Monday, April 23, 2007

3. Alone to Falmouth.


When we got to Newhaven, Tom had to return to Norway. From there I continued alone. Had a lump in my throat when I thought about the traffic and the fog. Decided I would sail a day or two and then go to shore and rest for a while.

When I left Newhaven I was hit by fog that lasted the entire day and night. I think the fog was worse than the storm I went through, I had to stay up all night watching for other boats due to all the traffic in the English channel. Have to get a radar as soon as possible.

Lighthouse and foghorn, first time I heard the foghorn I thought a ship was approaching, and that the horn was a warning me to stay away. In panic, I looked in all directions an expected in any second that a large tanker would crash in to me, my heart got quite a workout...

The fog lifted the next day, no wind and I had to go by motor to Isle of Wight to a place where it said on the map there were places to tie up the boat. Arrive there and found a buoy near the beach that I tied the boat to. Crashed on the floor to finally get some sleep, and was abruptly awakened by a fisherman three hours later. He was there to get his lobster pot that was tied to the buoy OUCH! Took a while to get the boat untied, the fisherman shook his head and rolled his eyes the entire time, took me an entire hour to get my anchor unstuck. Felt like a freak show to the people watching it all unfold on the beach, left in a HURRY… :)

Arrived in a marina on the other side of the island, lots of expensive boats there. (See picture of the boat next to mine) Was assigned a location, not much room , two people tried… to help me with the ropes, ended up crashing into another boat. The weather was great so all other boaters were sitting on deck watching it all unfold, pretty embarrassing… Luckily there was no damage to either, my Norwegian pride got a bit damaged that’s all… decided to spend the rest of the day in my cabin, was my birthday and all, very lonesome – worst birthday party EVER !!! :)

Isle Of Wight.

Lots of traffic in the English Channel, saw up to 10 boats at a time in addition to all the fishing boats.
Realized that all the fishing boats like to be ahead of me so that I had to yield to them, think they did that to annoy me.... There is only me here but for some reason they place themselves, so that I have to turn all the time...Of course there was a fishing boat ahead of me again, to the right, so I decided to get up front in the boat so they would realize that there were nobody steering the boat. They started yelling at me to turn, but I pretended not to hear them. They started waving their arms but I just stood there watching them. After a wile they raised their gear , yelled a few profanities at me and let me pass without me having to turn my boat. I was impressed with my tactics, wanted to show them a “select finger”, but figured out that they would probably board me and beat me up. Spoke with people in Falmouth and understood that fishermen like to irritate sailors


Another Sunset.

Finally in Falmouth.

Some people are extremely friendly, a couple I met helped me with boat repairs, shuttled me around town and even helped me with repairs in the boat. Allan is 60, partied like a 20 year old :)

Wanted to have lights, antenna, and Windex in the top of my mast, and a lazy jack for easier lowering of the. Here a professional mast climber is lending a hand. The boat is almost ready for the next leg of the journey.

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