For our second outing of the series, we had a different yacht, different engine problems, different menu - a pattern is forming! Friday night's feast was bangers with red wine onion gravy and mustard mash accompanied by a drop of Hardy's Cabernet Sauvignon. Next morning, a continental breakfast was in progress as the engineer swapped batteries and tried to breath some life into our very dead engine.
Eventually the engine was coaxed back into life and we finally got going - after negotiating the Port Solent lock - towards the start. We made it by a whisker and were concentrating on getting a good position on the line when another yacht overtook us with an almost naked man standing on the bow in a lime green "Borat" suit! Unfortunately, I'd left my binoculars below but resisted the temptation to look without the aid of magnification as this was clearly a diversionary tactic calculated to put all lady helms off their stride ;-)
Despite the stiff breeze, the willing crew managed to make tea and coffee at regular intervals probably motivated by the temptation that it was significantly warmer below decks as the wind started to shift to the north.
We raced unscathed but had to return to base as the engine was still playing up so we had to forgo the night life of Haslar for another night in Port Solent. Saturday night's dinner was Thai Green Chicken curry with basmati rice and naan bread, plus a couple of beers to help wash it down. Not a scrap was left which certainly makes the washing up easier!
Sunday morning saw the galley in full swing for full English Breakfast and sandwich making for lunch whilst the engineer tweaked the engine yet again. Fortunately, the oven didn't explode this week, so we had sausages with our bacon and eggs this time.
Today was a team record for the number of teas and coffees served as it was bitterly cold. I've never seen such activity in the galley as crew took it in turns to make a hot brew and there was never anything left in the sinks for long as it all got washed up very quickly.
Our aspirations for our third outing at the end of March are to:
- have no more problems with the yacht and therefore leave on time
- put our foot on the pedal and not be last :-)
- make sure we don't miss our afternoon tea and cake.
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