About Me

My photo
We are Sam and Martyn, originally from Hebden Bridge. We have lived on boats since 1996 and bought Elephant Daze in 2005. She was discovered behind some units in Keighley and we transported her to Goole. For those of you wondering about the name - she was named by Martyn a huge fan of Kirk Brandon / Spear of Destiny who wrote the song 'Elephant Daze' - and the name just seemed to fit. We hope you don't mind Kirk! It is also a great conversation starter!! Many years of blood sweat and tears followed as we took on the uneviable task of resurrecting her, the results were more than worth it! In Febuary 2010 we decided it was time to venture further afield so we left Goole and moved to Hull. This change resulted in us finally deciding to take the bull by the horns and head for the sea. We have left our jobs and will spend the summer having the adventure of or lifetime (we hope!!). We would like to invite you to share in this adventure, I hope you enjoy!

Friday, 9 July 2010

Time to dip the toe back in......







We said goodbye to Rye with mixed feelings. It was lovely in the town, peaceful in the quay and great to have the option of so many nice places to socialise if we so desired. We did however get a little tired of being on the mud, not so much the mud but the the harbour wall. It has been really hot down here for the last few days but it got cold at night in the harbour and we only had mud for a view.




I can't speak for Martyn but I personally was quite anxious at the thought of going back out. I had bad dreams last night and woke up early, pondering the day before us. We checked out the forecasts, they all varied, our best bet was to get out early and get back into a port by 12pm. This is what we decided to do. We headed back out to sea passing boats still on the mud, abandoned wrecks, fishing boats and a huge container ship. We paid our remaining dues to the Harbour Master - still the best one so far - and headed out. As soon as we hit the sea again I started to feel nervous, it was quite calm but eerily rolling. It was very similar to the day we left Ramsgate and for me it wasn't a happy feeling. We continued on past Hastings and Pevensey Bay, we passed crab pots again for the first time in ages and finally picked up speed on the entrance to Eastbourne! Needless to say we made it here without any major problem but I wasn't happy until we reached the inner Harbour. The wind had started to pick up and we were beginning to see white caps (mini waves). It was the right time to head in. I think in future I will listen a little more to my instinct and be less reliant on what the weather man says. We knew today would be OK in the morning and not so good by the afternoon. Considering the number of sailing boats that have followed us into Eastbourne this afternoon with crew wearing waterproofs we made the right choice!




So we are in Eastbourne, land of the retired, land of the new build! I have no idea what Eastbourne actually looks like as we are a fourty minute walk away! I can tell you that the new housing seems to be populated with retired people and the visiting yachts are from all over Europe, and there are lots of them! We appear to be the only visitors from the UK. It seems that the Europeans like Britain more than the Brits do, or are the British yachts all over in Europe? Answers on a postcard please! Maybe we will be able to answer that question for you next year!




Tonight we contemplate whether to make Brighton our next stop or head for Newhaven, Newhaven would be much more of an adventure I think......................

No comments:

Post a Comment