Blown Along

Who We Are

Hi, thanks for dropping by. I'm Claire, Mum to 3 of the most fabulous girls (Jess, Gracie & Heidi), wife to Chris my best friend & last but certainly not least there's pops my wonderful Dad (George) who joins us on our adventures along the way.

This is our journey about buying our first sailing boat & exploring the lakes & mountains. we're your everyday family from the North East of England, we love simple living & getting away from the hussle & bussle of everyday life. I have dreams of living off grid & Chris dreams about sailing around the world but for now it stays a dream, the kids have different views on that. Chris works as a Health & Safety manager for a big firm & well I closed my business (a great little live music venue) when Covid hit & have been a Mum, housewife & crew mate since. This is our story & journey so far, I hope you enjoy it as much as us.

Chris (Crew)

Meet Chris, he told us all he could sail then later owned up to just spending one day on a little enterprise dinghy with his Uncle Tom, mind it must have stuck because he knew what ropes to pull & when.

He then sailed big war ships when he joined the Royal Navy & has many a funny story from those days of the things him & his shipmates got up to, like a time in Penang when they bought a baby elephant from a kid on the dock & walked it up the gangway, pulled the helicopter out of the hanger & replaced it with the baby elephant.

Chris spent 7yrs in the Navy then decided he'd seen enough of the world & came back home to start a career in the road industry. He is now part of the Health & Safety team for a big building & civil engineering company.

Gracie (Trainee Captain)

There's Gracie, she's 15 & this summer will learn to sail a little laser dinghy & hopefully be able to race if she sticks at it & picks it up. She also loves the water & in the summer months loves to swim in the lake or play about in the kayaks or on the paddle board, she also has taken an interest in fishing so is very keen for her Grandad to teach her come the summer, (that will be interesting as he's never caught a fish).

Jess (Royal Visitor)

Jess is the eldest sister & doesn't live at home now so she doesn't come to the lake with us, but she has been over & it was a glorious day with much fun had playing about on the kayaks & a nice little sail.

I'm sure she will spend more time with us now on her Grandad's boat this summer. Jess loves nature & the outdoors so we're looking forward to her joining us on our adventures.

George (Captain)

George (Pops) is our Captain, he wasn't always our captain, but then he bought a big boat, bigger than our little sailboat & so it only right that he is Captain of his own ship. Dad used to have motor boats when he was younger but now he has the sailing bug after spending time on our little sailing yacht.

My Dad has throughout my life been an inspiration to me, he's a hard working man who has never let things stop him, he used to tell me 'Claire you can do anything in life so long as you work hard at getting there & truly believe you can do it'. It's now time for this man to have new adventures & on water is where he's decided to start, we'll get him up the mountains in the summer (maybe, or maybe not, I don't think he is too keen on climbing mountains just yet). There he is at the helm of his new ship.

Heidi (Trainee Navigator)

Heidi loves water, she & her sister Gracie used to surf right up until November in the North sea (brave girls), so being on the lake they like to paddle board, swim & kayak.

Heidi doesn't like climbing mountains much, in fact not at all & I normally have to pay her to do so (unbelievable I know) her sister is just as bad.

Claire (Chief Dogsbody)

So finally there's me, I'm the one that writes about our adventures. I've had a varied career, I'm a trained Interior Designer & after so many years decided to go back to college & train to become a photographer, whilst at college I also trained to become a DJ & worked at night in bars & clubs to finance myself through college. I worked as a wedding photographer for 15years until I decided to open a little live music venue, then the world was hit with the Covid pandemic & I closed & never re-opened. I think through lockdown I changed my mindset on life (I think lockdown did this for a lot of people). I decided I wanted to live a little & be around my family rather than work all the time & miss out on seeing my girls grow up. Spending time through lockdown made me realise what's important & making money wasn't as important as sharing time with the people I love.