our first season

Our first six months on Bandit was spent heads down, bottoms up cleaning, cleaning and cleaning.  We scrubbed and polished her until she gleamed.  In fact one local sailor at the marina came past one day and told us he simply didn't recognise the boat.  She was in a pretty sad state when we bought her, but by April she (and we) was raring to go.  Our first few days sailing up the Spanish coast was interesting as we got used to her - David's first attempt to "Mediterranean style" berth was heart in mouth stuff.  Luckily son Ryan was also on board so there was an extra pair of hands to help.

We reached the Balearics just in time to meet David's sister Susi, husband Tim and daughter Briony who were joining us for a few days.  From the Balearics we headed to Corsica where Nick and Jock Clouston sailed with us to Sardinia and then it was Jimma Dillon's turn.  It was an incredibly busy season as in August we had Zak and Helen Ensor, who joined us in Sicily and sailed with us to Greece, then in September Jenny and John Oswald, Stephanie Maraz and Brenda's son Sam.  We spent the time with them in the beautiful Ionian Sea.

We visited some stunning spots and it was wonderful to be back in the beautiful Greek Islands.  Both David and Brenda had been there in the 1970s.....so there was catching up to do - on ouzo, Greek yoghurt and memories!

Bandit spent the winter in Preveza while we headed to the UK to become Animal Aunts - looking after the houses and pets of the wealthy while they holidayed.  A fantastic first season