Short But Sweet

It’s been a good day. Tonight ‘Gleda’ floated free for the first time. It was for less than an hour but it was nice while it lasted! I was able to warp her free of the muddy holes she was stuck in and pull her gently about 20ft further down the quay where the water is just slightly deeper.

After all those years of sitting in cradles and the recent weeks of movement by fork trucks, teleporters, trucks, boat lifts and cranes it was magical to just pull on a piece of rope and have her gently glide towards me. I cracked a beer and sat on deck feeling her move beneath me and watching the bows gently bobbing against the backdrop of the blue Tamar. A special moment I wish I’d been able to share with Gail.

Forgive my indulgence but I shot a little video to record the event.  As always click on the picture below to play it.

In other news I had a surprise visit from Steve Turner this morning. For those that don’t know, Steve is probably the world authority on Wharrams. He’s built over 30, and he’s a marine surveyor specialising in multihulls. He was visiting the yard to survey a monohull and before he started he came aboard ‘Gleda’ for a cuppa and a chat. In some ways Steve is responsible for ‘Gledas’ existence because back in the days when I was living on Mor Gwas up the Penryn river Steve sailed up one day on his big Wharram ‘Imagine’ to visit Tim and Heather Whelan on ‘Ika Roa’. The sight of those two incredible boats left an indelible mark that ultimately led to this project. It took over 30 years but to have Steve aboard was special. Incredibly Steve still owns ‘Imagine’ and he told me that he’s in the throws of re-building her after she was seriously damaged when some cowboys lifted her in the boatyard. Steve is based just down the river at Millbrook so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with him again later in the Summer.

It’s been another scorching day and in between chatting and keeping hydrated I have actually done some work. I got the masthead lights wired in and tested and got all the standing rigging fitted to the mast. More on that tomorrow.