I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by

One of Mike's most frequent sayings as people kept messaging us in April to ask if we had left yet!

Mike had many ambitious plans for his boat:

A new hydronic heating system, plumbing in a waste tank, new keel studs and nuts, electric windlass, twin coil calorifier, new coach roof windows, new hatches, repairs to the GRP and floor, variable pitch propeller, new prop shaft, replacing all sea cocks with composite, new standing rigging, new running rigging, new toilet and plumbing, dyneema guard rails, custom made mattress, replace teak deck with 'Sea Dek', remove and replace all transfers and name, replace toe rails and rubbing streaks, new sails, put in mid-ship cleats, re-wire and up date all the electronics with lots of fancy stuff .....and the list goes on!

Are we bored yet? I'll let him go through the details on his page of the blog.

And so from January the boat became pretty much a full-time job, firstly for Mike and from mid-March also for myself.

We were somewhat hampered by the most atrocious wet weather this winter and spring , and the constant grey and cold made it quite hard work.

Also Mike's ability of putting something down and then not remembering where he had put it and spending several minutes trying to find it, or having to go to the chandlery and buy a replacement!

We were hoping to leave by mid to late April, but our only constraint really was the week we had booked in Paris Arsenal marina, and they have been very accommodating with my four requests for date changes. However, after the 30th May, the Olympic regulations will mean that we will not be able to stay, and we really wanted this to be a goal for our trip.

The weather was foul, the statistics reporting a warmer than average temperature, I guess they don't take into account wind chill!

Eventually there was a break in the weather for the week beginning 6th may, not everything was finished, but we had taken a trial sail and the boat is sailable and liveable so we decided to go for it and set sail on Wednesday 8th May!

Well actually. Mike his brother Paul and my brother David !

Sprocket and I travelled on the ferry as we decided a channel crossing wasn't really fair on Sprocket, and I wasn't really complaining about that either !

The boys had an uneventful sail, with light winds, having to use the iron sail too, and made it to Honfleur in twenty hours.

I had a full van search at Portsmouth, the manager was called down to look at my life jacket as it had a gas canister (don't they all?) and I was put in a little lane of my own!

Left the ferry with a large nail in drivers side wheel, and managed to persuade the security lady to let me stop before passport check as I didn't think it wise to drive any further on a totally flat tyre, she agreed thankfully!

Actually I knew it was a bank holiday that day , the third of the week (it is France) and once through those gates there was no way I'd find a garage open or anyone to come out. So great excitement for the port police and security as they set about replacing my van tyre, and it was all done in half an hour (great service and free) and we continued our journey to meet Ramukanji in Honfleur.

The weather was amazing, thank goodness we'd planned to leave a bit later than originally intended 😉