Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Giles]

Now we are in the midst of the exceedingly tedious part. Getting all the stuff that we took with us (thought we would need) off the boat.

[endo]

and all the boxes with cidre.

[Giles]

Ah, thanks for reminding me. I have 3 bottles that I bought from a dodgy Tabac stashed away. I will make sure they are out for the party....

[Giles]

Time for a long needed upgrade. The "search" light that came as standard with the boat is marginally brighter than one of these:

Plus to directionally control the beam, you need to use a remote control which requires 2 hands to operate. And guess what? When you are parking you need at least one hand to press the go and/or steer buttons....

So, I have just ordered one of these. It will light up the coast of France better than the Allies did for the D-Day landings, and it has a proper dash mounted joystick...

Picking it up in The States when we go over for Thanksgiving with @ROman and Ralph

460,000 Candela, Max Beam Distance 4,501 Feet (1,372 m)
Wireless Handheld Remote and Wired Dash Mount Joystick (Both Included)
360º Continuous Rotation and 135º Tilt
Auto-home return when off

[ROman]

Looking good.

[Aetas]

“460,000 Candela, Max Beam Distance 4,501 Feet (1,372 m).”

Monster!

[gazza61]

@Giles what about one of these on your boat.

[Giles]

Thank you. I have one of these on the boat:

https://www.bltdirect.com/nightsearcher-trigger-pro-rechargeable-led-searchlight?adcid=pla&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyfe4BhAWEiwAkIL8sC1pgh-O6pFixvbOXlTgLChC2d1WbtqyrzRxAZXKHwHbjE5dv7HejRoCeacQAvD_BwE

It is a million times better than the one fitted. But, you need to be outside to use it, and I also need to be at the helm.....

[gazza61]

no problem enjoy your new spotlight.

[Giles]

@Madame-Buttonfly , @Alex , Kira and I went to Cowes on Wednesday night, and had a wonderful meal at Smoking Lobster. One of my mates who was in Old Portsmouth grabbed this pic of us returning to our home berth at Haslar Marina on Thursday morning.

[Tago Mago]

@Giles I recognize that berth. We did our berthing and boat handling practice there

[Giles]

Yeah, a lot of sailing schools use the visitor area of Haslar to do close-quarter manoeuvres training. I learn a lot (good and bad), just sitting on our boat watching....

[Giles]

The Dyneema loop on the fixed stern mooring warp was look a bit tatty . It is not a point of weakness, but the tattiness was annoying me. So I sewed a leather chafe guard on to it for more protection and to hide what was bugging me....

[Giles]

French Fam....

[Matt]

Ooh la la.

[Matt]

Do you winterize or use her year round. The boat, not Paula.

[Giles]

All year around.

We'll take her out of the water in March to check the anti-fouling and change the anodes, but that should be no more than a week....

[goosehd]

@Giles like @Matt said, for Paula or the boat?

[Giles]

Merry Christmas....

[gazza61]

@Giles great photo happy Xmas and thank you and your team for hosting such a great party at Portsmouth.