Bisquay

Cross the Bisquay today Next stop Spain. 

Falmouth

In Falmouth autopilot not working. Should be fixed tomorrow so for now we can continue to get the boat ready for our crossing and enjoy the Tall Ships that are coming in for a race to Greenwich. 

Leaving Cowes

We are off to Weymouth. More later.

Goodbye Lymington

So, it has been six weeks or so of sweat, tight spaces, scrapping and swearing but today we were guided off the pontoon at Berthons, Lymington, and have now made it across to Cowes. Which if you recall is the last and first place we were with Dark Horse. We were supposed to have our prop shaft switched out this afternoon but it is now happening tomorrow morning. So we've got a night in Cowes and then we'll be off somewhere West. 

We had a lovely motor across with Grandma, girls playing below and occasionally joining us in the cockpit to see the island getting closer. Adam sitting with Grandma and watching the Lazy Jacks flutter in the wind. And John at the helm most of the time, though Grandma did have her turn as well.

It is hard to believe that we are nearly there, nearly off on our trip. We certainly would not be here without all the help we got from our parents this summer (certainly the teak and galley would not look so good, nor would our waist lines be quite so satisfied), or with the very friendly, helpful and skilled advice and work from the guys at Berthons! Thank you! 

Mast Track, Locker Painting and Family

We are a bit less than a month away from our sail away date and today we are feeling fairly optimistic that we will actually be sailing away August 15 with Dark Horse in fairly good order.

Over the weekend, our reinforcements arrived, my mom and dad, and while they are both suffering from jet lag, having just left Korea, they have delved into the work. Dad has been down at the boat, jet washing, attaching gaskets, raising mast track and, of course, supplying coffee. And Mom has been sewing, reading and playing with the girls at home, which has given Maureen a very well deserved break from childcare. We are very lucky to have three very supportive and helpful grandparents!

An update on the status of the refit. So, the electrics are not done, Pete our electrician continues to be in high demand, but as he was passing our boat on his way home tonight he said he should be back on Dark Horse tomorrow morning. And with any luck the shipwright, Stewart, will be on the boat tomorrow too fixing our companionway. Our big achievement today was getting our Tide Marine Tracks up the masts. John and Dad, with very little assistance from me, pushed them up easily, just like the advertisements said. So we are very close to actually being able to sail Dark Horse, yahoo! My big job was painting out the new gas locker as we have the gas fitters coming tomorrow to put in the piping for our cooker. One more step towards being able to live aboard, just need the fridge guys to come now...

Below are lots of pictures of different things that have happened over the last few days. Hopefully the next update will be a picture of a washing machine, I am truly spoiled and amazed that we will have one on board, and our safety netting up.

Ruth, Lucy and John in the lazarine locker with our new gas locker!

A very happy jolly jumpin' Adam

John and Dad fitting our new fuel tank dipstick gaskets.

A little bit of "Fairy dust" to make the mast track go up a bit more smoothly.

And here we go...

One, two, three...

This is soooo easy!

Until next time...

Just a quick update.

Things are going ahead a bit more quickly on the boat. DC electrical system is almost finished, which hopefully means that the AC system will be started and finished by the end of next week. Plumbing is on the way to being completed too, so we'll be able to run the taps, have a shower and flush the loos without fear of sinking or flooding the boat. John has been busy with the electrician, Pete, trying to get the old fridge to work. A fridge technician is coming to the boat this morning to assess whether it is worth continuing with the repairs. Robin, our refit manager, remains hopeful that the fridge is salvageable, but John and I are pretty sure we will be replacing it, we'll just have to wait and see.

Yesterday, Adam was helping out with some measuring and problem solving in the galley. He was quite excited about the fresh water manual pumps for drinking water.

We've decided to splurge and replace out saloon windows. They old ones a rather badly scratched up and T-Cut and polishing doesn't seem to be helping all that much, there are just too many scratches. So, I am off to Southampton with the old windows so they can be used as a template for the new ones. Hopefully these windows will be ready the about 10 days. May the lovely sunny weather continue until then.

Beautiful Day For Hatch Cover Maintanence

So much for weather forecasts from BBC. According to them it should have been cold and grey today, but I was pleasantly surprised to be sitting on the lovely foredeck of Dark Horse scrapping away at old Sikaflex with John and Adam. It was a great way to spend an afternoon!

Ruth took some time selecting the right tool. In fact she kept complaining she had the wrong tool. Unfortunately it is just one of those jobs there is no perfect tool. She even tried beating the mastic with a spanner. I must admit I felt like doing the same at times

A pokey tool works for a while

Finally just about finished

Now, tomorrow we will find out if our fridge works...keep your fingers crossed. I know that Peter, the electrician, was anticipating pops, buzzing and just perhaps a blow from the old thing, but I remain optimistic.