First blog picture on my new camera - the files are too large. Small fish eat at the surface in the river. You cannot see the fish but they disturb the surface. No idea why they have not been eaten by birds or bigger fish.

I saw the consultant today and reviewed a lot of Xrays. This was good as there are no signs of any nasties growing again and today was better than six weeks ago. And I am also feeling better than I have done for  some time. Apparently this is unusual so we don't know where it is going. The Plan is to keep a watchful eye on things - and carry on as usual. Even the weather is good and the meccano part of the new building in the marina is almost complete.

The framework was nearly complete yesterday.

Here I am - sitting on the edge in a dignified way, concentrating on the wind indicator. Taken on Tuesday.

Race 7: Flat calm for the 14-00 start and so the race was postponed waiting for the wind to fill in. To mu surprise, the sea breeze came up the river giving a reasonable wind, punctuated by big holes, large wind shifts and a few gusts. And a sensible length race on an interesting course. I suppose I am getting used to the shifts and gusts as I came 6th - out of a smaller fleet because a lot of folks were not inclined to sail after yesterday.
Race 8: Similar conditions to the first race but the tide turned in the middle and the wind dropped so it was a bit of a struggle to get back through the much larger holes in the wind. I do not sail well in such conditions and I was tired by then. I also think I am not setting the sail right for runs and broad reaches. Yet  I got the best position of the week at 5th.

I came 8th overall out of a fleet of 21 signed up for the regatta week.  I was just behind the people I would expect to do better than I do.

The amazing victory was to finish any races at all - let alone 6. And to feel well after it all - I wonder what this means - why should quite hard physical effort result in feeling almost normal. Probably the absense of horrible toxins and the good fortune that cancer cells seem not to be growing again (yet) - against many expectations. So I dedicate this victory to the oncology department at Ipswich hospital for their care and choosing the right treatment.

20-30 hrs. A strange ten days or so - in which I did quite a few things around boats but also did not feel that I wanted to write about the activity because I actually felt quite inactive - so the list of actions makes me sound healthier and better than I am actually feeling.

I now own a streaker - and I have spent a bit of time scrubbing it and its cover - and mending the centre board and the cover. The toe strap came off - glad it was ashore! It was mostly in sunshine - sitting on a chair borrowed from the sailing club. The sun encouraged the wearing of sun hat and shorts.

I have sailed out in Lookfar a couple of times. Once to park it at the sailing club overnight so that Aidan and I could go downriver for lunch. This we did on Saturday - went too far and only just made it back to the marina where we scrunched the keel over the sill - like I have done before and ought to know better. Today's panic was to arrange a survey so that the insurance company is happy. Job for Thursday is that I need to make sure that there are no obvious nasties for the survey to spot.

Rescue on Sunday. Various things done to boats on Monday and today. Spring is starting on the river as a few boats are getting launched now onto their moorings.

I have felt quite inactive and even poorly on occasions - it feels as if the side effects of Tarceva - especiually indigestion and general upset digestion - are getting the upper hand. Today I went to the GP and got some help with this and now feel a bit better.

The rest of the week - I cannot sail Lookfar until the insurance is sorted out - but there is lots more boat-fettling to do. Hope to sail the streaker for the first time on Saturday.

20-47 hrs: Out on the river today with Aidan for a few hours. The engine started well and worked fine. Mostly we sailed with one reef in the main and full genoa. Aidan helmed - I pulled a lot of ropes as we had to tack quite a bit. Nice.

Health update - pretty fatigued - sometimes to the point of feeling ill. The worst thing is to be so aware of it and spending too much time managing it and worrying about doing anything. So sailing today was especially good - a jolt out of the comfort zone. And I must fess up to worrying about the future - which is why I have been paying bills and filing papers.

Dip continues

9-30 hrs: dip continued again after a day or so - shortage of breath with associated feelings of weakness and so on - which is annoying as there are things I want to do. I have not taken the boat out again - tides are wrong and the weather is not encouraging either.  The most interesting thing round here is that they are digging up the sea wall downriver from the sailing club: apparently tidal scour is threatening it. Today's task - apart from shopping and the like - is to take pictures from the land - hard to do as it is fenced off.

Walton Backwaters to Woodbridge in one go

19-45 hrs: at home - not really intended today because I was going to pick up a mooring along the river and gross-out in the sun. However - when I got into the Deben- it started to rain quite hard - so I banged on up river with the tide.

All the pictures I took today were out of focus - so I give you one of my cockpit in 'sailing mode' - the bucket has water in it - green rope for moorings - red seat for comfort.

I had to use a useful technique for getting the anchor up - of driving quite hard in a circle to break it out. I then pulled it up together with a load of mud - all over the deck, the anchor, the genoa, my clothes and gloves. But at least the anchor came free.

I left the Backwaters at 8-15 am - with HW at 12-00 at the Deben entrance I thought I would have plenty of time to get in with the tide behind me in the entrance. This was true, especially as I went on a beam reach with all sails up, although the wind was variable and kept dropping away. When progress got slow - I put the engine on as well - with the result that I made fast passage and was at the Deben bouy by 10-30am. Quite tiring because I had to concentrate to avoid the shipping channels from Harwich harbour but it was much less intimidating than crossing the Tyne in a dinghy! 

The tide picks you up and carries you along the narrow entrance - where there are many swirls suggesting banks of gravel beneath. There was no surf - but I can see why it is an entrance to respect. There were a lot of outbound yacghts and motor boats on the wrong side of the channel - - - which made it harder.

And then it rained - and my idea of lazing in the sun for the rest of the day was scuppered - so I continued up the river helped by the tide and getting to Woodbridge before high water there. Spent the rest of the day lounging around in the sun and clearing up - and washing away the mud. I am, of course, exhausted and out of breath - but have had a shower.

Shotley Marina and Harwich by ferry

19-40 hrs: A 'lay day' hanging out in the marina, the chandler's and Harwich Halfpenny Pier.

All this sailing around does sound very energetic and hardly in keeping with my claims to feel off colour on occasions. Why don't I just stay at home, where I am certainly less challenged in managing breathlessness and indigestion? (Because that is not how I want to live, incase you don't know this).

It seems that I can do things for several hours and keep going to take down sails and the like. Yet afterwards I feel a kind of exhaustion that is hard to describe - not tired exactly - perhaps shaky and I don't feel like eating and feel some queasiness. Nor can I hit the coffee as I seem to have gone off coffee. I am also liable to get extremely breathless - even just moving around the boat. The inhalers  etc relieve it to a small extent - maybe 10%. A rest on the deck aids recovery - preferably in the sun! 

Thus the 'lay day' in Shotley - lunch in the bar - ferry to Harwich to drink tea. A small amount of clearing up - and a visit to the chandlers.

Update -

20-50: No picture - sorry - compensates for two last time. Still a lot of wind and rain forecast tomorrow.

I am feeling a lot better. Ups and downs are par for the course. But also I was not taking the medicine in the inhaler - and felt better after taking it again - as advised by the very helpful practice nurse. I am still breathless when I do things like carrying shopping up the stairs, but it seems more bearable now. I have mostly been at home doing work on the U3A website, but have written lists for taking LookFar away for a few days to the Walton Backwaters if the weather improves - and done the food shopping for the Great Expedition. It will probably seem every bit as scary as going to the Shetlands - part of me hopes so.

How am I feeling - - -

20-40 hrs:

I have not reported on how my health feels since June 2nd. I had then been feeling very breathless - but had improved a lot after getting  treatment from the GP. I have since then written about all the nice things in life - even work on the U3A website. I have - somewhat typically of my behaviour of late - chosen to ignore the innards when writing here. I did promise myself not to do this - but really old gaffers are nicer and easier to photograph.

I did actually feel quite well for a  while and the  breathlessness reduced after I used a Salbutimol inhaler and took antihistamine. I had a spirometry lung function test in late June - which suggested that I might be reacting to pollen etc and I started on another inhaler. I then rushed around on the river (as reported in earlier blogs), went out again all day Thursday (LookFar does sail well)  and did a lot of web site work - - but got to feel gradually worse - even more breathless, with annoying indigestion. 

And now - - just as bad as the end of last week - - . Have I 'overdone' it in some ghastly way -? And also - I wonder whether, maybe, the effect of the current treatment (vinorelbine) is beginning to wear off. This does not - as you might expect - send me screaming round the bend - who knows why? I have a short review at the hospital on Thursday - so maybe it will make more sense then - but probably not - - .

I don't feel very energetic and intend to keep off the river for afew days.