Jingle Bells...

Xmas 2011
Ho ho ho and a very merry Christmas to one and all from the good ship “Coolchange”...

Yes for those that haven’t been keeping up with the play we have abandoned the good life in New Zealand and subjected ourselves to the rigours of sailing in Europe for the foreseeable future aboard the sailing vessel “Coolchange”.

The story in brief so far is…

We arrived home after selling our last yacht “Key West” in Lefkas, Greece and proceeded to settle down to some farming only to decide we had had enough of alpacadom and longed for the life on the ocean waves so after attempting to “sell up and sail” (unsuccessful in today’s climate - two offers to buy the place were scuppered by the banks saying no to loans) we resorted to “lease up to the neighbours” and go anyway!!
So off to the market for all the alpacas and a mad dash was made to tidy the place up, make it rent proof, jab and paperwork poor Bramble and stuff all the belongings we couldn’t part with into a 20 x 6m container.
Having achieved this mighty feat in less than six months we then made a break for the UK while the going was good to seek out a yacht for said adventure. After travelling far and wide and from one end of the UK to the other; braving the high winds and driving rain of Scotland, mad motorways of the south and all roads in between, we finally found “Coolchange” tucked away in the back eddy of Preston(who would have guessed it but Preston does have a marina!). As a Bavaria 40 ocean centre cockpit she sort of looks like a Hallberg Rassey but costs a third of the price! There will be some tut tutting from a few in the know regarding the Bavaria name but truth be told she is from an era when they still used enough fibreglass to maintain hull shape etc  and with wall to wall wood and teak she is more strongly built than a lot of the yachts we looked at. Anyway just the aft cabin would win over most with its full head room and king sized snuggler!!

And so we set off for the summer down the coast of England and Wales and across the Irish sea to Ireland before returning to Wales and England finally ending up where we are now in Chichester Marina. Its been approximately 1500nm of sailing in some amazing waters. We have been becalmed in sunshine and fog, bejeezered in force 8’s and huge waves and everything in between. Med sailing it certainly isn’t but intriguing none the less!!

As to adventures along the way you can read up on them in our blog “coolchangenz.blogspot.com” or, again in brief; the north west coast of England was pretty bleak and the west and south a mix of amazing, slowly moving through to nice and expensive. Wales was very pretty, windy, tidal and cold. Ireland was magical and full of fun; she provided endless sources of entertainment and excitement as well as having every weather condition under the sun! We’ve sailed and sailed and walked and walked and thoroughly enjoyed the summer even when Bramble dislocated her leg and has to have emergency vet assistance in Kinsale!
So all in all the adventure so far has been a resounding success and long may it continue!!

Next years very loose plan is to continue around the east coast of England anticlockwise to Scotland; head either through the Caledonian Canal or round the top. Spend the summer on the west coast of Scotland and then meander our way back down the British Isles before nipping across to France to possibly over winter in the French Canals somewhere before proceeding down to the Med the next spring. Phew sounds easy when you say it like that! Somewhere in that plan Cate intends on taking two weeks out to walk a bit of the Camino trail in France/Spain with Sonya and Sonya intends on revisiting her love of sailing and join us for a couple of weeks after her completion of said trail… all that and more to look forward to that’s for sure!!

But first we have to make it through our first winter in four years in what is currently dreary rainy West Sussex… thank goodness the boat has heating, 2 TVs/DVD player, electric blanket etc etc!!
Chichester seems a nice place and the marina is lovely. Very peaceful and plenty of walking, bike riding and pubs to go at so we certainly shouldn’t suffer from boredom!

Anyway we hope you all have a lovely Christmas no matter where you are and a very jolly New Year… we will stay in touch…

Lots of Love…