We had an enquiry from American junk rig enthusiasts living in Sweden. Arrangements were made for them to visit us and have a short stay aboard. Though they had obviously fallen in love with the boat they felt, understandably perhaps, that she was rather too big for them. Twelve months went by before we had another serious bite. This time it came in the form of an offer from Spain – considerably less than we had been asking, and we were very loathe to let her go. The long, drawn-out business of selling her was wearing us down, so we decided to let the first viewers know that we were considering accepting an offer. Almost immediately they came back with a matching offer. The agony of the whole selling process, the feeling that Tin Hau was languishing in Truro when she should be out braving the elements, and various other factors persuaded us to accept the offer.
Tin Hau passed into the care of Andy and Marion Torchia eleven months after the sale was completed. I helped move her down to Port Falmouth boatyard for yet another haul-out. On the way down from Truro I explained to the new owners the Chinese ritual enacted to release evil spirits and demons from the boat. Given that Tin Hau had been tied in one place for so long, she was bound to have accumulated numerous goblins. Together we sailed a double figure-of-eight in the Carrick roads, thereby cutting the dragon’s tail once more. After her relaunch, the Torchias berthed her in Port Pendennis for a month while they returned briefly to Sweden.
It was in August 1993 that we waved farewell as Tin Hau left to resume her cruising life. We had very mixed feelings about seeing her go. On the one hand we were glad she was going to continue sailing. There is, in our opinion, nothing more sad than to see an ocean-going boat permanently tied to the land and gradually losing her essential spirit. On the other hand we were very heartsore at losing a dear friend. Tin Hau had given us the experiences of a lifetime. We had lived close to nature in a very basic and meaningful way, an opportunity that is becoming more and more rare.
Andrew and Marion first took Tin Hau to Sweden. She was berthed in Stockholm while they cut their ties with shore life. A friend of ours, George Donaldson, joined them for the first leg of the return journey to the Mediterranean– a journey that was as filled with excitement and incident as any we encountered. However, that story properly belongs to Andrew and Marion. We are happy to know that they consider us an important part of Tin Hau’s family and keep us informed as to their doings.
It never ceases to astonish us how the story of our life aboard Tin Hau captures the imagination of people we meet. Shortly after we arrived back in England, we were asked to give a talk to a local yacht club. For people who had become used to a fairly isolated existence, it was a daunting business addressing nearly one hundred people. Within months we had done several talks for local sailors and hosted the autumn rally tea party for the Junk Rig Association. Since David went back to full-time employment, the talks have become my responsibility. Very few of my audiences are sailors, but there is a magic about small sailing boats and the lives of cruising folk that seems to hold their attention, whatever their background.
We still dream about the possibility of rejoining the cruising fraternity. One day, if David’s back is ever cured... In the meantime, David is designing our ideal little sister to Tin Hau – a junkentine.
David and I have well and truly swallowed the anchor. For the first time in our adult lives we have settled in one placed for a period longer than a couple of years. We moved from our cottage on a farm to a smallholding twelve miles away. We are privileged to be able to enjoy nature in quiet surroundings, though perhaps in not quite so elemental a manner as we did when at sea. Our daily life now revolves around our small animal family – a collie dog called Mungo and three goats – and caring for the woodlands we have taken over as part of our property.
Epilogue
The memory of Tin Hau lives on; we hope it always will. But this tale would be incomplete without mentioning what has become of some of the special people who played an important or particularly memorable part in our life with Tin Hau. The list would be almost endless if we mentioned all of those we would like to include. Close family have been excluded, even though certain members of our respective families gave us more physical and moral support than anyone else. The following, however, could not possibly be omitted:
Tom Colvin - The naval architect who designed Tin Hau and many sister ships. His own Kung Fu Tse was sailed to Scotland, to become the pride of another sailing family. Tom, we believe, is now land-based in Florida.
Ronnie Nel - Carried on working as a boat builder in South Africa. His son joined him in his new boatyard down at the harbour, which we visited in December 1993. We have since heard that Ronnie died after a long illness.
Tony Bryant - Became something of an entrepreneur on his return to South Africa. He remarried a few years after his Tin Hau adventure and, with his new family, now lives in a magnificent home in the Transvaal.
Jeff Perring - Is still living and working in Swaziland. He visits the UK regularly when we have the opportunity to rehash the maiden voyage yet again. One of our few regrets is that Jeff never had the chance of a holiday cruise in Tin Hau. Update in 2012: Jeff lost his lovely wife Kath and remarried an equally delightful Canadian lady, Barbara. They live in Swaziland for part of every year. They also have a home in Nova Scotia and Jeff owns a narrowboat which is his home when in England. We spent a week in the canals with them two years ago and are hoping to see them in Canada later this year
Jacqui Wilmot - Went on to qualify as a pharmacist and did so well that she represented her country at several international young pharmacists conventions. She was married in October 1997 to Lionel Nieburg. We hope he appreciates what a gem he has wed. Update in 2011:
Jax gave birth to her longed-for daughter in December 2005. Shortly after Alexandra's birth, Jax was diagnosed with cancer. Sadly she did not survive - her life came to a premature end in June 2007
Barry Lamprecht - Went on to become the senior photographer for a leading Cape Town daily. Barry had the good luck to be in Mauritius with us when a big sailing news story broke. His ‘scoop’ was syndicated nationally and more than justified his trip. He took many of the photographs in the hard copy of this book. Barry married some time after moving to Cape Town. Update 2011: He is now semi -retired, concentrating on wedding photography and lives high on the hillside above the Indian Ocean with his delightful wife, Birgitte. We enjoyed staying with them in Cape town when we visited in 2009.
Desmond and Terry Cohen - Sadly lost Hummingbird in a cyclone a year or two after we left. They bought a stunning riverside property in The Wilderness – an area of the Cape Province of South Africa, and changed direction to build up a unique crafts business. Natural disaster dogged them further – a flood carried away their beautiful home in 1996. Update 2011: Since then Des and Terry have gone their separate ways. Terry still lives and works in Knysna.
Don Windsor - Continued to reign as king of the harbour for a few more years before his death. One of his sons now runs the agency and all the other enterprises set up by Don.
Mike and Bandula - Bandula set off for Saudi to earn the money needed to set up a home for his intended bride. We know he returned for the wedding but fancy he went back to Saudi for a further contract.
Darren Pain - Darren made his way back to East Sussex where, for a while, he continued to follow his new-found interest in sailing. He was involved with both cruising and racing, in the Solent and across the channel. Around 1994, about six years after his return from our adventure, he bought a rural property, in France, near to his work in Toulouse.
Martyn Kalina - Martyn returned to High Wycombe and to the career he had interrupted in order to join us. He married in 1996. When we last spoke to him, he told us of plans to take up sailing again by crewing for the local vicar who had just bought a dinghy.
Rick and Sheila Nelson - Carried on cruising in the eastern Mediterranean. They ran the bridge club the year after we left and handed over to Jim of Gralyn on their departure. W
intering in Kuşadasi for several years, they ran duplicate bridge and other activities for the live aboard community. During their summers they cruised the Black Sea extensively and produced the cruising pilot for that area, now published. Update 2011: Rick and Sheila have now retired from the liveaboard life and are settled in the United States. Sheila is a keen horsewamn, involved in riding for the disabled and Rick keeps himself occupied with a variety of charitable efforts.
Superkraut and Petal - Progressed to the western Mediterranean and took up residence in Spain. There they ran an English style bar in the Benalmadena area. Update 2011: Peter and Angela eventually sold the bar in Spain and returned to the UK, settling in the home counties.
Vangelis Hannas – Is still the sitting Admiral of all the Balkans. We have postcards from him from time to time and our Austrian friends, Helmut and Heidi, continue to holiday in Panormos annually. 2012 update: As far as we know Vangelis is still alive. Helmut and Heidi built a a home on Skopelos some years ago with the intention of eventually retiring there from Austria.
Don Durham - Refreshed himself sufficiently on his adventure to return to his work for a few more years before he retired a couple of years ago. Update 2012: He and his wife, Audrey are living in a retirement village in Port Elizabeth.
Mark Sylvester - Is back at the United World College in Trieste. He spends his holidays climbing and walking now, quite convinced that it is a more sensible way to enjoy the great outdoors than messing about in boats.
Andrew and Marion Torchia - The second Tin Hau family are very good at keeping us informed as to their whereabouts. They based her, on returning to the Mediterranean, in Larnaca, from where they cruised to Turkey and the Greek isles. Tin Hau remained in their care until ill health forced them to part with her, at which point she passed into the hands of a new family.
Update 2012 written for the digital edition of Cutting the Dragon's Tail.
13 years have gone by since we wrote this book and 18 years since we waved goodbye to Tin Hau in Falmouth as she sailed away to a new life in the care of new owners.
It is only right that we update the reader as to what has happened in the intervening years.
From feedback we have received it is clear that the following questions need answering:
What happened to Tin Hau? Where is she now?
What did it all cost?
What has happened to us?
Was it worth doing?
In this short update we will attempt to anser these questions and thus provide a fitting ending to Cutting the Dragon's Tail.
What happened to Tin Hau? Where is she now? David's answer:
When Tin Hau left us, she sailed for Stockholm in Sweden. There she stayed for a year or so until Andy Torchia was able to hand over to his successor at work and take his well earned retirement. He and Marian then made their way down to the Mediterranean, calling briefly at Falmouth en route to Gibraltar. After many adventures, Tin Hau finally reached Larnaca Marina once again. She was based there, and was sailed each summer in the lovely cruising waters of Greece and Turkey, until she was sold again in 2005.
Tin Hau's third family, Steve and Kate Macdonald, bought Tin Hau from the Torchias in Larnaca. She was hauled out of the water, and then commenced a comprehensive programme of remodelling and upgrading prior to re-launching in 2006. The Macdonalds got in touch with us, when they acquired her, with many questions, both technical and otherwise. We did our best to help answer all of these as they arose. When it was time to launch again, we were invited out to Larnaca to help with the re-rigging and to show them the ropes. We were unable to both go out there as we had other commitments, but I was able to clear my schedule and flew out to join them for a fortnight or so.
I came back full of praise for Steve and Kate and delight that Tin Hau was in such good hands. Her condition was “as new”, not bad for a 20 year old sailing ship. Steve was an extremely experienced Master Mariner one of only a handful in the world qualified to take charge of deep-sea oil exploration ships. His command, at that time working alternate months, was a ship drilling in the Bay of Bengal on behalf of the Indian Government. Kate was also ideal for Tin Hau. She had won recognition in the north west of Sctoland for the way she ran her Guest Houses ( as a recipient of her hospitality, I could see why!). Both of them had the energy, ability and experience to give the most to and get the most out of their new acquisition, which they re-named Gantocks. They went on to cruise the waters of Turkey, together with their family, basing Gantocks at the new marina in Marmaris. Unfortuantely, Steve developed health problems and was ordered by doctors to stay in close proximity to medical care. Undeterred, however, he and Kate continues their summer cruises, but, sadly, Gantocks is now looking for her fourth owner.
What did it all cost? David's answer:
This is a question we have often been asked. Easy to answer, as we kept meticulous records of everything we spent. But the question is understandable, as in the abck of so may people's minds is the feeling that what we did was unaffordable except by the super-rich. We do not agree! The reason we could afford it was that we had got to a point in our lives, aged 33 or so, at which we had paid off the mortgage on our house in Midhurst and had some savings as well. The only loan we had ever had was the one needed to buy the house. Also, we had always been prepared to go without many of the things considered “necessary” today. For example, our wedding was a simple affair and the “honeymoon” was spent at Exmouth Docks where I had some work to do and Lynda had been allowed to “tag along”, staying in a farmhouse B&B.
Our expenditure between 1983 and 1991 on items directly relating to the boat (building costs, maintenance, fuels and berthing charges) was as follows:
South Africa: £43,900
UK: £23,600
Mauritius: £500
Seychelles: £100
Chagos: £600
Sri Lanka: £2,400
Yemen: £100
Sudan: £100
Egypt: £300
Cyprus: £7,200
Turkey: £100
Greece £800
Italy: £100
Spain: £600
Gibraltar: £200
Portugal: £100
Total: £80,700
During this 8 year period, we received no bills through the post. Our only expenditure, besides on the boat as outlined above, was on food and drink (very inexpensive where we were based for most of the time), the occasional medical bill and some travelling costs. We received income from cost sharing crew, informal charters, the occasional sales of goods and services, and interest received on our savings accounts. We were very lucky on the latter, as UK savings accounts were paying up to 15% interest. Even more fortunate for us was the fact that we were out of the UK property market during a period of very little rise in house values. So we were able to buy a house again when we sold Tin Hau.
What has happened to us? Lynda's answer
Our first land based home after Tin Hau was a small cottage in the middle of a working farmyard. We moved in there before we had actually sold the boat. Once Tin Hau had left our care, we were looking to buy a larger property with more land. We ended up swapping our home with another sailing couple who wanted a small land base as security while they went cruising. We moved house in 1994 while in the middle of writing this book. With our limited funds, we were restricted to DIY for the most part on renovation works we wanted or needed to carry out. David found employment in local government and I busied myself with various projects to do with the house, land and animals as well as runing a handicrafts club.
David struggled with his back problem, finding little relief from constant pain. Eventually we decided that the stress of working in a highly bureacratic environment on top of the back problem was not doing him any favours and he took early retirement with a view to turning our very wild croft land into more woodland. Over the years, he has cleared almost three quarters of our 13 acres and planted thousands of trees. Clearings have been left here and there an
d every May we have the joy of seeing these areas carpeted in bluebells and other wild flowers that were previously buried beneath the scourge of the British countryside, Bracken! The trees are really beginning to look like woodlands now and David has been underplanting all the edges of the stands of trees with lower growing trees and shrubs such as rhododendrons and camellias which do particularly well in our soil.
For most of the years we have lived here, we have kept goats and chickens. Our last goat died in 2010 and we have decided, for the time being, to manage the land without animal grazing if possible. The chickens are 'rescue' hens from the battery farming industry who are now happily scratching in the earth and producing eggs faster than we can eat them. We have a polytunnel that supplies a fair bit of what we need in the way of vegetables, strawberries and grapes, an orchard with apples for cooking, eating and cider making, plum and pear trees and soft fruit bushes useful for freezing and jam making.
We have now lived in our current home for eighteen years. It is the longest I have lived in any once place. We had a slight gulp a few years back when I started to worry about how I would cope if I were left alone here. We found an idyllic “twilight years” house which ticked all the boxes as far as our needs go and put in an offer when we received an offer on our home. Our offer was rejected and both of us heaved a huge sigh of relief that we would not, after all, have to leave all that we have created and all that has come to mean so much to us since we moved ashore. The costs of making a move are such that, in fact, remaining here and paying for help when the need arises will probably work out to be less expensive.
Cutting the Dragon's Tail Page 38