Highland Fling!
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Mon 14 Jun 2010 19:42
14 June 0744 UTC 0844 Local
Having arrived
back in Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland two weeks ago today, Trish
and I are now exhausted and will return to our circumnavigation of the
world tomorrow - we think for a rest! It has been truly a joy to meet our
friends and family and work colleagues while we have been home. We have had
dinners and lunches and more dinners and ceilidhs non stop and for my part that
has been mixed in with an intense program of business to get up to speed and
make any input which is required. Trish even
managed a trip to Rockness on th ebanks of Loch Ness to see the 64 year old
Blondie!
While our
circumnavigation has many risks: security, safety, our children's well being at
home and our business's health. In many ways I felt that the biggest
risk was that the business would suffer without me. We employ about 120 people
and that is a lot of families and a lot of people who are dependant on Gael
Force prospering and this I feel is a tremendous responsibility of mine and the
management team at Gael Force. The good news is, that so far they are doing
fine in my absence, though only nine months have passed since I left to
sail round the world. These are difficult economic times, a fact not lost on me
while speaking to many other business contacts while at home, and we are indeed
fortunate to be continuing onwards and upwards at Gael Force. I could have put
the business in "hold" mode while I was away but that would have been a
backwards move I feel, and in any event I want to hit the ground running on my
return and put "the pedal to the metal". I am not getting any younger and there
is an awful lot to do!
There has been a
long list of jobs which should have been done on Rhiann Marie while were at
home and I hope that a couple of days after returning to Tahiti we shall be off
on our way through the Society Islands and on to Maupiti beyond Bora
Bora.
While we have been
at home the Scottish weather has been OK but we have had a cold spell
for the past few days. Nevertheless, while we have had excellent weather for the
most part on our travels our trip home, in contrast to our travels, has
highlighted the many wonderful things we have at home in Scotland not least of
which, is the fact that while the weather is never reliable it does at least
vary. Some of the people and places that we have visited, believe it or not,
would die for that! For me I miss the seasons - nine months of bad weather and
then a hard winter is not really all that bad you know......... The scenic
beauty of the Highlands also goes some way to compensate for any perceived poor
weather we have.
Following your
feedback on the blog, and while I know many of you are flattering me, I have
been surprised just how many people I have met that are following (and it seems
enjoying) our blog. Or at least that
is - mostly Trish's rare blogs. What the hell is wrong with you people -
just because mine are filled with political and economic rants and technical
sailing information and data, should not mean it is any less
interesting than Trish's accounts of the scenery, wildlife, geography and wonderful people we are meeting. You
really need to get your priorities
sorted.
