Boat Preparation Season !

Sean has been very busy this month ! Sometimes wondering what went wrong this time ?? !

Finishing up the cleaning and polishing of the prop :

Enjoying cleaning the bottom of the boat :

Making a hole in the hull for the new fridge's water cooling apparatus :

Repairing the sprayhood's fabric using his old sewing machine :

and last but not least , installing the new radar target enhancer on the mast !

Knitting Afloat :-)

         I love knitting new woolen sweaters, colourful pairs of socks and wrist warmers etc. and it is even better to create them while afloat ! 

        Here is another sunny Stromness day when I could not resist to start a new knitting project and since all the space on Escapade was occupied with Skipper’s busy work, installing our new fridge into our boat, I had to prepare my wool in our dinghy !

Excited to make a sweater using these lovely blue mohairs from Stromness !

Hope you will like to see the finished project soon :-)

My first summer on Escapade ( May – October 2010 ) Cruising the West Coast of Scotland

Cruising West Coast of Scotland

Main sailing routes and places visited by 'Escapade of Kirkwall' in Summer 2010

View Cruising West Coast of Scotland in a larger map

My first summer on Escapade ( Caledonian Canal )

Caledonian Canal

 I was excited about my first living on board experience. Although I have been sailing in the past and have lived on boats before , it was usually for a week or two and mainly for sailing holidays .

So, this would be my first experience to actually live on board as well as cruising for the whole summer. I must admit I was not sure if I could really do this. Well, let's see how it all went after all...

I arrived at Inverness on May 11^th 2010, after a long flight from Canada and Sean has already moored Escapade at Inverness Seaport Marina after sailing down from Orkney a week before my arrival. Our plan was to sail the West Coast of Scotland for the summer.

First of all, it was nice to be on Escapade again  ( I have seen Escapade for the first time at a boatyard in Plymouth in May 2009, where it was standing on a cradle for maintenance before launched again at sea. I will tell more about this later ). 

After a day of rest and some grocery shopping, we started sailing through Caledonian Canal, heading towards the west coast.

Caledonian Canal :  

Sailing through the canal was so beautiful ! ( my journal has been full of this statement ! whereever we have been sailing in Scotland this summer,  all were incredibly beautiful ! )

 

Handling the ropes and changing levels in the canal locks were interesting experiences :

 

Unfortunately, a swelling on my face along with a tooth ache started during the first days ! Sean had to start the engine and rushed along Loch Ness to get to a center to find a dentist. With the help of a lady in the canal tourist centre at Fort Augustus, we learned about a dental centre in Fort William. So, we ended up spending a couple of extra days in the Canal for my dental treatment. 

However, this gave us a chance to see Fort William and surroundings a little further.  

It was lovely to hear and see the steam train as in Harry Potter films :

Another nice surprise was to see the Canadian flag at Fort William Office building, where I learned about twin canals : Caledonian Canal in Scotland and Rideau Canal in Canada !

Back to living aboard ! Preparing Escapade for summer 2011

After spending the winter in Toronto with my daughters, we are back in Orkney , living on board at Stromness Marina. We are busy preparing Escapade for our new adventure starting this May. I will write again soon with lots of pictures. Hope you will like to hear from us and join our journey whenever you feel like it .

Crew : Inci
Skipper: Sean