Moving South

I am writing this blog as we drive overnight to Eastbourne from Middlesbrough. 

The money came through for the house and we've paid for the sailboat. 

We waited till my Mam and Dad were back from social club to say our goodbyes, then left, car fully loaded, at 11.30pm. In our trusty Nissan Almera. 

Our run of good luck is still holding. There are long sections of roadworks on the M1- Sun To Fri overnight - and it's Saturday night so we're having a free run. 

Alison is driving. Having plucked up the courage after not driving for 8 years 'cos of her nerves. She has shared the driving with me over the past couple of weeks to ease herself in. 

Sometimes it's like that Tv show 'The Walking Dead', not a soul in sight. 

Talking of Tv. Earlier we were watching series 2 of 'Lost'. We missed it the first time around - good innit?

   There has been some fantastic series to watch recently - such as 'Game of Thrones', 'Breaking Bad' and 'Banshee'.

  After watching them, regular tv seems dull and boring.  

   Must sort out a Telly for the boat. 

Anyway, we are both feeling sick with excitement. Come the morning we will be living on our boat. 

Still can't believe we are doing it. 

Yacht Hunting

The south coast of England covers quite a distance. And after the journey down we didn't fancy spending a long time on public transport. We decided to go on another coach trip after we get back home, to check out yachts in Brixham and Plymouth. 

   We were staying at The Princes Hotel in Eastbourne. Stuart, the manager suggested we go and look in Eastbourne marina. Sounds obvious, doesn't it, but we had looked on line and the few boats they had for sale, mainly power boats, didn't appeal. 

    Thanks to my iPhone, I looked again and there might be one contender. A Hunter Legend 37.5  

We walked down to have a look. Bates Wharf broker, Freddie was welcoming and helpful. 

We told him what we had viewed the day before and what we had to spend. It was a bit above our budget. He said the owner was keen to sell and we viewed the yacht.

 Hmmm. A bit racy looking, we are looking for more of a cruiser. 

Then you notice the wide beam with slab sides and plentiful hatches/ports. Surprisingly spacious inside. I could stand straight just about anywhere, lay on the aft double with room to spare. Alison liked the kitchen area, the quality woodwork with anchor shapes cut out of the cupboard doors, the installed fans and 'air conditioning'- really!

  New looking engine, lots of nav electronics incl. chart plotter and radar. Back on deck - the swimming platform/ bathing ladder, davits, dingy, outboard, new winches, huge mast and boom. 

   This could be a goer! My biggest worry was dispelled when the 3 of us climbed on board. It hardly moved. Very stable. 

   Freddie left us to look around again on our own. His master stroke - as that's when we pointed things out to each other that we liked and talked about how the space would suit us. Looking in lockers and seeing how many wine bottles could be stored in the bottle holders ( seriously )

    Back at the office we pointed out a leaking hatch, and other bits and bobs. 

   The price of repairs was estimated and the owner phoned with our offer ( pending survey)

   We got a yes!

We arranged a sea trial for the next day. 

Hottest day of the year. She motored and sailed faultlessly ( except for squeaky steering )

We wondered how close to the wind she could sail, having a 4'11" wing keel. The answer is very close indeed. 

The fractional rig was great, having a huge battened mainsail and a roller reefed headsail it was very easy to get a good turn of speed. The auto pilot was also tested. 

    

We paid a deposit and all being in order, will be living onboard pretty soon. 

Boat shopping

We printed off a map of Europe and pinned it in our notice board. Then I contacted, by email, all the brokers of yachts that Alison and I had short listed. 

   The replies came back over the next few days ; No longer available for sale.  Offer accepted and sale going through.  

Sold yesterday.  That boat is sold but we might get another in the future. 

 No reply at all. 

Wow. Not what I was expecting. There were 2 boats still on the market, both needing time and money spending on them. We didn't have the time and how deep would our pockets have to be?

   We pinned markers on the map where each boat was and wrote down the reason it was 'unavailable'. 

   So pretty fruitless. We decided that we would have a go buying in UK. The Agents info was good online and it was easy to communicate with them. But

living in the North if England isn't ideal as most of the biggest marinas and the yachts in them are on the south coast. 

    We made a few enquiries and yes, the boats we were interested in were still for sale!  How to get down there? Bus, train, car, aeroplane. 

We went for a National holidays coach trip. Genius. 

We booked a 5 day hol to Eastbourne and once there an included excursion to Brighton would allow us to visit Brighton Premier Marina, where the two boats were moored. 

The day came for the marina visit and the very helpful coach driver, Eric, dropped us off. The weather was awful, blustery wind and torrential rain.

  The 1st yacht was a mega disappointment, being in very poor condition, pretty much everything was tired or broken. The 2nd was better and in good condition. But the makers had tried to cram so much into it that it was like being in a dolls house. 

   Not a good day but a reality check. 

What are we going to do next?......

Clearing out

The completion date of our house sale will soon be upon us. 

We have been sussing and sorting, selling, tipping, clearing, sweeping and giving stuff away, trying to get ready to move out. 

This evening we had a burning! Let me explain. We had a large bin bag full of bank statements, cheque books, credit card statements etc. that would have took an age to shred. 

  I have read about other people who were having a new start in life, having a ceremonial burning of things and thought I'd do the same. 

I retrieved the galvanised metal dustbin from the bottom of the garden. It already had holes in it along the bottom of the sides from when we burnt a load of shrubbery when we revamped the garden. 

Up in smoke it went. Half way through the bag I was getting a bit fed up as it seemed to be taking a long time. I got a metal pole out of the garage to use as a poker which helped keep it roaring. 

      I wish that I had followed the Australian method that I had seen on YouTube where you cut 6 x 2 inch oblongs out of the lower sides of the bin with an angle grinder to allow plenty of air to get in. 

Anyway, I started looking at what I was burning ( a cardinal sin in Alison's book - as she's an expert sorter outer ) Hoho! the Tv license, a direct debit I won't have to pay anymore, the gas and electric, water rates, house insurance, building + contents, car insurance, petrol and the daddy of them all COUNCIL TAX.

Oh! And MOT, car road tax, cable broadband and my mobile phone contract is up this month ( how convenient )

I'm right cheered up now!

All gone. 

Sale Agreed

'Sale Agreed' it says on our For Sale board. 

So, looks like we've sold the house!

The next step - to find a yacht to live aboard. 

   When the sale goes through we are going to stay round my parents till we buy a yacht. 

    So, looking for the right boat in earnest now. If your selling a 40 foot-ish sailing yacht give me a shout. 

   We are prepared for some weekends away, viewing boats, and have tried to contact a few brokers with this aim. 

  The yachts we had picked are either sold yesterday, sold ages ago and the add was left on the Internet or upon our request for more information etc. The photos show that the boats are in poor condition and show obvious faults. 

  ( I've just noticed that Alison's got her cardigan on inside out. Ha Ha! 😄)  Some websites such as Boats24 give good comprehensive information, lots of photos and the brokers comments sound really helpful. 

Other websites show the merest of details and what info is there, hasn't come out well in translation / is obviously wrong  or a complete falsehood. 

   Any advice from readers would be welcome!

   

    

Gone fishing

Another area we wanted some experience in, is sea fishing. Catching your own dinner for free, appeals to us. We both adore sea food. 

We booked on Sunday and went out of Whitby today on the 'Tina Dawn'. 

The forecast was good. The best day of the week. 

There was only 2 other people on board. Apart from the Skipper and his mate. A father and his teenage daughter who had booked on impulse the day before. We chatted as the boat got underway. They were from York and I thought it was nice a father and daughter were doing such a thing. " quality time' I said nodding. 

     Once out of Whitby the sea was rough and a cold blow made us glad we had come prepared with warm coats and hats. 

    After about 30 mins motoring the fish finder er.. Found some fish, so it was rods over the side, with the help of the Skipper and mate with some basic tuition. 

The waves were hitting us broadside rocking us about. I think that this was so the boat drifted away from the fishing lines. It made sitting down, a lot safer and less tiring than standing up. 

   We tried 3 different locations, and in between, the sea gulls hovered close to the boat. It would have been easier to catch one of them than a fish. The Skipper caught 2 whiting. The rest of us nothing. 

"Your Dad's better at this than us"

I said to the girl. As he got a bite but the fish escaped just as it reached the surface. 

   There was a larger fishing party that headed out at the same time. After a couple of hours they passed us as they returned to port. 

Our Skipper asked if we had, had enough?  "It just isn't happening". 

We had. 

We returned early, weather beaten, wet, hungry and fish less. 

On paying and hopping ashore the Skipper said it was flat calm yesterday!!!!

He gave Alison and I the 2 fish he had caught as he didn't like to eat fish.

 I've heard that a few times now from nautical folk. 

We decided to go for 'sit in' fish and chips to warm up.

 Very good it was too. "If its good enough for Jeremy Clarkson!"

We talked about our morning and what we had learnt. 

"The other guy with his daughter nearly caught a fish"

said I

"Daughter?"

Exclaimed Alison. 

"She was his girlfriend!"

Oooops. Looks like I put my foot in it again. 

She was half his age mind.

"I wonder if he got her on board for half fare?"

Weather wise - on checking the barometer when we got home it read 1006 - low pressure - which will have accounted for the busy sea. 1013 is neutral pressure and we don't see it get past that very often in this part of the world. 

Will I ever learn?

 

Son No.1 moved out

Our eldest son (20) has just moved into a flat. His job in Middlesbrough made it difficult to do the 15 mile journey every day without his own transport. I was having to pick him up from night shift at anything between 3 and 7 am. Then having to go to work myself. I didn't mind as I was so glad he had got the job but I knew that I couldn't keep it up. My ankles were starting to ache again with the driving. 

I managed 3 months. Reckon I did well. 

    It will be good to see how he manages while we are still here, as we can help when needed. 

The weekend we moved him in he decided to go on a bender Friday and Saturday nights. I was awoken by him at 5 am Sat. Morning for his taxi fare. Not a good start and due getting in at this time was asleep till late afternoon. 

So Alison and I had it all to do. But we did it. 

The bare 1 bed apartment looked like an hotel suite when we had finished, we could have moved in ourselves. 

       The next day he phoned saying he was bored. My boss Jim's idea of just dumping everything and letting him get on with it might have been a better idea. Thanks for the loan of the van Jim. 

     A few days later and he's not bored anymore. There's council tax to pay, Tv license, grocery shopping to do, washing to either take to the launderette over the road or to his Nans 100 yds up the road. 

    And the toilet won't flush properly, where is the wheelie bin, when do the bin men come, there's no tv aerial. Could things get worse? Lol. 

Welcome to the real world. 

We dashed round to sort his Tv with a portable aerial and do some shopping. Also took round his dinner. It will take him a while to get into the swing of things. 

He didn't help much when he was at home. A damn sight more than his brother though!  At least he's a dab hand with a frying pan, so he won't starve. 

     THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER ?