I love a revelation. I don’t mean a Daily Mail headline or a reality show splurg. More finding out a surprising or previously unknown fact about someone you know.

There’s a guy who I worked with recently on my UK work trip whose day job is delivering training. In chatting to him, I discovered that his hobby away from work is writing. Sci-fi. Not only does he write, but he’s recently been published. I’d never have guessed that this guy was a writer. Impressive!

I subsequently found myself thinking about this and how everyone has a unique backstory. It was a jolt for me, a reminder to keep an open mind and find out more about poeple that I come into contact with. There are some amazing understated talented people out there.

I’m writing this on the train to London, before the flight to New York and onwards back to Bermuda.  I haven’t seen dave for three weeks which is a long time when we spend all our time together on the boat. There are pros and cons to this which I will let you deduce!

Bermuda has its attractions but the UK countryside looks stunning at the moment. The trees are full and lush, often majestic. The green of the vegetation intense.

Last week I worked in Southern Ireland and this week an area called The Roaches in Staffordshire. In between I camped on the south coast for a couple of nights with friends, walked around the Malvern Hills with Sis and her family and had a brief sojourn in Welsh Wales. Everywhere made me smile looking out across water or hills or rocks.

There is an argument to say, why bother sailing off to distant places when your home is a green and pleasant land. Its a robust and substantive point of view. However the drive to explore more and see fresh places still burns bright.

One week in. Two weeks to go. Some work, some family, some friends. My trip back to England so far has been crammed.  South Wales, Staffordshire, Northumberland and Derbyshire visited. Hampshire, Worcestershire, Southern Ireland to come this week. Then a quick reprise of South Wales and Staffordshire before it’s time to head west again across the Atlantic in a metal flying machine.

Dave meanwhile is hanging out in Bermuda until my return. His swimming is improving and he tells me it’s hot. Sounds tough. I look forward to my return and joining in the fun.

Dad and I spent a morning revisiting old haunts, House number one and House number two from my childhood. House number one had no bath. So my parents went across the road to the pub for a soak. I was only 3 months old so a sink was suitable for me and my older sister. House number two had both a bath and a large garden. Luxury.

Somewhat different times to today.

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Finding Colin Firth sitting on your sofa early in the morning can easily be categorised in the “more unusual occurrences” column in my life. Cromford, our village, was staring in a film. Or maybe it was Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent, both now Oscar winners, who were the stars. Either way, Cromford was abuzz with cameras and lights, people with clipboards, catering wagons, extras hanging about seemingly for hours and curious locals.

No. 1 Mount Pleasant was an actually location for the shoot, No. 2, our place, was the Green Room, a place for actors to hang out waiting to be called for their next scene. From my admittedly limited experience of film making, waiting and organising the catering loom large in the production of films. Lots of waiting was done on our sofa. And the waiting always stops for the catering.

The film, ‘And when did you last see your father?’ is based on a book of the same name by Blake Morrison. It’s the story of the relationship between a grown up son, played by Colin Firth and his dying larger than life father, Jim Broadbent.

If you’ve never heard of it, (it wasn’t a blockbuster release), I’m not too surprised. In fact when we went to watch it at the local cinema, the lights went up at the end to reveal about 15 people, almost all exclusively Cromford residents who’d come to location spot. We all laughed. It’s an okay film, I’d give it 5/10, a little slow but that reflects the content and the mood the director is trying to create.

Why this little reminiscence from a few years ago? Being on passage at sea again means reading books is seriously back on the agenda. I’ve just read ‘And when did you last see your father?’. No surprises….the book is better than the film. But I understand a little of what was trying to be conveyed to the watching audience now. There’s lots of internal dialogue in the book which is tricky to portray well on film.

Here we are mid trip. Over 300 miles across the Atlantic towards Bermuda. A swift motor out over the Gulf Stream then 24 hours of glorious fast beam reach sailing. The wind has now died and the engine is earning its keep. The sea is flat, the dolphins playful. Arrival sometime on late Monday looks likely.

My other amusing recollection of being involved in film shenanigans was Dave trying to find keys for the front door of the house. I was still renting the flat at this point so we were staying there. The production crew wanted to leave their cameras and lights in the house overnight, rather than have to cart them up and down the path each day. “No problem” Dave said.

Finding out that the kit was worth substantially more than the whole of the small terraced cottage prompted a slight panic. Locating and USING some house keys might be good idea.

Stop press…. We’ve arrived safely into Bermuda. We had to leave the US as our 6 month stay was up. Don’t want to upset Mr Trump.

I wrote the above on passage. We motored into the anchorage at pretty much midnight, Monday night into Tuesday morning. 660 miles thereabouts. Thanks for being a red dot watcher.

Bermuda is not like North Carolina.
Here’s some photos to prove it.

Downside is I’ll be here for the briefest of time. I fly back to the UK tomorrow for some, whisper it quietly, work. Two Nando’s programmes and a two day gig in Ireland. I’m fortunate that my work is fun and rewarding so I am looking forward to it. Honestly. 🙂

A few facts.

We depart in a few hours towards Bermuda. 15 miles today down to an anchorage. We’ll spend a quiet night away from the boatyard. Then set off properly tomorrow.

Nancy and Kenny Bock who own the boatyard have a property on the Intra Coastal Waterway and spied us creeping past from their dining room table, hence the photo. We had a few hours out testing the engine and the rig in preparation for departing.

All the crew that work in the boatyard have been generous, friendly and professional going above and beyond to help us. Sheets of ice the size of tennis courts floating down the river are but a distant memory. The trees are lush, the temperatures have risen and there’s so much more boat traffic on the river. Summer is coming.

650 miles or so …. 5 days ish we imagine. It’s feels so good to be on the move again.

I know you’ve missed it.

Tracking has resumed. You can stalk us again as we make our next passage.

Have a look on the tracking page and you watch transfixed as technology whirrs and beeps remotely.  I made those noises up.

Destination Bermuda.

A local guy said to us….”we have every critter known to man”. That’s bragging.

Well, the no see’ums are out today. The North Carolina version of the Northumbrian midgy. Or Scottish midge. Blasted little blighters. Something so small creating such irritation. Attacking human skin with unseen knives and forks, munching randomly, swear words  and slapping sounds filling the air as we wait for a breath of wind to disperse the irritants.

Overnight rain, hot, steamy still conditions, perfect for a family midgy day out.

My other encounter with an animal this week was a dead one. I was in the boaters lounge at lunchtime and a plate of meat and potatoes came my way. It was wild Alaskan moose. Is there any other kind? The shooter gleeful showed me a picture of her next to the downed beast, all antlers and smiles. Well she was smiling. It was butchered in situ, loaded onto inflable kayaks and paddled out to the float plane. Quite a few air miles for this dinner. Tasty. Well it was meat and potatoes. What’s not to like.

We sail this week. A few more unexpected jobs reared their heads. A pinprick hole in a stainless steel water tank plus an engine valve problem, A pinprick hole necessitated grinding fibre glass away to get the tank out, welding, epoxying, fibreglassing back into place, painting, connecting pipes and a very dusty cabin.

The engine has had some TLC,  Dave and Brookes, the mechanic sharing the load.

Seriously watching the weather now. Our time has come.

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This missive will, I believe, mostly appeal to boaty people. Or perhaps to people who just like lists. I certainly won’t be offended if boat ‘spannering’ is not your thing and you choose to skip these words.

This is what we’ve been upto during our time in North Carolina, more specifically Bock Marine Boat Yard. Now we’re floating it feels appropriate to release this data, Cambridge Analytica style.

• Mast compression problem sorted…. Rotting wood removed, new 5.5” fibre glass slabs both inside and out, new gel coat, new plinth, bilge area painted etc etc
• Deck fittings remounted on new gel coat plint
• Toilets serviced and new pipes in fwd heads
• Starter circuit and earths cleaned
• Glow plug circuit installed
• Generator serviced
• Starter motor – main and spare both serviced
• Gear box oil changed
• Oil changed
• Fuel tanks drained, diesel polished and both tanks cleaned
• Solar panels installed on Bimini and wired in
• All seacocks serviced
• Outboard serviced and flushed before haul out
• Holding tank installed with pipework
• Taylor’s Kerosene Heater factory reconditioned
• Water tanks flushed, cleaned and new pipe and new seals installed
• Seals on all oval port holes replaced
• Seals replaced on two round portholes
• New cutlass bearing
• New pump for pressurised water system
• Prop shaft pulled and polished
• New plumbers block
• New pressurised deck wash pump installed
• New engine battery installed with new independent earth cable
• New vinyl windows, new piping, new zips on spray-hood
• Hatch Garage completely disassembled and rebuilt including recaulking to stop leak
• New 90 amp alternator installed
• Vents on deck resprayed
• Anchor chain remarked and sprayed
• Hull work – pinholes sanded, epoxied, and copper coated
• Paintwork remedied and rub strips in place for both anchors on bow sprit
• Canvas spray hood water proofed
• Anode posts reset in hull
• Bilge cleaned
• New shelf in cupboard in saloon
• Lids on 4 deck boxes recaulked
• Port and Starboard deck boxes stripped, painted internally and revarnished with 9 coats
• Belay pins and pin rail stripped and 9 coats of varnish applied
• Bulwarks, grab rails, gas locker, hatch garage, boom gallows and butterfly hatch all stripped of old varnish and at least 6 coats of new varnish applied
• 2 x Anchors painted and chain resprayed
• Engine realigned and 4 new engine mounts installed
• Stainless steel stanchions polished
• Sheaves swapped on mast for better halyard runs
• Hull awlgrip paint waxed
• New storage system in lazarette configured
• 5200 squeezed into gaps on bulwarks
• Teak decks cleaned and treated

Not quite ready to depart yet. Some fettling remains to be done. Things that could only happen once we were floating again.

The rig is not finished. The engine needs a once over and we’ll get Brookes the mechanic to check the valves etc.

And we need a weather window too. And my ankle needs to less elephant like.

I now know how to varnish. Period. I’ve put the time in. I’ve visited the importer for Epifanes varnish in Maine. I’ve read the book. I know the different properties of Wood Finish and High Gloss. I’ve scraped and sanded and acetoned and tack cloth wiped. I’ve done 25% and 5% and splash mixes with thinners.

I have a table in a notebook of how many coats have been applied to different areas of the boat and when sanding is needed between coats. And tomorrow will be the start of the final two High Gloss coats before we get relaunched. The weather is set, the brushes are ready and the platform (trellis) is in place. And then hopefully I will start to talk about something other than varnishing. I have become a varnishing bore. Be grateful you are far away.

Two things to report from the weekend. We had a particularly snazzy brand new black hire car. Laura the manager at Enterprise looked after us well. We unsurprisingly book the cheap and cheerful, less than ten pounds a day option when we choose to have a car. The cheap Kia or Noddy car equivalent. To drive away in a 3.5 litre V6 thing which had quite a bit of poke in sport mode was a driving treat. It was slightly embarrassing to take it back with assorted boat yard dirt staring out from the black carpet foot wells.

Trips to Enterprise have been a little like living in an episode of the Archers. I’d describe the Archers as a BBC radio soap opera for middle class people if you have never heard of it before. Think that’s fair. Anyway, Enterprise offer this great pick up and drop off service which works a treat. A retired police officer  who’d I’ve never met before gave me a lift back to the boatyard one day and after chatting for a while, I said, I know your wife Cheryl. You live in Newport. He was dumbfounded. She had cut my hair a few weeks earlier. Small world.

Then there was the serving Marine who did a bit of driving on his days off. I asked him about the sparkly equipment the American military provide and he laughed and said, ah, the stuff we get to use is from the 1970’s and we spend all our time fixing it. The sparkly stuff only comes out for Military shows.

And finally the sales assistant who was involved in a paternity test after finding out on a ski holiday that an ex girlfriend of his was 7 months pregnant and he may be the father. Turns out he wasn’t but he had an interesting two weeks getting his head round that little scenario. It made for a somewhat more interesting conversation than just talking about the weather. Why he chose to tell me this stuff I have no idea. Script writers get yourselves down to Enterprise. It’s a microcosm of life.

We took the car to the Newport Pig Cookin’ Contest. A bit of North Carolina madness. Think Hog Roast on steroids. We ate pig then left.

It’s up. Our Easter pole offering.

Inevitably problems to sort.

Tweaking and new bits needed.

But it’s going to be 75 degrees today so not all bad.

Off to the beach for a Helen hikette before any chores today.

Have a good one, whatever you’re upto.