Hwyl Dda

Hwyl 1. sail n.f. (hwyliau) goodbye n.f. humour n.f. (hwyliau) fun n.f. humor n.f. (hwyliau) religious fervour n.f. (hwyliau) mood n.f. (hwyliau)

Dda 1. good n.m. (daoedd). good adj.

A really enjoyable but very cold day on board yacht Hwyl Dda (and not surprising as the boat names' Welsh translation means both Good Sail and Good Humour). A Hunter Horizon 26 belonging to Knutsford friend and Welshman Malcolm Thomas, we are seen here cruising through the same Puffin Sound as glimpsed in both yesterday's blip), and my 2nd April blip.

This was my very first boat trip of the season, and also my first time afloat since selling my lovely Hurley 22 called Scheherazade on Ebay last year (try May-Daying that name to the RNLI using the phonetic alphabet!) Scheherazade is now up in Dumfies and Galloway with her new 'family'. Now officially 'in-between' boats, I am awaiting a windfall from somewhere. In the meantime, I just can't decide between a sailing boat, fishing boat, or just offering to crew other peoples.

We only went out for a potter today up the Menai Straits and to dangle a line over the side to see if the Mackerel had arrived for the summer (they still havn't - or that is my excuse anyway!) Somehow we managed to leave in sunshine, miss the heavy showers of rain and hailstones in Beaumaris, and then arrive back in sunshine without getting wet once.

It was still freezing though despite the sun and wearing all the gear. Billy Connolly once said (that is, the Billy Connolly of Glasgow, and not Vancouver), there was no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing. He has a point, but there are only so many layers you can squeeze into on a boat without becoming totally incapacitated like a Michelin Man, and in danger of tipping overboard.

Anyway, City have beaten Newcastle 2:0 at St James Park, so that seems that. All over bar the shouting and the fat lady?