Where am I now?

I was after a nice calm day to get the sails up on Fintail, and see what all the bits of string do. And you don't get much calmer than this. I never thought that the salt works on the way out to the marina could look quite so impressive.


I also needed some help, and Paul came to the rescue. Not only helping with the fun tasks of sorting out the sails and rigging, but equally happy helping me with the long task of sorting through the tons of gear, with the photo below showing only a fraction of what we faced.

Anyway back to the fun stuff. I know its generally more traditional to put your sails up with a boat at sea, but it was exceptionally handy to be able to have a dry run in the marina. And of course it had the added bonus of been able to wander round, and admire her from every angle.

It's been a long time since I sailed on a gaff rigger, and with no rigging plan it was certainly an interesting morning. However, as the pictures show, we got there in the end. It was also a pleasant surprise to find the sails in such good condition.

All that said, if anyone has any handy hints on how I can get the topsail up, then please get in touch.

So having had a practice run, the next logical step was to head out and see how she actually sailed. The weather was fantastic once again, with a nice breeze which was calm enough for me to get out of the harbour, and just strong enough to get us moving at a few knots.

All in all, pretty much perfect for a first sail. Everything went very smoothly, and with the engine turned off, she sailed better than I dared hope, despite the fact that I was too lazy to get the mainsail up, and felt a bit rough, so it was a pretty short trip.

Of course, the getting out and sailing was the easy bit. The hard part was always going to be the getting back in, and mooring. Fintail has a long keel, which makes going astern an interesting and slightly unpredictable task. For a first effort, I was pretty happy with my attempt. It certainly wasn't quick, but I got there in the end, and even better I didn't even hit anything!

I am now back in the UK once again for more tests and checks. Everything seems to be coming to a close, with all the results good and no problems found. So a frustrating mystery, but with everything checked and me well on the mend, it means I can concentrate on all the sanding and varnishing that awaits when I head back to Spain on Monday.

Fate works in strange ways, and for me it has led to me buying Fintail. I first came across her last summer, when she came on the market over in Spain. It was love at first sight, but unfortunately the timing was wrong, so I had to let her go. Then by a very stange turn of events, she came back on the market a few weeks ago at a much reduced price and I was given first refusal. Needless to say, that I wasn't going to miss out a second time.

So what is Fintail? She is a 28ft gaff rigged, venus ketch. She was built by her previous owner Peter Storr back in Shoreham in the mid 80's/ early 90's. It was always his dream to build a boat and he took 8 years to convert fintail from a tree into the boat that she is today. His achievement was truely incredible, with the hull construction pretty much bomb proof, and his attention to detail was absolutely meticulous. Sadly Peter passed away last year, so Fintail needed a new owner to look after her, and take her on the long passages that she was always built for. So over to me then!

She will certainly keep me busy, as there has been no maintainence done for the last year. So I think I'll be sanding and painting for a while. Fortunately the hull structure is completely sound, so its a great starting point and will keep me out of mischief.

The broker moved her round to her new home for me on Sunday. So she is now less than a 10 minute bike ride from the house in Spain, and only a minutes walk from the cafe that I normally use. Not that I'll have any money to spare on things like lunch in cafes for a while.

I haven't taken her out for a sail yet, as i'm still not on top form, but there is plenty of time for that in the months and years ahead. In the mean time, I am back in the UK to try and get myself sorted. Then I'll be back to Spain to get to work.

I don't like to beg and pleed, but if anyone finds themselves with a bit of time to spare and fancies some sanding and painting in the sun (who knows, maybe even some sailing), then please give me a shout, and any help will be greatly appreciated.

I'll let you know how things go.

In the mean time, I'll leave you with a quote from Fintails intitial survey which I think sums her up quite well.
'A very extraordinary, heavy weather, long-distance, cruising hull. Massively overbuilt for normal use. It appears to have been well thought out and painstakingly constructed'.