Overwhelming Days

Right now I can’t even begin to get my thoughts together enough to attempt a meaningful summary of the past weeks events. Never in my life have I experienced such a prolonged period of intense emotions. It’s going to take some time for me to soak in and process what these life changing days have meant to me, and all this before ‘Gleda’ even hits the water! I’ve already made mention of Jake. He worked like a trojan for 3 days and I simply wouldn’t have been able to get ‘Gleda’ assembled without his help. Folks in the yard asked how long I’d known him and were incredulous when I told them we’d never met until now and that he’d sailed that little Tiki 26 out on the mooring singlehanded from Alderney just to come and help me. Frankly I find it incredible too and there’s even more to the story than I can relate here tonight. Jake you’re an amazing young man and both Gail and I will be eternally grateful.   Jakes arrival was just the prelude to what seemed an endless series of amazing events. It was brilliant to see so many friends and family turn out to celebrate with us but what blew me away completely was the fact that folks I’d never met made long journeys to come along. Jon Sutton from Pershore, Ian Bamsey and his lovely family down from Exmouth, then on Sunday Craig from Southampton followed by Stuart and his partner Zara. South African, Kiwi and Mongolian respectively, a very multi-national day! On Saturday night we had 26 people on deck enjoying a drink and chatting in lovely warm sunshine and I just couldn’t believe that just a few weeks ago ‘Gleda’ was still in a barn in Warwickshire and Weir Quay a long way away. There was a tinge of sadness that others couldn’t be there. My Mom and Dad because of a nasty fall my Mom had a few weeks ago, my brother Andy because of work commitments, although he still managed to get a telephone call through to the boatyard from Burma to wish us well. Richard, Jane, Malc and Charlie from the farm, and many other friends and supporters. They were all with us in thought and we look forward to welcoming them aboard ‘Gleda’ soon. To all those who were with us in body or spirit I give my thanks. The weekend will stay long in my memory. There’s been a different kind of intensity today, ‘Gleda’ had to be moved as a complete boat for the first time. This involved using the crane to lift her by the beams and then using the yard boat lift to manoeuvre her further. The crane lift went well although my heart rate reached it’s highest level of all the lifts we’ve been through so far. Unfortunately the second lift didn’t go quite to plan. There was a slippage of the timber beams we were using to span between the beams and she moved sideways resulting in some damage to the inboard side of the starboard hull. It became pinned against the top of one of the hydraulic rams and took some serious pressure on avery small contact point. The ply wasn’t penetrated but rather crushed. I feared the worst but was amazed to discover that inside the hull there was just a little bit of splitting on the upper lamination of ply. I’ve got the damage filled and glassed tonight so no problem there, but we’ve still got a ways to go down the yard before we can splash. I’ll be very very pleased when that happens because these lifts are stressing me out now. Fingers crossed that tomorrows lift and Wednesdays launch goes more smoothly. Ok. that’s me officially knackered out, once again thanks to everyone and I’ll be back with another update soon.