Let's go

We had a lovely sail yesterday. We had to calibrate and test the autopilot, which we think worked eventually, and test the windlass (the winch for the anchor chain), so we sailed into the River Stour - just Sam and me, as the boys stayed at home. It was a glorious day with a light southerly breeze. Kalessin sails beautifully - turning into the Stour with 8-10 knots of breeze on the beam she was whizzing through the water at a wonderful 6 knots. It's good to remember what we are doing this for. We dropped the anchor, had lunch, pulled up the anchor using the windlass, motored in circles for 15 minutes or so to set the autopilot, and sailed home again. Fab.

Coming home was less good. The motoring bookseller came to look at our books, but has rejected them. Miserable old fart. We are trying to open a smile bank account for Guy but it appears they can't accept our council tax statement as it has the wrong postcode (because our house is on a corner it has two postcodes). And Guy has put his hair into dreadlocks, something he has wanted to do for ages. This is not necessarily bad in itself, just a bit of a shock, but as a mother I worry about Infestations.

It's another beautiful day today, with a lovely message on the blog from Ben and Em on Tiare (see Tales of Tiare). The forecast is for easterlies force 3-4, perfect for heading down the Channel. Let's leave all this stuff and go today...