Nick Burnham: They say that money can’t buy happiness and maybe that’s true, but if you’re already naturally happy, it can’t half enhance it!
F irstswim of the season (in the UK at least, we’d already christened the Med) happened on Saturday 9 July this year. Always an evocative moment, hitting the still brisk waters of the south coast of the UK officially marks the start of summer for us. It was the weekend of Tunes On The Sands, a live music festival on the beach at Blackpool Sands, a mile or two west of Dartmouth. We headed out at about midday with friends Adrian and Tracie on board. It was, at last, a proper summer day – T-shirts at 20 knots and the bimini cover in place for some welcome shade.
There was quite the flotilla already in position when we arrived, about 50 boats swinging gently at anchor off the crowded beach. I positioned us fairly close in, the steeply shelving sands meaning we were still in 20m of crystal clear water. We installed the cockpit table, Marianne conjured up a splendid lunch and we relaxed into the afternoon of music and summer, with no real intention of taking a dip. A couple of hours later, my friend Richard and his family rocked up in Red, the incredible Sunseeker Superhawk 34 that he completely rebuilt from the keel up, creating in essence a brand new boat. Only the GRP hull and deck mouldings remain of the original. Finished in a sensational spray-painted metallic red with all the usually polished stainless trim finished in matt black, it’s a dramatic sight, and even more interesting than watching Red slip quietly through the anchored boats toward us was watching the reactions aboard surrounding vessels as every single head turned to admire its arrival. Richard could have landed a s
