Now or never.  We are tied up in East Cowes marina.  Everything is ready.  We are going to have a meal shortly in the Lifeboat then get tucked in at a sensible hour. We are due to leave at 4.30 tomorrow morning, and hope to arrive at Brighton Marina somewhere about 1300. Have received some lovely best wishes cards and presents. 

Nicely tied up in East Cowes marina ready for early departure.

Just remembered as I start my 10th cup of tea of the day, we met a lovely couple who live aboard their 45 foot ketch.  Got a tour of it yesterday - absolutely enormous!  What a boat.  They sail in UK waters about 6 months of the year, then the rest of the time they find a suitable mooring and rest.  Fantastic.

Last couple of days now.  We will be moving the boat to East Cowes Marina this afternoon after we have topped up with diesel.  Had a good weekend away.  Sailed to the Beaulieu river, Gins farm.  Fog all the way there, so had to be very careful, tracked the route right in to the mooring pontoon.  Our visit allowed us to blow up the rubber dinghy to see if it really worked, and how we got on with it.

stage 1 - get the dinghy out of the boat

stage 2 - take it out of the bag and see what all the bits are

stage 3 - start blowing it up

stage 4 - looks good to me.  Now just get it in the water and put the dog in it.

Well Bertie liked the rubber boat, once he realised he was expected to get in it!  Had a walk ashore, but couldn't find any walks on the saltings. Never mind.  Had a drink in the club house and then had a fun dinner on the boat with friends. 

Left Sunday morning, but motored all the way home.  Very hot and sunny, but wind was in the wrong direction for sailing.

 getting very close now.  Tried to get Perry up the mast the other day, but failed miserably.  So he made a few adjustments, and so on Monday had another go....

And there he is poor boy, up  the mast sorting out a halyard for the cruising shute.

 On Wednesday we did our final shakedown cruise before the big event, which consisted of sailing round the Island.  Left at 8.30, great conditions, ate our way all round.  Took 10 hours, Bertie was pretty fed up most of the time.  Only two other boats on the south side of the Island. 

Going round the Needles - take a left hand round

And here we are the other side of the Needles, just to prove we did go round

And here is St Catherine's lighthouse on the extreme South Side of the Island - no turning back now.

Tomorrow we are off to Gin's Farm on the Beaulieu River, before moving and loading the boat Tuesday and Wednesday.  Bertie has had his hair cut and suffered the injections at the vet.

The start of chaos... only two weeks left to get everything together.  Bertie is booked in at the vet's and the groomer, and I have a hairdressing appointment just before we go.  Bloto was out last weekend getting spruced up for the voyage.

Nice clean bottom, doesn't she look nice.

Bloto was out from Thursday until Monday.  We moved her from the yard on Monday aiming to have a sail on Tuesday.   All the time she was out the weather was absololute glorious, as soon as she was back on the morning, no more sun.  Although we went out, it was not the most glorious of sails and we both (well actually all three) got a bit chilly, so cut the event short.  After that, the sun came out again!  However, it has been a bit windy since then.

I managed to mess up the lazy jacks which Perry has so carefully reinstalled.   He had to sort them out again.

In the meantime I managed to do a couple of oil pastel paintings, which I submitted to Wet Canvas on their OP challenge.  Ages since I've done OPs.  The comments were nice and gentle - basically try harder next time!

Oil pastels are not the most forgiving of mediums, but I will carry on!

Also Bertie and I have been doing some longs walks which have been fun, and I have been running (short distance) a couple of times - this time no problems with knees.

Have got to hoist Perry up the mast tomorrow - should be interesting! and next Wednesday we are hoping to do our (finally) shakedown cruise, 60 miles round the Island.  So far weather looks right for it.  Must do some distance before we set out on the big trip......

Another messed up week weather wise.  However, we have fixed the date for the imminent departure - 13th April.  Now written in pen in the diary! As I write this it is only three weeks away - can you believe that!  Sailing wise, we had a weekend in Lymington - weather down was awful on the Saturday, fog!  Which fortunately cleared as we got half way down the Solent. 

Lymington in the mist and rain!

The picture shows just how exciting it really was! Yuk. Anyway we did manage to wander about and get some antifouling.  Sunday morning - rain!  However, we weren't due to leave until the afternoon, and fortunately the sun came out and it was a lovely sail back. 

Tuesday we sailed to Deacon's, Bursledon where we met up with Dick and Judith.  Lunch in the Jolly Sailor.  Had a good laugh.  Four old people have a really good time!  Daft old sods.......

Didn't manage to get out last weekend because of the really strong winds, but did go to a refresher DSC course at Island Sailing club on Saturday.  Pretty useful because of the extra information gained, which I hadn't picked up on the original VHF Radio course.  Sunday afternoon tea at East Cowes sailing club.  Really good, hope they do it again next year. Today (Wednesday) was spent putting up pictures at the Royal Victoria for our next art exhibition.  Pies tonight to launch the event.

Boat comes out tomorrow for her last scrub off and antifoul and then it's just getting last bits together and hopefully managing to get some decent sailing in before we go.

Well the weather has been awful again, so no sailing. However, we have had friends over for lunch and tackled lobster this time - well I didn't actually do it, but it was very tasty! Managed to complete one painting, but forgot to take a picture of it before rushing it off down the road to Lou to get it on the wall and retrieve some that had been on display too long.

New spray hood is lovely, and in addition we have a new Ensign - very smart!  Looks the business now. I have also been up to see Daniel and Catherine and they were well and happy.

How about that for very smart - notice how wind is blowing, actually it's worse today.

Nice new spray hood.

Ensign and Spray hood - lovely.

We have decided on a departure date 13th April, but obviously everything is weather dependant. Lists are still in evidence and every time something gets crossed off, two things get added.  Now we have agreed a date we can really start focussing on getting things absolutely ready......