Oli

Use Firefox and you'll wonder why you ever considered IE. http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/new/

Welcome on ours too Tom - I'm sure between Neal and I we can get a nice long list of pros and cons! Oli

Have an excellent trip guys, very jealous!

Hi Adam, I'll check with the rest of the crew but I'm pretty sure we'll be very game for that. Oli

10/0 - That big is it? Not what I heard!!! How did I know when I saw you'd replied it would be along those lines Rob!! Kinda set myself up for that

Haha Charlie play nice and I'll promise not to put my 10/0 anywhere near you

Oh I don't know Neal, looks as though it would put up a pretty good fight with a 10/0 in it

Put one of those on my hook PLEASE Rob

Charlie, plan is to have a day flattie hunting. I know the Shambles will be easy to work out but what about these legendary plaice mussel beds? Would be lovely to try and find some tope action maybe on slack if there's spots nearby? Next day would ideally be wrecking, am I right in thinking there's a decent ling wreck that way? Thanks mate Oli

Just an update on this. We're now planning on Weymouth instead of Alderney unless the main trip is postponed til the last weekend of the month. Plan will be: Early start Sat 28/5, straight to fish Shambles Saturday night and Sunday night in Weymouth, returning to Poole Monday 30th. Any and all are welcome to buddy along, would be good to have some company! Having never done the trip before it would be much appreciated if anyone has any tips/numbers as though I do have about 5 marks, I've never been there to verify them (though I gather we just follow the crowd). Also, I'm planning on staying on board at Weymouth quay so I'm close to town, if anyone has any pros or cons regarding that it would also be great to hear them - as well as recommendations close by for a B&B for the rest of the crew! Thanks Oli

Thought I'd start this just in case there are others who are unable to make the main Alderney trip but do want to go another time (or of course for the hardcore that want to visit twice in a fortnight). As per usual one of my closest and extremely unreasonable mates has decided to get married the weekend of this year's trip (I have already instructed my wife to be that when it's our turn next year, the whole of May is banned unless she wants it on the island) so the crew of Sweet Chariot plan to voyage across the channel two weeks later (the bank holiday weekend). We aim to depart Poole the morning of Friday 27th May and return Monday 30th May and would really like to do it with at least one other boat and of course - the more the merrier. Anyone fancy it? Oli

It's a sad state of affairs that I'm genuinely shocked that absolutely the right decision was made for a change! Great result indeed

Duncan, absolutely brilliant - thank you so much for taking the time to write all of that. Now I've just got to get down to Poole again to go through it all thoroughly. Thanks for the number Charlie, I'm going to give him a shout. Will report back!

Hi Tom, We did talk about this, but it's dry down there, and the bilges are dry all the time too so I'm pretty sure it's above the waterline. Charlie, skylights and windows have been checked - we did have one which was leaky so we thought we'd found the problem. As it was never used we totally sealed it with silicone. Nothing now comes in there but unfortunately we still have the problem. The surveyor sounds ideal - I was thinking we should really have a full boat survey done before the warranty expires so we can get anything fixed, is it the sort of thing a surveyor should find? Any idea what such a service costs? Thanks again all

Thanks Dave, interesting that you have it too - Neal advised that he also knows a couple of people who have had water come in when the boat flexes and eventually needed to have the joint fibreglassed from the inside to stop it. I'm really keen to get this resolved while still under warranty - does anyone know if this is the sort of thing that a boat surveyor would find? Graham, the problem is I can't seem to make water come in myself - it's only when we're ploughing through some fairy rough seas that we actually get anything come in, but it's quite a bit when it does...

Didn't think of that Martin - it does come in next to the toilet too! Rob, would you mind being our taster?

Thanks for such quick replies guys. Definitely salt water. The fresh water tank is on the port side, under the deck and about half way along the length of the boat and the water seems to come in on the starboard side up at the front the cabin and then trickle down on to the seat and on to the floor where it collects in a puddle by the toilet door.

As a few of you know, since purchasing the Arvor 250, we've occasionally had a problem whereby water runs inside to the cabin and collects on the cabin floor. Needless to say the first time this happened, on our maiden voyage, we were more than a little alarmed, however with time we realised that this is only an intermittent problem, and only occurs when we have rough weather, suggesting the hole or crack is above the waterline. The boat is still under warranty, but we have to find the hole to get it fixed - so my question is how? We have around a year left on the warranty, so intended on having a boat surveyor to give her a checkup before that expired so we could get any problems fixed, but having never used one before - are unsure if this is the sort of thing they would look for? As recommended by the supplier, Essex Boatyards, we have run a hose all over the bow (where the water seems to enter) and found that the bow porthole was leaking and of course thought we'd solved the problem by sealing this shut with silicone. It was only months later when we went out in rough weather again that we realised this hadn't cured the problem. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this soon, as it's pretty unnerving when water starts seaping in mid-channel! Thanks all in advance. Oli

Happy birthday Martin. Oli and Nick

Absolutely, and the two work very well together, I have a virtually identical unit (the M121) and the set up was very straightforward - as he said, just plug and play (once we'd managed to get the cable through the cabin roof!).

We purchased the Northstar BB radar last May and I must say, though we haven't been out on the boat nearly as much as intended over the last year, my experience of it has been fantastic. The detail at close range is brilliant - it can pick out birds on the water and all sorts. Like a few have said, we weren't so much interested in whether there was a container ship 15 miles away as we were if there was a pratt in a sunseeker two miles off heading straight for us at 25 knots. Having had the fog come in very quickly before with the Condor bearing down I know it can be a very scary situation and with the annual Alderney trip and plans to spend more time mid-channel we were set that we would need some sort of radar system. I would thoroughly recommend the one we went for. The GPS overlay is great too and has many excellent uses

Sweet Chariot definitely keen! Oli

What you get up to in private is none of my business

Hi all, Just to make you aware, Mark's B&B (The Fishermen's Rest) is now free for the weekend of the intended trip as due to us being unavailable. If you're looking for somewhere on the island to stay - you can't get better than here! Fingers crossed for a weather window a fortnight after. Oli

don't get gutted - worst case is that the weather is brilliant, the fishing fantastic and you have to read a whole lot of stunning catch reports...........but of course it won't happen like that. Thanks Duncan, that's made me feel loads better - what an absolute treat!! Adam, that sounds great. Pretty much any other date suits me. I may try and leave the groom in Berlin on the stag do, but if that fails then we'll definitely have to miss the weekend of the 14th. I see Fri 29th April is now the Royal wedding so that's now a Bank holiday for all too