Our 'Lorelei' tradition started in 1986, in Moreton Bay, Brisbane, where we learned to sail on our first yacht, a New Zealand built steel sloop, Lorelei II. The ideal beginner boat, Lorelei II was hard chine, overbuilt, with a flat bottomed keel, she was slow, but ever so safe, and carried us north along the east coast of Australia, across the top to Darwin, through Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, then back down the Malacca Straits to Borneo the Philippines and Hong Kong. After 13 years of sailing and living aboard, we felt confident to move on to a faster, prettier, and lower maintenance boat. We were hooked on the sea kindly motion of a heavy displacement, full keel yacht, adamant that she had to have a Yanmar engine, for ease of access to spares anywhere in the world, and a hand laid fiberglass hull, for security if we hit something, but without the high maintenance of steel. Either one of us had to be able to single hand her, in case of emergency at sea. Crossing oceans was our goal , so when Shadow came on the market, in 2004, having already done a great deal of research into Lord Nelson sailboats, we moved quickly to claim her. Being superstitious sailors, (we never leave port on a Friday), we felt it unwise to change her name, but hoped that Neptune would not look too unkindly on a slight alteration - so she became 'Shadow of Lorelei' - (subsequently the new owner of Lorelei II was so taken with the name that he renamed Lorelei II 'Spirit of Lorelei'). Given that Lorelei was a legendary siren on the Rhein River in Germany, with a reputation of luring sailors to their death on the rocky shore, it has been pointed out that our choice of name was not terribly appropriate, especially given our respect for marine superstition - nevertheless, it is now our tradition, too late to change.
Built by Ocean Eagle in Taiwan, the Lord Nelson 41 is designed and built to exacting standards by a yard which was conscious of overcoming the poor reputation of Taiwanese built boats of the 70s and early 80s. Oversized stanchions, attached to the solid scuppers instead of through deck bolting, and an innovative method of attaching the teak decks to solid stringers rather than attaching directly to the fiberglass decks overcame the leak problems of similar designs. Hand-laying of the fiberglass hull, with additional layers strengthening the leading edges of the hull, as well as the deck stringers made her stronger and less subject to unnecessary flexing under sail. Unfortunately, the increased quality of construction resulted in higher costs. making it uneconomical to continue to build; very few Lord Nelsons appear on the market; owners tend to keep them as the replacement cost today would be prohibitive.Only 52 were ever built.
Shadow of Lorelei has a traditional 4 cabin layout, queen bed in the forward cabin, main head and shower and galley to port, aft double bed cabin with vanity and mirror, and pilot berth cabin next to the companionway. She is fully teak lined and insulated with all in ceiling wiring carried in conduits for protection. The salon is airy and spacious with plenty of storage, large, and the galley features a secure cooks nook, which makes cooking underway safe,

All interior brightwork has been beautifully maintained. We have loved her now since 2004, and are very sad to part with her. Because of the sad circumstances of the loss of my cruising buddy and life partner, after more than 25 years of living aboard, it is obvious that I will need to accept a more conventional lifestyle.