Gone Sailing

We have been keeping busy with some boat jobs this week. Paul has serviced the engine and changed the oil, he also installed a new filtered drinking water tap and sorted out the leaky sink while he was at it.

Everything is difficult to get to in such a confined space. Apparently he wasn’t just laying down to have a snooze!

I’ve started work on the cockpit enclosure.

Yes, I am going to install some windows eventually!

We were very happy to have a day out when we were invited to go for a sail on our friends 50 foot Amel. We first saw one of these boats at the Southampton Boat Show a couple of years ago when it was launched and loved it (Unfortunately out of our price range!)

The air conditioned interior is light and spacious, it feels more like an apartment than a boat, the galley is fitted with all mod cons including fridge, freezer, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer.

It was a beautiful (non lockdown) day and so we set off in the morning. Once out of the marina we were sitting on deck in the sunshine with rum cocktails.

There was not much breeze but the sails went straight up and we were sailing in 5kts of true wind managing 2kts of speed (ZigZag wouldn’t be going anywhere in such light wind).

Then the huge cruising chute came out increasing our speed to a blistering 3 kts.

There was a bit of swell but you could hardly feel it. A buffet lunch was served outside and nothing was rolling off the table.

It felt a bit like cheating sailing with electric winches, sails were hoisted or furled back in quickly and easily with a touch of a button, there was no strenuous winching to do.

Everything can be handled from the cockpit, Paul was checking out what all of the buttons and switches do.

After a lovely day on the water, we headed back to the marina.

Reversing into the slip was made easier with bow thrusters and remote cameras to help.

Once we were all tied up it was time for a gin and tonic, thank you to Traveller IV for a great day.