Getting ready for the season

It has been a while since I last posted about getting Robinetta ready for the season. Work has been been done though. At home Julian is busy getting the chartplotter, depth gauge, radio and new AIS to talk to each other via a Pi, and I am making covers for the new seats and back cushions that we bought at the boat show.

Both of us spent the long Easter weekend in Bristol working on various bits and pieces, and I have been down a couple of times by myself. Leaving at 05:30 to beat the M25 traffic, and not getting home until 21:00 makes for a long day, so I have not felt like posting the progress made!

Mismatched blocks on the horse

My first task once she was back in the water was to get the running rigging ready. We are still down 4 blocks, which were in too bad a state to use this season. Julian wants to remake them himself, but in the meantime we are using an odd collection of mismatched blocks!

Today I am spending the night aboard. I have been painting the cabin, which needed it desperately, and the paint fumes have driven me to the pub for the evening.

Tomorrow an engineer is coming to service the engine and have a look at the stern gland. A steady trickle of water is coming through it, and we may need to have Robinetta lifted on the slings while he fixes it. Here is hoping it will not have to happen!

Iteration 2

Ok, so while there is no Shanty festival in Paimpol this year there is a traditional sail festival and it's 10th to 12th August.

That's a bit soon before the Cowes festival but we should be able to get back to the Solent from Paimpol  in two 65 nm stages via Alderney.

And we have been looking at events in the south west of England.

The Cruising Association have a South West Rally to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Golden Globe race in Plymouth 8th to 10th June and then the Falmouth Classics are two weekends later.

So we could head from Scilly to Plymouth and then back to Falmouth and head to Brittany from Falmouth.

Or we could do as originally planned and cross to Brittany in May.

So for now we have a plan A and a plan B. If the weather is good in May we should probably head for Brittany as it might not be so good in June.

Here are our current two options.

								Plan A			Plan B
	M	T	W	T	F	S	S		From	To		From	To
	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	work			work
J	28	29	30	31	1	2	3	sailing	Padstow	Dourarnenez	sailing	Padstow	Plymouth
U	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	work			work		work + CA Rally
N	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	work			work		work
E	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	sailing	Dourarnenez		work/sailing	Plymouth	Falmouth
	25	26	27	28	29	30	1	sailing		Redon	sailing	Falmouth
J	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	work			sailing		Redon
U	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	work			work		work
L	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	work			work		work
y	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	sailing	Redon	Dourarnenez	sailing	Redon	Dourarnenez
	30	31	1	2	3	4	5	sailing	Dourarnenez		sailing	Dourarnenez
A	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	sailing		Paimpol	sailing		Paimpol
U	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	sailing	Paimpol	Cowes	sailing	Paimpol	Cowes
G	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	work			work
	27	28	29	30	31	1	2	work			work

The start of a plan

The season is getting close so we made a tentative plan for the year.

towards the end of April we'll head down to Padstow for the 'Obby 'Oss festival and leave Robinetta there and come back for the Tollesbury Rally.

Then, at the end of May we'll try and head down to the Scillies and over to Ushant and Cameret. We think we might be able to leave the boat at La Foret but we haven't spoken with them yet.

If that works we'll carry on after Swamazons and explore southern Brittany a bit before heading to Dournenez or thereabouts to leave the boat until the festival there in July.

After the festival we'll head round the coast to the Ile de Brehat and then over to the Channel Isles and Weymouth, looking in at Castle Bay where Robinetta was moored in the late 1940s and then on to Cowes for the OGA55.



After Cowes we don't have firm plans and we'll probably weekend-hop back to the East Coast. We'll have used an awful lot of holiday by then!

It's about 1,200 nm as drawn but it does include trips up the Medway, Thames and Blackwater which might not happen.

Ilfracombe

Drying Marina in a run-down area of town. Worth missing.

Bude

Amazing lock in the middle of the beach. Accessible with 2-3 days notice at high water. Good along-side moorings once inside canal.

Possible to come into the lock at high and tie up to the walls if arriving when unmanned.

Port Isaac

Drying sandy harbour.

Padstow

Locked in marina. Not as busy as the web-site threatens. Doesn't take bookings but unlikely to be a problem in May. Friendly Harbour Master. Doom Bar challenging in quite calm conditions. Entrance well buoyed. Yellow buoys are not visitors moorings! Enter and leave near high water but should be OK to get in and out of the estuary above half-tide in calm conditions.