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Welcome to our 2012 Tripsailor blog, by now you will have had an opportunity to read our late update blog for our 2011 sailing season. The blog is a single entry over-view of our short sailing programme; hence it is presented as a single entry.

However, we hope that you will find it interesting. For those friends who are members of PSC you will have received an extended version with photographs as our contribution to the Autumn/winter newsletter… Unfortunately due to internet capacity it has not been possible to include those photographs in this edition.   

We are pleased to report that the family situation in the UK has improved and Son in Law Chris has started to make real progress in his recovery, he is able to walk and is interacting far more with his family, we are so proud of him and the progress that he has made.

Caroline has astounded us with the depth of her courage demonstrated throughout the adversity of the past months. Often alone, she continues to anchor her family and fight their corner against a system that does not always cater for young families who face the trauma that they have faced over the past 14months.

The children, ‘Meghan’ is a typical 10 year old who tries hard to help but often falls foul of her mother has continued to do well at school achieving the heist possible marks in English for her age, Izabella is a delightful 2 ½ year old, her placid demeanour helps her cope with this strange environment, she is a ray of sunshine and baby Noah, is a happy and contented little boy who spends his day smiling. We are proud of all our families’ achievements.

Given the improvements in the family circumstances we have decided that we are able to venture further afield.

Our winter was spent in the rented house we took last year; it is comfortable and meets our domestic needs during the winter months.

In early autumn we were graced by a visit from Fred and Pat, close friends from the UK and my cousins John and Anne who helped us explore the area and drink some good bottles of wine, a visit to the Dali museum in Figures we are grateful to them for their visits and hope that they enjoyed their visits as much as we did,. We hope they can come back to see us again in the near future.

Work on Fandango was not completed as diligently as it should have and whilst essential maintenance was prioritised prior to Christmas other planned work was not, leaving me in a mad rush to complete the work before we departed Gruissan for our short sabbatical in Spain. A lesson learned for the future.

During the winter we spent time with friends Peter and Joyce, and Gary and Markuss. We were pleased to meet up with Brenda and Norman when they paid a short visit to Gruissan.

We have enjoyed a number of planned and unexpected visits (in both directions) with new friends Bob and Julie-Anne and son Toby. It is strange how now it feels we have known them forever. They have made us feel most welcome and of course are most welcome with us.

With the holding tank finally fitted to Fandango during the spring, we plan to leave Gruissan in early May (weather permitting) and coast hop down the Spanish coast crossing to the Balearics from the mainland.

During the summer we intend to continue work on our French language course, so ably presented by our friend Annette, a French speaking Dutch lady who owns a very nice concrete yacht in the nearby marina. For many years she sailed their home completed yacht around the world with her French born husband,  ‘John Marie’, before he became ill and sadly passed away.

We are indebted to her for her patience and time contributed to our struggle to learn the French language with humour and kindness.

We will post updates whenever we have news and hope you enjoy our blog of 2012.

Chris and Chris.