Charlotte’M

1. The Early Days

The time has come, I thought, to buy a yacht.

I had not sailed for 30 years but the desire to do so had never really left me. I had learned to sail at University in the late ’50,s. I am not sure why. My family had lived near the London docklands, two uncles had been in the Royal Navy in WWII, but it is just as likely that the people running the sailing club stand at the “fresher’s” induction had been the most persuasive. Anyway I joined. At that time I believe all the Universities sailed Firefly’s, a twelve-foot carvel construction dinghy, in plywood designed by Uffa Fox.

First I had to learn to sail. I took to this like a duck to water, which was just as well as I soon discovered that dinghy sailing was more in the water than on it. The first year I found myself crewing as a member of the University team of three boats and six students. I was hooked! In the second year I found myself in the team as a helmsman and an officer of the club. The third year sailing probably took more of my attention and energy than University work but I still managed a respectable degree.

I continued my sailing after leaving University crewing for some very well known sailors of the day in National 12’s and International 14’s. Money, or rather the lack of it prevented me owning my own boat but I did get to helm the boats on numerous occasions in club races. I also sailed Enterprise, Merlin, Osprey, GP14 and Wayfarer. At the time my sailing hero was “Blondie” Hasler of “junk” rigged Folkboat and Atlantic fame. An opportunity occurred to sail a “Folkboat” on a passage down the East coast and I jumped at the chance. This is my only keelboat sailing experience to date.

This brings me back to the beginning of this article. It is time I bought a yacht. Not surprisingly the natural choice seemed to be a Folkboat. They were still in existence, there were active groups of people involved with them, they were made of wood (a material which I understand and love and is of my era). They were excellent sea-boats and although I did not have an Atlantic crossing in mind I could see no disadvantage as a rather elderly newcomer to this type of sailing to having a boat with much more capability than I anticipated needing.

At this time I had no idea of what the cost of purchasing and running such a vessel might be.

In truth the thinking about buying started nearly two years before the purchase finally took place. I did a lot of thinking without much action at all to start with. Then in May 2004 I started to look in earnest, having first ascertained that my partner Rosemary, who has never sailed, was not completely against the idea. On learning that she was not, I put together a list of my requirements.

The Requirements

1. A good sea-going boat

2. At least two and preferably 4 berth

3. Easy to sail

4. Possible to sail single handed

5. Easy to Rig

6. Self maintainable (I wanted to do this)

7. Wood (a material I understand and like much more than fibreglass)

Other likely characteristics

Long Keel
Under 30 feet

I was not surprised to discover that it sounded pretty much like a Folkboat. Now it was time to do some research. As a computer scientist the obvious place for me to look was on the Internet.

I started by using the search term Folkboat in the Google search engine. I found something over 25,000 references but I started reading. All my old enthusiasm for sailing returned.

By now it is June 2004 and I have decided in my naivety that a good time to buy would be February 2005, but there is no harm in looking now. Where should I look I have been out of touch for 30 years. Why not try the yachting magazines and the Internet.

I found the ybw.com yachts for sale sight, purchased Practical Boat Owner and started looking. I searched on length, price and country. I found lots of boats within the characteristics but they were nearly all fibreglass. There were however a number of Folkboat’s, Contessa’s and Warsash ‘s, which seemed to come nearest the specification and were within the price range.

I spent the first week of the school summer holidays, I am a teacher, looking at one or two of each. The Folkboats were definitely too small, particularly for Rosemary and I just did not take to the fibreglass boats.

Then on the Internet s I saw a picture of a wooden clinker built boat with the bow poking out of a corrugated iron barn.

Charlotte’M in her “Boatshed” In South Wales

It was not a particularly flattering picture but I was struck by the elegance of the shape! She looked like a real boat. I showed the picture to Rosemary, who said she looked beautiful. This was a very good sign! On top of all this she fitted the specification almost perfectly. The boat was of course a Charlotte’M a Stella 26. I must confess I had never heard of the Stella but a little more searching on the Internet revealed that there was a Stella Class Association with some wonderful pictures and interesting and useful information on the boats. I read the information on surveying most avidly at this time and armed myself with a copy.

The specification was pretty much what I wanted. I contacted the broker, and then the owner Jeremy Kingham and the next weekend found Rosemary and myself heading for the Gower in Wales.

Some three hours after setting out we were made welcome by Dr. Jeremy Kingham and his wife Merlin. Rosemary and I then spent a couple of hours, with Jeremy looking over the boat armed with the knowledge gained from the article on surveying from the Stella Class Association web site.

I have to say that in spite of the advice in the article, all of which was excellent I fell in love with Charlotte’M immediately, a love affair, which continues to this day. Just ask Rosemary! I think it is fair to say that Rosemary also fell in love with her. After some discussion we decided to buy Charlotte’M subject to a satisfactory survey.

I had found my boat. Next came the survey performed by a real wooden boat enthusiast, whose opinions and knowledge I have come to value very highly indeed. His name is Alan Haynes but his story and that of the survey and my early days of ownership must wait for another day.

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