Talatasha chapter 2

High tide was at 5:30am so after a few beers it was time to get some shut eye, it would be an early start for us as we wanted to make sure we would have plenty of water underneath us on our maiden voyage down the channel. The accommodation inside a Janus 22ft catamaran is hardly spacious to say the least, so bedding down for the night was somewhat cosy, a bit like trying to get two people into the same sleeping bag but (hey we are brothers) some how we managed to get a bit of sleep. It was pitch black when I woke, I popped my head out of the hatch and scrambled out on to the deck, it took a moment to absorb the still and silent eeriness of the creek, it had that coldness about it like a shiver down your spine, but the excitement of spending the next two days sailing around Plymouth Sound soon replaced that hesitant feeling and the hang over we both had. The tide was already on its way out so with haste we slipped the mooring and made our way out and down the creek. We cautiously navigated down the channel, with my brother on the bow illuminating potential hazards with his thousand watt torch he had bought on e-Bay, soon we were passing South Down Marina. Dawn was breaking as we entered the Tamar, finally we were in familiar surroundings and heading out through the passage between Drakes Island and Mount EdgcumbeIt was early in the morning when we arrived at Cawsands and we were both in need of some sustenance, the sun was out and it was a glorious morning, so we pulled up on the beach and had a well deserved breakfast at the Cawsands bay hotel. Back on board we discussed the work that was needed on the boat and any modifications that could be done to improve the comfort and performance. But as the weekend unfolded it became more apparent that things were worse than we expected we planned to spend the next two days sailing around the Plymouth sound. It was not long before the was ringing from concerned family and friends , we arranged to pick them up from Mount Battern Marina, out kids were excited about the new adventure and we spent the day taking our guest for trips around the sound . We had tried to make the boat as presentable as possible but you could clearly see the shock on there faces when we pulled in to the Quay side, I don't think they could see the potential as I did but they were most surprised to see how she performed. The boat was due to come out of the water on the Monday morning at Plymouth Marine Centre in Plymstock , by Saturday evening we were both shattered so we decided to leave her on a mooring for the night. The next day feeling somewhat refreshed we prepared her for the lift , removing as much weight from her as possible.