Leaving the mooring was not easy as it was tight between pontoons, so we warped the boat off on an opposite pontoon and with Pam manning the boat hook, I leaped aboard and opened up.
A strong onshore wind is not good when first trying your new boat, and we quickly learnt that she handles like a sick pig at low revs. After several attempts to come alongside the outer pontoons, we gave up, put her head into the wind and set off, no going back now !
The journey down river was fun, with both of us taking turns on the helm. During Pam's spell as Coxswain, a fairly fast rib came out between some moored boats, and she informed me that a CAR was coming, Awww bless !!!
During the trip, with a Brittany ferry approaching, Pam asked me what we should do if we had an emergency, I replied that we only need to drop anchor and call the Coastguard, only for Pam to remind me that I had stowed the anchor and chains in the saloon ready for the road journey, and that we had no VHF connected, WHOOPS !
Never mind, all went well until we arrived at Gosport boatyard, trying to manouvre between expensive boats, and finally heading for the berth pointed out to us by the boatyard guy. Luckily he fended us off and all was well. We had successfully completed our first voyage.
The sad part for me was going past all the RN ships, moored up waiting for sale or scrapping, including HMS Ark Royal. Ask yourselves - could GB ever provide a task force in the future, should it be needed ??
Video of the run to Gosport follows.
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