Well day 4 has reached us, we have just sailed out of Dieppe (France, for those of us who didn’t know where that was – like me!).
Some of us went out last night after mooring in the inner dock, and went to the local bars and restaurants. After a lovely meal some of us joined up with another group of voyage crew at the “Pub Cactus Cafe” which was delightful (decorated in weed plants with booming reggae music and cheaply priced cocktails!!). After a bit of a boogie we decided to get back to the ship for the watches. During the night at some ungodly hour Mick woke to find a toe up his nose, what had actually happened was one of the girls had gone sleep walking and clambered into his bunk - bless. After a good night’s sleep, we had a hearty breakfast to ready ourselves for the day ahead. At about half past ten we had the assisted climbs, Jason, and Adam (the two lovely fellows in wheelchairs) went aloft plus about twelve others. Then we set sail out of the dock, for which we used the aid of the Doti boat, after its initial use was over we went to pick up the linesmen (and women) when the doti boat decided to play up. A fuel hose decided to come off as Lord Nelson was gently making it’s way down the dock, gradually getting further and further away from us (that’s where I started panicking). It all got sorted out though, which was lucky as I didn’t intend to spend the voyage on a tiny boat with a dodgy engine.
As of about an hour ago we are down to one engine – the other one has gone kaput. Also we narrowly missed two buoys but that was nothing that this Ace team couldn’t handle.
The shop has just opened and is selling stock like mad, I can see people walking around with brand new shirts, hoodies, and fleece’s which makes us look like a proper team! Not that we didn’t before, but now we don’t look as bedraggled! Because of the engine we are planning to anchor tonight, which I’m told is perfectly safe – honestly!
Tori Borgers, Foward port 12 till 4 watch
MP: Happy to report, for those of a nervous disposition, the fuel supply line on the DOTI boat was quickly reconnected and secured by our wonderful engineering team; then the exhaust temperature on one of the new engines began to rise so was taken out of use whilst our wonderful boys changed the oil, of course, new engines are still under warranty so there is a limit to what work we can do on board! However, that was at slack water and by the time the work was complete, the tide had turned which meant we would be going backwards unless we came to an anchorage, especially as our next leg will be in a narrower area. So the revision to our plan is to up the anchor at 0700hrs and arrive in Boulogne – so no longer heading to Brugge but that won’t worry some of our crew who thought Brugge was in France anyway!!!
Rachel MP LN