Practical Boat Owner t http://www.pbo.co.uk 35
EBAY TO ATLANTIC RALLY
eye – it looked quite modern for its
declared age. I stuck my neck out and
asked Jan what she thought of it. She just
replied “we cant afford it”.
I clicked ‘watch’. For three weeks I
watched as no bids appeared. Then one
day it dawned on me that unless I went
and looked at some of these boats I’d
never be in a position to make an offer.
When I suggested it Jan, she agreed, so
we set off bright and early one weekend to
Portland Marina to check out this boat.
The owner explained he was having the
electrical panel replaced so we wouldn’t
be able to go for a sail, but we could look
over the boat as much as we wanted. As
we climbed aboard it felt comfortable and
cosy down below. We were shown all its
instruments and controls, most of which
didn’t work, but the engine started first
time. She was a Gib’Sea Serena 100. I’d
heard of Gib’Sea but knew nothing about
the maker or this particular version, or any
other version if the truth be known.
Jan liked the boat and it was, we
thought, a reasonable price. We left for
home with an unusual feeling of
excitement. It’s the one you have when
you have been bitten by the bug and there
is no return.
The following Wednesday, after a little
haggling, she was ours. We’d had no
survey and had not been out on her – a
lesson in how not to buy a boat – but we’d
agreed to retain the use of the mooring for
that season. So that was it: we had a 10m
sailing boat and absolutely no experience
of sailing such a vessel.First outing
Our first day afloat was with a friend of the
previous owner who’d sailed the boat
many times. We just wanted to get out on
the water with the wind in our sails and
enjoy our new toy. Our tutor, however,
took a more methodical approach and
suggested we should learn how to dock
the boat and how to pick up a mooring
buoy first.
So we motored from the marina to
where the mooring buoy awaited. With me
at the helm and Jan with the boathook in
hand, we approached the buoy into the
wind and slowly proceeded until close
enough to hook the buoy and pull it on
board. Next we swapped roles and
repeated the procedure until we were
happy with our new skills.
Next was berthing in the marina. We
approached a suitable gap heading into
the wind and with sweaty palms I inched
her in until Jan and the instructor jumped
off and cleated the ropes to secure us.
Jan refused to attempt this manoeuvre so
I repeated the task to prove my first
attempt was not just beginner’s luck. We
then motored to the other side of the
marina to repeat the exercise.
As we approached the last pontoon, a
vacant berth was pointed out and I was
told to go in. As I neared, I felt that the
wind was going to push us away from the
finger, so I decided to pass it by and turn
around. But when the instructor shoutedThe feeling of excitement was the
one you get when bitten by the bug
LEFT Pete and family
friends aboard
Twenty 20, their
eBay purchase
Gib’Sea Serena 100Pete and Jan Dearden
aboard Twenty 20