Calypso Capers

Crossing La Manche

A nearly perfect crossing…..

We had crossed the English Channel by sail once before – from Southampton to Alderney, then back again, at the end of October, overnight, through the shipping lanes and in a gale. We thoroughly enjoyed that experience with a pro skipper (from BOSS) on board, but wanted something a little less taxing for our first venture on our own, with Calypso.

Losing our Virginity in Falmouth

Our rafting virginity, that is!

We were able to leave Plymouth at civilised hour – and at 09.05 on Sunday 28th May we radioed the lock and passed straight through. We hoisted the mainsail to give some stability but winds were mostly too light to turn off the engine and we motored almost the entire 42 nm to Falmouth, other than for a 2 hour sailing stint.

Plymouth Again – but NOT in the Haven!

We had initially thought that we would revisit either Dartmouth or Salcombe, but in the end, with France still some way in the distance, we opted for another long day’s sail (well, motoring, actually) and press on to Plymouth.

As usual we timed our departure to have the tide with us most of the way. Fortunately on the 24th May this was 09.00 am – just after breakfast, how civilised!

A Brief Break in Brixham

We were keen to get to France after being delayed by Westerlies in Weymouth. We did, however, want to stop in Brixham, which we missed on our way to Southampton last year. We understood it to be a very picturesque harbour.

Waiting for the wind in Weymouth (with Woger – weally!)

…Before escaping to Brixham to rest the liver…

We stayed longer in Weymouth than we would have ideally wished – 11 nights in total, until the forecast wind no longer had any West in it and we could head across Lyme Bay.

We described Weymouth as a cross between Whitby and Scarborough – here is the Whitby bit:

Hamble Point, Yarmouth and Weymouth

We watched a good week of easterly winds go by as our departure from Hamble Point was delayed by ………Thrustergate!

We made the most of the good weather by walking firstly into Hamble village for a farmers’ market and the following day to the Solent boat jumble at Netley, 3.5 miles up Southampton Water (and picking up a few bargains).

2016 in numbers and 2017 plans

We followed our intended plan for 2016 quite closely.

Our plan for 2017 is to travel from Southampton down to the West Country, stopping off at some favourites from last year but adding in Yarmouth, Weymouth and Brixham, which we had to miss out in our rush to get to Southampton in time for a university reunion and the Southampton boat show.

Thrustergate – and the result of the fitting out

OK, here is a confession: when Paul gets tired he should just put his dummy in and go to sleep – but no; he drives himself to keep working…………….and then he makes mistakes. He knows this happens and yet he keeps on coming back for more!

So as we were launched the first toy to be tested was inevitably the bowthruster. Which clearly wasn’t working.