the emotional experience of seeing your old boat

[dylanwinter]

I took the folding bike for a bit of a bike ride and pokernose around Lowestoft the other day. I had a cup of tea in Britain's most easterly diner and then went into the boat yards

I went into this place

http://lowestofthavenmarina.com/

and there she was

it is funny how you fill a plastic hull with memories

she still looks in pretty good nick though.

This was a much better experience than the one I had when I was 35 and found the old GP14 my brother and I had built at school 20 years before

the cover had blown off, she was full of water, the bouyancy bags were flat and the mainsail, which the four brothers had saved up so hard to buy, was still on the boom and was speckled in mold

a spec of dirt blew up from the dinghy park and made my eye start watering

D

 

[mainsail1]

I never did understand why you did not 'buy' that boat at the end of the 'loan'.

 

[Mark-1]

This was a much better experience than the one I had when I was 35 and found the old GP14 my brother and I had built at school 20 years before

the cover had blown off, she was full of water, the bouyancy bags were flat and the mainsail, which the four brothers had saved up so hard to buy, was still on the boom and was speckled in mold

a spec of dirt blew up from the dinghy park and made my eye start watering
D

I had the opposite experience. The Laser I had when I was 13 got tattier and tattier in my ownership. I sold it when I was 16 or so as a bit of a shed. Years later I saw it at an Open in perfect nick with a brand new sail. All the bits of crunched gelcoat from numerous startline incidents had been invisibly mended.

Made me smile. I was certain that boat was a season or two away from going on a bonfire. Instead, years later it was being raced competitively and looking like new.

 

[dylanwinter]

I never did understand why you did not 'buy' that boat at the end of the 'loan'.

I promised the bloke I got her from that I would sell her at the end of the trip and give him half of whatever she fetched

it seemed the fairest way of arriving at a price.

The second Centaur is not as good as Harmony - but a Centaur is still a Centaur and I enjoyed the adventure of buying the second one and sailing her up the Irish Sea with Barry and Ian.

Even at my age I still love a new experience

D

 

[RupertW]

When we were in Dartmouth walking past the castle we saw our old boat, sold 10 years before, sailing past. We ran like schoolkids to watch her dock then get the ferry across to say hello. We'd sailed it up and down the South Coast and across Biscay and even seen a full solar eclipse on it just before selling. It was good to see that after we'd brought her from the South West to Eastbourne to sell as we'd had no offers, the new owner who still owned it, had brought the boat straight back down to the West Country.

 

[Concerto]

Some years ago I instantly recognised an old boat of mine, a Hunter Formula One, sailing towards me because of the emblem on the spinnaker. I had traded the boat in for a new boat, so I had no idea where she had gone to. A call across the water and they came a visited me later that day for a chat. They had changed the boat's name from Jolly Roger, without knowing about the spinnaker emblem of a skull and cross bones with a smile.

 

[Poignard]

It would be an emotional experience to see my first boat. It sank!

 

[chrishelen]

I saw my first boat in a yard down in Teignmouth. She was a bilge keeler I bought with no keels. I fabricated two keels out of mild steel fitted them and sailed her away. She looked abandoned, but the keels were still good after 20 years

 

[johnalison]

Our first cruiser was sold to Germany and disappeared. The second, a Mystere, is knocking around but I haven't seen it for a while. I think they removed the wheel steering but I would be intrigued to see her properly. The last, a Sadler 29 was bought locally, and the new owner put an ugly s/s hoop over the stern for a radar, fitted a sprayhood, and renamed her from Queen Mab to Miss Piggy, which effectively absolved us from retaining any sentiment towards her.

I presume Dylan didn't eat at the Wetherspoons near the RNSYC, where I had the worst pub meal I have ever had, three years ago. I was too tired after a 4am start from Ijmuiden to worry.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I saw the Jouster I owned for 25 years in Peel a couple of years back. She was in a hell of a state - covered with green slime, sail half out the cover, deck heaped with fag ends from the adjacent pub. All that just a couple of years after I sold her.

But you know what? I didn't care. It surprised me that I didn't, but I was there in my new boat, I'd moved on, and all I thought was "There's my old boat. What a state she's in." Perhaps it's because I know that an hours work with a pressure washer would have her sparking again.

If her owner - a forumite - is reading this ... I forgive you!

 

[PeteCooper]

In the mid 60s my mum and dad bought a Trotter Mk2 from Marine Plastics in Grimsby who built them - a couple of months ago she was on eBay but with no engine and needing a fair bit of tidying. In 1969 my parents bought a Halcyon 27, and sold her in about 1974/5 - and yet fairly recently I saw her up here on the Clyde and although she has changed hands again since then I had a chat with the then owner and had a look aboard - nice but not my kind of boat anymore. What does upset me slightly is that in 2015 I sold my Ecume De Mer as I had been wanting to downsize for a while, and she is still just sat in the car park at the marina. I think that the new owner has visited once so she looks a mess now but I guess it's not my problem as my wife keeps telling me.

 

[davidej]

I see my old Centaur regularly - on a mooring.

I don't think it has moved for over 10 years - first yards of seaweed streaming off it - then the sails ripped and falling off boom and forestay - now the guardwires falling into the water.

Sad. I asked about it when dylan was trying to find one inder £1k and was told someone was still paying the mooring fees

 

[aquaplane]

My old Centaur is still parked where the new boat is parked so I see her regularly.

I had some very good times in her but she has gone to a good home so I should be pleased.

A couple of boats I have been glad to see the back of and it was traumatic bumping into the new owner incase they tried to blame me for things that broke.

 

[Tzu]

Although not my first boat i saw pics of my first not trailer-sailer about 4 years after I sold her far too cheaply. The first boat I'd spent far too much money and way too much time on. The pics were on a forum with the buyer complaining about the world not rescuing her. She'd been allowed to be washed onto a stone beach and the bilge keels half ripped off. I recognised so much of my efforts just wrecked on a beach and coincidentally found something had got into my eye

 

[C08]

I often wonder what happened to my last boat, a Macwester 26 called Marcus, last seen looking sad for sale at Holyhead.. She gave me and the family so much pleasure for ten years and looked after us when I got things wrong.and saw us through some nasty weather. Quite a slow boat but so strongly built and really got a move on in strong winds and would sail happily when other faster and lighter boats would be scuttling for shelter. It is not surprising considering the emotional, physical and time investment that owners do feel sentimental about their old boats. Looking back it was a wonderful adventure for my daughter aged eight through to sixteen to sail the Welsh Coast and the Irish Sea.

 

[Seajet]

In among having my Anderson 22 from '77, I had a Carter 30 for 4 years; unlike the A22 I was only ever fond of the 30 in a slightly detached way, just too many snags and not quite right for me.

I was amazed to see her - new name but definitely same boat - at the last Portsmouth International Festival Of The Sea and would have liked to know the story, but no-one was aboard.

I was pleased to see her in good nick and apparently good enthusiastic hands though...