NEW HOUSE, NEW BOAT

Gilbert Park trades in his much-loved Nimbus for a boat he can park next to his house

- Gilbert Park

When I moved into a new house in 2020, I was pleased to have drying moorings on two sides. I bought my Nimbus back from France in the same year. While I sorted out the house, I kept my Nimbus, Let’s Go, in a nearby dry stack. I also got a small boat to use around Chichester harbour.

But in the summer of 2022, while I was stormbound in St Peter Port in Guernsey, en route to Brittany, I had a lightbulb moment. The mooring on the side of the house had two posts 3m from the wall. A boat like a Rhéa could easily dry out between the posts and the wall.

As we went around Brittany, I looked at several Rhéas in the marinas and even contacted Rhéa to see if they had one I could see. Sadly, they didn’t, so it was back to Blighty empty-handed. But after the holiday, I thought about it some more. I posted on the Nimbus owners’ forum and contacted Offshore Powerboats to see if there was a Nimbus that could dry out safely, but there wasn’t. I looked at various other boats such as a Greenline, Aquador and Seaward but none worked for me. Then the insurance and drystack renewal arrived in the same week and the idea of a change became even more compelling. Is there one boat that will dry out, while fulfilling the needs for my wife, Máire, and me?

One day, I went out in my little boat and moored up on the Town Quay in the centre of Lymington. I walked to Lymington Marina and after visiting the chandler, I walked back to the town along the coast route. As I did so, I noticed there was a Mitchell 28 Classique for sale, and when the broker showed me around, I decided that this was exactly what I needed. Sadly, an offer had already been made and accepted, but when the broker called me three days later to say that the sale had fallen through, I left him in no doubt about my interest.