Matsu is our second boat and the one that we hope will carry us safely on our adventures for many years to come. This is the culmination of a dream we have shared for many years, and Tim has had since being a child and reading Swallows and Amazons books and turning the pages of an old atlas.

We had both sailed in dinghies and trailer sailers from a young age, but big boat sailing was restricted to an occasional charter in the Whitsundays region of Australia. In 2001 we bought our first real boat "Blue Lady" a Challenger 39. We sailed her locally in Melbourne, and then after moving to Sydney cruised Pittwater and local waters, before taking the plunge in July 2004 and moving aboard.

Throughout 2004 and 2005 we cruised the Australian east coast, learning about cruising and realising that sailing is the easy part. Unblocking toilets, fixing diesel engines, tracing electrical wiring, baking bread and getting home safely in the dinghy after sun downers being far more important skills.

By the end of 2005 after 18 months and 5000 miles, we knew that full time cruising was what we wanted to do, and that a boat Tim could stand up in, with enough storage space for all the full time cruising junk would make life even more enjoyable.

We decided to go back to work for 2006, still living aboard Blue Lady, saving hard and spent hours on the internet looking for our dream boat. In November 2006 we flew to the USA to look at a shortlist of 44-46' boats and then saw, fell in love with and bought Matsu! A lot bigger than we had planned but exactly what we wanted.

We moved aboard Matsu on 31st March 2007 in Fort Lauderdale to restart cruising after a 14 month break.

Matsu is a Passport 51 designed by Stan Huntingford and built by Passport Yachts in Taiwan. She is Hull #8 and the last Passport 51 ever built.

Passport Yachts Web Site

LOA: 51' 1"
LWL: 43' 3"
Beam: 14' 5"
Draft: 7' 4"
Disp: 17 Tonnes/38,000lbs
Fuel: 775 litres
Water: 870 Litres
Engine: 88Hp Nanni Mercedes

The boat was launched in 1987 in San Francisco with the name Silver Lining. Her first owners Phil & Irene Patch sailed her in the Bay Area for a few years and then headed for the Sea of Cortez, moored much of the time in La Paz. They sailed the boat for seven years in Mexico before bringing her back to San Diego in 1997 where she was sold to Jeff and Anne Brooke of Phoenix, AZ, who renamed her High Drama.

Jeff and Anne did some sailing in the San Diego area before leaving in 1999 on a circumnavigation via the Pacific Islands, New Zealand (where they had a major refit done), Australia, South East Asia, Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea to the Med returning to the USA in early 2006, where she was put up for sale in Florida.

We bought her on 22nd December 2006 and renamed her Matsu, after the Taiwanese Goddess of the sea who provides protection to sailors and fishermen. We were a bit concerend about renaming a boat but decided that as it had been done once already without incident we would risk it.

We plan to continue putting many cruising miles under her keel and hope we manage to at least match the 10 year ownership mark of her previous owners.