Round Britain Diary

[whisper]

Day 12 Lowestoft to Ramsgate - 4th August 2014

Jurgen had bought some German Beer for our trip and we had shared these out on the Targa's and taken up their fridge space. The rest were stored in Black Hawk's anchor locker away from clothes and electrics etc.

The east coast hadn't been kind to us and we didn't have more than a couple of beers a day in the pub so our beers came a long way but they didn't fare well

All of the beer cans were empty and were very battered, the anchor rope smelt nice though

[whisper]

Facebook Post by Team Finn:

Getting ready to go on the penultimate day

[whisper]

Facebook post by Huw (sea Salt)

Day four Caley Marina Inverness and Day six on the Caledonian Canal.......

[whisper]

Meanwhile back at the Bat Cave....

Facebook Post by Biffer:

Jurgen. Trailer is all good now. Couldn't match your tyre though

[whisper]

Facebook post by Huw (Sea Salt - who is still in Inverness and still in good spirits)

Alex it's be a rough crossing through the canal but a couple of your Germany beers have made it...

[whisper]

We are all in good spirits, buzzing! it's about an F5 and we have to cross open water across the Thames estuary. It's not going to be nice but after today we'll turn the corner along the south coast...

We have to pick up fuel and we've phoned ahead and the marina on route is expecting a delivery around lunch time, so we go for it!!!

We get pounded but I manage to have a really good run in Black Hawk, I get her up above the waves, the props biting and trim tabs are perfect we are just gliding across the top of the chop all we can hear is the wind whistling in our Geckos. This is awesome but how long can I keep her like this??? We both can't believe it, I'm on a roll! But then the slightest change and we're back in the chop... Jurgen's impressed and he says so

We arrive first at the marina, we are quite in front of the others so I radio the Harbour master and request fuel. The delivery hasn't arrived...

I grap two fuel cans and I'm off, I find a sailing dude in the car park packing his car up with his boating stuff and I explain our situation. He offers to take me to a petrol station so I jump in and wave goodbye to Jurgen who will inform the rest of the group

Sorry no pics, I'm on a mission!!!

[whisper]

I get back with the fuel and the sailing dude won't accept any money for the trip, the other teams are also getting fuel which gives us a bit of time to get a cuppa

We cross the Thames estuary and from memory there's loads of sand banks and shallows to avoid. The water is also brown where the sand is being kicked up by the tide and currents.

We see a vessel far off on our port side, it has a massive rooster tale and we can't work out what it is so Jurgen guns it!

Forgetting about fuel economy for a bit we catch it up and it looks like a jet powered passenger ship taking the workers home from the wind farm.

We stay with it for a while and then head into Ramsgate.

[whisper]

Facebook post by Team Kalish:

[whisper]

We fuel up for the last time at the fuel barge and make our way into the moorings..

Mike Deacon's there

He's sent his Targa home by road, fired up Hot Lemon VIII and ribbed down from Lymington to meet us for dinner.

What a legend!

Hot Lemon is also awesome, I think Mike has one world record in this one???

I don't normally do yellow (apart from dry suits) but I love this boat, so well maintained

[whisper]

Daniel and Wayne are there too

These guys are from Positive Marine Electronics and they wired the RIB 4 Macmillan donating all their time and materials

And they have sorted out a couple of yachts to sleep on So I'm back in my adventure and very happy.

I go to take my dry suit off and POP!!!!

That little nick in my neck seal that I should have cut out has just ripped from the neck down to the shoulder! I can't use it again as if I were to fall in the water it would be goodbye Alex as I fill with water and sink to the bottom of the sea!!!

I've got a nice boat for the night though

[whisper]

Success and Failure!

According to Rudyard Kipling's 'IF' we should treat these two imposters just the same.

I always try to visualise success...

For round IOW it's all the boats safely at the Needles and for the RIB 4 Macmillan it was an awesome boat like new with black tubes, built out of nothing...

But you can decide when enough is enough and that does not mean that you have failed, it means you have visualised success and worked out the journey to get there. You have weighed up the two and realised that success for you is to change your plan. Now others may see this as failure, but who are they to judge, as they are not taking part and failure and success are the same thing.

For me and having seen the ending to other Round Britain cruises, success was standing on a pontoon, spraying Champagne everywhere and jumping into the water!

But when we lined up at Ramsgate and Daniel took a group photo on my phone I realised that this would be our last night together and when I looked at the photo, I realised that this was our moment and we didn't need to do any more other than enjoy each other's company for the last night.

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by whisper

To transfer this we use a special container that has a valve so you can get the spout into the filling cap and then allow the oil to flow.
.

This is the canister we used and might be of interest for other 2 stroke fans :
Rapidon Benzinkanister 6l mit Literskalierung in weiß 886681 | eBay

[Bushrider]

Originally Posted by Maximus

As a matter of interest what sort of amounts of Fuel did you Guys end up using??
Be interesting to compare Rigs and engines ect.

Black Hawk / Osprey Vipermax 7.2m
ETEC 250
2 persons on board
220 liter tank
Total fuel on board up to 410 liters

min fuel consumption 1.43 liter / mile
Max fuel consumption 1.63 liter / mile
AVERAGE 1.52 liter / mile

Oil consumption XD100 settings 1 : 70

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Bushrider

Black Hawk / Osprey Vipermax 7.2m
ETEC 250
2 persons on board
220 liter tank
Total fuel on board up to 410 liters

min fuel consumption 1.43 liter / mile
Max fuel consumption 1.63 liter / mile
AVERAGE 1.52 liter / mile

Oil consumption XD100 settings 1 : 70

Cheers Jurgan...I'm sure a few on here as well as me will find that interesting too.

[nugent]

Originally Posted by Bushrider

This is the canister we used and might be of interest for other 2 stroke fans : Rapidon Benzinkanister 6l mit Literskalierung in weiß 886681 | eBay

That's a neat can

[whisper]

Originally Posted by nugent

That's a neat can

Yep, that can is awesome

[whisper]

This is our last night together

[whisper]

End of day 12 (this was our planned route):

[whisper]

Day 13 - Our last day...

I woke up in the yacht named rebellion, packed up my small amount of gear that I had now whittled down to just a few things.

Daniel had very kindly lent me a drysuit so I'm good to go

As I climb the steps up onto the deck I take this picture...

[whisper]

So today Daniel and Wayne are joining us and also Mike Deacon is cruising back to Lymington in Hot Lemon.

As we round Dover and see the white cliffs and also France! I must admit, the draw towards Calais is unreal and I really felt the urge to go there for lunch, after all it's just over there!

But we are on our way to Brighton and I've never been there before.

Pic of Brighton...