Author: Will

Valent is nearly ready, the weather is promising and we have a final school holiday before the end of the school year and our much awaited departure on our adventures. There was only one thing to do, sail across the channel and visit France again. Covid restrictions are relaxed and we can work with Brexit.

The girls were very tired as half term started, (Lucy had just returned from a week in France on a school trip, which was preceded by a Dads&Daughters camping weekend), so we postponed going to the boat for a day (in favour of sleep), finally getting down on Sunday. A day of sorting, tidying and prepping and we were ready for an early departure on the Monday morning. As dawn broke (04:00) we readied ourselves, and slipped Haslar before 5am. A pleasant motor sail across the channel, only enlivened by Suzy and I hoisting the repaired Main, saw us arrive in Cherbourg late pm on Monday and be allocated a tight berth on the front of J pontoon. Very convenient for the office.

In preparation I had submitted our UK Border Force form (eC1331) and our French Customs Entry form. After checking in at the Marina office, we phoned PAF (the French Border Police) and were asked to present ourselves at their office, about a 20 min walk from the Marina, but very convenient if you happen to be visiting Normandie Wines or the large Carrefour. The PAF were very friendly and took less than a minute to stamp our passports. Then we were legally in France, free to depart the PAF and explore Cherbourg.

A couple of days were spent in the sunny port of Cherbourg, much cheese and wine was bought before we decided it was time to move on. (I am pleased to report that Normandie Wines are still going, just as friendly and obliging as ever). To be honest, we had thought about staying another day, but a rally of 25 boats was due in late pm on the Wednesday and they had booked pontoons J&K, leaving a boat of our size with not many options. So plan A, or was it C, and we decided to pop over to Alderney. First step to clear out of France. This required a visit back to the PAF. I had not realised that I was meant to complete and submit and on-line exit form prior to arriving for the exit stamp, but it was no problem. The very friendly officer, with excellent English, handed me a form to complete, passports were stamped and we returned via the fromagerie (there are now 2 in Cherbourg), to have an early lunch and get ready to leave. A lovely few hours motoring to Alderney, the sun burning down and nearly all the wind being generated by us and the strong tides. Alderney was picturesque perfect. The girls enjoyed helming us over and we successfully picked up one of the large craft visitor buoys.

Alderney gave us a perfect excuse to get the RIB out, pump her up fully and launch. We explored Alderney for a few hours before returning to the harbour for a meal. Unfortunately Rita shut the First & Last a few years ago, and it now appears to be getting converted into a house, so we ended up eating at the Braye Beach Hotel (it was open and they could accommodate us). Dinner was accompanied by a lovely view of Valent.

Next morning it was time to depart and return to the UK in preparation for a weekend of parties and Jubilee celebrations. The wind remained resolutely from Easterly directions and a steady F3/4. So with a full main and the stay sail out, we had a good sail all the way across and headed for The Needles to give us an acceptable wind angle. The girls found it a little bouncy, but we made good time and around 5:30pm we anchored in Alum Bay (the cliffs being famous for their many colours, off The Needles for the evening.

Friday morning, time to weigh anchor and return to Haslar. On the way up the Solent I managed to complete and email by eC1331 arrival form to the UK Border Force, and within half an hour had received clearance back and was instructed to lower Flag Q. We were officially back in the UK. Once tied up, with the boat cleaned and tidied it was back to Woking to baking birthday cakes and Lucy’s Birthday party.

Well the UK got battered by storms towards the end of both Oct and Jan and Valent did not escape. During the Oct storms unfortunately Valent became detached from the pontoon due to the failure of a shoreside cleat and sustained some minor damage to the gelcoat around the bow. This is due to be repaired later this month and will give me an opportunity to take advantage of the lift out.

Towards the end of Jan and early Feb along came Dudley, Eunice and Franklin in very short succession. Apart from a bit of flapping and fender rubs Valent appeared to have weathered the sequence well. But when I went down on Tue 22 Feb and stepped on board I noticed a strange new sight lying across the boom. It was soon apparent that the HF aerial had finally had enough of being treated as a whip by the storms and snapped near the base (where it was supported on the rail). It was being held up by the spreaders, hence why it was not flat on the deck.

Unfortunately the damage is a no fault claim (unable to sue Franklin even though he has a name), and whilst expensive to rectify is not enough to clear the excess on the insurance. The good news is that since I need a new HF aerial I can very much improve the setup and have a replacement utilising the backstay and get rid of the whip aerial entirely.

In other news the new Windlass is now fitted and working (despite my delusions of grandeur and ordering a gypsy 1 size too big). The new Lewmar windlass has a lower profile on the deck and runs significantly more smoothly and quietly. My friendly steel men have started the work to rectify the issue with the anchor pin and bowsprit. 2 independent fixing pins will be in situ shortly, and the anchor will have a smart new hole. The steel pole for the comms equipment is measured and has had an initial fitting. Now back in the workshop to have all the fittings added before being returned.

Now busy working on internal organisation and stowage of kit, spares and food. Also busy updating the fire fighting equipment plan. A wonderful small win is some new light bulbs I have found. At the same time I had been trying to work out which light switched did what and understand the wiring, since the saloon spots have no independent switch. Having searched for some replacement 12V spot bulbs, (and missed the fact that I had some in a box onboard), I came across some on-line that are multi coloured, LED and remote control. Lucy persuaded me that what our boat needed was colour changing lightbulbs. With reluctance I purchased them. And now I am hooked. Each lightbulb can be individually switched on/off (solving the switch problem) and each lightbulb can be set to a single colour – e.g. RED, also solving another challenge of night light down below. They are slightly longer (5mm) but a little bit of work with a screwdriver and the bulbs are in.

Hopefully we will get out on the water soon, but I suppose I should wait for the anchor to come back first.

The last few months have been characterised by unforgivable radio silence. For those of you who very kindly invest time in visiting this blog, I am sorry that the updates have not happened since April. The last post mentioned that Valent had moved round to Hamble Yacht Services (HYS), (now called Ancasta Yacht Services), and gone into the shed. 2 weeks after that, Suzy handed in her notice at work and we were in full departure mode. We had already handed in notice to the school to remove the girls. In early May it became increasingly obvious that our trip was in serious jeopardy due to Covid. The messages coming out of Australia were making it very clear that any hope of visiting in Jul 2022 was extremely optimistic. We had a few chats with the World ARC team, and it became clear that they were thinking of cancelling the 2022 edition of the World ARC. A few phone calls later, Suzy had her job back, the girls were re-enrolled at school and we had postponed our adventure for another 12 months. By the end of Jun 21 the World ARC did indeed cancel the 2022 edition, justifying our early call on postponing. I confess to feeling disappointed and rather withdrew from updating these pages. The other reason was getting some photos from Suzy’s phone – but that has been done, and 2022 is only just round the corner, or put another way, we hope to be departing in 7 months.

Valent was over at HYS to have the deck fittings removed and resealed, the hatch seals redone and to generally stop the leaks coming in through the deck. The other jobs included a new calorifier, (the old one failed on the way back from Spain), fitting the Hydrovane and Hydrogenerator and a few other jobs like a new sprayhood. Additionally, since the mast had to come out we took the opportunity to replace the standing rigging. This work went a little more slowly than expected, but eventually we were ready for relaunch in early July, just in time for the Summer holidays.

Photos: Top – relaunch, Bottom fm. left, the old calorifier, fitted Hydrovane bracket, dropping the mast back in.

Just before we departed on our Summer holiday the relay unit on the anchor failed. Mike of Ocean Electronics was able to work his magic and on it, and after a quick check of systems we were ready to depart in August. The plan was to cruise along the South Coast as far as The Scilly Isles and Falmouth. In the event the weather was not helpful. We delayed our departure by a day due to the horrible weather that greeted the start of the Fastnet. After that we made our way as far as Salcombe, with stops in Lymington, Portland & Dartmouth. Prior to our trip the girls had fun for a week on a dinghy sailing course, and Lucy learnt about the importance of ducking under the boom.

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Our next planned trip was the Oct half term. As the date got closer, my attention to the weather forecast became more focussed, and it soon became clear that a week sailing in the Solent/UK was going to be chilly, damp and at times very miserable. A quick bit of searching on the internet, and we were off to Greece for a week sailing with Sailing Holidays. We ended up on a very nice Beneteau 50 and joined the cruised in the North Ionian, mainly Corfu and the Greek Mainland. Some very pleasant days, a bit of swimming and plenty of chance to enjoy moving from A to B without putting on the foulies and hugging a hot drink.

Yesterday (Tue 13 Apr) was a big day for Valent – she was moved round to Hamble Yacht Services (HYS) and will now undergo the rest of the refit. The mast is coming out today and then she will be moved into a shed. Whilst in the care of the lovely people at HYS, Valent will have lots of deck work done to ensure that she is watertight, a new hot water system and lots of other small internal jobs. In addition the Hydrovane, Watt&Sea HydroGenerator and Watermaker will all be installed. When she comes out of the shed the new standing rigging will go on and all being well, Valent will be ready to go by the end of May and the half term holiday.

In the meantime, we managed to take advantage of the easing of restrictions and booked ourselves onto the 1 day first aid course. The whole family went, and the girls thoroughly enjoyed the day, asking lots of questions and fully immersing themselves in the learning experience. So much so that they turned an 8 hour day into a 9 hour day. Here you can see them practising their CPR and learning how to use a defibrillator. A great day with Steve from Technical Recreational Coaching. He made the girls feel very comfortable with the day and ensured they got a special certificate at the end.

As those who managed to follow us on the various trackers saw, we had a very quick trip back from Camaret. This was in part due to a quirk of the tides that meant that we started with the beginning of the Northerly tide from Brest and managed to hold it for around 10 hours – that meant that we travelled fast enough to keep up with the tide as it moved NE across the channel. This was of course helped by a lovely large engine and a favourable wind, all making for an average speed of around 10kn for the first 7 or so hours. After that the wind became lighter and the weather forecasts proved to be overly pessimistic (thankfully). We then managed to catch the tail end of the favourable tide from the Needles and up the Solent. All of which meant that at around 15:30 on Wed 20 Oct we enter Haslar Marina and brought Valent back to her new home.

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Many thanks to Richard and Sam the PYD skipper and mate who ensured that the trip was safe and enjoyable.

Now we just need to learn how to run and operate the boat on our own as a family. No pressure then!