Cameras, autopilots, Toddlers and off to Lymington

Paul, the very nice Maricom man came along to Bucklers Hard to finish off the camera install. That was lucky as he also helped troubleshoot the strange new autopilot behaviour. The problem seemed to be from the flybridge follow-up lever:

as the system ran happily for ages on the berth with that disconnected. Connected, using either of the autopilot black boxes (yes, we have two and two hydraulic pumps in the system) the system would suddenly power down and not restart. We can prove or disprove the point on our next trip.

The camera system has great quality images and a recording facility. Also excellent low or no light capability too. So we are very happy with the new kit overall. Being able to see the images on the flybridge plotter will make some berthing manoeuvres much simpler. 

It became legal to host folks on board and so we had a visit from the Toddlers for lunch - their first escape from the house for a meal out since lockdown #1. All very strange how suddenly it begins to feel normal to do such things again after months of high infection rates and tight restrictions. Then we had to do some plotting with Andrew and Linda about when to leave Bucklers Hard. You need plenty of tide height to get over the bar at the entrance to the river and also one that forms just downriver of the village. High tide was just before 4am... If we waited for the afternoon high then it was going to be pretty windy and a late arrival in Lymington. Yup, you guessed it, a 4:30 alarm call. Naturally we were wide awake well before that. As it was light and we were all members of the wide awake club, a very early departure was enjoyed. 

The river was beautifully peaceful - no other idiots were out and about at that ungodly hour. The new camera on the stack saw it like this:

only without the funny lines that the camera causes when taking a picture of the screen. The plotter sees it more like:

We just sat in the pilothouse and enjoyed the view. 

Arriving in Lymington before 7am was novel. Nobody in the harbour office so we just picked a spot and went to get some more sleep. After recovering a little, the Bromptons were exhumed from the lazarette and the four of us cycled to Milford-on-sea. We mentioned ages ago whilst hosting Andrew and Linda in Scotland that together with the crew, they were the "Berghaus triplets" - all wearing the rather nice branded jackets. Well this time we were the Berghaus triplets and the Brompton Quads. The quartet of folding bikes did prompt a few comments.

The lighthouse in Milford provided a most enjoyable light lunch. If sharing a baked camembert could be called light. 

As there was a little weather window, Andrew and Linda decided to head back home to Weymouth around 10pm. Their departure was just as darkness was falling:

and as you can see, a ferry got in the way. 

Nordhavn departures are rather stately activities:

It felt strange to be alone again - almost like being back in lockdown.