Sea Survival Course

Saturday 19th November.... What an exciting weekend we have been looking forward to. Our boat club (BOA - Beneteau Owners Association) have organised a Sea Survival Course which we are attending tomorrow in Southampton. More about that tomorrow then! 

Today was also a very special day, as our friends Sue and Colin had invited us to stay over with them at their home in the New Forest. It was a cold, frosty, but sunny morning and the countryside views on our journey were just magnificent. The sky was clear blue, the trees various shades of rust, and the fields were bright green with white frosty coating. The colours were just so vivid i couldn't help admiring the beauty of it all. 

We stopped off in the New Forest to give Saffy a quick run about

The weather wasn't to last though. At lunchtime we arrived at Sue and Colin's place and spent a really lovely afternoon with them at their home. They made us feel so welcome. By evening time the heavy rain had arrived, but it didn't stop us heading out to the local pub for a tasty meal and bottle of wine. What a fabulous day we had. Thank you so much to our lovely hosts. 

Anyone for pudding?

Sunday 20th November... Up bright and early, and after yummy freshly baked croissants, we headed to Ocean Safety in Southampton for the Sea Survival Course. A morning classroom session ensued and Steve (our instructor, and fellow BOA member) gave a very interesting and informative talk on safety at sea, and prepared us for the pool session where we would be practising boarding a liferaft.

There were eight participants on the course, and we all arrived at Andark Dive Centre and changed into our oilies. Linda was a little apprehensive knowing she would have to jump in at the deep end (and hope her life jacket would duly inflate!). But all was well and we had a really brilliant and so enjoyable two hour session in the pool. 

Dean prepares for his first dip of the day

Thumbs up from Linda, all is going well

Dean's turn to haul himself aboard

Back in the water again, Linda's enjoying this too much!

Knock Knock, help me in please

Now it's time to get out 

Faking waves.....you need a sprayhood Dean

Huddling together for morale and spotability

Waiting our turn to board, make sure you hold on correctly everyone

Swimming backwards is the only way

Now we have to right the overturned liferaft

After all the fun but serious activities, it was time to return to the classroom for the rest of the day's instruction. Everyone said what a fantastic day it had been, and we are extremely grateful to Colin for organising this event, Steve for giving his time and expertise, Steve's family for looking after us all, and to BOA for supporting skills days such as these. 

At 5pm we said goodbye to everyone and drove to Gosport because we are staying on Thésée until Tuesday. An early night in bed as we are feeling worn out after a superb two days. 

Monday 21st September... Time to dry off those waterproofs now! Not an easy task to do on a cold day. We hung them up in the aft heads overnight and left them to drip happily. Now they are airing pride of place in the saloon and we have been dodging around them all day. 

Dean was working on his davit fixture, having crafted a small wooden base for mounting it upon. A bit more tweaking is needed, so more of this next visit. Then he completed the fixing of one of the new removable security grills. 

There is a strong wind warning for tonight....50mph. We have been told that the wind two nights ago reached 70mph and there were a few burst fenders around the marina, but no serious damage done thankfully. It's definately not sailing weather at the moment. 

Tuesday 22nd November.... I don't usually 'blog' on our departure day, but thought this photo taken this morning was worth it. Stormy skies still....

How are we going to top this great weekend? xx