What could possibly go wrong?

  Covid of course - just for starters

It wasn't long after my return from Portugal in early September 2020, before the Covid storm clouds gathered once again. The summer's false dawn soon looked very false indeed. Eventually the government put the whole country under lockdown once again including, finally, restrictions on international travel. Then Portugal started recording an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases and my decision to buy a boat there started to look like the foolish, impulsive move that of course it was and I started feeling more and more anxious about what I had let myself in for.

Not only did I face the very real prospect of not being able to get Bonny back to the UK this year, but I would also have to stump up another year's marina fees. The fees for the year ending June 21 were all all paid up by the previous owners and I had certainly not factored in the need to pay for a year myself. To make matters worse I was becoming increasingly disenchanted with my new job as a Work Coach with the DWP (started in October 2020). If I was going to pay for a year's marina fees in Albufeira, my intention to resign from the DWP in May was looking increasingly untenable.

Since then of course the outlook has improved significantly. Portugal, by some fortuitous twist of fate, is now one of the few countries on the UK's 'Green List' and just as importantly from my point of view, is allowing in travellers from the UK. Just as well, because by mid April I had concluded that there was no way I could continue with my job at the DWP and so at the end of that month, with fingers firmly crossed, I handed in my notice. 

Will this happy state of affairs last long enough for me to get to Portugal and depart for the UK (via the Azores) on Bonny?  Mick and I are booked to fly out on 8th June (timed to ensure we are both fully protected by our two doses of Covid vaccine). Time will of course tell whether the latest dark cloud on the horizon - the Indian Variant will scupper my plans!

I should also record for the record a minor hic-up amongst the chaos and uncertainty caused by Covid. I had arranged for Bonny to be lifted out and scrubbed off in early May. Under my original plans I was to have been there but of course that didn't happen. I was loath to delay the lift-out until I got there because I wanted to leave Albufeira as soon as possible and I had already changed the date twice in anticipation of my arrival. I therefore relied on new friends in the Marina to move Bonny to the crane. Thanks to them and the yard, the lift out went smoothly, the scrub off, anti-foul and anode replacement was quickly accomplished and Bonny was returned to her berth by the Marina staff.

However, a few days later I received the following photographs from Peter who had organised Bonny's short trip to the crane..

It looked suspiciously like the Marina staff had caused the damage when parking Bonny back into her berth. I therefore emailed the marina and asked them to investigate. To my relief they replied a few days later accepting responsibility and undertook to get the necessary repairs completed. 

It all started when ...

 ... I was sailing on Arctic Smoke in the summer of 2020, between Covid lockdowns, with my sons, Charles, Stephen and Vincent on a short passage from the Medway across the Thames Estuary to Tollesbury on the River Blackwater via the River Roach. We were to rendezvous with the rest of the family at Tollesbury for a few days of boating and camping.

That evening at Anchor on the Roach, Vincent started quizzing me on what my ideal boat might be. Well, I'd long harboured the notion of following up my Atlantic circuit on Arctic Smoke in 2016/17 with a still longer (possibly a circumnavigation) sailing Adventure and so I started listing the features I would look for. 

My experience of rolling across the Atlantic in Arctic Smoke with my pal Mick in 2016 had led me to conclude - probably wrongly - that a slightly beamier (wider) boat than Arctic Smoke would roll less. On the other hand the fundamental design features of Arctic Smoke - a traditional relatively narrow hull with a long keel that sat in the water rather than on it, were all ones I would want. I was never in my wildest dreams going to own a boat that could outrun bad weather and therefore, one that stood a reasonable chance of surviving it was a high priority. 

Something a little bigger would be more comfortable for extended periods. The other thing I hankered after was an aluminium boat. Why? Because, constructed properly an aluminium boat would be stronger than fiberglass. I wouldn't want anything much bigger because single handed sailing was still very much on my agenda. 

However, this was all idle speculation because I couldn't afford a bigger boat of any description and indeed despite what follows, I still can't! However Vincent then proceeded to muddy the waters by suggesting that he and his brother would be able to help pay for it! With that genie out of the bottle, I foolishly got carried away and started browsing the yacht brokers there and then. The only immediate result was that despite Vincent's generous offer an Aluminum boat would be out of reach. We did find one that was possible at a stretch but she was in Portugal and we were in the midst of a Pandemic so I wasn't going to buy a boat abroad was I!

Anyway over the following weeks the search continued and I stumbled across a Biscay 36 for sale in Falmouth right at the upper end of the budget I had set. I knew nothing about them but she looked the part and subsequent research confirmed their pedigree in my eyes. I talked Sharon into a trip down to Falmouth (from London) in September 2020 and we checked out the boat. She was basically sound but had been sitting around for some years and would need quite a lot of work and expenditure including a new mainsail, batteries, navigation equipment and a lot of sprucing up. She was therefore quickly ruled out.

During more internet browsing over the following weeks I stumbled across a forum comparing Tradewind 35s (another boat I had designs on) and Biscay 36s. The last post was a couple of years old and so I almost passed over the Forum without further ado, but I didn't, I posted and within the hour and to my complete surprise, a reply came back. Stuart, who writes for the yachting press, had a pal who had a Biscay 36 for sale - the only catch was that it was in Portugal. Within 24 hours I had chatted to Stuart on the phone and then to the owner and had booked a flight out to Albufeira where within a few days the deal was done.

Bonny had clearly been well looked after and was well equipped including: Hydrovane self steering, a trysail, a beefy Beta 38 engine, a nearly new sail wardrobe, radar, chart plotter, AIS transponder and Navtex. Despite all that there are quite a few modifications required to prepare her for serious ocean sailing. The dinette seating layout in the saloon is fine for socialising in a Marina but one wouldn't want the table coming loose in a storm. It also means one loses a sea berth. There are no grab rails down below either and the galley lacks restraining straps, safety bars and worktop fiddles; nor are there lee cloths on the bunks. Arctic Smoke had all these and I know from first hand experience how useful or indeed, essential they are for ocean voyaging.  

Most of the above I reasoned could wait until I got Bonny back to the UK but I would need to find a way of securing the saloon table!

The plan therefore would be to return to Albufeira in the spring and sail her back to the UK.