……….It was a bright morning for April . I met the guy on the beach slipway on Trearddur Bay and we started to push the boat out into the flat calm of the incoming
tide. I wasn’t much help because of my broken hip (whose idea was this ? how was I going to manage by myself? I must be mad! Just carried away in the excitement of owning my own fishing boat).
We managed to get the boat out several yards into the surf when there came a loud PLOP ! The seller had only left his mobile on the bow of the boat and low and behold it was now a dead mobile ! Rechristened Moby! He grumbled a bit and then we climbed into the boat. The engine was a 50 hp Johnsson manual start so he pulled the cord and wow! The engine burst into life with a tremendous roar and promptly shot out into the bay heading for a nearly new Sea Hog! Just before we hit the Sea hog, in front of thousands of people? I made a mental note that every time I start it in future I would make sure that it was in neutral. I tried to disappear into the tiny cabin but the seller just laughed and said that there was no damage done other than a few cracks in the middle of the Sea Hog down to nearly sea level.
When we were out of sight of the oggling crowds I emerged from the cuddy and stared out at the beauty of the coastline of Anglesey and there and then decided that this was for me and so began my love of all things salty and fishy.
I paid out my cash for ‘DONNA 2’ and set about planning my future afloat.
……………I towed the boat back to my caravan and set about thinking of ways to improve it. The floor was slippery and uneven, so I purchased some ‘decking’ from a local builder’s merchant and fitted it down onto the fibreglass floor. The engine was hard to start so I took out the two spark plugs and discovered that they were lawn mower engine plugs so I replaced them with the correct type and then stripped down the fuel lines and found a piece of rubber partially blocking the pipe which I removed.
I acquired from various sources 4 life jackets which were top of my list, I also bought an anchor and enough rope to practically fence off a large field!
Two hand paddles appeared from somewhere and these proved to be lifesavers getting us out of many scrapes. A boat ladder was next. Standing thigh deep in cold water and having to haul myself over the side of the boat was physically very difficult so a boat ladder was essential.Later on I bought some chest waders from Ken at the Trearddur Bay Post office and angling store (the best buy ever- see page 5 )These are vital for the cold waters of the Irish Sea and a Godsend for me with my skinny legs!
The day arrived for my first trip on the boat. With the aid of my son Mark I reversed down the slipway onto the beach on Trearrdur Bay with an anxious feeling in my stomach in case something went wrong in front of spectators watching on the sea wall. It went into the surf easily enough and Mark held the boat in the tide while I went up to the carpark with the trailer. Starting the engine was very difficult. We pushed the boat out into deeper water in order to stop the prop from grounding on the bottom and clambered aboard but as soon as I reached the engine I could hear a grating noise as the incoming tide took us back in. We tried several times using the paddles until finally I got the engine going before we hit bottom and we edged out away from the slipway into the Bay.
At some future date I’ll explain how I launched the boat single handed through the surf without any problems…….