Solent Spring
It’s been six months since we last saw Meraki and it’s SO good to be back. It was a bit of a wild winter in Alaska with four - or five depending on if you count the all too brief 12 hour reprieve, 100+mph hurricane-force wind storms leaving thousands of folks without power for several days. Thankfully we had installed a generator the last time this happened so we stayed cozy and warm.
We spent two wonderful weeks in Mexico and the month of January traveling around Washington, California and Arizona visiting with friends and family and soaking in some sunshine. By spring we had begun dreaming of our upcoming cruising season - which will be shortened this year so as not to miss the birth of our first grandchild. (Is there any better reason to leave boatlife?)
We arrived in Southampton, England and made our way to Island Harbour Marina on the Isle of Wight where Meraki had wintered. We’d hired much work to be done in our absence and couldn’t be happier with Richardson’s Yacht Service (thank you Terry and Myles!). With new antifouling, new stainless inside and out, along with many other modifications we are excited about our coming adventures.
Satellite image showing the Solent, separating the Isle of Wight from Great Britain.
Our first shakedown cruise of the season was a short, 2 hour crossing through the Solent, a 20 mile-long (32 km) strait in the English Channel separating the Isle of Wight from the mainland. We arrived once again in Southampton where we completed our unpacking and stowing of gear, and picked up the basics for food for the coming week. We enjoyed calm, sunny, 20°C (68°F) days before the weather turned cooler, overcast and quite windy. This gave us some much needed time to relax, settle in and enjoy time visiting with our local friends.
We spent a wonderful afternoon with our friends, Gary and Julia, catching up on our winter accomplishments, sharing our personal foibles, and laughing about British slang which is so completely foreign within our ‘common’ language; people or places being grotty, feeling gutted or chuffed, faffing around, and one of my favorites - describing the weather as it’s brass monkeys outside. (No idea where that came from!)
Naturally, we also capitalized on the opportunity to pick Gary’s brain for information on local anchorages, cruising hazards and tidal flows. Boatlife doesn’t always allow time to deepen relationships, but when it happens it’s such a joy.
So thankful for Tom’s handiness and perseverence.
The following day was a whirlwind of chores, route planning, and prepping for visitors. We took Raki down off the boat deck to make sure she was in good working order. We didn’t use her at all last year in the canals of France so she sat idle for almost two years. Sadly the motor needed major cleaning and Tom spent the better part of the entire day fixing her up.
We decided to move to another marina just a mile downstream, stopping at the fuel barge along the way. We added 2000 liters of diesel - more than enough for the coming season, before settling into our new berth, ready to begin the next adventure.
Note: photo captions will not appear if viewing on a cell phone.