After very scary weather conditions in the Bermuda Triangle, Peter left the boat in Bermuda to return to the UK.  Leaving Jonathon in charge & Simon as first mate with two new crew members they set sail for the Azores. En route they managed to snap the staysail boom & so spent a month in the Azores making a new boom from a pine tree that they managed to acquire & then headed on to the UK where, with great excitement,  we met them in Falmouth., only to have the excitement of her anticipated arrival dampened by am extremely lengthy three hour session with customs & excise, who were determined to open & check every single cupboard & draw & confiscate many of the open bottles from the drinks cabinet. They even came back the following  morning to check our fuel tanks! On top of that, once they had finished & we went ashore to find something to eat, someone stole one of our dinghies, so not a very happy start to our British adventure.

From Falmouth we moved on up to Salcombe & from there to what was then the new Ocean Village marina, for some much needed maintenance work, during which time we witnessed the finish of the Whitbread round the world ocean race which was won by Steinlager & in which Maiden competed with her all female crew skippered by Tracy Edwards.

In June we commandeered a group of friends to compete in the Round the Isle of White race, & soon after that Orianda set sail for Palma to compete in the Trofeo Almirante Conde de Barcelona, our first Classic regatta where we were awarded the prize for the Best Restored Yacht.

From Palma we went on to compete at Imperia & then back to St Tropez for the Nioulargue, after which we laid off all the crew.

We over wintered her in St Tropez, which surprisingly was & still is as cheap as anywhere during the winter months, & then moved her to Sanary-sur-mer for the summer as there was a small wood working yard there & we needed to do some work on her. Simon came back over from Tortola to be our mate & help with the work & the children & I spent the summer holidays on board. In August  Peter came out & we managed a trip to Corsica before again competing at the 1991 Nioulargue after which we sold her to the Ben Loch family in Spain, where she spent twenty years based in  Denia, before being bought by the current owners, The Classic Yacht Experience, & she is now based in Fiumicino near Rome.

Morwys 1999/2001

Conway Fife One Design Class

In 1926 Messrs. W. and R. B. Fife of Fairlie were asked to draw up plans for a new class suitable for the waters of the Conway estuary and the Menai Strait. The waterline length to be limited to 16ft. and the maximum draught to 3ft.3ins. This was done; the length overall being 24ft.4ins., with a beam of 6ft.6ins. and an 18cwt. lead keel. 15 wood yachts were built by Messrs. A.M. Dickie & Sons of Bangor. Peter Dickie, the yards founder, had served his apprenticeship at Fife as a marine architect in the Fife drawing office.

The Fife One Design is one of the finest One Design classes of its kind with a long low hull & sweeping but moderate overhang & graceful sheer, typical of Fife's designs, & and all but one are still in existence today.

They were generally recognised in the district as being the thoroughbreds of the racing fleet, & oozed pedigree.

 Morwys was thought to be the only one of the fleet to have left North Wales, she resided with us for a couple of years & when she left us she went to Geneva.

2010/11

In December 2010, due to unforeseen circumstances, we packed up our home & left the UK for good. We spent that winter overseeing a guest house for a friend in Andalusia, & having moved Amokora back to Queensway marina in Gibralta, we were close enough by to be able to keep on top of the varnish work required to keep her looking good. In March we hauled her in Sotto Grande, which surprisingly was one of the very few places that would still allow people to work on their own boats, so we anti fouled her & painted the topsides, as well as doing some engine maintenance.

Our only plan beyond that, was to spend the summer cruising the Med & see where we ended up!

We had an adventurous summer in Ibiza & Mallorca, meeting up with our children & my cousin en route, & then on to Menorca, for the Panerai classic regatta in Mahon, at the end of August, stopping off at Ciutadela & Cala Fornells en route.

We arrived at Mahon with a few days to spare & found a lovely sheltered spot in Cala Teulera tucked in behind Illa del Llatzeret, where other classic yachts were beginning to congregate.

Whilst there Peter got chatting to the skipper of the Fife Eileen, which turned out to be 'the Panerai boat' & he told us that after the regatta in Mahon they were going on to another Panerai regatta in Porto Rotondo , on Sardinia. He said he could get us an entry & persuaded us to follow them on up to Sardinia.

Before that though,  & apart from the fact that we had no crew, we had to get Amokora a measurement certificate, to enable us to compete in any of these regattas, a rather complicated & expensive procedure which unfortunately prohibited us from actually taking part in the racing in Mahon, but we were able to benefit from a slot on the dock in amongst all the other classics, & passes to the yacht club for breakfasts & dinners, & all of the other entertainment that is put on for the yacht crews.

It was fascinating to be involved in the classic regatta scene again, reminding us of our days on Orianda back in 1990/91 when we competed at the Trofeo Almirante Conde de Barcelona in Palma,  (at which we had won the best restored yacht) & then Imperia in Italy & the Niolargue as it was then, in Saint Tropez which we did in 1990 & 1991.

On leaving Menorca, we had a quiet couple of days sailing across to the straits of Bonifacio, arriving there at dawn, after two peaceful nights at sea, doing about three knots. Needless to say as we proceeded to tac between the two islands the notorious winds  began to pick up, & in no time at all it was blowing too hard for two tired sailers to reduce sail with ease, so we had a somewhat exhilarating time beating up the straits, to find an anchorage on the Sardinia side, with enough protection for the night.

Arriving in Porto Rotondo, a few days later we found ourselves in exalted company when anchoring next to the 15 meter class classic yacht The Lady Anne & the super yacht Adix, & then had to endure five days of a mistral blowing, which we just had to ride out. Eventually having been in communication with the Port, we literally surfed into a safe haven for some peace & calm before the regatta began, during which time we advertised on the notice board for some crew to sail with us, & thus were joined by two New Zealanders Craig & Pam Wilson, who were planning to sail around the world on their own little boat Berserka & we are still in touch with them today.

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