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One small step........

Posted: 31 May 2020, 17:39
by PaulJ
Our Sailing Club has been closed for the lockdown and has tried to maintain a "presence" by continuing to send out the Newsletter. Of course when there hasn't been much sailing going on they have been struggling for copy and put out a call for articles. So I dredged trough my computer and came up with this, if anyone is interested. It is about our transit of the Panama Canal........
One small step...... One giant leap!.docx
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Paul

Re: One small step........

Posted: 01 Jun 2020, 12:28
by Mike_K
Hi Paul

That is a fascinating read, are you going to share other parts of the journey? I assume you went around Cape Hope and not through the Suez canal?

It makes my trip canoeing around Norfolk and canal trips up the Grand Union canal rather tame by comparison!

Mike

Re: One small step........

Posted: 01 Jun 2020, 23:22
by PaulJ
Hi Mike, as I mentioned at the beginning, we sent back regular "newsletters" to friends and family while we were away and they do cover the entire voyage but they need a fair bit of knocking into shape before showing them to the outside world. Also the letters were mostly sent by HF email (Winlink) so without pictures. Those that have appeared occasionally in the Sailing Club Newsletters have been "edited highlights" with added pictures as and when the editor gets short of copy. So most of it is not really in a publishable format but if people were interested I could put the articles on this forum as and when they appear in the Sailing Club newsletter. In answer to your other question, no we didn't go round the Cape of Good Hope but joined a rally (convoy) for the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden (pirate alley), Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

Paul

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 08:44
by PaulJ
Phil_G wrote: 02 Jun 2020, 01:16 I enjoyed that Paul, quite an adventure :D I've done nothing to compare, not even by canoe... :lol:
Thanks Phil, yes it was all a wonderful experience but rapidly becoming a distant memory now. The whole thing took just under eight years and did include a few "exciting bits"...... Like going to the assistance of another boat that got into trouble in the middle of the Pacific and the time when we were attacked by a sperm whale. We were very glad that the boat was built in steel and weighs 20 tons or I wouldn't be playing with model aeroplanes now!

Paul

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 09:05
by GarydNB
We're going to cross the river Ribble estuary soon in a twenty ton narrowboat so...similar.... ;)

Gary

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 11:24
by PaulJ
Hi Gary, so you got the engine/tank problem sorted ok?

Paul

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 16:52
by GarydNB
I did thanks Paul. Insurance bought us a nice brand spanking new engine, runs lovely. Fuel tank cap is my problem but not a difficult one. Pain in the bum though.....

Gary

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 17:02
by GarydNB
Ooooo.....just got a message from the Canal and River trust giving me an early 'heads up' of the Ribble link opening for crossing so I've got on the first passage....

Gary

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 17:49
by Mike_K
Hi Gary

I'm glad you've got a new engine because the Ribble Link isn't for the faint-hearted or a knackered engine. Which way are you heading, north to Lancaster or south to Preston? We did it when it first opened in the early 2000s, but it shut a few years later due to flood damage and silting up, so its good to hear it's open again.

Mike

Re: One small step........

Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 18:23
by GarydNB
Mike,
We've been stuck on the Lancaster canal for a year now thanks to one thing or another keeping us here over the winter (the crossing closes in October and re-opens in April). We were booked to make the crossing on April 12th but Mr Covid had other ideas as well as a certain local POS sabotaging my engine (hence the new one) so now the link is open were on the first South passage onto the Leeds and Liverpool canal (Yaaaayyyyy).
Addendum...just when we thought things were going our way, the family member who was letting us use their address for postage has withdrawn that perk and now I can't get a driver's license! (Aussie license has expired and you need residential address for a U.K. one) :(

Gary