London Cruise – rest day (1)
No sailing today – the crew were given a rest day and headed off to Greenwich. We stayed on board in the morning to relax, whilst I worked on the boat’s plumbing – we now have cold water on tap in both heads. Say ‘yeah’ everyone….and I promise to get to the hot water before […]
London Cruise – Medway to Central London
Travelling into London by boat, it’s best to catch the tide. That’s contrary to travelling in by train, when it’s much better to go ‘against the flow’, you might even get a seat. With a boat doing 6 knots and the tide doing 2, the difference is that you either travel at 4 knots against […]
London Cruise – Woolverstone to Medway
Our first big adventure started quietly enough, getting away from home with a remarkable lack of fuss and struggle, compared to the previous few days of work, which had seen me getting back home at almost midnight the day before. We got everything stowed, plus a few minor jobs completed before the crew arrived – […]
Just the four of us
This was our first trip without crew, just us, off to explore and see how we did as a family en voyage. Fortunately, the weather was as kind as it could be, and we arrived at the boat on a beautiful sunny day with the wind and tide carrying us gently out of our berth. […]
Issieism
Issie is watching the Little Mermaid, a movie she knows by heart, line for line, and now acts out the movement as well as the words. Sebastian the Crab says to King Triton: ‘Like I always say, children should be free to live their own lives..’ Issie turns to me and says “I’m not free, […]
A fine day, first sail, and a trip up the mast.
At last, the weather has broken and we are blessed with calm days and blue skies. After weeks of grumbling and moping, we were able to go for our first sail as a family. We stayed on board overnight. Max has been hard work recently, as his speech is slow to develop and he’s frustrated […]
May Bank Holiday ‘Cruise’ – May 28-29
The plan was simple. Head over to the boat early on Sunday with the four of us, plus Nana and Grandpa, and set off around lunchtime to find a quiet anchorage about 5 miles away in the Walton Backwaters. After a leisurely breakfast, we’d find a beach, anchor off and take the kids ashore in […]
Delivery Ty Dewi – Dartmouth to Woolverstone
Back a few weeks, to the Easter weekend, and I travelled down to Dartmouth to bring our new boat home. The deal was concluded on Wednesday, and on Thursday I and my crew stepped on board Ty Dewi in Kingswear, Devon. As I walked down the pontoon, I couldn’t resist. ‘See that boat there. That’s […]
We own a boat!
The purchase of Ty Dewi went through last week, and I took a crew down to Dartmouth on Thursday and spent the Easter weekend bringing her back to Ipswich by way of Brighton. We got back in the early hours of Monday morning, and she is now happily moored at the marina in Woolverstone. Full […]
Our new boat – Ty Dewi.
On Tuesday, I drove down to Dartmouth to see our new boat being surveyed. This is the last stage in the buying process, hopefully she’ll belong to us early next week. She’s a Westwind 43, but actually almost 50 feet long from stem to stern. The name is Welsh, meaning ‘House of David’, and since […]