Wind Elf MkI
➜concede we now have 4G internet
connectivity on board and my ultimate
ambition is to one day work from the boat
somewhere out in the Channel!”
When I pitched up at Birdham Pool,
there sat Ben’s Wind Elf, gleaming happily
beside her pontoon. Despite her different
superstructure, she immediately brought
memories flooding back. Fifty years
seemed to slip away and this strange
sensation became stronger as I stepped
into her snug, varnished cockpit. And
stronger still when I realised that she felt
as steady as a rock. Unlike a light and
beamy modern yacht, she didn’t budge
an inch. As I looked around her deck I felt
at home... same jaunty little counter stern,
same beefy mast tabernacle, same rig
with wooden spars, same double lower
shrouds, single spreaders and diamond
‘spreader’ pointing forward from the mast.Déjà vu
This sense of déjà vu grew when I went
below. The same removable chart table
sat over the head of the quarter berth to
starboard and the same galley (albeit with
a gas hob rather than our Primus cooker
in gimbals) and sink with simple stowage
areas was opposite, to port. Then beyond
that, there was the same open fronted
hanging locker with stowage space, the
same two short settees that are in fact full
length berths thanks to trotter-boxes
extending into the forepeak with its central
throne-like WC, single berth and extensive
stowage space. And of course there’s the
same woody ambience and standing
headroom (so unusual in a 25-footer in
the 50s) at the rear of the spacious and
welcoming saloon. In short, it felt like
coming home.
As I was getting accustomed to this
delightful time warp sensation, Ben broke
the spell by firing up Hightime’s Yanmar.
This was a sound we never heard on Josa
II 50 years ago. “I don’t know which way
she will turn when I start off backwards,”
said Ben as the boat gathered waytheir classic steeds up to scratch.
Tim Gilmore of Dolphin Quay Boatyard
(woodenboatsforever.co.uk), based in
Birdham Pool Marina, carried out the most
important work on Hightime. Ben is fulsome
in his praise of Tim and his small team,
who repaired the starboard deck and hull
planking and repainted the topsides and
hull. Ben repainted the deck with Hempel
anti-slip and stripped then revarnished the
cockpit in 2017 and the upper topsides
and rubbing strakes in 2018 with three
coats of International Woodskin.
Ben has also rewired throughout,
refurbished spreaders and boom, fitted a
new masthead light, and used IKEA bed
slats to modify the cabin layout and
provide a removable athwartships double
berth that spans the settee berths. Ben
happily admits: “In terms of staying on
board, we have been known to fall into the
category of owners who stay on theirAuthor Peter Poland felt right at home
in Hightime’s nicely maintained and
cosy saloonOwner Ben McMinn steers his beautifully
restored Wind Elf HightimePeter^ PolandPe
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boats without even leaving the marina on
occasion. Birdham Pool is such a great
spot, especially in the summer.”
So far Ben and Samantha, who’d not
sailed before Hightime came on the
scene, have not undertaken any extended
cruises. Ben says: “Being out in
Chichester Harbour on Hightime is always
a joy. Though the rigging is certainly not
user-friendly (none of that furling headsail
nonsense here!), she is easy to sail, well
mannered and I just love the freedom it
brings. Samantha and I both find the
world far too hectic most of the time, and
Hightime helps to bring things back to
reality. The fact that she was built long
before mobile phones, laptops and emails
probably helps, although I do have to