Sunday, April 04, 2010

I have been planning this trip on and off for over a year now. Finally, all obstacles (Excuses?) have been overcome and the date for departure is set - 1st May (2010). To placate my wife, I am taking a crew/co-pilot with me, a long term friend, Robert Bryce. The point of the trip is to allow us to explore all of the coastline of the main island - that's England, Wales and Scotland - in a relatively leisurely way, if blasting over 100 miles per day at over 30 knots in a RIB can be called leisurely that is.

The RIB is a bit special, being a fully specced Artic Blue 29 with, when delivered, a 320hp inboard diesel engine. It has been uprated further with engine mods to give the option of 400hp when needed and, in addition to the extensive navigational and engine management systems it was delivered with, Broadband Radar, Auto pilot, Gyroscopically controlled trim tabs and, to limit boredom at sea, an on-board stereo system with amplifiers and sub woofer.

The first leg will see us travel west along the south coast as far as the river Yealm, staying over in Newton Ferrers which has a good pub, before setting off for the Scilly Isles where we will stay a couple of nights to explore the islands. Next it is up the Northern coast of Cornwall and on to Bideford in Devon before heading across the Bristol channel to Milford Haven. We discussed nipping across the the Irish East coast next but opted instead for a trip up the welsh coast to Pwhelli and on to Douglas via Glasson Dock (No, I hadn't heard of it before but its on the chart and looks OK). There, we will leave the boat and fly home for a couple of weeks before re-joining the boat and heading up the Scottish West coast.

Once underway, we will be updating this blog with our adventures as well as posting comments and pictures on my Facebook wall. I intend to even use twitter with restraint to record any interesting events.