Eastbourne - 50° 47' 28" N 00° 19' 34" E

Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne

After a gloriously sunny downwind sail from Dover, we nipped through the lock and into the marina at Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne.  It was even warm enough for sundowners in the cockpit.  Just magic.  With the forecast for warm weather over the next few days, we abandoned our plans to continue onto Portsmouth, content to explore around Eastbourne.

Some wild weather hits this coast.  

We rode into Eastbourne proper and explored the seafront and the town.  Quite the fancy resort back in the day, Victorian hotels line the seafront and, like any good resort town, boasts a pier and a bandstand. The pebbly beach stretches for over six kilometres and the erosion protection gives a hint of the type of weather that is experienced at times.

Very typical English seaside resort

At the marina office, we saw a notice advertising a talk by the RNLI on 'How to be towed by the RNLI'.  This is something we hope never to require but as it's always fun to mingle with the locals, we attended the presentation.  As with these things, there is always something to learn.  We had a couple of takeaways:

• When you advise potential rescuers of your lat/long, be sure it's where you are and not where your chartplotter cursor is!
• And always write down these useful titbits so you don't forget them!

Presentation hosted by the Sovereign Harbour Berth Holders Association. 
And yes, the bar was open!

Boat life does include doing some boat jobs - life is not always champagne and sunsets!  But we view it similarly to maintaining a house.  There is always something to be done, it's just that not keeping up with maintenance has somewhat differing consequences on a boat. So, under the sunny skies of Eastbourne, we set to work.

Some jobs are really fun, like setting up our new Code Zero (which is sold by Elvstrom Sailmakers as a Code Permanent Hoist).  Chinook is set up with relatively small headsails and she is a fairly heavy boat.  So in light winds, our boat speed is slow and we slop around at the whim of the sea.  A Code Zero is a large, light-weight headsail that will give us extra sail area at many points of sail which will allow us to go faster in light winds.  The sail is set up on a furling system (as are our other headsails) making it an easy sail to deploy and douse.

Chinook sporting her new Code Zero - the sail most forward on the bowsprit
(this photo is taken with a wide angle so that's why it looks a bit odd!)

Some jobs are rather nerve-wracking like servicing the winches.  We have four winches aboard Chinook and they love a little cleaning and grease periodically.  The job itself is not the concern, it's the number of small parts that can easily go 'plop' into the water to be lost to the sea forever. It's always with great care we pull the winches apart!

There are a LOT of small parts to lose over the side

Safety net in place so the bits don't go "Kerplunk!"

We did outsource one job that has been lingering around for a while.  We cannot put the bag mount on Sean's bike because one of the grub screws had seized.  All attempts with different screwdrivers, WD40 and the like had failed.  So it was decided that a bike mechanic was required.

See? We do go inland occasionally.

Before we left Chinook with our steeds, we googled "Bike Repair Eastbourne" and read the reviews.  One chap had excellent reviews including one that heralded his "extremely quick, helpful and very reasonable" service. As we only planned to be in town for a few days, this chap seemed like the one we wanted to deal with.

Grant and his enviable tool bench

The owner/operator of Elmo's Cycle Repairs was Grant, a amicable fella who was a self-confessed "Fred in a Shed" - a more-and-more common style of employment in the UK. He had worked for bigger bike shops in the past, but setting up his own shed seemed to suit him better. His spaniel, Chewy, (sorry, we didn't take pictures of the pupper) was available to entertain us while Grant worked on the Brompton.

With a full shop of tools, including drills and tap sets, it still took him 2 hours to remove the culprit.  Vindication!

We met a lovely couple, Ben and Helen, on their (new to them) Southerly named Arctic Tern.  It is always fun checking out other people's boats and hearing their stories.

Pedalling towards the Eastborne pier and promenade.  Kate has the front bag this time.

We are finding our sturdy, now-interchangeable (front bag-wise) Bromptons a great way to explore ... and restore some fitness. 

As much fun as arriving in a new place (marina or anchorage) by boat is, there is great satisfaction in getting to the local store or making your way to the town centre or attractions.  Having bikes means we can get to these places the way an increasing number of the locals do.  Bike paths are certainly well developed in most European towns and cities.  Bicycles are not just for recreation in Europe and so bike paths can (and do) take the locals from home to school and from work to shopping.

Sadly no swimming allowed! (What an awesome pool it would make)
This is part of the development around the marina.

Once our weather window opens, we will be out in the English Channel once again, dodging freighters and tankers, on our way to Cherbourg.