I’ve continued to reside in sunny Salcombe for a the last couple of weeks, but hopefully this will be at an end soon.
Regular readers will know that I began having issues with my chart plotter since leaving the Isle of Wight in April.
After troubleshooting the entire system in Portland, all of which ended up with the familiar issue of turning itself off after around an hour, I set about finding a Raymarine dealership and service agent as I continued my sailing adventures.
Justifying a warranty claim
I ended up taking the plotter to Darthaven marina just before Easter. They tested the chart plotter only to confirm what I already knew. Raymarine then decided they wanted the unit sent back to them for testing before they would admit to anything. Of course their tests have apparently come up with the same result as everyone else … there’s a surprise. No one seems to trust the customer these days. I guess that’s no surprise given the seemingly unscrupulous nature of large parts of our modern society.
So now it’s some 3 1/2 weeks after I sent to chart plotter in. Now I’m here waiting for a replacement to arrive at Darthaven Marina. Then I can collect it and finally start to move forward again with my grand adventure.
Of course I have to accept that there has been two bank holiday weekends in this time, including the four day Easter break. I know bank holidays were just normal working days when I worked in healthcare, but that doesn’t mean they are to everybody else. Still, there is an end in sight now finally.
If I had known things were going to take this long I would have arranged to have the boat taken out of the water for her annual cleaning and antifouling. As it is, this is still a job on the “to do” list. But we’ll have to see when and where that finally happens.
Sunny Salcombe
While I’ve been waiting I’ve been enjoying all that Salcombe has to offer. And after three weeks here I really have seen everything the town has to offer! My stay has had its moments.
I went ashore last Saturday, as I left the harbour taxi dock the place seemed to erupt in cheers and applause. The young couple who had quite obviously just married had decided to walk to their reception through the centre. The applause and cheers clearly made the bride blush even more. I’m not sure if this is a local tradition, but the entire wedding party (minus a few more elderly guests who managed to arrange transport) walked behind the bride and groom. If it isn’t a tradition then it should be. The entire place seemed to join in the celebration as they passed, locals and visitors alike.
Then there was the Salcombe Crab Fest. The annual celebration of anything and everything Salcombe. This started off as a celebration of the reportedly world renowned crab fisheries based here. It has grown into a sprawling celebration and charity fundraising event that takes over the entire town.
Anyway, hopefully I will be moving on next week. Salcombe’s been lovely, and I’d highly recommend it, but there’s only so much you can do in small town with no transport.
