Cosmic

Many cultures view the turtle as a symbol of good luck. They represent the wisdom of the ancient ones and are highly respected for their strength and individuality. They are said to offer protection and good fortune, bring happiness and good omens.

Meet Cosmic, the ship's turtle:

Cosmic

Cosmic comes all the way from Egypt and was a gift from our good friends Del and Jim. As can be seen, Cosmic is a quality item (quality has always been important when exchanging gifts; our parting gift to Del and Jim was a copy of "Spaced Out - The Very Best of William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy" (Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock from Star Trek)) but, well, I think it's fair to say that Cosmic needs to work a bit harder when it comes to being the bearer of good fortune.

Whilst we had great weather to begin with, it looks like we'll be in Eastbourne rather longer than intended as unseasonably strong winds and even gales are forecast to rattle through over the next few days.

On the plus side, we're under contract with Premier Marinas until 31st March, so our prolonged stay won't cost us anything.

Maybe Cosmic really is looking after us!

Brighton to Eastbourne

We're now in Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne after a pleasant sail from Brighton in variable winds.

Highlights were crossing the Greenwich Meridian and making more than 3 knots past Beachy Head with no speed through the water (absolutely none!). OK, it wasn't a particularly exciting sail!

...and to think we gave up work for this!

Newhaven

Beachy Head

Eastbourne

Lowlight was making a pig's ear of coming alongside in the lock at Sovereign Harbour for some reason. I blame the wind, the tide and the fact that I was wearing a Spinlock deckvest with "RYA Instructor" written on it (I got it at a discount!). No harm done and it proves I'm human I suppose!

And they're off!

A day later than planned perhaps, but we've finally got underway.

To allow a slightly later start, we moved Cyclone from her home berth to a vacant mooring near the entrance to Chichester Harbour on Sunday afternoon.

Drifting with the tide past Itchenor

Our mooring for the night...

... and again.

 We then set off at 0500 Monday morning and, after making the most of the light wind available on this fresh spring morning (after a slow, cold sail - Jo), arrived at Brighton 7.5 hours later.

A slightly wonky Brighton!

Neither of us slept well on the mooring so it was nice to just relax in our "conservatory" (cockpit tent) and observe the local building site. We'll spend 2 or 3 nights here before making our way along the coast to Eastbourne.

You can't choose your relatives or your neighbours......

.... so I guess we've just been lucky!

It's probably never the "right" time to take time out from the 9 to 5 and do something a bit different.

I couldn't possibly give their ages away, but our 3 remaining parents (sadly Rob's dad is no longer with us) have 284 years between them! No doubt they'd prefer it if we stayed in the UK, but they understand that we want to do this whilst we're still in the first flush of late middle age(!) rather than leave it too late. It's great to have their support.

We each have a sister who has offered to help in any way they can too, for which we are also very grateful.

And then there's our neighbours... Maybe they're just glad to see the back of us for a while, but we've had many offers of help as well as good wishes, so thanks (in house number order!) to Nikki, Graham, Pam, Phil, Julia, Greg, Sheila, Graham, Mary, Mike, Janet, Geoff, Wendy and Alex. And thanks particularly to Geoff who has agreed not only to carry out the checks required by our insurance company, but also to cut the front lawn in our absence!

And finally we received a leaving gift from Janet and Geoff (pictured below) with instruction that it is to be shared between us (not so sure about that part - Rob) and taken with us to remind us of our home.

Thanks guys!

Departure day approaches

Jo's last day of employment is 31st March but she's due some leave so will actually finish work on Friday (13th). We intend to set off along the English south coast on 21st March, weather permitting, stopping at Brighton and Eastbourne to make the most of our Premier marinas free visitor nights. Thereafter, the rough plan is to cross from Dover to Calais before making our way along the north coast of Belgium to the Netherlands. We may then use the canals to get from IJmuiden via Amsterdam to Delfzijl (no need to lower the mast!) before heading for the river Elbe and the Kiel Canal.

The last few weeks have been spent getting the boat ready - mainly by buying stuff for it to keep us safe and comfortable.

If you've ever owned a boat you'll know that anything described as "marine" or sold to be used on a boat costs far more than its shore-based equivalent. Take a memory foam mattress topper for example. A 2" one for the "V" berth of our boat from a boat bedding supplier retails at £315, whereas a 3" Super King Size one costs just £129! 10 mins with a Tesco electric carving knife (£8.50) and that's a saving of more than £175. The same is true for bedding cut to suit a "V" berth. £300 to £400 for a couple of duvets and 2 sets of sheets / duvet covers and pillow cases. A fraction of that if you buy domestic stuff and wield a pair of scissors and a sewing machine yourself.

We've saved more money by buying fire extinguishers and a first aid kit from commercial suppliers rather than marine ones, but unfortunately there are no land based equivalents for life-rafts, flares (pyrotechnics, not 70s fashion items!), anchors, charts, electronic charts (why is a C-Map card for the Baltic Sea £198 for my boat's chart plotter when exactly the same information is available for an Android or apple device for just £37.50?), pilot books, almanacs (including one in Dutch that we have to carry as a legal requirement even though we can't understand a word of it!) etc. etc. Basically, if we had kids we'd have just spent their inheritance!

Still lots to do, people to see and only 11 days to go!