#seasthefuture Scotlands International Marine conference

Right

i am starting here because this blasted site is useless and fannys about. So apologies but it has taken us all of today to try and sort out the broadband. The club that we are at has really bad wifi so we have had to muck about trying to get our own broadband to actually work. When really we had far more important things to worry about.

We left Titchmarsh heading for Ijmuiden in the Netherlands at 10.30 ish on thursday morning arriving at Seaport Marina Ijmuiden at around 1.30 ish pm  Friday  British time because you have to add an hour on here. so it was 2.30ish 

It was an interesting journey with lots of ups and downs literally. Bob up Bob down.We had beautiful weather but could have done with abit more wind. We motorsailed most of the way. I have to admit that i had a huge headache right from thursday morning and this dented my spirits abit, i now have a cold and still the headache but at least i know why i have the headache and it wasn't the sailing. Mark had taken seasick pills but i thought i would just wait and see. I wasn't

sickYea!!! but everytime i went below i felt really yucky and was glad to get up again. Mark was ok at this point and enjoying being at the tiller with Petra.

I didn't take any photos of the cats as it wouldnt have been fair on them. Patch was all tucked up on her bed ears up alert and fine for the whole trip. Tom not so, poor wee sod.. We had cleared away the bedding in the bow bed but left the vinyl cushions. 

They had a litter tray food and water. and plenty of blankets to lie on . all window blinds were removed so they could go on the shelves and see out.. Well it was kitty armageddon when i first checked them. Patch as i said was fine. Tom had puked everywhere was clinging claws through paint to his shelf and when i came in miaowed puked and had long bootlaces hanging on his mouth. I 

cleaned up the mess and gave tom a cuddle , I put him on the floor and that is where he stayed  for a while. When it got dark he was much happier and calmer , but still a nervous wreck. He did settle through the journey but was so happy when the boat finally stopped and looked great just a bit hungry and needed a pee..He is back to 100% now as if he had never gone across 127 miles of open sea. We got his sheepskin out  and he and Patch flaked out on that .

Petra was fantastic , She just kept going and didn't sleep properly or get annoyed or shout . We had a major problem at about 4 am on the friday morning.I had went below to warm up take some paracetamol and let it work. I fell asleep and was woken by a loud whine and Mark shouting SMOKE.He pulled back the engine cover and was enveloped in steam. The engine had overheated. He cut the power and was trying to work quickly tosee what the problem was . The pulley for the waterpump had come of taking the belt with it.. He wasn't looking good a combination of the lungful of hot steam the coolant and the diesel fumes.. He knew what was wrong and how to fix it . But he went on deck to get air and as he was better at the tiller and following the sat nave than me left me to help Petra. . That is a glorified version . I was her gofor. I sort of knew where and what tools he had .And held the torch. Lucky Mark had a spare pulleyand the belt hadn't snapped.. Petra stayed calm and kept Mark calm.. We lost the wind and Mark went an interesting route to get some. We were safe enough out in open waters with no shipping about. But i was glad when daylight finally came. Well Petra got the engine fixed and put co

oolant in and it started first time. . But we did notice it didn't seem the right pulley for the shaft and sure enough when we moored up and checked it The spare was doing the same. So now we really have to get a new pulley. And fix a your engine is overheating buzzer with an instrument panel light. Some daft sod didn't bother  in LALs past and we never really thought about it till we did the night sailing.

Having abit of difficulty though. .The boatyards here are helpful enough but it is £25 anight to stay in this marina, and we would come at the weekend. We have been directed to a chandlers in Amsterdam that might have the pulley or be able to get it for us.But we will have to move to a free mooring along the canal , So it isn't costing us to wait. After this little bit of drama all went well and we happily sailed into port. Petra made sure we found the harbour masters and we met h

er mum who had come to pick her up. She was lovely spoke quite abit of good english so we could talk well and has the same beautiful clear blue eyes that Petra has but i am thinking Petra got her height from her dad .It looks like she was really glad to see her daughter and they went off together. I will never forget that trip if it wasn't for Petra we would probably have turned back. I thought Lal was a fair size of a boat but she is just dinky in the ocean.She had her sat nav but i 

think she just knew where the Netherlands were.. There was times in the night when the boat heeled just a little bit but i couldn't see the sea because it was dark and i did get abit frightened but i just looked at Petra and went well she is fine so stop being a silly arse. We met in the distance many container ships and loads of gas platforms .Saw a few ferries but it was a nice quiet sail. I think we will be in europe for some time just so we have time to forget the crossing a

nd how long it took.

Petra said i would meet some lovely boats here . I have included some lovely ones some different ones and when you are standing beside them a bloody big grey impressive ones

Proud of my Lal though she got here . And it wasn't her to blame for the engine I think she enjoyed the trip and really enjoyed all the lal bumps she gave me while trying to cook . Having a porthole at head height with a big 

sticky out hinge on it , is a very very bad idea as my eyebrow will tell you .

This is a nice marina The wifi is crap and you only get 7 minutes in the shower but the place is spotless and there are plenty of showers and washing machines and toilets.They speak english which we are grateful for especially with our engine problems.

The very first people we met were English. They were nice enough to help moor us up.
They noticed our weather worn tatty ensign flag. I did explain we had a new one but it was a bit big and said we were figuring out whether to lenghten the pole or shorten the flag. I was tired and trying to be funny rather than serious. The answer i got was " oh you are scottish well you lot are like that aren't you . Frugal , like to get your monies worth . " and walked off
Thank god i was tired . I was watching them walk away and then went they buggers just insulted me. I would like to point out that the tatty flag was her original one and she is an English boat So any nation can have a tatty ensign . We have removed it now it was getting lots of looks and comments by passers by. It was also suprising that when i was napping yesterday i heard a couple approach the boat and go " Look  i told you its lal awww" and walked off before i could get my where with alls together to go after them. So has she been before. I shall do what i can to keep the blog going. We have officially started our adventure  and as usual we are doing it our way. Which is never the easy way but is always filled with a sense of achievment..