The amazing “Sunstone”

[Debenair]

Passed her this avo running out past the Medusa as we bashed our way up to the Backwaters from Burnham. Last time spotted she was for sale in foreign parts through Barney Sandeman.
Does anyone know who the new owners might be and where she is based?

 

[WF36]

Owned by the MD of Fox’s, Will T-J. So no guesses where it’s kept!

 

[tidclacy]

Beautiful boat she passed me on the blackwater the other day.

 

[pvb]

Owned by the MD of Fox’s, Will T-J. So no guesses where it’s kept!

You'd need to run a boatyard to be able to keep that varnished!

 

[Malish]

this one?

Sparkman & Stephens 40ft Sloop 1965

 

[Debenair]

That’s the one. Tres chic.

 

[Malish]

One to admire rather than own..

 

[Bru]

You'd need to run a boatyard to be able to keep that varnished!

Nah, slap a couple of layers of clear epoxy on it and happy days

 

[ex-Gladys]

But epoxy needs to be varnished to prevent UV degradation...

 

[Bru]

But epoxy needs to be varnished to prevent UV degradation...

Shhh, don't spoil the fun

 

[Jan Harber]

The legendary Sunstone has strong East Coast connections. A wooden centreboard sloop, she was built by McGruers at Clynder in 1965 to a design by the equally legendary Olin Stephens, for an owner who raced her out of Bridlington with great success. She was originally named Deb, her design was a modified version of the Finisterre class, with the addition of a fin and skeg.
Re-named Dai Mouse 111 she went on to the North West to be raced offshore in the Irish Sea with Irish Offshore Racing Association.
Tom and Vicky Jackson bought her to live aboard in 1981, when she returned to the East Coast, now named Sunstone. The Jacksons sailed her to repeated successes on the EAORA circuit. This resulted in an infamous dispute concerning her very favourable age allowance, which provoked much comment at the time. As Jan Wise wrote in her little book 50 Years of East Anglian Offshore Racing, "what really got up everyone's nose was not just the fact that Sunstone did so well when racing, but that she also enjoyed a dual role as a houseboat."
The Jacksons said that when they took her racing they "simply rolled up the carpet".
Later they moved Sunstone to Brighton Marina where they continued to live aboard and race her in RORC events on the South Coast. In 1985 Sunstone won the overall trophy in the RORC Channel Race and won her class in the Fastnet.
From the late 1990s onwards Sunstone has been extensively cruised around the world with the Jacksons, who made their new home in NZ. Tom and Vicky have become as legendary as their boat having clocked up thousands of cruising miles, with some racing in between. By the sound of it they did much of the topsides varnishing themselves, and I don't think they ran a boatyard.
The website www.sunstonesailing.com is a mine of information about Sunstone and her, until recently, owners.
It's nice to think that this famous boat has come back to her East Coast roots. Hopefully her new owner will be able to keep her in the wonderfully varnished condition that she's become accustomed to...