Entry solo cruising

solo cruising

Email this entry | Print this entry Sep 17 2007, 12:51 PM

I finally decided to move the boat, and as mr grumpy is busy un-grumping himself on holiday with a friend, this left the job to me and a friend who promised she would come and give me a hand. After hearing nothing from my friend and the time already being 10am and armed with the knowledge she was wining and dining and you know whatting the night before I decided it could easily be afternoon before she surfaced, I figured I may as well just head off solo and see how I went once I got to the first lock.

So I set off and arrived at my first lock just as two boats were leaving and another boat was wanting to come down. ha ha, perfect timing, I was going up, so the people waiting to come down ushered me in, I shimmied up the lock ladder with windlass in hand to be told, you may as well wait on your boat. Brilliant! So, Im in, the paddles are wanged open full, ordinarily I would have been a bit worried about this but on the river lee the locks are as calm as a Hindu cow and I ascend the lock in record time with zero bobbing or rocking or rolling. As I motioned to help with the gates they waved me on and wished me on my way. How was that for a good start to the day!

after that the following locks were a bloody doddle and I filled up with water, emptied at the elsan point a little further up and then motored like speedy Gonzales, complete with screeching sounds as I went around some bends, to get back down to Cartagena lock where I was meeting my friend, who came complete with another friend I havent seen in yonks.

All in all, despite the windy conditions, single handing isnt so bad.
the best part of the day for me was successfully lassoing a bollard, 1st go, on the opposite side of a lock to pull the boat across to the water point.
See, the simplest things get me excited these days!

Id also like to say thanks to Max, a nice friendly chap I met up at the junction for the stort when I was trying to turn the boat around from the bank and he came over and helped me out. The current and the wind were going in opposite directions and two people made the job so much easier than one.