Single Handed !

Having thanked everyone at Dover we got ourselves going, conditions were still not good and i was feeling the pain in my left side i had not said anything to anyone but on the run from Dunbar i had hit the side of the boat hard landing off a wave and probably damaged a rib or pulled a muscle from the rib cage! It was now becoming a big problem for me, we had yet again a wire failure on the charging system so headed for Hastings and the RNLI station, where we contacted the Coast Guard and did a temporary repair before meeting up with the road team at Eastbourne where Phill soldered new connections on, off we go again but i was now in real pain trying to find a comfortable position was  to sit on one side leaning over the tiller arm, great but after 20 min my left leg was so numb that i had to look at it to see if it was still in the foot strap, so frequent stops were the order of the day unfortunately, we made a decision to get in to Brighton marina to try to get someone to have a look at it just in case !

Phone call to Mike to get them to re route to the marina, they arrived and we headed off for A&E as expected pain killers and rest was the orders, pain killers we can do rest defiantly not so it was another plan B

Plan B from Land Crew

First - Take a roll matt [on lone]

Second – Cut to size

Third – Breath in and wrap roll mat tightly around rib cage.

Forth – Tightly wrap with tank tape until you can hardly breathe.

Fifth – Stick you back in the boat and see if you can drive!

Sixth – Get on with it as we only have two days.

   With all this good advice we said thanks to Brighton Marina for lending us phone and facility’s and headed off for the Solent, after dodging lots of “Tea Baggers”  we were approaching Southampton when the sat-nav flashed up LOW BATTERY Vhf would not work and the Hand held’s we had were about as much use as chockalott chicken at this range, so i did the next best thing i spotted a couple of guy’s fishing so i shot over to them to ask if i could use their VHF no problem, i informed the coast guard we were heading in to Southampton to repair our power lead and then heading to Lymington, we headed in and moored up, we had the help of a passer buyer with a mobile to call land support, i told mike we were repairing the problem and carrying on he told me we were organised at Lymington with some where to stay in the marina, he gave us berthing instructions and we got on with our repairs, passer buyers were inquisitive and also generous to make donations also it was a great feeling that people thought we were doing this for the right reasons, i know i am slightly mad but my family and my determination drive me on and i know all my friends are watching every move we make.

We were now on a mission to get there, flat and rough we were just on full throttle all the way as the light was starting to disappear,   

We arrived at 2145 to see two flashing lights on the end of the jetty a welcome sight Mike and Phill we got finished off and while Sunny and i got showered the guy’s got re fuelled for the morning, we had the lone of the microwave so it was a Lasagne last supper and a celebratory chocolate cake it was nice to sit and have a talk about the good and stressful moments that have gone by over the last 3 weeks, pain killers and half a bottle of red put me out like a light i didn’t even hit my sleeping bag.