Life and working with sand-paper are both battles. The first we can’t do much about… or can we?

Life is horribly short and sand-paper clogs up quickly, and slows down the process.

The end of one’s life is inevitable at some point, so we can’t change that, but what we can change is what we do within our time, or in this case what we don’t do.

Noel’s words of wisdom struck a cord with me.

“Life’s too short to worry about sandpaper.”

To explain; while sanding, the particles start to cling to the paper and the paper becomes less and less useful. Ultimately, you end up spending more time sanding than necessary. Which means more time working and less time for fun!

We need to make more time for fun!

“Just chuck it away as soon as you notice it becoming less effective, and get more, we don’t have enough time to sand for longer than necessary.”

I kind of like that – we’ve better things to do…  what will you not do to make life better for yourself?

I am a messy painter. The fumes bother me and once I have a project on the go, I become manically obsessed to complete it as soon as possible.

Painting Rouge Corsair when she was in the dry dock

So, after preparing the surface (of the wheelhouse roof – see our ‘rain-catcher’ blog for more details), I had sore knees (I’m not twenty any more, oh okay, I’m not thirty any more either . . . !), I was covered in a fine coating of ‘dust’ and have earned my stiff muscles.

It was time to settle down to paint . . .  the fumes hit me . . . and so did the memories.

I’ve painted a lot of boats too – Mariah II (our first sailboat)

I’ve renovated my parents’ house, working with my dad. I’ve renovated a few houses with Noel, our own, and for others. The most interesting was some apartments in Puerto Rico for some friends. The most memorable was my parents’ house, the place I grew up in.

Noel and my dad, (right) – and me blitzed our house in Staffordshire with paint in just a few days. Dad helped us many times over the years!

My Positives: The paint fumes carried memories of past projects and cherished times. I loved working with my dad, on the house I grew up in. For several weeks my dad and I worked in harmony and I ‘gave something back’, to a house that seemed to look after me and provide me with incredible memories. It was a very special time, for a many different reasons and I’m grateful for those memories.

Viki Moore, sailing friend and author of the blog Astrolabe Sailing has kindly nominated my blog for a Leibster Award!

 (The Leibster Award – A blog is “nominated” for this “award” by other bloggers. It is a bit like a chain letter, except that the idea is to allow a blogger to introduce or recognize a fellow blogger’s work. So, being nominated is a bit of an honour…or at least an indication that someone else likes your work.)

I know the phrase chain-letter, can be off putting, however, it is fabulous that people are reading my blog and wanting to know more… so I’ll keep this brief – this is just a bit about us and what we’re up to!…if you want to know more…follow my blog.

1. Introduce us to your crew – who are they and what roles do they play in your operation?

There’s just Noel and I on board. We are both captain and crew – we try not argue too much about who is what on which day!

2. What sort of boat do you have and would you recommend it for other adventurers hoping to live aboard? What do you like the least about your choice?

Our current home

Well, we are now on a Dutch barge, (we have previously lived on two different sailboats; for almost nine years on the first and a little over two years on the second). Rouge Corsair is a Luxe Motor, built 1920, and a rather neat boat to live on. I’d certainly recommend this type of boat for the canals. Rouge Corsair was a bunker boat, which means she has a fine bow and is easy to handle. We don’t have a bow-thruster but rely on the incredibly useful prop walk (large prop and slow speed) to manoeuvre her bow and stern. She’s 18.5 metres long, 3.96 wide, draft is 1m and air-draft (important in the canals) is 2.95m.

What do I like least? Hmmmm, tricky. At the moment just the mountains of dark brown timber (stained) below decks. My paint-brush will be doing the rounds this winter!

3. What are your sailing plans, if you have any, for the future?

We are cruising in Europe for a few years – probably. Then…maybe…another sailboat…we shall see.

4. How do you support your lifestyle while sailing and cruising?

Writing and photography, my next book Of Foreign Build, will be out very shortly. Also, I write for magazines. We are both maritime teachers and when on land (between adventures) we save like mad so we can go off and play again.

I’ll write anywhere/anytime!

5. What’s the best experience you’ve had while living aboard?

So many and for so many different reasons: visiting unique countries and meeting different cultures…playing with orang-utans, swimming with sea-lions and whales, having time to watch the world unfold around me at my pace. Changing from a Corporate Girl to a Sea Gypsy Woman and finding out who I am!

We’ve had some incredible experiences.

6. Name the most challenging experience you have had while living aboard and what did you do to overcome it?

A raving storm was not very nice, basically it was survival tactics, drogue out, storms sails hauled and hunker down (running with it). Another time, in an anchorage that was impossible to get out of at night (the channel was not lit) – and being trapped within 60 knots of vortexing wind … we nearly lost the boat that night. (In the Gambiers), next time, with the same weather forecast and possibility of it happening again, I’d get out to sea (if possible) – there are far less things out there to hit!

7. Is living aboard and sailing an alternative way of life for you, an escape from the system, or is it just a temporary adventure?

It is a way of life, until we have to earn money and want to stop for a while. Longest stretch on-land, in-between adventures is two years.

 8. Any big mistakes you have learned from that others may learn from too?

Don’t wait to learn. Enrol in a course, read and research BEFORE you go.

9. What advice would you give to those that may be interested in following in your footsteps and living aboard and/or cruising?

As above and JUST GO! Read our blog, including fortnightly updates on Cruising Clinic for answers to this question – and our book Cruisers’ AA. And, don’t listen to nay-sayers – if someone says, ‘you can’t do that,’ it means you can!

Yes, you can get here!

10.What motivates you to blog and what tips can you offer fellow bloggers?

It helps me keep track of what we are doing, while keeping everyone up to date! Just write down what you are feeling, experiencing. Let it flow. Also, everyone has a good idea or something to teach others – no matter what stage of cruising life we are at, so it is good to share. AND it is a great reference back. (It also inspires you take some great photography and keep them organised!)

Keeping a blog inspires your creative side!

So, that’s us – thanks again Viki for nominating me. I would now like to nominate a few of the other blogs that I follow and enjoy – they are:

Eurmacs

On A Barge in France

Four2Tango

Sailing in my Sarong/Valiam goes sailing around the world

If you see your blog listed above, just follow these simple rules to accept your own Liebster Award:

• Refer back to the blog that you nominated you
• Answer questions posed by the nominator (same ones as above)

Nominate other blogs you believe are worthwhile

We have two dead batteries and details of our PREVIOUSLY smashed wheelhouse and it’s only 8:24 am!

Okay, the wheelhouse is CURRENTLY in one piece, but it WAS smashed – sometime ago. The book, about Lionel (see last post), reveals that our boat has already traversed the Canal du Midi a long time ago… back then, they mis-calculated a bridge measurement and the wheelhouse didn’t make it!

Will the wheelhouse fit under lower bridges?

My mum has the book with these details and is telling me, much too calmly for my liking, about the bridges.

“WHICH, bridge?” (betting it is the Capestang or Marengo)

“Did they re-build the wheelhouse lower?”

…and now I wait with baited breath… especially as we have just paid three months rent for our winter mooring in the Canal du Midi (Buzet du Baisse)!

Two batteries are looking rather poorly this morning, we were hoping they would last (the other two didn’t), so it looks like two more new ones are on the cards…sigh.

Shall I lock Noel in the engine room?

That said, it’s raining and our rain-catcher is working a treat! And Noel’s just announced he is going on the internet to seek psychiatric help. Happy days! 🙂

Rain!

‘Your boat is famous!’ The couple said. They were cycling along and skidded to a halt right next to us. ‘Your boat was called Lionel.’

We knew our boat ‘had a past’, we discovered it by finding a poster that was buried in the deepest, darkest cupboards on board. The picture on the poster is our boat and turned out to be a book cover.

The poster found on board.

At this point, as we are talking about boat names, I should say that the current name of our boat, Marie Suzanne, will very soon be changed to Rouge Corsair (RC). Yes, we are fully aware it is bad luck to change the name of a boat. However, we already have the champagne to appease the relevant gods and we have planned a neat little name-changing ceremony.

The name Rouge Corsair was the name of a wonderful little horse I owned some years ago – it is in honour of him.

Bear with me, this IS all linked!

It turns out that a Canadian couple owned our boat and in 1997 they traversed the canals. Rouge Corsair was called Lionel at that point. They wrote a book about their escapades, Travels with Lionel – A small boat in France, by Hart Massey

We know a few people who have read the book, with differing opinions on the content. Our copy is on order and we are looking forward to finding out a bit more about Rouge Corsair’s history!

I’ve probably just secured a drought for France for the next few months, as I have now completed our rain catcher.

Port down-pipe and water inlet (under lock)

We have two water tanks. The port side inlet/tank is near the down-pipe. The other inlet/tank is near the bow of the boat, so we had to incorporate a hose to fill that one.

I’ll let the photos show how it was done.

Filter

Showing how it slots in (this part has been glued to the rest now)

Port side all done.

Filter in starboard side.

Connections in place

A better view – the hose runs forward

Into the second water tank.

Crazy women with ear-rings – or ARE THEY ear-rings?

Not ear-rings, but cleverly designed filters on the top of the wheelhouse. Layers of mozzie netting have been cinched together and pushed into the hole. The plastic handle is attached so the netting doesn’t gradually slide down the pipe. (The plastic came from handle off the pipe cleaner brush) – we have several ‘filters’ each side – from top to bottom.

When it rains we simply have to slide the plastic pipes onto the down-pipes and ensure all the filters are in place. Of course, the roof will have a good wash first!

Now, the sun is shining and there’s not a cloud in the sky 🙂