I'm always up for a freebie and when our marina announced they were running a coach to Southampton Boat Show with complimentary tickets I jumped at the chance!
I duly "booked" two seats on the coach PDQ!
Jane couldn't make it due to work so Glen drove down to Fambridge on Friday afternoon after work. We had a bit of a silly session in the pub that night so it was two slightly jaded old buffers who staggered up Ferry Road on Saturday morning to meet the coach at 8:00am
The journey down wasn't the quickest and on arrival at the show the first port of call was the facilities rapidly followed by coffee and a bacon roll.
I had a few things I wanted to investigate and a shopping list and almost the first stand we encountered was one I very much wanted to visit - the Nestaway boats stand.
A key element of my plans for our future sailing in "Pagan" has always been to have a decent expedition tender. I wanted something large enough to carry the two of us over some distance in sheltered waters that could be rowed, motored or sailed. My plan had been to buy or build a small sailing dinghy that would be stowed on davits and that could be brought on deck if necessary. And there's the rub. I'd come to the conclusion that it just wasn't going to work as I'd hoped.
The rig on "Pagan" makes stowing a rigid dinghy on deck difficult to organise and then I realised it was going to be a good deal more expensive to install suitable davits than I'd initially thought. So I was looking for alternatives and right away I found exactly what we need ...
The DingyGo is a 2.75m inflatable that can be used as just that, rowed or motored. But unlike other inflatables, it comes with a sailing rig. It may not be as olde worlde attractive as the wooden pram dinghy I originally envisaged but in practical terms it's a no-brainer. The DinghyGo is exactly what we need!
They are not cheap, compared to non-sailing inflatables, but when you add the cost of a pair of substantial davits (and the additional cost of installing them) to the cost of a suitable nesting pram dinghy the heading towards three grand price tag starts to look quite competitive.
The only question mark is figuring out some way to stow an auxiliary outboard when rigged as a sailing dinghy. A Torquedo electric outboard would seem to be the ideal solution. Another grand plus though! Sufficient unto the day as we won't be buying anything this year. The piggy bank will need a lot of fattening up before we can afford it!
My next mission was to find a decent foul weather jacket for Jane. She's got a pair of Gill salopettes she's happy with but we've struggled to find a small enough jacket to go with them. Searching through the sailing clothing racks on the biggest stands, I found a Musto BR2 Offshore ladies jacket in a size 8 which I think, and hope, will fit. Better still, it was marked down to a mere £149.95, a saving of £70 over the online price (from the reputable suppliers). So that went into the shopping basket
My foulies, which were bought cheap as a short term measure seven years ago, have never been brilliant and the zips are starting to go so whilst I was at it I bagged a matching Musto BR2 men's jacket and trousers. Very snazzy, very comfortable and what I need when we start getting more adventurous. I saved £50 over the online price so making a total saving of £120 or so which I'm not unhappy about!
My final mission was to look at replacing my lifejacket. In use, I'm perfectly happy with it but it's a bulky thing to stow away because it doesn't lie flat. And the gas cylinder indicator had gone red so it needed servicing anyway.
I tried on half a dozen alternatives and didn't like any of them very much so I changed my mind and decided to stick with what I've got.
We had a general wander round the show, looked at some boats and drank several cups of coffee, ate a cheeseburger (expensive but very tasty) before catching the coach back to Fambridge at 5:00pm
Another slow-ish run back saw us in the pub in good time to order some food, drink a pint or three and then retire before it got too late.
A good day out and mission accomplished. Many thanks to Yacht Havens for laying on the trip and to Steve and Adam for looking after us all on the day
So that was Saturday, yesterday was spent finishing off the task of turning "Pagan" back into a sailing boat instead of a workshop. I'd already got the genoa bent back on and sorted out the mizzen which had been refusing to fully hoist.
The main job which took most of the day, initially with assistance from Glen until he headed from home, was removing all the "stuff" that shouldn't be in the cockpit lockers and loading back aboard all the stuff that should!
That took most of the day but we're now ready to go sailing
And go sailing, we hope, we will be doing later this week. Jane has a week off work starting on Wednesday and we plan to depart Fambridge Thursday afternoon (the tide isn't quite high enough on Wednesday) probably to head down to Burnham for the night.
Then we'll head round to the Blackwater on Friday, not sure yet to where but quite probably Brightlingsea or the Pyefleet to pick up a buoy. If the weather doesn't intervene, we're meeting up with friends at Marconi Sailing Club to practice Man Overboard recovery techniques on Saturday afternoon and then it'll be dinghy ashore for BBQ and beer before spending the night on a buoy
I've got a tentative plan to then pop into Heybridge Basin for 24 hours Sunday / Monday before spending a night again on a buoy in the Pyefleet or in Brightlingsea Harbour so we can make it back to Fambridge on Tuesday as we must
We're praying for a bit of nice autumn weather as we haven't been anywhere this year other than the delivery trip when we bought "Pagan" back in March
Have a great time sounds wonderfull
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