disillusionment

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Who hates sailing ?

Has anyone else experienced, after restoring an old boat, that they have become disillusioned and unable to cope with the idea of casting off and sailing the thing ?

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As a poor harbour, Littlehampton has had more than its fair share of the disillusioned legions that have started amateur boat-building projects.
It was the fourth summer that I had lived “entrenched” inside the shipbuilding shed opposite the café. I slept under a skirt of polythene nailed around Fortuna’s bare hull.
Bas’s boat SARAII was similar in size to mine, but by this time had her masts up. Many times, we enjoyed together one of his glorious curries, washed down with cheap duty-free grog retrieved from the back of his Vauxhall van before retiring to my shed.
One such night dining aboard SARAII, with a lull in the banter and a lonely eye passing through one of the open portholes, Bas complained “Soon I won’t have an excuse not to go sailing!”
I knew what he meant. He had sailed into retirement aboard SARAII, and here she had come to rest for fourteen happy years. Ill health had claimed two close friends since, the boat had been reborn under his stewardship; decision, a rare thing to be made in these surroundings, was bearing down upon him.
“I know it sounds stupid, but I think the time is truly coming when I won’t have any reason to be in the slip anymore, it’s been so long, SARA’s nearly done, and I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’m scared to leave the harbour now!”
He had been in the slip for five years himself, and had become used to hanging his washing over the boom without having to rope it on, used to being able to move stuff on and off without climbing a ladder or clambering into a dinghy.

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Has anyone else discovered that after a few years of working on a boat, the desire to take her out to sea has died ?



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Violetta

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Reminds me of a story

I think it was by Steinbeck. Guy building a boat in the woods above the ocean (Pacific) Years and years went by. The boat was his life.

One day some jokers crept up in the night and stuck some barnacles to the hull.

The guy took one look, abandoned the project on the spot and was never seen again.

But for me - no. Our boat was about 6 or 7 years in the building. Both of us had demanding full time jobs so it was a weekend and holiday project. Every summer weekend and every holiday. Loved building her (same kind of pleasant social experience as you describe as well as a lot of learning) and love sailing her. Had her 28 years now and she has repaid the early labour a million times over. Mind you, she's not finished yet..........

First time we took her out and anchored overnight near Brightlingsea (she was still more or less a floating workshop) a customs launch came over to ask us where we where from and where we were bound. Answer to both questions - Rowhedge. They thought she might have been across the North Sea????? Little did they know what rich satisfaction they gave us that evening!

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AndrewB

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Plenty. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.boatsyachtsmarinas.com/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Forum&report=Subtopic&SubtopicID=00004782>HERE</A>'s another recent case.

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Mirelle

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Interesting thought

I know a man who spent years refitting a boat, to a really quite wonderful standard, completed her, then sold her, at, undoubtedly, a significant loss, without ever sailing her.

What had happened was that his first wife died, he threw himself into the boat as a project, he met another lady and married her and her health deteriorated to the point that she could not step aboard. So he sold her and bought a canal boat.

No psychology here, just adverse circumstances.

I have another friend, quite well known on the East Coast, who built a small gaff cutter, with professional assistance, sold her, bought a very well known gaff cutter, restored her, sold her to the son of the first owner, and has spent the last several years doing a complete and utter rebuild of a 30ft bermudian sloop. His reason for selling the gaff cutter and buying the project sloop was that he felt it takes too long to get everything stowed up after a sail on a gaff cutter! This I do not entirely believe!

Arthur Ransome (in Racundra's First Cruise) tells of seeing the hull of a Baltic trading schooner under construction on a small island in the Finnish archipelago; the stern was new but the bows were covered in lichen and moss; one old man was working on her, and clearly had no idea of finishing her.

Personally, I get very "twitchy" if my boat is not in a condition to go to sea at once - I hate having her under repair, and yet I have spent more than one summer with the boat laid up and being worked on.

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GeorgeP

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Just looked at a home-build. Colvic Victor 40, hull sold 1987. Still no masts, rigging or sails and never been in the water. Also:

no lockers oustside (he had built the aft cabin into them)
automotive wiring used
240v cooker
no ventilation, so the headlining was starting to stain in places
small fiddles on the tables (the ones in the plans looked unattractive)

and so on. The builder had all the theory certificates, but not a lot of sailing experience. The rigger I consulted said he would need to check that the strong points were all OK. At that point I walked away. This boat is going at a significant loss to the builder, even before his time is added.

Quite sad really. He said that he had even had a relationship break up over this. The cost of the hull, deck and engine is quite small compared to the final cost of a boat and I wonder if people get carried away buying a hull they can't fill.

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