Thursday 6th August 2009

Phew, what a week..!

Last Friday, (blimey, was it only 6 days ago?), Elaine drove Susana and I down to Plymouth where we met up with the owner of the boat and some guys from Multimarine who were finishing off the last few jobs onboard. Juliet, my one (and only) groupie had kindly driven to Plymouth to see us off and to have a sneaky look around ID.  By 3.00pm, I had escorted Juliet off ID as I took her threats to stow-away onboard seriously - visions of Juliet popping out of a hatch mid-way across the Atlantic had been troubling me for weeks.  With Juliet safely on the pontoon and a kiss goodbye for the Mrs (who then had to drive back to Southampton), we motored out of Queen Anne's Battery and out into the Sound.  There was a fresh breeze and choppy seas so it was quite uncomfortable for the first few hours. The overcast skies and drizzle didn't exactly add to the summery feel.

Me with owner Mike and Juliet just before departure

We had a great sail back and whilst grabbing only a couple of hours sleep between 2.00am and 4.00am, it dawned on me that it was the first overnight passage I had made in 25 years, and the first time I had slept on a yacht whilst at sea for the same 25 year year period.  That gentle rolling motion soon worked its magic and I was fast asleep.  Whilst the boat did most of the sailing, we spent our time learning as much as we could about the wide array of new Raymaine electronics on board - they really need to be seen to be believed - talk about "boys and their toys" - my favourite is the piece of kit which combines the chartplotter with the radar.  If you are not boaty inclined, imagine your in-car Sat Nav but the size of a portable TV set. Then overlay that mapping detail with radar which tells you where all the land is, where all the ships are (including their direction and speed), and even where the rain is.  It's a brilliant piece of equipment which also has, should you need it, a fishfinder too (I definitely approve of that and will be making use of it).

Getting onto ID using the aft hydraulic lift

By dawn on Saturday 1st August, we slipped passed the Needles with a favourable tide and barely any wind (the water was like glass) but we were still averaging more than 6 knots. An hour or so later, we arrived back on the Beaulieu River and were moored on the owner's private pontoon by 8.00am - we had travelled about 120 miles in 18 hours (averaging about 6.5 kts).

Since then we have been extremely busy going through the various on-board systems - electronics, hydraulics plus basic things like stowage. Much of the safety equipment will have to be serviced and / or updated and we are still waiting on the new generator to be fitted, hopefully in the next week or so.  One of my pressing jobs is communications - I want to be able to send back regular video updates to the website and to have the facility to have broadband internet access whilst at sea - simple to say but not so simple (or cheap) to organise.  Without a title sponsor, it's small things like this which make the difference between just another Atlantic trip, and capuring and sharing a truly amazing voyage with footage that will be disseminated quickly and widely via the web.  Anyone fancy sponsoring the Comms?  Anyway, we have 6 weeks before the boat leaves for the Canaries so time is running out fast.

Two quick pieces of news I want to share with you.  On Monday morning just past, my dear friend Sarah Outen completed her single-handed row across the Indian Ocean - I'm hoping you already know this through all the press coverage she received.  Over 124 days at sea, Sarah landed on Mautitius - how amazing is that?  Sarah was one of my crew when I sailed around Britain 2 years ago - she's such an amazing girl. Visit www.sarahouten.co.uk for more details.

And last, but not least, you may know but I am a patron of the Rose Road Association, a school and respite centre for kids with profound learning disabilities.  It's a role that I take very seriously and I am only too pleased to do what I can to help.  If you live in the Hampshire area, I'm hoping that you might be able to help them too. On Sunday 4th October, they are organising a charity walk around Lymington and Keyhaven nature reserve. For full details, CLICK HERE. The walk is only a few miles and it costs £10 per adult so please consider giving a bit of your time for them.  If you can't make it, then please visit their site and see the wonderful work they do.

Right, I'm off now to catch up on emails and my "jobs list" which is now 5x longer than it was this time last week.

PS: Click on the HOME PAGE www.geoffholt.com for latest pictures of boat.