So we arrived at the River Hamble from all corners of the British Isles, mainly from Britain but some from far off islands like Ireland and Wight.
The first half of the day was spent loading the ship with food, and ticking off the jobs list, including refitting new heads pumps. Toby, the ship's mascot, was initially given a berth on the binnacle.
Jason, Gareth and Pete Wadsworth were also onboard - many thanks for the extra help getting us ready!
We run a three watch system as four on, four off, and the third watch as 'mother', running the galley and keeping belowdecks shipshape. Each watch stands as mother every three days.
A fine lunch of Tuna Noodles was smashed out of the galley by Blue Watch. The mate unleashed his extra hot chilli sauce. Sails were bent on, and we headed off sailing.
A quick stop in Gosport to pick up Paul, dinner of lasagne, and set sail at midnight for Dieppe in fairly light SE'erlies. The winds were almost strong enough to sail, so was a night of sails up, sails down, followed by a day of more sails up, sails down, with the added element of ship-dodging. Toby had a little trip out on the boom.
Red watch turned a damn tasty risotto out of the galley mid-channel, while Becky and Ciara were deep in the bilge 'bleeding' the heads piping system of baby wipes! Not the most pleasant job!
On the snack side, we had brownies AND millionaires shortbread AND a cheescake for pudding.
Happy hour - which according to the skipper is the hour between 15:58 and 16:02 - mother watch [red watch] did an entertainment on the aft deck.
Dinner was corned beef hash. As we approached Dieppe a thick sea-fog came in, and we could barely see the end of the pier as we went in. Becky did an epic job entering the harbour and mooring up. We had sailed our first 130 nautical miles, and settled into the watch system.
Hot Chocolate. Sleep.
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