ARC Bluewater Open day

Having spent almost 3 weeks hanging around the Isle of Wight catching up with cousins Lee & Julie who are also keen sailors, & a 2 day visit to Portsmouth once again to catch up with friends Lesley & Graham and Jeremy on Right Turn, it was time to head down to Lymington and take our place in Berthons marina ready for the ARC blue water open day on the 10th June.

As mentioned previously, this event brings together like minded cruisers, some dreamers, planners and those getting ready to cross an ocean who can chat informally with those that have actually done it.

We were advised by Jeremy Wyatt from the world cruising club that it would be a busy day (7 hours) but Caroline, Charlotte & I were amazed just how busy it was !!! The girls started off in the main marquee with other skippers and unbeknown to me they had a non stop flow of visitors eager to chat including a couple who were hovering about waiting to grab a chair as soon as they could. It turned out they had just bought a Beneteau 473 and were very excited to see us there having done exactly what they are planning! Their enthusiasm was great to see and I’m sure we’ll see them in the future around the Mediterranean!

I stayed onboard to talk and show anyone around Silhouette, which for the first 20 minutes was slow with only a couple coming onboard. Then the floodgates opened with streams arriving to look at the “Open boats” and the queues to get onboard began. In hindsight I think I should’ve made a note of some names etc so we all apologise if we don’t mention you personally in this update. I was so happy to meet you all & discuss things with you where you shared your stories with me and showed genuine interest in our story. Both Caroline & Charlotte tried numerous times to get back onboard to give me a hand but the queues were such that they couldn’t 😂

To finish this section off I have to tell you all about a couple who came onboard who in my opinion epitomise the desire to be blue water sailors. They told me that they wanted a better life so have sold everything, house etc, & ordered a new Lagoon 42 catamaran which is a beautiful boat. They were living in a Travel Lodge hotel for the last 4 months as it was the only place that would accept their cat & are now in an Airbnb until they are handed their boat next month. In my opinion they are inspirational in that they have fully committed to the life. Once again I didn’t get their details (🤦🏻‍♂️) but hope they get in touch again so we can see their journey begin.

A very busy but thoroughly enjoyable day ended with a few drinks & another chat with other very interesting visitors including a young couple just beginning their journey. “good luck to you all”.

So now with this our only commitment ended it’s time to head off west & south to look once again for blue waters…..