Your Nautical Fairy Godmother appears...

[Kristal]

...and offers you three maritime wishes:

Firstly, you may choose any vessel, or class of vessel, you would like, and the Fairy Godmother will give you 64 64ths of her ownership;

Secondly, you may choose anywhere in the world to berth her;

and Thirdly, you may choose as many individual persons from the planet's population as you deem necessary to comfortably crew her, provided you can allot them an official position on the ship's books.

Terms and conditions apply: If you choose a class of vessel, you must also provide a name for her (for Part 1 Registration).

I'd be interested to know your answers.

/<

 

[Santana379]

Virtually any of the top 200 would do fine. Failing that:

1. Something pretty maintenance free, possibly a Rustler 36, or my ultimate production cruising yacht - a Pacific Seacraft 40. Nothing bigger, or it would be too much of a handful and wouldn't get into all the nicer harbours. Either would look after the crew at sea, and sail pretty well. If the fairy (whoops!) is going to pay for the maintenance or do it for me, then I'll get off the fence with the top 200 and nominate Selina King, 'cos there's nothing like a bit of provenance.

2. Berthed on a swinging mooring at Felixstowe Ferry - my own would do fine - however in a perfect world I'd only come back there every third year or so.

3. First Mate - my other half would do fine too. Daughters can crew whenever they want. Lots of friends could crew from time to time, as currently happens - no strangers or celebs though. Then again, wouldn't mind a weekend with Sir Robin or Dame Ellen - might just learn a bit.

4. Name – “Orwell Delta Blues” – the Orwell Delta Blues sound can be heard in a number of the excellent blues pubs in Ipswich, having migrated up from Essex, and Southend in particular. Stephen Foster of Radio Suffolk has done a lot for blues in the county, both by broadcasting and by promoting gigs. The Steamboat Tavern near Ipswich Haven Marina often has good blues music. Part of the plan is that the hull colour would obviously be blue.

So, same crew, same mooring – pretty unadventurous, or perhaps just happy with the way things are. I suspect Mirelle would change even less – he’s got his dream boat already. The long voyages are what I would enjoy – round Britain, to the Baltic etc.

 

[Mirelle]

Secretly, I've always fancied a fast powerboat to impress my friends with:

 

[Peterduck]

Hmmm, the class of boat is easy; I've always fancied a gaff ketch rigged Colin Archer Redningskjoite, around 35 - 40ft long, which I would probably name "Freya" after the Norse goddess. I would definitely base her in Hobart, or very nearby, perhaps Kettering or Barnes Bay on Bruny Island. About 3 crew, of which I would want my partner as one, and one other strong and nimble to do all the things that I now find so difficult. Please also grant that I can afford to pay for someone else to do all the boatyard work!
Peter.

 

[Leon_Steyns]

Oooooh, difficult one! But let's no think.... so:

1. Lucretia (designed by De Vries Lentsch in 1927), re-registered to Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

2. Newport, RI

3. Just the Capt'n and me (provided some adjustments will be allowed for to enhance single-handing ease-of-use).

Greets, Leon Steyns.

 

[Mirelle]

OK, if I can\'t have that one...

(the photo shows HMS Vanguard, shortly after being used as a "stand in" for the Royal Yacht, because the "Victoria and Albert" had fallen apart and the "Britannia" had not been built!)

...I have often fancied either of the following:

1. One of the William Fife III "820" series of designs - these are the very late 35ft w/l bermuda sloops, like "Solway Maid" and "Madrigal". There are still some unbuilt versions in the drawings, I think.

2. A sister ship to Philip Rhodes' "Carina", or something very similar.

However, these being a little big for singlehanding, and indeed for my mooring, and lacking the "provenance" that comes with a boat whose whole history is known in detail and which has remained at the place of her birth, I think I will probably choose to stick with this one. We've been together now for 21 years, so it's becoming quite hard to blame the previous owners for things:

 

[Kristal]

Lovely Picture

...though clearly little wind. Is there some kind of optical illusion, however, with regard to the person at the helm? They appear to be of such a size that Mirelle looks rather smaller than I know she actually is - the knowledge of which I owe to having tottered about on her last weekend, whilst shored up, and being very frightened indeed. I don't really have a problem with heights usually, but I did not like being on deck all the way up there...

 

[Mirelle]

Picture courtesy of Francis Fletcher...

Yes, it's an optical illusion; there are actually two people standing in the cockpit, next to each other, Ian Wright and Alex. The cockpit being of the severely self-draining type with a small footwell and seats at deck level, if you stand in it to see over the dinghy, as Ian is doing, you seem high up.

The third crew member i.e. me is on the starboard side of the mast fiddling with a halyard, probably preparing to set the topsail, which is the thing in the blue sausage.

I reckon she is at least three, maybe four, inches out of her draft in this picture, as I was experimenting with leaving the inside lead ashore and she had dried out a bit over the winter.

 

[Peterduck]

Re: Picture courtesy of Francis Fletcher...

'Tis a fine photo, to be sure! i'd like to post a photo of my ketch 'Swallow', but I know not how to do it. Can anyone please explain?
Peter.

 

[Kristal]

Re: Picture courtesy of Francis Fletcher...

...and I should like to see a picture of Swallow, having heard a lot about her in the year or so I've been attentively following the posts.

You need some web-space to link to a picture, but I can help you there - if you email me a picture of Swallow, I will put it into Crystal's web space and forward you a link, from which you can proudly display her wherever you wish.

I've PMed you my email address should this be helpful!

/<

 

[Leon_Steyns]

Not very decent to reply to one's own post, but apparently there's a grace period for editing messages and I'd like to show a picture (however low quality) of Lucretia.

Greets, Leon Steyns.

150000 Euros. The Sterling doesn't make it sound so bad... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[dallasg]

Re: OK, if I can\'t have that one...

NYACHILWA is sort of Fife, and sort of that type. She's like a scaled down EVENLODE. Double ended with a 24' waterline. As close to a Fife as I'll ever get: the design dates from 1939 by WF III, the first hull was built in 1951, NYA was built in 1952. So it's a Fife design, built at Fairlie but after Fife had died.