scrap Lowestoft!

Just looked at the tides.... Don't fancy an 01h00 start both ends..... its not that I don't mind a bit of a night sail, its just that I also like my sleep! So.... We are going to head south towards Brightlingsea instead on Saturday morning, and then a gentle potter back towards Walton on Sunday, where we will anchor up at Stone Point, and then a BBQ on Monday..... the forecast looks quite good at this long range... but its still 6 days away, so not getting my hopes up too high..... Given that Maggie has proved a real family hit, and to say that everyone is enjoying the sailing is an understatement, we are keen to accelerate our plans to look at a newer boat..... We spent an hour or two last night listing out all the 'must haves' and 'would likes' in a new boat..... using this, we trawled the spec sheets, and created a short list of boats that may well be in our price range..... narrowed it down to 8 'possibles' for us to look at when we visit Southampton Boat Show....Hanse 342Bavaria 37Legend 36 and 38Jeanneau SO 32 and 35Beneteau Oceanis Clipper 343Dufour 365This list is only based on features....it doesn't yet take into account build quality, or sailing performance, and is based a bit upon guess work regarding the price.... we'll assess the build quality with a looksy, ask the prices, and then ask for test sails on the (heavily revised?) list... Don't know why we are getting so excited, as we won't have the deposit until the spring at the earliest, and may not even feel like we can afford it then.... No harm in being prepared... we might win the lottery!