Last
minute preparations for the big "Adventure"
or
Ready
for the "off"
or
Leaving
Ocean Village (twice!)
We'd already
left once! We went to the
RSYC Gins Farm on the Beaulieu River for our setting sail party but had to
return for the fitting of our bimini.
As expected the fitters arrived and, somewhat ironically, in
freezing rainy conditions attempted to get our sun shade fitted.
Several hours later they left declaring it necessary to get the
designer to add some extra tensioning bars.
The next day he duly arrived and successfully
tensioned it.
With the
bimini finally fitted we were off, again!
It was a chilly afternoon and the weather over the last few days
had been distinctly wintry and the prospect of a Channel crossing in the
remaining "high seas" was not appealing.
So, we
plumped for a trip to the Isle of Wight.
Cowes was the best bet. We
could get fuel and the last remaining bits 'n' bobs, such as a pop rivet
gun to fit the new lazy jacks and pack-a-main.
Cowes is
undergoing some dramatic changes at the moment and the diggers were
working on the pontoons until nearly midnight, causing the boat to wallow
all night in artificial waves! Not very conducive to completing the lazy
jack task the following morning, a job that required Chris to climb the
mast, which was pretty
precarious with all the rocking back and forth.
After 3 attempts at sliding the pack-a-main along the boom, it was time to
journey to our next destination, Yarmouth.
We planned to set off from there in the early hours to catch the
tide around the Needles.
That
afternoon the tide nearly swept us past the entrance to Yarmouth, but we
were pleased with ourselves at spotting the leading line diamonds to take
us safely into the harbour. We
had been dreading the prospect 
of attaching ourselves to piles for the first
time and were relieved to find a pontoon, not shown in our pilot.
A beautiful little place, our only regret of this "big
trip" is that we have not yet explored our home country to the full.
Well, that will be something for the future...
Safely tied
up to the pontoon Chris set about fixing the dodgers back on, ready for
the Channel crossing. Quite a
number of boats arrived and we wondered if we would have company the
following day. We ate a large
meal and having listened, religiously, to as many weather broadcasts as
possible we began our passage planning.