![AT HOME WITH TOM CUNLIFFE](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/1270/443496/5ebce9f4809d3/AT-HOME-WITH-TOM-CUNLIFFE.jpg)
These are tough times for sailors. As the new season gets underway, many of us are becalmed in the homestead. Even if we aren’t ill personally, we’re keeping the front door closed so as to do the right thing by suffering humanity. I’m in an even worse situation than many; my yacht isn’t just chained to the dock in the local marina – she’s in a shed in Denmark, which, at the time of writing, has pulled up the drawbridge and dropped the portcullis at the border. So, here I sit, pondering on creative ways to have a nautical time.
I’m all right for drink, there seem to be some victuals still knocking around in the bottom of the freezer, my library is among the best-stocked in the western world and my roses have never had it so good, but my hands are going soft from lack of sailing.
Here, then, are a few ideas that we classic boaters can get stuck into while we are confined to barracks.
1 MAKE A DOORMAT
I made the mat in the illustration more than 40 years ago. Returning from a protracted ocean voyage, I’d no money, no job and no home to go to other than my faithful little ship. The harbourmaster was snapping at my heels, waving a berthing bill, but all was not lost. In my forepeak was a 120-fathom reel of unused half-inch manila rope I’d won in an Old Gaffers’ rally in Lymington before I’d set sail. Polyester rope was the coming thing, so the boat was rigged with that, and the lovely natural fibre had sat undisturbed in the darkness, tossed hither and thither by stormy seas, until its moment of glory.
Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Classic Boat.
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Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Classic Boat.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Need For Speed
Saving lives at sea has always been bound to the speed of rescue, from the first rowing boats to the 60-knot, all-weather motorboats of today
![ROW YOUR BOAT](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034977010e31/crp_ROW-YOUR-BOAT.jpg)
ROW YOUR BOAT
There has been a steady rise in recreational rowing over the past few years, and the choice can be bewildering. What’s the right boat for you?
![Traditional Tool](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034a38cbfbc9/crp_Traditional-Tool.jpg)
Traditional Tool
JOINER’S NAME STAMP
![Classic misuse of a word](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034a47ace86c/crp_Classic-misuse-of-a-word.jpg)
Classic misuse of a word
Real classic ownership involves rot, rust and reward
SCUD MISSILE
Herreshoff’s newly-restored Bar Harbor 31 Scud lit up the classic racing scene in the Med in 2020 with a double win at Cannes and Saint-Tropez
![BOSUN'S BAG](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034925797443/crp_BOSUNS-BAG.jpg)
BOSUN'S BAG
PRACTICAL TIPS FOR THE TRADITIONAL BOATER
![DOUG LEEN - Tugboat man](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034a519ee136/crp_DOUG-LEEN-Tugboat-man.jpg)
DOUG LEEN - Tugboat man
Vietnam vet, park ranger, dentist, small-craft conservator and tugboat skipper.... meet Ranger Doug!
![CHANCE TO SAVE AN Albert Strange yawl](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034a6178bd79/crp_CHANCE-TO-SAVE-AN-Albert-Strange-yawl.jpg)
CHANCE TO SAVE AN Albert Strange yawl
Chances at Albert Strange ownership don’t come up often, and Sheila II is the quintessential Strange – and one with a great history, too
![AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Salcombe Yawls](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/603337/6034a2a93ddad/crp_AFFORDABLE-CLASSIC-Salcombe-Yawls.jpg)
AFFORDABLE CLASSIC Salcombe Yawls
A friend and I once decided that walking might make a change from sailing. So we set forth to walk from Branscombe to Bigbury, a 100-mile stretch of the south-west coastal path marked by knackering climbs and knee-wrenching descents.
![Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/1270/586488/600a46002f9fa/crp_CARDIFF-WALES-Save-the-Elena-Maria-Barbara.jpg)
Cardiff, Wales - Save The Elena Maria Barbara!
A rare, 18th-century schooner replica, restored to the tune of around £1 million, could be abandoned if a buyer is not found soon.