Robyn
Robyn grew up as a country bumpkin in the land-locked county of Shropshire after moving there aged six from the Wirral.
She was introduced to boat trips and the sea from many family holidays growing up but moving aboard Baremka last year was a whole new experience for her!
She has fallen in love with the simpler way of life onboard (and the lack of cleaning and tidying that needed doing previously!)
Robyn has had to learn lots of new skills fast to help Dave out and has since been found with her feet dangling out of the engine bay, hoisted up at the top of the mast fixing electrical faults or grinding winches when sailing.
In the years leading up to the ‘Mutiny’, she completed a degree to be a Primary School Teacher and spent a few years teaching before deciding it wasn’t the career for her.
Part of the reason for making that decision was because not long after she graduated, she lost her Dad to a brain tumour. It affected her badly and she blamed the stress of teaching (her Dad was a Deputy Head) as the cause of the cancer.
After Robyn left teaching, she retrained as a Blood Donor Carer with NHSBT and then worked for the Welsh Blood Service when they took over. She basically used to stab people all day long to take their blood donations and enjoyed it immensely. Whilst she worked there, Robyn was affectionately know as a Vampire to her Grandad!
During her down time she loves to read, write, bake, eat, have Netflix marathons or nurture her entrepreneurial spirit by creating things online. (Whilst in Jersey, she created a series of Sailing Travel Journals that can be found for sale on Amazon!)
She hates with a passion: cold, wet British weather, washing up, being told what to do, and running out of food.
Dave
Dave was born and bred in Oswestry and has lived there most of his life.
He led a very active lifestyle during his early adult years thanks to his job as a fitness instructor and time in the Territorial Army as a Challenger 2 Crewman.
In 2005, Dave volunteered to go on a tour of Iraq and had a successful six months there as part of the King’s Royal Hussars dismounted infantry and tank crew regiment.
A few years later, he decided to change career and join the West Midlands Ambulance Service as an Emergency Care Assistant. Through further training, he progressed up the ranks and became a Senior Emergency Medical Technician.
However, the stress and things he had to deal with as part of the job took their toll and he has since been diagnosed with severe PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).
This trip, although we had been thinking about it and planning it for years, was brought forwards because of the effect his job had had on him. He is using it as a way to process and try to let go of all the bad memories and traumatic events that he witnessed, however, it is a very slow process that is still ongoing.
Dave enjoys taking Scrappy for long walks, exploring new places, going to poke and prod around in rockpools, investigating any weird looking insect that he comes across and swimming.
He hates it when Robyn doesn’t wash up for days, an untidy boat, being bored, bad weather, and being told what to do.
Erin
Erin was destined to be a boat baby right from the start. Her entire pregnancy was spent on the boat (with the majority of it including sailing) and she was almost born on the boat!
Erin has lived onboard since she was just over half a day old and the more the boat rocks, the more she enjoys it! While Mum is lying down feeling seasick, Erin can generally be found bouncing around, practising her balancing skills and having a lovely time.
She arrived in November 2019 and turned our lives upside down. We love her to bits and can’t imagine life without her now.
Erin has one hell of a personality already and knows what she does and doesn’t like. She has inherited her Mum’s stubbornness, her Dad’s playfulness and a wicked sense of humour from us both!
Erin loves eating, sleeping, having someone to play with, Scrappy, broccoli and going exploring in her baby carriers.
She hates running out of food and being left alone when we are coming into a marina or anchorage and lets us know about it!!!
Scrappy
Surely the cutest Mutineer you have ever seen?!
This little guy is such a loveable little ball of mischief that he practically gets away with murder (and under our duvet most days!)
Scrappy is a six year old miniature Jack Russell, and he’s the perfect size to have onboard a boat!
Scrappy takes his security title VERY seriously indeed. He barks at EVERY SINGLE BOAT that comes ANYWHERE near us! This is great in the case of an emergency, but my god it gets boring fast when other boats raft up next to you or when you stay on a busy stretch of coastline!
However, like I said, he gets away with murder and all he has to do is look at you with his great big, brown, puppy dog eyes and all is forgiven!
Believe it or not, he is not a fan of water and has only recently started NOT avoiding getting wet! He will now wade into the sea, as long as it’s calm, up to his chest (so basically ankle deep water) and swim if he has to, but ONLY to retrieve something very important like a stick or swim out to the tender if he gets left behind (wearing a lifejacket so we can scoop him up!)
Scrappy can understand so many words (like beach, walk, dinner, cheese, Scooby Snack, outside, toilet, mouse…) and tilts his head on the side when you talk to him and runs in the direction of whatever the word means. I.E. to the stairs for outside or toilet and to the kitchen for dinner or cheese…)
He also know a few tricks but 9 times out of 10, needs a bribe in the form of a ‘Scooby Snack’ to do them (because he knows he’ll get them if he pretends to be stubborn!)
Scrappy LOVES walks on the beach, in fields, through the woods (he’s not fussy!), meeting new people, tummy tickles (so much that he’ll pee all over your foot if you let him get too close), playing with his toys, having a good nose around at what’s going on every time he goes on deck, snuggling in bed under the covers with his Mum and Dad, his dinner, cheese and treats aka Scooby Snacks!
He hates his bum being sniffed, dogs that come bounding towards him, rough weather, and being left out.
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