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Getting Ready For the Big Move
Having made the journey down to Port Talbot to meet Kalvin, the chap I purchased Lagoda from, I finally got to meet my new boat. Sat on the slipway in the ebbing tide, Kalvin was already getting the rigging ready to drop the mast.
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The Big Lift
Jim and his lad had helped Kalvin drop the mast using the Hi-ab, this is the point when they started to get the straps sorted for lifting the big lump out of the water.
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Tucked In & Ready To Roll
All strapped down and ready to start her land voyage to her new home, leaving me to have a well earned cup of tea with Kalvin.
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The Long Haul
At some 286 miles, this was never going to be a jog around the corner. I had agreed with Jim that he would text me when he hit Preston so I could bring my wife along to see Jim and Lagoda pass by on the motorway. Knowing he would have to stop on the way I knew I was afforded an hour with Kalvin for a brew. Jim's journey wasn't helped by a huge truck fire which lead to the closure of the M6 (I saw the smoke from miles away and 4 red crosses across the motorway gantry leaving at the next exit, I detoured and rejoined the motorway at Stoke). Having left some hour and a half after Jim, and sticking to roughly 55mph to keep fuel consumption good, he text me at 22:30 to say he had only just made Preston. (I was at home in bed by this time)
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Splash Down
Having been backed into a corner by circumstance, I had to swallow the ugly pill and cough up £192 to Shepherds Marina to get Lagoda lifted off Jims wagon. A lesson learned that no one around Windermere will let you Hi-ab a boat into the water during silly season. Better than Maiden Marine though, they wanted £220 and insisted they put the mast up at additional cost.