Inspired

Well this is new to me and lots of fun painting with my ipad, it's so

reversible and a different way of doing it, how do you like my memory of

Saturday morning? Only missing the crew, but we were all there having

breakfast cooked for us as we sailed out the harbour in the dark to be

greeted by the sunrise  half an hour later. Fergus and Freyja very excited

to see the lighthouses and take some bearings and make a fix on the

chart, wooow!

On Friday 15 Feb 2013, jenny and I planned over lunch while the kids were still at school to take the afternoon off our work and chores and prepare kit and food for an overnight stay on the boat. The weather was going to be perfect for gentle sailing, but we were not sure how we would fair in such cold temperatures, forecast 2-3 deg. C that night.
On picking the children up from school they were happy and excited at the announcement that we were going straight to the boat with change of cloths for them on the back seats.  This is not always the case, in the past Fergus has kicked up a storm with such surprises, but we had not spent a night on the boat for months and over the last few weeks we had talked about it a lot, and generated much excitement for the prospect.
All went well loading and preparing chuckle, with so many little hand eager to help we were all ready in under an hour. chuckle is left empty in the winter to minimize dampness inside and staining of cushions, so an hour seemed quite good with all the other stuff we had to load and the dog.
So why not we started cooking lunch and in such calm and well ordered conditions we took chuckle out to enjoy dinner on the seaway heaved too and enjoying the sun set. This was great practice for all, as i cooked, jenny managed the helm and Fergus and Freyja got used to the idea of being out as it got dark and looked out for lighthouses. Fergus and Freyja, became very excited after dinner when we got the compass out to take bearings of light houses and mark a fix on the chart. They were not so enthusiastic when i teased, that we would stay out all night heaved too drifting and asleep, very wise.
Coming in we sneaked a birth for the night on the posh pontoon the other side of Eyemouth harbor for the night. It was like being on holiday easily jumping on and off the boat to walk the dog and exercise the children, quite different to our usual birth along side the quay and big fishing trawlers. Perhaps the extra money in birthing fees might be seen more favorable by the finance director (Jenny) also considering the damage incurred rising and falling with the tide next to bigger boats and heavy mooring lines ripping gear of the rails.
Having got the children to sleep early with all the excitement the returned the favor by getting up at 5.30 am, I did plan to rouse them at 6 on our way out the harbor or even on the seaway, so i could tease them again that they had been out all night after all. Jenny having found her sea legs cooked porridge as we tried and failed in sailing out the harbor (not to be repeated). After starting the engine and clearing the rocks out the bay we heaved too in time to eat our porridge on deck in the twilight and watch the sunrise up over the sea, Fergus especially was mesmerised.  We then tried and gave up plotting a course to a wreck mark, using the GPS instead. we tried some fishing over the wreck and came in, Freyja was showing signs of discomfort, which turned out to be early signs of getting cold. Gentle words were briefly said about the responsibility of wearing appropriate clothing over a well deserved round of beans on toast bacon rolls and mugs of tea in the fabulous 'Harbor Cafe'. I must remember to check the wee ones apparel more frequently.
What a great night we all had, it was a genuine adventure holiday, perhaps the harbor onlooker used the correct term in naming us the 'outward bound family', when we told him our plans while loading chuckle on friday night, why do people find our adventures such a surprise?