Arwen's meanderings

Hi everyone and welcome to my dinghy cruising blog about my John Welsford designed 'navigator' named Arwen. Built over three years, Arwen was launched in August 2007. She is a standing lug yawl 14' 6" in length. This blog records our dinghy cruising voyages together around the coastal waters of SW England.
Arwen has an associated YouTube channel so visit www.YouTube.com/c/plymouthwelshboy to find our most recent cruises and click subscribe.
On this blog you will find posts about dinghy cruising locations, accounts of our voyages, maintenance tips and 'How to's' ranging from rigging standing lug sails and building galley boxes to using 'anchor buddies' and creating 'pilotage notes'. I hope you find something that inspires you to get out on the water in your boat. Drop us a comment and happy sailing.
Steve and Arwen

Sunday, 22 June 2014

The Sevylor Colorado Premium Inflatable Canoe

'She what must be obeyed' has invested in a new fitness routine for us. An inflatable double canoe!


It had its maiden voyage today out at Salcombe.  We forgot to fit the skeg in our haste to try out said inflatable but actually it went better than I thought. We managed to pack a rucksack in the back with towels etc. It takes some pumping up, so we invested in an electrical pump plugged into the cig socket in the car. Its slower than the hand pump, around 10 minutes, but I am less likely to have a heart attack!


Paddling across the creek from the Batson boat ramp, we managed to navigate across the fairway without incident. Big silver bass and mullet passed beneath us. I have to say pulling up on the golden sand beach with turquoise waters melding into deep blue, it was an impressive sight. Beyond were the pastel colours of the houses of Salcombe on the hill slope rising up the plateau of the South Hams.


Boats passed to and fro; the water taxi plied a busy trade between the two banks ferrying families over to the East Portlemouth Beaches. 'Two lattes and a read of the Times' later, lunch disappeared and we lay on the beach propped up by the inflatable. A wonderful 24C with a light breeze and wonderful blue skies.

It was turning out to be a great day until it was cut short by our daughter who was in a panic in a car park in Plymouth. A lot of liquid was gushing out the bottom of her car......'what should I do Dad?'

'What indeed'?  I could think of several suggestions!
Sitting in a multi-storey car park for an hour and a half waiting for the AA........wasn't one of them!

2 comments:

Bursledon Blogger said...

Steve great minds we bought a pair of sit on top kayak in the winter sails - great fun and a really easy and stress free way to get out on the water for a couple of hours.

Find yourself an old Avon pump, the wood type, they're the only
Foot pump worth having, you'll be afloat in a couple of minutes.

steve said...

Ah...another good tip
Thanks BB
We did have fun I must admit. Looking forward to going up and down the local estuaries

Have fun on yours
Steve