About us and the boat

About us and the boat:

We were lucky enough to retire early at the start of 2013 so we could head off and "live the dream" on board our Nordhavn 47 Trawler Yacht. The idea is to see some of the planet, at a slow 6 - 7 knots pace. There are no fixed goals or timings, we just had a plan to visit Scotland and then probably the Baltic before heading south.

The idea is to visit the nicer areas in these latitudes before heading south for warmer weather. If we like somewhere, we will stay for a while. If not, we will just move on. So, for the people who love forward planning and targets, this might seem a little relaxed!

If anyone else is contemplating a trawler yacht life, maybe our experiences will be enough to make you think again, or maybe do it sooner then you intended!

The boat is called Rockland and she is built for long distance cruising and a comfortable life on board too. If you want to see more about trawler yachts and the Nordhavn 47 in particular, there is a link to the manufacturers website in our "useful stuff" section. For the technically minded, there is a little info and pictures of the boat and equipment in the same section

Regards

Richard and June

Friday, 21 June 2013

A little Patrick and reader update

Since Patrick’s rather wayward recent behaviour has worried a few people, we thought that an update was due. Graham and Pat offered a very wise and worrying idea. Is he really a penguin? For all the Wallace and Gromit fans out there, remember the Wrong Trousers film and read the emailed wisdom from G&P:

Hi R + J
We're becoming increasingly concerned about the penguin.
Have not the lessons from 'Inside the Wrong Trousers' been learnt?
There we were thinking he was safely banged up for the diamond heist.  Now here he is large as life, hitched up with a couple on the brink of world travel - by sea - often out of sight of the law.
What's he planning now?
And more to the point - what's happened to former first mate Dylan?!?
Just like Wallace, you've forgotten your 'Grommet' already.
Your worried friends,
P + G
PS Watch out for him decorating his berth with fish wallpaper - it's usually the last stage of his planning.

This made us nervous. Very nervous. Is there a similarity? Is Patrick really a dangerous chicken masquerading as a sweet if somewhat overweight and wayward penguin? You decide if the resemblance is uncanny:







We’ve been watching Patrick carefully since the email though. No signs of bad behaviour recently but that could be because he knows he is on probation. We were anchored off a house that also plays home to the Royal Bank of Scotland Tighnabruaich branch and he did stare at it for hours (at least until the tide turned).





 Was that a sign of criminal intent? Of course, if he had raided it the swag would have been pretty limited. Probably enough for a week’s fish but all in Scottish notes too. Unlikely to store much gold bullion in Tighnabruaich and as a getaway vehicle, the Nordhavn has serious limitations…

As for you, our prompt about lots of blog reading on Friday has clearly altered your habits. Last Friday was an all-time low in hits and there were many more than normal over the weekend. We were wrong, you folks are able to be educated and have your behaviours changed. We apologise.


We also have to thank Bob for sharing his name for females with trolley shoppers. Gill was delighted to be known as a “Tart with a cart”. Apparently her husband Ken had always wanted a tart. No further comment needed.
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