tjm
New member
Got back last night from our much awaited (and dreaded by some) sunsail flotilla
Thanks to all for previous replies especially Russell,Jeremy W,Twister ken,Sailbad,Beancounter,Ruth and Boatman,all good advice,especially in retrospect
Seven of us,inc 2 teenage kids on Oceanis 411,not much experience between us(I only sail on windermere)
Not without petty but hardly serious problems BUT absolutely brilliant week!!
Boat was unbelievable after my humble Hurley but few small issues as first time out since winter ie tainted water in tanks,outboard (a £60 extra)ancient,unserviced and unusable 95% of time and saloon table collapsed in bits as hostess demonstated- priceless
Despite this lead crew were fantastic esp Warren the South African skipper,unbelievably cheerful and nothing too much trouble
cant believe how much ground we covered , lots of quite long passages (for someone used to Windermere, expecting short hops)was glad of hand held gps cos I'm sure I would have struggled to find some of our rendezvous if I hadnt paid attention or had gps backup as many inlets look the same.
Cant recommend this type of hol enough if like us you have some nervous inexperienced types ie hands clenched all thro coach transfer and by end of week easing main out to try to gain bit more pace
Even stern to mooring was managed without drama(every time Warren stood on the quay with his arms crossed above his head- stand by to drop hook- we burst into "Prince Charming" unfortunately he is too young to remember Adam Ant
My only criticism would be that although there is no element of being shepherded around and is not mother duck sailing by any means we were asked to be in certain marinas by set times and it so happened once or twice that after a very becalmed day the wind would pick up just as it was time to get into our mooring for the night so it would have been nice to stay out a bit longer especially as it tended to be only 4 or 4.30 so not exactly dark but obviously the crew are keen to get every one in in case the marina gets busy
To sum up excellent week and the ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT was the last night in party mode after presentation ceremony bought a leonard cohen cd from guy in bar and put "Dance me to the end of love" (very greek sound for those who dont know it) on cockpit speaker as Deb and I smooched around the cockpit table much to amusement of lead crew next door.Came home from work and still playing on hi fi in conservatory!!
Hope havent bored you old salts to death
Tom
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Thanks to all for previous replies especially Russell,Jeremy W,Twister ken,Sailbad,Beancounter,Ruth and Boatman,all good advice,especially in retrospect
Seven of us,inc 2 teenage kids on Oceanis 411,not much experience between us(I only sail on windermere)
Not without petty but hardly serious problems BUT absolutely brilliant week!!
Boat was unbelievable after my humble Hurley but few small issues as first time out since winter ie tainted water in tanks,outboard (a £60 extra)ancient,unserviced and unusable 95% of time and saloon table collapsed in bits as hostess demonstated- priceless
Despite this lead crew were fantastic esp Warren the South African skipper,unbelievably cheerful and nothing too much trouble
cant believe how much ground we covered , lots of quite long passages (for someone used to Windermere, expecting short hops)was glad of hand held gps cos I'm sure I would have struggled to find some of our rendezvous if I hadnt paid attention or had gps backup as many inlets look the same.
Cant recommend this type of hol enough if like us you have some nervous inexperienced types ie hands clenched all thro coach transfer and by end of week easing main out to try to gain bit more pace
Even stern to mooring was managed without drama(every time Warren stood on the quay with his arms crossed above his head- stand by to drop hook- we burst into "Prince Charming" unfortunately he is too young to remember Adam Ant
My only criticism would be that although there is no element of being shepherded around and is not mother duck sailing by any means we were asked to be in certain marinas by set times and it so happened once or twice that after a very becalmed day the wind would pick up just as it was time to get into our mooring for the night so it would have been nice to stay out a bit longer especially as it tended to be only 4 or 4.30 so not exactly dark but obviously the crew are keen to get every one in in case the marina gets busy
To sum up excellent week and the ABSOLUTE HIGHLIGHT was the last night in party mode after presentation ceremony bought a leonard cohen cd from guy in bar and put "Dance me to the end of love" (very greek sound for those who dont know it) on cockpit speaker as Deb and I smooched around the cockpit table much to amusement of lead crew next door.Came home from work and still playing on hi fi in conservatory!!
Hope havent bored you old salts to death
Tom
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