Early days

I guess when you want to do something big which seems somewhat if not utterly out of reach, you just got to start somewhere. Also, the notion of one step at a time is very valid. Thus, to somehow move closer to fulfilling my almost lifelong desire to own a sailing yacht this is what I decided to do. Get going, one step at a time.

Quite a while back in the late 80's, my family (parents, brother, sister and friends) chartered a Sigma 36. It was an absolutely lovely boat. We took her from the Hamble to the Channel Islands and back. It was fun and she was a pleasure to sail. She had nice lines and I do like fractional rigs, which she had. But the yard which constructed the Sigma range of yachts was either taken over or quit the business with no more new Sigma's having been built since the mid 90's. The Sigma which I was so charmed by was discontinued around 1985. So on the one hand nothing too new available, on the other, those which were now on the market for sale were quite cheap being 25 years+ old.

(The actual yacht I sailed on is now located in Asia, or Malaysia to be more precise. I understand it is on its way to Australia for some extensive racing. Goes to show these yachts are tough. Some pictures here)

So I looked around, primarily online, and found a couple of Sigma 36's for sale, most in the UK. I was looking for wheel steering and some other gadgets which I thought were important and found one near Glasgow, Scotland. I toyed with the idea of taking a look. Nothing to lose, and I rather liked its location: the cold Atlantic waters greatly reduce the rate of osmosis (the inevitable process of water molecules making their way into the fibreglass, eventually causing blistering and general deterioration of the hull), fresh water and warm tropical waters being particularly bad.

The asking price was around GBP35k which was an amount I could just about afford. So I went, on my way from Zurich to Glasgow via Amsterdam, staying one night near Edinburgh with an old friend, Matthew Wood, from our days at the Royal Grammar School in Guildford also in the late 80's (Matt and I shared a fair amount of sailing action together, on his father's yacht, a Dolphin moored off Gosport and during school regattas off Hayling Island and other places in a somewhat dodgy GP14. We did win a lot of races though...). Seeing Matt & family already made the whole trip worthwhile, checking out the Sigma 36 became a happy coincidence.

I decided (vowed almost) that weekend that whatever I would do going forward on the yachting scene, it would always be thoroughly stress free. If not I would be on the wrong path.

OK, so following train rides across Scotland (I had to get to Edinburg from Glasgow) which were really impressive and having hitched a lift with the yacht broker, I got to look at 'my' Sigma 36, on the west coast of Scotland. In fact I had the whole Saturday afternoon by myself to look over the yacht. For me, nothing beats the smell of the insides of a yacht with a history: the combination of diesel, salt, mould, ropes, life jackets and more sailing gear brought back many happy memories of excitement, challenge and romance. It was a strong reminder of where I was headed. Here she is:

But, clearly this was an old boat which would need a tremendous amount of work. I should add at this point that long distance blue water cruising is my goal and for that one does feel more comfortable with a thoroughly seaworthy yacht. Design-wise I was looking at such a yacht. But the amount of work I would need to put into her was astounding, with seacocks entirely corroded hence needing replacement, leaks near the shroud attachment points, loose stanchion posts and corroded fore and aft railings, etc. I realised it could be done. But not living near the sea at the time (Zurich, Switzerland) I didn't think it would be fair on the family (and myself for that matter) to spend all my free time - and a lot of money - over a period of years to do the work required.

I kindly declined to make an offer. But the first step had been taken.