Éowyn
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Éowyn
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The
Beginning
Hi - my name if Graham Payne. I love yacht cruising. since 1983,
I have owned 5 cruising yachts including the lovely Éowyn
pictured above.
It all started in 1983 when I purchased a Pegasus 800 named "Spirit of Pisces". The Pegasus was a great yacht to start but I soon became impatient for something larger. At the 1984 London Boat Show, I saw the designs for the Sadler 34 and bought a bilge keel version off the plans. I was familiar with the Sadler design concept and the risk was worth the substantial saving I made from the list price! The Sadler was also named "Spirit of Pisces" as the purchaser of the Pegasus had renamed it "Flamingo". although I enjoyed the Sadler 34, and I used the bilge keels and shoal draft to maximum advantage cruising the East Coast, Netherlands and France, I did find the keels frustrated sailing performance.
Onwards and upwards in 1988 I was fortunate enough to choose a new Najad 360. "Galatea of Stow" was then the perfect yacht for me and I had 15 years of delightful cruising, culminating in 1999 in an Atlantic circuit, leaving with the ARC in November 1999 and returning alone in June 2000. Galatea was ideal except one aspect - storage volume and load carrying capacity. I like to cruise with all sorts of bric-a-brac, scuba gear, bicycles etc. and so I decided to look for a larger version.
In the meantime, between 1994 and 1997, I had operated a 62 foot steel ketch in the Caribbean as a skippered charter yacht. "Ain't Misbehavin'" was a "Bay Class Yacht built in Faversham in 1991 and was a very handsome ship. A liveaboard Captain and chef dealt with the charter work, however the realities of running a large charter yacht soon came home to me. For many reasons but particularly the high maintenance cost meant we mad a substantial operating loss - she had to go!. She was sold and renamed"Indigo Drum". Part way through a circumnavigation, she was badly damaged in 2004 in Grenada during Hurricane "Ivan". She was recently sold and the sale particulars show how far she has fallen from grace.
I began to look for a replacement for "Galatea". The new Najads had some features I did not like - for example the water tanks are no longer in the keel. Also the Najad 400 was beyond my budget new. I tried in vain to find a used Najad 390 which would have met my requirements. After much thought, I decided to buy a new Hallberg Rassy 39 but was put off by the 3 year waiting list!! Then I heard about the 40 - updated and with less than 2 years waiting. So in September 2002, I travelled to the Ijmuiden Boat Show and met Willie Bewes of Transworld Yachts. After seeing the 40, I ordered one on the spot!!
The difficult part was now to come - selling Galatea. After advertising her in "Yachting Monthly!, I met John Chesbrough who sailed her and like me fell in love with her charms. John bought Galatea and together we sailed her to her new home at Saltash near Plymouth. True to form, she behaved impeccably on her last passage with me. If you want to see just what beguiled me about Galatea see the sale particulars I made Galatea's Website John has been cruising Galatea from Scotland to the Med and his voyages can be followed at his own blog http://www.yachtgalatea.com
The
Dream
Now the time for dreaming was upon me. The obvious temptation
would be a round the world cruise. Delivery for Éowyn was
set for 29th June 2004 and I would try to get to Ipswich for 4th
July where the Little Ship Club are hosting the US Corinthians
for their major rally of the season. After this onwards to the
Hamble to Transworld Yachts to fit "Helga the Hydrovane"
my windvane selfsteering removed from Galatea and an essential
for me for long term cruising. After the Hamble, the Bay of Biscay
beckons with a planned cruise down the Spanish and Portuguese
coasts before making the 4 day passage to Las Palmas on Gran Canaria.
On 21 November we sail again with the ARC - we had a great time
in 1999 and I think it is such a great way to cross an ocean as
so many new friends are made and often kept. Visit the ARC website
We plan 5 years in the Caribbean the we will take stock and hopefully pass through the Panama Canal to start our Pacific adventure.
The
Name
Galatea had been named after the
River Nymph of Norse Mythology. For my Hallberg Rassy 40, I wanted
a short girls name with Norse connections. Éowyn is a name
of Anglo Saxon/Norse origin and is also a leading character in
Tolkein's "Lord
of the Rings"
The
Planning
I think I must have irritated so many people with the fussiness
of my preparations. I wanted to learn form all the lessons learnt
with "Galatea".
I wanted everything as right as possible for me from the sail plan right down to the shape of the saucepans!
So what lessons did I learn from the "Old Girl" about equipment
Self Steering - Our Hydrovane performed faultlessly and provided helming in almost any conditions including the light downwind airs experienced in the Atlantic in November. The only time "Helga" needed some help was in 60 knot winds in the West-east Atlantic crossing. I cannot it recommend highly enough
Downwind Sails -
We used both spinnaker and twin running headsails on "Galatea"
Obviously the spinnaker was faster, but the handling advantages
of the twins won the day. For Éowyn we have opted for a
dedicated twistle rig made by Ratsey and Lapthorne sailmakers and Dennis Maidment.
This comprises 2 x 130J Yankees and a special arrangement of 2
poles connected by a universal joint and supported by an uphaul
and downhaul - not connected to the mast! -
Communications - SSB
may be old fashioned but it is what the cruising community use
to communicate. You can now Email and of course DSC gives an instant
long distance distress communication ability. "Don't leave
home without it" On "Galatea" we could receive
SSB but not transmit so we missed a lot of the social side of
the ARC. Éowyn has an Icom 802 transceiver!
Power - Galatea did not have the means to generate enough power for a modern yacht - Éowyn has a Duogen and a High Output Alternator to put that right.
The reality is the dream itself!! We now
have thew yacht we wanted so anything is possible!
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