Day 53

Been a busy little boy recently and unfortunately, this has allowed my blog to decline 😦 I was doing an exhibition for work over the last 4 days and it has been quite an eye opener. I noticed just what is involved in presenting new products to a market, I met people from every background, I talked to young and old alike, and I suffered from sunstroke! Not a bad learning experience lol

So now I am back, as it will take a while to save up my pennies, I have decided to also change my focus on this blog! I will still give you the lowdown on my thoughts and experiences, but now, in between these posts, I would also like to review any sailing books, blogs, websites or even products for my readers.

I have read many peoples personal blogs, and a few have now ended up in my favourites tab. Today, I have started reading Savannah Sails It is a blog about a family of 3 who have already set sail around the World! As I write this, they are currently in Mexico and have had a few adventures already. I think you should give it a read, it shows you the high points of living aboard.

The youngest, Jake, has found this to be an exciting adventure! I have seen him cleaning, eating, kayaking, sleeping, drawing, and of course being a captain. And this was just in 2009! This year, he has already done the laundry, gone crabbing, watched dolphins in the nude, fishing, gone scuba and cooked even swam with sharks! All this whilst always keeping a smile on his face!

I hope Tia gets to live a life like this…..I hope I do also!!! I also cant wait to see Tia doing this:

so that I dont have to!

I would love to read your personal blogs regarding your life aboard, please feel free to leave a comment, or drop me an email, I look forward to reading it and sharing it with everyone else.

Day 47

I finished my book, definitely opened up my eyes regarding our upcoming journey. The author really had spoken from experience regarding his trips aboard. The downside to reading this book is that Nick O’Kelly has opened up some old stories for new debates! I had my heart set on a Beneteau, she had her heart set on a catamaran. Nick O’Kelly argues the point for a cat, and provides many good reasons for his choice! Looks like this “debate” will continue until we are ready to buy….and still continue after we set off!!! Click on the picture of the book if your interested in buying it.

Does anybody else have any books that they can recommend? I am looking for books about sailing with families, anything with anecdotes and/or funny stories are ideal!

Have to admit, today has been a strange one, been in work since 10 this morning, and I was in till 6 this afternoon. Just after 5, I found a great blog about a young family, it contained a LOT of photos giving you an ideal picture of life on board with a young family. Most of the posts are about a young little boy called Zach, he is a nice young kid, very smart, very intuitive, and loves to discover!

Posts vary from visiting a petting zoo, to little Zach taking sailing lessons for the first time. I especially liked the exotic breakfast idea and will be persuading Trisha to make this for me one day very soon 🙂

The blog can be found here

I also received an email today from Pat and Ali from Bumfuzzle. Ouest is eight months old now and looks so grown up now! I have been keeping up with their blog and I now understand that getting a boat ship-shape takes a long time! They both seem like a lovely couple, and I would be honoured if they stayed in touch.

Been studying my stats for this blog, been looking at where you guys came from, how you found my blog, where you went afterwards and I found it pleasant reading (thank you Cruisers Forum for bringing me the bulk of my visitors!) After looking at my stats, I think I may remove my Paypal button if my viewing figures don’t improve! I was averaging 30 unique page views a day (not many, but not bad for a 2 month old blog!) then I added the Paypal link and it literally halved! I would like to thank you people who made donations, we are truly grateful and the money has gone straight into our high interest savings account (also known as the boatfund) but as I said, if fewer people visit my site, and it was after I placed a Paypal link on it, then I would rather have more people reading than having an unsightly button!

What do you guys think?

I’m off now to go pick up Trisha and Tia from Trisha’s mums….hope the baby hasn’t been traumatised by the experience! lol

Day 41

For my birthday, I bought myself a book called Get Her on Board and was writter by Nick O’Kelly.

I bought this book as it is about a man who wanted his “wife” to go sailing with him, I went to the authors website and read the introduction chapter and decided that it looked entertaining whilst being informative.

After it arrived, I sat on the couch and read the first 5 chapters in one go! A lot of it was informative, it made me look at Trisha in a whole new light, and it made me realise that what I was doing was completly wrong….or should I say the way I set about getting Trisha to come with me.

I havent finished the book yet, but I have really enjoyed it so far.

You can also buy the book from the link below, I highly recommend it.

Get Her on Board

Day 38

Today I thought I would just let you know that it just so happens to be someones birthday!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear meeeeee, happy birthday to me!!!

33 today! Where has all the time gone?

Following is a list that is personal to me, I suppose this is to help me remember for when my memory fades! Lets see where my life has been so far:

In 33 years I have:
lived in every corner of England
lived in Wales
lived in Scotland (only for 3 months)
lived in America (only for 3 months also)

I have spent my holidays (vacation) in:
England
Scotland
Wales
France
Germany
Spain
Portugal
Fuerteventura
Norway (thanks to the British Navy)
Iceland (thanks to the British Navy)
Gibraltar (thanks to the British Navy)
Iraq (thanks to the British Navy)
St Kitts & Nevis
USA

I have owned jobs in:
Paper Round
Administration
Retail YTS (Youth Internship Government scheme)
Office YTS (Youth Internship Government scheme)
Fast Food
Fast Food Management
Armed Forces
Civil Service
Retail Sales
Retail Warehouse
Technical Support
Retail Management
Entertainments
Bar Work (probably spent more money on alcohol than I actually earned!)
Mobile Telecommunications
Broadband
Vehicle Recovery
Freelancing
Recycling

I have had:
4 long term girlfriends (including my current one)
Engaged twice
1 daughter
1 step son
2 beautiful neices (1 of which is my Goddaughter)
2 beautiful nephew

Other things that have happened:
I lost touch with my Dad
I lost touch with my 2 foster Sisters and 1 foster Brother (not through choice)
I seem to be closer to my Mum
I also seem closer than ever to my baby Sister
I went to University for a BSc in Web Systems

And now? Now I am sat here in my towel after having an hour long bath, and I have shaved my head, Trisha is downstairs baking me a birthday cake (awww) Tia is snoring in her little cot.

Now I am planning ahead, I have “goals” for my daughter, I dont want her to ever struggle for money the way her parents did, I dont want her to ever have to ask for anything, I want to teach her respect, I want her to know the value of money, I want her to get her first job and feel the pride of earning her first paycheque, I want her to experience the World in her own eyes and not in the pages of a book. Above everything, I want her to be happy.

Sorry for the life story, hopefully it will help you understand me a little better.

Next time I promise to make the post a lot more happy 🙂

Friends (Still Day 34)

Hello again (if there is anyone actually reading this!)

As you may notice, I have a list of frequently visited sailing sites down the right hand side and its looking a little empty 😦

Do you own a website or blog? Would you like to be listed in the friends section? Would be willing to add a few people, so if your site is sailing related, please comment here and I will add your site asap! All I ask is that you return the favour and find a place to add a link to my blog. This is not compulsary, just a friendly request lol

Dreams (Day 34)

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking a lot about what I actually want from my soon-to-be new home. I had to implement Trisha’s wishes (within reason – NO TRISHA, WE CANT LIVE ON LAND!!!) and also keep Tia happy.

This was our criteria:
Must be large enough to liveaboard
Must be small enough to keep costs down if we berth in a Marina
Must be large enough for Tia to be able to move around (she will be a toddler by the time we go)
Must be old enough to keep costs down
Must be new enough to keep extra work to a minimal
Must be pleasing to the eye

With this, I managed to narrow the choice down to 3 makes (listed in alphabetical order):
Bavaria
Beneteau
Jeanneau

Between them, I just couldnt decide and Trisha couldnt either. Then, last week, I found myself having the same day dream over and over. We was onboard a Beneteau, I had just done the night shift as we were sailing across the Atlantic and Trisha came up from below decks and passed me a fresh hot cup of tea and whispered that Tia was still asleep. The daydream was the same over and over.

The first day I had that daydream, I called the gentleman selling his Beneteau outside my place of work and asked him how much for his yacht that hadnt moved since I started working in my office. He wanted £70,000! That dream looked a million miles away at that point.

That night, I was browsing online and I found her! A Beneteau Oceanis 350 for sale, she looke beautiful, and well looked after. I had actually been speaking to the gentleman who owned her for a while but didnt know it was his Beneteau that I had found for sale online. He said he wanted 1.3 million Thai Baht, my heart sank! Another one for the millionaires! Just out of interest, I looked at the exchange rate and it came back at just over £25,000! WOW Now I just need to find a way of pursuading him to keep hold of her for 2 years! lol

Trisha has already started redesigning the insides!

It was then that it was decided (by me anyway) that a Beneteau ticked all our boxes. But when we travelled to Wales last week, Trisha fell in love with a Bavaria called Jade. So I suppose depending on cost, one of these 2 models will be our boat in a few years! She also has her heart set on a Catermaran though, I think they may be out of our budget a little!

Anyway, heres the pics:

And here are the specs:

Construction: GRP extensive inner moulding with longitudinal and lateral stringers.
Keel configuration: Bolted on cast iron fin keel
Design displacement: 4800Kg

Cabins: Saloon, fore berth & 1 aft quarter cabin & heads - 6 Berths

Engine & Sterngear: Yanmar 3 cylinder 4-stroke diesel engine. shaft drive
Electrical system: 12volt 2 x 12v Batteries
Fuel tanks: Stainless steel tank under aft cabin. Deck filler

Rig: Masthead sloop rig with two pairs of spreaders, slab reefing and roller reefing genoa

Mast & rigging: The mast & boom are Z spars anodised aluminium alloy spars. The mast is stepped on an alloy shoe. Within the cabin an aluminium alloy tube carries the mast load to the hull.
Standing rigging is stainless steel 1 x 19 wire.
Sails: no #1 Genoa & semi battened Main sail

Additional Standard Spec:
Winches & stoppers: A pair of self tailing sheet winches & a pair of (one self tailing) halyard winches. Two banks of halyard stoppers
Bilge pumps: Manual bilge pump & electric pump
Ground tackle Bruce anchor on 10mm galvanised chain
Gas cylinder
A cooker with 2 hobs, grill and oven

Inventory:
CD Radio, Mosquito net, 4 fans, T.V., wetsuit with snorkel +mask, Six life jackets,
Speed Log. echo sounder have not been used in a while,
Garmin GPS Map,
Autohelm ST4000 wheel autopilot, Air x marine 400 watt wind generator,
Stern shower

Technical Information:
Gross tonnage 11.30 24,910 lbs
Net tonnage 7.65 16,870 lbs
Length over all 9.6 m 31.5 feet
Breadth extreme 3.4 m 11.15 feet
Depth moulded 1.6 m 5.25 feet

Day 31

Went to the Wales Boat Show today with my Admiral Trisha and my 2nd mate Tia 🙂 Think it should have been called the Wales Boat Accessory Show instead! All that was there was ropes, RYA instructors, kids paying £1 to be a passenger on a RIB speeding down the lake, the local radio station, a fair and a woman selling magic sand and dreamcatchers!

Oh, Sunseeker had a stand there with a 48 foot beauty for sale for only £1.3m!

Other than that, a few RIB sellers but nothing else! Unless your after a new rope for your main sail, I’d pretty much avoid the show in future. I am sorry though, the organisers did try hard, but compared to the Southampton Boat Show, this was more like a car boot sale!

Tia enjoyed herself though, after having a look around, she got to meet Peppa Pig! She loves PP and even tried to kiss her/him bless.

Trisha didnt enjoy it as much, but we made up for it by driving to Snowdonia National Park after the show, then to some Marina in the middle of nowhere for an English style cup of tea…..Tia enjoyed that as well as she stole my biscuit! grrrr lol

At the Marina, I spoke to a gentleman who had just bought a 23 foot motorsailer that needed a lot of work, he had taken it out for testing and was on his way back through a few locks before he could get any work done on it. Really nice bloke, even took the time to speak to me even though he had work to do, and from what I have seen on various online forums, this seems to be the norm 🙂

Time for bed now, hope you all had as good a day as I did. Speak again soon

Day 30

Hello again,

I did it!! I took the next step in the big plan. Today, I opened up a new savings account and transferred my first cheque into it 🙂 Also setup a standing order that will top up the fund on a monthly basis.

Tia’s birthday party went really well, Trisha managed to ensure everything went as planned……..even getting me to be the party-games-co-ordinator! Have you ever tried to entertain hundreds of kids? (ok it was more like 14 but it felt like 100!) Trisha did try and help by organising an egg and spoon race but forgetting to hard boil the eggs first and then only having only 3 eggs for the competitors!

Tia enjoyed herself, then again, I knew she would, she has always been the centre of attention! She even decided to be born a week before my birthday as to get all my presents also!!! She’s my big girl now though, I love it when I get home from work and she takes one look at me and smiles 🙂 (although she tends to follow the smile with a scream and runs off hiding!) Centre of attention? Told you!!! lol

Whilst browsing the sailing forums, I found a very interesting blog about a young couple, who started out with minimal experience in sailing and yet, 7 years later, they have a good story and a 7 month old daughter to talk about. The stories range from the funny, to the cute, to the nasty side of sailing (eg: poor customer service on a 10 month old cat resulting in over $30,000 worth of repairs!)

I especially liked the part where they sold their cat, moved to Mexico (after a trip around Europe in their Campervan) and had their first daughter Ouest (sounds like west)

A typical image from the story looks like this:

WARNING

If you dont like baby stories than dont read!!! Lots of baby stories lol

Definately worth a read if you have a few hours spare! Go into the archives and read the early days, the link can be found here: Bumfuzzle

Going to the North Wales Boat Show tomorrow, so I’m off to bed now, need my beauty sleep!

Day 29 and finaly a day off!

Hi there, just a quick update today as I cant stay around much.

Good news:
Trisha finally gave me the day off today 🙂
Bad news:
I still have to work!

Its my daughters first birthday today so looks like I am entertaining about 15 kids all day! 😦 I am drawing the line though if she asks me to dress up as a clown!

Be back soon and I hope you all have a good day today 🙂

Day 28

I have managed to start building my prototype with spare parts lying around the house, its just to see if the product will be viable in the real world.

Should have a working prototype within 3 months (as long as the missus gives me pennies to spend!)

On a different note, I have seen so many cruisers blogs asking for donations and I have mainly told myself that even though I understand and agree with their reasoning, it must be below them to ask for handouts.

So I proudly show off my new sidebar widget! Haha, no pressure, I will still be updating my blog as often as possible regardless if the gains me £0.00 in the 2 year plan!