Home...

 The first couple of days back after a big trip are always hard, and despite being hectic, the last few days have dragged out slowly. I've been busy doing (lots) of interviews, which are always slightly embarrasing, and boring to do.


After it being just me and Falanda for so long, its weird to have to talk to people, and get used to life at home again. With all the night trips, and early starts, me and dad were almost in a state of mental tiredness for the duration of the trip, but after a while, you get used to it. Because sometimes you are leaving port at the dead of night, and arriving at the next one early the following day, its quite a strange feeling to walk up at 2am, completely rested, and raring to get going again. Sometimes I found myself sitting in the cockpit at 3am, holding the tiller, just waiting for the next day to arrive. 


At sea, managing sleap is one of the most important things, because with coastal sailing, you have to be awake and alert all the time. Especially going down the west coast, we had to keep going on very little sleap (or nothing, for a couple of days). You have to be careful tho, because if you get too tired, you start halucinating, and seeing things in the water, which can be scary.


However, now we are home, and without the worry of catching the tide the next morning, I can admit that it has been quite nice to 'stop' for a bit. But.. thats a bit boring, so, tomorrow I am off to cross the channel, accompanied my mum! Not completely sure timingwise, but should be back by late friday, so there will be another update then! 


Anyway, we've roughly calculated the costs of the trip, and worked out :

The whole project was done on just over £2200 total, including buying all my electrical equiptment, diesel, and money spent on repairs.


However, before even leaving Topsham, I was given almost £2000 by local people, to go towards the trip. I was completely taken away by the kindness and generosity of everyone, some complete strangers. I cannot thank you all enough for your support, which has made my journey around Britain possible.


Along with all the amazing Topsham Folk, the fantastic trust, Adventure Trust For Girls, have been great, and they have hugely helped me out finacially. It really is a great trust, whos aim is to simply, help young people achieve their goals!


The marinas around Britain have also been super supportive, and I've only had to pay for berthing in a less than a dozen marinas. Just this alone, could have cost over £1000, each boat!


So, what about the money I was given at the start, that luckily wasn't needed? Thats going staight to Lonely Whale, the other charity I am hoping to raise awereness about. 


While Sea Shephard are trying to clear the sea of Plastic (mostly in the form of ghostnets), Lonely Whale are on a mission to try and stop plastics entering the sea in the first place. They then convince companies like Ikea, and Del, to use the recycled plastic in their products, which I think is great. 


So far for Sea Shepherd UK, we have raised an amazing £15700, which I am super pleased about!! Link to Justgiving page is below!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/falanda-roundbritain


( also thanks to everyone who took all these amazing photos, can't quite remember who you are...!) 


boatfolk   MDL Marinas   The marine group   Topsham Cakes    W Trout & Son  Lossiemouth Marinas   Chatham Footwear    Milford Marina  The Turf Locks Inn   Adventure Trust for Girls......



 

an amazing cake from Kate at Topsham Cakes


Drying out the Almanac which was still slightly soggy from the trip around Lands End


Returning to Falanda the morning after arriving home, slightly sad to take her back out to the mooring


Being interviewed this morning, always slightly awkward...






Graham, Lesley and Ellie passing Falanda once we were alongside Trouts Pontoon



Dot (who is doing up Tess, the sistership to Falanda!) and Lucy with their banner on the Quay


Passing Topsham Quay on Saturday




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Aborted Azores trip in Karuna

Image
On the 20th June me and dad left the Exe heading southwest aboard Karuna, his Rival 34, with a vague plan to sail to the Azores.  By sunset the tide was turning against us as we approached Start point, and after beating into the southwesterlies all day we pulled in and anchored off Salcombe until 3am when the tide turned. We then continued on to St Maws, where we dropped the anchor and caught up on sleep.  The next morning we set off, tacking out into the Channel. By midnight, we had reached the French shipping lanes so changed tack and headed more west. At this point me and dad had been cooped up on his boat together for 3 days and the novelty was begging to fade.  On the fourth morning the wind began to pick up and the boat set into a horrible slamming motion, making living much more difficult. Anything from cooking to going for a pee was horrible and we avoided going below unless to sleep.  By the next morning the wind had picked up and was accompanied by a relatively short, choppy
Read more

Across the Channel for Paimpol festival

Image
 In the last week of July, Falanda and I set off across the channel accompanied by my parents on Karuna.  The morning started out windless so we motored until torbay when the wind picked up and we started sailing, close hauled at about 4.5 kts. The wind increased and a few waves skirted over the stern, splashing the tillerpilot which in turn got wet and packed up.  We then had a few hours of perfect sailing, the helm so light that falanda was steering herself, under full main and slightly reefed jib. At sunset we hove to so that I could reef the main and get changed into some dry, warm clothes before it got cold.  Then it got dark, and we started approaching the shipping lanes, still sailing well at about 6 - 6.5kts.  At this point my batteries were getting low, and I needed the AIS on as we crossed the lanes so I tried starting the engine. I then discovered that the batteries were almost dead rather than low, so faffed around turning everything off, whilst also trying to steer the boa
Read more

Friday - Weymouth to Yarmouth, Isle of White

Image
  Not much wind this morning so had to motor sail untill it picked up in the afternoon. It was a bit of a grey, foggy day, and we passed the Militery Firing Range without being shot at or bombed! We had the tide with us at St Albans head, wizzing us staight round, and the tide stayed with us untill we arrived at Yarnmouth. No problems passing the Needles, although poor visibility untill the Lighthouse.  I slowed down before we got to the Needles, so Dad on Amaryllis could catch up and we could take some photos of the boats sailing. Hence why he was so close. The bad weather looks like its coming in on Monday night, so as long as it does't change, we're hoping to get to Eastbourne to shelter for a day or so. Its quite stressful trying to predict the weather when each forecast is completely different, and I need to let each Marina know exactly what time we will be arriving, a couple of days in advance. Sailing past the Needles Approaching lighthouse at the Needles Leaving Weymout
Read more