Crewing

Went crewing with a fellow skint sailor in the Solent last weekend. I do love no matter what heap of crap you turn up with, people are happy to see you. Probably because of the lack of pretension and "look how much I spent" arrogance. Plus you can't help but laugh when you risk life and limb in a what is effectively a plastic bathtub.

We went to Cowes, bought fuel and then berthed in between two mega-yachts (scabby paint and all!).

The downside of doing trips with other people like this is the fact that I want my own boat even more. I punted a couple of hundred quid on an Express Pirate in Shoreham but it went for £302. Thats around my limit for the boat but talking to the owner it would cost £80 just to get it lifted back into the water, hence only risking £200, or £280 in total.

Anyway, we had a bloody good day, we learnt a bit about using tides in the Solent to help progress and also got to meet the massive wake of a container ship, plus the first mid-Solent fry-up I've ever had.