Best course to windward!

I'm walking and thinking traditional, traditional, traditional...then what do I see in the distance. Oh yeah, come to daddy...I must have been good in a former life.

The original shot had lots of modern boats in the foreground and I would have preferred not to have cropped so close to the keel but it just didn't look right.

She was in a boat yard further up the coast. I would have loved to watch her being taken out of the water, as it must have been very nailbiting stuff. I remember lifting madison and she only weighs in at 6.5 tonnes and minutes seem to last a very long time when you have so much to lose if it all goes wrong.

We have moved from the tidal UK and Atlantic into the non-tidal Mediterranean now with the result that if you want to see the underside of your boat you either get wet or lift out. I have tried the former, which involved me doning a dayglow orange wetsuit that made me look like I had been tangoed, but would prefer the lift out option.

This boat really reinforced my view yesterday as she may be from a time when going to sea involved much guess work but she is covered in the latest gizmos. Check out the size of the raydar dome on the aft mast.

I believe that she is a cutter rigged ketch but would really welcome any information from someone out there that knows more about tall/historic ships.