Anonymous wrote:

Zane, VOASI is in the JRA library in an .epub version

You mean to say, here is me, been checking now and again on Amazon if the publishers finally turned it into a kindle format, and it's been here all along available to members of the JRA....thanks very much David.   I shall now take my place in the corner of the classroom with the dunce hat placed upon my follicly challenged head!

Cheers mate appreciate it, and thanks to Annie for allowing her classic to be available to JRA members in e-format!

Anonymous wrote:

Zane wrote:

'At the tiller' is one of the very first sailing books I read many years ago, when I was only still dreaming of sailing.  It is still lying around somewhere here at home.  I remember he talked of his 'moorings at Helensburgh on the Clyde'.

Had no idea you once owned the boat Annie.  Small world.

Zane, sounds like your education is still incomplete.... If you have not yet read, reread and read again Voyaging on a Small Income I'd strongly encourage you to start.... If you had read it, you'd have known the Sheila was the first boat Annie cruised.... Voyaging on a Small Income is to this day, essential reading for any ordinary person who dreams of cruising. Lots of time tested advise there. To this day, I still take it out every now and again.

Yep read Annies book years ago via library, will read again when becomes an ebook.  I don't buy paper books anymore.
In 'At the Tiller' the boat is named 'Suilven', so I would not have made the connection.

Zane wrote:

'At the tiller' is one of the very first sailing books I read many years ago, when I was only still dreaming of sailing.  It is still lying around somewhere here at home.  I remember he talked of his 'moorings at Helensburgh on the Clyde'.

Had no idea you once owned the boat Annie.  Small world.

Zane, sounds like your education is still incomplete.... If you have not yet read, reread and read again Voyaging on a Small Income I'd strongly encourage you to start.... If you had read it, you'd have known the Sheila was the first boat Annie cruised.... Voyaging on a Small Income is to this day, essential reading for any ordinary person who dreams of cruising. Lots of time tested advise there. To this day, I still take it out every now and again.

Paul wrote:

 My favourite line is the aft edge of the cabin top at the companionway - it reminds me of Samwise Gamgee’s front door!

I like that curve, too, and one of the things I delight in is that from certain points, the deck seems to have a double curve, like some Dutch boats have.  It's an optical illusion, probably due to the curved beam running into a straight beam, but it's very pleasing.  It used to be very apparent before I laid the teak, but is still quite noticeable sitting at the after end of the saloon.  The sort of little thing that gives constant pleasure!

Jan wrote:

Not sure how long this has been for sale but just came across Annie's first (?) boat, still going strong.... Would love to hear about your thoughts now Annie, comparing your expectations of the new boat to your memories of how the first boat performed.

https://yachts.apolloduck.com/boat/herreshoff-28/503766

In a nutshell, chalk and cheese.  To be honest, I am not interested in a high performance boat, and that is what Sheila was.  When we lived aboard, she had (to be generous) about a sixth the space of the SibLim design.  She was a witch to windward, but very wet, and, with a 50% ballast ratio, 5ft 9in draught and the ballast all lead, she could roll the cups off the table.  I have popped a couple of files for you to see her when we had her.  It was we who discovered the Beken photo and indeed, had a contact print made from the 8x11 glass negative.  We sailed her further than the Irish Sea, spending the best part of a year in the Solent and sailing along the S Coast of Ireland as far as Dingle.  It was that cruise that made us decide that we need another boat!

I cannot imagine why anyone would put a gaff rig on her - she was designed for Bermudian and her bizarre, bent mast was her signature.  I have a copy of Ian Rutherford's book, 'At the Tiller', which is still quite easy to buy second hand.  It is a wonderful collection of accounts of Corinthian sailing at its best!