On the Road

I read somewhere that people who are born outside their native land will never be able to settle.  I was actually born in West Germany, although I have a British birth certificate and am a British national (not English note).  Although I love Tollesbury and want to end my days here, I do want to see a lot more of the world.  I suppose the wander lust in me is one of the reasons why I love boats so much. I like  the idea of taking my home with me on my travels and travelling at a leisurely pace.   However, it is not just boats that appeal, I also quite like the idea of taking to the road in a caravan.  Isn't this caravan just perfect!

Bonus Post!!

Because of the logistics of camping, tides etc our GP14 event was actually held in Bradwell which is directly across the Blackwater River from Tollesbury.  If you look at the first picture above you can just about see some masts in the distance, some are in West Mersea and others in Tollesbury to the left.  Bradwell is very pretty with its marina and it is a very traditional English village, however it also has this .......

Bradwell Nuclear Power Station.  I know that it is not very pretty and is politically incorrect in some quarters, but there are times when we love the power station.  It can be seen from Clacton Pier, especially at night when it is all lit up.  Believe me, when you have been at sea for 24 hours returning from Holland, it is the best sight in the world.  Home is in sight even though we still have another 5 hours sailing ahead of us!  Now that it is closed down, I hope that when they encase it in concrete they put lots of lights on top just to guide us weary sailors!

Weekend on the Water

Things have been very busy at work recently, it is lucky that I love my job with the amount of time I seem to have put in recently!  However, I have spent this weekend on the water, which was glorious as the summer seems to have arrived at long last.  The club was hosting a GP14 National weekend and we were hosting this particular event for the first time.  George, along with a lot of other people, have eat, slept and breathed the organisation of the event for the last few weeks, so it was great that it was a really really successful weekend.  We had 26 GP14s racing with competitors from all over the country.  It was quite a sight to see when they were all flying their spinnakers.

The sun shone, the wind came up when required (albeit a little erratically!) and all I had to do was lie in the cockpit of the yacht Moana and write down sail numbers as they crossed the line. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it! Bradwell Outdoors Centre fed everyone and let the competitors camp in their grounds.  Bradwell Quay YC allowed us to get drunk in their bar in the evening and to play our music.  All in all it was great fun and everyone enjoyed themselves.  I think we may be asked to do it again in 2 years time, but I won't be Commodore by then so I can take more of a back seat!

Some of the crew on the committee boat.














Bob and Paul on one of the rescue boats.

Things that won't go bump in the night!

Pete has been grinding and welding to his little heart's content!  Before he got going we would have bumped our heads every time we got out of bed, but now we will have clear headroom in all the bedroom.  It is quite difficult to see from the photo, but he chopped a chunk out of the deck, moved back a big bit of steel and welded some sides in.  Not quite enough headroom to be able to swing from a chandelier though!!!!

Inspiration

There are some really lovely details on this barge.  I love the large windows at the front of the boat, they are good looking and add a lot of light to the area.  I really like the colour and detail of the kitchen, it is actually a lot bigger than can be seen here.  The birdcage and plants are great and give it a wonderful homely feel.  Overall a lovely luxemotor, check out more pictures at http://www.bowcrest.com/.

Poor Pete

Pete decided that he was definitely going to finish grinding the deck out above the bedroom today.  However, first it started to chuck it down with rain and then it stopped.  Then the old grinder gave up the ghost and headed for the great toolbox in the sky.  So off to Screwfix to buy another.  He asked for a 110 amp, got home opened it only to discover they had given him a 240 amp.  Back to Screwfix, got a 110 amp one and when he got home, lo and behold, it did not have a plug on.  By this time the diesel in the van was seriously low and, being a bank holiday, none of the local garages were open.  I suppose the fact that he could not get to Screwfix again today means that the steam coming out of him will hopefully have gone down to a gently simmer tomorrow!!!!!!