Back on the water, what a mission.

It has been a very productive 48hrs!

I took the train up to the West Midlands a couple of days ago in order help get the boat back down to Topsham.  My father decided to hire a 4 x 4, I was expecting a Land Rover but we got a Mitsubishi L200 'Barbarian' instead.

It is massive! 

The car even has a rear facing camera so you can watch the boat while towing.

But as amazing as the Mitsubishi is, it is not an ideal car for Topsham. Small roads, tight parking and funny looks made me remember why I bought a Mini for life in Topsham.

The centre board (now fully refurbished) was easily hauled in the pick up section.

The drive down was a long slog taking four and a half hours at 60mph with some traffic delays and a couple of stops. When we eventually landed in Topsham we did a quick tidy up on the antifoul and then went for a well deserved curry. 

A relatively early start today allowed us to get the boat ready to go in at around 1400 (high water). We were very lucky as there were a couple of other Devon Yawls preparing to launch (must be the sunshine that brought us all out). Thanks to some helpful advice from the experienced local Yawl sailors and a kind offer of help to launch, the boat was floating with two masts up, a centre board in place and ready to go by 1430.

In addition to all of the above we managed to add a new furling system to the genoa, which worked really well. I will post some photos as soon as I can.

We look forward to getting some decent sailing this season, lets hope the weather holds up!

Happy sailing,

Rich