Alderney.....yes still here
Tillymint.fortescue
Mon 27 Jul 2009 09:44
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Monday 27 July - nearly one week into our epic adventure and we are still tucked up in
Braye Harbour. At last count the sun was making occasional appearances on
the beach of life and we were ironing out a few wrinkles in the table cloth of
our well made plans. We have learnt to go with flow, chill out and relax, things
will get sorted when they are good and ready and not before. The fact that we
have managed only 80 miles in our first week isn't doing much for our batting
average but we have had a chance to slow down, count the daisies and enjoy the
rugged and familiar delights of this beautiful island.
So why are we still here when there is a voyage to
be made? Paperwork that's why. We are waiting on a VAT form that shows we have
"sailed away" our boat from UK waters and that we are headed for a destination
outside the EU (not the Channel Islands though!). It's quite a comic process
really - the form cannot be issued until we had set sail and then it has to be
posted to the boat......
Tilly Mint
Lying At Anchor
Bobbing on the Swell
The Sea
Well we knew that wouldn't work so we arranged to
have the the form couriered to the Harbour Master in Braye. Apparently the
document arrived by plane on the Saturday, but then fell into a blackhole that
is called the weekend. The harbour master told us that Val & Bob look after
the courier mail but he wasn't sure how to get hold of them as they don't work
weekends so we'd have to wait til Monday. We have been promised the form by
10.30am this morning and then the plan is to catch the afternoon tide to
Guernsey to sort out our last reamining wrinkle - the dinghy. The boat builders
have sent us a cunning system of poles that allow us to launch and recover the
dinghy without major dramas, which is a very good thing. However the dinghy has
got a major leak, the missing bung was just a decoy, there is something more
structural going on; quite tragic really given the passion, care and attention
that the skipper lavished on the research and purchase of this treacherous
vessel. As a leaky boat is not a good boat we are going to have to get a
replacement in Guernsey and leave the leaky one behind in anticipation of a
tussle with the supplier at a later date.
What about the fun stuff I hear you cry, well
there's been lots. We have tried our hand at fishing, almost daily visits to the
tackle shop followed by patient but (as yet) fruitless danglings over the side
of the boat - it'll be fish for dinner tonight or tomorrow or maybe the day
after....Yesterday we had a trip on the Island's train - old London
Underground carriages that run on the line built to serve the old quarry
and then met up with the crew of the Jazzy Herb for a last play on the beach, a
quick pint at the yacht club and then back to our boats for an evening of
dithering between anchorage and mooring. The forecast was for winds with North
in the name so we knew we were looking down the barrel of a bad night - 8 hours
on the wool cycle that is the washing machine of Braye Harbour in a
northerly.........time to head for Guernsey and the sanctuary of a lovely
concrete pontoon. So long Alderney and thanks for all the fish....!
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