Last year was not a good year for the Peckett family. Never the less, there were positives and they were all sailing related.
Our first cruise of the year back in May was cut short following my father's heart attack. Jane and I still managed a few days out once it was clear he was in no danger, visiting Ipswich Haven for the first (and probably last) time.
Our summer cruise was the longest yet at four weeks. The upside of being self employed is being able to take more time to go sailing and the removal of that ticking clock in the back of my mind that "we must be back by a week Saturday".
The weather took it's toll on our plans but despite only getting as far West as Lymington and in spite of the rain and at times windy weather, we had a good time in the Solent.
Jane and I were out and about again in early September. Once again the weather interfered and hampered our plans but again we made the best of it and enjoyed a cruise up as far as Woodbridge and back.
Then things took a sharp turn for the worse on the home front with my Mum passing away and my Dad needing a lot of care and support to get through a very tough time. Just when we thought we were turning the corner, Dad ended up in hospital over New Year but happily he recovered.
I have neither the time nor the inclination at the moment to produce the usual detailed log for last season but we managed to cover 637 nautical miles all told. We had some very good sails but we also had some pretty diabolical days as well!
Business has not been good in 2017 and having to put everything boating and business to one side for nigh on three months hasn't helped. We'll see how things go now as we look forward to this coming year but we're anticipating being somewhat challenged financially so our plans for the season are necessarily cautious.
There's quite a long list of jobs I want to get done on Pagan before the start of the sailing season. The hot water system needs to be fitted, as does the second diesel tank. I want to get the cockpit lockers fitted out and there should be a new gas cooker to go in.
Oh yes, that gas cooker. We ordered it way back in September and it finally arrived in late October. However, it was just before Christmas before I could get down to the boat to install it. To my considerable annoyance, it was not only damaged when I took it out of the box, it was also not what we ordered (I believe it to be an older model that has snuck back into the supply chain however there's also the possibility that the manufacturers have changed the specification without telling the distributors. Either way, it's not acceptable). So it's gone back to be replaced. Still waiting.
The big trip this year is going to be to the Channel Islands in June / July. The outbound passage is going to be a full on "go for it" leg with only the very worst weather stopping us. I'm committed to getting to Guernsey by the end of that week unless it's absolutely impossible. I've got Tony on the crew and he's up for it, I'm hoping to add to that with one or two more crew who are up for some serious hard sailing.
The middle leg around the islands will be a repeat of last year in the Solent with myself, Jane and my cousin Maire on board. The waters around the Channel Islands are somewhat more challenging than the Solent so it should be more exciting and hopefully we'll get some good weather.
The return leg I plan to coast hop along the North French coast. I especially want to visit the D-Day landing beaches so I'm planning accordingly. I've got Mark to crew for me which is useful as he's flexible about when he gets back which gives us an extra few days.
The rest of the season, we're hoping to get quite a bit of local sailing in. Originally, we'd contemplated a second three or four week cruise perhaps to the Netherlands but anticipating the finances being tight we've cut that back to a fortnight in more local waters.
I'll try and catch up more on the blog as we get going which, hopefully, will be over the next few weeks.
