The Weekend.

Well that was horrible! What a totally awful weekend! Terrible weather!! And in an abysmal place. Yuck....

NOT!!!

This was Brixham Marina at around 7.00pm on Friday - the starting point for our adventure. Barely a cloud in the sky. The girlies started to arrive from Friday lunchtime onwards. Once the yacht was available we waved a fond farewell to our nearest and dearest, dumped our luggage on board, extracted some of the alcoholic beverages and made our way back to Breakwater beach for a kid- and OH-free BBQ.

Here is my 'little' sister Nicky enjoying some of the aforementioned beverages. Look what an awful evening it was turning out to be. The dull cloudy weather was a real blight on proceedings.

And here are some of my other shipmates - Jill, Steph 1, Sharon and Nicky W. The BBQ is smoking quietly in the background.

And here is 'yours truly' talking to Nicky P with a glass of fizzy pop (honest!!).

And here is the star duo of the whole weekend - the good ship Iridescence (God bless her and all who sail in her);

and the poor man who had to cope with 8 deranged women whilst trying to sail his yacht - Fred. God love him - the man is a saint. How he puts up with us I don't know. Amongst the crew are several Healthcare Professionals who (if you are acquainted with any you'll know) tend to have a rather "anatomical" sense of humour. We made him blush several times during the course of the weekend - poor bloke - but it's not the same without him. So, after our first night on board, Fred arrived at 9.30 next morning. We plied him with coffee then set off towards Babbacombe bound for Anstey's Cove. Once again the clouds had built up, a gale was blowing and there were 'white horses' leaping over the sea. Terrible conditions.

Here are Sharon, Nicky W, Jill, Fred, Steph 2, Tina and Steph 1 in the cockpit as we made our way across Torbay. And here is Anstey's Cove where we dropped anchor for lunch. But first...

... a spot of exercise to help work up an appetite. Although I'm not in this picture, I finally realised one of my ambitions this weekend and leapt off the back of a boat into the sea. Whenever I has been on a sailing holiday before something has always scuppered my chances. 'Til now. It was a mite fresh but hey - I did it!!! Nicky (sis), Jill and I did actually swim out to the beach and back but so far I haven't discovered who has those particular photos.

Here are Nicky W and Jill encouraging Nicky P to jump in.

So after all that swimming it was time for lunch. We pay a tenner each into a kitty and then buy cheeses, pate, crusty bread, salads and loads of other scrummy stuff for lunchtime picnics. Another tradition that originated 2 years ago is the Twix Challenge. Afternoon tea and a Twix have to be consumed in a rather uncouth way. Here is my sister demonstrating her prowess at this particular skill.

Well from the cove we sailed to our berth in Dart Haven Marina. After showers and clean clothes it was "Pimms o'clock". Time for a little aperitif before catching the ferry across the Dart to Dartmouth itself for dinner. Here are Nicky, Steph, Tina and Sharon all scrubbed up and ready for some grub!!We managed to find a table for the 8 of us in the Castle Hotel, (after forcing a pregnant woman and her hubbie to vacate their table - not really, they had finished eating honestly). Food and drink were ordered, and then for some reason we had a camera attack. One table of people actually thought there was someone famous with our group. One chap picked his own camera up and was about to come over. He thought all the flashing meant that the papparazzi had caught a celeb. Sorry fellow diners if we spoiled your evening. It was only a couple of minutes at the end of the evening - tee hee.

I think we probably drew more of a crowd on the return ferry journey. The fare is £1 per foot passenger or £3 for a car, regardless of how many passengers. While we were waiting for the ferry to come across we were musing about the British 'stiff upper lip'. If we had each got into the back of one of the cars waiting for the ferry would the drivers have said anything? Once on board we decided that we should be our own car so, in the empty bit of deck, we sat in formation as if we were in a 'people carrier' with a driver and passenger in the front seats, then sundry 'kids' in the two back rows. Some other ladies on the ferry asked if they could have a lift. At some point in the crossing our 'car' became a roller coaster with all 8 of us throwing our arms in the air and leaning to the left and then the right. Sadly no photos were taken of this part of the evening but we did keep the ferry crew and passengers entertained.

Next morning it was hot and sunny. Again. Has summer really arrived at last? This was the view from our deck across to Dartmouth. At 8.00am it was already really warm and there were a few boats pootling around on the river. Fred arrived at 10ish to take us back to Brixham. Here is the last glimpse of Dartmouth and the river before we headed back out into the sea. Just look at the colour of that water... It looks like the Med. There was barely a breath of wind but we did put both sails up to try and go back in a more peaceful way. At St Mary's Bay we dropped anchor for lunch. St Mary's is the closest beach to my sister's house and it's great. It's quite a trek to get to it and there are no facilities when you get there so it never gets really busy. This is where the daddies and kiddies had been the previous day so we didn't anchor too close to land just in case...
And then, all too soon we were back in Brixham. Down to earth, or rather back on dry land, with a bump. We off-loaded all the luggage, bedding and so on, emptied the fridge, cleaned the 'heads' (nice!) and swabbed the decks. Then gradually we waved everybody goodbye and hit the beach. The three daddies and five kiddies were there watching a lifeboat rescue demonstration. Our return had a mixed response but we were (secretly) glad to see them again. It was only 2 nights but you do start to get a bit twitchy by the end with no small bodies to cuddle.

We eventually packed everything into cars and lugged it back to sis's to sort out. Sharon and her family loaded up and hit the road and then there was only us and Nicky's gang left. And we decided not to go home after all.... It's a good job they're family and don't mind. :o)

Well it was soooo nice and sunny, and it was getting late to start driving back so we just decided to stay and drive back in the morning. Only it was 9.00pm on Monday when we finally left.

And now we've been back for 2 days and all three of us wish we weren't. :o( If anyone in Torbay wants to give OH a job that would be great. Thanks.

Right. Wafflitis has hit me so, now I've brought you up to date on the weekends antics, I shall go and hit le supermarche. Crafty updates will be following shortly.

ttfn xx