Navigation desk

I blame my long absence from this log on my having had no reasonable desk at which to sit and write. This I have alleviated by building into old Kalitsah the biggest nav table I’ve ever come across on a yacht her size. Going are her weekender roots; she’s in with the big kids now. To allow room for my desk, I have sacrificed entirely the starboard sofa/berth. Truncated in an earlier refit to accommodate a better galley, this berth was only suitable for a dwarf.

To the horror of many, my new desk faces aft. “You’ll get sick”, they cry, “else you’ll get lost, navigating backwards”. Fortunately seasickness has never yet afflicted me, and as to going backwards, it will allow me to see that half of the world which I had intended to leave until second. What I gain from this aspect is a superb view out through the windows and companionway onto the place I’m here to see. I faced the corner enough at school, and refuse now to do so by choice.

In keeping with my maxim of an uncluttered interior, I have mounted all my instruments required for navigating in cupboards surrounding the desk. They are accessible when I need them, but they are ugly, and so need not be on display when not in use.

Hidden within the desk is a secret cupboard in which I will store my valuable items. Should I be burgled or boarded, I believe this area will pass the notice of even an astute thief. I shall here elaborate no further, lest the reader should be driven to attack.

Perhaps the greatest concession I have made to my desk being a desk is that I have built it sloped. Completely useless as a general bench top, it will be free to perform its function as a desk, and nothing more. During the refit I have doubled old Kalitsah’s usable bench space elsewhere, so feel well able to afford this luxury.