Author: Daniel

Important visitors on board: first timers Tabea and Nik, Kathrin’s god son came for a visit and a short boating trip. Unfortunately the weather was really misty with low visibility and no wind. Nevertheless we wanted to give the newcomers to sailing a go, so we pottered around Spitbank Fort in the Solent, just outside Portsmouth Harbour.

Next day a visit to Beaulieu Boat Jumble including the Top Gear Museum. Unfortunately, we arrived late at the Jumble – all the good stuff, e.g. rope already gone (much to Kathrin ‘s delight…) 😉

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This post gets a bit technical – no sailing footage… We decided to go for a big upgrade on Polaris and ordered a Fischer Panda 5000i Neo at the London Boat Show in January – by the way, according to today’s news, the last one…

Apparently, business goes well at Fischer Panda UK and we had quite a lead time. The generator was finally installed in the week after Easter.

Here’s the first impression and test run.

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Defying the mostly awkward weather we spent a great week on Polaris. We hoped to get to France but did not find a suitable window of fair winds and weather so we had to abandon this plan. After a night on anchor at Studland Bay we rounded the Isle of Wight and returned to Haslar Marina where we weathered 3 days of strong winds and rain. Did some cleaning, pontoon bashing and maintenance work and visited Explosion! The Museum of Naval Firepower in Gosport. A walk dow memory lane for the former gunner I am…

Finally, the weather cleared up on Thursday and together with Tom and Clair from Moody Blue we had a nice and calm sail to our favourite place – Newtown River. This beautiful spot is usually fully occupied during the summer months but early in the season it is possible to find a spot, even for a larger boat such as Polaris.

The final leg back to Haslar was against F5-6 winds with a tide running against it. Quite a rocky ride under 2 reefs, but Polaris brought us back safely.

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