The morning of Thursday 8th April brings with it uncertainty. The trip to Beaulieu and the Scilly Isles, (which was going to be the proper maiden voyage for Mystere, her new co-owners and crew) had to be abandoned, as the re-fit was unable to be completed in time. Instead… a trip to the not too distant Jersey!

To say Guernsey is supposed to be a “tropical island” (so long as you look in the right holiday brochures that is, live here and the residents will tell you that it’s not all palm trees, white sands, relaxation and cocktail drinking- my view of tropical!) the recent cold weather meant the exterior work on the boats hull was nigh on impossible due to the temperature. The minimum of 5 degrees was far off for several important months on the run up to the boat going back in the water, and when it was above 5 degrees it was pouring down with rain and blowing a gale at the same time, making any sort of outdoor activity more than a challenge!

It should have been apparent from first thing in the morning that the day was not going to go according to plan. To begin with, Dave was still in limbo as to whether he was going to join in or not. With this in mind plans ‘B’ and ‘C’ were devised. Plan B was to go away to Jersey but on Condor and stay in a hotel for a few days and Plan C was to take the boat anyway so as to keep the costs down and not ruin Aidy and Karen’s holiday plans. However, after much gentle persuasion, Dave decided that he too wanted to go on the trip and the plan was now to leave at 12:30 in order to make best use of the tides.

With this in mind, Dave went out shopping to get everything needed for the boat e.g. flares, whilst Shane and Helen had the task of charts, log books and all important…food. After several trips around to various shops all the supplies were purchased and Helen had the task of preparing the lunch for everyone. 2 French loaves cut down into individual rolls. How hard can that be? As the remainder of the morning flew by, time was quickly running out and things became rushed and hectic. Bedding was forgotten by Shane, this meant a return trip from one end of the island to the other with only 30 minutes to do it in, and that included helping Dave and his Dad move the boat cradle (which was still sitting in Dave’s front garden and about to kill off a large patch of grass- cause of death- lack of sunlight!) and picking Helen and the food up on the return trip. By the time Shane reached Helen’s house and everything was literally thrown into the car, time was extremely tight.