don't think we'll see much until we get to the North Channel. We're all settling into this way of life now. Andrea is visibly relaxing and getting involved in running the boat. Kali is producing fantastic food and busily learning how everything works and where it is all kept. Richard has had the angle grinder out so he's happy too.

We're going to try a 4 on, 4 off watch rotation between Kali and I tonight with Andrea sharing 2 hours of each watch. I'm hopeful that this will be less tiring than the 3 hour watches we did on Monday night.

As we settle in, it really feels as though we could just go anywhere. The boat becomes its own little world with its own rhythms. The rest of the world seems very far away already. Everyone has been impressed with how Saxon Blue handles. We're motoring now at 9 knots with the engine just churning along at 2200 revs. It all feels relaxed. I'm happy now to be getting into our adventure after so much planning. My big concern was that I wasn't going to like it but there's no chance of that. I'm loving it!

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