First Trip Down Planned

We have booked a five day weekend starting on 18 February and coming back the following Wednesday. It seems ages since I have been there and Audrey of course, hasn't been to Gibraltar at all. We'll do a bit of work on the boat but also do some sightseeing stuff. Who knows, we may even go for a sail.

Last Friday we attended a very disappointing boat show at Excel. We don't imagine that we will be going back there again. There were very few sailing boats and none that we liked except for the Cornish Crabbers and their prices are simply eye watering. The power boats were predictably revolting and there were even fewer equipment exhibitors than before which rendered the show more or less a complete waste of time for us. Sadly, we are unlikely to be in the country for the Southampton show either.

One bit we did like was a stand where Owners Associations could push their particular boat. I felt that it would have been a good thing to have the ROA there, not least since the Contessa 32 Association was there.

The evening was a much more satisfying affair with the ROA AGM. We still find it a bit odd going to the East India Club but it is always a good evening.

Now we just have to work out how to get our windmill shipped down to Gibraltar. I wonder if Easyjet would let us take it on - for a fee of course.

Big Decisions

Well, we have bowed to the inevitable and worked out we will not be ready to go in April. Various things such as getting the house ready for renting, jacking in the job and doing some necessary work on Sarah G are not going to happen in the next three months which means we can't realisticly chuck up the jobs and hope to be able to fund a six month cruise through Sardinnia, Corsica and the Med coasts of Spain and France.

We are now looking at staying in work for the summer with a series of long weekends down in La Linea to both work on the boat and do some sailing in the sun with a plan to finish in August. We could then have two months to reexplore the Costa de Luz and get up to Sevilla before spending a winter in Gibraltar.

It is a bit sad that we can't take the plunge fully this spring but I think that we will have a good time. I can help my Brother with his plans to sail Kemara round Britain and Audrey can do some belly dancing this summer.

Plans will, of course, be evolving more but we actually quite like this one. We just need a way of escaping London for the Olympics now!