Monday 16 May 2011

Sailfish 18 (Not Cornish Crabber)

The Venerable and Ancient, St Deny's Sailing and Rowing Club have been looking for a new cabin boat since last summer.

 In fact ever since I sold their old Shipmate Senior "Cygnet" to the bloke who sold us his Laser. 
I'm not sure who got the better end of the deal there.  

The Boat Sub-Committee of the said Venerable and Ancient have searched high and low to find a boat which meets their stringent requirements. 

I tried to persuade them to spend their entire boat fund and mortgage the club house on a Cornish Shrimper

But they could not be persuaded, and so instead we have gone for this little Sailfish 18 which we found in a barn in deepest Wiltshire.

She is a bit too old, a bit cheap, not all that pretty, scruffy and slightly frayed around the edges.

 In fact she should fit right in and I think she'll be much loved.

She is supposed to be a four-berth but there is no way I'll be sleeping in there with three other hairy blokes.  

8 comments:

Chris Partridge said...

If you're going to get plastic, I think you should invest in a couple of Bursledon Gigs. They are popular for rowing because they are stable and easy to row, and you could have races up to the mill and back.

doryman said...

Old Cheap and not Pretty. Hell of a way to speak of your friends.

Graham Neil said...

You obviously haven't met some of my friends!

Bursledon Blogger said...

Love those wrap around windows - Just keep saying "deck saloon, deck saloon, deck saloon"

Graham Neil said...

How very very drole!
Do I detect a hint of jealousy?

Room for her in 1001 boats?

Maybe not.

Brian said...

There were about 7 early Shrimpers build in wood. There is one for sale for about £3.5k. Do up the Sailfish, sell her and buy the wooden Shrimper!

Graham Neil said...

Hi Brian,

There's a GRP one for sale on Apollo Duck for just over £8k which isn't bad but I'm afraid the Ancients won't play.

Regards G

Anonymous said...

I once borrowed some oars from a Drascombe Cruiser and with very little effort rowed a Sailfish 18 a good half mile. Amazing little boat!