Winter 2012

After the wedding life got into some sort of routine, P working back at QA hospital on the bank in orthopaedics and G doing odd jobs and looking for work. He had inherited a motor bike, a Moto Guzzi 1000s ( a bike he'd always fancied and never been able to afford) from a friend who had died following a road accident. If you couldn't find Gordon he was in the garage "tinkering" getting the bike road worthy and MOT'd for its 19th birthday. Geoff Hebditch would have been pleased to see it back on the road again.

The inherited Moto Guzzi

An add in the local paper saw G making a phone call and then working for Southern Self Drive, a car/van hire firm. It was minimal wage and day by day notice but fairly regular work.

We tried to catch up with as many people as possible which wasn't always easy with peoples commitments and working ourselves. We managed a few days with cruising friends in Worthing with Crazydream, Flirtie, Matapan and Vonasi crews gathering.Great to see everyone but strange without Geoff  from Matapan who passed away in summer 2011. He was there is spirit!

Gathering in Worthing

Curries or outings to Whetherspoon's (its the only place we can afford to eat and drink!) with different friends through the winter were regular events and 6 months seemed to pass quite quickly. The last few weeks seeming to be quite a rush with G doing decorating, bathroom refurbishments as well as driving and doing roofing repairs. Things still needed to be bought to take back to the boat, keeping within our 20kg each luggage allowance - amazing what you can get in hand luggage!

After last goodbyes we were finally heading back to Crazydream over Easter weekend via Rhodes for a short holiday. We decided to fly in there as we were not likely to take the boat there. Although it has a nice new marina, its not open yet and the town harbour has minimal space. So in true cruising style we flew in and hired a car! In 3 days we visited the old walled town, ancient sites and toured the island. Our stay turned out to be longer than anticipated due to bad weather.

Rhodes Harbour entrance

Strong southerly winds, 50knots plus prevented the fast catamaran running and delayed the ordinary ferry as it couldn't get into the harbour (waves crashing over the breakwater and swell coming up the ferry slip way). We opted for another night in the hotel and thus 2 extra days in Rhodes with many others in the same predicament. At least the sun was shining. We finally got toCrazydream at 4am in the morning.

There was a few things to sort, leaking window, leak through the deck at the bottom of the mast and the exploded battery! The battery could have been a lot worse but thankfully the battery box contained the spilt acid and not further damage was apparent, just the replacement battery to purchase. All this before the normal relaunching jobs took place. A week later found us afloat in Leros Marina. Since we've been in the water its been windy from the north making it quite chilly even with the sun shining. We actually got the winter tent out and on so that we could sit up top and watch the world go by and keep us warmer - definitely not BBQ weather yet! It says its going to improve and it needs to before we go sailing - even the quilt is on the bed, a first for a few years!

Crazydream being launched

When the weather gets better we'll be heading out for some cruising.