so, its been a while...

Its been a pretty busy time for me recently... let me get you up to speed..

Last Autumn, I was made redundant from my job, and its was all looking pretty ropey...

We had a big decision to make just prior to Christmas when marina fees came due for 2011, but decided that the boat is just such an important part of our life that we really couldn't do without it, and so coughed up an amount of money that really made no sense while living on redundancy money, and on the generous £65 a week that the government provides...

But its all had a happy ending... Early march saw me back in gainful employment, and even better, in a location much closer to home...

It got us to also thinking about our plans for the boat, and we came to what is a pretty significant decision...

We've all along been pretty clear about our plans to clear off long distance sailing in the future, and remain quite ambitious in the journeys we plan to attempt... including a Pacific crossing...

Morgana is a wonderful boat, and we've been through some pretty rough stuff with here, and never once doubted her abilities, but she's designed for sailing in warm water in predicatble conditions... if we were only planning an Atlantic circuit, then we'd not hesitate to stick with her, but we realised that we needed something a bit more old fashioned and steady... we needed to trade comfort and space for comfort in passage making...

So we set out to look for a long keeler of heavier build...

After a few failed viewings, we found her...

She's an Explorer 45, built in one of the highly regarded Taiwanese yards for the American market, and designed by the enormously respected Stan Huntingford... she's a beauty... she's also a ketch... we made an offer and had it accepted.

The only reason we were able to make an offer was that we'd put Morgana on the market and found a buyer....

But... at the last minute, the buyer fell through, having been made redundant even prior to starting the survey process... which has left us in a bit of a pickle.

Fortunately, the seller is being very understanding, and the boat remains ours while we sell Morgana... this might not last, but at present, we're OK... in the meantime, we are putting lots of effort into getting Morgana sold.

So, if you're in the market for a 40' Beneteau in absolutely immaculate condition, with new sails, and tons of goodies added, then let me know!!!

I'll provide more details as soon as I can on the new boat and sale progress of Morgana