Well, it is just over 5 weeks to go and I am starting to get excited!

The planning is mostly now complete with just a few bits and pieces to do but I have now pretty much settled on stop off ports, passage planning and risk assessment and unless something else comes to light they will not now change.

I am starting to get the boat prepared now. Liferaft, EPIRB, Fire Extinquishers, Scramble ladder, throwline etc are all here and some bits need fitting. I also have a Sea-Me radar Target Enhancer to fit too. In the next week or two the RNLI MOB Guardian will be fitted.

A week or two before the off I will get the main and aux engines serviced along with the putting together of a spares and tools pack for the trip.

Finally, with a week to go I will start loading and packing ready for the off, weather permitting, on 24th May.

I am still some way short of the funding so if you or anyone you know wants to be involved and could sponsor a leg please get in touch. See the Sponsorship page for more details.

Plans continue to take shape. I have now completed all of the details passage planning and as a result of that planning I have made some changes to the plan.

Leg 16 Hartlepool to Hull

I have split this leg into two:

- 16a Hartlepool to Scarborough
- 16b Scarborough to Hull

I have also added an additional 3 night stop off at Scarborough… it has a active fishing fleet and has one of the oldest RNLI stations in the country with over 200 years as a lifeboat station… I simply had to stop here.

Leg 17 Hull to Lowestoft

Again, I have split this into two legs:

- 17a Hull to Wells-next-the-Sea
- 17b Wells-next-the-Sea to Lowestoft

It seemed such a shame to whiz past this beautiful part of the country and so I have chosen to stop off at Wells but just for one night.

Humber Area

This is a huge area. In fact, the Hull Marina is over 20 miles up the Humber! I felt that by just staying in Hull I was neglecting Grimsby and so I have decided to sop at both for two nights. This will give both Hull and Grimsby fishing fleet to see the MOB Guardian system and I get to visit both of these interesting places.

I haven’t yet amended the Itinerary but it will get done over the next week or so.

I have changed the stop off port for leg 1 from Penzance to Newlyn.

Firstly Newlyn has H24 access making my arrival/departure times much easier and I am hoping that I will get to meet many people to demo MOB Guardian.

Newlyn and Penzance are so close it has made almost no difference to the passage plan/fuel requirements.

I am well into writing the general risk assessment that covers all aspects of the trip that is not specific to a particular leg…

I have started adding links to local information about each stop off point. Harbour and marina details, information about the town etc.

They will all be added over the next week or so.

I have been informed that Larne is not accepting leisure craft this year so I have changed the Northern Ireland leg to Bangor. It make the 2 legs from Douglas to Port Ellen more even anyway.

All plans have now been reworked, renumbered and are looking much better.

Many of the east coast legs have remained the same with an option to stop or refuel. I have done that so that if the weather is good I can continue on to my preferred stop off point.

The entire passage is now:

Total Passage Plan Distance: 1549NM

Total Planned stops: 25

Total Planned days on passage: 57 excluding extra time in port for weather

I will renumber the legs when I am more certain of the route.

I said that the initial plans were 1st-cut didn’t I…? Already things are changing. As a result of advice from many of the good folks on the YBW.com Motor Boat Forum (thanks for all your input guys… keep it coming) I am considering doing some of the original legs in 2 hops. It will make each leg less of a challenge for both the boat and me!

My plans will change frequently in these very early stages so look back regularly and watch it develop.

I have now completed outline passage plans for all 16 Legs of the trip.

At this stage these are just first-cut plans and may well change as the plan develops but at least they are a proof of concept… I can do it!

Fuel will be interesting. I can get fuel at all stops but at many of them, in fact the majority, I will have to refule with cans from a local road petrol station. I will have plenty of time at each stop so this in itself in not going to be a problem.

Don’t forget that you can discuss/comment on each leg in the forums. I am counting on it!

Nearly half way with the basic passage planning. 7 legs taking me to Fort William and the start of the Caledonian Canal are now up and loaded to the web site.

Planning so far has gone quite smoothly with no real hiccups. Fuel is generally available although by cans and car in some places but providing that it is available that is not a problem. I still have to determine where I will be berthed in Fort William so if you have any ideas please let me know through the forum.

This leg is 120 miles and is over 7 hours so I will need very good weather as I will not be able to afford to slow down to hull speed for too long. Also, timing my passage around the south of Kintyre and also through the gap at the top of the Sound of Jura will be very important.

Look out over the next couple of days for the southward journey.