It's all getting very very real.

So since my last post we have been very very busy. Laurin was put in the water and we were looking forward to taking the 3 cousins for a few days sailing.

The launch went well and the 5 kids in total worked hard to load supplies onto Laurin and help tidy her up. The next day we planned to take up the rest of the supplies and be joined by Patrick straight from work.

Unfortunately AJ had a bit of a cold and had a very restless night. As his breathing seemed a bit laboured I booked him in to see the doctor before spending a few days on board. Once at the doctors I was informed that he needed to go to hospital, and then that they were calling an ambulance for him.... and there was only space for me and not 4 additional kids! A few panicked phone calls later and my good friend Lizzy appeared at the Dr's and took the kids to her house until Patrick could get back from work to pick them up.

2 days later AJ was discharged and we tried to salvage what was left of the holiday. Moving the boat from Fambridge to Burnham we heard a strange noise from the prop shaft and promptly sailed the rest of the way, only using the engine to get into the marina. AJ did a fantastic job of using the VHF to inform the harbourmaster that we may have difficulties... proud mummy moment! Luckily my brother was on board so we could do some investigations while under way and established that the prop shaft was not slipping and the Morse seemed to be working ok. Our current thinking is that the rope cutter that we fitted may have slipped or perhaps the clearance may not have been enough... we were right on the limit. In any case further investigation is required and probably a lift out. Given that we now need to concentrate on moving out of the house, and that the cost of a lift out goes down in June, we have shelved that problem for now.