A recent sunny weekend took me and Nancy to the Isle of Wight to see my mum. She lives near Bembridge Harbour and, as we drove around the embankment, I noticed a lifeboat moored up at the marina. We took a walk across from her house and it turned out to be the Bembridge all weather boat. Apparently, the winch that is used to haul the boat back into the boathouse is currently out of service. As a result, they are operating from the marina until the repairs can be completed.

When you walk along the dock, you get to appreciate the size of the boat in a way that is not possible when looking down on it in the boathouse. The other than that struck me was just how pristine the thing looked. Boats tend to rapidly show signs of their usage, but the crew of this boat clearly have a ton of pride in maintaining things to a high standard. She looked great. I hope the winch is soon fixed, not least because I really want to get another chance to watch a slipway launch.