Did We Really Do That?

Whilst on holiday on one occasion in Matts Grandparent's mobile home, in Hythe, we found a large inflatable dinghy. We also found a car cigarette-lighter powered pump for it, and a hand pump.
We decided that it would be a good laugh to take the boat to the sea side and have a muck about.
There was only one problem.....
Matts car (a MK1 Fiesta in a sexy shade of, well, Peanut butter) didn't have the optional Cigarette lighter fitted. We tried the hand pump, but soon realised that it would take approx 6 years to fill the boat, and decided there needed to be a way of filling it using the electric pump.
Somehow we managed to bodge the pump to the car's battery, and filled the boat up quite quickly.
Next problem. It would now NO WAY fit into the car. DAMN.
solution.... we let out some of the air, and rammed it into the car through the boot. The car was totally full of boat and us two, but we only needed to top up the air with the hand pump when we got there now! result!

We arrived at Dymchurch, parked the car, and Prised ourselves, and the boat from the crammed Fiesta.
Next we topped up the air in the boat, and fitted the stopper.
WAHEY!!!
The boat was thrown into the sea, and we both eagerly jumped in, and paddled for all we were worth out to sea. Surely France couldn't be THAT far????
About 15 mins or so into our sailing holiday, we noticed the boat was , well, SINKING!!!! it turns out we were sinking very rapidly, in fact. There was one very good reason for this. There wasn't a stopper in the boat any more!

It very quickly became apparent that we had no choice but to abandon ship!

Both of us abandoned ship, fully clothed in denim jackets, jeans and tee-shirts! we swam back towards the coastline as best we could (IN JEANS!).

As i approached the shore, i found one of those wooden posts. I believe they are called "Groins". When i say "Found" i mean i kicked it with my bare foot!!! OUCH!!!!

We eventually got back on the beach, and decided that it would be a good idea if we went into town for a bit to dry off before we got back into the car. There was one problem in this. I had a blue denim jacket and black jeans, and matt had a Black denim jacket and Blue jeans! SHOCK HORROR! never mind the fact we were soaked! no matter, we swapped jackets!

We spent the next hour or so in town, then went back to the caravan for dinner!

Tim

[Technorati tag(s): Did we really do that?, Crazy, Stupid]

As Matt has set the scene so well, i thought I'd continue the story.....

As Matt has already explained, we had a selection of "equipment" that we'd carefully manufactured and adapted to suit our mission. We arrived at the Site of the holiday home in Hythe, and literally within minutes we were itching to try out our gear. We un packed all our stuff, and made ourselves some healthy dinner(Think it was baked beans with fish fingers, followed by vodka-lemonade-icecream wasn't it Matt???). Straight after dinner (about 8 ish) we went off on our mission, carrying all our gear.

When we reached the top of the highest cliff we could get to, we set up our kit. Cleverly, we thought it would be a good idea to check if the ropes were long enough, so we held one end of our longest length, and threw the coil over the edge. It only made it about 2/3rds of the way!

Not a problem to ingenious persons such as ourselves. We pulled up the rope, and tied another length to it's end, using a Reef Knot. No worries!

now it reached about 3/4 of the way! Damn it!

Luckily we had another length of rope, so again, we tied it to the end. Now it reached the ground no problem at all. Brilliant!

It was beginning to get a little dark now, but we're totally dedicated, so in for a penny, as they say!

Next step - Find an anchor point. As luck would have it, there was a big concrete post where we were standing. Ideal we thought, so tied the rope to it, using a double granny knot. Better safe than sorry!

I think Matt went first. (Matt????) he put the harness (leather trouser belt) around his waist, threaded the rope through the Figure-of-8 and attached the harness to the figure-of-8 using the Karabeena.

Ready to go!

we were originally going to use the spare rope as a safety line, but had to join it to the long length. Not to worry, the rope was good and strong!

Over the edge Matt went, skillfully lowering himself and bouncing down the rock face. He had to stop a couple of times to negotiate the Knots in the rope, but it didn't phase him. All the way to the bottom!. Great run!

Next, Matt removed the gear, and tied it to the end of the rope. I pulled it to the top, and put on the "Harness", then threw back down the rope to Matt at the bottom.

Next I went over the edge, again, no problems. UNTILL, that is, i reached the second Knot. it was at this point i discovered that it had slipped somewhat, and so had to stop and re-tie it whilst hanging on the rope above! No problem though, and on I went.

All the way to the bottom. By now it was dark, and we decided to leave the rope and collect it in the morning.

When we got back to the caravan, we discovered that the belt wasn't as strong as Matt had originally thought. It had torn at least half way through, and the metal bit was really bent!

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

Tim

[Technorati tag(s): Did we really do that?, Crazy, Stupid]