Beverley had to go over to Liverpool to sort some stuff out, so our blog was a wee chat with myself, Gaynor, on Salty Lass and Beverley in Liverpool.
I really do recommend watching the video, because there are some particularly good sceans of Liverpool in it. I think Liverpool looks particularly good because it is sunny.
So that we could weave a story together, I wore my Major of Liverpool hat and I had my Major of Liverpool jacket, which is covered in badges. These badges, show some of the places that Beverley and I have been, since starting our blog. The jacket is a way of us telling a story of places that we have been and things that we have done. So our story starts with our delivery run, which is represented by:-
- The scotish flag - This is because Beverley and I bought Salty Lass in Troon, Scotland.
- RNLI Lifeboat - Our first encounter with the RNLI as we had to follow the RNLI lifeboat into Portpatrick
- Three legs for the Isle of Man - After Portpatrick we sailed over to Peel on the west coast of the Isle of Man
- Liverpool Badge - We left Peel on a very calm night so it was a long old motor over to Liverpool
Showing the Liverpool badge was a great way to break my flow and get back to Liverpool. It was in Liverpool that I helped out at the tall ships regatta, which was a great experience as I got to see behind the sceans as well as take part in a parade through the streets of Liverpool. Another event that we helped with was the clipper race where we organised a dinner for the skippers of the Clipper Race. Although our commodore had been told about the event six months previously. We were only told six weeks before the event that we were putting on a big dinner. In the end it was a great event and we got some clipper hats out of it.
With our introduction over, I wanted to talk about one particular badge, which is an RNLI badge for Campbeltown. The aspect of the badge that I wanted to point out, are the four extra triangles that I have added to represent the Four Winns, a motor boat that Beverley and I rescued. Now when I saw the Four Winns, I thought that that was the name of the boat, but I have since learned that the Four Winns is a boat manufacturer. I only learned this when I saw another Four Winns boat in Bangor Marina. The one in Bangor is bigger than the one we rescued, as our boat was geared for fishing, while the one in Bangor is for jollies.
So we were coming out of Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, with Gaynor on the helm when Beverley saw a motor boat. For some reason, Beverley thought the peoples movements on the boat looked odd as they were both looking down into the boat, so we went over to them to find out their engine had failed. So we asked if they had tried calling anyone, but they had no radio, no flares and they were in an area with no cell service too. So, we said that we could call somebody, or we could tow them back to their marina.
They decided that they wanted to be towed back, so we passed them one of our long harbor lines, which they attached to the front of their boat, and we secured to ours. About a mile out of their marina, we contacted the marina, to find out what we needed to do. So they told us that the motor boat needed to be secured to the side of Salty Lass and we needed to go to the fuel pontoon.
So we found out that the fuel pontoon would be on our Starboard side, so I put fenders up high on our port side then got mooring lines out, so that we could throw the lines to them. Once I was all ready, we cast the motor boat adrift so that Gaynor could helm Salty Lass, to come along side. Once Salty Lass was along side, we secured their boat along side with ropes fore and aft, as well as spring lines going from aft to fore on both boats. Once their boat was secured, we invited them onboard.
Once the motor boat was secured, Gaynor motored towards the entrance to the marina, which was quite narrow. To add to the complications, it was close to low tide, so Gaynor had to be precise, thinking about not only the width of Salty Lass, but the width of the other boat too. Once through the entrance, Beverley navigated Gaynor through the marina to the fuel pontoon where we tied up. Then was just a simple job of walking their boat forward to another part of the fuel pontoon.
Now the reason that we do not have any footage of this adventure, is that we had asked them, if they wanted to be in one of our videos, and they said no. Now, I think they said no, on behalf of all motor boat users, because what motor boat user wants to be towed in by a sail boat. Now, they did invite us to dinner, but we wanted to anchor that night, but we were returning in two days time, so we said we would take it then. When we returned the two lads were no where to be found, which has led to our Boat saying
Bank it early
So if you have the opportunity to do some thing now or later, always do it now, because something might change and you will miss that opportunity.
