Spent a lovely day moored up on the town jetty in the sunshine. Had loads of exercise - walked to and from my cabin to use the loo and even managed the 100 yards to the local Coop to buy some bread!
We enjoyed the chicken casserole as the sun went down then decided to go and meet the couple mentioned earlier - Jim and Sonya were moored by Dartmouth Yacht club, so, armed with a couple bottles of wine and 5 glasses in our bag we went to view their boat. We had a treat of an evening all squeezed into the cockpit of their boat - a Trintella 29 (which meant nothing to me until I had seen it) They kept us well entertained with their sailing tales and their experiences of doing the Round Britain Experience 10 years ago! They are a lovely, interesting couple who clearly love one another and love being on their boat together and have a life time of adventure ahead of them! They maintain a blog if you want to check it out - http://www.sailfettler.blogspot.com/
I have, however, managed to do some studying and am on page 48 of the day skipper manual! Wow - I have realised unfortunately, I have read the easy chapters (how to hold a fire extinguisher etc) and have now reached the part where it starts to become technical - gulp!
The sun has been shining all day and my tan is developing nicely.
The RBE is a bit Big Brotheresque - we have all been thrown together, having never met before and now in a very small living area and tensions easily rise but today has been a day of real bonding as some conflicts have been resolved - no further comment!
I have grown a bit short of "one-pan recipes" in my head and resorted to the BBC Food website and made a chicken and vegetable casserole - made on the hob as the oven is too much of a challenge,. I bought a lovely chicken which was on offer - and far too huge for the job and couldn't work out how on earth it would fit in the pan. I attacked it with a knife and managed to get it in - but no other ingredients would fit - so I had a brainwave and used 2 pans! I didn't go to University for nothing!
During the day a couple walked by and stood at the side of the boat smiling - they were delighted to find a boat "Round Britain Experience" as they were crew 10 years ago! I've taken their photo which I shall post here, and they came onboard and we talked for ages about their experience. They invited us to meet up with them later.
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| Sonya and Jim who completed RBE 10 years ago |
The town jetty really is in the heart of the town which has mixed blessings - view is fantastic but you do become the local tourist attraction! Also - other craft are allowed to raft alongside (this is often the case) and we had loads of room around us until 3 this afternoon when 3 boats arrived in convoy - 2 mooring up ahead and one rafting alongside! We now have about £2million worth of boat around us! We passed lines onto our boat and secured the one alongside then asked them to put a shore line on - which they did with grace, However - John was not satisfied with the way they had set their lines - and we rearranged it to our satisfaction!
Once the ferries stop running about 5pm boats are allowed to moor on the outside of the jetty, but have to leave by 8.30 next morning for the ferries to start up again. This means we no longer have queues of day trippers alongside (bloody tourists!) but it does mean we meet some interesting characters and boats. Alongside us was a lovely boat - an old trawler done up which served as a party boat for “Denise” (we joined in the chorus of “Happy Birthday” you see). They consumed just a few bottles of Cava…..
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| Just some of the remaining empties as the party guests abandoned the boat! |
We enjoyed the chicken casserole as the sun went down then decided to go and meet the couple mentioned earlier - Jim and Sonya were moored by Dartmouth Yacht club, so, armed with a couple bottles of wine and 5 glasses in our bag we went to view their boat. We had a treat of an evening all squeezed into the cockpit of their boat - a Trintella 29 (which meant nothing to me until I had seen it) They kept us well entertained with their sailing tales and their experiences of doing the Round Britain Experience 10 years ago! They are a lovely, interesting couple who clearly love one another and love being on their boat together and have a life time of adventure ahead of them! They maintain a blog if you want to check it out - http://www.sailfettler.blogspot.com/
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| All good fettlers together! |
The've sailed from Edinburgh - having have given up their jobs and are sailing to Brazil where they are planning to live for a couple of years! Thanks for the Glenfiddich Jim!
The spot where they were moored gave us fabulous view to the entrance of Dartmouth out to sea and it looked so beautiful as the moon was rising
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| Beautiful view of dusk on the River Dart |
Back on the boat past midnight - there is a party going on nearby at a gorgeous yacht which moored earlier
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| A boat used to train teenagers how to sail, and apparently, how to party til 2am! |
..........its now 1am, Rob is now happy in his new bed
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- goodnight!
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