Sailing Again...

After a week of sponsor hunting, it is time to get back out sailing again. It seems too long since I was last out (over a week anyway!)

The jobs list on a Class 40 never ends!

· Sort / set up asymmetric pole
· Spinnaker and genoa halyards covered and moused back
· Collect red kite, deck bag from North hut
· Radar reflector on
· Main onto track
· Reefing lines in
· Main block check
· Spectra line to gate roller furler in place of metal gate
· Aft nav lights on (after replacing push pits)
· Raymarine ram brain off and nke auto working

This is just a sample of what we need to do before Tim and I sail the boat to France on Thursday. The plan is to leave Port Hamble in the evening and head out into the Channel and then down towards Brittany (about 400 nautical miles in all)

The grib file below shows the expected weather at 2100 on Thursday when we plan to leave. Mid channel 20 knots northerly – perfect... power reaching all the way.

Shouldn’t take us too long to get down past the Channel Islands, mind you it looks like some rain is on the way too. But I think we will be getting wet from the spray anyway so the rain will just wash the spray away.

Once we get there, we then have to get the boat ready for her survey.

If all goes well, then the plan is to bring her back to the UK soon after and start getting her branded up as the People’s Boat.

Thanks to everyone who has already sponsored us and put their picture onto the website. We will be getting them all printed onto transfers and put on the hull for everyone to see.

We still have a long way to go with the campaign though and still very much need your help if we are to hit our target of raising £150,000 for charity.

All you need is a picture or logo you want to have on the website and hull of the boat, goto www.peoplesboat.com and click on ‘buy pixels’. Decide where you want your picture to go and upload it. Then link it to your website and pay for it. You don’t have to have a PayPal account, you can do it with a credit card through PayPal or you can BACS it through. Just email me and I will give you the account details for People’s Boat Ltd.

Don’t forget, we can’t do any of this without your help – it’s easy to say ‘I’ll do it later’ – later never comes!

More to follow soon on the sail to France...