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, 30 April 2023

Crewing a HUGE Nordhavn

After we were splashed again, life changed in an unexpected and unwanted way. Alex (the owner of the HUGE nordhavn 55 that has been mentioned many times before) called to say that Gisele was not well and he asked for some local advice. This ended up with her being taken into Southampton General hospital for an emergency operation. Not at all nice. 

Their boat was in Lymington and Alex wanted to bring the boat back to Swanwick for a couple of days and needed some crew. So we re-arranged our plans, drove to Lymington with Ann and Martin as extra crew and then helped him bring his boat back. Martin looked rather at home in the hot seat::


and had some instructions on the "kit" from Alex:



Meanwhile, Ann was busy hunting for a house they were interested in near the Bramble bank. Martin had to avoid running onto it:


Luckily all went well and Lady Grey was safely moored in Swanwick again for a couple of nights.  Gisele was released from hospital to recover but another boat move was needed. Swanwick wanted to kick him out as the berth would be needed for a Broom 50 that was being relaunched. So we then helped with another delivery job. This time the crew went along to aid in the move to Ocean Village where Lady Grey could stay for as long as she wanted. Departing Swanwick:



with the crew looking most professional sorting out the lines. Meanwhile the captain drove to Southampton and had the amusement of the cruise liner traffic. Apparently there were 4 of them in port and the traffic was grim. Luckily he made it to Ocean Village to welcome in the good ship Lady Grey as she approached her berth:



The captain is worried that the crew now wants the space and luxury of a larger Nordhavn. The crew assured the captain that the extra acres of GRP to polish put her off. The bank manager was very happy to hear that.

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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.....