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 5 December 2014

Bajan style - part 2

Bridgetown was a bit disappointing to be honest. Probably because it was a hot day and the place was full of cruise ship visitors although that seems the norm anyway. We did enjoy the Careenage area where the Bajan love of colour was evident in the yachts too:




However, the east coast more than made up for it! A trip around the sights (and sounds) there was a fascinating mix of experiences. First of all, Nigel Benn (a UK boxer) has an Aunt who runs a rum shop (ie bar) on the island. When he got famous and successful, she renamed her place as the "Nigel Benn Aunty Bar" and she merrily waves at passers by:





Beats the average UK pub on both welcome and colour scheme.

The favourite tourist spot of Bathsheba was simply stunning with the waves coming in across the Atlantic. A video rather than a picture to give you a flavour of it so turn the sound on - oh for a proper experience, please also increase your central heating thermostat to 28 degrees and RELAX:






Could have stood there for hours. In fact, it is the ideal place to wait for a bus - ever seen a bus stop with this kind of view before?



Of course, every "tourist trap" spot has a few souvenir salesmen around with varying degrees of sales ability. Some get quite animated when in negotiation to sell some of their junk and start to look quite constipated:



Would love to see the hair that he has hidden away under that hat when it is unleashed. Must be quite a sight. In the church at St Johns, it seems that they had a strange rector a few years ago. Dudley Moore has been described as many things (eg "The sex Thimble" as he was pretty short) and had quite a reputation, especially when he starred in "Arthur". "A faithful and wise steward" is, perhaps, a new phrase for him:



Our east coast trip was on a "Golden Dragon" bus. This one was developed by the Chinese company themselves and boy, did it show. The antique leaf spring suspension, agricultural drivetrain and dodgy chinese engine (apparently a Cummins rip-off) combined to give an "interesting" ride. For us, it was living proof that not everything built in Xiamen is as well assembled as our Nordhavn. They couldn't even put the badge on properly:



We hope that the golden Dragon quality manager doesn't move to the nearby Nordhavn factory. Please.





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