It’s been a minute… but the blog is back and starting with a nautical tale.

They say life comes at you fast and they couldn’t be more right! The last 18 months brought loss and a simple reminder; to do what you love – whilst you can. For me, that is the ocean. No place on earth makes me feel more alive than the sight and sound of the sea and so I began a quest to look for a boat and undertake my skipper license training. What happened next was a surprise, even for me.

At various points over the last five years, I have been looking at boats and more recently, I was put onto the trail of a boat that was in need of some restoration as the owner was suffering at the hands of old man time and not able to do the works himself now that he’d retired. So, I went to take a look at her. The smell and feel of the teak wood and the smooth lines on the hull lit my senses and fell in love at first sight.

The boat, a Cheoy Lee sister boat – a Tai Pan 28, was built in Hong Kong in 1973 and has a long and interesting history. It was cargo transported from Hong Kong to the UK in the 1980s and has been based here ever since. With two previous owners, the boat is one of only three here in the UK, but it is believed this boat may have been counted twice, so it’s entirely possible she is one of only two here, the rest being in the U.S.

The Tai Pan has been sat ashore for five years and whilst of sound and solid hull, needs some TLC inside and on deck. The boat has had a refit previously, in 2015 with the previous owner replacing the original teak deck. The original port windows have also been replaced with solid UPVC windows by the original owner and screwed directly into the coach roof. This is something I plan to restore and to remove a potential source of leak for every screw hole is an opportunity for water to get in.

Time is limited but what time I do have I will spend repairing and prepping in anticipation of launch day. There’s much to be done but the journey is as important as the launch and destination.