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Back on dry land after five days on the boat. Another sunny Tuesday morning walking from Victoria Station. In most ways, the same as any Tueday. And yet, when I close my eyes, I feel the rock of the boat, see the deep blue sky. I can still picture the crashing waves on the bow, feel the salt air fill my lungs. You take a little bit of the sea back with you.
Ramsgate – Chatham: 50.1 NM Year to Date: 194.4 NM Mouflon to Date: TBC Our final day of the adventure, we took Mouflon from Ramsgate round Margate Sand into the Thames Estuary and her new home, Chatham Maritime Marina.
Dover – Ramsgate: 28.5 NM Year to Date: 144.3 NM Mouflon to Date: TBC We awoke with sore heads but had a very pleasant short sail around the southeastern-most point of England.
Eastbourne Sovereign Harbour – Dover: 47.4 NM Year to Date: 115.8 NM Mouflon to Date: TBC Mark and Felix joined us for the journey over to Dover.
As a first step to planning our epic trip this Easter (Chichester Marina to Chatham Maritime Marina), I thought I’d take a look at the places we can stay along the way. This Otterbox Defender looks just what I need for my iPhone. I only just got it replaced last week – the last one seems to have been water damaged. And I really want to use my phone on board. Have just renewed Mouflon’s insurance with Craftinsure. They’re no nonsense, seem to get good reviews online, have a simple website which can insure you immediately, and they’re also very cheap. Of course, I’ve never made a claim yet and that’ll be the real test, but I was impressed they covered us for the Round the Island race, last year, which a lot of companies won’t do. The engineer is coming down today to service the engine, so I raced down to the boat last night to drop off the keys. It’s a 180 mile round trip which took me about 3 hours on the bike. The boat’s still there and looking surprisingly clean – but I’ve lost a fender! No idea how that happened. It’s a bit annoying as it’s on the pontoon side, though there was no sign of damage. I moved a “spare” over from the other side of the boat, so at least she’s bouncing against plastic now, rather than teak. I was a bit worried about the fuel levels, and sure enough there were tell-tale black streaks coming from the heater exhaust. Over the winter, I managed to drain all the boat’s fuel keeping the heat on for a short spell each day. This is a bit of a bummer; I’ve no idea how long it’s been running without fuel. So we’ve asked the engineer to bring some diesel along Now I just hope the heater wasn’t damaged by running it dry… Tracie from Chatham Maritime called Magdalena this afternoon to confirm the booking – and it’s a good thing she did. Understandably, Magdalena has been nervous about the move. We’re happy in Chichester – the only reason we’re moving is to have the boat nearer home while our little ones are so little. Tracie spent a lot of time with Magdalena, talking about the community at Chatham, how there are other families with small children, and they go out together, arrange barbecues and generally have a laugh. They even have a (unofficial) Facebook page where they discuss the activites. Last year, about 10 boats spotaneously entered a race down the river – just for the heck of it. Magdalena sounded quite fired up – it does sound fun. Now we just need to get the boat there. Theres’s a really good article on apps iPhone over at Yachting World. I’m really chuffed to have found the Marine Tides Planner iPhone app, though I really think Boatie deserved a mention. |
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