16th August 2011 - Back in Plymouth!

Post by **Jeff** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:00 pm

We've made it. Our circumnavigation is complete.

We set out from Falmouth at first light on the 12th of August and dropped anchor in Cawsand about 11 hours later after a lovely sail, including a rounding of the Eddystone lighthouse for good measure.

Next morning we let Lunar have a run at Cawsand in Mount Edgecombe Park and promptly lost her for 4 hours, only to be re-united when she was delivered back to us by the Edgecombe estate 4x4 - they'd had her handed in, and kept her in a stable until we happened to call them.

Somewhat tired, we sailed across to Sutton Harbour and officially finished our circumnavigation.

Some stats...

Since Whitby:

Motored: 113 hours
Sailed: 129 hours
Anchored: 24 nights
Marina: 34 nights
At Sea: 5 nights
Other: 60 nights
Total nights: 123
Berthing Fees: £1252 (= £10.17 / night. Not bad)
Fuel: 264 litres (but we still have 40 litres spare and a full tank (60 litres))
Logged: 987 nautical miles.
Barbecues: 34
Fish Caught: 21

Since the beginning, not including the nights on land in Whitby:

Motored: 192.5 hours
Sailed: 224 hours
Anchored: 63 nights
Marina: 86 nights
At Sea: 7 nights
Other: 106 nights
Total nights: 262 nights
Berthing: £2828 (= £10.79 / night)
Logged: 1,750 nautical miles
BBQs: 58
Fish Caught: 26

Total hours travelled: 416.5
Overall average speed: 4.2 knots

Money raised for the RNLI:

just shy of £800 including gift aid!!! See details and how to donate more here... http://www.justgiving.com/jeffandrose

Acknowledgements - we couldn't have done it so smoothly without...

Terry and Val, who gave us the idea in the first place.

Everyone who's donated. Thank you! You know who you are

Edd Jones of Barbican Yacht Agency for letting us use their spare berth in Sutton Harbour for a couple of days! THANK YOU!!!

Everyone who's posted messages as we've been going around - appreciate the support ppl!!

The RNLI - without whom I'd have been somewhat more scared.

The Coastguard(s) who are excellent.

Mums & Dads (Mine and Rose's).

And everyone else who's grabbed our ropes and pulled in the right direction.

THANK YOU!!!!

Terry T · Post by **Terry T** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 7:28 pm

Let us be the first to congratulate you both !! our heros -----Jeff and Rose !!!

Well you have beaten us to it. As you know we have started but not got too far

Regards

Terry and Val

Discus · Post by **Discus** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:30 pm

Well done!!!

Glad to be back?????

May see you on the water around the SW at some point. Huge achievement - you have done more in a year than many will do in a lifetime. Further afield next time????????

Rob

Post by **Jeff** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:19 am

Thank you

Because of working on the net though, it made it relatively straightforward. This has only been possible for a couple of years now, with the advent of mobile broadband, so I guess more and more people will do similar things as the connectivity continues to improve.

Tis good to be back in the SW. It's lovely down here!!

Next job is to find a bigger boat and sell this one. Then see how it goes. Then, dunno. Floating parenthood may be challenge enough!

Terry T · Post by **Terry T** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 8:34 am

Floating parenthood may be challenge enough!

I think the biggest challenge you may find is ventilation, condensation and damp. Very important with babies.

[/quote]

Post by **Jeff** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 12:24 pm

You may be right! But I am an expert!!

Terry T · Post by **Terry T** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:42 am

You will be fine .

Crap weather again . You still in Cawsand??

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:25 pm

Bobbed into Sutton Harbour again for a couple of days while we drive about looking at boats...

Discus · Post by **Discus** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 10:32 am

Any joy finding a new boat???
Rob

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 11:16 am

Found a nice one, but it's a homebuild and needs to go through RCD before it can be sold. Which I think is going to kill the deal. Which is a pain because we travelled all weekend to look at it

The hunt continues...

Discus · Post by **Discus** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:01 pm

Ah yes, the RCD, invented by the French to keep the monopoly on European boatbuilding!!!! Not easy to get RCD compliance and is prohibitively expensive - which was the point I think. Looked into buying a US boat once - no chance of getting RCD compliance as none had ever been sold into Europe. Changing boats is always a bit of a nightmare. You think it should be quite exciting but can be a whole load of hassle. Should be more boats coming to market in the next few months as the season winds down. Mind you a lot of good boats went to Europe when the pound hit an all time low with the Euro. Sure something will turn up. Happy hunting!

Rob

methodman · Post by **methodman** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:51 pm

well done jeff and Rosie and womb person, i have moved house so have been without net for ages, just caught up on the blog tonight.
hope all goes well, and the next time we have a pie together, i expect to be heating baby food up in the microwave.

seriously thanks for letting us land lubbers experience the dream.

Post by **Jeff** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 8:14 am

Thanks Aggie

(womb person

)

Discus · Post by **Discus** » Thu Oct 06, 2011 11:39 am

Hi Jeff

Bit of a query but have you ever drained the freshwater side of your Beta engine? If so, where do you drain it from? Ours needs doing as I don't think the mixture has been changed from new and it looks a bit grotty in the heat exchanger. Also, how often do your heat exchanger anodes deplete? Ours seem to have depleted more quickly this season than before. Hoped you might have drained your freshwater coolant at some time - and I can't find any info in the Beta handbook. Hope all is well and you managed to enjoy last weeks weather - we did!!!

Rob

Post by **Jeff** » Fri Oct 07, 2011 8:03 am

Hi Rob!

I did change it yes. I seem to recall there is a drain plug on the starboard side of the engine specifically for this purpose, but that I didn't use it. I think I disconnected one of the hoses leading to the calorifier and let it out, then filled from the top until the new stuff was clearly coming out of the hose (old stuff came out at first). I then had to fiddle about to get all the air out of the system, but it wasn't very difficult. I put in 50:50 water/Halfords high performance corrosion inhibiting anti-freeze. And it did not freeze up despite multiple days in a row at -10C or lower maximum.

Anode. I check it every month but have found I needed to change it approx every three months. Since we've been mostly at anchor back in the SW, it has needed doing somewhat less.

Last week's weather feels like a distant memory now!!

Jeff