Converted SWMBO

[BlueSkyNick]

I first joined this wonderful forum just over a year ago at the same time as we were going through boat-buying decisions. At the time, SWMBO was supportive albeit somewhat apprehensive.

One fact I have been very reluctant to divulge on here is that we were caravan owners for several years. This was because we enjoyed camping and caravaning holidays when the boys were younger but they have grown out of it now.

When we bought the boat, part of the 'deal' was that we would keep the caravan. I agreed on the basis that if SWMBO didn't take too well to the boat, we could still use the 'van together, and I could sail more on my own or with other chaps.

Well now for the good news! After just over 12 months, including a Scuttlebutt weekend in Weymouth and an Owners Assoc trip to Cherbourg (with a Twister owner on board!), she has declared that she really loves the boat and all that it includes (no storms yet though!). So much so, that 2 weeks ago she agreed we should sell the caravan. Advertised it last weekend and saw it go up the road on the back of somebody else's car yesterday, with a very nice banker's draft in our hands!

So no more cramped conditions, damp clothes, or excess wine drinking - OK I'm wrong, but a change is as good as a rest!

Now watch the weather turn to crap for the rest of the summer!

<hr width=100% size=1>As one bar of soap said to another - "That's Life Boy"

 

[tome]

Great stuff Nick

It took me a good 3 years of patience before SWMBO was fully converted. Worth every careful moment! She's now experienced a couple of real blows (up to 58 knots) and came through both cheerfully. To date, we've always sailed as a man and wife team with no other crew. This has led me to make changes to make her easier to single-hand - the boat, that is.

She wouldn't get rid of the boat for anything (except maybe a bigger one), and treasures a photo of her on the helm hard on the wind taken by Beken. We love our holidays together, and our sailing has become very inclusive. This weekend, we're taking another couple out which is a landmark for her confidence.

My secret ambition is to see her take the boat out with a female crew for a weekend. By my reckoning, this will happen by end of next season. Just hope it doesn't become a habit.

Glad to hear it's going well.



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[ParaHandy]

good on you Mrs Bignick ... ra missus sees others sailing quite happily and gradually ...

daughter now and then described swmbo as a wimp for not sailing more. i laugh fit to burst when this happens as v. funny when mother and daughter have a "chat" with each other but swmbo not amused at lack of support and general dog house thereafter but no longer ...

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[AIDY]

Yup we used to be a shed dragger for many years too. We just curse them on the motorway to and from the marina now.

Don't miss it at all, only wish someone had got me hooked on sailing sooner !

All our pots and pans on the boat are from our shed, very well travelled over land and water now !

<hr width=100% size=1>/forums/images/icons/wink.gif <font color=blue> Regards Andy </font color=blue>

 

[StugeronSteve]

Well done Nick. Exactly the same scenario here, the kids grew up and the caravan stood on the drive, hardly moving for several years, until we heard that a friend was looking for one and let it go.

<hr width=100% size=1>God only made so many perfect heads. The rest got covered in hair.

 

[Gunfleet]

I wish. My poor wife gets seasick if you talk to her about it! She tried - even did a Daze Kipper but lately seems to have given up completely. I think she's decided I should sail to interesting places where whe will come and join me and I'll treat her to a nice resto meal. Sort of sailing without all the bobbing up and down.

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[colvic987]

swmbo always gets seasick everytime we take a trip to isle of man, or any passage over 20 miles and out of sight of land, she has all the seasick remedies, even a watch which zaps her on the wrist every couple of seconds, she ends up in the saloon, with a bucket for 6 to 8 hours. but on saying last year that maybe we should sell the boat because she is not getting any better with the seasickness, nearly had a family mutiny on my hands, with me walking the plank, must admire her for determination, as soon as we are moored up and settled, she's brewing up and cooking for the crew, she has helmed and stayed in the cockpit, but never seems to kick the seasickness, she has just finished her coastal skipper and wants to do her practical next year, having gained her day skipper practical a couple of years ago.....

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[claymore]

Tom...these 'blows' - where exactly did you hit her and did it help?

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>regards
Claymore<font color=purple>
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[nicho]

Coming out!

I'm Mike, and I was a caravanner!!.....there I've said it, "outed" at last.

When we sold the motor cruiser in 2001, and not being ones to sit at home, we too bought a caravan - it was OK, well, pretty good fun really, though we got a huge ragging from our friends! The one good thing about our caravanning was that we went to Britanny in it's first year, and there, fell in love with boats again (never really having been out of love!) - well, what else do you do in Britanny except visit harbours and marinas?.

We sold the 'van after 6 months (and bought our current boat), and just to prove how popular caravanning is, the poor new owner had it nicked off his drive 4 days after collecting it!!

It's easy to knock caravanning, but don't forget it's very cheap (£150 a year to keep it in a secure storage compound - are you listening MDL?), and there's a good living to be made out of selling lucky heather and home made pegs!! By the way, Mrs Nicho's also a dab hand with the crystal ball, and is particularly good at (rather too!) vividly detailing my fate if I ever stray - and it's not a pretty end to my life!!

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[jimi]

Re: Coming out!

Erm .. us too .we sort of started under canvas with a trailer tent and then went stinkie with a caravan but then mixed and matched with a saily caravan;-)

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[tome]

Claymore

All round, really. And yes - it did help. You've got to be cruel to be kind.

It's the old thing about the woman, the dog and the walnut tree. The harder you beat them, the better they be. It's just that I couldn't do that to a walnut tree.

Hope this helps!
Tom

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[Guest]

Been there, tried it and got the T-shirt

I had similar problem ..... all my life since small child palyed with boats .... got married and was confined to Caravanning .....
Finally got her to agree to a boat ..... she did not like it and I had to carefully conjure up ways and means to increase boat size without incurring the comparable change in Caravan.

Finally hit on the solution ...... got rid of the missus !!!! AND the Caravan. Found m'self another lass who loves boats - so much in fact that she agreed to let me have 3 of 'em !!!!

So - If you can't beat 'em, leave 'em !!!!


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ... and of course Yahoo groups :
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gps-navigator/

 

[beancounter]

Re: Coming out!

We've followed a similar path: tent - trailer tent - caravan. (I'm still trying to persuade the Memsahib into the next logical step - boat ownership). Apart from delf's point about pots & pans from the caravan coming in useful on the boat, there are a number of other transferables from caravan to boat:

- The (enforced) ability to live with others in a confined space
- The need for tidiness and organisation with limited storage space
- Having back-up plans for when the weather won't play ball (Sorry kids, no beach today - I'm sure you'll enjoy a stately home)
- Having a maintenance routine for mechanical items (You did check the wheel nuts on the caravan ?)
- Division of tasks amongst the crew ("It's not my turn to empty the Porta-Potti/get the water/empty the waste Dad!")

Oh, and the eternal optimism as one peers out through the drizzle - "It's definitely brightening up.."


<hr width=100% size=1>Fabricati Diem