So who missed the briefing?

BarryD

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What briefing I hear you ask? Well the one that sayes don't buy an 11 year old boat and then try to sail it from Bradwell (near Southend) to Chichester in November. When the only reliable instrument on board is an oil pressure guage and maybe the coolant temperature one.

Not having Matts writing "style" I hope you'l bear with me for the next thrilling installment of...

"MVII" / "Firefly" Eastbourne to Chichester - the final leg....

Having scared Dave Steward and Matts off in the first part of the journey last weekend I needed to find someone else to come round the final leg. Graham W. was voluntered (he owed me after DFL and besides he's pretty nutty) but couldn't make the Saturday and I did not want to chance not being able to complete the run this weekend.

So insteps Kevin B with a great plan - lets sail my 32' twin LPG engined American thing to Eastbourne and then sail yours back. And yours? That's OK I'm delivering it to a dealer there and getting my new boat in February. We will get Gary (his mate) along. as he knows the coast East of Chichester. Fine old time, great fun and we will start at 07:30 on Saturday.

It's a plan.

I get to Chichester a little after 07:30 and meet Kevin just offloading "Chapter Four" of the final bits before sale. He was low on LPG so we had to go to Sparks to fill up on the way out. The ladies waved bye-bye and shot over to Garys boat to continue sleeping.

Chapter Four is a great boat and if I didn't have the bet with Dave Steward on selling Firefly it would have been back in Chichester by the end of the day! Reaching the end of the eustary we noticed some unusal water feature - almost like a weir ahead of us. Still over to Sparks we went - gosh I can see the bottom, where are the channel markers? Over there - so why are we over here - short cut sayes Kevin only Gary and myself can see his fingers are crossed...

Sparks won't open their pumps until 09:30 just on the off chance that they don't make enough money ripping off boaters throughout the day. The cafe was closed so we looked at all the boats for sale on the hard until 09:30 - next time I buy a boat it will be in November and somewhere local to Chichester.

Finally full of LPG gosh £55 from empty to full as opposed to £250 on Firefly. Still I knew that before I bought a petrol boat. Off we go. Out past the bar and then turn left and stay on the rolling road said Gary. What if we don't? Fear not - if we miss the gap then we just wipe Kevins outdrives off - still he's sold the boat. We decide to stay on the GPS rolling road.

In to Brighton about 12:00 for fuel, Hmmm LPG has some range constraints - nope says Kev just get bigger tanks. His tanks are the size of a medium sized hotels main hot water tank so I'm not conviced that it makes sense. In Brigthon the fuel pump chap had trouble turning on the LPG pump - "Never done one before" great we back away and leave him to it. Turning on the fuel pumps involves saying "bugger" a lot and losing your radio below the barge. But enough said.

Theres a woman over there drowning sayes Gary. Nope it turns out to be PaulineB, Mr B, Chris P and others doing some sort of cheer-Leader dance on the front of "Tommy". Sadly there is only time for a quick hello shouted over the side of "Chapter Four" and off we go. It's a shame not to be able to stop but the clock is against us, nice to have put faces to names.

Out of Brighton and turn left for Beachy Head - problem the GPS sayes the distance from Beachy Head is getting bigger. Hold up your left hand Kevin? That's OK we're going the right way. Entering some new way points and using the goto rather than the road seems to be resolve the issue. So whats the entry like to Eastbourne I'm asked? OK but last time it was a F4/5 so we surfed in through the breakwaters. Don't you know? Nope was the answer Gary the learned mate has not been this far east. Cool we're all learning.

A delay at the lock whilst some chap turns his boat round - prehaps Soverign Marina only charge you if you go in and he'd changed his mind. Oh well. In we go and moor up beside "Firefly" whilst Kevin empties the final-final bits of his boat into Firefly. Can you take that we ask as he takes the dash panel out? It's mine and I want it back - OK. Leave the keys in the pub are his instructions but as its getting onto 14:30 we think keys and no beer might be wiser...

Firefly won't start. Totally flat battey, no lights, no blower. Nuffink. Oh Dear, Oh Dear oh Dear. Still I've joined Sea Start but it wrecks the timetable. Then all three of us at once think master battery switch. She starts first time with a little lecky running though her veins.

Just catching the lock off we go. Garys muscles bulge as driving a single outdrive with no power steering takes on reality. DIY Chesse and Ham Sandwiches a gogo (thanks to Zoe Kevs wife) more mess in my cockpit thanks to waves etc... Right turn off beachy head and full throttle. 4,400 RPM onto the plane we go. Tap Gary on the shoulder techincally 4,400 is past the red line, ahh back down to 4,000 and we settle around 20kts, but again we seem to be into wind and tide as the GPS gives us 17kts.

Rinker 250s are not happy coastal boats. Less slamming than last week but it is unpleasent. We drag ourselves around Beachyhead - getting very wet in the cockpit from spray being kicked up behind. Prehaps we should raise the swim ladder? Get a bit drier and gain a knot or two...

The sun sinks lower to the horizon as we pass Brighton. The pop of a wine cork and the chink of glasses from "Tommy" can be heard two miles out to sea. Do we go in or continue. It's a bit swelly and we won't make Chihcester until 18:00 which is a bit dark. Got Nav lights ask Gary? What sort of boat does he think I've bought - course its got Nav lights. We hit switches at random on the dashboard until we find one that puts on the lights. Great. We go on.

The sun goes down, the moon comes up. "Give me the moonlight" we croon. Along comes a black cloud - ahh backlights a gogo on the GPS. But nothing on the chart plotter. The only torch is squillion candle thing that ruins everyones night vision for five minutes. JFM has lent me some dodgy gear here.

Back through the gap, nice of them to light the bouys as well as paint them. Firefly is running well, just an annoying beep from the temperatrue / overheat warning. OVERHEATING ENGINE not what we need - throttle back to 3,500 and the tempersature drops rapidly. Add a new impellor to your "must buy" list sayes Kevin.

Over the bar and we're into the eustary. We drop the screen for better visibility, and sneak peaks at the chart plotter to help us identify the green lights from riding lights. I'm a convert to night cruising, what a rush.

Finally we spot the outer markers for Chichester marina, call them up and we get permission for the lock. Somehow I'm driving for the last bit. A bit slower says Gary, the girls (Heidi, Zoe and Angie) are shouting hello from the waiting platform and shining torches into our eyes.. No excuse though we drift off and I can't correct the turn fast enough, use some power to kick it round says Gary as we start to broach too in front of the lock. WHOOSH don't these 5.7 V8s pick up well as we almost plane. Not that much sayes Gary hauling me out of the hot seat. For a little lad he's very strong.

Into the lock - we can see the wide white eyes of the lock keeper she's having second thoughts about letting us in I can see. However seeing as we stopped and didn't bend her lock she opens the inner gates and finally we pull into the correct berth.

Finished with engine. We tie up "Welcome to Chichester" they all shout. Put the screens on we're on D - see you for a drink...

Thanks to everyone whose helped me get round the cape of Kent, we burnt about £450 of fuel (a sixth of my year one budget) as opposed to about £700 for road transort and lifts, I've made some new friends and found that this boating thing is going to be loads of fun. Of course "Firefly" is going to need some work on her before I'm let loose again but as nothing major fell off I'm convinced she's a good first boat. However I've been told in no uncertain terms to leave my wallet behind when I go to the LBS in January.
 

jfm

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Re: illumination

Well done barry. Gotta run, can't stop, but erm if you repeatedly press the "power on" button on the plotter it toggles thru several levels of backlighting - RTFM!

Glad you made it safely, ...erm well glad you made it anyway
 

BarryD

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Re: illumination !!!<£\"(&£\"*^£\"

Nuff said. It was dark, RTFM!! You gave me the box on Friday night after four pints of beer. When was I supposed to read it? Otherwise Magellen rocks.

Seriously thanks - along with the three GPS12s, compass, and asorted charts. It was perfect. You can never have too much NavAids..

BTW I dropped it overboard and it's gone for ever. I'll give you £5 for it, please can I have those other bits of electric string to wire it in to the dash?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by BarryD on Sun Nov 25 15:29:58 2001 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
G

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Well done Barry and interesting that your story of bravery and heroics was without the benefit of Matt being there. After all who is there to dispute your version? No reports of honking??? ;-)

But well done and thanks for the write up.

BTW my money's with Dave, He's bet you a fiver MV2 goes by Sept. I'll double it. What odds is your wife giving?
 
G

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Re: illumination !!!<£\"(&£\"*^£\"

good stuff barry. Lemme know if you find a spare gps 12. or did you win one from the others?
 
G

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congrats, Barry! sorry I couldn't make Sat. Sunday would've been fun in the p*ssing rain...
 
D

Deleted User YDKXO

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Great job, Barry. Sounds like a Carling Black Label experience to me. Any pics this time?
Firefly looks like a good boat but I guess you've got some credit card melting moments coming up. I'm with the others on the bet though!
 
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