Roobarb's Reach

First load is now aboard. However its 34°C in the shade. My estimate is that it will take another week to complete our unloading itself as we have to split out our winter from summer kit. Then another two good weeks to fettle her, complete our life admin and domestic equipping. Looks like a sail this weekend is unlikely. Lots to do. We aren't in commission yet as I haven't done the renaming ceremony plus I won't be 'hoisting' my flag until we have finished getting ready. Still a stack of electrical works to complete as well.  Howevs. Got the important stuff aboard.... Captain's log, star-date 20260727, in orbit around Rigel 7 More detailed update to come, as we have been negotiation Spanish bureaucracy and trying to work on the boat before the temperature in the Marina exceeded 40 Degrees and Mrs D had a serious  sense-of-humour failure.   Where the hell is this lot gonna go?

Well, we have been driving pretty much since 08:30 Friday morning. Its now 18:26 local  time (Z+1), here in Ciudad Quesada - which observant students of Operation NEPTUNE will deduce, means we have arrived. 1425 miles in CoE, 2285 in Napoleon. 4 tanks of fuel. Boat keys, certificates of entry, Audi dealership visits, supermarkets, first kit load on the boat and then a trip to Leroy Merlin followed by a meal out barbecue and loading for sea-trials - these are all to come over the rest of the week. In the meantime - we have to find homes afloat and ashore for a car full. Fiddler's green, however, is upon us. Das Boot

Car all packed...lets hope we don't have to unpack it all for our French Douaniers. Made it across the frontier. 1600 miles to go.

Part of the reason I'm posting these to to motivate myself.  However another teaser. We will be doing a couple of days shakedown the first weekend. But when we have done a good 2 weeks life admin in Spain, this is our first destination.  Good holding in Sand, avoid the Posodinia sea grass.

Teaser post. Start line for OLYMPIC is 3rd August. We need to establish our beach head, consolidate our affairs, then breakout.

 

 

  Oh - and just for our friend Judy: Thats half of it. Previous load sent on ahead.  Can't go sailing without tea. Would be irreligious.

 

 Oh - please do  use the comments to open discussions. Its a great way to expand on topics, leading to edits and other posts. And a good way for us all to keep in touch and share our experiences. Part of why we got this boat is to share it with our friends and both my love of Sailing, Mrs' love of travel and the general joy of being Sea Gypsies.  So comment away. I will have to edit the swearier ones.

 

All dog owners have more than one 'name' for their dog. The dog always answers to the name-of-the-moment, partly because it is your voice and tone and partly because, to your dog, you are heaven and earth and all things in it - and your voice is the voice of their world. Those of us who have chosen to be child free tend to have their world revolve around their dog too. Layer on top of that - we had a Boxer - a breed which inspires fanaticism from their owner - although most owners of Boxers will attest to the fact that the dog owned them. Our girl was Rooby. Full Sunday name - of course - Roobarb. (As in the '70s classic cartoon) Like her namesake she would chase birds and scatter interlopers into 'her space'.   Rooby, guarding 'her' narrowboat from swans. From being a puppy to the final year of her life when she was frail, and too arthritic to cope with the stairs, Roob's personal holiday home was our Narrowboat. It was hers and our happy place, ei...

Phew. Wot a scorcher!

Those of you who know me from work will know that I always  practice a time critical 'go-live. This time - it's 'Loading the Car' with our worldly possessions, and then 'Unloading' it. In the spirit of making this as realistic as possible, its 32C 37C here in York, and it will be about the same in the Marina in Torre.  Talk about simulating the conditions  on a go-live! Runbook-fans, don't worry - I had to do a packing list for the items we are shipping. Feel free to suggest runbook-colour schemes in the comments. 45 minutes to load, space to spare. 35 minutes to unload. Note the reverse sequence for swift reload. Now, Getting this lot across the Passerelle to the boat, or up the stairs in Spain?   Different matter. A personal recommendation is Lakeland heavy duty vacuum pack bags. A godsend. 

Giving things a 'name' helps you anchor them mentally. You can refer to it 'it' and then help shape the concept. So let's start with the whole of 'Part 1'  IE: - getting going. From confirming the intention that we were actually going to buy a boat and live on it on the Med' and exist as part sea-gypsy and part resident in another country while so doing, needed planning, managing and executing. The key part is 'executing'. The difference between a dream and reality is execution. (see 'Notes on Reactions' - another post) My pre-retirement life was just that - executing complex projects / programmes - with the multiple threads therein. (Projects and Programmes are another post entirely). I have been looking to spend the first part of my retirement sailing, for a good 20 years. the whole 'run-up' - again - is another post - so watch this space. But, but , from Retiring at 57 - to owning a boat, packing up our home in York, sorting ou...

 Welcome. So the blog is going to be in two parts.  Part 1: Getting there.  Going from Retiring and recovering from having three tendons re-attached in my shoulder - through the exercise of getting Non-Lucrative Visas and purchasing the boat - and getting it ready for a life afloat.  This involves navigating Spanish bureaucracy, finding a boat, packing a life up and the preparations for a peripatetic life on a boat. Plus observations and everything in between with the ups and downs. Some nautical bollocks*, a fair amount of grumbling and a rollercoaster of hopes and desperation. Part 2: Out there. The boat will have a formal log (of course) and this records proper observations, such as wind, location, tack, speed, air pressure, course, and comments about the matter of fact state of affairs.  The Blog is supposed to be a commentary on this, when we remember or have something funny to say. I will be posting pictures and my salty wit where possible. Mrs D will also...

 Setting up at the moment - more to come.