It's Christmastime...

Tuesday 26^th December…  It’s Christmastime, Merry Christmas to all our family and friends!  Yesterday we had a super day with Claire, Matt, and Charlie at their place, being fed, watered, and pampered!  After plenty of Charades and a sleepover, this morning we made our way to Gosport to spend Twixmas with Thesee.  Our new matress has been delivered, and after making up the bed we spent Boxing Day afternoon watching some TV. It’s a bit too windy to put the fairy lights up the mast, so that job will have to wait. The rain was quite heavy this afternoon, and Saffy missed out on her walk. We can’t wait until tonight to try out the new bed.

Our homemade Snowmen Christmas Crackers

Hoorah! ...Our new super duper mattress that actually fits inside the fiddle

I love my new TShirt

Wednesday 27th December... Ooh what a lovely cosy sleep we had last night, we didn't even get out of bed when the strong wind decided to wake us up. It was a horrid sleety morning but the weather improved as the day passed by. Today was fitting the new inverter day. There was only a small amount of cursing going on thankfully. It's an 1800 watt inverter, opposed to the existing 300 watt one. Now we will be able to run gadgets such as a coffee machine and possibly a toaster. We're really going up in the world. 

And here's the new inverter in situ...it's alot bigger than the old one!

Thursday 28th December... 'Twas a cold and frosty morning here on the pontoons. We had shopping to do so we didn't hang around. Dean had ordered a fuse holder from Barden, and so our first stop was to collect that. Then we nipped into PC World and purchased 'the smallest printer in the world'....apparantly. We'll be keeping it on Thesee for when we depart on our travels. Next we took a visit to nearby Alver Valley Country Park and had a quick ramble with Saffy Dog. It was chilly but the sun was out and the sky was clear blue. Finally, to the supermarket for essentials and to Arthur's Chandlery for connectors. On returning to the boat we found out the bed man had been and fitted the mesh under the new mattress. We've got an issue with the fitted sheet for the aft cabin, and this is ongoing. Shame we missed him, but he didn't tell us he was coming or we would have stayed in. 

Frosty Morning

Alver Valley welcome

Who's approaching the Zig Zag bridge?

Thesee's lighting up the marina

Friday 29th December... So now the new inverter is in place, Dean continued by fitting its crossover and power switches. You see, the crossover switch means we can use the same electrical ring main for both mains electric and battery/inverter power. Whereas previously we could only use two of the plug sockets for battery/inverter power, and the rest for mains electric. All we have to do now is turn the crossover switch from 1 (mains) to 2 (battery). Dean's removed the two old inverter sockets now they're not needed, and he is going to use them elsewhere. We wanted to remove the now redundant cable, but it doesn't want to budge and we don't want to force it out in case of dislodging other stuff and we end up with a bigger headache! Here's some photos of today's work in progress.

Old inverter socket removed and a second hole drilled for the crossover switch

Work in progress, posh connectors fitted

The finished product looks great, soooo neat. Well done Mr C

Saturday 30th December... It's warmed up a little. Linda was having a lovely dream when Dean woke her for breakfast. We took a stroll into town to pick up some 13 amp twin and earth flexible wire. This is to connect the two plug sockets that Dean's moving. There's not a lot going on in the marina at the moment. Seems most people are spending time at home. Not like us hardy sailors three. There's storm Dylan coming through tonight, so we've taken the fairy lights down. We'll be heading home tomorrow. 

Linda showing off her 'Yasi Shopping Bag'! Thanks Yasi

Saffy enjoying her lunchtime chew bone

So that's it from Thesee for this year. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all you Thesee Followers!!

Here's to the Big Adventure in 2018 xxx

December check-up

Saturday 9th December... Our plan had been to come down tomorrow morning, as Dean had been out all day today. However, the snow forecast for tomorrow looked terrible and so we made a last minute decision to travel to Gosport late this evening, arriving about 10.30pm. On arrival it was very calm and not as chilly as at home.


Sunday 10th December.... It's 7 degrees warmer down here, and what a great decision it was to arrive last night avoiding all that snowfall back at home and along the way. I must say the wind here today was 50 knots, so we haven't got it all our own way. Here's a look at the Met Office inshore waters forecast for today.

Ooh... no sailing for us today then!

We heard on the news that a Channel Ferry had been blown aground in Calais too. 

Dean spent his time indoors re-fitting the new alternator which he has had checked. It's a bit of a mystery as it seems to be OK now (last visit it stopped charging...see previous blog). We thought we had finally discovered a fix to extinguish the ignition light, but it's still not perfect enough for Mr Perfect. 


Monday 11th December... We woke to a wet and soggy morning, and still pretty windy. The waterproofs had to come out to take Saffy for her walk. We were hoping that the new bed mattress was going to be delivered, but it seems it's not going to happen today after all. 

Dean fitted his newly homemade 'fiddles' for the bookshelves in the forecabin. I just need to get some books now to go behind mine. Not being much of a bookworm maybe i could store games instead! Yep, that's it....now where did i put that Travel Scrabble?

There was no major work happening on Thesee today. Dean was carrying out an assortment of smaller jobs, and Linda was online shopping. Saffy, just keeping her head down tucked up in her fleecy basket. 


Tuesday 12th December... I don't usually blog on a Tuesday after a long weekend, but the sun's out and there's not been many photo opportunities this visit. So here's a couple of snaps taken this morning under the clear skies. 

All is well on Thesee x

Late Autumn Getaway

Saturday 11^th November…  We’ve returned to the coast after 4 days at home to squeeze in a late autumn holiday aboard our beloved Thesee.

It seems our last blog entitled ‘Bonfire Weekend’ didn’t have any mention of Bonfires or Fireworks. Whoops a daisy! Thanks Wendy for your excellent observation skills, and we’re happy to hear you’ve been keeping your eye on us and our exploits. We’ll try not to miss any important details about today’s blog entry, lol 😃

Dean’s been suffering with man flu for almost a week now, but he’s been putting on a brave face. Today boosted his morale no end, putting his ‘finely tuned’ ebaying skills to the test. On the way down here in the car, we watched on his phone as he won his bidding for an external fuel tank for the new dinghy. This, after someone tried to outbid him with just 10 seconds to go!

On reaching Fareham, we called in to pick up a special second-hand boat hook for a mere £16 which he found online. Pictures of this gadget tomorrow.

We arrived at the marina and got settled in, greeting Thesee with a big cuddle as always. Dean’s attention soon turned to scrubbing clean the new Avon dinghy. Then we launched it, attached the new outboard engine and Dean went for a test run. He was very pleased and obviously it will take some getting used to. Hopefully this week we get chance to get a lot of practise in. After all this excitement we used the davit to hoist the outboard engine back on to Thesee. Then we lifted the dinghy on deck. It’s a bit more awkward and slightly heavier than the old one, but we still managed to do it by hand.

.

Looking spick and span

Boys and their toys

Getting technical now with a dinghy pressure gauge

And not forgetting the new dinghy wheels (yet to be attached)

After Saffy’s walk it was almost dark. Dean went for a shower in the marina’s lovely new shower block, and Linda decided to begin reading the RYA Radar handbook. During the evening we had ANOTHER ebay win, securing the M45 Tuscan Archipelago chart! We think we will stay put for a couple of days and plan to venture out somewhere possibly Tuesday. There’s a bit of a blow coming through tomorrow. 

Sunday 12^th November…  It's Remembrance Sunday today and we heard the gun salutes from across the harbour whilst watching the cenotaph events on TV.

It was a day of bits and bobs for Dean....

Job 1 - Adjusted the carburettor on the outboard engine, and checked the oil (after the service/oil change he did the other day).

Job 2 – Fitted the polished anchor bracket and pin. This job is now complete and seems to be working well. We’re looking forward to trying the anchor out for real, sometime this week hopefully.

Job 3 – Spliced a stainless steel thimble into the end of a line. It looks brilliant, clever boy.

Meanwhile Linda was caught posing with the new boat hook, which she intends to practise with once this cold wind has passed by. No more radar reading today.

Monday 13^th November…  Not a great deal going on today. The weather has calmed as predicted, but we’ve lost the sunshine now and it’s still chilly.

After visiting the Southampton Boat Show last September, we’ve decided to get a new mattress made for our bed in the forecabin. Well if you’re going to cruise the Med you might as well do it in total comfort. Today the man from the bed company came to see us and mark out a template for our new super duper pocket sprung mattress. We also ordered a mattress protector, two sets of fitted sheets plus pillowcases, and a dry mesh anti-moisture layer to go under the mattress. Our bed is rather an awkward shape and ordinary bedding just doesn’t work ….. Oh, and we also ordered a bespoke fitted sheet for the very awkward sized bed in the aft cabin. So anyone out there thinking of coming to stay you will no longer have to fight with the sheet from now on! We just need to win the lottery now to pay for it all.

This afternoon we had a little play with the dinghy again, this time lifting it on deck using the spinnaker halyard. It worked really well, think this will be the way to go.

Tomorrow we’re planning an early start to catch the tide up the Solent and into the River Medina at Cowes. Seems we will need to do some tacking as there is a westerly wind forecast. 

Tuesday 14^th November… Well today was a great sail up the Solent, and we did it in 3 tacks instead of the 5 tacks we were expecting. This was because the wind was WSW instead of W for most of the morning. And we arrived at 11.00 hrs instead of noon. 

Today's track from Gosport to The Folly (we're in the red box)

We entered the River Medina and stopped at the fuel berth to fill up before continuing to Folly Reach, the fuel attendant happy to accept a slice of lemon cake from us.  Dean says it’s advisable to keep your tank full throughout the winter to stop condensation.

We moored up on the Folly River pontoon, unloaded the dingy and outboard, then we both went for another test run up and down the river to get used to it. Wow, it can certainly get some speed on! In fact Linda wanted to ‘slow down a bit’ as she put it.

Late afternoon, we had a walk along the riverside paths and then ended up in the Folly Inn for dinner and drinks. The food and drinks were great, it’s a shame we were a bit too early for the quiz night. Anyway, by 6.30pm we were back onboard Thesee chillin’ and watching TV. 

Wednesday 15^th November… Folly departure at 9am this morning, and we passed Bladerunner on the way out of the river. If you remember we mentioned Bladerunner in a previous blog….. the transport vessel for wind turbine blades, but this time it was minus the blade.

It was real calm weather and we motored west towards Newtown Creek. On the way Dean noticed that the batteries weren’t charging and subsequently ascertained that the (new this year) alternator wasn’t working properly. Oh no! We turned the engine off mid Solent so he could have a fiddle, but nothing improved. So we headed into Newtown Creek as planned and picked up Buoy number 2 in Clamerkin Lake. Oh beautiful Newtown Creek, as serene as always. Lucky for us, Dean (Mr Spares) had kept the old alternator and immediately set about changing the alternators over.  More will follow on this issue in due course.

Cupboard doors are off again....there's engine work going on

Mid afternoon we took the Saffy ashore in the new dinghy, with the new wheels this time. Everything went perfect and the wheels worked a treat. Good job really as the dinghy and outboard together are too heavy to carry up the beach above tide height.

Safe and sound while we go for a walk

This evening the couple of boats that were here have left and we are all alone, that’s apart from the resident seal family of course, who have been keeping us entertained throughout the day. 

Here's some more photos that we took today.....

Cloud or hat?

Mr Seal... he's not really that shy

Saffy enjoying herself on deck....looking for Mr Seal again

Low water views from Thesee... the sail boat's in the Solent

Mirrored Thesee all alone in the lake

Thanks for the wine utensils Yasi

Thursday 16^th November…  A lie in today and then cheesy scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, yum. We decided to leave our overnight mooring in the creek and head off to Hamble River. 

I told you Mr Seal wasn't shy

The wind was in our favour but not the tide, and for about 2 hours we just drifted under genoa going nowhere at 0.5kts in the beautiful sunshine. We didn’t mind though and it gave us chance to put the radar on and familiarise ourselves with the blobs on the screen. It was quite interesting to match them up with what we could actually see for real. 

Chart and Radar screens in sync

Eventually we had to turn the engine on and motor the rest of the way or we’d still be out there now! We arrived in the Hamble River at 3pm, finding plenty of space on the river pontoon and mooring with ease. 

Yes we can definately see you on our radar screen

Red sky (and sea) at night over Hamble Point marina

Unusual sight...the Warsash Sea Survival practise station

Friday 17^th November…  A beautiful sunny day, and there’s lots of photos so we’ll let the photos do most of the talking today. We took a morning ramble to Holly Hill Woodland Park, this is our 3^rd attempt at seeing this place and we made it this time. After lunch we moved Thesee upstream to Universal Marina for the night, then this evening we dinghy’d across the river to Mercury Yacht Harbour where we attended our first Cruising Association meeting and met some new yachties.

Strolling along the Hamble...

...where we spotted Dean's previous boat (Jasmine - the yellow one)

 Bunny Meadows

Some of the paths we walked today

Entering Holly Hill Park from the Hamble Foreshore

Linda at the lake

We chose a great time of year to visit

Redwood Tree, lovely setting

Garden of Palms

Great garden gate

Back on the river, Linda reckoned she could sail this tiny boat by herself! 

Passing Charlie's yellow water taxi....and the pink ferry

Thesee at Universal Marina....where's the tide gone?

Saturday 18th November... So today we left Universal Marina at 12.30pm, the earliest we could really to get a fair tide with us back to Gosport. The forecast was rain with a force 5 wind. The journey turned out to be quite challenging with the wind coming over the stern quarter along with a moderate swell, making the trip quite rock and rolly for the most part. It was a little difficult to keep Thesee going in a straight line, having to correct the steering one way and then the next each time a wave passed us by. Anyway we made it back safely and without incident, which to us means it was a good trip. 

This evening we ate dinner at The Victualler here in the marina. It's our first time at this place for a meal, having only been there once before for drinks on its opening night. It's a lovely rustic place, with good food and drink. We returned to Thesee with full tummies and didn't last long until bedtime. That's probably all the sailing done for this year as we are staying put tomorrow to do the chores.......get your marigolds out Saffy dog. 

Sunday 19^th November…  Well today Dean spent his time cleaning the new dinghy (again) and spraying it with UV protector. I must say he’s got it looking a treat. He removed Thesee’s shiny name from the old dinghy and transferred it onto the new one. It’s a fiddly job to do correctly and took a good while. Here’s the finished product.

Dean’s multipurpose Hydrovane cover (the old burst fender) also doubles up as a container for flushing fresh water through the outboard engine. Here it is in action.

Meanwhile Saffy was keeping a very close eye on the fan heater, and Linda was enjoying herself dustbusting. Later on we all went for our usual walk to Forton Bridge and back. On the way back we saw Sir Robin Knox Johnson, it looked like he was about to do a TV interview.

Tonight Linda made cherry shortbread stars, and we’ve found out that HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to arrive in port tomorrow morning. How exciting.