The painting above is of the boathouse in Laugharne at sunrise and it sold yesterday. Alex and I would quite often sail our boats around from Pilglas to Laugharne for an overnight or weekend anchorage. We would drop the anchor on the sandbar opposite the Boathouse.
In order to catch the outgoing tide we normally weighed anchor about 6-7 in the morning. If it was clear it was a wonderful sight. If it was wet and blowing it was still a wonderful sight but a bit more exhilarating. The picture above is a distant memory of those times.
The first boat we had after our dinghy was a little 2.5 ton cruiser. A big dinghy really with accommodation that for me meant kneeling or squatting down and a troublesome outboard motor!
Alex bought it for me and gave it to me as an anniversary present when we were on holiday in Sorrento. It was a lovely little cruiser that sailed beautifully. The only problems we had with it were when coming up to a mooring in a strong tidal stream you would suddenly find yourself going backwards out of control amongst other yachts as the engine had decided to pack up. Embarrassing or what?
Anyway on one trip back to Pilglas we had a very strong South Westerly wind and were flying along with as usual Alex on the helm. To coin an expression we were going like a train. We came around the corner to Scott's Bay off Llansteffan Castle only to see a fleet of dinghy's heading towards us. There was obviously a race under way. As we rapidly approached them there was a shift in the wind and we changed course heading right for the middle of the pack of frightened sailors. The gust increased and we heeled over with Alex clinging on to the helm to either control the boat or stop herself falling overboard. We ploughed through the fleet with boats going everywhere and Alex shouting "Get out of the way!" or something like that. When the gust abated we had cleared the now scattered fleet of dinghy's and resumed our natural course. I have no idea what the sailors thought, well actually I do but they never said anything audible to me. Alex put her hair back in place and carried on like nothing had happened. Luke our old dog who had been cowering in the bottom of the cockpit looked at me and I swear he shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes but maybe I just imagined that.
That was actually our last sail in Misty as we sold her shortly after to buy a boat I could nearly stand up in, but that's another story.
Link to the Seekers which seemed kind of appropriate to me anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YP7GCXqdqU
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