Bembridge Fun with the Kiddies

Saturday 29th July... At last it's here, the Bembridge Fun Weekend with the Grandchildren. It was a good journey to the boat and we were ahead of schedule. This is Jade, Summer, and Isaac's first visit to Thesee and everyone was excited. Dean has repaired the problem with the outboard engine from last visit, and the transfer to the boat by dinghy went smoothly with everyone taking it in their stride.

Thesee departed with crew at 1pm. Summer and Isaac were very excited especially when Summer took the helm in Portsmouth Harbour. It was raining but the wind was kind to us and our sail across the Solent was very good, the sea state was slight and there was hardly any swell. 

Here's Summer keeping a good look-out for ships

All too much for little Isaac

We had booked a berth and on arrival at Bembridge the Harbourmaster contacted us with instructions to raft up at the far end of the Duver Pontoon. One of the boats next to us instantly recognised us as one of their neighbours from Wicor. It was raining quite hard and we had a few soggy clothes. We decided to play Bingo (our latest addition to the games collection). After Summer was the winner of the first game, she took her turn to be the Bingo Caller. Isaac won the second game and they both got a chocolate. Good Luck to Jade for tomorrow's challenge.

Eyes Down, Look In

Summer helped prepare dinner and decided she wanted to try all the food, salad, the lot. Well done to you Summer! This must have rubbed off on Isaac and he decided to eat almost all of his lasagne with a little persuasion. They must have been hungry after such an action packed day. 

Dean received a little present too..... the latest James Bond DVD. That should cheer him up after his niggly headache this afternoon. 


Sunday 30th July 2017... Early rise this morning, and what a lovely one it was. 

A glorious morning here in Bembridge

It's Crabbing Day! So at 8.30am we headed towards the harbour office so the children could register for the event. Crabbing proper started at 10am. Summer and Isaac had new buckets and the harbour supplied all of the crab food. The horn blew for the start of the event and Summer was the first to catch a crab. She was thrilled to bits with her catch. 

Come on Summer, catch those crabs

All was going well until she got a splinter from the pontoon and we spent almost half an hour trying to remove it under duress. It was over to Isaac to hold the fort with his crab line. Once we heard the horn to signify the end of the event we headed off to count our crabs and enter the competitions. The judges counted 8 crabs for Summer and 5 for Isaac. Very well done to both of you. 

It's 8 for Summer at the judging

And 5 for Isaac

It wasn't enough to scoop any prizes, but Isaac did win a prize for being the youngest crabber, his prize a windmill and bubbles. Summer almost won the prize for smallest crab at 1cm but was pipped to the prize by an even smaller 0.5cm tiddler. Following the competition there was Hula Hooping and Summer showed off her skills with a large gold hula hoop. 

Hula girl

As we were making our way back to Thesee, the Border Force boat invited us onboard to have a look around. Summer and Isaac tried out the driving seats, and checked the controls were all in order and working properly. It was a bit embarrassing when Isaac dropped his bubbles into the engine compartment! Fortunately the crew was able to retrieve them by lifting the floor and reaching down about a foot. Thanks for that Isaac.

Future Border Force Employees

After lunch on the boat we headed to the beach for more fun. Jade and the children built sandcastles and paddled in the sea. Dean built a sand car which delighted Isaac, and Saffy played about with the other dogs on the beach. Summer almost launched herself off into the water ready for a swim, until Mom put a prompt stop to it. Isaac had great fun turning Summer into a Mermaid.

First steps in the Beautiful Briny

Is that Ariel?

Sun, Sea, and Sand

When the fun was over the kids headed off to the showers. Then it was back to Thesee for our Sunday dinner. What an action packed day it's been. 


Monday 31st July... We voted for a morning beach-combing along the lovely pebbly beach at St Helens, then we continued a little further to the rock-pools where Isaac finally decided he was going to enjoy himself. 

Just the right size for me.... says Isaac

I'm having fun now

Kings and Queens of the Castle

Can't climb this one though

An ice cream followed in the beach cafe and then we returned to ship for lunch 'al fresco' again. Isaac had a nap and Summer went crabbing, beating yesterday's crab count by 1. Then it was time to get ourselves sorted ready for departure back to Portsmouth. It was a nice sunny windy afternoon and we had a great sail on a 00 degrees heading. The children were tired but they tried their best to spot the green and red buoys leading us along the Portsmouth main channel. We reached base and quickly made some dinner which we all enjoyed around the table telling jokes. 

Even more happiness now

Rainbow tongue from a Rainbow ice lolly

Arriving back in Porstmouth Harbour after the Solent crossing

Tuesday 1st August... So our last day of this long weekend started with bacon muffins, which we decided to nickname Bacon McThesee's. We took some more photos on deck and then dinghy'd back to land to start our journey homeward. 

The new Skipper.... it seems

Almost time to go now

Bye Bye Thesee

Dean had to make a couple of Chandlery stops en route to the motorway to pick up a Spring and return a Passarelle Deck Socket (which he had changed his mind about).  We had already prepared a picnic before we left, and so stopped for lunch half way home at The Ridgeway in Oxfordshire. The weekend has been a great success. All the plans came to fruition and there were no major mishaps. Well done Everyone!

Thank you to Thesee and the Skipper for keeping us safe all weekend and giving us some great sailing x 

Quick visit

Sunday 16th July... Just managed to get a two nighter in this weekend due to Linda going on Emma's Hen Night in Birmingham last night. On our way here we stopped off at Force 4 Chandlery in Swanwick to pick up a deck socket for the passarelle that Dean's making. Not being in any rush today we decided to have a bacon sandwich at the local cafe in Deacon's Boatyard, then pay a visit to Port Solent Marina to see if they could accomodate Thesee for a short stay on their outer waiting pontoon. The fridge man is due to come and connect our new keel coolers and so we are trying to find a mutually suitable meeting place. We arrived at Thesee just after lunch. Our neighbours on Golden Eye were here and they joined us for a drink onboard before leaving. It's the first time the four of us have met and we exchanged stories and dreams like always.

Monday 17th July... Hoorah! The fridge man called. He is available tomorrow so we changed our booking at Port Solent to suit. That meant we had an unexpected free day. The weather was good so we motored across to Priory Bay just outside Bembridge. It was low water and rather shallow in places but we were aware of this and so kept a close eye on the transducer. We dropped the anchor and had a bite to eat for lunch. It was such a lovely hot day we stayed there for 3 hours. It was just like being in Antigua (well that's what it felt like when you closed your eyes!). Saffy wasn't settling well so we put her downstairs with the fans on and the Windscoop doing it's thing. It worked really well, it's definately earning the £6.50 Dean splashed out for it.

 The Wooton Creek Car Ferries crossing in the Solent

The windscoop's working better now after modifications

Dean sitting on the scoop dipping his toes

Linda and Saffy staying firmly out of the water

We caught the tide going back to Portsmouth and got a little sailing in with the genoa....a maximum 3 knots which was fine as we were in no hurry to get back. It was very calm, so much so that Linda took the chance to practise berthing Thesee when we arrived at base. All under the watchful eye of the skipper of course. Later on we took Saffy ashore for her walk. Unfortunately the outboard engine on the dinghy started playing up.... another job for the resident engineer. We didn't eat dinner until almost 9pm. I don't know where the day has gone to! 

Tuesday 18th July... Up early with the alarm clock today because we needed to be at Port Solent Marina for 9.30am to meet up with the fridge man. The morning was calm and so Linda helmed Thesee from the pontoon. Not that she had to do anything really because once the lines had been released the wind gently eased us in the right direction and off we went. We haven't visited Port Solent for quite a while. To get there you need to follow the well marked channel through Portchester Lake. It's a bit twisty turny in places so we got the paper instructions out as a back up. 

To get into the marina there's a lock, but we had already agreed just a short stay so they allowed us to berth on the outer waiting pontoon instead of going inside proper. On arrival Dean decided he wanted to turn the boat round so that it was facing the right way for when we left. Forgetting that Thesee has a newly cleaned bottom and he's currently slipping through the water like a dream, when Dean made the turn Thesee's bow almost hit the pontoon. Dean had to give a real good blast of reverse gear to avoid a very embarrassing situation! Phew a close call that was. 

The fridge man turned up at 10am and Linda took Saffy for a walk whilst the men did their thing connecting up the keel coolers. I'ts a big job and took around 4 hours to complete. It was a really warm day and Saffy was very thirsty when she returned from her walk around the marina and local park. She loved the grass and kept rolling about in it. Linda was at a loose end not being able to get in the boat with the work going on, so she did some relaxing in the lovely sunshine and then took a little walk to view the nearby boats. They were all Sunsail Training School boats (about 20 of them) and she very observantly noticed that all of the anchors were missing. Thinking they were all probably going to be replaced she reported the 'news' to Dean, but he had a better idea and said that they had all probably been removed for racing. 

By the time we left Port Solent the tide was on the flood, enough for us to navigate the channel we thought. It was still shallow in places though, at one point showing a mere 2.2m. Thesee's draft is 1.8m so we only had 40cm clearance! All was fine though and we reached base without any problems. As we approached our mooring we realised that there was another boat on it! The poor skipper and his crew were sitting there having a nice cup of tea when it dawned on him that we were heading his way and his time was up. We had a bit of a laugh with him about it, and he graciously got off on his way. Quite often we see visiting boats just stopping for an hour or so here on vacant berths, and the main visitor of all is the Police Patrol Boat. 

Time was getting on and we treated ourselves to a Pot Noodle from the Bad Weather Locker. We commented to each other that you would be grateful for one of these on a cold dark passage. Rain was forecast so we left the boat at 6pm and got on our way. We had only been in the car for 10 minutes when we had the most torrential downpour, thunder and lightning. We would have been absolutely drenched if we had been caught in that. 

There will be today's photos once Linda finds the camera. She must have left it on Thesee. Hopefully.