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

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Lymington to Shamrock Quay (Southampton)

Not much of an ocean going trip really - just a quiet trip up the Solent and into the river Itchen. Foggy early on and then it cleared.  The first run of the year on the flybridge for the whole time too. Sun out, crew's smile out, all was good.

After a winter in Cardiff looking at the little commercial ships that can lock into the docks there, the Southampton port was a reminder of "proper commerce":



If a touch ugly.... Heading up the Itchen, a lovely old craft was laid alongside the quay in an area usually reserved for dead or decaying craft. We really hoped that this classic old girl isn't going to be allowed to rot away in such dismal surroundings:




However, on arrival at Shamrock we learned that she is in for a major refit - the owner has the deep pockets needed to run such a craft it seems. We have slightly shallower pockets but now approach the horribly expensive part of the year. Lift out, fettling, overhauls that we cannot do ourselves, upgrades then fuel fill up. All to prepare for a year cruising. Why do we do this - can someone remind us please?


Whilst still afloat, we had a visit from the Golden Arrow guys who will be doing the stabiliser overhaul for us (they are the UK TRAC dealers and really seem to know their stuff). Then Phil the Nordhavn Europe man, Jess his significantly better half and their 1 year old daughter Rosie popped over. Such a social whirl!





No comments:

Post a Comment

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.....