Our first cruise completed. We can now reflect on the events of the last 10 months. From the excitement of designing "Alanne" and being involved in the build, to the devastating loss of Lucy, our beautiful Great Dane. "Alanne" was designed with an extended semi traditional stern to allow Lucy to be close to the action but in the safe environment of the enclosed stern area. Sadly this was not to be. The roller coaster ride continued right up to the day of departure for our first cruise.
We are very pleased with the finished boat. It has good lines and a high specification, but getting there was a real nightmare, the un-scheduled hold ups in the build left us feeling frustrated, the excuses and unkept promises, the wasted journeys to visit the boat yard only to find no work undertaken for many weeks. We should have employed a marine engineer to oversee the build, someone familiar with boat building, who could be on site to ensure work was carried out in a timely fashion, but hind sight is a wonderful thing. "Alanne" is likely to be our only venture in boat building and it's very unlikely we will ever have another boat, but if we did, would we go to Collingwood Boat Builders? WOULD YOU?
