A FRESH START
Heidi Hasler gets to know her new Sealine F380 despite the frustrations of Covid restrictions
Four years ago we took Chilaxin through the French Canals to Mallorca and back to mainland Spain. It seems like such a long time ago. So many happy memories, amazing places and people that we met along the way. A few things have changed since that journey.
In 2019 we had local adventures along the South Coast of Devon and Dorset and decided that for our next adventures a slightly bigger boat would be required. Then at the end of August we had a call about an F380 in the
Lake District so we went up to see this unloved five-year-old boat. She had tree saplings growing on her decks and the original plastic on the beds, yet despite this, we knew she was going to become our new Chilaxin – the boat that was going to take us on longer journeys.
Our new Sealine was dropped off at Darthaven and she had a few weeks of TLC to bring her back up to scratch. She had not been serviced so we treated her to a full service, changed the belts, seals, oil, plus a deep hull polish by Coast Marine. I tackled the inside and attempted to remove all the spiders that had piggybacked a free lift to Devon!
At the end of November Chilaxin of Brixham arrived in the marina and we had two fabulous boats sitting side by side! By January, the original Chilaxin had a new owner and was heading to Torquay for her first year and then on through the canals of France – her new owner had seen our Youtube videos and wanted to do the same trip. In 2021, she made that trip with her new family and now lives in the South of France.
2020 was a little different for us. Work just got in the way and easterly winds prevented us from going very far – however, we did make it to a few of our favourite places locally and got used to having a bigger boat and a flybridge. Then obviously we had the original lockdown and the most amazing weather for boating but were not permitted to make the most of it. By the time we were released it was madness out on the water and trying to book into places was a struggle. Last year was not much better and our planned adventure to head to Ireland to catch up with Ella, who we met on the French rivers, then continuing to Norway were put on hold.
Instead we had easterly after easterly, some bad luck and I had to bring Chilaxin from Salcombe back to Brixham without Kev. I did have a friend onboard to keep me company, however, when you are so used to cruising with someone you get used to knowing how you work together, almost to the point of not having to speak to each other. It was a lovely trip back, with dolphins and beautiful skies.
During the summer we spent a lot of time in Dartmouth, a couple of trips to Weymouth and one lovely evening in Lyme Regis.
We hope that this year will be a much better one – Chilaxin will be out at the end of the month for a full service, polish and antifoul. Luckily she will only be out for about a week and then the fun will begin!
We are still planning our big Norwegian trip and would also like to undertake the Great Loop of America in a couple of years time. However, for this year the Yealm, Falmouth, Isles of Scilly and other closer-tohome places will be our chosen cruising ground.