Back from our first family adventure on Calypso - which can only be described as a roller coaster!
On Friday night, we were so keen to get out on the water that we ended up leaving when we probably should have stayed in Lymington and headed off early in the morning. The result was that within an hour of leaving for our destination, Newtown Creek on the Isle of Wight, it was dark, blowing 30 knots, wind against tide and there was chorus of "I hate Calypso, I wanna go home, I don't wanna go to the Scilly Isles (something we've been discussing in recent weeks as a plan for next summer)! Within an hour and a half, three out of four boys were vomiting in the sink/all over the floor and Kit and I were wondering what it was all about. We ended up diverting to Yarmouth and slept fitfully. Saturday morning we headed for the Newtown arriving in time for an evening game of football on the shore. When Kit and I put our heads down that night we were really ready for some sleep - but it was not to be! We had obviously anchored in a really bad spot, where the tide was really strong from both parts of the river - thus followed a whole night of re-anchoring, going aground, moving about and becoming very fond of our Garmin chart plotter - without which the whole thing would have been a whole lot more stressful! Morning finally came and we spent a happy day walking and bird watching in Newtown and headed off for home on a perfect Sunday afternoon, wind behind us and with the tide, for the first time that weekend. The boys like being towed behind the boat in the dinghy (we quite like it too if we want a few minutes of peace)! This time even that harmless activity turned into a drama as Kai slipped off the back. It was quite the most horrible thing to see his little face as he saw the boat sailing away from him. I mustered some super human strength, dispensing with the winch and pulling in the genoa by hand while Kit brought the boat round for a perfect man overboard rescue. The twins always protest about having to wear their lifejackets - but I think it'll be a little while before I have to fight that battle again!
