What's going on with the boat?

After ten years living on Tarquilla we have moved to land. I'm often asked if we love the house or miss the boat and the real answer is - both. We still have Tarquilla and we are open to all options at the moment as far as her future is concerned. We will carry on working on her, it would be great to be able to sail her again. The Scilly Isles, Portishead marina, Bristol harbour and Falmouth are all places we have talked about as well as many others further afield. But, on the other hand, if a family was looking for a boat, ready to do the preparation she needs and wanted to take her on then we would sell her. She is not ready to sail off into the sunset but has a lot of life left in her. If you or someone you know would be interested then please contact us. She is 3 ply cold moulded, 42 foot long, one off design built in the 1960's. She has 2 double cabins and 2 single berths, a good size saloon, a decent size galley, head and a covered cockpit. She has two engines and a full suit of sails. We have lots more photos and can provide more details or answer questions. In the meantime, this blog has come to a natural pause for now as we take on new adventures.

Sounds of the wind

halyard

Pronunciation: /ˈhaljəd/  noun a rope used for raising and lowering a sail, yard, or flag on a sailing ship. Origin:late Middle English halier, from hale2 + -ier. The change in the ending in the 18th century was due to association with yard1
Oxford English Dictionary.


When we were children my Gran would sometimes take me and my brother down to the beach near their bungalow. The beach was rocky and we would play happily for what felt like hours. On the way down the steep winding path we had to pass the sailing club, it was only small and the boats lived in a yard behind a high chicken wire fence at the top of the slipway, ready to be launched into the muddy waters of the Bristol channel. As we passed the boats they would always seem to play a symphony of jingling music, and as a child I believed that boats had bells on the top of their masts.

 
I understand now that a mast is hollow and the various ropes which hold things up or keep things down will strike the mast if they are too loose, this causes a noise which gets deeper the bigger the rope or mast is. If a rope is being blown in the wind it will set up a rhythmic tune, if several ropes are being blown marinas can become quite noisy. When it is on your boat you know that not only is something not tight enough but also that that rope is being damaged by being hit repeatedly against the mast and at night time the noise becomes annoying enough for you to leave your bed and investigate (or in my case usually kick the skipper out of bed so that he can investigate!).

 
As the winds outside reach near gale force and are expected to get stronger as the week goes on we’ll be checking and fiddling with all our ropes and probably listening to the sound of other boats playing along in the orchestra of halyards in the marina.

 

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