Just because I needed to tell someone

So sometimes, posts are nothing more than the need to communicate.

I've been sailing for just shy of 40 years now, and have always loved it. After many holidays, hobbies and weekends away, I finally decided to get a boat. My wife and I thought, looked and measured the driveway. (That's where it was to live). After all the research, I bought piccolo, a Seahawk 17. I loved the look of the boat, and the feedback and info meant it suited the intended use for the two of us....that was just over 2 years ago.

What I hadn't expected was that 3 weeks after we picked the boat up, knowing there was probably a year of work to do on bits and pieces to get it to the state I wanted....well, 3 weeks after getting it, we found out my wife was pregnant.

That pretty much put a stop to most work. I managed to get the mast down and rerigged, but that was about it....I did manage to get a cover on the boat.

Now, 2 years later, I have a beautiful 17 month old daughter called Robyn, and up until last week, nothing more than a scrap book of ideas including where to fit a third bunk.

But today is a monumental day. I did a whole load of work on the outboard motor, which is as old as the boat, and was in slightly worse condition.....and today, after taking various bits apart, repairing things etc....it fired, started, belched a whole load of dirt, and ran.

Whilst it's not the boat itself, it was undoubtedly the most complex bit of all the purchase to repair....the rest is just cleaning, painting, and a bit of wood and fibre glass work.

So, today, 16th August, almost 2 years and 2 months after I bought it....today is the first day of the renovation of piccolo, from a 2 berth Seahawk that has seen better days....to. A 3 berth Seahawk, that will hopefully inspire my daughter to love sailing as much as I do..

Wish me luck....outboard done, only another couple of years work to go :) !!!

Thanks

Perry

Hi Perry,

I recall you saying that pregnancy came at the same time as purchase of Piccolo so the planned one year project looked like turning into a five year one. However, your regular posts here did indicate that the Piccolo had not been completely side-lined by the new member of the family and it is great to hear that the refurbishment project is still - more or less - on track.

I have a similar tale of life getting in the way of boating to relate. There's 27 days to go before I get married to Diana. When I met her I lived near Stalham and she in Kenilworth. That was in 2010. In our first couple of years we tended to spend alternate weekends in Stalham and Kenilworth. A couple of times when in Norfolk that included nights aboard Just 17. Finally, she decided to move to Norfolk and rented a place in anticipation of us setting up home together. However, my place sold much quicker than expected and I moved in with her. Over the winter of 2012 Just 17 became a floating shed for stuff that wouldn't fit in the rented house.

We found a house that we agreed would suit us - but, oh what a project it has turned out to be! Purchased in February 2013, it was May before we moved in. It took almost a year Just 17 eventually came home on 19 April 2014. The plan was to do the usual maintenance chores you'd expect after having spent two winters in the water and get her back where she belonged without delay. The small number of wood items were removed and coats of stain applied, but somehow the house took all out time and the other planned work, repairs to minor scratches to the hull and some touching up of the paintwork on the hull never got done.

So now it is August 2015 and there's two summer's worth of mildew and tree debris on her and wedding preparations taking up all of this summer too. Will there be time after the wedding to get her back into the water before the winter sets in? Who can tell?

And, of course there is a question about whether we need a larger boat. Just 17 was bought with solo sailing in mind. Before my time Diana was used to a large motor cruiser on Windermere and it was she who suggested we taken on a share in a Narrowboat, shared with my brother, so we could, at least, guarantee some boating time each year.

Over the last year I have come very close to deciding that Just 17 and I should part - but I am very reluctant to see her go as I would lose a reason to keep this site going, another very satisfying hobby. "Plan B" is to find someone to share her with, but somehow I doubt that I am the right person for anyone to share Just 17 with. I suspect everyone else would feel that I have too much personal commitment in her for them not to feel they were intruding in that relationship.

With all this going something else to slip has been my GregAfloat blog. There's been few entries in the last couple of years but a good number of boating related activities have gone unrecorded. I must make more time before I forget the details!

It's all another case of "However did I find time to go to work before I retired"?

Greg,

Congratulations on the forthcoming wedding! Lovely news

Yeah, I have been doing bits related to piccolo, but the reality is mostly fact finding and buying/ gathering stuff, rather than actual work. Life gets like that, I suppose. That said, I know if it takes me a decade to get the boat all sorted, so be it.

The cost of the boat was fairly low, once you take the trailer out the equation. It sits on my driveway, so no mooring charges. I've about 20 years to go to retirement, and it will be something I play with then. In the meantime, the odd sailing trip with the family will be a bonus, and the fact that I have 'a project' makes the gaps between (apparently called work) less tedious :)

Hang on to just 17....there will always be times you regret it if you sell it. You can always get a bigger motorboat as well :)

And as for the web site, what an amazing resource. You've not only brought a load of valuable information together, but also a load of people....UK, Netherlands, USA....you should be proud, it's been a great source of fun for lots of us, as well as inspiration.

Keep well, and good luck in 26 days time!

Sent from my iPad

Retirement is awesome! I retired about two years ago and feel like I've died and gone heaven. My days are taken up by surfing, sailing and my  nautical artwork - when I'm not traveling. And you can do twenty years easy. In fact its the exact amount of time you'll need to have your lovely new daughter out of the house and launched into a life of her own. My daughter is now 27 and works for the State Dept here in the States. That said, nothing is sweeter than a daughter aged 1 day through about 12 years - then they become a woman and you'll have two women in your house but you'll only be married to one of them! On another note I spent several years restoring my Seahawk here in Florida. I found it in a swamp in The Sea islands of Georgia south of Savannah. If you go to my thread English Rose you can follow my well documented travails getting her into the water. My mast troubles alone were almost a killer. So persevere, big congrats on the new daughter and keep posting. I'll look for them. Enjoy your SeaHawk Perry - she's a great little boat.

Thanks Tom...Sounds the perfect retirement!

So tell me...general opinion (and Greg, since it's his website).

As I do stuff, do you want me to keep a thread of what i did, how it went,
etc? Or would you prefer it not on the seahawk website but on a blog with a
link?

Happy to do either/both! I decided that part of the fun would be to write
things up, especially when I had pictures.

Thanks

Perry

Hi Perry,

Perry wrote

Thanks Tom...Sounds the perfect retirement!

I retired from full time work at 50 and for the next 12 years only did a bit of freelance writing and sessional Adult Education teaching. I have just turned 67 and am still in reasonable health, so am incredibly lucky - or with hindsight happened to make the right life choices.

As I do stuff, do you want me to keep a thread of what i did, how it went,
etc? Or would you prefer it not on the seahawk website but on a blog with a
link?

It would be unfair of me to discourage you from creating your own site, which allows you total control over your material. (After all, I have my own GregAfloat site which includes a lot of my personal SeaHawk material).

I provide the "My Boat" section for those who think they'd get more exposure for their story through this site or are intimidated by the thought of creating a site for themselves. Because some found even creating their own section tricky, I have recently changed the system. Now I'll create someone their own section in "My Boat" after they've posted a couple of photos of their boat in the Gallery Section.

As you're a regular contributor here, if you request it, I'll happily set up a "Piccolo" folder in the "My Boat" area for you without that requirement, ready for you to use as your personal "mini-site". Whether you choose to keep your posts short and use it mainly for links to another site I'll leave up to you.

Greg,

Thanks for that. I'd appreciate it if you could add a section for me. I will set up my own site anyway, but I know how great it is to find information on one site. I'll post brief summaries on your site, with the meat of the information, and then links to my site, which will go on at some length!

Thanks a lot, and prepare for the next 2 years of posts :)

Perry

Sent from my iPad

Hi Perry,

You'll find a "Piccolo" folder at:
http://seahawk-forum.968426.n3.nabble.com/Piccolo-f4024481.html

You should be able to post new messages and replies there. Others forum members can only view and reply to your posts, hence I describe folders in the "My Boat" area as the personal mini-sites of the boat's owner.

Do explore the "Options" menu in your folder. You should find options you have not seen before, including ones that allow you to edit the description I have provided the folder with and one to create further sub-folders. They are worth exploring, but to give you the idea the top level of this forum is a "Mixed" application with most sub-folders being the "Forum" app. Exceptions include the "Gallery", a "Gallery" app and "My Boat", which is a "Category" app.

If you have questions email me privately, so we don't bombard ordinary subscribers with too much geek talk in their email!