Launch day

What an exciting day today! We were up early and drove up to Braidbar Boats. Once we knew the shell was on its way from Tim Tyler’s yard, we went up to the North Cheshire Cruising Club, where she would be put in the water. The lane up to Braidbar isn’t big enough to get a lorry or crane to the yard itself. Our first sight of the boat was as the lorry came up the hill.

The crane was already there, and in no time the straps were on and, after a couple of false starts which required the straps to be moved forward slightly, the lift was under way. It took very little time for the boat to be airborne, swung around, and gently deposited into the water. Adrian got the whole process on video.

Then Jonathan and Daryl from Braidbar expertly poled the boat along the arm of the cruising club and around the corner to the bridge over the canal. A fellow Braidbar owner, Laurence, was waiting with his boat to tow us back to the yard. I steered for the first bit (although with the unballasted boat so high out of the water, the rudder didn’t do much).

Miraculously, the sun came out in spite of the forecast. I jumped off at the first bridge so I could get photos from the towpath and from the following bridge.

Before long, we were back at Braidbar with the boat being settled on their mooring.

For the remainder of our time and over lunch, we went through the plans for the fitout with James, deciding on things like the placement of lights, sockets, and switches. We have also made some preliminary decisions on galley worktops, and identified a contender for the shower board. We also had a look round the four boats currently in build, so we could see what other people had chosen.

We were away and back to Briar Rose in good time, after what felt like an exhausting few hours. We were really impressed by how everyone involved today knew exactly what they were doing, and how everything went according to plan without any hitches. The next time we see Kingley Vale, the work on the fitout will have started.