Daislebee arrives

It was a lovely sunny day yesterday at Chichester - made all the more enjoyable by the arrival of Daislebee. Peter, from Cornish Crabbers arrived, ahead of schedule, pulling into the car park after a long journey from Rock.

He set to and was soon talking me through the rigging details, demonstrating as he worked.

The mast was soon up followed by the jib foil and then the main sail was bent on. After 2 hours of rigging there she was ready to be launched and she was soon sitting quietly tied up to the pontoon.

Peter departed for a well earned drink and left me with the absorbing task of moving all those vital bits and pieces I will need, from the car to the boat and stowing them in some sense of order and priority.

Unfortunately this took more time than it should as I had leapt off the boat at one point during the rigging, badly turning my ankle in doing so, reducing me to a hobble.

So the planned motor and sail in the harbour didn't take place and Saturday will be useful to make adjustments and tweaks as we run round to Ashlett in the late afternoon.

Still I amused myself by putting together the table and reading though the huge amount of literature that accompanies tiller pilots, depth sounders and chart plotters. I left her tied up armed with a long list of things to do and cring with me on Saturday.

Delivery day approaches

Daislebee is due to be delivered to the marina next Wednesday and preparations are gathering speed for the big day. The VHF has arrived and been sent to Cornish Crabbers for fitting, I have bought the small Garmin Chartplotter (451s) with the very kind cash present they gave me at work and the list of bits to buy at the local chandlery grows and grows.

Tony B is coming to record the launch and help get her sorted ready for the departure on the Solent - Dart dash on Saturday 19th.

The 'dash' starts at Chichester marina where Peter Tiplady and I will be departing (Daislebee and Siesta - Drascombe Drifter) to r/v with Richard Goldsmith and Miles Tisdall in their Drascombe Coasters at East Head.

From there we sail to Ashlett Creek, Southampton Water to meet up with the rest of the flotilla - Jim Hopwood (Gig), Steven Farley (Drifter) and Nick Payne (Coaster).

We depart for Poole the following day to r/v with Brad Bradshaw and then during the rest of the week will make our way to Dartmouth, via Weymouth and a combination of Exmouth or Teignmouth.

The intention is to be at Dittisham for Friday 25th to attend the Drascombe Dart rally, before undertaking the return journey the following week.