I've always wanted to build something. When perhaps 10 or so, we built a hut in the nearby forest. It was fun to build. But not much to sit in. Probably the most exciting time we had with it was when the neighbor's kids tore it down and starter a holy war.
The same feeling struck me some 10 years ago: I wanted to build something. I even thought of an aeroplane - experimental ultralight - but the paperwork and restrictions and meeting government officials was... Not intimidating but boring-sounding. I like doing things, not doing red tape.
But there's boats! Anyone can mount an outboard behind a bathtub and motor away without the government saying anything (as long as it's under 20hp in Finland, of course). So boat it be. I read my Annie Hill, the Pardeys... And I got my copy of Buehlers Backyard Boatbuilding, which states roughly, that anyone can build a boat - which is true. Another thing is if just anyone should build a boat.
I got a job in Nottingham, but not with a carport or anything that I could use even for a dinghy. I kept working and dreaming of boatbuilding. 7 months later, I got a call from Aland Islands: I got hired. I started working, rented an old barn 20km from the town, got a cheap russian car (1996 Samara, 650€) with a hook and began building a boat on my free time. At this time I knew which boat it'd be: The smallest one from Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding, "Hagar", but facinated by Annie Hill and MacNaughton designs, with a junk rig. Oh well.
Boatbuilding took its time, but after some years (and after quitting my job to finish the boat and sail away) I got the boat out of the barn with help from some friends and a lot of swearing. Launching was another thing. Solid, built wooden mast was a lot heavier than Hagar's plans expected: We added, bolted 2x400kg steel plates on the side of the concrete keel and welded then another 700kg one in the bottom of the plates. That gives a ballast of about 2200kg, total displacement probably more than 4 tons. But the boat surely held upright.
Aland Islands has a traditional sailmaker. He is the best sailmaker of my world. I don't know any other sailmaker, though. I just walked into his atelier, and said I wanted a 40m2 junk sail. Jouni (www.jouni.ax) had never made a junk sail and he gladly took the challenge. I gave him the bible, "Practical Junk Rig". After the agreed time I got a most beautiful junk sail (with a price 20% smaller than estimated), the finest thing I own, actually! I don't know, if it is the finest junk sail in the world. I had never seen another junk sail.
One year ago I sailed From Aland Islands to Turku, mainland Finland and back, having never sailed before. I saw a lot, and learned a bit. Stayed in small anchorages, near guest harbors and by some friends' places.
Then I chucked it all about 2 months ago, packed the necessary things in the boat and started, set sail from Aland Islands. Where? -South. I hate the Nordic winter.
At first I was learning something new every day: Once the sail, for example, fanned up real bad but I managed to get it down to about 18m2 and motor to a safe natural harbor and add some more spaghetti (a rope that I had forgotten) in order for it to never happen again. It never did. But then the real trouble started: This was boring. There's nothing into sailing: Hoist the sail, and if the wind speed is a bit greater, just hoist 3 or 4 panels. Sit and steer. Too easy.
And the people I meet in some harbors, they just come and go. Occasionally one meets them again, mostly not, and I'm no small talker. I find no satisfaction in talking an evening about the weather that was today, how deep someone's boat is or something. I need more than one night stands. What... Yeah, perhaps I'm no sailor material. No guest harbor extrovert here.
Then I started missing my family and friends. I'm not comfortable alone. I'm not scared of being out there alone, it's just plain boring not being able to share with someone the views, sounds and smells of places few have visited before. And what is there to share? Waves? -Seen them. Coastline? -Moving too slowly. Birds? -I go to a zoo if I want to see birds. There are those who can go months on end alone in the wilderness just fishing or something. I am not one of those. I get bored.
I also felt the freedom that I tried to achieve by moving aboard was not freedom at all. A boat is just like having a big dog: You can't leave it alone for a long time without having to pay for a place for it and not being worried. I could possibly not fly abroad at will for an unspecified time even if I happened to meet a friendly Taiwanese nurse or a Cuban roller-skater, for example. Darn, even flying home to see my folks takes quite much to arrange: Budget flights, mooring... One huge piece too many in the puzzle.
I started from Aland Islands June 10th. I got to southern Denmark. Now I want to get rid of the boat project. Completely. I'm ready to sell it all. It is a burden for me, I can't relax as long as I have it. And I guess I hate sailing.
But I'd like my dream to live on. The boat was first launced 2012 but in the EU you can not sell self-made boats until after 5 years (Don't ask me, I just heard of it somewhere and I do not do red tape for any price). Therefore I am just selling the superb sail and the mast. The one who buys those, has to take the rest, too. I don't want that dog around to restrict my freedom, but I would not mind getting photos of it latter days from the new, friendly owner.
What will I do, when you'll have bought my sail and mast? -Go play with my daughter, 7, read for her... Perhaps one day I'll sit a maximum of a couple of hours aboard my friend's (Perttu is a boatbuilder, owner of www.puuri.fi) folkboat on the way to their summer cottage in the SW Finland archipelago to go to sauna and have a couple of cold ones.
I learned a bit about how to build a boat and how to sail it. And time will give these memories a gold plating, hopefully. If I ever build a boat again, it'll be Matt Layden's Paradox or smaller. But it doesn't seem likely at the moment, I can't see how I could ever enjoy sailing. But I have to build or keep doing something. For me, sailing was not doing, except for as in ”doing time”.
So, I am selling. No delivery - Buyer picks the things from Vordingborg, Denmark. The sooner the better. I want to go home, turn the page.
Sail: 39m2 junk sail, professionally made by jouni.ax (2012, used 4 months). Clipper canvas #13450, polyester (not dacron or duradon), color natural. 6 panels, battens all 5m long Exel system 30.
Mast: Solid, built, spruce, epoxy. Top round, diam. abt. 9cm, bottom square abt. 19x21cm, abt. 10m above deck (2012)
Boat that the buyer has to take with everything in it; The list is not exhaustive:
Hull: Very much according to 28ft George Buehler design "Hagar", slightly raised freeboard, full standing headroom. Strip planked, epoxy+300g/m2 fibre outside. Ballast: steel abt. 1500kg, concrete abt. 750kg
Engine: Volvo Penta MD11D 25hp (abt. 1983)
Wind steering: Mister Vee
Heater: Davey's hotpot
12V: 2x90Ah batteries, 100W+50W solar panels
Propane Cooker Eno, 2 burners.
Anchor: Plough 23kg + 40m 8mm chain, fisherman 15kg+5m chain. Lofrans royal.
VHF: Handheld
Dinghy: Bic Sportyak 213
Books, incl. Annie Hill: Voyaging on a low income, George Buehler: Backyard boatbuilding...
On request I can send more pictures, incl. link to a full gallery of the building process, or any information requested.
The boat is not with top notch yacht finish. On the contrary: The strips are clearly visible, the surface is quite uneven. Paint is glossy white polyurethane. A matter of opinion, but I feel it's carefree: Should there be a scratch, it may be fixed with glossy white spray paint. The bow has some signs of having made very close company with different peers. The peers have suffered more than the boat.
At one harbor, a grandpa told his young grandson to take a look at the very old wooden boat. That boat was Free Bird, younger than the grandson.
I hope to sell at the soonest to get some peace of mind. Within days or weeks, not months. I'd prefer a junk-rig enthusiast take her, but at this point...
Make your offer!
Email: tulipunainen@gmail.com
Some photos:
http://imgur.com/F932h00,1mYP71Q,aGmFPUA,kVaq2ka,62ryCdL
http://imgur.com/qzmwXoI,1tcbkSN,ZMKGJBh,6xy96R1,tUR5j07