In the grand scheme of things I was a month behind schedule and the boat was still in the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club Basin. There was a lot of work to do. Outstanding on the list was: install a new VHF radio, new depth sounder, paint on a coat of anti fouling, and generally sort out all the crap that had accumulated on the boat. Some how my sister Bliss and I managed to do it. We arrived back in Walton on the 1st of July, late on a Thursday night still a bit weak from our Glastonbury exploits. Friday we needed to get the boat onto the quay but the engine didn't work. Another job to add to the list and we were trying to get out of the pond on Monday. The thing to stress about the Walton and Frinton Yacht Club Basin is everything revolves around the tide. I had 5 days of spring tied marked down in my Diary. Those were the only days we could move the boat onto the quay to dry it out at low tide and work under her hull. We also had a narrow window of opportunity for getting off the quay and out the channel.
My sister Bliss and I managed somehow to get a VHF in plus a depth sounder plus a coat of varnish on the cockpit plus stow and organise all the stuff on board before 2:00 pm on Monday the 5th of July. More to the point if it was not for the help of Coast Guard Dave and his brother Richard we would not have done it. On Saturday night Dave and I worked on the Depth Sounder while Bliss and Richard painted the hull. That one night with four helping hands really made a difference. On Monday all that was needed to sort out was a boat that looked like a bomb had gone off in her and of course that all important diesel engine.
Somehow the events that unfolded in the early afternoon of the 5th of July will be forever etched in my memory. From the outside it just looked like a guy and two girls got on a boat and motored off a boat yard quay, but for me it was the launch of an expedition. The diesel engine came round at the last moment with a small adjustment to the fuel line and our 3rd crew member, Sophie joined us just in time to catch the last of the high tide.
Once out of the pond we had a stonking good sail. Dave joined us on his boat Meteor with two crew. The attached photo is of Meteor and Compromise reaching off the Walton Channel. It was a thrilling sail with 17 knots of wind off our beam. After our little sail we anchored off Stony Point celebrated with a glass of champagne and enjoyed a spectacular sunset .