Tales of Tails & Travels

For an initial post I did think to tell you about our most recent trip away to Svalbard (a Norwegian archipelago in the arctic circle)- but that can wait for another day. Instead, let me introduce why I’m here- which is basically to have a spot to write up about our travels, share some (many) photos and keep a log of the work we are doing on our yacht. When I’m asked- so what have you been up to? Now I have this. So to get us started here is a brief story about how we got our yacht named Skinny and a few pictures of us over the past 4 months.

The discussion of travelling started for Jake & I in 2019. When we had 1 dog, 1 house and I was still waiting for an engagement ring. The focus then turned to how and how long in 2020/2021, the answers were yacht and for as long as possible. By 2022 we had 3 houses (2 rented out), 2 dogs, our elopement and I could hand my notice in at work. It was time to start looking for a yacht.

The search for a yacht took us all over. We checked out a motor boat in Essex where the only pictures of it working were from 4 years ago and half the engine was neatly stacked next to the engine bay. We looked at a beautiful wooden sail boat in Brighton which sold in hours, however as we have been told if you hate someone- wish them a wooden boat. We looked at a couple of Moody’s, a 333 in Whitehaven and 36cc in Inverkip. We loved the 36cc, the centre cock pit would’ve been ideal for the boys, but ultimately they priced it higher than we were willing to go and weren’t open to negotiations; oh and the engine was about one sputter from being defunct. A few months went by when we saw a Jeanneau Sun Fizz 40 for sale. Jake drove overnight to view her on the hard standing at Kip Marina in Inverkip and put an offer in straight away. Within a week we finalised paperwork and payment- she was ours!

From 6th June 2023 we spent any time we could travelling back and forth to Scotland (a minimum 9 hour drive from where we live in Kent) to clean her up; paint her; replace the rigging; replace ceiling panels; re-seal windows, explore the local area; get her back in the water; get the mast stepped; work out where all the running rigging goes; work out why some things work on the current wiring system and others don’t; see some baby swans grow up; get the engine working; stay in some questionable spots including a hotel that I felt we were the cast of a murder mystery and the windiest camp site in the world; spot seals along the coast; enjoy Scottish summer with all 4 season in 1 day and marvel at the breathtaking West Coast Scotland sunsets and sunrises.

Below are pictures and mini clips of Skinny, us, the boys and where we have done a little exploring of the area around Kip Marina. I will be doing more posts on what work we’ve done interspersed with what travel we’ve been up to this year soon.