Boats are like babies, they need their bottoms cleaned occasionally. Not as often thank goodness, it is two years since my old lady has been exposed in this undignified fashion.
But it's the time of year when old sailormen's thoughts turn to ........ well, in the case of the older ones like me, the sea rather than other things. Why we do, I am not so sure even after 40 years of it. People say its the last wilderness, which is surely true and you don't have to fly to the other side of the world to find it either, it's on your doorstep. Just the other day a fishing boat skipper remarked on TV that it's always a bit frightening, in fact he said, if your not a bit frightened, you shouldn't be there!
After my disastrous cruise last year, my plan this year is to have no plan, I will just wander where the wind blows me and, if I stop enjoying it, I will head home. I do have one commitment though and that is to visit the river Mersey later this month when I am involved in a conference. I have never before ventured into that famous stretch of water which is effectively next door to Preston. There is something exciting about taking a small boat into a big famous harbour. I have done it in places like San Francisco and in Sydney but in the UK only in Portsmouth and Plymouth. Both of these latter places are nowadays dominated by pleasure boats. The Mersey still has the gritty atmosphere of a serious commercial harbour, although in fact it has a big busy marina.
The tides and sandbanks make for quite tricky pilotage but I actually enjoy that aspect of sailing. The difficulty is that I have to be there at a specific time. If the weather doesn't cooperate on the appointed day, it will be back to train or car which will be disappointing.
Still it's midsummer so I keep my fingers crossed.
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