On our way

12th May, a rather premature leaving party!

27th May, we're finally off

Sandpiper leaving Gosport

After three weeks living on the boat at the Royal Clarence Marina in Gosport we finally left to head for the West Country on 27th May. We were given a truly Royal send off by our good friends Richard and Rowena who were also berthed at the marina and about to set off on their own adventure.

We had hoped to leave earlier but had completely understimated how much there was still to do. This included connecting up the solar panels that will provide our power, installing an inverter that will allow us to use the laptop (and my hairdryer!) at anchor, a wi-fi booster aerial to ensure we can keep connected, mosquito nets for the hatches, fans in the cabins....the list seemed endless.

Our first stop was anchoring overnight in Studland Bay, a good test for our new Spade anchor, which held well. The next day we set off at 4am  for a long sail in gentle winds down to Dartmouth, and the following day continued on to Plymouth, our departure point for France.

We had expected to have to wait a few days for a weather window to cross the channel, but it's actually been almost two weeks! We have kept busy getting more things done....I had imagined sitting out on deck reading a book in the good weather, but whenever it's been fine Cliff's toolbox has had pride of place in the cockpit as he tackles yet another job. The most challenging was fixing a winch that completely seized. We had visions of having to spend around £600 to replace it,  but a strategically placed blow torch expanded the metal and allowed him to take it apart.

Work of art? Actually it's the mole grip attached to the centre spindle of the winch


 Our new rail mounted BBQ has been a big hit

 I'm hoping the next post in this blog will be from France, as it looks as though we finally have the right conditions to cross the channel to L'Aber-Wrac'h. Our friend Derek has joined us for the trip, and we should be setting off tomorrow.