April Fool’s Day

It’s 1 April 2013, around a year since I left work and the plan seems to have worked. Admittedly, BV is distinctly lower in the water with all of our clobber on board but we have successfully shut up the house and are now living full time on our yacht. We seem to have enough food, wine, beer, clothes, books, charts, and boaty stuff onboard to not need to visit a port for weeks. Racing yachtsmen, who even go as far as cutting off the handles of their toothbrushes to save weight, would be horrified. I guess we’ll find a balance as we adjust to our new lifestyle.












As well as all of the moving aboard activities over the last week, my son, his girlfriend and my daughter have all visited for a chilly few days’ sailing in the Solent.

The heating system has been working overtime with the cold easterly winds dominant and we have found that it is not warm enough for the butane (CampingGaz) we’ve switched over to. We have several safety systems on our gas supply, one of which detects when the pressure in the pipes is too low, or too high, and shuts down the supply. When the weather warms up the butane will produce the right pressure; we’ve even tried putting hot water bottles in the gas locker which works but is a faff, so if it doesn’t warm up soon we’re going to change back to propane until summer arrives .

So ‘the youngsters’ have not exactly had the same warm sailing that we experienced this time last year. Then, when we were sailing with them in Falmouth, there was a mini-heatwave; no such joy this time what with this being the coldest March since 1962! However, it was great to see them all this week and talk through the exciting plans for the warmer locations were we intend to meet up later this year.

Salty's Seafood Restaurant in Yarmouth

We even got the chance for a last meal in one of our favourite seafood restaurants. Great stuff which whetted our appetites for the fantastic seafood we are looking forward to eating in Galicia.

What has not worked out is our plan to set off for Guernsey today to say goodbye to family there. With a prognosis of winds of Force 5-7 and Force 8 gales ‘later’, plus a significant wind chill factor, it is not the best weather forecast for setting off across the Channel. So, it looks like we will be spending a few more days in the shelter of the Solent before we escape properly. However, the important thing is that our adventure has started.