We've done it!!!

Tender action - Casper does dinghy surfing

Dear all - we have made it up the Dart without going aground!!! The river gods were smiling on us (must have been that dram of Jamaica Rum over the side).

Amidst the chaos and bunting that is Dartmouth Regatta we are hooked up and resting. Thankyou to the farewell party waving us off at Steamer Quay and to Victoria for the bottomless bag of sandwiches - and to John for steering us all the way down the river. 

Much love to you!

x k n c 

The very amazing red arrows 

The highs and lows of leaving

Impulse alongside Totnes Town Quay at high and low water

Someone wrote once that leaving is the hardest part. Given that we haven't gone yet this remains to be seen. However, what I do know is that we seem to have been leaving for a very long time. Leaving the house in Totnes to move to the house in Newton Abbot to move to the cabin in Millbrook to move onto the boat. We have sifted our posessions down and down and down to the 'bare minimum'. What remains is enough to keep us comfortable in both body and mind. I have discovered through this sifting process that my definition of comfortable and Casper's are quite distinct which has lead to a fair few heated disagreements (yes I DO need those silver sandals on board - clearly - but why DO YOU need a handcrafted backgammon set the size of a liferaft?).

Captain Casper and the Booker bunting

Leaving has really put in focus for me what counts in life. This can be summed up simply as folk: my friends and my family. Whilst we are only going on a wee jaunt for 9 months, leaving feels like a tremendous loss right now. No, contrary to all expectations, I am not remotely excited by the glorious adventures that will inevitably unfold with the sea miles travelled. I feel blank at the thought of it because I am tangled up in the painful beauty of loving my friends and family as well as the overwhelming fear of losing them.

If this sounds over-egged forgive me, it must be the Totnes water.

This week we have sat alongside the town quay in Totnes with Impulse riding the spectacularly high and low tides. We have enjoyed watching swans take flight, ducks bicker over bread and a seal rise slowly out of the muddy river.


We have spent time with friends, eating, drinking, talking under the stars, in their kitchens, in their workshops, over a pint, over a game of boules. It has been so special and I hold this time dear and am grateful to have such good people in my life.

Boules session on Vire Island:

Petanque champion Mr J Moore

Heather with Nemo

Mademoiselle Trow in action

Non mais! C'est un serieux business...

Thankyou for all the good wishes we have received and in particular thankyou to:

Brue for feeding our mind and body with Celtic spiritualism and shephard's pie.
Lesley, Ian and Rowan for the 'last supper' (NOT fish pie) and handmade bunting.
Sue for the Sharpham wine to remind us of home.
Jill for the South African beads to bring us good luck.
Shaun and Hannah for the Chivas Regal and the Penn fishing reel (no excuses now).
Roger and Dana for the flowers and champagne.
La famille Moore for our friend Nemo and reading material.
Canvas Mark for the loan of his sewing machine.
Electric Mark for healing our charging system.
Matti and Saori for essential pre-departure news information (Heat magazine!)
Alex Galliard for the mystery gift (to be opened 7 days into the Altantic crossing - we promise!)
My parents, Val and Mark, for inumerable acts of generosity, too many to list.

Highlights of this week in pictures:

John giving us some last minute sail trim advice

Sue looking nautical

Rowan helping us get shipshape

Terrace folk on the Town Quay

Glossary of boating terms for the uninitiated

Mainsail = the biggest sail on the boat generally at the mid point of the boat (ish)

Headsail = smaller sail at the pointy end

Reef (verb or noun) = taking a wedge of sail in when the wind gets up to slow down and avoid capsizing (there are generally 3 or 4 reefs in one sail)

Bear away = go left a bit if the wind is coming from your right and you are facing forwards (towards the pointy end)

Luff up = go the other way

Stern = what the skipper is when you mess something up

Bow = what you do when people wave at you as you sail past

Pulpit = railings at front of boat (pointy end)

Pushpit = same but at blunt end

Guardrails = what stops you from falling in

Davits = what the dinghy hangs off at blunt end

Moor (verb) = tie boat onto a) a pontoon b) a buoy

Pontoon (noun) = floating raft that generally leads to land at one end

Hull = the bits that sit in the water (one on a MONO hull, two or three on a MULTI hull)

Pod = middle bit that does not sit in water but is suspended between the two hulls

Galley = like a kitchen but a whole lot smaller and much more impractical

Heads = ridiculous bloke name for the lav

Impeller = something that makes the engine work (blue domain)

Anchor = expletive delivered when holding screwdriver/spanner/mole grips in teeth because hands are busy

Drag anchor (verb) = when you come back from the bar and the boat is no longer where you left it

Row (verb or noun) = a) propel small craft with the use of oars b) heated discussion with loved one after him/her/you left oars somewhere and outboard engine fails to work

Outboard engine = motorised propulsion (on a good day)

Wind over tide = as suggests, uncomfortable situation leading to nasty choppy sea and going nowhere fast