Saturday 4th June 2016
I had know Aphrodite for some time, she had spent several winters in the same yard as me and I had coveted her from a distance.
Sometimes fate deals you a strange hand and things that you had never dreamed of happening actually happen. Her previous owners knew I loved the boat and had come to the decision to leave sailing, at least for a while, and had called to say that Aphrodite was going to be put on the open market and was I interested. Following several telephone calls and meetings on board she was transferred into my stewardship, you never really own a boat, in early June 2016.
She is named after the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Well she was well loved by all of her previous owners and in a way a gift from my parents as she was purchased with some monies left following the death of mother.
She was lifted into the water in early June and taken down the river to her mooring at Starcross where I would spend the summer beginning to learn her ways and, as every owner does, make her my boat.
It was a very still morning as we took the tide we slipped the from Topsham Quay the previous owners took command of her for the very last time.
Aphrodite at Topsham Quay on the river Exe
I always enjoy the ride down the river at the start of the season as there is always an air of anticipation. This year doubly so as Aphrodite was a very different boat to my last one - she had honed my skills and given me a huge amount of enjoyment, but I had outgrown her and was looking forward to the adventures that lay ahead.
No comments:
Post a Comment