back to ireland

after several months of pestering neil the poor harbourmaster of penzance he gave in and said he'd squeeze my boat in somewhere.so i rang the owner of the girl jane to tell him i'd be over for her but there was a problem,her gearbox was seized.now i know next to nothing about gear boxes and engines,but i was warned by several good engineers that i could be buying an expensive problem even if they were to get it running again so i backed away from it.such a fine shaped old boat too,i was gutted i wouldnt have her, i just hope someone else takes it on,rediculous how affectionate you can get for a big lump of wood.i got a bit drunk in newlyn once,at the same time that they were scrapping a boat i had worked on.to get home i had to wobble past where she was being broken up.well i dont remember much but i must have got emotional as i woke up with a plank of her timber in the bed and the girlfriend on the couch.anyway,i had to go looking again,but coincidentally an irish lad called shaun who was fishing in newlyn knew his uncle hugh had 2 boats for sale in howth,just outside dublin.hugh had given up fishing due to health reasons and said he'd come down from donegal to meet me if i flew over,so i did.

i'd seen the boat in dunmore once before,for her length she's a big boat,stocky as hell and deep .probably not the prettiest boat in the world either,if i'm honest,but she had plenty of room to work with,the engine is good,and with a lick of paint she'd be a palace,hopefully.however,after the grand tour of the boat we sat down to discuss money,and i soon realised that when we'd spoken on the phone and he'd given me a price,it was sterling and not euros he'd been on about,and i'd just flown to ireland for nothing again.it seemed we'd waisted each others time but unlicenced fishing boats are worth very little now and as it isnt cheap to scrap them either he accepted what i had to offer,about half the price.so all i had to do was get the saint therese home now.

the search

so off i set to the west coast of ireland in search of my new home.hiring a car from cork airport,i headed west arriving in castletownbere,2 hours and one speeding fine later.there were several boats laid up here,most of them too large,though one boat,the una alan,a boat that fished out of dunmore where i lived years ago i was interested in.however she had a bad leak and her engine had got flooded,so passed it up,shame,she was a fine boat.i heard after she committed suicide on the way to be broken up,sinking somewhere.after castletown i headed north,checking out all the harbours along the way,stopping at dingle,home of fungi the dolphin a few days later then on again.at westport i found a lovely old scotch built trawler laid up in the river.she reminded me of a boat i worked on years ago,the ocean breeze,she was called the girl jane.i wanted her.the owner ,a lovely old man called paddy would sell her no problem.he had planned to convert her himself ,but never got round to it.90 percent sure i would have her i travelled on just to see what else was on offer,eventually arriving at killybegs in the northwest,after 10 days of wandering about.and so it seemed all i would have to do is buy the boat from paddy, wait for a window of good weather,grab a mate or 2 from dunmore and steam home.however a quick phone call to penzance harbourmaster changed everything,he had no room and wasnt likely too for 12 months,newlyn harbour was a flat refusal.so i went home fed up indeed!

In the beginning

Sometime ago i had an idea.To buy a boat and live on it.I think i was under the influence at the time as i have no idea when I spawned this idea but never the less i went ahead with it.It seemed like a good idea even when sober,house prices in cornwall are rediculously high and old second hand trawlers arent,so i went in search of one......