We buy a Folkboat

In April 2016 we acquired a Nordic Folkboat. She wasnt our first boat or indeed our first folkboat. The first yacht was a Hunter Europa which we bought in July 2015. She was ok but we lusted after an old wooden boat and the fibreglass Europa really didn't do much for us.

In a moment of madness I went on Ebay and put in an offer for folkboat which I had been watching for sometime and of course it was accepted - oops. We travelled down to Felixstowe to view our new purchase and were slightly disappointed in her condition. She was well equipped in terms of electronic gizmos but I reckon the previous owner should have spent a bit more time and money on the fabric of the boat instead.
But she was ours and all we had to do was to arrange for her transportation by road to sunny Berwick upon Tweed.
Now I realised it was going to be expensive but what I hadnt considered was the sheer logistics of transporting a boat 350 miles. I made three attempts to coordinate cranes, transport etc all at the correct tide and at each attempt something went wrong. Usually due to the boat transporter picking up an easier job and letting us down at the last minute.Finally I was so hacked off that I stuck her back up on Ebay and ended up selling her for a small profit.

As luck would have it, whilst all this was going on another folkboat came onto the market and this boat was based a mere 15 miles north of us!
Her name was Chuckle and she was the subject of another blog which I had been following for some time. She had been purchased in 2012 by a young couple in a fairly decrepit state to introduce their young family to the sea and to sailing and the blog both recounts the ongoing refurbishment and their adventures. Two adults, two kids and one dog spent 27 days on Chuckle exploring the Firth of Forth. No mean feat as anyone who has ever been aboard a Nordic Folkboat will testify.

Inevitably the time came when that family simply couldnt all fit together in the boat and she was reluctantly sold. The couple that bought her experienced very similar problems in regard to transporting her to Hull from Eyemouth as we did trying to get our folkboat from Felixstowe. There's a moral there - never be tempted to buy a boat which is miles away from your home port.

Anyway here she is at her berth in Eyemouth immediately after parting with our cash.

A proper boat. Clinker mahogany on oak frames with spruce mast and spars. Perfect.
She was built in 1954 by Harry Feltham in Portsmouth. The same year I was born.