Phones

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Big and Bashful
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Re: Phones

Post by Big and Bashful »

Kirbstone wrote:B&B,
Sad to hear your news about your knee and your decision to sell the boat.

A close rowing friend, 6'5" and with enough medals to form body armour, chose to commute by bike daily for speed and economy, but alas suffered an accident which nearly lost him his right leg and left him with a right arm permanently bent right angles at the destroyed elbow. To get a pint to his mouth he has to use his left hand.

I forbade all four of my offsprings to indulge in motorbikes. 4-wheeled Metal crumples better. I also forbade both my boys to play Rugby, thus eliminating two very frequent sources of serious injury.

Knees can be treated and some are very successful indeed. An old Aussie rowing friend visited Ireland in 2015 and one day we climbed the steps to the top of the Skellig (700ft). He did it despite a knee he had sustained doing something else. He has since had some job or other done to it (not replacement) and latest reports are that he is back doing galley slaving in a boat on the Yarra (Melbourne)

Since 2012 I have been yotless, in that I was bought out of the Moody 40 I had shared with others since '03, so all my sailing, apart from dinghy-ing round our bay in Kerry, has been by invitation and I get more of those than I can avail of, so the sale of a boat isn't the End of the World.

Tom
Cheers Tom, the knees are probably just from carrying round a considerably overweight body, not bike related. I think I am going to part with the boat, but with any luck I will buy something similar when I retire so I can indulge in some longish cruises, nothing expensive, tatty but working will do for me! preferably with a bit more headroom inside!
I am the God of Hellfire! and I bring you truffles!
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Kirbstone
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Re: Phones

Post by Kirbstone »

B&B, How close are you to retirement? I suspect you've quite a way to go yet.

From the UK. NHS. I took retirement at age 60 and built the house here in which we live. I also bought just a one-fifth share in the Moody 40....about 8 feet of her, but exactly which 8' I never knew. Suffice it to say we split all expenses 5 ways and I certainly couldn't have used her any more than I did, so a fifth share was plenty. in 2012 one retiring medic partner bought us all out and she's now in the Caribbean, going westward!

In the 70s-80s I had a third share in a Westerley GK 29, which we kept on the Hamble. I lived in Hampshire then. We sold her in 1985, got together with others and chartered in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002 in various places. The Irish mob I joined in 2003 were separate and I continued to sail with one of my old Brit partners after he based his new Bavaria in Turkey. That's the boat he sailed last year in three stages to Cap D'Arg in S. France & I expect to see more of her.

My pal who sails the Albin Vega 27 is about 5'9, so he is fine. It did occur to me that you were a huge bloke for a little Verl 27 and certainly the bigger boats, not too old tend to have nearly 2-meter headroom in most places below. Bunk lengths also tend to be more generous.

I have a colleague who is a bit of a Joshua Slocum, built a concrete 35-footer in 1987-8, a Nantucket Pinky Ketch, rigged her and sailed her to Lagos in the Algarve, where he practiced dentistry for years. He preferred to sail alone and one day half way from Mediera to Portimao he went below, so he says in perfect 360deg. clear calm weather, not a boat in sight and was fiddling around with something when BANG, his boat was side-swiped by a 40K ton freighter which didn't stop, but he thought his 'Dumpling' had sustained unsurvivable damage and he was picked up by a Russian ship on its way to England.

He later learned that his boat DID survive a storm in the next few days, was salvaged and towed into Mediera, but he had lost her. I have his E-mails somewhere.

Tom
Carpe Diem......Seize the Day !
Big and Bashful
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Re: Phones

Post by Big and Bashful »

I hit 55 about a month ago, so retirement is a long way away, State pension for me has risen to 67 now. Now that the Government has hammered our pensions and no longer let our wages even keep pace with inflation the future doesn't look exactly rosy. I know it could be worse, but things could be a lot better! My old 1973 yacht has some problems, i.e. leaks where the rain gets into the headlining, probably typical of old yachts. Things that can be fixed but which take time and money. The main problem is the 1500 to 2500 cost of boatyard (mooring and storage) annually as well as the inevitable costs for sails and rigging. This in a world where the wages are stagnating is not good. I feel it makes sense to bin the yacht and change back to a hobby which does't have to cost money constantly. Going back to classic Japanese superbikes (Kawasaki AX10 from 1988 to 1989 era) I am back on the bike I started with, I can cover large distances, if I am feeling really brave I can exceed 160 mph, or at least pass slow vehicles nice and quickly. The main advantage of the bikes is that if money gets tight, you just stick them in a shed and stop running them, unlike a boat where even if you don't use, it, you still have to pay for storage. Falling off:- the yacht, you get cold, wet and have a good possibility of drowning. The bike, you bounce or splat and the skeleton can take a beating, but at least you don't drown! (I know, thanks to unlucky friends, that things can end badly as well), so far, it is just bad shoulders, now I am 55 I am not taking the risks I did when younger, but proved last year things can still go wrong!
I am the God of Hellfire! and I bring you truffles!
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