Ode to my parents

But mainly my mother…

Sally and I have met some great people sailing. Interesting people who we will probably always remember and have something in common with.

Iain and Vicki off of Dolphin (the 28ft 108 year old gaff rigged Scottish built fishing boat) are cruising with 2 small children (age 2 and 3). 
These are the cutest kids and a great reminder of how Nicholas (my brother) and I grew up on the water.

With a broody fiancee and me up for a challenge, we offered to baby sit for Iain and Vicki. Vicki took us up on the offer in order for them to spend a night ashore to celebrate Iain's 40th birthday. 

Sally and I were both looking forward to it as they are a great pair of fun, happy kids who are easy going. 
Admittedly, this was probably not the best day for the job as we were recovering from the effects of too many "happy birthday Sally" drinks the night before. 
Never the less, little Petra and Finn were dropped off at 1pm and we were to deposit them back with their parents 23 hours later in the town of Willemstad (Curacao). 

We had a full day planned, Sally had only recently managed to remove her head from the toilet bowl and I was eating Ibuprofen like skittles. 
So for the first hour or four we sat them in front of the laptop so they could watch Finding Nemo. 

This seemed very familiar, as Nick and I used to love going to Nana's (my grandmother's) to spend an entire day watching movies that she had taped for us. 

This also got us thinking about how many parents plonk their kids in front of the TV or Playstation / XBox etc as a "distraction device" just to give them some peace and quiet. We no longer judge these people!

As soon as moving pictures on the screen stops, these little attention machines go into over drive. And this is BEFORE we had given them any sugar. There was all sorts of games to play. Petra is at that age where she is a walking talking echo of her big brother. Everything he does or touches or says is mimicked. Adorable. 
They are also very sweet with each other. They give each other cuddles and are pretty good with sharing etc. 

But they are kids. And love to play and wrestle and jump on things. Sally and I tagged each other in to watch over them. Making sure they did not fall overboard was our main concern. The odd fall down the companion way stairs resulted in floods of tears until concentration was broken by something of more interesting than the growing bump on the back of the head.

Long story short, we looked after little Finn and Petra for 23 hours. In which time we were on our boat, went fishing, went to the park, raced around in the dinghy, went to town with a massive pushchair and a surly bus driver. Changed 2 nappies (Petra is almost potty trained), and wiped bums post potty experiences (this occurred on the foredeck and was probably an unusual sight for the rest of the anchorage). Sleeping time was punctuated by bursts of restless children who would wake in unfamiliar surrounds and need a cuddle. Petra eventually spent the night in our bunk between us with me trying to stop her from falling out without waking her. We were exhausted! But would we do it all again…hell yeah! We look forward to the next time Dolphin need us to babysit. 

Me, having never done the whole baby sitting thing before, was not only better informed about what it is to be a parent, but that much more appreciative of my own parents.

My brother and I were a nightmare compared to these little angels. We were constantly squabbling (brotherly rivalry commenced from year one), breaking things or just plain testing our mothers patience. Often my father would work away, so mother would be a single mother, managing 2 little brats. God knows how she did it. 
She must have the patience of a saint. She has just had her 60th birthday (she is not precious about her age) and in all these years, i have never understood the work that goes into looking after children. When we were on the boat cruising, she was always doing things like reading to us, playing, etc. Our distraction device back then was a pile of lego. Where she found the energy one can only imagine when there was also baking, washing and all those other things that she did.

Here is to you parents. Especially you mom. I love you. 

Bonaire

Bonaire

Having vague memories of swimming in Bonaire aged 5 and diving to the bottom in 20+ feet of crystal clear water. Eager to test this memory we arrive in Bonaire to attach out selves to a mooring in 30+ feet of water. It was still crystal clear...

We were moored no more than a few hundred metres from the commercial dock with cruise ships, tugs and cargo freighters yet still the water was some of the best we had seen in the Caribbean!

The bottom shelves from 130+ feet to 30feet. Half our yacht was in 130feet and the other in 30. The coral reef below us just incredible. Although i hate paying $10 USD per night for a mooring, i do appreciated that the reef is well protected and in good condition. With the exception of the occasional car tyre that seems to have rolled itself out to sea to become home to the occasional morey eel. 

Sally was off to the UK for a few weeks and the boys (Dave, Matt and Paul) were coming out from as far as South Africa to come and visit 'their mate with a yacht in the Caribbean'. 

Sally and I went snorkelling around the boat and ventured as far as the main dock. on our way there, we saw a 2 metre manta ray cruise past us. One of the larger creatures we had seen up close and personal so far. 

Soon Sally was off to UK and a few days later I was meeting the boys at the airport. For a week we chilled out, drank beers and caught up just like old times. Was good to see that time and distancecdo not change friendships. 

While the guys were out we went on a dive / snorkelling trip to Klein Bonaire. Paul and I diving and Dave and Matt enjoyed a snorkel around the dive boat. They seemed to see more from the surface than we did from 60 feet.

The next day we spent driving around the island seeing the sights. Including old Indian cave paintings, the slave huts and the salt dunes etc. We also went for a dive on the Salt Pier which was good viewing.

Having never done it before, we went deep sea fishing. It was more like reef fishing but dragging a number of lures over it.

We pulled in a good few fish including a nice sized Dorado which we invited to dinner.

For something different, Paul went door to door of some of the local restuarants to ask them if they would cook it for us. The Mona Lisa's head chef / owner was only too happy to do so and so we dined on our fresh caught Dorado. Always tastes better when you caught it yourself!

With the boys gone, i was back to being a single hander (albeit on a mooring not sailing). Soon our friends from Waka Irie arrived and many an evening spent sucking on cold beers and catching up after having not seen them for a month or two.

Waka Irie (Sietse and Jen) were entertaining Sietse mom and sister for 2 weeks. They also introduced me to Dolphin of Leith. A British flagged, Scottish made 28ft 108 year old gaff rigged fishing boat. What makes them even more incredible is that they are taking her to New Zealand. What makes it even BETTER, is that they have two kids on board ages 2 and 3. 

Sally returned and was loaded with goodies for the boat. She barely had space in her suitcase for undies on the return journey. Fortunately she does not need much by way of clothes in the tropics! 

With Sally and our new friends from Dolphin, we went on a tour of the island. I acted as tour guide having seen many of the sights already. 

Making the most of the diving deals on the island which give you unlimited air for a days diving, we took a few bottles (of air) and headed off on Orion to a wreck dive for the day. Great day out and a good dive on a sunk drug running boat the Hilda Hooker. 

After way too long in one place it was time to move on. Was great fun in Bonaire but new adventures called and so we set off West bound to Curacao.

Sprucing up Orion

I'm a typical girly girl when it comes to making my surroundings look homely. Dylan would quite happily live in an Ikea showroom devoid of any personal touches where as I like to make my mark on a place. I felt with Orion like she didn't look like ours yet when I left for the UK. Sure she had our stuff in the lockers and our books on the shelves but there were no personal touches, no photos, no mementos on the wall. Along with flag making, I made it my mission to bring back items to give Orion a makeover turning her from 'our boat' to 'our home'. 

Truprint. Free and easy. I uploaded a load of photos that I liked of mine to their website and they printed them all out and posted them to me for free within a week. All I needed to do was provide them with my email address (yes I get a lot of junk mail off them now) and pay the postage and packaging which was £1.50. Total bargain and I stuck a few photos around the boat of our friends and family back home.

We had a brass clock but no barometer onboard so with some of our engagement present money, I bought a barometer to match the clock on the wall. Now I can fully complete my log book entries!

When underway and cooking, we kept our herbs and spices in a sliding door cupboard above the hob. Not cool when reaching for some spices on a starboard tack and they all leap out at you or land in said dish! I looked around the chandleries for spice racks to mount on the wall but they were either ugly or too expensive. I floated the idea with Dad of him making us one and he jumped at the challenge. The finished result was way beyond my expectations, thanks Father Bear!

To make the outside of Orion more colourful and attract like minded yachties to our boat with a similar background, I purchased from eBay a South African and a Welsh flag. We now fly these below our Rhyl Yacht Club burgee all the time. Bought for only £2 each, I doubt they will last very long.

Dylan now liking the homely touch has already given in since my arrival back aboard and purchased a tin lizard to attach to a blank wall in our head. Only time will tell how many other trinkets I can sneak on board!

Flag Making

Go into a Budget Marine and you will likely have to fork out between $20 and $30 for a small country courtesy flag depending on the location. This left a sour taste in both of our mouths but there was not a lot we could do about it. We wanted to follow boating etiquette by showing courtesy to the countries that we have the pleasure of visiting but there were no other options unless we managed to find a cheaper one in a local souvenir shop. Might I add that most of these flags are only used for a few days / weeks before retired to the bottom of the chart locker. The day rate to use a flag is pretty stiff!

Upon returning to the UK for 3 weeks, I planned to make my own flags for all the countries I knew we would be visiting. I succeeded and saved around $400. It's not just about the money savings though, I plan to make a flag collage when we get back to land of all the countries we have visited on our adventure. How much nicer will it be to display our own hand made weather beaten flags as opposed to fraying chinese reproductions. Here's how I did it. When I say I… I mean Dad the chief supervisor/planner, Mum the stitching and ironing queen, Lucy (sister) the quality assurer, my Mum's friend Chrissie the sewing machine guru and me, the designer and painter.

1. Purchased metres and metres of thick cotton material (best to take the fabric paint) from a local haberdashery - £20 (To convert to USD $ multiply by 1.6 - the going rate at time of purchase)

2. Purchased waterproof fabric paint in different colours - £18

3. Purchased white tape for the ends of the flag where the twine goes - £3

4. Purchased thick thread and bigger needles for the sewing machine - £5

5. Purchased some thin paintbrushes - £2

6. Cut out 12" x 8" cardboard rectangle to act as a template for my flag size

7. Drew around the template with a pencil onto the thick cotton material and cut it out

Cardboard template

8. You are now left with cotton rectangles. These need to be hemmed on 3 sides and the flag tape on the left side. I double hemmed the 3 sides (top, bottom and right) by turning the flag sides in 1/4" and ironing it before turning it in again a further 1/4". 

Folding first hem over 1/4"

Ironing the first 1/4" hem

Folding over a second 1/4" hem

9. Once ironed I was left with the left side untouched and 3 sides double hemmed. I secured the hem with 3 pins on each side to hold in place until I sewed it.

Hem, pinned in place prior to sewing on machine

10. Using the sewing machine I (read Chrissie) ran over the 3 pinned sides to secure the double hem.

11. On the left side of the flag I doubled over the edge, folded the flag tape over it and ran a length of twine down it, pinning in place. This part was fiddly! I (Chrissie) then secured the flag tape in place with the sewing machine. 

12. I (mum) strengthened the ends of the flag tape and twine with multiple stitches so they had some chance of surviving strong winds 30ft up our mast. 

13. Knotted a bowline on each end of the twine and used a lighter to stop the ends from fraying.

14. Now all 4 sides had been stitched and hemmed, it was time to start painting. I used a pencil to sketch the designs and then fabric paints to colour it in. To ensure the paint didn't bleed into whatever was underneath the flag, I pinned the flag to a piece of plastic. That way the paint had nowhere to go and the colour wasn't diluted. I also used templates where possible to keep sizing similar.

Drawing in pencil and then painting

Marshall Islands flag completed

Drawing Ecuador flag emblem

Using waterproof fabric pen to being out design

Finished flag

Dad painting the first flag

A star template

Painting Panama flag on a piece of plastic to prevent paint leeching into newspaper

15. Once a flag had been coloured in I pinned it to a block of wood and holding onto the wood, used a hairdryer to more or less dry it. I left the flag overnight to ensure it was totally dry before doing the next stage.

Samoa flag

Palau flag on a block of wood about to be hair dried

16. Once completely dried, I (Mum) put a clean rag over the flag and ironed it on the highest heat for 2 mins. This stage sets the paint ensuring it is waterproof.

17. Finally, I attached a label to each flag to remind me which country it was, no looking on google in the middle of the Pacific!

A quick note here. I realise that I did this flag making process in the modern comfort of a house with unlimited electricity, copious amounts of space and helpers. However, if I were to make my next batch aboard Orion, the only steps I would have to replace are the sewing machine and iron. I would hand stitch instead and use a big pot of boiling water to place on top of a clean rag rather than an iron. 

You need an awful lot of time and patience to do this but during an ocean passage, what a fun way to keep your mind occupied!

End note: The flags are good on one side and "leeched" through on the other side. You could repeat the process on the second side, but at 30ft above ones head and flapping in the wind, no one should be able to tell…

Bequia to Bonaire

I finished this trip with a fiancé!

Leaving Bequia early in the morning we were excited to be commencing our longest sail yet. Wanting to avoid the piracy areas off the coast of Venezuela, I had plotted a route that took us from Bequia, keeping along the 13^th parallel 100 miles off the coast of Venezuela and then dropping back down again after we had cleared Blanquilla to Los Roques – our first landfall. We estimated this would take us 3 /4 days depending on our average speed as we had yet to do a passage totally down wind…we were also yet to find a spinnaker pole to pole out the gib.

A most uneventful 3 days of sailing, we caught no fish and we saw no boats. We had taken some precautions should we come across a stray pirate but there was nothing to be seen.

On our fourth morning at sea as the sun was creeping above the horizon, Dylan was on watch with the gib decreased to a handkerchief, trying to slow us down so we could enter the reefs surrounding the Los Roques islands in good light. So excited to get to Los Roques, Dylan helmed for most of the morning, day dreaming of all the fish he was going to find and spear whilst I snoozed down below. As we approached the land mass, there were no other masts in sight so we were spoilt for choice on where to anchor. Navigating through the archipelago, a pod of 15 dolphins came to say hi, nattering away to me as they surfed the bow waves. I must admit I was teary eyed, such a treat to see so many so close to our boat.

Bequeve

We chose to anchor in 9ft water near Bequeve. I was on the bow flapping my arms around as I guided Dylan in and out of the corals below. Huge pelicans eyeballed us as we approached their territory and dared to interrupt their morning dip. As with all remote places in the Caribbean, the water was beautiful and the island we had anchored off presented us with a gorgeous white sandy beach to explore. Unfortunately the lack of fish during this trip continued, as we swam ashore there were none to be seen. We had read an article recently on how this group of islands have been fished out and we tend to agree! Swimming ashore to explore, we had seen what looked like a mast about half a mile along the beach on the windward side so we started off towards that. At times the beach disappeared and gave way to rocks that we walked across, turned out the mast was a big stick! Luckily we brought shoes with us as the island was home to prickly burs. We walked to the windward side where it was a beach combers delight. I spent ages picking through the debris whilst Dylan route marched ahead. Nothing much of interest, just a ton of plastic washed up. Some decent shells on the shore but with the sun so hot, we cut it short and swam back to the boat.

Whilst anchored in this spot we were very aware that we hadn’t cleared into the mainland so were chancing it with the Venezuelan coastguard. Through extensive research and speaking to other yachties that had done the trip, we decided not to venture anywhere nearer the coastguard station on Grand Roques, sticking to the West Cay group of islands shown in the Doyle Guide. During the afternoon of the first day and towards sunset, rather a lot of fishing boats zoomed past, most unfriendly and made us feel uncomfortable. Without the necessary paperwork, all alone with no buddy boat and no fish to snorkel with; despite ashore being lovely, we decided to commence the 30 mile sail West to Las Aves the next day.

Looking out to the reef on Isla Sur

Running all the way with little wind and a sizeable swell, we rolled our way towards the next island group. Dylan poled out the gib on the boom to stop it flogging so much every time we did a violent roll. We got to Isla Sur (part of Ave de Barlovento) after midday and navigated easily between the reefs to a bay with 3 other boats. Quite a surprise as we weren't expecting company. Anchored opposite mangroves with hundreds of boobies and frigates squawking in the sky we marvelled at the sea even clearer than the previous island. Isla Sur is covered in mangroves and not that appealing to go ashore competing with the thousands of birds and mosquitoes so we stuck to the water. The snorkelling on nearby reefs was great for looking at coral but the fish weren’t of an acceptable size for Dylan to spear. With no hurricane damage on this island the coral was thriving, if only I could have captured the colour and sizes we saw, quite amazing. Brain corals 8ft tall and little octopus waving their tentacles at us, daring us to come nearer to their hidey holes.

With still no fish to dine on I made Dylan an unforgettable meal – rice, beans and spam. We bought this tinned meat /dog food (!) back in Puerto Rico and I had threatened to use it multiple times when we ran out of fish and meat. Now was the perfect time to bring it out of the cupboard and hide it amongst a heavily seasoned pile of rice. God it was awful!

Waking on the second day at Isla Sur we found that we were alone in paradise. The squawking of the birds awoke us from our slumber and just as we were thinking life really couldn’t get any better…the head blocked! We had sailed for 10 months without this inevitable chore happening to us so it was only a matter of time. All I’m going to say on this topic is, thank goodness I bought a 100 pack of silicone gloves just before we left Grenada!

Barry the Giant Barracuda

Not wanting to push our luck with the Venezuelan coastguard we were hiding from, we continued to Ave de Sotovento. Although only a 15 mile trip, it took most of the day as we only had 4 kts of wind and a big swell on the beam. However, we caught our first fish of the passage, a giant barracuda we called Barry. Our biggest catch to date and Dylan enjoyed a good fight with Baz whilst I depowered the boat.

We arrived at the islands a little before 4 and decided to anchor off Curricai /Long Island. I think I have probably said in a few posts now ‘the best beach so far’ but everything is relative right? Well this place is now the best beach /island /waters /snorkelling /place I have ever been to! Dylan agrees. I shall let the picture I took from our bow do the rest of the talking:



Curricai

Despite the vile sailing that day, we raced to don our swimming things and jumped into the water with our masks and dry bag. The visibility here was just unbelievable, at 300ft approaching the anchorage the water was bright blue, at 40ft you could see the bottom and at 10ft where we were anchored you could make out the marks of a crab trail on the sandy ocean floor.

Adding to my shell collection

Circumnavigating the small island we did another beach combing mission. Dylan found a plastic sheep which must be a sign as I headed back to Wales the next week. On the north side of the island we had our first conversation in Spanish with some fishermen that had come ashore to sleep in their shack and tents. It went like this -

o        Sally: Hola!

o        Fisherman: Hola, [+ something I'm yet to learn on my rosetta stone]

o        Sally: [slightly perplexed] sorry, what was that?

o        Fisherman: [thinking how he can simplify for me] Good?

o        Sally: Aaaah bueno bueno!

And may that be the first of many ‘spanglish’ conversations! As we rounded the tip of the island to head back to our dry bag we left, we spot the coastguard approaching the island. O no! Typical, the hour we arrive we bump into the coastguard yet blog posts we have read say they don’t visit this island for weeks at a time. Keen to start off on the right foot (bearing in mind we have none of the right paperwork having not cleared into Venezuelan mainland) Dylan went to speak to them to ask if they wanted some of Barry the cuda. Sure they say, we shall stop by your boat anyway as we need to check your paperwork…doh!

Curricai

Swimming back to the boat we admit defeat and are expecting a fine or being shooed away that minute to Bonaire. Having a rule about entering a strange port at night we really didn't want to do that. About an hour later the coastguard show up. 4 young guys, 2 stay in their boat and 2 others come aboard. Dylan, getting his priorities straight asks them if they want agua, cevesa or 'juice'. Beers handed to them all the main guy then asks if we can conduct the conversation in English as he is trying to improve. No! The one chance we get to try out our (weak) Spanish skills we are asked to speak in our own tongue. Wanting to keep on the right side of these guys, we keep our poor Spanish annunciation to ourselves. Cutting to the chase, Dylan asks for 2 nights stay and we brace ourselves for the consequences...none come. The guy says 'sure' and the fills out the paperwork. Digging out the EPIRB, fire extinguishers, flares, first aid kit, lifejackets etc so that they can note how many we have (if any) of each. There is only one guy who can speak English – Charlie. Poor Charlie has been on the island without any communication to the outside world for 50 days now, with 15 days left. The coastguard are dropped on the island for 2 months at the time before they rotate. Paperwork completed, we give them the majority of Barry and they wave us off, whilst the other guys wave us farewell whilst saying 'hello'. O that did make me giggle. No money exchanged, no fuss and Charlie ensuring we call him on VHF16 if we need any help! By far the nicest officials we have come across so far and certainly not what we were expecting. We were then able to relax for 2 days before we headed off to Bonaire.

Friday 5^th October, a day that I shall always remember. We had a lazy morning and then took the dinghy all the way to an outside reef near a wrecked container ship, about 3 miles away and a very bumpy journey. We snorkelled on a few spots and the sealife was INCREDIBLE. We saw 3 huge parrotfish about 3 ft long and almost as wide. They looked like something from the prehistoric era! Also loads of big squid and a few eagle rays. Listen to me now so nonchalant about seeing an eagle ray! In reality I still get very excited and flap my arms and legs about trying to get Dylan’s attention so he too can witness the sight in front of me.

Just before he proposed

Making our way back to the boat via other coral spots to snorkel in we ate the bread rolls I had baked with an entree of lobbie that Dylan had caught on the reef. Fed and watered we lazed around for a few hours then packed a bag and went ashore for sunset drinks. As we watched the sunset, Dylan proposed J I shan’t go into the details as I think Dylan did an excellent job in the previous blog post, suffice to say it was an absolutely perfect setting and I honestly didn’t see it coming – don’t roll you eyes, I truly didn’t! Dylan had managed to hide the ring from my hawk eyes for over a year, I was most impressed.

Back to reality once he had proposed and we both had a good blub, Dylan happened to glance to the left and saw our dinghy about to float away as the tide was coming in. Breaking the spell Dylan sets off at a run to rescue it then we pile in and head back to Orion as we had planned to leave at midnight for Bonaire. De-rigging the dinghy we were treated to a fantastic light show of phosphorescence around us. I reckon it was Mother Nature’s way of saying congratulations.

Las Aves to Bonaire took us 11 hours. As I was dozing (was impossible to sleep given the news!) Dylan called me to the bow and I was greeted by 5 dolphins playing in the spray. Then as we neared the South of Bonaire, 3 bright pink flamingos flew past. With the turquoise waters and bright white salt dunes, the intense colours combined with the bright pink birds made me feel like I had just stepped into a Disney movie! That or my already overwhelmed senses from the previous evening were working overtime.

South Bonaire shoreline with the salt dunes

Its here where my fiancé (swoon) and I part for 3 weeks. I’m off to the UK to see family and friends whilst working through a looong to do list whilst Dylan welcomes 3 of his South African friends aboard Orion.

A pressing engagement

It is rare to find a woman who is willing to pause a successful career for an indefinite amount of time to sail off into the sunset.
On paper it all sounds very romantic. It is probably the dream of many. Reality is something rather different. Sharing the same 20 cubic metres of space with someone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week you get to know them intimately. "Privacy" is something one has to look up in a dictionary. Clothes are washed in a bucket and always seem stiff with salt. Dishes are washed in salt water and always taste of salt. Bodies are washed in salt water and always...taste like salt. Little petty things like squeezing the toothpaste from the bottom, become really big issues for no apparent reason.

Your partner with whom you have to interact with on a daily basis has to pick up a bevy of roles that they may not be overly familiar with. First mate, watch keeper, cook, cleaner, assistant mechanic, chief navigator, doctor, nurse, psychiatrist, seamstress, girlfriend and best friend.

Few women our age wanted to give up hot showers, make up, nice clothes, manicures, pedicures and a steady income to become a sea gypsy. Great as a 1 week charter. 2 at the most.

Sally and I have been on Orion for just on 10 months. We have been to over 18 countries met wonderful people along the way and experienced all of this together as as a team. Very few things have we done apart. We succeed or fail together. And one of our silly little sayings is "Always togethers".

Her ability to keep smiling in the face of trying conditions is testimony to our approach of - the difference between adversity and adventure is attitude.

We were anchored off a tiny deserted island in the Las Aves. The water a shimmering turquoise, the beach sand a brilliant white. The sky had never seemed quite so blue. A few stumpy palm trees provided a splash of green in an otherwise blue pallet.

We sat on the beach watching the sun perform its usual afternoon ritual. A glass of nicely chilled fruity wine adding taste to the already overwhelmed set of senses.
I casually picked up a clam shell from the beach. 
"Every one of these shells has a perfect match to it. Each has a identical side that completes it no matter how imperfect the shell may be. It is very difficult to walk along this beach and find a shell that could match this shell and complete it. When you do it is quite rare."
I was reaching into my pocket for a shell I had found previously. This was a pretty little clam shell with both halves carefully glued closed so that it looked like a clam straight from the sea.

"Open it."
With a hint of suspicion Sally carefully opened the shell to find her engagement ring winking back at her in the waning light. 

"Sally Newton, will you marry me?" 

Overcome with confusion, emotion, surprise and a number of other girly things, the eyes welled up and a overwhelming "Yes" tumbled from her mouth. 

I slipped the ring onto her finger and so began a new chapter in our lives. 2012 has been an amazing year full of firsts. This for me has to have been the most important. Sally Newton had decided to be my wife.

When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

For me this had been a very long build up. The ring had been sourced in the UK over a year ago, before we left. 
In the old school manner of these things, prior to us leaving the UK, Mr Newton was asked if he would like me as a son in law. With his blessing began the lengthy wait to find just the right moment to pop the question.
I practiced the speech in my head over and over and over. It still did not come out 100% right in the moment. Life is not like the movies, but the she got the picture.

I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance,
A church filled with family and friends.
I asked him what kind of a wedding he wished for,
He said one that would make me his wife. 

- Unknown  Author

Preparing Orion for a long passage

We often get met with raised eyebrows when we tell our friends and family back home how long it takes to do chores on Orion. No we have not turned into sloths, things just take so much longer on a boat! A big food shop for example can take up to a full day depending on how far away the store is compared to an hour or so on land. Before we commenced our sail from Bequia to Bonaire via the offshore Venezuelan islands, we ensured we were at anchor for 24 hours to complete our usual chore list. Being able to check off every item gives us confidence that the passage will be that much more comfortable with the only variables being provided by Mother Nature. Which are enough to handle in itself!

Below I have typed out the list we use split by Dylan and Sally tasks:

Dylan:
- Fill water tanks and jerry cans
- Fill diesel and gas jerry cans
- Put jack lines on
- Perform any sail repairs to mainsail, checking for any chafe 
- Tape up the dorade vent on bow (prevent water getting into chain locker)
- Engine checks
- Set up the wind vane

Sally:
- Make snacks to eat underway and first night's meal (usually done in pressure cooker)
- Stow away anything that may fall when heeled over
- Get any last minute provisions for trip
- Hide valuables
- Make up a ditch bag
- Close all seacocks
- Get out the relevant charts and key in waypoints into GPS

Both:
- Ensure correct sails are up (for this passage we changed to our big no 1 genoa for downwind sailing)
- Clear out
- Create passage plan
- Download an up to date grib file
- Clean hull
- Tell our Mums where we are going and when!