The deed is done.

johnalison

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After a winter thinking about it, I have at last put my boat up for sale. Although I can still manage her, the amount of sailing I have done in the last couple of years doesn’t really justify the cost, and more importantly, the effort, and I think it is better to go ahead now rather than wait for deterioration to take place. She is sitting outside David Morris’ office at Titchmarsh and although she hasn’t been worked on yet I thought she looked pretty presentable, at least after I had spent an hour asking the guano off. My wife is trying hard to make me feel sad about it but it is not really working, probably because I have had plenty of time to see it coming. As Seneca said, most unhappiness is caused by people’s failure to anticipate adverse events. I don’t know what boating I will be able to scrounge but for the time being I will be occupied with getting her properly ready, and if nobody bites, I might get another season.
 

Poignard

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Until today, I had been getting over the sense of loss engendered by the sale of my Twister last year.

This afternoon, her new French owners sent me some photos of her fitted out and ready for re-launching..

They have worked hard, and she looks lovely; inside and out.

Now I feel a bit sad, but I am glad she has gone to a good home.
 

MoodySabre

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Good luck JohnAlison.
Recent years have years have seen little sailing following the death of one of my daughters in 2023 and health issues in 2024. I have finally accepted that trips to Holland are no longer sensible following a leaky heart valve and a pacemaker. I’ll keep going for another year, three nights booked in St Kats with kids and grandkids. It feels like a step on the slippery slope but I shall remain in denial for as long as possible.
 

seivadnehpets

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I too wish you luck with the sale, a possible last few sails, and a pleasant retirement ashore when it comes. I think you’ll find other enjoyments.

I sail dinghies. Around the time my wife died in 2023 a member of my club gifted me the big dinghy I’d always coveted, a 17’er, a big step up from my mirror 10’. The mirror, being ply, has been rotting quietly in the corner of the yard over the last two years, and I’ve enjoyed sailing with crew in the bigger boat, but it’s not ideal for single handing.
I’ve been telling myself I don’t want to sail alone anymore, but I’m getting really tired of chasing crew, and despite lots of family and friends humouring me, I’ve not found anything like the regular nutcase I need for club races and cruising.

So I’ve solved the problem, bought another boat, a West Eleven, 5” longer than the mirror, and GRP! So my retirement need not come at 48.

I now have a choice of three boats, 17’, 14’, or 11’3”, I know which will be getting the most use!!!!
 

johnalison

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I too wish you luck with the sale, a possible last few sails, and a pleasant retirement ashore when it comes. I think you’ll find other enjoyments.

I sail dinghies. Around the time my wife died in 2023 a member of my club gifted me the big dinghy I’d always coveted, a 17’er, a big step up from my mirror 10’. The mirror, being ply, has been rotting quietly in the corner of the yard over the last two years, and I’ve enjoyed sailing with crew in the bigger boat, but it’s not ideal for single handing.
I’ve been telling myself I don’t want to sail alone anymore, but I’m getting really tired of chasing crew, and despite lots of family and friends humouring me, I’ve not found anything like the regular nutcase I need for club races and cruising.

So I’ve solved the problem, bought another boat, a West Eleven, 5” longer than the mirror, and GRP! So my retirement need not come at 48.

I now have a choice of three boats, 17’, 14’, or 11’3”, I know which will be getting the most use!!!!
I loved sailing dinghies, and did most of my early sailing racing Fireflies. My wife has suggested that I might want a dinghy, or even a potter-about motor boat, but although this would be a reasonable option here in Wivenhoe I don’t think that I have sufficient ambition to undertake such a task. There will be a fair amount of physical work involved and for the time being I am content to live with many memories of such outings and look for my kicks in other ways. On the whole, I feel pretty satisfied with my sailing career, even though it has generally been on a modest scale. I have never sailed an ocean, nor have I even been on a narrowboat. I can easily see the attraction of both to various people. My teenage was spent in Fireflies, then a few sessions on the Broads on engineless cabin yachts, a succession of cruisers with the children, first locally then abroad for a few weeks, and finally retirement and a comfortable HR that took us anywhere from Ireland to Gdansk, most of this at what now seems like a golden age when far fewer boats were around and our destinations made up with charm what they lacked in sophistication. One day perhaps I could cobble together a ‘then and now’ set of photos.
 

John 32i

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After a winter thinking about it, I have at last put my boat up for sale. Although I can still manage her, the amount of sailing I have done in the last couple of years doesn’t really justify the cost, and more importantly, the effort, and I think it is better to go ahead now rather than wait for deterioration to take place. She is sitting outside David Morris’ office at Titchmarsh and although she hasn’t been worked on yet I thought she looked pretty presentable, at least after I had spent an hour asking the guano off. My wife is trying hard to make me feel sad about it but it is not really working, probably because I have had plenty of time to see it coming. As Seneca said, most unhappiness is caused by people’s failure to anticipate adverse events. I don’t know what boating I will be able to scrounge but for the time being I will be occupied with getting her properly ready, and if nobody bites, I might get another season.
Looks a great boat - fingers crossed for a quick and easy sale 😎
 

Blueboatman

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Ah. Condolences, but well done too!

If decisions were all straightforward, or black and white , more people would make them in a timely manner.
Your Seneca quote says it more adroitly.

I’ve had periods of fairly intense boat use and ownership and then periods without a boat at all.

I think these things are chapters and change is probably on the whole good.

Good luck with finding a sympathetic purchaser.

Edit: Oh and once sold, I was unexpectedly gently inundated with offers around the boatyard to sail on others peoples lovely craft and trips!
 

dolabriform

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Sorry to hear she's up for sale John, but as others have said I'm happy for you that you've made the decision yourself and are at peace with it.

You are more than welcome to come for a sail with me anytime.
 

ex-Gladys

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I swallowed the boat ownership anchor in 2021. A lifetime of various activities mainly dinghy racing based (1966-2003) when I realised that when capsized, I only had one shot in me at getting back onto or into the boat - fast cats at that point. Then into cruising, with the interminable list of winter jobs in a fairly scruffy yard with mucky underfoot conditions, which made any work under the boat "lovely"!
Covid came along and I was talking to someone connected to SYH who said that boats were selling like hotcakes, so as Gladys was a singular looking Colvic Victor 35 decided to put her on the market. Full asking price received, she went.
Now I take enjoyment from listening to people moaning about winter jobs, knowing that I don't have that to deal with. I now get my sailing kicks from racing radio controlled boats in 2 classes (International One Metre, and DF65). Racing model yachts is like dinghy racing on steroids. We usually get at least 16 races in on a Friday session (1030-1400) and I've almost certainly done more starts in the last 5 years than in the whole of my dinghy racing career!
One of the main joys is I can buy a No 1 suit for the IOM for about £100... size reduces costs significantly!
 

Blueboatman

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I swallowed the boat ownership anchor in 2021. A lifetime of various activities mainly dinghy racing based (1966-2003) when I realised that when capsized, I only had one shot in me at getting back onto or into the boat - fast cats at that point. Then into cruising, with the interminable list of winter jobs in a fairly scruffy yard with mucky underfoot conditions, which made any work under the boat "lovely"!
Covid came along and I was talking to someone connected to SYH who said that boats were selling like hotcakes, so as Gladys was a singular looking Colvic Victor 35 decided to put her on the market. Full asking price received, she went.
Now I take enjoyment from listening to people moaning about winter jobs, knowing that I don't have that to deal with. I now get my sailing kicks from racing radio controlled boats in 2 classes (International One Metre, and DF65). Racing model yachts is like dinghy racing on steroids. We usually get at least 16 races in on a Friday session (1030-1400) and I've almost certainly done more starts in the last 5 years than in the whole of my dinghy racing career!
One of the main joys is I can buy a No 1 suit for the IOM for about £100... size reduces costs significantly!
I sold my last boat because the outcome of a couple of eye ops was less than A Given Certainty by a fair margin ( turned out pretty good).
At the time the s/h market was riding high.
And thanks to the Golden Globe Race re-enactment and the endurance and success of venerable Frenchman Jean Claude Van Den Heede( VDH) in winning it, the marque was enjoying an unexpected “racing” rep.
Sold relatively quickly and relatively easily to France to a wannabe entrant. I loved it and I loved using and living on it, throwing it around at sea and being thrown around by deteriorating weather at sea, and playing with all the different sails etc etc, it was just super comfortable, so solid, and surprisingly quick even in light airs and powerful in a blow.. it was absolutely the right boat for me and my circumstances at the time. 13 odd happy years👍
Heck, I even made a gentle profit on it, after costing in my labour at removing the old teak deck.
But do I miss it? Nope. Move on!

Which is why I think we’re all so amused/ mildly irritated at dear old Wanseys reluctance to commit to The Next Thing. The clock ticks on..
 
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