Most of the work needed was cosmetic only, the stern had been bumped a fair bit and fibreglass was missing. She needed new stanchion bases the old ones had started to corrode. New main anchor chain, a upgrade to 50mtrs from the old corroded 25. The electric winch has been badly fitted so is one of the jobs to fix later. All the small jobs were carried out by Horatio Todd and his crew. I could not really live with the Polikos name so had to find another. My girlfriend Nancy Jones has been known as Nanjo, which just seemed to fit the Disco3000 perfectly. So, a new name and a listing on the small ships register in the Uk, plus the new vinyl and the job was done. Poliokos was her old life, now as Nanjo she will be looked after better and be given a easier life sailing around the Ionian at first then hopefully around the Med when I pack up work full time.
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The big decision came when I was old enough to cash in my works pension and take it early. The lump sum and small amount of monthly pension meant I could buy a reasonably priced yacht and hopefully survive on my monthly pension.
I looked at a gaff rigged ferrocement yacht just outside Rome, the advert made it look good and it was worth the Easy Jet flight and a few days holiday in Rome with the girlfriend to have a look. A total disaster, she had seen better days and was just a waste of time. The original asking price was £19,000 but the owner very rapidly dropped it to £11,000. Even more evidence that it was time to move on. We did have a great time in Rome though.
Having spent many hours trawling the internet web sites for a suitable yacht, I came across IBA brokers in Greece. So, i lined up half adozen likely yachts, flew out in December 2010 with John "Tulanes" skipper and we had a pleasant time looking around the boat yards.
The last yacht we looked at was not even on my list, pretty typical I suppose. She was suggested by Pete Hatch the broker showing me around,and was a Dromor Discovery 3000. She was being sold in end of season condition and had been a charter yacht all her life. Her Greek name was "Polikos", it was love at first sight. The same way all my previous yacht/motorbike purchases have been. Although she did look pretty tatty, obviously after a hard season being nocked about the Ionian by anyone who could afford the charter fee, she just looked perfect in my eyes. Masses of interior space for 31ft, and just the ideal layout for the Med and the simple liveaboard lifestyle I was hoping to have.
Plenty of photos in the gallery section.
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Tulane arrived at Gibraltar after 1300 miles down the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal.
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I jumped at the chance of skippering her, and with the help of a friend from work Joe Harrington, who had never sailed before and the pair of us getting a 6 month sabbatical from work, we left Southsea and headed South. We spent a leisurely month doing Biscay and made it to Gibraltar with no problems. I certainly learned a lot on the trip and brushed up on my sailing skills and the faith I had in Tulane and the way Westerlys had built her. We had a few storms on the way.
Joe got off in Gibraltar after being offered a tempting job working at the airport. I set of singlehanded towards Corfu, the first few days were nerve racking, having never sailed Tulane singlehanded before. But after moving some lines around and trusting myself, everything settled down to a smooth pace. I sailed along the Spainish coast, over to the Balerics and onto Sardinia.
A friend Charlie Osler joined in Sardinia and sailed with me to Scicily and onto Malta. Where I spent a month, being joined by John and his wife and my girlfriend at the time. Malta and Gozo are a fantastic cruising ground, but after a month it was time to move on. Sailing singlehanded again I went back to Scicily and onto Italy, and then over to Corfu. sailing around the northern tip. I had a glorious 6 weeks left of my holiday and eventually brought Tulane ashore at Cleopatras yard in Preveza. She has sailed out of there every year since.
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25/01/2012
Just found this blog site and thought it would be a great way for friends to keep track of where I am and what I am doing. Hopefully it will be interesting to them and others who come across it?
I suppose the best place to start is in the beginning.
My love of the sea started at 16 when I joined the Merchant Navy and spent 5 years working for Shell Tankers UK moving crude oil around the world. A fantastic time for a teenager, back in the 70's. My first sailing tho came about when we had to carry out a Board of Trade test on one of the ships lifeboats in Cardiff. These older lifeboats carried a small stubby mast and a lugsail. Luckily the bo'sun owned a yacht and took charge, we spent a greatbtime sailing around Cardiff docks. As my memory serves me, it was very slowly.
My first yacht was many years later, I realised if I sold my house I could buy a yacht and dreams of going around the world filled my head. I bought a 30ft steel Dutch built sloop. It was moored at Wallasea on the River Crouch, I spent as much time as I could afford sailing around and often running aground on the mud. My plans all came to a halt when the infamous hurricane hit the Uk and Wallasea marina was just about wiped out. My yacht suffered severe damage but stayed afloat, it took the insurance company a year to repair her, due to the large number of claims.
Several houses later and several yachts later, I have joined Crew Seekers a company who match yacht owners with potential crew. Having sailed with several owners, I noticed an advert looking for crew for one month to sail from Southsea to Hamburg and back. A quick phone call to the owner and I am of to Southsea to meet the owner and other crew to see if I fit in. I then met John Shutler "Tulanes" owner and skipper, Stephen Clarke, Matt Small and Nigel "Woody" Wood crew members. Over several beers and a lot of chat, I felt I had known these guys for years already. A cross channel trip had been planned, to see if I could cope. But due to excessive amounts of alcohol and a strong wind blowing at 5am we could not get the skipper to wake up, thankfully we all went back to sleep and missed the tide. A much easier trip to the Isle of Wight and more drinking, and John offered me the crew spot to Hamburg. I learned a lot that month, John and I sailed up to Hamburg, via Holland and the Fresian Islands. Where the rest of the crew joined for the return trip. Tulane is a fantastic yacht, owned by John from new and built by Westerly yachts to the Tempest "owners" version design.
I have sailed on her ever since, even when owning my own yachts, I always enjoyed sailing on Tulane and the time spent with her owner and crew. We had sailed to most of the places we could in a two/four week holiday span. When John decided he would like Tulane out in the Greek islands.
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