YACHTING Page 2

The picture below is the Ohlson we had that we "took off" in, she has some very fine lines, and her seaworthiness is without question, she certainly looked after us on many occasions,

         sorry the ends are chopped off a bit !! I could not get it all in the picture ??

It was quite funny the next morning after arriving in Torquay, we found that after being on the boat for so long we both had a natural tendency to keep swaying as though we were still on the boat !! in fact at one time we thought it better to lean against the rail and have a cuddle rather than keep walking and have people think we were drunk or something ? it took some time to convince myself that it was in fact me that was moving, and not the land "throwing a wobbly" ?? it all has something to do with the balancing in the ears, with the boat constantly moving, our balancing counteracts this so we in fact do not notice it, but back on land, it has an adverse effect ? the picture below is of Catherine and myself leaning on the rail just after getting off the boat,

                  The Harbour at Torquay

I will let you know a bit later why the boat was called "White Rabbit" but we had some very funny comments when we were in Cornwall, ??? It seems that the Cornish fisherman consider anything with the name RABBIT in it as very unlucky ?? and on many occasions I was told (in no uncertain terms) not to use the name of the boat if I spoke on the radio !!! so all the time we were in Cornwall, we had to say..." the underground greyhound"... in fact, at one time I forgot !! and said "white rabbit" to the Coastguard when I was speaking to him, and with that, two fishing boats came back on the radio swearing and giving all sorts of abuse, and they also turned round and came back to shore ?????? I did not use our boats name in Cornwall after that,  When we were on a trip, it used to amuse me somewhat that Catherine, who is my wife,  never seemed to trust the self steering gear we had ?? as she was always happiest holding the helm, even though it was lashed in ahead position !! the picture below is of Catherine on one of those occasions.

another time Catherine "panics" is when she has been sunbathing on the bow, and we start to reach harbour and "people" its not that she does not like people ?? its because she has not had time to put her "bra" back on !! the picture below is just "one of those times"

I could go on with loads of stories about our "trips" our mishaps, the fun we have had, people we met, the day that we waved Steve Jeckle of  Jeckle Sails off on his trip to the Caribbean, only to hear that he had sunk just off the Bay of Biscay, (if you read this Steve, then I have a photo of your final fare well) maybe if there is enough interest ?? then I might put "pen to paper" and post it on this web site, now, as a final parting shot for this page, I did say earlier that I would let you know why we called the boat "White Rabbit" well, if you look at the photo below then all will be revealed ?????

                                   Catherine in her "Working Clothes"

                             AND THATS WHY WE CALLED THE BOAT "WHITE RABBIT"

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