SOLO VOYAGE

SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2010

9:30 PM

I dare anybody to beat tonight’s entertainment Mind you we have opened a bottle of CHIANTI (with dinner) of course. There was a moment when the sun came out this evening after dinner so we wrapped ourselves in a blanket and sat in the cockpit while unpacking and reading the instructions for an additional anchor. Apparently it’s a good idea to carry two of everything.....who knew.

Thursday morning after christening our new home with some champagne we left our safe dockage and headed out. We didn’t have a particular destination in mind, but when mother nature determines your direction, compliance is crucial, resistance is futile.

For those of you who would enjoy following our actual route, go to “marinetraffic.com”; type in the vessel name and you can watch our progress.

Heading southwest we are in the Solent. Here people say if you can sail the Solent you can sail anywhere. The Solent is very much a shipping channel with freighters, ferries, Hovercrafts, sailboats (all sizes) 10’-60’, motor yachts, dinghies, fishing vessels all going in a different direction.

We arrived in Cowes ...(very popular in the UK,) early evening. We decided on a marina and called on our VHF....(our phone on board), they allocated a berth. Have I mentioned anything about the tides and currents here, crucial info for sailing in any direction. For docking into our berth, we tried once, we tried twice but the current was so strong the back end of the boat would not swing around, hitting another boat already docked. Our boat not a scratch, the other boat not so lucky. Our insurance company will love us. No body was hurt, but we were the topic of conversation that night.

Next morning we took a tour of the town, quaint and charming narrow streets, with pedestrian walkways only but a tourist trap with many expensive nautical clothing shops as attractions.

After a quick lunch we headed out in the rain wearing our yellow weather gear. Destination: Chichester Harbor ......Arriving at the boatyard only to discover that our place had been occupied by another Southerly, What the hell, we’ll raft up. This time we had timed the current just right, we didn’t leave a mark.