Boats you've owned and loved/hated

[iangrant]

Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

Just a thought, I'm sure most of us have progressed through a few boats over the years, anyway here goes with my list for what it's worth..

Nemisis - 12' sailing cruiser with "cabin" with a very strange American hand painted outboard.

Hob Knob - Sea Safe Dandy 16' BIG cabin and seagul outboard (bit asmatic that one) Sailed like an elephant.

Wooden Dinghy 12 foot no engine.

Tiara - Caprice - a plywood nightmare 18 foot long sailed beautifully

Celendene - Bright yellow Westerly Cirrus, rebuilt the Stewart Turner petrol engine and used up a few lives on that one. Sailed like a dream. Could hear the engine up to 3 miles away, first boat with a sea toilet.

Marae - Pegasus 800, 26' t grown up boat a deisel engine, wow. Took here in the Round the Island Race three years running. Sailed really well, bilge keeler.

Serenade - Jeanneau Symphonie 32' probably the worst boat I ever bought, water came in through keel bolts - replaced them never felt right??? Sailed like a super racer though very overpowered for a family cruiser.

Taiyo - 32' Jeanneau Sun Odyssey - had proper hot water and a shower - VERY lightweight boat.

Sunbeat II - 37' Jeanneau Sun Odyssey - proper boat - sailed like a dream.

Present Asterie - HR 42 - lots of engineering stuff done , sailing speaks for itself -


So what about all you others what have you sailed/owned?


Ian

 

[woody001]

Re: Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

First boat was a carter 30. Ugly duckling, but she sailed so well and would recommend this boat to anyone.

 

[aitchw]

Re: Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

Having sarted sailing late in life my list is mostly currently owned boats and mainly dinghies at that.

For what it's worth.

Beautiful wooden Albacore. Wonderful boat to sail, felt good. perfectly balanced, simple rig but a lot of hard work to maintain.

Less beautiful but more practical GRP Albacore. Great to sail, puts up with endless climatic abuse but a bit lacking in soul.

Old wooden Streaker so I can race when my crew can't sail. A lot of work but a great handicap boat for my pond and a helm of my weight and size.

Sea Safe Dandy affectionately (but accurately) referred to as 'Scruffy'. Bought for next to nothing but in need of much TLC. Bought to take on family holidays so I can sail with wife and son who are not keen on dinghies. Scruffy has already achieved what I wanted. Tricia and Sam actually enjoy being on her providing the weather is calm. Mismatched rig supplied with her generates huge weather helm, too much main and not enough foresail, which I hope I have found the answer to for this summer using a smaller main and much bigger jib. She is very steady in the water with no slapping and banging in chop. She is no racer but that was not what she was bought to do. I suppose she should be described as a tripple keeler having a long keel and substantial moulded bilge keels.

Next boat? Depends when it's practical and on where we are living. If we have managed to move to Loch Torridon then something much bigger, 26 to 28'. There are too many to choose from but it will be an MAB.

 

[doug748]

Re: Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

I give you the most attractive GRP boat ever made...

Tacks like a dinghy, very fast in light airs, superb sea boat. Light on the helm, responsive, a delight to sail. Roomy cockpit, wide side decks, outboard in a well with huge stern locker large enough to store the outboard and an inflatable.

I could go on......Marieholm International Folkboat. Brian.

 

[Guest]

Those were the days ..... aye Jim Lad !

I have to include my fathers ....as unlike Salty Ian here - I havent't actually changed boats so often ! (Wish I could !!)

Dad had :

Enterprise dinghy - never liked it - was too young and I didn't understand ... would love it now though.
Cuddy mobo - 16ft .... ORRIBLE ! had wheel steering with a cable round a pulley affair - never worked properly ...
Hilyard 2 1/2 tonner .... gaff rigged .... had to sleep on cabin sole ... only 2 berth jobbie ... but loads of character and UGH I hated winter varnishing etc.
Snapdragon 23 lift keel .... now that was a good boat and #9 of the blocks. She actually sailed very well and we used to enter RTIR ....

I stopped sailing with my dad when he didn't buy the Kings Ametyst offered .... now that was a beaut !!

My boats .... (and I include small stuff here !)

First came the Alacrity 19 .... wife insisted on a caravan - so money was a bit tight and I was GOING TO HAVE A BOAT !! Great little thing - sailed like a dinghy with a lid on.
Got myself a home-built ply dinghy then as well - best dinghy I had . the guy had a worried wife and made the sides real high ... great load carrier till kids dropped stones through it on the slip.

Next came the Snapdragon 23 triple keel .... I liked her but headroom was lacking and the extra keels made her sluggish ...
By now I had got myself a triple hull square dinghy ... weird but good load carrier ... tie of behind the boat and you stopped dead in water ... such a load to tow behind. Sold it off .... the dinghy that is ..
Got a Narwhal 2.4 .... really liked it till the seams went POOF ! thats when I found out new ok - s/hand forget it ... so changed to a tired old avon restart ... years later still doing the biz !

Snap went of to new home .... sad day.... and I had present boat - Sunrider 25 .... heavy overpowered job that will take me anywhere ....

Tallinn - I was using others boats and then offered a 1/4 ton cup boat .... so in for a penny so they say >>>>>>

Here winning the Baltsail regatta ..... well couple of weeks ago - I sold her to a local guy to race and look after..

Latvia - well I have a polish boat that was designed as either a mobo or twin steel drop keel sailer .... 5.5m lightweight job ... simple no nonsense job .... no engine, no electrics, sails are small and no winches etc. needed.

I'm happy and all I need now is someone to throw me some dosh and life will be bliss !!

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[snowleopard]

Love/hate relationship

Maid marian was a 25 ft Morecambe bay prawner, built in 1908 and bought, in the 70s, for £400. She was a gaff cutter with tan sails, looked a picture and sailed like a witch. Her rig could be handled easily singlehanded with no winches.

She also leaked everywhere, had a temperamental quarter-mounted petrol engine and smelt as only a leaky wooden boat can.

I sold her to someone with the time and skills to do a proper restoration and built myself a fibreglass flying machine. I've never managed to find out what became of her.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Re: Love/hate relationship

Only owned one big boat... my current one, and numerous dinghies, too many to mention, from Optimist to RS700.......

The nicest boat that I sailed regularly however, was a boat chartered/loaned for an entire year, which was a SHE 36, called Sherpa..... she was an absolute dream to sail..... went very well indeed, and as safe as houses...... did quite a few cross channels in her, so many fond and happy memories....

 

[robstracey]

Re: Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

Of the very few boats i have owned, my favourite was my first, a Mirror dinghy. Possibly not the most inspiring, but i had more fun in that boat than any other. My least favourite was a home built sailing canoe that ended up going free to good home.

 

[Piddy]

Re: Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

Started at age 6 with Parents on a 18' West Highland sloop (Candy) followed by Peggy, a 33' Morecombe Bay Prawner built in 1908, then Morning Star, a 25' Itchen Ferry made in 1857 (this one really did leak like a sieve. My Dad was adept at fitting "tingles" between tides - I thought at that time all boats had copper plates on them! Next in the early seventies a 25' plastic Listang - sailed well in a breeze as it had the heavy keel, followed by a Robber MkIIIe 1/4 tonner- sailed just like a big dinghy, really quick in a breeze - and then my mother insisted we get something more substantial so along came a tired Nicolson32 which honed my "get it home" abilities. I inherited this boat and moved on after 20 years of the Nich to a Moody 376, loads of room for a growing family and sails very respectably (I think, but we'll see after the RTIR this year!). Oh, and a Laser for me and the daughter and a Topper for the Son.

 

[bedouin]

Re: Those were the days ..... aye Jim Lad !

Nigel - I reckon you buy almost as many boats as Ian, it's just that you don't bother to sell any /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[Sans Bateau]

Re: Those were the days ..... aye Jim Lad !

Ian you are right about that Stuart Turner! Spent more time trying to get it going than using it did'nt you?!

Quick List:

ETAP 22 - Learned how to rebuild and paint a boat. You always love your first boat.

Sadler 26 - First boat with an inboard. Learned how to 'sail'. First venture out of the Solent. Great boat SWMBO loved the oil lamp (thats why we bought it, honest!)

ETAP 28i - Went everywhere (nearly) massive aft cabin, great boat for two, sailed like a dream and fast, used to like eating Bav's!

ETAP 35i - Give us a chance we only just got it! But looks promising.

 

[Guest]

Now hang on a mo ....

I just sold one ... the best sailing one an 'all !!

Boo Hoo ...... !!!!

Cheers

 

[PaulR]

Re: Now hang on a mo ....

all of them have had their good points :-

Hunter europa-first proper yacht 19' - could trail it and it sailed beautifully and got me hooked - thanks Folly

Hunter Delta 25 Lift Keel - wow the space !! clever inboard/outboard-superb lift keel and a joy to sail until sunk in october 87 storm - still sailing out there somewhere - Celox

Achilles 840 - a big boat! diesel inboard/sprayhood - how did we manage without them - big boat feel (well compared to the preceeding 2) fondest of memories - Snowflake

Freedom 35 centreboard-long time dream boat-loved the individual nature of it and unstayed carbon fibre masts and selftacking rig great + lift keel and legs meant we dried out in those interesting places like sark and herm etc etc - rudder like a barn door and about as light to handle !!! serious negative but still great memories - saw her recently in Lymington and new owner hooked - sail on Magic Dragon.

Hunter 272 bilge- brief period - 2 seasons with little one again for splashing round solent- ease of handling nice but gosh seemed squashed compared to others we had had by then and bilge keels no better than centreboard for us - sold to east coast - not seen since - Rumdoodle

Dehler 34 fin with self tacking jib and lazyjacks and stack pack- superb-sails like dream - finger light on helm and good pace - love the white nova finish inside - bright and fresh and clean and still looking good - beautifully built and yanmar diesel so much better than the 2 volvos we had had before .

Next one - eccentric thoughts - have continual hankering for trimaran such as dragonfly 920 but never sailed on one and keen to try - or if budget and time allowed would fancy a bigger mono such as oyster 406/435 and some serious sailing,

but for now dehler does it for us!

 

[Scillypete]

Re: Boats you\'ve owned and loved/hated

First proper sailing boat for us was a Hurley 20 'Sefica' had lots of fun in her but it was getting a bit crowded with the kids an all so sold her after three years.

Second up we bought a Wharram Pahi 31 (catamaran) 'Dignity' this was an unfinished home build when we got her so we had a bargain, and got her set up just as we wanted. She sailed really well to windward and passages were planned on an average of seven knots. Took the kids to Cornwall and Devon and across to France a couple of times, They really liked this boat and so did I but it was just lacking in headroom in the hulls and after seven years I just had the urge to sell for some reason so I did.

We went back to a monohull for the third boat a Halcyon 27 'Jumbly Girl', no need to go on about the sailing abilities of this boat albeit a bit slower than we were used to. Took the kids to France again and although we had standing headroom which was nice for me we were tripping over each other inside, the accommodation was just too small for more than two people and the kids were growing rapidly. So she was sold after two seasons.

Then came a period of reflection on just what it was that we wanted in a boat, and it was totally ignored when a Prout Quest 31 came on the market at the right price. We have only had her for a few months and there is much to do to bring her back to her former glory. The sailing may not be quite as quick as we had in the Wharram but it has the accommodation that we need and the stability that SWMBO demands and also as a bit of a bonus hot and cold running facilities much appreciated by SWMBO. Basically the kids are delighted to be back on a cat, they just seem to get more enjoyment out of the experience.

We also aquired a Hobie 14 in between which is great for playing around on and needless to say the kids like this one too

 

[graham]

Re: What a cracking looking boat.

What is she?

 

[Guest]

Re: What a cracking looking boat.

There actually as far as I know no proper name for her ... she was built on the island of Saaremaa in Baltic, by an Estonian Boat building co. She was the prototype of a series of about 12 built before the Moscow Olympics ... which sailing was held in Tallinn bay.
They as far as I am told conducted a show race of their own between official stuff - showing off Estonian boat building ...

There are still about 5 of them left in Tallinn and Eola - this one was one of the fastest. The photo is her winning the Baltsail regatta in 2003 .... sadly due to various commitments I couldn't put the effort and money into her upkeep and sold her on to one of the crew in the picture !!!

Construction : Oak frames with elm, pine planking .... the cabin top being a trial GRP mould which later boats some didn't use ... but very light for racing ....


Day I bought her >

Just been launched and being sorted for racing ...>

Cleaning up interior after seams take up !! >

and of course me the smug sod on the helm ..... !! >

Finally the day I sold her after dropping keel of for rebed and frame work .... new prospective owner asked if he could change colour scheme ... I said yes based on his buying .... so here she is being stripped, keel sorted and probably going to look beautiful once finished .... >

and her home >

Well it just remains to be senn how long it is before the itch gets too much and I'm back on another race boat in Tallinn !

 

[uforea]

Re: Love/hate relationship

Neil, Sherpa is for sale. Advertised in Yachting Monthly. Lovely looking hull, but then it is an S&S

Ted.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Re: Love/hate relationship

I know, I saw her when I was looking for boats.... I would have loved to buy her, but she was outside of my budget....

She is an absolute beauty to sail... I sailed her in everything from drifters to F8's and never once doubted her... light as a feather on the helm, and yet as much feedback as you could ever want.... and went like a rocket.....

And to top it of, as pretty a boat as you could want to see....

I took her quite a few times on Guernsey trips from Plymouth, and most weekends took her to Dartmouth or Salcombe..... reckon I must have logged a good 3 thousand miles in her....

Ironically, I had lunch today with one of the guys that I sailed her with, who I haven't seen for 10 years.....

So thats a good advert for the owners isnt it!

Ahhh... memories....