Big STOP on model making for me over the past couple of months. We all know it happens, so I won't apologise or anything like that, but I think I'm back at it.
The other stuff that got in the way was: unexpected retirement, holidays, and the purchase of a new boat.
For the last ten years me and my missus have been holidaying on a tiny cruising dinghy. This thing.
In May we had a fantastic holiday in Brittany, sleeping aboard under canvas, at a gigantic sailing regatta called the 'Semaine du Golfe de Morbihan'. The weather was pretty wild, and at one stage we got stuck in one of the fastest flowing currents in Europe, in the Jument channel, known locally as 'the washing machine'.
We were lucky not to broach or be swamped, and I expected my dear partner to say 'never again'. Instead she said 'we need a bigger boat' (bless her!).
So we got a 21ft gaff rigged centreboard pocket cruiser, Ruby. Here she is.
Our original plan was to take off to Europe with her (behind the car), and spend spring and summer cruising the estuaries, bays and inlets of the French and Spanish atlantic coasts.
However, because we have now 'Taken Back Control' (grr!), we would need special longstay visas to be in Europe for more than three months. So we'll probably avoid the bureaucratic agony of that and do a mixture of domestic and continental cruising.
Should still be lots of fun!
The other stuff that got in the way was: unexpected retirement, holidays, and the purchase of a new boat.
For the last ten years me and my missus have been holidaying on a tiny cruising dinghy. This thing.
In May we had a fantastic holiday in Brittany, sleeping aboard under canvas, at a gigantic sailing regatta called the 'Semaine du Golfe de Morbihan'. The weather was pretty wild, and at one stage we got stuck in one of the fastest flowing currents in Europe, in the Jument channel, known locally as 'the washing machine'.
We were lucky not to broach or be swamped, and I expected my dear partner to say 'never again'. Instead she said 'we need a bigger boat' (bless her!).
So we got a 21ft gaff rigged centreboard pocket cruiser, Ruby. Here she is.
Our original plan was to take off to Europe with her (behind the car), and spend spring and summer cruising the estuaries, bays and inlets of the French and Spanish atlantic coasts.
However, because we have now 'Taken Back Control' (grr!), we would need special longstay visas to be in Europe for more than three months. So we'll probably avoid the bureaucratic agony of that and do a mixture of domestic and continental cruising.
Should still be lots of fun!
