The crossing over to the Hamble was not warm one for my southerner crew, but none the less the easterly wind brought with it a swell. Despite there being only one other vessel in the Solent at that time, my crew managed to have to take evasive action and increase my pace to make sure we passed clearly in front of a towing tug. The Yanmar engine happily responded with 7.5 knots at 3,000rpm.
My VHF has suffered a little with the dousing of water I took on board in the Irish Sea, so a crackly conversation with Hamble Point Marina eventually gave my skipper the information he needed to berth me port side and another chance to use the new dark blue warps recently purchased. On the way in I over heard a conversation in which my skipper was pointing out the place where he'd run aground and spent 7 long hours waiting for the tide to return ! Thankfully once bitten twice shy seemed to prevail.
I have never seen so many boats in one place, there are literally thousands of masts all the way down this river and others without masts too. In Inverkip there were a few of these motor cruisers, but there are hundreds down here of all sizes.
My crew returned with a chappy from my manufactures representative down here and they talked not only my hull port holes but my deck ones too. Seems that they are all going to receive some attention, so I shall be like new again from that point of view. Also luck has it that they require my central heating to be working and I think it has a bit of a chesty cough, so it may get the treatment it needs and be working properly again soon.
So I will let you know how I got on when I'm all done & dusted ready to keep my owners warm & toasty & more importantly dry & safe from what Mother Nature can throw at us !
