Father’s day this year coincided with another rather special occasion: the relaunch of my parents’ boat, Bombay Duck, after six months of painstaking work to restore her to her former glory.

The actual launch happened on Saturday, but yesterday we made our way over to meet them at the Salcombe estuary for the inaugural trip to celebrate her restoration.

Arthur was a little bit sceptical at first: he’s been on bigger boats before, but this was his first boat trip where I think he was really aware of what was going on and he found it all a bit peculiar.

He soon got into the swing of things though: testing out the whistle on his life jacket, finding out what all the wheels and buttons did, and generally having a pretty awesome time.

    

    

We’d brought Leigh’s fishing kit with us – last year’s birthday present that with everything else that’s been going on hadn’t yet made it out of the house! We didn’t actually catch any fish, but it was good to finally get it out and in the water – and Arthur certainly seemed interested in what daddy was up to…

It was lovely to get to hang out on the water – such a gorgeous afternoon, perfect to fill with family, fun and fresh air. The fresh air did eventually take its toll though, and as we began to head back Arthur started to get very sleepy and just a little bit fractious. Nothing that the sling couldn’t solve of course!

    

Once the boat was all moored up we made our way back through the woodland, Arthur dozing and the rest of us full of excitement about the watery adventures the summer will hold aboard beautiful Bombay Duck.