Nick2
New member
Having just returned from a couple of weeks floating about the Solent (and a bit beyond) I now feel that the time on the boat and therefore the practice has really done us good.
We started off by enjoying a wonderful evening meal with MarkC and Jane with kettle chips for pudding and listening to the regular creaks of a nearby boat's fenders....
The next morning we met up with David (Solitare) for a great day of confidence boosting extra tuition which included tips on course plotting, anchoring, dealing with wakes and keeping out of the way of the Fastnet race. Thank you David so much for your time and help - we both very much appreciated it.
We then returned to Hythe (it does feel like home to us) and then spending a few days in glorious sunshine in Yarmouth spending time on the open top bus trip and the various attractions as recommended on the forum. Yarmouth seems a really well run place with excellent facilities and freindly staff - IMHO it deserves to be a popular as it is.
We then spent some time in Lymington (why are the chaps in Berthon so miserable when they take so much money off us?)
Island Harbour was a very pleasant suprise with happy and helpful staff and a superb if under exploited setting. The walk into Newport was a treat and the kite flying opportunities were endless.
We had a good time with SteveE and Chris B4 and family who kindly delivered new air filters as purchased that morning and we then headed over to Port Solent where fish and chips were enjoyed by all.
An earlyish start took us to East Head within Chichester Harbour where the younger B4 and Cast Off crew member constructed sand marinas and castles whilst Chris acted as water taxi and Joanne stayed on board feeling sick and fending off a sport boat that kept drifting into us.
That evening we spent a quiet evening a Northerny Marina with nice smiley MDL staff, excellent new showers and a great Pumpkin chandlery. We enjoyed it there as it was so quiet.
We left after breakfast with a predicted F4/5 and as we reached Chichester Bar a Securite warned of F6 at times. We decided to continue heading out with the option to head back or into Portsmouth. However whilst it was as bumpy a ride as we had ever had the boat and children coped really well and we made it back to Hythe at a slowish pace.
Another night at Hythe (well its paid for init) and then off to West Cowes for a fun afternoon visiting Osbourne House - easy to get there as walk to the floating bridge and then a bus trip from East Cowes (total transport cost for two sort of adults and two small children £4.00). Had an enjoyable evening with some sailing folk from our pontoon and then moved off to East Cowes to escape the noise and spray painting of the power boat racers.
A quiet but fun evening (again with our sailing pals) and a then a trip around to Bucklars Hard the next morning.
Again a quiet place but why is it that we felt so unwelcome here? This was so differant to any MDL marina and that at either Cowes Marinas and Island Harbour and Yarmouth.
Then back to Hythe for lots of boat cleaning and washing and now back to work and normality.......and the injector costs.......
We now feel ready to extend our horizons a little more now
Nick
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We started off by enjoying a wonderful evening meal with MarkC and Jane with kettle chips for pudding and listening to the regular creaks of a nearby boat's fenders....
The next morning we met up with David (Solitare) for a great day of confidence boosting extra tuition which included tips on course plotting, anchoring, dealing with wakes and keeping out of the way of the Fastnet race. Thank you David so much for your time and help - we both very much appreciated it.
We then returned to Hythe (it does feel like home to us) and then spending a few days in glorious sunshine in Yarmouth spending time on the open top bus trip and the various attractions as recommended on the forum. Yarmouth seems a really well run place with excellent facilities and freindly staff - IMHO it deserves to be a popular as it is.
We then spent some time in Lymington (why are the chaps in Berthon so miserable when they take so much money off us?)
Island Harbour was a very pleasant suprise with happy and helpful staff and a superb if under exploited setting. The walk into Newport was a treat and the kite flying opportunities were endless.
We had a good time with SteveE and Chris B4 and family who kindly delivered new air filters as purchased that morning and we then headed over to Port Solent where fish and chips were enjoyed by all.
An earlyish start took us to East Head within Chichester Harbour where the younger B4 and Cast Off crew member constructed sand marinas and castles whilst Chris acted as water taxi and Joanne stayed on board feeling sick and fending off a sport boat that kept drifting into us.
That evening we spent a quiet evening a Northerny Marina with nice smiley MDL staff, excellent new showers and a great Pumpkin chandlery. We enjoyed it there as it was so quiet.
We left after breakfast with a predicted F4/5 and as we reached Chichester Bar a Securite warned of F6 at times. We decided to continue heading out with the option to head back or into Portsmouth. However whilst it was as bumpy a ride as we had ever had the boat and children coped really well and we made it back to Hythe at a slowish pace.
Another night at Hythe (well its paid for init) and then off to West Cowes for a fun afternoon visiting Osbourne House - easy to get there as walk to the floating bridge and then a bus trip from East Cowes (total transport cost for two sort of adults and two small children £4.00). Had an enjoyable evening with some sailing folk from our pontoon and then moved off to East Cowes to escape the noise and spray painting of the power boat racers.
A quiet but fun evening (again with our sailing pals) and a then a trip around to Bucklars Hard the next morning.
Again a quiet place but why is it that we felt so unwelcome here? This was so differant to any MDL marina and that at either Cowes Marinas and Island Harbour and Yarmouth.
Then back to Hythe for lots of boat cleaning and washing and now back to work and normality.......and the injector costs.......
We now feel ready to extend our horizons a little more now
Nick
<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://arweb.co.uk/argallery/Nick2>http://arweb.co.uk/argallery/Nick2</A>
