Going up! (v1.0)

These are peculiar times, my friend. Global pandemic restrictions and the Brexit fallout have combined in a perfect storm to make foreign holidays an uncertain and volatile commodity.

They’ve been on then off then on again (but you have to jump through 42 hoops before you can get on a ‘plane and then you have to isolate for 24 days when you get back). And then there’s the very real possibility that the rules are going to change while you’re actually in the air flying to/from your destination.

Many people in the UK have figured out it’s all too much bother and the simpler option has been to forego the overseas holiday and just stay at home. This ‘staying at home’ means there’s a lot more money sloshing around in the UK economy than there usually is.

As a result of the cash surplus, the residents of UK PLC have been doing a lot of spending on other things. Gadgets and gizmos have been bought; every bin day the empty boxes that the latest tech was supplied in are easy to spot. Then there’s household spending. Gardens have been redesigned/landscaped, homes have been redecorated, extensions have been built, internal walls have been knocked down, new furniture has been delivered, kitchens have been redesigned and installed, and new carpets have been bought.

Away from household spending, this consumer boom has also pushed up prices of other everyday objects. Second-hand cars are now selling for a small premium (let’s face it, they’ve travelled few miles in the last 24 months). Classic cars are changing hands for bonkers money compared to three years ago (do not I said DO NOT look at prices for a good condition E-Type Jag!). Even the humble used caravan is now trading at a substantial premium from the prices commanded just before First Lockdown. And don’t even think about the eye-watering price inflation of pets! £1,500 for a sprocker puppy? No wonder pet theft is becoming more common.

Boats, too, are now changing hands at a premium; good condition 20-year-old sailing yachts are actually selling for more than they cost brand new (for a depreciating asset, this is bonkers). OK, I might be partially responsible for this upwards curve, I’ll admit. But it’s a fact that there is a lot more GRP floating around UK waters than there was in November last year, when I had my refresher daysail.

The foreseeable outcome of the increase of boats (though few actually saw it coming) is that the busy areas around the coast are now even busier (some might say congested), and moorings/marina berths in prime areas are now either not available or are changing hands at previously unthinkable amounts.

A couple of days ago, in one sailing group on FB, a chap who regularly cruises from his home berth, down to the Scilly Isles and back, was saying that because of the increase of new boaters, there was nowhere available to him to put in for overnight stops at any of his regular moorings/berths. Now, he might have just been having a moan, but there were a lot of supporting statements from other boaters, particularly those in the Solent/IOW area. Apparently, the Solent is now so heavily congested it’s been compared to a waterlogged M25.

But, almost predictably, this is a north/south problem. Or not a problem at all, if you’re in the north. The further north you go, the more (and better, and wider and – inevitably – cheaper) choices you have. One quite well-known liveaboard couple experienced problems finding a berth/mooring in Devon last week, so they turned 180-degrees and are now in Scotland where, we are told, they have the pick of the country’s mooring/berthing options, and (they tell us again) for less than 10% of the cost of identical facilities in the South.

As I said to the good lady wife her indoors just a few days ago, ‘If only Scotland was closer, I’d keep the boat up there.’ This isn’t to say I’m in the least bit discontent with Deganwy/North Wales. I’m not. I just wish that was a bit closer too. A five-hour round-trip for a daysail takes most of the fun out of the experience.

Maybe we should move…