Short on sails

Now the real work starts! So sails? Brendan Hunt arranges a meeting with Ian Short of Ian Short Sails at Taren Point in Sydney’s southern Sutherland Shire. Being a Shire boy this fits well with me. We are shown Premium High Performance Dacron, Pentax Double Taffetta Cruiselam and Spectra Hydra Net. Ian suggests Spectra Hydra Net that befits a boat of this size....and looks good. So what set up? Furling headsail and boom furling main.

It’s very interesting to follow this as the sails are designed on computer and then cut to size. From there Ian’s team will sew and glue to the final product. Before this is done he’ll visit the boat for final measurements when the mast has been stepped....a long way away.

VICSAIL

I’m introduced to the VICSAIL team of Robert Sturch, who will oversee commissioning and survey work and Sue Griffiths who handle the detail of the purchase and is to keep me up to date of The Count’s progress before she leaves France.

The call.....

Early evening call. Hull 179 is available again...bloody Dutch!. The banter and horse trading began.....an agreement is met, Hull 179 is secured............ The Count is born

? What's that?.....

Call from Brendan......developments!.......be available for a call on Monday evening.

Where there's a will.....

Spoke with Brendan re possibility of converting a bulkhead steering boat to pedestal. His enquiries went to Beneteau and CNB their custom “big boat” arm. It wasn’t easy but yeah.....it was possible. This guy will make anything possible!

Easy come....easy go!

A quick call from Brendan to let me know that if I wanted one of these boats that we needed to move. 182 was gone and 179 had a Dutch buyer......as quick as they were in my grasp they were gone!

Is it possible?

Met with Brendan over coffee for an update on the boats available. There were 2 pedestal fitted boats Hull 179 & Hull 182. Both boats met with many of my requirements and if not could be fitted whilst completing production or on delivery. What made this more attractive is that these hulls were nearing completion. We agreed to speak early in the next week.

The Begining

After various conversations at Boat Shows and over the phone I met with Brendan Hunt, the Principal of VICSAIL based in Rushcutters Bay in Sydney.

Brendan was aware that I had been looking at the Beneteau 57 after initially being introduced to this design a couple of years ago by Nick Bedggood with VICSAIL at the time.

There was an opportunity in securing a B57 with pedestal steering as opposed to the standard bulkhead steering. I just struggled with helming a yacht like a car.