Giles and Paula's Great Retirement Adventure

[Giles]

66 days, 1,009nm and zero bumps, we are home....

[goosehd]

@Giles Welcome home…assuming they let you back in for breaking the seaman tradition of manning the rails. I’m surprised Paula didn’t make you dress up in your best to do so.

[endo]

good you made it home safe @Giles and @Madame-Buttonfly what a trip, thanks for sharing!

[Mister_Brue]

This post is deleted!

[ROman]

Glad you made it back safely with 0 bumps.

[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.