The Scottish years
At last we had realised our dream! After four project boats – including a converted lifeboat, a Norwegian cutter and a Fairey Fulmar that Uffa Fox himself assisted with (see parts one and two of my memoirs in PBO April and September 2019) – we now had a proper professionally built yacht!
Swan Song was a Moody 30, and for the time, a very modern fibreglass design. Some traditionalists called her a ‘motorboat with a mast stuck on’, but when we decided to enter her into the yacht club races (and even the prestigious Wills Cup Trophy race, winning our class) the skeptics showed Swan Song rather more respect!
Jack and I delighted in the clever use of the limited space available, giving us very comfortable quarters for extended cruising. It was time to test ourselves. The following year we decided to tackle the North Sea crossing from Scarborough to Ijmuiden in Holland, the entrance to the Dutch Waterways. We’d do it during our fortnight’s summer holiday accompanied by our two teenager daughters.
So, with lots of butterflies in tummies, off we set.
Our lucky star was clearly shining brightly; the North Sea was in a gentle mood, even permitting us to heave-to for a while to take a break sitting around our little table in the cockpit (tiller lashed) to
