The Big Clear Out

Actually Sunday, 7th October

It's a bit like clearing up after a party when you take down the sails, remove all our personal things and empty out the lockers after our sail. The cabin looks much less welcoming without signs of life; it may only have been home for a week but now that's come to an abrupt end and there’s work to do.

It's strangely therapeutic to move on and strip the interior of all the junk that's accumulated over the past 35 years. The dreadful speakers go together with the glass racks from the bulkhead, the curtains and the carpet end up in the skip too. With a twinge of regret the old Huson VHF follows, who wants a 1970’s radio without DSC nowadays.

Buried in lockers are a host of imperial nuts and bolts amongst other long forgotten spares, there’s even a massive anchor in the forepeak; worth keeping but it’s not clear when they’ll get used again. Together with more useful equipment such as the relatively new cooker they all get carted out and put into store.

Our area in the "client store" in the yard is full, a huge pile of equipment has formed in the garage and the garden looks like a boat jumble with anchors, the tender, outboard and fenders scattered all over the place, but at least the yacht is clear and we've got some space to work in.

With everything emptied out it’s easier to see what condition she’s in and how much work is required to get her into good shape.  The number of dividers that need re-bonding to the hull increases, the woodwork looks increasingly shabby, the action list grows in length.

At least we know where we are now, the first task though is to start the long job of stripping the varnish off the interior woodwork; we're prepared for it but that will have to wait until next weekend

On Hayling Island

Actually Thursday, 4th October


Well, we finally made it to Hayling Island after an exciting sail and a pleasant few days stormbound at Sparkes Marina. A force 6 was not ideal for our first sail but it did mean that we were able to get down to Portsmouth in record time on the first day. With only the genoa unfurled we were making over six knots most of the time, she certainly can sail. Frequently the hull was trembling as the deep vee hull was lifted onto a plane, I didnt think that was meant to happen on headsail alone! 

The only incident was the failure of the auto helm caused by a 5amp fuse in the circuit instead of a 12 amp one; a minor problem compared with the mayday in progress off Ryde as we passed by. An accidental gybe had caused severe head injuries to a crew member, a salutary reminder that conditions were not at all forgiving. 

With gales forecast  we scooted over to the shelter of Chichester harbour the following day whilst we could. Shame we couldn't have dropped into Cowes but that's weather for you.  The short trip was made memorable by Illustrious cruising past as we were off Southsea (just outside the shipping lane!) Although we were the only boat between them and Ryde the ships company lined the deck, seemingly just for us, all very impressive. The few nights at Sparkes were pleasant enough, enabling us to get a feel for the interior, certainly plenty of space for two to be comfortable in, not sure about how many more though. 

We did eventually make it into our berth at Hayling Yacht Company on the Thursday, but only after learning a few lessons about handling her the hard way. She's a bit like a long keel yacht such as our Tradewind 35 in reverse, rather unpredictable; in addition due to a really strong prop kick she only likes to go round anti clockwise. If that's not enough the engine is reluctant to pick up quickly, especially in reverse; we found that out at the cost of a  broken bow navigation light as we tried to manoeuvre around the pontoons and get into our berth. 

Whilst it's been all very nice on board for the last few nights, I cant wait to strip her out and get on with the re-build, the carpet alone is enough to drive you to distraction and as for the curtains, well at I suppose they match the white cushions but neither rate highly on the practicality scale. 

First Night On Board

Actually, Sunday September 29th

After all the haggling, we're finally owners of a Contessa 32 that's currently called Tip-sea, though we'd like to change that to Levante later on. She's at Southampton and we're going to take her to Hayling Yacht Co for a five month restoration to her former glory, together with a few mod cons added for comfort.  

The Contessa has had a fantastic reputation as a cruiser/racer ever since surviving the '79 Fastnet and doubling Cape Horn; with such beautiful lines they are a much sought after classic. It's such an iconic design, typical of the 1970's, uninfluenced by the desire nowadays for so much more internal space which is great in a marina but often a real compromise against seaworthiness and sailing performance.

 We've always had a soft spot for a 32 ever since doing a coastal skipper course on one in the early 80's; now we only need a smaller yacht so Lynda & I decided it was time to have one. Having looked at several we concluded that we were unlikely to find exactly what we wanted so selected on that we could restore. The survey showed that this example was generally sound but had osmosis, fortunately the price ended up being right for us to go ahead; we've now got a clean, basic boat to re-build as we want to. It's a "clean sheet" for us to create exactly what we want to meet our needs over the next ten years or more.


She's berthed at Southampton in the little marina run by the Port authority opposite the Red Funnel jetty. I didn't even know that it existed but it's a great little place with excellent facilities and ideally situated for restaurants and pubs, not to mention the shops. It's all very friendly and makes a good place for our first night on board; we'll certainly be back sometime in the future

The immediate challenge is to sail her over to Chichester harbour which may not be far but the weather refused to co-operate. Although we've got the best part of a week for the trip before the tide drops too low to get into HYC we're not going to be able to hang around, we'll have to take advantage of what ever weather windows open up. That might be just as well as the insurance company have insisted on disconnecting the gas as it's not in a vented locker, which means no hot drinks, let alone meals!

It's uneasy being on a yacht that you're not sure of, we've checked most things out and they seem to be ok for the trip but there's no certainty it's all going to work, much of the equipment is a bit on the fragile side! Being cautious, we've bought a new hand held VHF and signed up for sea-start just in case things start to go wrong...