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 10 May 2017

Lymington to Weymouth

With John, Irene and Archie on board, we wanted a nice calm day to head out to the "proper" sea rather than the Solent. Luckily, we got one with the added bonus of wall to wall sun.

Leaving Lymington you get to see the nice narrows at Hurst castle and the lighthouse there. Although it is a very well known spot, we ought to put a picture in here to add to the expanding lighthouse collection for you:




The castle area itself  is less imposing:




More happy news, the range at Lulworth was again inactive. Perhaps the defence budget doesn't allow them to blast away with as much ordnance as they used to. No matter why, it let us enjoy glorious views of the St Alban's head area again whilst hearing from our guests about their walking trips around the area. All pretty calm and enjoyable. Berthed on the town quay area at Weymouth after a quick tide assisted 5 hour run, we felt quite imposing compared to the smaller yachts around us:



The red hulled fishing boat astern of us had a crew of young guys who looked and talked as though they were always high on drugs. They returned one morning around 4am following a serious session in the town and then proceeded to fall off the boat onto the pontoon when heading for a much needed shower later on. Luckily the combined drink and drugs haze still allowed them to back out of their berth without hitting us. A minor miracle of boat handling and one we are most grateful for.

We did benefit from some lovely weather whilst in Weymouth:




Although it was only tea, Archie the Lakeland Terrier seemed keen to partake:





but he then had to make do with an alternative and more accessible option - Irene's nose:





As always, we enjoyed the Weymouth area, walks around the bay and the general bustle of the harbour. Archie (who is not the keenest walker) particularly liked the beach of course:




Irene does not look quite as happy / animated though.

The Weymouth lifeboat featured as part of the local entertainment too. One evening the crew arrived all togged up for a photo shoot. The photographer had three crew lined up in various orders along the sidedeck and took ages perfecting the shot:





Although this could be viewed as a sexist comment, we will make it anyway. The (female) photographer made sure that the female crew member was in front for 90% of the pictures and then felt that she had to share it with her in a "does my bum look OK in this suit" kind of way:



It isn't all play and modelling for the lifeboat crew though, yet again we saw them dragging in a little yacht:




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