Boogie Nights

A sweary hyperactive maritime professional, really very keen on laughing a lot, doing their best to avoid all the trappings of societies' expectations by acting on impulse to any adventurous idea that wafts by. Let's go!

bienvenu, hola, ciao!

01 August 2018

Where's my pirate flag?






Yes, that's right. Finally a friend was brave enough to bring her children aboard Boogie Nights for a few days. 


To avoid unnecessary anxiety for you dear reader,  I can confirm before you read any further, that both children left with all limbs intact. 


First stop: Marchwood yacht club to collect the kiddy life jackets. Thanks to Russell for having two children who grew out of their life jackets, which were then handed to Frank who has grandchildren who then loaned them in this direction. 


Then off to Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight. It's a popular anchorage and sods law dictates that the anchor would set just a tiny bit too close to a neighbouring boat. But then, the electric windlass was not working due to a faulty button. So, nobody could be arsed to haul the chain back up by hand so it was left where it was and the captain knew she'd be keeping a close eye when the tide swung round later in the night.

Isabelle is auditioning for the new role of figure head. Think she might be higher maintenance than the current one though as she actually needs feeding and stuff like that. 

Before then though, there was a little logistical exercise of getting over to the beach. Ever played the game of Fox-chicken-sack of grain? Well. The little dinghy "Disco Biscuit" is only rated to fit 3 (2 adults one child) people and that's a squeeze. There's no engine, so one person has to row.
Two adults and two children... How to get all the adults and children to the beach? There was a fair bit of rowing involved.

Super strong woman. Everyone should have someone this awesome in their lives to row them around.  

A small space up front suitably sized for a bag of laundry or a small child. 

There was mud bathing in the creek as well as a BBQ. The team of four left nothing behind but footprints. 


A beautiful sunset and a little sundowner in the cockpit. Followed by bed. Except for Flashheart, she had a late one planned on anchor watch.



The hammock was rigged up front, warm layers on and some warm blankets too. The captain dozed a while until waking up to hear a noise nobody wants to hear. This woke Amanda up at the same time as captain calamity. (the one supposedly on watch). The boat that had been eyeballed thinking it was the close neighbour was actually a different one. that one missed Boogie Nights by a mile. But the one that hadn't been watched properly had their bow snagged on the back end of Boogie Nights. Whoops! After being manually and gently pushed apart, Boogie Nights swung through the turn and hovered in close proximity but looked safe. Everything was going well until breakfast when both boats ended up drifting alongside each other. Thankfully the now VERY close neighbour was a very nice chap. The fat fender was deployed and then both boats tied together.  By way of apology, the neighbour whose phone charging cable was broken was able to use the power on board Boogie Nights to juice up his phone.

watch out for things going clank in the night. 
The next stop after the close encounter in the anchorage was Yarmouth harbour. It was BUSY! Early arrival was needed to ensure a spot on a walk ashore pontoon. The heat wave meant both ships dog and Flashheart were hiding away from the sun. An easy day of chilling in the shade. The friendly neighbours who rafted up outside mentioned the salt water lido in Lymington as a good place to take children. 
A quick google search and a chat amongst the adults onboard and the following days activities were decided. Britain's oldest salt water lido lay just two miles north. 


A quick motor across to Lymington from Yarmouth the next morning. Not knowing which pontoon to land on, The captain opted for one that said "strictly no mooring". Even just to drop everyone off and then find a mooring elsewhere.  The harbour master came along and was super cool, really friendly with the kids and allowed us to pay for a short stay on the pontoon which is often restricted. The bonus was that it was literally right beside the Lido. Boogie Nights was visible from a deck chair in the screaming palace of salt watery adventure. 
If you've never seen a salt water lido in full summer holiday swing, then this place will surely boggle your mind. It is full of crazy inflatable adventure to slip slide and bounce on. There's something suitable for every age. A fresh water splash pool for toddlers, a smaller inflatables section for nippers and then the big-ass-inflatables like you'd see on "it's a knockout"




Image courtesy of  Shorefield
With two slightly tired children we set off back to Ocean Quay making lovely burgers on the way which we scoffed in the cockpit. All was well in the world. A MASSIVE thanks to Amanda for driving nearly 200 miles south to come and spend time messing about on the water and to her two lively and adorable little pirates, Isabelle and Christopher. 







The tally of things accidentally dropped in the water and retrieved


One monkey toy




One child




One fender




One clothes peg


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