We are nearing the end of four months of intensive preparation to equip Moonshadow for our trip to the Med.
We hurtled into action just a few days after Christmas following the successful letting of our lovely home in the deer park for a six month tenancy to Chris Rollason. It is quite devastating to leave your home especially when we had only just completed our renovations and extension to the house just a few months before.
However, we thrive on the unpredictable and had planned this sabbatical sailing in the Med to celebrate acquiring our over 60s B&Q cards (10% off on a Wednesday). We were one year behind schedule so this opportunity really had to be taken.
We reluctantly packed our bags and vacated for January 9. Fortunately, our good friend Jane Jones was happy to rent her house to us so rather ironically we moved back into Llanbethery. two houses away from the Farm where we lived nine years ago.
Moonshadow came into our life nearly two years ago in answer to a yearning that Anders has always had to sail for a summer in the Meditteranean.
He has trawled through sailing magazines for many years and it was the sleek, traditional lines of Moonshadow that caught his eye.
Moonshadow is a 42ft Slipper designed by Holman and Pye and built in 1979 in Tonbridge Wells by Tyler Mouldings. Her first owner was an Irishman from County Down who aptly named her Moonshadow of Down.
She was sitting in a Bangor boatyard in the ownership of a telephone engineer who had worked diligently on her himself to prepare her for Meditteranean sailing. Sadly for him but fortunately for us his wife decided she preferred to stay at home with the dog!
We took over the refurbishment and it has taken a further two years to bring her up to scratch though Anders will say there is still plenty of work to do.
The aft cabin has a great make-over
Our main task has been refitting the aft cabin which involved lowering the steering cables and building some new lockers for storage. While Anders was perfecting his lockers with a mahogony trim I have been making new cushion covers for the saloon and cabin areas. Endless other tasks continued to intervene like re-siting the anchor winch, sorting out the electricals and ensuring the heads worked successfully.
A week before departure we said goodbye to friends with a glass of champagne outside the Pierhead building in Cardiff Bay.
By some miracle we managed to have everything ready for cast off on May 1 when Anders was due to leave with his friends Colin Lyons and Ian Gorton.
We hurtled into action just a few days after Christmas following the successful letting of our lovely home in the deer park for a six month tenancy to Chris Rollason. It is quite devastating to leave your home especially when we had only just completed our renovations and extension to the house just a few months before.
However, we thrive on the unpredictable and had planned this sabbatical sailing in the Med to celebrate acquiring our over 60s B&Q cards (10% off on a Wednesday). We were one year behind schedule so this opportunity really had to be taken.
We reluctantly packed our bags and vacated for January 9. Fortunately, our good friend Jane Jones was happy to rent her house to us so rather ironically we moved back into Llanbethery. two houses away from the Farm where we lived nine years ago.
Moonshadow came into our life nearly two years ago in answer to a yearning that Anders has always had to sail for a summer in the Meditteranean.
He has trawled through sailing magazines for many years and it was the sleek, traditional lines of Moonshadow that caught his eye.
Moonshadow is a 42ft Slipper designed by Holman and Pye and built in 1979 in Tonbridge Wells by Tyler Mouldings. Her first owner was an Irishman from County Down who aptly named her Moonshadow of Down.
She was sitting in a Bangor boatyard in the ownership of a telephone engineer who had worked diligently on her himself to prepare her for Meditteranean sailing. Sadly for him but fortunately for us his wife decided she preferred to stay at home with the dog!
We took over the refurbishment and it has taken a further two years to bring her up to scratch though Anders will say there is still plenty of work to do.
The aft cabin has a great make-overOur main task has been refitting the aft cabin which involved lowering the steering cables and building some new lockers for storage. While Anders was perfecting his lockers with a mahogony trim I have been making new cushion covers for the saloon and cabin areas. Endless other tasks continued to intervene like re-siting the anchor winch, sorting out the electricals and ensuring the heads worked successfully.
A week before departure we said goodbye to friends with a glass of champagne outside the Pierhead building in Cardiff Bay.
By some miracle we managed to have everything ready for cast off on May 1 when Anders was due to leave with his friends Colin Lyons and Ian Gorton.
Farewell to our friends
