Eve of Departure from Falmouth
Wild Carol does Australia
John and Fiona Fraser
Mon 13 Jun 2011 22:35
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50:09.89N 5:05.09W
Well, this is it - final preparations for departure
tomorrow. It looks like we have a weather window of a couple of days to
get away and get some miles to the south before the next depression comes
through bringing with it gales and rain further north. Alex arrived at 6pm
and he and Max are in Sainsbury's as I write this. They are making up the
menu as they wander the aisles...Back on the boat we've finished re-stowing all
the gear, filled up with diesel, taken a few extra jerry cans and filled up the
water. Iain is busy hoovering under the floor boards as I
type (his mother would be proud of him, not to say astonished!!) with Graham
supervising and offering helpful tips. Our plan is to get up at 6 tomorrow, head
out into Carrick Roads and do some safety exercises and sail rigging practice
before heading out into the open sea. Our route will be to get as far to
the west as we can, avoiding the busy shipping lanes off Ushant and then head
south across Biscay. For the time being we hope to do a non-stop run to the
Algarve which should take 6-7 days but I'm keeping an open mind about a possible
stop in northern Spain at either La Coruna or Bayona, near Vigo. If the
sat phone link works we should be able to post at least daily position updates
and maybe the odd photo. There's a few of our day today below.
The highlight of the day was a visit to the Falmouth Coastguard MRCC at
Pendennis Point which Max had managed to arrange due to a previous business
connection with the now retired head of the Coastguard in the
south-west. It was well worth while to see first-hand how they
work. I can't believe the government is considering closing a lot of these
centres.
That's all from me - here are the
photos.
John
Did you realise you had such a large nut in
your engine?!
 Stowing the sails
 MRCC Visit
  More stowing! - Identify the
rear!
 Still fixing
things!
 Nearly ready!
 Loading the
provisions
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