I moved Little Scarlet from her usual berth at Whale Island last night and brought her down to the Portsmouth SC pontoon in the Camber, Old Portsmouth. It was a bit of a squeeze getting in as many of the Victory Class (www.victoryclass.org.uk) had been busy all weekend launching ready for season and unusually several were on the pontoons overnight ‘taking up’ and awaiting masts etc.
Anyway - Little Scarlet is on the pontoon which makes access extremely easy; particularly useful for the electronics engineer Sean from Greenham Regis (www.greenham-regis.com) who is currently fitting a Raymarine chart-plotter and AIS transmit and receive system. I’ll say more about the electronics over the next few weeks but the fit seems to be going well so far so we should be able to sail on time tomorrow with everything working... I’ve deployed in a few HM ships in the past with contractors still installing equipment but Sean’s not keen to sail with us so fingers crossed!
I’ve been spending most of the day wondering what I may have forgotten. We have a full tank of diesel which I reckon will give us a range of around 200 miles and we’ve stowed away several full jerry cans just in case .. I’m also wondering if we’ve enough gas for our cooker, especially as there has been a shortage (all those camping stay-cations!) – We have extra cylinders stowed away in our anchor locker where there is good ventilation and drainage for any stray gas.
Nigel has taken on the ‘victualling’ responsibilities so we will have plenty of food to keep us going for the first few days and we have a huge box of chilli con carne -thank you Marianne! We don’t have a refrigerator so we are slightly limited with the fresh goods we can carry but hopefully we will have opportunities to ‘re-store’ every few days. We do have a very well stocked beef, wine and spirits ‘store’ too!
My last visit to the chandlery included a purchase of leak sealant and a guide to basic diesel engines - an indication of my concern with an irritating water leak through the deck into the cabin and my ignorance of diesel engines, ours has been very reliable but …
So I think we are as ready as we'll ever be. The weather forecast has been looking extremely good with a consistently easterly breeze; perfect to help us on our way to the west and if we get away at midday tomorrow we will have the benefit of a strong Spring ebb tide all the way down the Solent and past the Needles.
And … there was time for a quick ‘pre-deployment’ from haircut - thanks Hannah! www.hannahhair.co.uk
