Valmik's Adventures: The most relaxing holiday ever

Summary

Early in 2008 I bought a little, old wooden Folkboat called Valmik. I was going to spend a few months on repairs and begin sailing her around Europe, with Australia being the final destination. As my knowledge of boats improved, so did the thoroughness of the restoration. I decided to become very involved in every aspect of construction, doing almost all of the work myself: making my own sails, doing the fit out and all woodwork, splicing my own rig and wiring in the 12 volt electric circuit. Self-reliance, I suppose, is the goal. Follow the link to my photo albums for a detailed documentation of the work and some videos.

For a long time now, I have been striving to achieve my goals and begin an adventure. I had planned to complete a circumnavigation of the UK and Ireland in the summer of 2015 with my wife. Unfortunately, this will not be possible and I went back to work. Valmik is ready to sail, however, and I am finally in a position to start enjoying her for what she was designed for. Of course there is a never ending list of modifications and enhancements with a small section for repairs. I will be sailing as much as possible and documenting my adventures on this blog.

My plan is to build up to a epic solo sailing Adventure.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

The most relaxing holiday ever

we woke up on the 9th day of our holiday feeling good. We cast off and started to turn around on our rope under engine power. The turn went well and we were off heading down stream when we realised the end of the rope was around the prop. We are not sure how this happened as we thought we had pulled it all in, we even took her out of gear whilst the line was close to the prop. Well I was very keen to chuck out the mud weight to slow us down, but Kate said to first try going astern a little to try and throw the line off. It worked and was no hassle at all in the end. A good nice and easy learning experience.

SEE VIDEO

The weather finally seamed to improve today and we were able to enjoy some sunshine without a cold breeze associated with it. Nothing went wrong and every close manoeuvre was slow and smooth. We especially liked Shiplake Lock and it is probably our favourite lock.