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

Sunday, 10 November 2013

Old Gaffers, Tim and Sheila

Perhaps that title didn't come out too well. No one could ever accuse Tim of being an "old Gaffer" even though he has a free bus pass (spot the jealousy). Tim and Sheila are the owners of a proper gaff rigged yacht - a Yarmouth 23 like this one:





We met by chance many years ago when we were all stuck in Torquay for 10 days during a lovely British summer of rain and gales. We got to know the local bus services pretty well.

We'd never managed to take them out on the Nordhavn for a trip and so we had planned a proper ocean going voyage as a treat. We fitted the acrylic storm plates to our saloon windows and then headed out through the marina lock to brave the elements en route to Cardiff. OK, maybe not the most taxing navigation or sea conditions but at least it was a trip out (their yacht is ashore for the winter and you can get withdrawal from a lack of boating you know).

They both had some helming responsibility. Here is Sheila looking pretty happy after finding out that the Nordhavn goes right if you turn right - a bit different to handling the tiller on their yacht.



The marina entrance does look small as you approach it in a fat trawler yacht:


Still, we made it across the bay to Cardiff and had a good day catching up / eating. Tim looks pretty relaxed about everything after getting us over there and tied up OK:





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1 comment:

  1. Anonymous21 November 2013 at 21:12

    Great blog Richard. Fame at last.It was a good first voyage, looking forward to a longer one next time. S T x

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your ideas / cheek / corrections / whatever! They should hit the blog shortly after the system checks them to make sure they will not put us or you in jail.....

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