Curtains...

After staying on Jorvik Rose overnight a couple of weeks ago, we have been busy making curtains as there is nothing worse than waking up at 5 am with the sun streaming in through the cabin deck hatches! It took a little while to find the right material and we struggled to get the lining as the supplier kept losing it in the post. Eventually we found some thermal blackout lining to use as we still hadn't received the original choice of liner (eventually, two packs turned up!).

We had carefully made a plan for getting best use of the fabric, to be sure we didn't waste too much as we cut panels. Cutting the panels, we used the old curtains as templates, allowing sufficient fabric for the folds at the curtain edges.

Having cut the fabric, it was time to get sewing - another skill that is really useful as a sailor and something I practiced while I was in Switzerland - I spent a winter making bags and winch covers in canvas.

Unfortunately I was a little rusty to begin with and broke several needles, however I got the hang of it again and started churning out curtains.

Curtains in hand, we set out for Lymington to spend a few days onboard. Our plan was to spend some time cleaning and tidying up, especially cleaning and polishing the internal woodwork. It also happened that over the weekend Berthon were hosting a bluewater cruising weekend, so we had the opportunity to attend some seminars, meets some really nice people, make friends and show off Jorvik Rose to people. It was really nice to hear people compliment us about how much they like Jorvik Rose!

As we were going to be onboard for a few days, we also took Tiggy with us - she is our cat that I wrote about in an earlier blog. Once we got her onboard, she started to explore all the cubby holes onboard, in fact anywhere she could fit she explored. Having explored, she soon settled down...

As we were on and off Jorvik Rose quite a bit, Tiggy had the yacht to herself and quickly found a window - we came back one evening to see a small cat face looking out of the porthole at us!

At the bluewater seminar we caught up with Derek from s/y Manketti who we had met previously at a piracy seminar. We also met new friends Maria and Adam from s/y Mariadz - they have two cats, Bonnie and Clyde, onboard so we were in like minded company and enjoyed a few bottles of wine with them aboard Jorvik Rose on Saturday evening!

The next day as we were packing up to leave, Tiggy decided she wanted to explore further and is now climbing the companionway ladder from the saloon up to the cockpit. She is keen to explore further, but we are a bit worried that she will leap off the deck onto the racing yacht next to us!