By This weekend was a pretty exciting one! Doris was finally back on the water, fully kitted out with batteries, electronics, hatches and a rudder. The weather was beautiful and perfectly befitting our first proper outing.
We went for a paddle up the Solent, successfully navigating our way out of Christchurch and up to Mudeford without hitting any other boats or any trees and with only a small run in with one of the mud flats. To celebrate we moored ourselves up to a buoy (using proper knots and everything!) and enjoyed pimms and chocolate cake in the sunshine. Since Doris isn’t the most inconspicuous boat on the water we also made a lot of new friends with everyone wanting to know where we were off to. She is definitely a favourite with the kids.
On Saturday night we set up camp in the cabin for the first time. It was surprisingly cosy in there and was a good introduction to our living space for the 6 months we’ll be out on the Pacific. We played some games and had some dinner before settling down to sleep. Next step will be to spend the night properly out on the water rather than moored up on the pontoon to give us a proper feeling of what it’ll be like to not be able to get off the boat.
Sunday saw us back out for some more rowing followed by some plotting and planning for the week ahead. There’s a lot going on in the Coxless Crew at the moment. Most excitingly, next Saturday we are meeting with the amazing women who have applied to join our team. Exciting times ahead! Stay posted to hear how it goes. x
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