Hi,
I sail all year round, we only have Red Dane lifted out every second year, we have a drying grid at the yacht club so we can scrub her down below the water line. The winter provides us with some great sailing conditions (as we have easterlies which keep the water on the Clyde flat), you just have to keep a weather-eye open, and then its just normally day sails, not to too long a passage. We don't have a heater, we just turn on the gas stove for a short time if we need some heat, but being Scottish we do not feel the cold that much.
Red Dane was first registered in Switzerland in 1968 to a Swiss subject, there is no note of their name but in the saloon there is a small brass plate with a Swiss registry number, she was re-registered in Britain in 1974 to a certain, now wait for this, Sir Ian McGeoch, K.S.B., D.S.O., D.S.C. Vice Admiral. It never amazes me how small our world is, Sir Ian was born in Helensburgh, Scotland, 6 miles from my previous home in Balloch, Loch Lomond. My eldest daughter now lives in Helensburgh with her husband who is a submariner in the Royal Navy.
I write a fair amount of poetry, but not regular, I normally write huge amounts in the one period then my creative thoughts run dry.
Slainte,
Callum
