Steaming out backwards

Tillymint.fortescue
Thu 17 Sep 2009 22:16
N37:06:432 W008:40:450
 
Hello Blighty. It is with some trepidation that I settle into the large shoes (killer heels?) of your previous correspondent. I will do my best to live up to expectations.
 
With a crack crew flown out specially from London, the good ship Tilly Mint is making ready for sea. It's all gone like clockwork so far: trains and planes on time, Hugh Grant generously booked onboard the flight (no doubt by the Skipper himself, to lend some showbiz pzzazz to proceedings). Tea has been drunk; crucial details such as the location of cake and beer divulged. In short, we're all ready for 670 miles of the Big Blue.
 
The only slight problem we can foresee is that we're moored up in a concrete lined canal that leads out to sea... facing upstream. In the manner of three workmen leaning on their shovel handles, we reckon the river may be some 60 feet across. Even my rudimentary maths tells me that swinging a 67 foot boat across this will be hard work, so we're obliged to steam out backwards, which may come as a surprise to any well oiled locals wending their way home along the quay.
 
We'll just wait for the ticker tape to settle and the well wishers to step back from the pontoon before we cast off. In some ways it's a daunting prospect: by a factor of five, this will be the longest passage I've ever made. And unlike cruising the Channel, there's not much in the way of shelter between here and Lanzarote. One wrong turning and it's Antigua instead of Arrecife. Ho hum... as excuses for turning up late to work go the 'we got lost and went to the Caribbean' line is at least original.
 
Fish count: 0 tuna, 0 mackerel, 0 garfish, 0 whales... and counting.