Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[A Former User]

@Giles this looks sturdy as hell! So nice to see the overengineering

[Giles]

The guideline for a boat of our size is to use mooring warps with a diameter of 18mm, we've used 26mm for the fixed pontoon warps.

Our travelling mooring warps are a little smaller (21mm) because they are a lot easier to coil, handle and stow than 26mm.

We've also got way more lines than really needed, but I like sleeping easy at night

[Giles]

Given that I am considerably more mobile than I dared to imagine I would be after the hip op, we made a few plans this morning. All are weather-dependent, but the forecast is promising for the days we are plsnning to do stuff.

Wednesday, sail to, and up the Beaulieu River for lunch at the Master Builder. Home via Cowes to top up the diesel. The Beaulieu River is one of the only privately owned rivers in the UK and is kept beautifully. The pilotage into and up the river is a tad tricky, so that will be good for us.

https://www.beaulieuriver.co.uk/

On Thursday we are going to circumnavigate The Isle of Wight. Paula and I have not done it before, so will be fun. It's about 55nm, we will go anti-clockwise as the timing of the tides gives us favourable currents for the majority of the trip.

On Saturday we will go to Bembridge, a little village on the East coast of the Isle of Wight. We'll stay overnight and go to our favourite pub/brewery/pizza joint for supper. Again, the pilotage is tricky and SAKURA is a comparatively large boat, so that will require some concentration.

https://www.bembridgeharbour.co.uk/

[A Former User]

@Giles keep on rockin’ in the free world

[Nik]

Sounds like a great trip and also such good news that hip op was so successful. Bon voyage

[endo]

@Giles great you're already good again and touring, have a wonderful cruise

[Giles]

Thank you, we will

[louisbosco]

@Giles said in Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure:

Wednesday, sail to, and up the Beaulieu River for lunch at the Master Builder.

That was the pub where we went for lunch in November wasn't it?

hope to see nice photos!! and most importantly, enjoy yourselves!!

[Giles]

It is the same pub

[louisbosco]

wonder if you'll bump into pilgrim again..

[goosehd]

Ok you two...how did the day's travels go? Good to be on the water?

[Giles]

Moored up for lunch at Bucklers Hard for lunch.....

[Giles]

Yesterday....

Bucklers Hard and back - stopped at Cowes on the wy home to pop some diesel in the tanks...

[Giles]

@goosehd

[Giles]

What a fantastic day.....

[goosehd]

@Giles At first I read your display as 18.8 kts. and thinking that's why you needed to fuel up. That view is lovely and not a wave in sight. As to the shipwrecks, I may have caused a few over the years

[Giles]

We had a gremlin with the bow thruster when i started the engines this morning. It took me a couple of hours to fix it. By meticulous and methodical process of elimination, it fixed itself

So we had to go faster than normal to get through the needles and heading eadt whilst the currents were still in our favour. So we did about 15 knots.

[goosehd]

@Giles 15 knots must of used a little diesel...and kudos to the boat for fixing itself (with your help of course). I'm sure the verbal encouragement and use of expletives helped the process quite a bit

[Giles]

All I know is that in Paula's "how long can we last until we need to peg it" spreadsheet, there is a row for quarterly expenditure on fuel. The number I gave her was ridiculously large, so I almost can't overspend in that category.....

So relaxing

[Giles]