Lost my sleep-on-boat virginity!

[Iona of Exe]

Launced my new (to me) Snapdragon 670 yesterday, the tide times being all wrong for the water taxi ride home I decided to sleep on her overnight on her swing mooring on the bight in the river Exe.

Amazing - is it like this all the time?

Water like a millpond, super sunset and for good measure, the local yacht club had organised a dingy race that seemed to use Iona as a mark!

Really enjoyed drinking a cuppa, feet up in the cockpit whilst watching what seemed like maybe 50 dingys drifting sideways in the current.

Then to cap it off I heard a strange snuffling noise just as the previous entertainment died off - poked my head over the side and came face to face with a seal, who would appear not to like the smell of my fresh antifoul very much and was blowing his/her nose. It didn't mind in the slightest that I had appeared above it and continued nonchalantly drifting its way up the estuary!

Must remember to take my camera onboard tomorrow.

Slept like a log, woke up feeling slightly damp and chilly but the cuppa + bacon sarnie at 0630 more than made up for that.

Sorry if you've nodded off at the back but I guess as a first time sleepover it was worth sharing.

 

[Georgio]

Well done, sounds like a great way to pop your sleeping-on-board cherry

I remember well my first sleep on both my previous and present boat.

 

[Seajet]

Not like that all the time, but surprisingly often.

I try to recommend all owners stay on their boats and see & feel what goes on, especially on drying moorings.

People who slam the hatch shut and scuttle off to the motorway & treadmill don't get half the value from their boats !

 

[bromleybysea]

It's why I do it. When it's good, it's bloo*y wonderful!

 

[VO5]

I agree.

But amazingly there are people who have boats and avoid sleepovers.

I met two such couples. The first didn't like the rocking motion..

The second complained they were kept awake by noises made by ripples against the hull..

Both couples were Americans...

 

[Haven't-a-Clue]

Remeber my first night on board. Watching a midsummer sunset with glass of wine ( and fag ) and then retiring to a gently rocking berth with the radio on quietly in the background.........magic, it's what boating's all about.

 

[VO5]

Remeber my first night on board. Watching a midsummer sunset with glass of wine ( and fag ) and then retiring to a gently rocking berth with the radio on quietly in the background.........magic, it's what boating's all about.

Exactly.

And every weather has its charm.

On days when there is a howler blowing it is also great fun to be aboard with hot drinks and plenty to eat and good company.

Read "the Wind in the Willows" and find out what Mr Toad had to say about being afloat..

 

[Haven't-a-Clue]

Exactly.

And every weather has its charm.

On days when there is a howler blowing it is also great fun to be aboard with hot drinks and plenty to eat and good company.

Read "the Wind in the Willows" and find out what Mr Toad had to say about being afloat..

Indeed Sir, 'tis one of my all time favourites and overdue for another perusal...so if there is nothing else Sir, I shall retire.

Good night, Sir.

 

[Rigger Mortice]

....and occasionally you'll also get the extra treat of one of the steam special trains thundering down passed Starcross to Dawlish......

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

It is a wonderful feeling especially after a modest beverage.
The weirdest night I had was on my mooring reasonably close to shore, a howling offshore wind I mean really screeching noise, but the water was flat calm in the reasonably sheltered bay, only ever experienced this once though.
Cant wait for the next night aboard.
C_W

 

[fireball]

Amazing - is it like this all the time?

Nope - you get to enjoy that 2 or 3 times during your ownership of the boat - the rest of the time the wind is howling in the rigging, the rain is lashing down on the deck and the waves are breaking over the bow ... the seal is hanging on to your stern ladder for dear life ....

 

[Captain Coochie]

I dont think it matters where you boat or what boat you have , sleeping aboard is just special

 

[stav]

Glad your first experience of sleeping on board was a good one, been sleeping on board for years and still love it (when it is good) even now that huge feeling of satisfaction and if it is somewhere really dark with the stars out and a good Calvados......May be next weekend.

 

[colvic987]

we love sleeping aboard the boat, travelling down for a day and then returning home is just not worth it, so we always have an overnight on the boat, the more nights the better especially during the summer months.

you just cant beat it

pic is 'sunrise over caernarfon bar from llandwyn island' around 5 am,

 

[prv]

I read the first half of your post, and was about to reply saying that sometimes it gets even better - on a similar idyllic evening anchored in the middle of Langstone harbour, I was visited by a seal that seemed keen to say hello.

Then I saw how redundant that comment would have been

S'good, innit

Pete

 

[Abestea]

Thanks for that image. It is reminding me of some of my pics of evenings onboard with the sun setting, the boat very gently rocking, the wine being the only turbulent fluid motion, the bbq sizzling away.

Friends think i am mad when i say i went for a hour or two of drifting down the Gareloch and then back to the mooring and then just get my feet up and start relaxing. Glé mhath! Brilliant!

I cant wait to get back on the water.

 

[doris]

Exactly.
Read "the Wind in the Willows" and find out what Mr Toad had to say about being afloat..

Do you mean 'There is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats'
That was Raty, on of the great philosophical comments of water vole literature!

 

[Iona of Exe]

Glad to see I've triggered a few happy memories, hopefully mine will keep me going when it's not quite so good on board!

 

[DownWest]

Ah, Burnam week 60s. Waking up at Creeksea, up the river from the Main event. Allsorts of birds around. Listened to "Ring Of Bright Water" on the radio while we tidied up the boat for the race and had breakfast. Sticks in the mind simply because it was so good.
A

Is it because we are less connected to nature in these times? Sping is hitting around here right now, a delight in the blooms and buds.

 

[Searush]

we love sleeping aboard the boat, travelling down for a day and then returning home is just not worth it, so we always have an overnight on the boat, the more nights the better especially during the summer months.

you just cant beat it

pic is 'sunrise over caernarfon bar from llandwyn island' around 5 am,

Oi! That's our favourite bit there, inside Mermaid's Cove. Most people seem too scared of all the uncharted rocks to go in there!