Were off !

We have set sail, hurrah! We left Port Solent at 3pm, 27^th April 2011, we were waved off by the smiling faces of Amanda’s mum and dad.  A light north easterly (12-15knots) meant we were able to get the sail out down to the harbour, felt very odd knowing we were not going to be sailing down that piece of water for some time!  Even stranger that the sun was shining and we didn’t even need to put on our waterproofs.

We filled up with fuel at Gosport and then spent a bumpy night on a bouy in Portsmouth harbour, not the most peaceful location but good to get our sea legs whilst sleeping and we were both so worn out from last couple of weeks we didn’t have any problem sleeping.

Thankfully not too much of an early morning and no great plans, left the bouy at 9am on 28^th and had leisurely sail to Newton Creek, Isle of Wight. Bit chilly today so thermals and waterproofs on and hat at the ready.

Spent day relaxing (Amanda sleeping) preparing for a big sail tomorrow, very pretty here, had a goose pop over for a chat and a seal has even passed by for a look, we were obviously more excited than he was.

Oh what a mess !

 

Another weekend spend emptying the house and packing the boat, I like to think of these pictures as work in progress!

Despite appearances much progress was made and a lot of the locker space is now full, which is good ......and bad .

Good because we have a LOT of kit and so far Magnum has swallowed it all.

Bad because Amanda hasn't even started to decant her wardrobe yet !!!!!  

I think there is a chart table under there somewhere

Galley area - Note obligatory bottle of rum :-)

Launch Day !!!

After 5 longs days of graft Magnum now has a clean bottom and a fresh coat of anti foul, She has also been polished and has new goodies bolted onto the transom.
As always a quick lift and paint ended up with more money being spent as I discovered a chunk had been taken out of one of the prop blades. A new replacement was quickly dispatched from Kiwi props but unfortunately they sent a RH blade and Magnum need LH !!! Kiwi props came up trumps by couriering a new blade to me overnight and rectified  the mistake by including a spare blade free. Good customer service.

 

This evening is Abbie's  birthday so hot choc and cake after work. Then we will need to move Magnum from the waiting pontoon back home, in the dark ! Still makes me nervous parking in the dark, always worse in a marina where there is so much shore light.

Next step is to clean the interior and start to figure out how our worldly possessions from a 3 bed house will fit into a 36ft boat.