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Delays, Decisions and New Deadlines

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Delays, Decisions, and new deadlines

OK, I have been a little quiet for the last two weeks.

Work and travel have kept me away from the boat. Martin on the other hand has been awesome. He has been working hard on the boat every moment he can. 

Decisions…

The Good News and decision numbers 1 & 2…

The deck is starting to look amazing. The fibre glass is down. Next, they need to prime and paint the deck. Then stanchion mounts for the hand-rails and their cables (these stop us from falling overboard) go back on. Along with the new anchor winch and controller, head sail travellers (cutter rig, so two head sails) and numerous other fittings. And then they apply the anti-slip surface.

I am nervous to share this as everyone has an opinion about what to use for anti-slip. And there are equally as many good and bad stories for each option out there. The choices we are considering are, a traditional old school approach (sand in paint), a premix paint anti-slip paint or a product called Kiwi-grip. We were gravitating towards the latter after on-line research. However, the guys at the yard painted some of the premix anti-slip for us to see what it looked like/felt like and it feels good. Although the sample they gave us was blue we intend to have white anti-slip on white fibre glass.

Before they apply the anti-slip they need to mask off the edges. Like house painting, it is a process of taping off the edges to paint to. And in doing so nicely trim around all our stainless steel. Can’t wait – she will look gorgeous. Nitto, the gorgeous Brazilian guy who is the leading this work is a master of his craft. And also cute…

The Bad News and decision nbr 3

Martin as you know has been sweating through the days with temperatures in the high 30s polishing the top sides of the boat. He has now undertaken removing some of the antifoul where it has been flaking off. It is messy work and he has been suited up and wearing the protective kit including face masks. Even so he says he can feel the sting of the chemicals.

—

In case you are wondering what antifoul is. Antifoul is a paint that is applied to the underside of the boat that chemically prevents slime, weed, barnacles and the like from growing. And why is this growth a problem? It does two things; the growth slows the boat down when sailing and it can eat away at the hull.  

—

What Martin has unveiled leads to decision number 3. The antifoul has pinholes going through to the glass. And while there does not appear to be any damage to the hull it will need to be rectified fairly soon. We have decided to make a remedial fix for now and will do the whole underside as a standalone project sometime next year. To do the whole boat efficiently requires sandblasting and another week (or two). So, it will have to wait until next year and we have a little more cash. 

Delays and new deadlines

We have had to reschedule putting the boat back into the water twice. It was going to be Monday the 16th, then Friday 20th and now it is some day in mid-January. L

We had our fingers crossed, that the other bits and pieces being done at The Yard all get finished as Friday the 20th which is the last day the yard is hoisting boats in and out of the water. We were booked in. The reality of the situation is the work won’t be finished. And I am glad they have decided to not push the deadline.

Here’s one good reason…

I was told a funny story today… In haste, on another boat, the steering was wired incorrectly, and it got lowered into the water and they had trouble steering it out of the haul out facility. They managed with great frustration and the error had to be corrected on the water. 

Anyway back to our boat… and more delays 

Unfortunately, our new boom did not get shipped in time to be put on the boat before Christmas. We understand it was ready to go and it did not fit in the 20ft container. It needs to be in a 40ft container. I am sure we are not the first to ship a boom of this size so I am struggling to understand this mistake. I am trying not to think about not sailing over the Christmas break. OK we might have to sail in our sailing dinghy… 

Notwithstanding the on-going bad news with deadlines and new deadlines we had a great talk with the riggers, and we are the first job up after Christmas. They start back on the 15th January. And, once again lady luck is on our side (if only). We have a wedding of a girlfriend I have known for 30+ years on the 16th in January and fly to New Zealand on 17th for Martin’s eldest daughter’s wedding on 18th. The proposed date to put the mast back on the boat we are in NZ. We need to go back with another date.

So much is happening…

And to finish on a high… We are super excited to have shipped our first order of Erudite Apparel t-shirts. I asked Martin not to open the parcel when it arrived, so we could do it together. I want to do Facebook live of the unveiling. However, like a kid in a toy shop he was excited and wanted to see what they look like. And the T-shirts are awesome!!! 

We have created a neat little thank you card to go in the bag. The card shares our philosophy “What are you waiting for?” The next stage for Erudite apparel is to set up the on-line shop.

So much to look forward to…

#Ilovesailing #whatareyouwaitingfor #liveyourlife

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Chasing silver linings

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Chasing silver linings… You have to laugh, or you will cry… Dave James are you ready for another pearler…

OK last two weeks went more or less like…

Que music: my old friend Alana Morrisette singing “Isn’t it ironic.”

A fortnight ago the week started with lots of anticipation looking forward to seeing our new baby (Saboteur – Tayana 47ft) come out of the water to get ready for the work that was about to begin. In particular, removing the teak deck and re-glassing the deck.

Back track to late the week before… 
Removing the teak deck from saboteur
Removing the teak deck

We did the sensible thing to try and confirm the boat yard was ready for us “as agreed” to do the haul out on Monday morning. We did not hear from them and were starting to get a little nervous. I had organised my calendar keeping Monday clear in order to be first mate to Captain Marty as we needed to motor Saboteur from East Coast Marina (Manly) to The Boat Yard (in the Brisbane river). Martin had organised the week of work to help with removing the teak deck. 

This situation was further compounded by the fact that Martin’s phone was starting to play up which saw it come to an untimely end by what is now called “telephonic homicide perpetrated by owner” (The Prep). 

And I cannot find my favourite sunglass…

Back to the boat yard. We had not heard from them. 

Also, slightly more difficult when you have not thought ahead and bought a new phone yet…

Finally, we connected on Saturday afternoon. They did not think we were booked in for the haul and… they were two days behind schedule and not ready for us. 

Marty's new phone
New phone!!!!!

The days were a bit of a blur… but somewhere along the line we got Martin a new iPhone. His old phone was not backed up for a while so all the new contacts of the various tradies we had engaged were not saved.

I had a few of them…

And I still cannot find my favourite sunglass, or my watch…

Back to our unravelling plans…

We had already extended our berth at East Coast Marina, and also taken everything off Saboteur. Turned the fridge off etc…

So, staying on her now just got a little more expensive as we had to eat out when we are seriously watching our spending. We threw our hands in the air. This week was seriously expensive.

The Boat Yard and pre-arranged haul out were not ready for us on Monday. And I was not available any other day of the week.

Quick phone a friend (Thanks R) who could help Martin move the boat. Phew – one challenge solved.  The next challenge was the friend could only do Wednesday, not Thursday which was when the haul out was now scheduled. No problems, we reserved a berth (at The Boat Yard) for Wednesday evening. Turned out we needed it Thursday evening as well. Terrific, for two nights this week we paid for three marina berths. East Coast Marina Manly where Saboteur started the week. The Boat Yard where she spent Wednesday and Thursday evening and The Gold Coast City Marina where Phoenix is moored. 

The good news is Phoenix is sold and the new owner after seeing her and taking her for a sail went back to Melbourne, put a deposit down and under-took the mammoth task of downsizing and divesting of all his worldly possessions in just three weeks. I was super impressed. He flew back to Brisbane Wednesday with one checked-in bag and three carry-on bags. Even more impressed! 

Somehow it still does not make our 4 months to downsize and move aboard feel luxurious.

Unfortunately, the week unfolded with best laid planned dates creeping. It was super frustrating for Martin who only got access to Saboteur late Friday morning to be able to start stripping her of her stanchions and other deck fittings… But first we need to remove all the soft furnishings. 

We are hardly stressed. And I still cannot find my sunglass and watch…

On Wednesday we both left the house in a hurry and I was the last one out and totally forgot to check the front door. I received a text message saying the front door was wide open when a friend of ours got home. And I had left the front gate open. Fortunately, Zac (the cat) was at home and had not ventured forth. And even more fortunately I had put the dogs on the deck otherwise they would have gone looking for me.

Martin and Co. successfully motored Saboteur to The Boat Yard and naturally it was between 30 to 40 knots winds. Of course, it had to be the strongest winds we have had all week. Not complaining they are a bigger problem for the fire fighters, who are doing an amazing job with the bush fires.

All week I was pretty disappointed to be missing the haul-out.

When it was finally scheduled Thursday afternoon, I had a coaching session. It was rescheduled at the last minute. I thought I would dash over to The Boat Yard and watch the haul out. Martin told me it was now rescheduled until Friday. Bah humbug.

Richard branson tickets
Richard Branson live!!!

Friday morning, Martin heads off to the boat yard and I headed off to a one-day event called INSPIRE + SUCCEED full of anticipation at the prospect of hearing Richard Branson live. 

I got to the convention centre only to realise the event is Saturday. Chasing silver linings, I called Martin to ask him if Saboteur had been lifted out yet and he told me to call him back on FaceTime. To which he showed our Saboteur already above the water creeping slowly forward on a 300 tonne haul out machine. 

Super cool, but I was sorry I missed it.

It was a big week. We were hardly stressed… I have not found my sunglass and I have lost two train passes. But, I did find my watch!

And my old friend my Alana Morrisette was still singing “Isn’t it ironic.”

Saboteur creeping slowly forward on a 300 tonne haul out machine.

Chasing silver linings… We had access to the boat over the weekend. Martin continued to remove Saboteurs stanchions and other deck fittings on Saturday, and I was able to help Martin on Sunday.

This week started as a typical week for both of us. Work as usual. 

The end of the week has seen Martin helping on the boat. It feel’s good to see the work progress.

#Ilovesailing

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A change of pace…

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A change of pace after the night that (refer to post “Have you ever wondered what would happen if“) I was loving the peacefulness and calm… Even if we were a little tired…

Back on the helm after a 2 and a half hour sleep
Still smiling after only 2.5 hours sleep

We had our pilotage plan and pulled up anchor at 6.45am. We recorded our position, direction, wind etc along the way. Checking in on each way point was different as there were so many channels turns and passages (In fact Navionics told us there were 70) to take as we navigated between the islands as we headed to the Gold Coast.  It was very different to anything we had done before and most enjoyable.

The only challenge was we had to go under some powerlines which we had not found when doing our plan. I was terrified we were going to hit and we reversed out just in time. We looked up various sources to find out what the clearance was and could not find anything. We had watched a cat go under and went to where they went under and we had plenty of clearance.

Martin taking a power nap
Power nap..

We got to our new marina and our friends Jo and Tim were waiting on our finger ready to catch our lines. Martin docked perfectly first time. 

We had arrived and we were exhilarated. It was a brilliant 2 days of challenges and hugely satisfying…  

And we enjoyed the best cup of tea on Jo and Tim’s boat. I tried Coco and Chill tea for the first time. It was amazing.

And then a magic powernap back on Phoenix before Bill picked us up and drove us home.

Big thank to John, Carl and Elliot from Sunshine Sailing Australia. Thank you to your brilliant training, your skills and experience, we never panicked.

We either know what to do or sat down and worked together seamlessly and could anticipate each-other’s needs. Both of us took it in turns to do every task. Well almost every task. I let Martin haul in the headsail… We cannot praise you enough for the skills that you have taught us in your theory and practical training. Can’t wait until next time. 

Takeaway from our change of pace:

We should have read more about anchoring south of Peel Island and we could have avoided the adventure of Saturday evening. Having said that…

No regrets we learnt so much…

#Ilovesailing #Liveyourlife #Iamsailing #Coolchange

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Removing the mast…

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Removing the mast… Yes, we removed the mast yesterday. Why, will be revealed shortly…

To check the video out go to our Facebook page post.

Ok, this post is for John Lloyd who specifically asked me to write a post on removing the mast… and those boys and girls who like big toys, cranes in particular, Lego and jigsaw puzzles… If that is you, read on.

Saturday we had the mast of Saboteur removed. Why? Because the rigging is 17 years old and it is time for new rigging. Also, we want the rigging to last us the next 10 to 15 years. We want it done before we move on to Saboteur. And, if we want insurance for any accidents caused by the rigging, we need to replace it now.

As I revealed in an earlier post, a lot of prep work was done on Friday… The crane was booked for 7 am Saturday morning…

We got up at 6ish expecting David (aka Tubby) to be on the boat to help us take her about to the dock somewhere between 6.30 and 6.45am. In the meantime, we ran a few more things to the car, walked the dingy around the boat and secured her out of the road of us exiting our berth.

Side note: I am wanting to come up with a nickname for the dinghy. A name that relates some way to Saboteur. Any suggestions are welcome. I suspect Martin thinks I am a little crazy, but he knows that to be true. I digress..

—

At about 7.10 Martin received a call asking where are you? We are waiting for you.

Miscommunication, misunderstanding, call it want you like it does not matter… and before you knew it one of our “almost” neighbours offered to help us take the boat around (news travels fast or they heard Martin on the phone, again it does not matter) just at the same time a dinghy turns up carrying Dave and Fitz who, we were soon to learn, are Masters at their craft.

John (Lloyd, yes you) to answer your question why we were not taking Saboteur around ourselves. There are two reasons, East Coast Marina is a maze that blends into Royal Queensland Yacht Club and the working docks and we do not know our way around. The second reason, we have yet to manoeuvre her much ourselves and she is significantly different to our 34 ft Duncanson. The difference, 34 ft to 47 ft. 6 tonnes to 18 tonnes.

And now is not the time to stuff it up…

So, we crewed for Dave as he took her the very short distance. We rounded the corner to see the crane was set up, outrigger beams holding her securely in-place and waiting for us. As we approached the dock, I admired Dave’s skill to dock her so perfectly. And that was just the beginning…

Fitz had scooted ahead of us in the dinghy. And by the time we were docking he was on the dock ready to catch the lines we threw his way.

Then Dave and Fitzy set to work helped by Martin and me with the “every ready” camera in hand… The process went more or less along the lines of…

But first, a disclaimer… I’m not an engineer, crane operator, rigger etc – so, any technical errors, please forgive or provide correction to improve clarity. Either or I am OK with.

Stage 1 – Prep work (done Friday)
Stage 2 – Detaching weather veins and other equipment from the top of the mast.

To do this, Fitz hops into what is called a bosons chair (could be likened to a toddler’s swing seat) which is attached to a halyard (a line) that is connected to electric winch… And viola, Fitz is carefully raised up approximately 17 meters from the top of the deck to get to the top of the mast. This process took approximately three and a half minutes. Once at the desired height (brakes on) he disconnected the weathervane and I am not sure what else.

To check the video out go to our face book page post.

Stage 3 – Placing the sling on the mast so the crane can take the load.

Fitzy is lowered a couple of meters to the mast separator’s (brakes on) and then the crane’s hook complete with a couple of slings is carefully manoeuvred towards Fitzy. This is coordinated by Dave giving instruction to the crane driver by the gentlest of hand gestures. Both Dave and the driver come across as a very polished team.

It makes Martin and my attempt at arm gestures pointing to the direction of the anchor chain seem amateurish. Meanwhile, I am enjoying watching the brilliant skills that are unfolding in front of me.

Side note 1: I keep looking at the crane operator trying to work out where I knew him from.

Side note 2: Rob Brown texts us asking us to join him for breakfast at Café leMer (Manly) the café in the Marina. And then wanting to check out the boat. I text back saying sounds great…We will be about an hour…

All off a sudden I was super hungry. Last night’s dinner was cheese, biscuits and champagne… nice…

Back to Fitz, Dave and the crane operator…

The sling is delivered to Fitz and he removes one end of the sling from the crane hook and wraps it around the mast below the separator and then replaces the end of the sling in the hook. Impressive… I would probably have dropped something by now.

They raise the crane jib (arm) enough to test the sling is secure. Success.

Dave is lowered down the mast. He jumps out of the bosons chair and heads below deck.

Stage 4 – Taking the load.

Dave starts providing instructions for the crane operator to start taking the load. They are happy the crane has the mast secured. Dave, Fitzy and Martin start to release all the stays and lines that hold the mast in place.

Stage 5 – Removing the boom

The boom was disconnected from the mast. Fitz and Martin passed the boom up to Dave and myself and we carry it to the trailer. This is the first time I really looked at the trailer and man she is seriously long.

Stage 6 – Initiating lift.

It appears they need a little more force to get the mast to release from the base plate. Dave and the operator are discussing the pressure levels… It got up to 900 ??? Dave did not like it. They brought the pressure back to 500 and gradually took it up to 700… It appears to be stuck. Not sure why, but Dave figured out and then there was movement. Gradually the mast started rising.

Stage 7 – Clearing the cabin.

The mast clears the cockpit and the crane operator holds her steady over the deck while Dave, Fitzy and Martin tie the stays and lines together. They all get strapped to the mast.

—

Side note conversation:

Dave says to Martin, you’re really going to have fun on this boat, she is a beauty.

Martin: I don’t know if I am excited or poor or both.

Dave: Probably a bit of both.

I giggle.

I am now also getting seriously hungry.

Quick text to Rob, we will be 30 minutes late.

—

Stage 8 – Carrying the mast to the trailer

And so, our mast gradually rose up away from the cockpit and carefully continued to rise over the dock towards the trailer. One seriously long trailer for a seriously long mast. We learnt later that day the mast was 21.3 meters.

Again, it was magic to watch Dave and the crane operator move the mast to location.

Stage 9 – Rotating the mast from vertical to horizontal position.

A piece of dunnage (timber) is placed on the ground for the mast to rest on. I am sure it is years of experience to know exactly where to put the dunnage. And the mast is carefully, carefully placed on the edge of the timber not to crush any electrical cables sticking out the bottom of her. With mastery Dave, Fitzy and the crane operator lower the mast to the trailer. And Dave and Fitz set about securing the mast and the boom to the trailer. Meanwhile gaffer tape is used to secure high-vis-vests to the end of the mast and the spreaders. It works…

Meanwhile, the crane operator is lowering his jib, securing his hook block, bringing in the outrigger beams and securing the blocks they rested on.

—

I look at Martin and wonder what is going through his head. This process is costing a lot of money. However, we chose to see it as in investment.

He wonders over, and says doesn’t the operator look like Ben Lowe… Yes, spitting image and his mastery of the crane is equal to Ben’s mastery of his bike.

—

And so, Dave jumps back on Saboteur and Fitzy in the dinghy. We crew for Dave and once again we have a master class in docking… And learnt a new way to reverse Saboteur into her berth.

I love how our neighbours all jump to the ready to catch the lines we throw them and secure her in her berth.

—

We head out to meet Rob for breakfast.

I was seriously hungry and had the best eggs benedict with ham on gluten free bread accompanied by an almond milk flat white. God it tasked good.

Before our meals arrived, we discussed the possibility of rain and how to cover the now very big hole in the centre of our boat.

Martin looked up the rain radar. No problems the rain is in Ipswich, however the clouds behind us told another story. Martin went back to the boat to cover her and arrived back just as his breakfast was put on the table. We eat and chatted and then the first rains drops fell.

We walked back to Saboteur and proudly showed Rob our new home. She did not look quite right without her mast and associated trappings, but she still looked amazing.

We went below deck, made a cuppa, put some music on and chilled out for a while.
Rob even had a power nap…

#loveourcrazylife #Ilovesailing  #whatareyouwaitingfor #marinalife

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if….

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What would happen if your anchor started sliding in the middle of the night? 

No. Me neither, until I had completed the Sunshine Sailing Australia course a few weeks ago.  Well, training turned into reality…

The calm before...
The calm before…

What follows, most mothers don’t want to read about, but it’s is true. It is as much a thank you to John, Carl and Elliot from sunshine sailing school as it is a story of our adventures for our friends…

Que music: Rob Stewart singing I am sailing

OK… Martin and I decided to move our boat a 34 ft Duncanson “Phoenix 7” from Newport (North of Brisbane) to the Gold Coast City Marina (South of Brisbane).

Up until this trip, the sailing we had done on Phoenix was straight out of the Marina mucking around in the wide-open waters of Moreton Bay. Nothing but open space and plenty of deep water. 

So, pilotage and planning was not really necessary for an afternoon of sailing.

Having recently completed the RYA Day Skipper Theory and Practical Course through Sunshine Sailing School and were actually planning an over-night trip that required navigating through channels, shallows, ferry’s, fishing vessels, and an increasing number of jet skis the closer we got to the Gold coast, we did our pilotage plan and prepped for our voyage. Our adventures follow…

Our friend Rob kindly dropped us off at Newport Marina and stuck around until we cast off. Perhaps with the view to video us stuffing up reversing out of our finger and heading out the marina. No problems there. Elliot you taught us well.

We set out to sail more or less south…OK, we knew we were going to have strong winds in the afternoon. And we were both comfortable with that so we planned to sail with only the headsail. At that time we were doing 6-7 knots most of the way and really enjoying surfing the waves on Phoenix…

We were very disciplined in recording our position, direction, wind etc and checking in with our next way point on the hour every hour and dropped a mark on our Garmin (GPS navigational device). Not sure how to retrieve it yet but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Fade music…

We were enjoying the sail so much we missed our planned turn.

Our depth finder reflected the shallows we were starting to cross. We needed to turn into the wind quickly.     I mean very quickly.    We turned the motor on and hauled in the headsail. For the non-sailor, this process transitions from a smooth and quiet ride when sailing to a very loud and rough ride as the sail flaps rigorously as Martin hauled in the headsail.

It all happens very quickly. A couple of minutes tops.

And your feel like you are now in a different universe. Same winds, same seas. The only difference was direction. We motored west with the waves smacking our side for a short while until we could turn south again and motor with the waves on our stern. All in all we had sailed and motored for approximately 6 hours.

We did not want to sail to far or be too tired.

We decided to anchor south of Peel Island to have overnight shelter from the Northerly’s. Sounded like a good idea at time. We checked the weather and we know the wind was going to do 180% turn during the night. We know it would be still be strong, but …

We anchored, after a couple of attempts. It was hard to get the anchor to get a sound hold. Again, great teaching Elliot. We set the anchor alarm. I took some photos of the various vessels around us to use as checks if we were drifting. We settled in – cooked a yummy dinner and a nice hot cup of tea and enjoyed relaxing on the water and the night lights of North Stradbroke Island and the mainland. It was a very dark night. About 10pm I went to bed. Martin was going to sleep in the cockpit “in case anything happened”. 

Que music, Little River Band singing I feel a cool change arising.

At 12.30am Martin woke me up and said, something is not right. It was calm, dead calm. He put the kettle on, and we were going to sit and talk about, the “Calm.” We check the weather report, no different. We had turned 180 degrees as expected. Our stern was now facing the shore. I checked my photos and we had not moved. 

Fade music

All I can hear it the intensity of the wind and the waves…
Then there was a Pan, Pan (this is like a May Day, but no danger to people or vessel) from another yacht.

They had been next to us and had drifted. They could not get their motor started. We later learnt that they had only entered the bay as they had engine trouble. They were grounded. We jumped on the radio and offered if they wanted to come aboard Phoenix they could. They chose to stay on their yacht.

The next thing we noticed was about 4 or 5 smaller motor craft had lifted anchor and headed out of the bay.

Then a yacht on our starboard side started sliding towards the coast very quickly. We could not see anyone on deck or cabin lights on so we could only assume they were asleep, I grab the horn and tried to get their attention. It was very dark… and we could not read their vessel name or see them on the nav system. 

By this stage Martin had started our engine and had it in neutral, “just in case”. The seas were huge, and it was rough.

And then… our anchor alarm went off and we were sliding towards the shore. 

The anchor itself was still “anchored” but is was dragging due to the force of the winds and water. I went to the bow of the boat which was challenging in these seas and scary. Because in the moment I could not find the safety line to clip myself on to the boat. S##T

Side note: 1. Safety line must be immediately handy (in the cockpit) 

Side note 2. I realised later the safety line was not on the boat.

Why, because we had stripped the boat when all the reno work was done and it was now looking like the safety line was safely on dry land in my car and accidently got left behind with a bag of books I was planning to take. Bah, humbug!

So, imagine this – hanging on, it is very dark…. looking for the angle the anchor is at…

…to give Martin direction as to which way to attempt to manevour the boat (weather permitting) and giving instructions with my arm directions. Holding a torch instead of my head lamp (also not on the boat). This took some time and coordination.

The anchor was coming up… we were getting there and then the anchor chain got caught.

Unbelievable right…  I did not know how to un-catch it.

Believe it or not it is simple – and obvious – I should I have lower it a little. Not so obvious in the moment and if you have not done it before.

Anyway, back to me hanging on for dear life. Martin and I swapped positions. He said, don’t worry about me if I fall over-board. At least you know I will end up on the shore. Ha, so not funny. That might fix one problem, but I would still have to handle the Phoenix on my own…

Yeh success… anchor is up

We are under power and we head out of the anchorage. Martin is on the helm and I am looking at the charts of the nearest sheltered spot we could get to. 

We decide to head to a small anchorage on the north-west side on Russell Island. It is about 2.30am. Did I mention it was dark? It is dark. There is no moon. And the seas are big. There is no rain, just big seas and winds…

We approached our potential new anchorage and we know it was shallow. It was not really well lit and we know there were rocks in a couple of locations… We did not feel confident going in. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the unknown etc. As I write it does not make sense why we did not go in and have a look but it was really hard to see anything. Rocks are not a good look… and low tide was at 4am. When we decided on a new beginning and going liveaboard we had not ever experience anything like this before and had to get through the night.

Watching the beautiful sun rise.

We knew we have plenty of fuel and decided simply to motor up and down a recommend small craft channel and planned to go into the anchorage at first light. Which we did. We were frozen. I made a lovely hot cuppa tea. Followed by an omelette. We sat down with our cuppa and watched the sun rise. It was beautiful and calm…

The day was calm, flat beautiful… 

Again, no music… I was loving the peacefulness and calm… Even if we were a little tired…

#Ilovesailing #Liveyourlife #Iamsailing #Coolchange #Whatareyouwaitingfor #Liveyourlife

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